Communication device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9609690-B2
Application number	US-201414208220-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2014
Priority date	Mar 28, 2013
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

A communication device may receive first information from a terminal device in a case where a first communication link is established via a first type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device. The communication device may determine whether a communication via a second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is performable, establish a second communication link via the first type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device, and perform a two-way communication of second information with the terminal device by using the second communication link in a case where it is determined that the communication via the second type of interface is performable. The communication device may not perform the two-way communication of the second information with the terminal device in a case where it is determined that the communication is not performable.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communication device comprising:
a first type of interface configured to perform a communication with a terminal device according to an NFC (abbreviation of Near Field Communication) scheme complying with an NFC standard;
a second type of interface configured to perform a communication with the terminal device according to a scheme different from the NFC scheme; and
a controller configured to:
receive first information from the terminal device by using a first communication link in a case where the first communication link is established via the first type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device, the first communication link being a communication link in which a data communication is to be performed by the communication device operating in a first mode of the NFC standard that is different from a P2P (abbreviation of Peer to Peer) mode of the NFC standard and by the terminal device operating in a second mode of the NFC standard that is different from the P2P mode and the first mode;
in a case where the first information is received from the terminal device, execute a first determining process related to whether a communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is performable;
establish a second communication link via the first type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device in the case where the first information is received from the terminal device, the second communication link being a communication link in which a data communication is to be performed by the communication device operating in the P2P mode and by the terminal device operating in the P2P mode; and
perform a two-way communication of second information with the terminal device by using the second communication link, in a case where it is determined in the first determining process that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is performable, the second information being information for performing a communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device,
wherein the controller is configured not to perform the two-way communication of the second information with the terminal device, in a case where it is determined in the first determining process that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is not performable.

2. The communication device as in claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to establish the second communication link in the case where it is determined in the first determining process that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is performable.

3. The communication device as in claim 2 , wherein
the controller is configured not to establish the second communication link in the case where it is determined in the first determining process that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is not performable.

4. The communication device as in claim 1 , wherein
the controller is further configured to store specific identification information for identifying the terminal device in a memory in a case where an instruction for registering the specific identification information is given,
the first information includes the specific identification information, and
the first determining process includes:
determining that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is performable, in a case where the first information including the specific identification information is received from the terminal device in a state where the specific identification information is stored in the memory; and
determining that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is not performable, in a case where the first information including the specific identification information is received from the terminal device in a state where the specific identification information is not stored in the memory.

5. The communication device as in claim 4 , wherein
the controller is configured to further execute a second determining process related to whether a communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is performable, in a case where the first information is received from the terminal device,
the first information includes a performing request for causing the communication device to perform a specific function,
the second determining process includes:
determining that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is performable, in a case where the communication device is in a state being capable of performing the specific function; and
determining that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is not performable, in a case where the communication device is in a state being incapable of performing the specific function,
the controller is configured to perform the two-way communication of the second information with the terminal device by using the second communication link, in a case where it is determined in both of the first determining process and the second determining process that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is performable, and
the controller is configured not to perform the two-way communication of the second information with the terminal device, in a case where it is determined in at least one of the first determining process and the second determining process that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is not performable.

6. The communication device as in claim 1 , wherein
the first information includes a performing request for causing the communication device to perform a specific function,
the first determining process includes:
determining that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is performable, in a case where the communication device is in a state being capable of performing the specific function; and
determining that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is not performable, in a case where the communication device is in a state being incapable of performing the specific function.

7. The communication device as in claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to establish the second communication link before executing the first determining process,
the controller is configured to perform the two-way communication of the second information with the terminal device by using the established second communication link, in the case where it is determined in the first determining process that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is performable; and
the controller is further configured to send third information different from the second information to the terminal device by using the established second communication link, in the case where it is determined in the first determining process that the communication via the second type of interface between the communication device and the terminal device is not performable, the third information indicating that the communication via the second type of interface b

Assignees

• Shibata Hiroshi
• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Shibata Hiroshi

Classifications

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title

• H04W76/023

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N1/32797

  Systems adapted to communicate over more than one channel, e.g. via ISDN (changing transmission mode according to type of channel H04N2201/33364; multichannel or multilink communication protocols H04L69/14) · CPC title

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N1/00342

  with a radio frequency tag transmitter or receiver (storage of additional information in an RFID tag attached to an image bearing paper sheet H04N1/32138) · CPC title