Electronic apparatus, method of controlling electronic apparatus
Contents
1. 3 ASN 15 4135 38 NYO MYOMLAN H04 NOLLVOMdd 40 43345 NOILVOINNWWOO 315 3 135 383 NYO NOLLVOI 1ddV 40 3345 ONINNVOS 315 1 135 38 NYO NOLLVOMdd 40 3345 SNIINIHd 31 3845 135 38 NYJ 1 2 4 JO TAF 053 8 31 3 9 135 38 NYO ONINNVOS JOVI 304 NOLLVOF Idd 40 T3A31 3 SNLYHYYddY 40 AONANDAYA ISN 10 9 3 03 3 35 59920 03348 8348 81 YYOMLIN NIW SL33HS 4145 5 NIW SLISHS 03345 5 4 dp 1 WOW 3 31 053 dp ONINNYOS LY W IWIXVIW 3 3S9VNWI 404 NOI Vauv 358 HLM Tap 038049 38 NYO NOLLWOMddy 113 4 3 4 Waisvalas 85 __ 28 NYO 0334S NOLL003X3 0 3 066 ANON3N 43313 _ ASM 1403 Vi 91 US 2012 0127490 1 2012 Sheet 13 of 14 May 24 ication Publ 10 Patent Applicat 5 35 103 93151 3 40 38 NIW NIW 5133 5 5433 51 Gl Old ae tdp dp SNLLIHA 5 091 US 2012 0127490 1 2012 Sheet 14 of 14 May 24 ication Publ Patent Application 3 315 33 30 8 NIA 5133882. be used as a license distribution management unit When licenses granted to a plurality of applications are to be dis tributed from one apparatus to other apparatus the function distribution management unit 112 recognizes information of other apparatuses and determines a license transfer destina tion of each of applications based on the sort keys selected by a user s operation 0047 The apparatus management unit 113 can be used as an apparatus management unit The apparatus management unit 113 stores apparatus related information such as appa US 2012 0127490 Al ratus specification information and granted licenses informa tion in the memory 107 The apparatus management unit 113 can use such information to check whether a license transfer candidate apparatuses can be used as a transfer destination of licenses of applications 1 6 license transfer destination from a transfer origin apparatus having licenses and applica tions With such processing by the apparatus management unit 113 application functions can be distributed from the transfer origin apparatus to other apparatuses in which the apparatus management unit 113 determines whether an appa ratus to be used as a license transfer candidate has a capability to function a to be transferred application In this disclosure the term of application application function and function which can be implemented by software programs may be used with a similar meaning 0048 Further
3. each of other apparatuses 0053 The apparatus management information is status data of each of apparatuses The apparatus management information may include information of devices such as a storage capacity of a memory and or HDD of each of appa ratuses information of apparatus specification and informa tion of use frequency e g the number of used times of each of apparatuses Further the memory may be a semiconductor memory but not limited thereto Further the status data may include a plurality of statuses but can include only one status If the status data is only one status the sort key to be described later may not be required 0054 When distributing applications or functions to other apparatuses the function distribution management unit 112 obtains the license information and apparatus related infor mation from the license transfer management unit and the apparatus management unit disposed in each of other appa ratuses With such a configuration the function distribution management unit 112 can recognize information of other apparatuses such as the specification of other apparatuses and license owned by other apparatuses and can determine which apparatus can be transferred with licenses and applications Then among the apparatuses that can be transferred the licenses the function distribution management unit 112 determines or selects a transfer destination suitable for each of applications in line with a user s inte
4. other electronic apparatuses apparatus related information including information on component parts required for executing each of the plurality of software programs and apparatus management information including status data of each of the other electronic apparatuses c identifying one or more of the other electronic apparatuses as electronic appa ratuses to which licenses for the plurality of software pro grams at the one electronic apparatus that can be transferred based on the apparatus related information obtained from the other electronic apparatuses and d transferring the licenses for the plurality of software programs at the one electronic apparatus to the one or more electronic apparatuses identified at the identifying step as electronic apparatuses to which the licenses can be transferred BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0012 A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendant advantages and features thereof can be readily obtained and understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein 0013 FIG 1A shows a block diagram ofan image forming apparatus according to an example embodiment 0014 FIG 1B shows an example operating environment ofa plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to each other via a network 0015 FIG 2 shows a scheme of a function distribution management unit of FIG 1A 0016 FIG 3 shows a relation between a plural
5. the job management unit 106 the license transfer management unit 110 the license file management unit 111 the function distribution management unit 112 and the apparatus management unit 113 can be configured when the CPU runs programs loaded on a working area of RAM As such at least one or more of the units of apparatus can be implemented in hardware or as a combination of hardware software combination 0049 Further the external communication unit 105 can communicate with an external apparatus or server such as an application dispatching server and can download applica tions from the application dispatching server using an instruc tion of the system controller 102 The downloaded applica tion can be installed by the system controller 102 in which the downloaded application may be stored in the memory 107 As such the system controller 102 can function as an application management unit The above mentioned applica tion dispatching server and the license management server may be disposed as separate servers or can be integrated as one server 0050 description is given of the function distribution management unit 112 of FIG 1A with reference to FIG 2 which shows specific functions of the function distribution management unit 112 When one or more applications are to be distributed from one apparatus to a plurality of other appa ratuses the function distribution management unit 112 of one apparatus obtains following manag
6. 51 the function distribution management unit 112 requests the license information to each of other apparatuses which are candidates of license transfer destina tion and obtains license information transmitted from each of other apparatuses At step S2 the function distribution man agement unit 112 requests the apparatus related information to each of other apparatuses and obtains the apparatus re lated information including information of apparatus compo nent parts and apparatus management information transmit ted from each of other apparatuses 0063 In each of other apparatuses the license transfer management unit manages license information as similar to the license transfer management unit 110 of FIG 1A and the apparatus management unit manages apparatus related infor mation including the information of apparatus component parts and the apparatus management information as similar to the apparatus management unit 113 of FIG 1A As such by obtaining the license information from each of other appara tuses it can determine whether each one of applications can be implemented at each of other apparatuses Further by obtaining the apparatus related information e g apparatus management information including apparatus specification May 24 2012 the number of used times of apparatus from each of other apparatuses sort keys to be described later can be used 0064 Afterthe function distribution management unit 112 obtains th
7. OL NOLLVHNDIANOD 3 SALVEVdd 45 81 1 DI Patent Application Publication May 24 2012 Sheet 11 of 14 US 2012 0127490 FIG 12 APPLICATION FUNCTION IS USED MANY TIMES WANT TO TRANSFER APPLICATION 1 USED FOR STORING VARIOUS IMAGE TO APPARATUS HAVING GREAT HDD CAPACITY HDD CAPACITY IS GREAT oie ae PRINTED IMAGE WANT TO EaR QUALITY IS GOOD APPLICAT PRINTING VARIOUS IMAGE TO APPARATUS 8 APPARATUS HAVING GOOD PRINTED IMAGE QUALITY APPARATUS C FIG 13 SORT KEY SORT KEY FOR APPARATUS SPECIFICATION MEMORY CAPACITY HDD CAPACITY SORT KEY MAXIMUM AT SCANNING USE FREQUENCY OF FUNCTION ARMING USE FREQUENCY OF APPARATUS PRINTING SPEED NUMBER OF REGISTERED USERS SCANNING SPEED NETWORK TRANSFER SPEED US 2012 0127490 1 May 24 2012 Sheet 12 of 14 Patent Application Publication SNLYYYddY 035 183 80 u3SS31 OL NOLLONNS 60 5 36 0284316 939 023340 38 NYO 40 3 15 31 40 H3SS41 5 1 4 35 45 3 40 553 OL NOLLONAA adv q3X94H 38 NYO SNLVYVdd HOV JO 2 ASN SNLVUVddW 804 3033 LSOW SI NOLLONNS 30 35 381 934614 JHL AONSNOSY4 ISN IHL 83014 3393H9 38 NYO 30
8. S133HS 3 3 4 38 345 81 0335 as 11 0061 ome 0021 tdp ONINNY9S US 2012 0127490 Al ELECTRONIC APPARATUS METHOD OF CONTROLLING ELECTRONIC APPARATUS AND STORAGE MEDIUM STORING ELECTRONIC APPARATUS CONTROL METHOD CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 0001 This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No 2010 261539 filed on Nov 24 2010 in the Japan Patent Office which is incorporated by reference herein its entirety BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 0002 1 Field of the Invention 0003 The present invention relates to a wire or wirelessly communicable electronic apparatus including an image cap turing device such as a scanner an image forming apparatus such as a multi functional apparatus a copier a facsimile machine a printer or an information processing apparatus such as a computer and more particularly to management of transfer of licenses of software programs used in an electronic apparatus 0004 2 Description of the Background Art 0005 Recently multi functional apparatuses hereinafter apparatuses having various functions have been sold with out pre installment of application programs hereinafter applications in the apparatuses Instead users purchase applications when required and install the applications in the apparatuses to add functions useable for the apparatuses When
9. executing each of the plurality of software programs and a license distribution management unit to transfer a plurality of licenses to one or more electronic apparatuses The license distribution management unit con firms that a plurality of licensed software programs is present among the plurality of software programs based on the license information managed by the license information manage ment unit When transferring one or more licenses among the licenses for the plurality of confirmed software programs the license distribution management unit requests and obtains the license information and the apparatus related information from each of the plurality of other electronic apparatuses The license distribution management unit conducts a searching process for the plurality of electronic apparatuses to identify from the plurality of other electronic apparatuses one or more electronic apparatuses to which licenses are allowed to be transferred based on the obtained license information and apparatus related information on the plurality of other elec tronic apparatuses and transfers the plurality of licenses to the plurality of identified electronic apparatuses 0010 Inanother aspect of the invention a method of trans ferring licenses for a plurality of software programs at one electronic apparatus to a plurality of other electronic appara tuses is devised The method comprising the steps of a requesting and obtaining license information fr
10. identified electronic apparatuses based on the plurality of different status data obtained from the plurality of searched electronic apparatuses sort keys corresponding to status data selected from the plurality of different status data and priority levels set for the selected sort keys wherein the sort keys and the priority levels of the selected sort keys selectable by an operating instruction signal input from the operation unit 15 The electronic apparatus of claim 2 further comprising an operation unit to enable input of operating instructions to the electronic apparatus wherein when a plurality of electronic apparatuses is iden tified by the searching process as electronic apparatuses to which a license for at least one software program among the plurality of confirmed software programs is allowed to be transferred the license distribution man agement unit selects a license transfer destination from the plurality of identified electronic apparatuses based on an operating instruction signal input from the opera tion unit 16 The electronic apparatus of claim 1 wherein the license distribution management unit transfers the plurality of licenses to the plurality of identified electronic apparatuses from the electronic apparatus via the license management apparatus 17 The electronic apparatus of claim 1 wherein the license distribution management unit directly transfers the plurality of licenses to the plurality of searched e
11. the applications are purchased and installed licenses are managed in such a way that they are granted to the user for the applications installed in the apparatus to prevent unautho rized use of the application 0006 When such apparatuses installed with the applica tions are to be discarded due to malfunction or aging of the apparatuses the licensed applications may be transferred to one or more other apparatuses as required In sucha situation an operation to transfer applications and licenses is required but such operation is time consuming Therefore a license management system that can transfer a plurality of licenses with an uncomplicated configuration and operation has been proposed as in JP 2009 271680 A 0007 JP 2009 271680 A discloses a method to transfer a plurality of licenses with a simple configuration and opera tion In the license management system of JP 2009 271680 A when a function disabling process is initiated all func tions are disabled a function disabling key is issued and resources for such functions are transferred to another appa ratus Then a function transfer complete verification key is issued for the apparatus that has received the resources to implement a given function When such keys are input to a license server the license server database is updated and a function enabling key is issued When such function en abling key is input to the other apparatus the transferred function is readied for u
12. to 10 which show schemes of extraction of transfer allowable apparatuses Further for the sake of explanation the applica tion information granted with licenses is used as the license information Further apparatus component parts information is used as the apparatus related information In this example case applications 1 to 4 installed in the image forming appa ratus of FIG 1A referred to a transfer origin apparatus in FIG 7 are to be transferred to other image forming appara tuses 0068 As shown in FIG 7 the transfer origin apparatus can be connected to other apparatuses A to F via a network The transfer origin apparatus may request information of applications granted with licenses and information of appa ratus component parts to the license transfer management unit LM and the apparatus management unit AM in each of the apparatuses A to F to obtain such information 0069 When the transfer origin apparatus obtains such information from the apparatuses A to F the information shown in FIGS 8A and 8B can be obtained Such information includes the license information of applications owned by each of the apparatuses and the information of apparatus component parts configuring each of the apparatuses Further the license information of applications can be attached with information of apparatus component parts required to execute each of applications 0070 For example when a transfer destination of appli cation 1 is to
13. 110 may function differently from the license file management unit 111 0044 The license file management unit 111 may obtain or download a license file from a server such as a license man agement server using the external communication unit 105 and stores the license file in the memory 107 and manages the license file The license file management unit 111 uses the license file to grant licenses of a part or all of applications stored in the memory 107 For example the license file man agement unit 111 updates applications and returns licenses automatically using the license file information The update of applications means an activation of applications grant of licenses and deactivation of applications cancel of licenses 0045 Such license file information includes for example information of product identification ID apparatus identi fication information and expiry date but not limited thereto The product ID is identification information of application or software program which can be used as a product with a concerned license file The apparatus identification informa tion is identification information of an apparatus that can be used with a given license file which means the given license file can be used only for an apparatus having a given apparatus identification information The expiry date is a date that a licenses for the concerned license file is to be expired 0046 The function distribution management unit 112 can
14. APPARATUS COMPONENT PART d APPLICATION 3 APPARATU COMPONENT PART b APPARATUS COMPONENT PART e APPARATUS COMPONENT PART f APPLICATION 4 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a APPARATUS COMPONENT PARTd APPARATUS COMPONENT PART e Patent Application Publication May 24 2012 Sheet 7 of 14 US 2012 0127490 FIG 8B APPARATUS A APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART b 2 APPARATUS yIIAPPLICATION COMPONENT PART 4 3 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART e 5 Ss APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART f 6 APPARATUS D APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART 511 2 APPARATUS APPLICATION GOMPONENT PART d 3 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART e 6 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART f APPARATUS B APPARATUS COMPONENT PART b APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART 3 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART 41 5 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART e 6 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART f APPARATUS C APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a APPARATUS COMPONENT PART APPLICATION COMPONENT PART APPLICATION APPARATUS 4 COMPONENT PART d I APPLICATION 5 APPARATUS E APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a APPLICATION 1 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART b APPLICATION APPARATUS 2 COMPONENT PART c APPLICATION APPARATUS 3 PART d APPLICATION APPARATUS COMPONENT PART e APPARATUS COMPON
15. ENSE OF APPLICATION 2 DETERMINE SUITABLE TRANSFER DESTINATION FOR EACH OF APPLICATIONS IN VIEW OF USER 5 NEEDS AMONG APPARATUSES THAT CAN BE TRANSFERRED WITH LICENSE OF APPLICATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATION OBTAINABLE BY FUNCTION DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT UNIT 1 LICENSE INFORMATION OWNED BY LICENSE TRANSFER MANAGEMENT UNITS OF OTHER APPARATUSES CHECK LICENSE OF APPLICATION OWNED BY OTHER APPARATUSES 2 APPARATUS INFORMATION OWNED BY APPARATUS MANAGEMENT UNITS OF OTHER APPARATUSES APPARATUS COMPONENT PART INFORMATION PART COMPOSING APPARATUS APPARATUS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION APPARATUS SPECIFICATION US 2012 0127490 1 May 24 2012 Sheet 3 of 14 Patent Application Publication 3HNWISOV3 YSLNidd 403 3 30 DNLLNId GVO 3TINISOV3 30 ONLENId 301430 4 YSNNVOS NOLLVOMddV 1HYd INSNOdWOO SNLYHYddY Luvd IHYd 1 3 01402 LNSNOdWOD 1 64 1 Nouvoriddy NoLLWONdd 6 0 44 NOLLYOMdd 48 1116 IN3NOdNO 5 1 have INANOdNOD Shvavddy LNaNOdWOO 5 1 p 5 13 Patent Application Publication May 24 2012 Sheet 4 of 14 US 2012 0127490 FIG 5 SELECT M
16. ENT PART f APPARATUS F APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART a APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART b 2 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART c 5 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART d 8 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART e APPLICATION 6 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART f Patent Application Publication May 24 2012 Sheet 8 of 14 US 2012 0127490 APPLICATION APPARATUS COMPONENT PART b APPARATUS COMPONENT PART c APPARATUS COMPONENT PART d APPARATUS A APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART b 2 APPARATUS gt llv APBLICATION COMPONENT PART d APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART 5 5 APPARATUS APPLIGATION COMPONENT PART f 6 APPARATUS B APPARATUS COMPONENT PART b APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART c 3 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART d 5 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART e 6 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART f APPARATUS 0 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a APPARATUS _ COMPONENT PART b APPLIGATION APPARATUS 3 COMPONENT PART c APPLICATION APPARATUS 4 COMPONENT PART d APPLICATION APPARATUS COMPONENT PART e APPLICATION APPARATUS 6 COMPONENT PART f FIG 9 APPARATUS D APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART 2 APPARATUS 8 0 COMPONENT PART d 3 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART e 6 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART APPARAT
17. ETHOD OF LICENSE TRANSFER OSELECT TRANSFER DESTINATION MANUALLY SELECT SORT KEY TO SELECT TRANSFER DESTINATION AUTOMATICALLY FIG 6 OBTAIN LICENSE 51 INFORMATION OWNED BY OTHER APPARATUSES OBTAIN APPARATUS INFORMATION OWNED BY OTHER APPARATUSES 52 Zo i ALL LICENSE ARE TRANSFERRED NO YES ARE CHECKED FOR _TRANSFERABLE OR NOT TRANSFERABLE OF LICENSE CHECK FOR TRANSFERABLE OR NOT TRANSFERABLE OF LICENSE YES DETERMINE TRANSFER 68 DESTINATION OF LICENSE zno L TRANSFER LICENSE F S6 Patent Application Publication TRANSFER ORIGIN APPARATUS N lt May 24 2012 Sheet 5 of 14 APPARATUS B APPARATUS E US 2012 0127490 1 FIG 7 APPARATUS A LIGENSE TRANSFER MANAGEMENT UNIT APPLICATION INFORMATION HAVING LICENSE APPARATUS MANAGEMENT UNIT APPARATUS COMPONENT PART INFORMATION APPARATUS D APPARATUS G r su APPARATUS F Patent Application Publication INFORMATION ATTACHED TO LICENSE APPARATUS COMPONENT PARTS REQUIRED FOR APPLICATIONS May 24 2012 Sheet 6 of 14 US 2012 0127490 FIG 8A APPLICATION LICENSE FOR TRANSFER APPLICATION 1 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART b APPARATUS COMPONENT PART c APPARATUS COMPONENT PART d APPLICATION 2 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a
18. PPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART b 9 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART d 3 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART e 6 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART f ADDIS E APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a FRBBITCATION APPARATUS COMPONENT PART b APPLICATION APPARATUS COMPONENT PART c J APPLICATION APPARATUS 3 COMPONENT PART dj APPLICATION APPARATUS 4 COMPONENTPART e APPARATUS COMPONENT PART f APPARATUS F APPARATUS p COMPONENT PART a A APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART b 2 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART c 5 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART d 6 US 2012 0127490 1 May 24 2012 Sheet 10 0114 Patent Application Publication GN3 3SN39T1 83435 81 5 OL 3SN3SF1 3 615 515 NOLLVNILS3G 45 81 11 5 193135 53 H34SNVM1 123138 30 0 33 3 35 801 4 9 3 LYOS 931135 ATIVANYA NOILVNILSIG 3 9 aS 1938135 360 35 ANO ANO S SNLYYYddY 318VMOTIV 348 1 LINON 81 SNLWuVdd 8 348 1 I AVINSYYND NOILVYOMidd GSNYSONO0 30 SSNIOM ON 3 5 1 JIEVMOTIV NOLLYOMdd 1349 81 LOWELXA Q3N839NO9
19. US 20120127490A1 as United States 2 Patent Application Publication o Pub US 2012 0127490 OGASAWARA et al 43 Pub Date May 24 2012 54 ELECTRONIC APPARATUS METHOD OF 52 US Cle 22 38 358 1 2 726 29 358 1 5 CONTROLLING ELECTRONIC APPARATUS AND STORAGE MEDIUM STORING 57 ABSTRACT ELECTRONIC APPARATUS CONTROL METHOD 75 Inventors Masashi OGASAWARA Kanagawa JP Yoshihiro OGURA Kanagawa JP 73 Assignee RICOH COMPANY LTD Tokyo JP 21 Appl No 13 294 317 22 Filed Nov 11 2011 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Nov 24 2010 2010 261539 Publication Classification 51 Int Cl G06F 21 22 2006 01 G06K 15 02 2006 01 101 DISPLAY UNIT OPERATION UNIT EXTERNAL COMMUNIGATION UNIT JOB MANAGEMENT UNIT LICENSE FILE MANAGEMENT UNIT APPARATUS MANAGEMENT UNIT An electronic apparatus includes a communication unit to communicate with other electronic apparatuses and a license management apparatus a license file management unit to obtain license files from the license management apparatus a license information management unit to manage license information to determine licensed software programs an apparatus management unit to manage apparatus related information including component parts information and a license distribution management unit The license distribu tion management unit confirms tha
20. US E APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a Be Ps bd APPARATUS 7 2 Z COMPONENT PART APPLICATION 2 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART c APPLICATION APPARATUS 3 COMPONENT PART d APPLICATION APPARATUS 4 COMPONENT PART e APPARATUS COMPONENT PART f APPARATUS F APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART b 2 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART 6 5 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART d 6 u Patent Application Publication May 24 2012 Sheet 9 of 14 US 2012 0127490 APPLICATION 1 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART b APPARATUS COMPONENT PART APPARATUS COMPONENT PART d APPARATUS A APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART b 2 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART d 3 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART e 5 APPARATUS gt l APPLICATION COMPONENT PART f 6 lt APPARATUS B APPARATUS COMPONENT PART b APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART 6 3 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART d 5 APPARATUS APPLICATION COMPONENT PART e 6 APPARATUS COMPONENT PART f APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a APPARATUS COMPONENT PART b APPLICATION APPARATUS 3 COMPONENT PART c APPLICATION APPARATUS L COMPONENT PART a APPLICATION APPARATUS 5 COMPONENT PART e APPLICATION APPARATUS 6 COMPONENT PART f FIG 10 APPARATUS D APPARATUS COMPONENT PART a A
21. able explaining effect of each of the sort keys of FIG 13 May 24 2012 0028 FIG 15 shows a list of a plurality of transfer allow able apparatuses extracted as apparatuses that can be trans ferred with licenses of one application among a plurality of software programs and 0029 FIG 16 shows a list of a plurality of transfer allow able apparatuses by rearranging the list of the plurality of transfer allowable apparatuses of FIG 15 using one or more sort keys 0030 The accompanying drawings are intended to depict exemplary embodiments of the present invention and should not be interpreted to limit the scope thereof The accompany ing drawings are not to be considered as drawn to scale unless explicitly noted and identical or similar reference numerals designate identical or similar components throughout the sev eral views DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 0031 A description is now given of exemplary embodi ments of the present invention It should be noted that although such terms as first second etc may be used herein to describe various elements components regions layers and or sections it should be understood that such elements components regions layers and or sections are not limited thereby because such terms are relative that is used only to distinguish one element component region layer or section from another region layer or section Thus for example a first element component regi
22. arious instructions to the image forming apparatus 100 and transmits an operation instruction signal corre sponding to the operated or pressed key to the system con troller 102 0037 The external communication unit 105 is a commu nication unit to communicate with an external apparatus such as a license management server and other apparatuses Fur ther other apparatuses may have similar functions of the image forming apparatus 100 Further the license manage ment server manages licenses of applications e g software such as firmware plug in used in the other apparatuses 0038 The job management unit 106 conducts a Job sched uling such as scheduling of print jobs For example if restor ing of snapshot information is being conducted when to return licenses the licenses is returned after completing the restoring function 0039 The memory 107 is a non volatile storage such as a hard disk drive HDD to store software program for a plu rality of applications management information required for applications to be described later image data print data or the like 0040 The image processing unit 108 conducts an image processing to data input from an external apparatus For example image data input from an image scanner or a per May 24 2012 sonal computer or print data such as character code data input from an external apparatus is converted to image data and then the image processing such as scale enlargement redu
23. be selected an apparatus having the licenses of the same application i e application 1 is excluded from a transfer destination candidate and thereby apparatuses E and F are excluded from the transfer destination candidate as shown in FIG 9 see cross line of FIG 9 Because the application 1 requires the apparatus component parts of b c and d apparatuses B and C having the apparatus component parts b c and d can be selected as transfer destination can didate as shown in FIG 10 see a circle of FIG 10 Similar US 2012 0127490 Al process can be conducted for other applications 2 to 4 to extract application transfer allowable apparatuses for the applications 2 to 4 0071 A description is given of a process of determining a transfer destination among transfer allowable apparatuses S5 and S6 of FIG 6 using the function distribution manage ment unit 112 of FIG 1A with reference to FIG 11 which shows a flow chart of steps included in a process of determin ing a transfer destination among transfer allowable appara tuses 0072 At step S11 the function distribution management unit 112 conducts an extraction or searching process of trans fer allowable apparatuses which corresponds to steps S1 to S4 and S7 of FIG 6 Then the process proceeds differently from step 512 and subsequent steps depending on the number of transfer allowable apparatuses 0073 If it is determined that no transfer allowable appa ratus is ext
24. c tion rotation is conducted and the processed image data is output to the printing unit 109 Further the image scanner scan document image and outputs image data 0041 The printing unit 109 is a printing device or appa ratus including an image forming unit having for example a photoconductor of drum or belt type a sheet feeder and an ejection unit In the printing unit 109 based on a print instruc tion from the system controller 102 the sheet feeder feeds a print medium such as a print sheet then the image forming unit writes a latent image on the photoconductor based on image data input from the image processing unit 108 using a laser light or LED light and then the latent image is devel oped by toner as toner image visible image and the toner image is transferred and fused to the print sheet and the print sheet is ejected using the ejection unit 0042 The license transfer management unit 110 can be used as a license information management unit The memory 107 can store a plurality of applications and license related information such as status information of licenses of applica tions e g application granted or not granted with licenses and information of path to transfer licenses of applications The license transfer management unit 110 stores such infor mation in the memory 107 and manages such information when conducting a license transfer operation among appara tuses 0043 The license transfer management unit
25. c By conducting the above described searching process using the function distribution management unit 112 a plurality of transfer allowable electronic apparatuses that can be transferred with at least one licenses of software pro gram from the plurality of confirmed licenses of software programs is searched in which a license transfer destination is selected from the plurality of searched electronic appara tuses based on status data of apparatus related information obtained from the plurality of searched electronic appara tuses and based on different priority levels for sort keys corresponding to different status data selected from a plural ity of different status data by an operation instruction signal input via the above described operation unit and thereby licenses granted to the plurality of applications can be further effectively transferred to a suitable transfer destination 0111 In the above described example embodiments a multi functional apparatus for image forming apparatus is explained as an example of electronic apparatuses but the present invention is not limited thereto For example the present invention can be applied to other image forming appa ratuses such as copiers facsimile machines and printers Further the present invention can be applied to various elec tronic apparatuses such as networked home appliances auto matic vending machines medical devices power source devices air conditioning system meterin
26. d by the searching process are allowed to be transferred the license distri bution management unit selects a license transfer desti nation from the plurality of identified electronic appara tuses based on the status data of the apparatus related information obtained from the plurality of identified electronic apparatuses 4 The electronic apparatus of claim 3 further comprising a hard disk device to store data wherein the status data includes information on storage capacity of the hard disk device 5 The electronic apparatus of claim 3 further comprising a semiconductor memory to store data wherein the status data includes information on storage capacity of the semicon ductor memory 6 The electronic apparatus of claim 3 further comprising an image scanner to scan a document image wherein the status data includes information on scan resolution level of the image scanned by the image scanner 7 The electronic apparatus of claim 3 further comprising an image scanner to scan document images wherein the status data includes information on scanning speed of the image scanner 8 The electronic apparatus of claim 3 further comprising a printing unit to print an image on a medium wherein the status data includes information on resolution level of an image printed by the printing unit 9 The electronic apparatus of claim 3 further comprising a printing unit to print an image on a medium wherein the status data includes informat
27. e programs at the one electronic apparatus to the one or more electronic apparatuses identified at the identifying step as electronic apparatuses to which the licenses can be transferred 20 A non transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program comprising instructions that when US 2012 0127490 Al May 24 2012 10 executed by a computer causes the computer to execute a c identifying one or more of the other electronic appara method of transferring licenses for a plurality of software tuses as electronic apparatuses to which licenses for the programs from one electronic apparatus to a plurality of other plurality of software programs at the one electronic electronic apparatuses the method comprising the steps of apparatus that can be transferred based on the apparatus related information obtained from the other electronic apparatuses and d transferring the licenses for the plurality of software a requesting and obtaining license information from each of the other electronic apparatuses b requesting and obtaining from each of the other elec programs at the one electronic apparatus to the one or tronic apparatuses apparatus related information more electronic apparatuses identified at the identifying including information on component parts required for step as electronic apparatuses to which the licenses can executing each of the plurality of software programs and be transferred apparatus management information includ
28. e select transfer desti nation manually is selected license transfer allowable appa ratuses hereinafter transfer allowable apparatuses are extracted or searched automatically at first and then a user selects a transfer allowable apparatus by a user s manual operation Further instead of providing the instruction of select transfer destination manually another instruction such as extract only transfer allowable apparatuses auto matically can be displayed on the GUI in which transfer allowable apparatuses can be automatically extracted by a user s operation and then a user selects a transfer allowable apparatus from the extracted transfer allowable apparatuses by a user s manual operation 0061 A description is given of a process of extracting or searching transfer allowable apparatuses using the function distribution management unit 112 of FIG 1A with reference to FIG 6 FIG 6 shows a flow chart of steps included in a process of extracting or searching transfer allowable appara tuses Based on the license information managed by the license transfer management unit 110 the system controller 102 confirms that one or more of software programs having granted licenses exist for a plurality of applications stored in the memory 107 When a plurality of licenses of confirmed software programs are to be transferred a process shown in FIG 6 using the function distribution management unit 112 is started 0062 At step
29. e license information and apparatus related infor mation from each of other apparatuses steps S1 and S2 the function distribution management unit 112 determines whether all to be transferred licenses are already transferred at step S3 If all to be transferred licenses are already trans ferred step S3 Yes the process ends 0065 In contrast if all to be transferred licenses are not yet transferred step S3 No the process goes to step S4 At steps S4 and S7 it is determined whether licenses can be transferred to each of apparatuses for each of transfer allow able applications 0066 After determining whether licenses of each of appli cations can be transferred for all of the apparatuses at step S4 all of the apparatuses are checked whether licenses of each of applications can be transferred with a license transfer des tination is determined or selected based on the sort keys at step S5 and then a license transfer is conducted at step S6 The determination of license transfer destination and license transfer operation will be described later in detail Further if the status data in the apparatus related information obtained from each of other apparatuses is just one status data a license transfer destination can be determined without using the sort keys 0067 A description is given of an extraction or searching process of transfer allowable apparatus corresponding to steps S1 to S4 and S7 of FIG 6 with reference to FIGS 7
30. eci fication and a plurality of sort keys for use frequency as shown in FIG 13 0082 The sort keys for apparatus specification may be a memory capacity of semiconductor memory a memory capacity of HDD HDD capacity an image scanning reso lution level ofan image scanner maximum resolution level at scanning a writing resolution level of a printing unit maxi mum resolution level at writing a printing speed ofa printing unit a scanning speed of an image scanner and a network transfer speed network communication speed of an external communication unit 0083 The sort keys for use frequency may be the number of used times of function or application of apparatus a use frequency of apparatus the number of registered users of apparatus 0084 The function distribution management unit 112 selects a sort key suitable for each of applications from a plurality of sort keys corresponding to a user s selection and then selects a suitable transfer allowable apparatus as a license transfer destination in line with the selected sort key 0085 For example in a case of FIG 12 a user wants to select a transfer allowable apparatus having a great HDD capacity for the application 1 in which the user selects HDD capacity as a sort key by a user s operation Then the appa ratus B having the greatest HDD capacity is selected as a license transfer destination of the application 1 by comparing the HDD capacity information included in s
31. ed by which a printing speed of application can be set fast 0092 When a sort key of scanning speed of an image scanner is selected an apparatus having the greatest scanning speed is selected by which a scanning speed of application can be set fast 0093 When a sort key of a network transfer speed of an external communication unit is selected an apparatus having the greatest network transfer speed is selected by which a communication speed of application for network communi cation can be set fast 0094 When a sort key of use frequency of function or the number of used times of function is selected an apparatus having the greatest number of used times of application or function is selected Such application may be the most required application for the apparatus 0095 When a sort key of use frequency of apparatus is selected an apparatus having lesser or least use frequency of apparatus is selected and a new function is added to such apparatus 0096 When a sort key of the number of registered users is selected an apparatus having lesser or least used apparatus is selected and a new function is added to such apparatus 0097 A description is given of a process when a plurality of transfer allowable apparatuses are extracted as license transfer apparatuses for the licenses of one application which may occur at steps 511 518 and 519 in FIG 11 with reference to FIGS 15 and 16 0098 As shown in FIG 15 for example w
32. ement information 1 and 2 from a license transfer management unit and an apparatus management unit disposed in each of other apparatuses con nected via a network 0051 1 license information owned by a license transfer management unit of other apparatus this information is license information of applications or functions owned by the license transfer management unit of each of other appara tuses such as information indicating whether a licenses is granted for each of applications and owned by each of other apparatuses With such license information it can be recog nized which applications and licenses are owned by which apparatuses Such license information may be used as iden tification information of applications granted with licenses 0052 2 apparatus related information owned by an apparatus management unit of other apparatus this informa tion is apparatus related information owned by the apparatus management unit of each of plurality of other apparatuses The apparatus related information includes information of apparatus component part such as identification information of apparatus component parts and apparatus management information The apparatus component parts are parts required to execute or implement an application and such May 24 2012 apparatus component parts may be different among different applications As described later an application or function can be executed using apparatus component parts disposed in
33. g system for gas water electricity audio visual devices play machines net work connectable computers or the like 0112 A program according to the above described example embodiment is used so that the computer e g CPU of electronic apparatuses can devise the license file manage ment unit the license information management unit the apparatus management unit and the license distribution man agement unit By running such program by the CPU the above described effects can be attained In the above described embodiments at least one or more of the units of apparatus can be implemented in hardware or as a combina tion of hardware software combination In the above de scribed example embodiment a computer can be used with a computer readable program described by object oriented programming languages such as C Java registered trade mark JavaScript registered trademark Perl Ruby or legacy programming languages such as machine language assembler language to control functional units used for the apparatus or system For example a particular computer e g personal computer work station may control an information processing apparatus or an image processing apparatus such as image forming apparatus using a computer readable pro gram which can execute the above described processes or steps Further in the above described exemplary embodi ment a storage device or recording medium which can store computer readable pr
34. hen the func tion distribution management unit 112 extracts apparatuses A to H as transfer allowable apparatuses for one application granted with licenses two or more apparatuses among the apparatuses A to H may be determined to have the same status data e g scanning resolution level at image scanner writing resolution level at printing unit by comparing the apparatus related information obtained from the apparatuses A to H If a sort key for such same status data which is the same one for the two or more apparatuses is selected the priority order of apparatuses among the apparatuses A to H cannot be deter mined May 24 2012 0099 In view of such situation a plurality of sort keys can be selected by setting priority levels by a user s operation In an example case of FIG 16 following three sort keys are selected by setting priority levels from 1 high priority to 3 low priority 0100 1 sort key for use frequency of function descend ing order 0101 2 sort key for memory capacity descending order 0102 3 sort key for network transfer speed by external communication unit 105 descending order 0103 When such three sort keys are selected the function distribution management unit 112 can rearrange the order of apparatuses A to H shown in FIG 15 to an order shown in FIG 16 based on the status data in the apparatus related information obtained from the apparatuses A to H in which the apparatus C can be de
35. ing status data of each of the other electronic apparatuses K Oe
36. ion on printing speed of the printing unit 10 The electronic apparatus of claim 3 wherein the status data includes information on network communication speed of the communication unit 11 The electronic apparatus of claim 3 wherein the status data includes information on frequency of use of each of the software programs 12 The electronic apparatus of claim 3 wherein the status data includes information of use frequency of each of the plurality of electronic apparatuses 13 The electronic apparatus of claim 3 wherein the status data includes information on number of registered users of each of the plurality of electronic apparatuses 14 The electronic apparatus of claim 2 further comprising an operation unit to enable input of operating instructions to the electronic apparatus the apparatus management unit manages apparatus related information including the information on one or more component parts required for executing each of the plu rality of software programs and a plurality of different status data related to the plurality of electronic appara tuses wherein when a plurality of electronic apparatuses are identified by the searching process as electronic appara tuses to which a license for at least one software program among the plurality of confirmed software programs is allowed to be transferred the license distribution man agement unit selects a license transfer destination from May 24 2012 the plurality of
37. ity of appli cations useable for one or more image forming apparatuses of FIG 1A and apparatus component parts required for imple menting each one of the applications 0017 FIG 4 shows one example relationship table of applications and apparatus component parts 0018 FIG 5 shows one example screen view showing a GUI generate able by the function distribution management unit of FIG 1A 0019 FIG 6 shows a flowchart of steps of process of extracting a transfer allowable apparatus using the function distribution management unit of FIG 1A 0020 FIG 7 shows a scheme of extracting the transfer allowable apparatus when conducting steps of FIG 6 0021 FIGS 8A and 8B show a scheme of extracting the transfer allowable apparatus when conducting steps of FIG 6 0022 FIG 9 shows a scheme of extracting the transfer allowable apparatus when conducting steps of FIG 6 0023 FIG 10 shows a scheme of extracting the transfer allowable apparatus when conducting steps of FIG 6 0024 FIG 11 shows a flowchart of steps of process of determining a transfer allowable apparatus as a transfer des tination using the function distribution management unit of FIG 1A 0025 FIG 12 shows a scheme of selecting a suitable transfer destination from a plurality of transfer allowable apparatuses using sort keys 0026 FIG 13 shows examples of sort keys displayed on a GUI screen of the display unit 103 of FIG 1A 0027 FIG 14 shows a t
38. lectronic apparatuses from the electronic apparatus 18 The electronic apparatus of claim 1 wherein when one electronic apparatus is identified by the searching process the license distribution management unit transfers a required license among the plurality of licenses to the identified elec tronic apparatus wherein when no electronic apparatus is identified by the searching process the license distribution management unit returns the plurality of licenses to the license man agement apparatus 19 A method of transferring licenses for a plurality of software programs at one electronic apparatus to a plurality of other electronic apparatuses the method comprising the steps of a requesting and obtaining license information from each of the other electronic apparatuses b requesting and obtaining from each of the other elec tronic apparatuses apparatus related information including information on component parts required for executing each of the plurality of software programs and apparatus management information including status data of each of the other electronic apparatuses c identifying one or more of the other electronic appara tuses as electronic apparatuses to which licenses for the plurality of software programs at the one electronic apparatus that can be transferred based on the apparatus related information obtained from the other electronic apparatuses and d transferring the licenses for the plurality of softwar
39. mage on a recording medium The appa ratus component part required for a printer application includes only a printing device The apparatus component part required for a facsimile machine application includes a facsimile board to receive facsimile data such as image data and a printing device 0058 A description is given of graphical user interface GUI displayed on a screen view used for the function dis tribution management unit 112 of FIG 1A with reference to US 2012 0127490 Al FIG 5 FIG 5 shows an example of GUI After selecting a license transfer operation using an operation instruction signal generated by an operation on the operation unit 104 the function distribution management unit 112 can select a method of transferring licenses based on an operation instruc tion signal generated by a user operation on the GUI screen or on the operation unit 104 0059 For example if the license transfer operation is selected the GUI FIG 5 is displayed on the display unit 103 A user can select a method of transferring licenses here inafter license transfer method by operating the GUI or the operation unit 104 in which an operation instruction signal is generated by a user s operation As shown in FIG 5 a user can select select transfer destination manually manual selection mode or select sort keys to select transfer desti nation automatically automatic selection mode 0060 Ifthe manual selection mod
40. ments may be combined each other and or substituted for each other within the scope of this disclosure and appended claims What is claimed is 1 An electronic apparatus comprising a communication unit to communicate with a plurality of other electronic apparatuses and with a license manage ment apparatus for managing one or more license files a storage device to store a plurality of software programs a license file management unit to obtain one or more license files from the license management apparatus and to manage the one or more license files for granting licenses for some or all of the plurality of software programs a license information management unit to manage license information useable to determine whether a license has been granted for each of the plurality of software pro grams an apparatus management unit to manage appa ratus related information including information on one or more component parts required for executing each of the plurality of software programs and a license distribution management unit to transfer a plural ity of licenses to one or more electronic apparatuses wherein the license distribution management unit confirms that a plurality of licensed software programs is present among the plurality of software programs based on the license information managed by the license information management unit wherein when transferring one or more licenses among the licenses for the plurality of confirmed
41. n the apparatus related information obtained from the transfer allowable apparatuses A B and C For example if a user wants to transfer application 1 to an appa ratus having a great HDD capacity because the application 1 is used to store various types of image data the user selects a sort key corresponding to an apparatus B having a great HDD capacity by comparing the HDD capacity information included in the status data or specification information of the apparatus management information in the apparatus re lated information obtained from each of the transfer allow able apparatuses A B and C 0080 Further ifa user wants to transfer application 2 to an apparatus having a good printed image quality because the application 2 is used for printing various types of image data the user selects a sort key corresponding to an apparatus C having a good printed image quality based on the resolution level of image writing to be described later included in the status data or specification information of the apparatus management information in the apparatus related informa tion obtained from each of the transfer allowable apparatuses A B and C 0081 A description is given of the sort keys that can be displayed on a GUI on a screen of the display unit 103 with reference to FIGS 13 and 14 FIG 13 shows examples of sort keys and FIG 14 shows an effect of each of sort keys The sort keys include a plurality of sort keys for apparatus sp
42. nsferred to a plurality of other electronic apparatuses Therefore when the image forming apparatus 100 is to be discarded due to malfunction aging or the like the number of licenses to be discarded can be decreased or can be zero by which the licenses of applications can be effectively used 0107 As above described the above described example embodiment can devise the following effects a to c 0108 a By selecting one or more electronic apparatuses as suitable transfer destinations for licenses of the plurality of confirmed applications by using the function distribution management unit 112 each of licenses granted for the plu rality of applications can be effectively transferred to a suit able transfer destination 0109 b By conducting the above described searching process using the function distribution management unit 112 a plurality of transfer allowable electronic apparatuses that can be transferred with at least one licenses of one software program from the plurality of confirmed licenses of software programs is searched in which a license transfer destination is selected from the plurality of searched electronic appara tuses based on the status data of apparatus related informa tion obtained from the plurality of searched electronic appa US 2012 0127490 Al ratuses and thereby licenses granted to the plurality of applications can be effectively transferred to a suitable trans fer destination 0110
43. ntion Further such license transfer can be conducted via the license management server or such license transfer can be conducted between the apparatuses directly 0055 A description is given of relationship between a plurality of applications useable in each of apparatuses such as the image forming apparatuses and apparatus component parts required for executing or implementing each of appli cations with reference to FIG 3 FIG 3 shows a relationship between a plurality of applications and apparatus component parts required for executing or implementing each of appli cations 0056 Each of applications may need one or more appara tus component parts to execute each of the applications Each of the apparatus component parts is a minimum unit or device to be used when executing a specific application and each of the applications may need different apparatus component parts Typically each of the apparatuses such as a multi functional apparatus has different apparatus component parts and executable applications vary among the appara tuses For example as shown in FIG 3 if one apparatus has apparatus component parts b d and f such apparatus can execute applications 2 and 3 0057 FIG 4 shows a relation between specific applica tions and specific apparatus component parts For example the apparatus component part required for a copy application includes a scanner to scan document image and a printing device to print an i
44. ogram may be a flexible disk a compact disk read only memory CD ROM a digital versa tile disk read only memory DVD ROM DVD recording only rewritable DVD R RW electrically erasable and pro grammable read only memory EEPROM erasable pro grammable read only memory EPROM a memory card or stick such as USB memory 8 memory chip a mini disk MD a magneto optical disc MO magnetic tape hard disk in a server or the like but not limited these Further a computer readable program can be downloaded to a particular computer e g personal computer via a network such as the internet or May 24 2012 a computer readable program can be installed to a particular computer from the above mentioned storage device by which the particular computer may be used for the system or apparatus according to an example embodiment for example 0113 In the above described example embodiments a plurality of licenses of software programs installed or owned by an electronic apparatus can be transferred to a plurality of other electronic apparatuses effectively and efficiently 0114 Numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the disclosure of the present invention may be practiced other wise than as specifically described herein For example ele ments and or features of different examples and illustrative embodi
45. om each of the other electronic apparatuses b requesting and obtaining from each of the other electronic apparatuses apparatus re lated information including information on component parts required for executing each of the plurality of software pro grams and apparatus management information including sta tus data of each of the other electronic apparatuses c iden tifying one or more of the other electronic apparatuses as electronic apparatuses to which licenses for the plurality of software programs at the one electronic apparatus that can be transferred based on the apparatus related information obtained from the other electronic apparatuses and d trans ferring the licenses for the plurality of software programs at the one electronic apparatus to the one or more electronic apparatuses identified at the identifying step as electronic apparatuses to which the licenses can be transferred 0011 In another aspect of the invention a non transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program com prising instructions that when executed by a computer causes the computer to execute a method of transferring licenses for a plurality of software programs from one electronic appara US 2012 0127490 Al tus to a plurality of other electronic apparatuses is devised The method comprising the steps of a requesting and obtain ing license information from each of the other electronic apparatuses b requesting and obtaining from each of the
46. on layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element component region layer or section without departing from the teachings of the present invention In addition it should be noted that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limit ing of the present invention Thus for example as used herein the singular forms a an and the are intended to include the plural forms as well unless the context clearly indicates otherwise Moreover the terms includes and or including when used in this specification specify the pres ence of stated features integers steps operations elements and or components but do not preclude the presence or addi tion of one or more other features integers steps operations elements components and or groups thereof Furthermore although in describing views shown in the drawings specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity the present disclosure is not limited to the specific terminology so selected and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner and achieve a similar result Referring now to the drawings an apparatus or a system which can be used with a network according to example embodiment is described hereinafter 0032 With an employment of example embodiment a transfer of licenses of a plurali
47. or more sort keys are selected by a user s operation in view of the priority level or sequence order of sort keys Then at step 519 one suitable apparatus may be selected from a plurality of transfer allowable apparatuses as a license transfer destina tion in line with the selected sort keys and the process pro ceeds to step S15 0077 A description is given of selection of a suitable transfer destination from a plurality of transfer allowable apparatuses in line with the selected sort keys conduct able at step 519 of FIG 11 with reference to FIG 12 FIG 12 shows a scheme of selecting a suitable transfer destination from a plurality of transfer allowable apparatuses in line with the selected sort keys 0078 If a plurality of transfer allowable apparatuses is present there is a possibility that different applications are preferably transferred to different apparatuses In such a situ ation the function distribution management unit 112 selects one or more sort keys based on a user s operation wherein such user s operation varies depending on user s intension for each of applications and then a suitable transfer allowable May 24 2012 apparatus can be selected as a license transfer destination in line with the selected sort key 0079 Ina case of FIG 12 three transfer allowable appa ratuses A B and C are present and a user can select an apparatus by selecting a sort key corresponding to a desired purpose based o
48. racted or searched by the extraction process S12 Yes the process proceeds to step S13 and a plurality of transfer allowable licenses are returned to a server such as a license management server 0074 Ifit is determined that at least one transfer allowable apparatus is extracted or searched by the extraction process S12 No the process proceeds to step S14 and it is deter mined whether the number of transfer allowable apparatus is one or more at step 514 If it is determined that the number of transfer allowable apparatus is one step S14 Yes the pro cess proceeds to step S15 and the one apparatus is transferred with licenses in which licenses required for the one apparatus is transferred among a plurality of transfer allowable licenses 0075 Further if it is determined that the number of trans fer allowable apparatus is a plurality of apparatuses S14 No the process proceeds to step S16 anda method of license transfer operation is determined If a transfer method of select transfer destination manually is selected S16 Yes the process proceeds to step S17 and one apparatus is selected from a plurality of transfer allowable apparatuses as a license transfer destination by a user s manual operation and the process proceeds to step S15 0076 Ifa license transfer method of select sort keys to select transfer destination automatically is selected S16 No the process proceeds to step 18 in which one
49. se 0008 However in such conventional license management system licenses for a plurality of applications or functions installed in one apparatus can be transferred to another appa ratus but the licenses can be transferred only to one other apparatus one transfer destination which means the licenses cannot be distributed to a plurality of apparatuses If a user wants to distribute licenses for a plurality of applica May 24 2012 tions to a plurality of apparatuses the user needs to set the required keys one by one for each license transfer which is a time consuming SUMMARY 0009 In one aspect of the invention an electronic appara tus is devised The electronic apparatus includes a communi cation unit to communicate with a plurality of other electronic apparatuses and with a license management apparatus for managing one or more license files a storage device to store a plurality of software programs a license file management unit to obtain one or more license files from the license management apparatus and to manage the one or more license files for granting licenses for some or all of the plurality of software programs a license information management unit to manage license information useable to determine whether a license has been granted for each of the plurality of software programs an apparatus management unit to manage appara tus related information including information on one or more component parts required for
50. se transfer management unit 110 a license file management unit 111 a function dis tribution management unit 112 and an apparatus manage ment unit 113 which are connected and capable of commu nicating with each other via a system bus 101 In an example embodiment at least one of the units is implemented in hard ware or as a combination of hardware software combination As shown in FIG 1B a plurality of image forming appara tuses 100 100a 1005 and 100c can be connected to each other via a network and further a server may be connected to the network 0034 The system bus 101 is a path to connect a plurality of units configuring the image forming apparatus 100 The sys tem controller 102 is a micro computer including a central processing unit CPU a read only memory ROM and a random access memory RAM Programs stored in a non volatile memory such as a hard disk drive HDD or a flash memory can be loaded on a working area of the RAM and then each unit can be controlled by executing programs The RAM may be a semiconductor memory to store data 0035 The display unit 103 displays various information on a display such as a screen based on display data instructed from the system controller 102 Further the display unit 103 may be disposed with a touch panel which can function as an operation device 0036 The operation unit 104 is an operation device such as a mouse and a key board having function keys used for inputting v
51. software pro grams the license distribution management unit requests and obtains the license information and the apparatus related information from each of the plurality of other electronic apparatuses wherein the license distribution management unit conducts a searching process for the plurality of electronic appa ratuses to identify from the plurality of other electronic apparatuses one or more electronic apparatuses to which licenses are allowed to be transferred based on the obtained license information and apparatus related information on the plurality of other electronic appara tuses and transfers the plurality of licenses to the plu rality of identified electronic apparatuses 2 The electronic apparatus of claim 1 wherein the license distribution management unit selects one electronic appara tus as a suitable license transfer destination for each one of the plurality of confirmed software programs 3 The electronic apparatus of claim 2 wherein the appa ratus management unit manages apparatus related informa tion including the information on one or more component US 2012 0127490 Al parts required for executing each one of the plurality of soft ware programs and status data on each one of the electronic apparatuses wherein when a plurality of electronic apparatuses is iden tified as electronic apparatuses to which licenses for at least one software program among the plurality of con firmed software programs identifie
52. t licensed software pro grams are present When transferring licenses for the con firmed software programs the license distribution management unit requests and obtains the license informa tion and the apparatus related information from the other electronic apparatuses The license distribution management unit conducts a searching process to identify the electronic apparatuses to which licenses are allowed to be transferred based on the obtained license information and apparatus related information from the other electronic apparatuses and transfers the licenses to the identified electronic appara tuses gt SYSTEM CONTROLLER MEMORY IMAGE PROCESSING UNIT PRINTING UNIT LICENSE TRANSFER MANAGEMENT UNIT FUNCTION DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT UNIT Patent Application Publication May 24 2012 Sheet 1 of 14 US 2012 0127490 FIG 1A 110 DISPLAY UNIT 10 SYSTEM CONTROLLER OPERATION UNIT MEMORY EXTERNAL IMAGE PROCESSING _ COMMUNICATION UNIT UNIT JOB MANAGEMENT PRINTING UNIT UNIT LICENSE FILE LICENSE TRANSFER MANAGEMENT UNIT MANAGEMENT UNIT APPARATUS FUNCTION DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT UNIT MANAGEMENT UNIT Patent Application Publication May 24 2012 Sheet 2 of 14 US 2012 0127490 FIG 2 FUNCTION DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT J TASK 1 CHECK INFORMATION OF OTHER APPARATUSES SUCH AS SPECIFICATION MAINTAINED LICENSE AND DETERMINE WHICH APPARATUS CAN BE TRANSFERRED WITH LIC
53. tatus data of the apparatus management information in the apparatus related information obtained from the transfer allowable apparatuses A B and C by which a large storing area can be provided for storing information of the application 1 US 2012 0127490 Al 0086 Further each sort key can be selected by a user s operation and each sort key has a following effect as shown in the table of FIG 14 0087 When a sort key of memory capacity is selected an apparatus having the greatest memory capacity can be selected by which an application execution speed can be set faster 0088 When a sort key of HDD capacity is selected an apparatus having the greatest HDD capacity is selected by which application information can be stored with large stor ing area 0089 When a sort key of image scanning resolution level of an image scanner maximum resolution level at scanning is selected an apparatus having the greatest resolution level is selected by which a resolution level of application for image scanning can be set great 0090 When a sort key of writing resolution level of a printing unit maximum resolution level at writing is selected an apparatus having the greatest resolution level is selected by which a resolution level of application for image writing using the printing unit can be set great 0091 When a sort key of printing speed of a printing unit is selected an apparatus having the greatest printing speed is select
54. termined as a transfer destination of one application 0104 As such in the image forming apparatus 100 based on the license information managed by the license transfer management unit 110 the function distribution management unit 112 can confirm that a plurality of software programs granted with licenses exists for a plurality of applications stored in the memory 107 used as a storage 0105 When a plurality of licenses granted for the plurality of confirmed software programs installed in one electronic apparatus is to be transferred to a plurality of other electronic apparatuses the above described license information and apparatus related information are requested to the plurality of other electronic apparatuses and the above described license information and apparatus related information are transmit ted from the plurality of other electronic apparatuses and obtained by the one electronic apparatus Based on the obtained license information and apparatus related informa tion transfer allowable electronic apparatuses that can be transferred with a plurality of licenses can be searched from the plurality of other electronic apparatuses 0106 After conducting a searching process to the plurality of electronic apparatuses a plurality of licenses can be trans ferred to the plurality of searched electronic apparatuses with a distributing manner and a plurality of licenses of applica tions owned by one electronic apparatuses can be tra
55. ty of applications installed in electronic devices or apparatuses such as image forming apparatuses hereinafter apparatuses as required can be preferably conducted as disclosed in the following descrip tion Specifically an apparatus is communicably connected to a plurality of other apparatuses via a network which is wired or wirelessly The apparatus obtains information for manag ing license transfer of application and information of appa ratus component part from the plurality of other apparatuses to extract or search one or more image forming apparatuses that licenses of application can be transferred in such extrac tion or searching process which one or more image forming US 2012 0127490 Al apparatuses that licenses of application can be transferred can be identified and such image forming apparatus may be referred to as identified image forming apparatuses The apparatus component part may be also referred to as appara tus constituent part 0033 A description is given of configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an example embodiment FIG 1A shows a block diagram of an image forming appa ratus 100 according to an example embodiment The image forming apparatus 100 such as a multi functional apparatus includes a system controller 102 a display unit 103 an opera tion unit 104 an external communication unit 105 a job management unit 106 a memory 107 an image processing unit 108 a printing unit 109 a licen
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