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Image forming method and apparatus, and host

Image forming method and apparatus, and host description/claims

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2007-0063813, filed on Jun. 27, 2007, and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2007-0069356, filed on Jul. 10, 2007, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

1. Field of the Invention

The present general inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to image forming method and apparatus to allow a user to check progress states of a plurality of operations on a screen by using a user interface to dynamically create the plurality of operations and to determine setup information according to the user's intentions. The present general inventive concept also relates to an image forming method and apparatus and a host to allow a user to newly generate a desired application to execute operations.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventionally, a user can select one of selectable operations (e.g., copying, scanning, faxing, printing, etc.) through a user interface of an image forming apparatus. If the user selects one operation, the user can set only detailed setup information corresponding to the selected operation on the user interface. Thus, when the user desires to e-mail, print, and fax copied data, the user cannot continuously execute such operations. Also, if the user does not fully know about a multi-functional peripheral (MFP) having multi-functions, the user cannot easily use the multi-functions of the MFP due to complexity of the MFP.

Also, when products such as printers or MFPs come out, usable software functions are realized as firmware. Thus, if products are sold, functions of software of the products cannot be changed or added. In order to solve this problem, open architectures have been developed in the MFP industry so as to add new functions or select and mount only software necessary for each user. Examples of the open architectures include an OSGi-based architecture by Richo, a java-based Multifunctional Embedded Application Platform (MEAP) by Cannon, javascript-based JScribe architecture by IBM, etc. However, open architectures of image forming apparatuses such as MFPs, etc., which have recently been developed and come out, to open objects/application programming interfaces (APIs) of MFP platforms according to specifications developed by manufacturing companies and provide an integrated development environment (IDE) for developing new functions using the open objects/APIs. Accordingly, solution developers can develop solutions set to be suitable for additional functions of software and specific use environments and mount the solutions in products. This technology must be further developed. However, for substantial development of this technology, a large amount of time is required to thoroughly learn about object/API specifications open to corresponding products and a method of using IDE. Also, users not knowing about the technology cannot slightly change functions or realize desired functions. That is, conventional open architecture technology can be used by only developers and not by general users.

The present general inventive concept provides an image forming method and apparatus to easily set and to continuously execute a plurality of operations of a same set of image data on a screen.

The present general inventive concept also provides an image forming method and apparatus, and a host to allow a user to newly generate an application to execute operations according to settings of the user.

Additional aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.

The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the general inventive concept may be achieved by providing an image forming method including setting a processing order of a plurality of operations of a same image data and detailed setup information of the plurality of operations, and executing the plurality of operations using the detailed setup information according to the set processing order.

The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing an image forming apparatus including a user interface unit to set a processing order of a plurality of operations of a same image data and detailed setup information of the plurality of operations, and a controller to control the plurality of operations to be executed using the detailed setup information according to the processing order.

The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing an image forming method including generating a graphical user interface (GUI) webpage corresponding to a plurality of operations on an image forming apparatus, generating an application profile corresponding to the plurality of operations using the GUI webpage, and generating an application corresponding to the application profile to execute the plurality of operations on the image forming apparatus.

The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing an image forming apparatus including an operation registration manager to register and manage information including types, detailed setup information, and execution information of a plurality of operations, an internal web server to generate a graphical user interface (GUI) webpage corresponding to the plurality of operations, and an operation executer to receive an application profile from a host to generate the application profile corresponding to the plurality of operations using the GUI webpage, to generate an application corresponding to the application profile, and to execute the plurality of operations.

The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing a host including a generator to generate an application profile corresponding to a plurality of operations using a graphical user interface (GUI) webpage, wherein the GUI webpage corresponds to the plurality of operations of an image forming apparatus.

The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing an image forming apparatus including a user interface to allow a user to select a plurality of image forming operations to be performed on a same image data, and to set a processing order of the selected image forming operations, and a controller to process the selected image forming operations corresponding to at least the set processing order, wherein the set plurality of image forming operations are continuously processed.

The selecting of the plurality of image forming operations may include selecting icons corresponding to the respective image forming operations.

The setting of the processing order includes arranging the selected icons corresponding to the respective image forming operations in an order.

The user interface may include a setup window to allow the user to set detailed setup information corresponding to the plurality of image forming operations, wherein the controller processes the selected image forming operations corresponding to the respective detailed setup information.

The detailed setup information may include one or more of a size of a printing medium, a number of printed pages and a resolution.

The plurality of image forming operations may include one or more of a copying operation, a printing operation, a faxing operation and a scanning operation.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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