1. A method for installing and using a device driver across a network, comprising computer executed method steps of:
providing a network device that can be connected to anywhere in the network;
providing at least one domain controller and at least one user computer connected to the network;
upon detecting a user login to the at least one user computer, searching the network for at least one newly added network device that is added to any point in the network;
creating a table of discovered devices comprising discovered devices from searching the network for the at least one newly added network device;
comparing the table of discovered devices with a table of currently existing devices to produce a table of to-be-installed devices, wherein the table of to-be-installed devices optionally comprises to-be-updated devices;
installing device drivers for the at least one newly added network device onto only the at least one user computer;
enabling use of the at least one newly added network device from the at least one user computer so that access from the at least one user computer goes directly to the at least one newly added network device;
comparing the table of discovered devices with the table of currently existing devices to produce a table of to-be-deleted devices comprising devices in the table of currently existing devices that are not in the table of discovered devices; and
for each device in the table of to-be-deleted devices, deleting the device if a delete grace period is set by a user and the delete grace period is exceeded or if the delete grace period and login attempts are exceeded while the device has been unavailable or undetected, optionally displaying and prompting a seamless popup dialog integrated into an operating system of the at least one user computer, the dialog being optionally invisible to the user, and optionally deleting the corresponding device driver of the device if the device corresponds to an only device entry.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the installing of the device drivers comprises providing optionally-silent and seamless pop-up GUI.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting of the user login or the installing of the device drivers comprises running of script files, comprising computer executed method steps of:
parsing parameters in a command line including a username and optionally a password;
running a check with the username and password as parameters to determine privilege sufficiency to install a required device driver, wherein confirmation is made to determine that privilege of the username and password, passed as the parameters is sufficient to install the required device driver;
discovering all relevant devices in the network and IP address range;
obtaining a list of installed device entries and assigned ports using WMI interface from Windows scripting host;
comparing using the script files and the at least one user computer the table of discovered devices and the table of currently existing devices; and
running the script files to install and upgrade all the discovered devices and to delete each device in the table of to-be-deleted devices, with optionally confirming for the delete grace period, in the seamless popup dialog which is invisible to the user.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: searching the network for unavailable devices when detecting the user login; and deleting device drivers for the searched unavailable devices.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the searching of the at least one newly added network device comprises using TCPIP or SNMP.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically upgrading the device drivers for the at least one newly added network device if necessary.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining the tables of currently existing devices, to-be-installed devices, and to-be-deleted devices.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying pre-defined device settings.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining information of the at least one newly added network device and applying the information to the device drivers for the at least one newly added network device.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the device drivers are printer drivers.
11. A computer program product stored on a computer relating to an operation of the image forming and printing apparatus for installing and using a device driver across a network, comprising machine-readable code for causing a machine to perform the computer executed method steps of:
providing a network device that can be connected to anywhere in the network;
providing at least one domain controller and at least one user computer connected to the network;
upon detecting a user login to the at least one user computer, searching the network for at least one newly added network device that is added to any point in the network;
creating a table of discovered devices comprising discovered devices from searching the network for the at least one newly added network device;
comparing the table of discovered devices with a table of currently existing devices to produce a table of to-be-installed devices, wherein the table of to-be-installed devices optionally comprises to-be-updated devices;
installing device drivers for the at least one newly added network device onto only the at least one user computer;
enabling use of the at least one newly added network device from the at least one user computer so that access from the at least one user computer goes directly to the at least one newly added network device;
comparing the table of discovered devices with the table of currently existing devices to produce a table of to-be-deleted devices comprising devices in the table of currently existing devices that are not in the table of discovered devices; and
for each device in the table of to-be-deleted devices, deleting the device if a delete grace period is set by a user and the delete grace period is exceeded or if the delete grace period and login attempts are exceeded while the device has been unavailable or undetected, optionally displaying and prompting a seamless popup dialog integrated into an operating system of the at least one user computer, the dialog being optionally invisible to the user, and optionally deleting the corresponding device driver of the device if the device corresponds to an only device entry.
12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the installing of the device drivers comprises providing optionally-silent and seamless pop-up GUI, and wherein the detecting of the user login or the installing of the device drivers comprises running of script files, comprising computer executed method steps of:
parsing parameters in a command line including a username and optionally a password;
running a check with the username and password as parameters to determine privilege sufficiency to install a required device driver, wherein confirmation is made to determine that privilege of the username and password, passed as the parameters is sufficient to install the required device driver;
discovering all relevant devices in the network and IP address range;
obtaining a list of installed device entries and assigned ports using WMI interface from Windows scripting host;
comparing using the script files and the at least one user computer the table of discovered devices and the table of currently existing devices; and
running the script files to install and upgrade all the discovered devices and to delete each device in the table of to-be-deleted devices, with optionally confirming for the delete grace period, in the seamless popup dialog which is invisible to the user.
13. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising machine-readable code for causing the machine to search the network for unavailable devices when detecting the user login; and deleting device drivers for the searched unavailable devices, wherein the deleting of the device drivers is performed only when a deletion grace period is exceeded.
14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the searching of the at least one newly added network device comprises using TCPIP or SNMP, and further comprising machine-readable code for causing the machine to automatically upgrade the device drivers for the at least one newly added network device if necessary and to maintain the tables of currently existing devices, to-be-installed devices, and to-be-deleted devices.
15. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising machine-readable code for causing the machine to apply pre-defined device settings and to obtain information of the at least one newly added network device and applying the information to the device drivers for the at least one newly added network device.
16. A computing system having a processor relating to an operation of the image forming and printing apparatus, comprising a program programmed for installing and using a device driver across a network, comprising computer executed method steps of:
providing a network device that can be connected to anywhere in the network;
providing at least one domain controller and at least one user computer connected to the network;
upon detecting a user login to the at least one user computer, searching the network for at least one newly added network device that is added to any point in the network;
creating a table of discovered devices comprising discovered devices from searching the network for the at least one newly added network device;
comparing the table of discovered devices with a table of currently existing devices to produce a table of to-be-installed devices, wherein the table of to-be-installed devices optionally comprises to-be-updated devices;
installing device drivers for the at least one newly added network device onto only the at least one user computer;
enabling use of the at least one newly added network device from the at least one user computer so that access from the at least one user computer goes directly to the at least one newly added network device;
comparing the table of discovered devices with the table of currently existing devices to produce a table of to-be-deleted devices comprising devices in the table of currently existing devices that are not in the table of discovered devices; and
for each device in the table of to-be-deleted devices, deleting the device if a delete grace period is set by a user and the delete grace period is exceeded or if the delete grace period and login attempts are exceeded while the device has been unavailable or undetected, optionally displaying and prompting a seamless popup dialog integrated into an operating system of the at least one user computer, the dialog being optionally invisible to the user, and optionally deleting the corresponding device driver of the device if the device corresponds to an only device entry.
17. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the installing of the device drivers comprises providing optionally-silent and seamless pop-up GUI, and wherein the detecting of the user login or the installing of the device drivers comprises running of script files, comprising computer executed method steps of:
parsing parameters in a command line including a username and optionally a password;
running a check with the username and password as parameters to determine privilege sufficiency to install a required device driver, wherein confirmation is made to determine that privilege of the username and password, passed as the parameters is sufficient to install the required device driver;
discovering all relevant devices in the network and IP address range;
obtaining a list of installed device entries and assigned ports using WMI interface from Windows scripting host;
comparing using the script files and the at least one user computer the table of discovered devices and the table of currently existing devices; and
running the script files to install and upgrade all the discovered devices and to delete each device in the table of to-be-deleted devices, with optionally confirming for the delete grace period, in the seamless popup dialog which is invisible to the user.
18. The computing system of claim 16, further comprising code for causing the machine to search the network for unavailable devices when detecting the user login; and deleting device drivers for the searched unavailable devices, wherein the deleting of the device drivers is performed only when a deletion grace period is exceeded.
19. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the searching of the at least one newly added network device comprises using TCPIP or SNMP, and further comprising machine-readable code for causing the machine to automatically upgrade the device drivers for the at least one newly added network device if necessary and to maintain the tables of currently existing devices, to-be-installed devices, and to-be-deleted devices.
20. The computing system of claim 16, further comprising a print engine and code for applying pre-defined device settings and to obtain information of the at least one newly added network device and applying the information to the device drivers for the at least one newly added network device.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A calculating circuit for dividing a fixed-point input signal consisting of a sequence of n-bit-wide digital data values by an adjustable dividing factor 2k for generating a divided fixed-point output signal, comprising:
(a) a signal input for applying the data value sequence of the fixed-point input signal;
(b) a first addition circuit which adds the digital data value present at the signal input to a data value temporarily stored in a register to form a first aggregate data value;
(c) a shift circuit which shifts the first aggregate data value present by k data bits to the right so that higher-order data bits of the first aggregate data value are delivered at an output of the shift circuit;
(d) a logic circuit which logically ANDs the k lower-order data bits of the first aggregate data value with a logical data value in the case of a logically low output control signal of a control logic and logically ORs these bits with an inverted logical data value in the case of a logically high output control signal of the control logic and delivers them to the register for temporarily storing the logically combined data value;
(e) a second addition circuit which adds the data value delivered by the shift circuit to one to form a second aggregate data value in the case of a logically high output control signal of the control logic;
(f) a signal output for delivering a sequence of the second aggregate data value as the divided fixed-point output signal;
(g) the control logic generating an output control signal which is logically high when the first aggregate data value is a negative number which cannot be divided by the dividing factor 2k without remainder.
2. The calculating circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the logical data value is equal to the dividing factor 2k reduced by one.
3. The calculating circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the logic circuit contains an inverter for inverting the logical data value.
4. The calculating circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the logic circuit has an AND gate for logically ANDing the logical data value with the k lower-order data bits of the first aggregate data value.
5. The calculating circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the logic circuit has an OR gate for logically ORing the inverted logical data value with the k lower-order data bits of the first aggregate data value.
6. The calculating circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second addition circuit has an adder for adding the data value delivered by the shift circuit to one to form the second aggregate data value, and has a multiplexer which switches the data value delivered by the shift circuit when a logically low output control signal is output by the control logic and the second aggregate data value generated by a second adder when a logically high output control signal is output by the control logic to the signal output of the calculating circuit.
7. The calculating circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the dividing factor is a power value with the base two and an exponentiation factor k.
8. The calculating circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the exponentiation factor k corresponds to the number of data bits which are shifted to the right by the shift circuit.
9. The calculating circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control logic has a sign detection circuit for detecting the sign of the first aggregate data value.
10. The calculating circuit as claimed in claim 9, wherein the control logic has a first logical AND gate for logically ANDing the first aggregate data value with the logical data value.
11. The calculating circuit as claimed in claim 9, wherein the sign detection circuit and a logical OR gate are connected to a second logical AND gate for generating the output control signal of the control logic.
12. The calculating circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the logic circuit has an AND gate for logically ANDing the logical data value with the k lower-order data bits of the first aggragate data value and further wherein the logic circuit has an OR gate for logically ORing the inverted logical data value with the k lower-order data bits of the first aggragate data value.
13. The calculating circuit as claimed in claim 12, wherein the logic circuit has a multiplexer comprising:
(a) a first input, which is connected to the output of the AND gate,
(b) a second input, which is connected to the output of the OR gate,
(c) an output, which is connected to the register, and comprising a control input, which is driven by the control logic.