JP2002135356A - Data processing unit and data processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To interrupt communication connection by taking the time required for data processing into account in the case that a request device such as a host computer makes communication connection to a data processing unit such as a master unit and makes a request of the data processing such as batch processing needing only the processing result and to transmit the processing result by re-connection. SOLUTION: When the master unit Pos 1 receives a transmission request from a host computer Host 1 via a public line, the master unit Pos 1 processes data from slave units Pos2, etc., and transmits the processing result to the host computer Host. In this case, the line connection state is automatically controlled on the basis of a required time until the processing result is transmitted. When the line is once interrupted in this case, the line is connected again after a lapse of a required time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data processing device and a data processing method for executing predetermined data processing by communicating with another data processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a large-scale POS system, a host computer installed at a head office and the like and a master device (electronic cash register) installed at each branch or the like are connected via a public line. Further, in each branch or the like, a plurality of slave devices (electronic cash registers) are installed in addition to the master device, and the master device and the slave devices are connected via a dedicated line.
Here, when the host computer transmits, for example, a tallying command of a PLU (price look-up) file to the master device, the master device sends a P
The contents of the LU file are collected, the totaling process is performed, and the totaling result is transmitted to the host computer.

[0003]

The billing method using the public line is a time difference method by distance, and the telephone charge is updated every time a unit time corresponding to the distance elapses. Therefore, when the host computer calls the master device and starts, for example, batch processing of PLU aggregation, if the batch processing takes a long time, telephone charges become enormous. An object of the present invention is to provide a data processing system in which a requesting device such as a host computer requests data processing such as batch processing that requires only a processing result by making a communication connection with a data processing device such as a master device. The processing result is transmitted by disconnecting and reconnecting the communication connection in consideration of the time required for the communication.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided a data processing device for performing communication processing with a predetermined requesting device and executing data processing in response to a processing request from the requesting device. If the request is a processing request that requires returning the processing result, a first transmission that transmits to the requesting device that it takes time to obtain the processing result in the data processing corresponding to the processing request. When the processing result is obtained by executing the data processing for the processing request and the means, the processing result is obtained for the requesting device whose communication connection is temporarily disconnected during the execution of the data processing. And a second transmission unit for transmitting the processing result to the requesting device after the communication with the requesting device again after the communication connection with the requesting device.

[0005]

An embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram showing the entire POS system. This POS system is a tallying system that counts sales data and the like of each branch for each branch and transmits the tallyed data to the head office.
A plurality of electronic cash registers (ECRs) are installed at each branch as POS terminals, and one of the POS terminals is a master device Po.
s1, other POS terminal is slave device Pos
2. It functions as Pos3. Here, the modem M1 on the host computer Host side and the modem M2 on the host computer Host side are connected via a public line ONL, and the master device Pos1 and the slave device Pos
2, Pos3... Are connected via a private line INL. In such a POS system, when the host computer Host calls the master device Pos1 and starts, for example, batch processing of PLU aggregation, the master device Pos1 becomes the slave devices Pos2 and Pos1.
Data is collected from s3... and a totaling process is performed. Here, if the tallying process takes too long, the host computer Host disconnects the line connection state depending on the accounting method, and then connects until the tallying process is completed.
Thereafter, an operation of connecting the line and transmitting the total data to the host computer Host is started.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the host computer Host. Host computer Host is CP
U1 has a ROM2, an input unit 3, a display unit 4, an external device interface unit 5, a file disk device 6, a RAM 7, and a modem M1.
The overall operation of the host computer Host is controlled according to various programs stored in the host computer. here,
The CPU 1 transmits a counting command to the master device Pos1, instructs the master device Pos1 to perform batch processing such as PLU counting, and controls the line connection state with the master device Pos1. The RAM 7 is provided with a billing table 17-1 to be described later.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the master device Pos1. The master device Pos1 has a ROM 12, an input unit 13, a display unit 14, an in-line control unit 15, a printer 16, a drawer 17, a RAM 18, and a modem M2 with the CPU 11 as a core, and the CPU 11 operates according to various programs stored in the ROM 12 and the like. This master device Po
The overall operation of s1 is controlled. Here, when the tallying command is transmitted from the host computer Host, the CPU 11 calls the slave devices Pos2,..., Performs data tallying, and outputs the tallying result to the host computer Host.
to t. At this time, the CPU 11 refers to the time calculation file 18-1 in the RAM 18, finds the time required for transmitting the tally result, and transmits this required time to the host computer Host. The RAM 18 has a result file 18-2 in addition to the time calculation file 18-1.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of the charging table 7-1.
The billing table 7-1 has a table structure according to the distance-based time difference method, and has items of “region”, “flag”, “start”, “end”, and “fee”. Here, "flag" means the continuation of the record, flag "1" indicates the record start, "2" to "99" indicate the record continuation number, and "0" indicates the end of the record. In the billing method according to the contents of this table,
Taking "city" as an example, 10 yen for the first 3 minutes, then
It shows that 5 yen is charged every minute.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the time calculation file 18-1. The time calculation file 18-1 has a "type" indicating the type of batch processing and a "coefficient" indicating the transmission time required for transmitting one record. , The number of slave devices connected to the master device Pos1, and the number of records indicating the total number of records in the file to be processed. When the number of slave devices is increased in the system, the number in the time calculation file 18-1 is automatically updated. When the file size is changed, the “number” is automatically updated accordingly.

FIG. 6 shows the structure of the result file 18-2. The "command" transmitted from the host computer Host, the "IDNo" for processing identification transmitted together with the command, and the processing start time are shown in FIG. It has items of “start time”, “end time” indicating the processing end time, and “result” indicating whether or not the processing has been normally completed. For example, in the case where the first record of the result file 18-2 has performed the tallying process of the date data, the ID No. unique to the process is “5412” and “0”.
The tallying process is performed between "time 12 minutes" and "0:14",
The processing result indicates that it was “normal”.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation of transmitting and receiving data between the host computer Host and the master device Pos1. First, the host computer Host calls the master device Pos1 to connect the public line (step A1), and transmits an ID number along with a command (step A).
2). For example, command = total date data, IDNo = 5
412 is transmitted. Then, the master device Pos1 receives this (step B1), and calculates the required time by referring to the time calculation file 18-1 based on this command (step B2). For example, in the tabulation of date data, the coefficient is “0.1”, the number is “8”, and the number is “10”.
Since it is “0”, 0.1 × 8 × 100 = 1 minute 20 seconds is calculated. The required time thus calculated is transmitted to the host computer Host (step B3). Thereafter, the master device Pos1 executes a batch process (for example, a process of summarizing date data) for each slave device according to the command (step B4), and writes the result together with the command and the ID No. to the result file 18-2 ( Step B5). And the host computer Hos
It becomes a state of waiting for reception from t. In this case, the master device P
os1 waits for reception while executing other processing.

On the other hand, upon receiving the required time transmitted from the master device Pos1 (step A3), the host computer Host determines whether or not to continue the line connection based on the required time (step A4). FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the determination processing in this case. First, referring to the charging table 7-1, a charge is calculated when the line connection is immediately cut off and when the line connection is continued as it is (step A4-1). By comparing the two charges thus obtained, it is checked whether it is more advantageous to immediately disconnect the line (step A4--).
2). For example, in the case of the example (1) in FIG. 9, if the required time is 4 minutes, it is found that it is more advantageous to continue the line connection as it is, but in the case of the example (2), It turns out that it is better to disconnect the line immediately.

Here, for example, if the required time is 1 minute and 20 seconds in a state where a line connection is made in the city, it is natural that it is more advantageous to continue the line connection state as it is for a fee. The process proceeds to -3 and waits with the line connected until the processing in the master device Pos1 is completed. In this case, another process may be executed while the line is connected. On the other hand, if it is better to cut off the line connection, the line connection to master device Pos1 is cut off (step A4).
-4), and wait until the processing in the master device Pos1 is completed (step A4-5). During this time, the host computer Host may execute other processing. afterwards,
After the required time has elapsed, the host computer Host makes a line connection to the master device Pos1 again (step A).
4-6).

In this state, the process proceeds to step A5 in FIG. 7 and instructs the master device Pos1 to search the result file 18-2 with the previously transmitted command and ID No. If data indicating "normal end" has been sent, step A
Then, the process proceeds to step S6 in which the data of the aggregation result transmitted from the master device Pos1 is collected.

FIG. 10 specifically shows a data transmission / reception state between the host computer Host and the master device Pos1, in which the host computer Host transmits a command “PLU aggregation” and an ID number “4321” to the master device Pos1. Then, the master device Pos1 searches the time calculation file 18-1 and determines the required time (0.01 × 8
× 18000 = 24 minutes), and transmits this to the host computer Host, and performs PLU aggregation processing. Then, the processing result is written to the result file 18-2. On the other hand, the host computer Host refers to the charging table 7-1 based on the required time transmitted from the master device Pos1, and determines whether it is better to disconnect the line. In this case, it is better to disconnect the line.
After a lapse of minutes, the line connection is made again. Next, result file 1
8-2 is instructed to be searched, and as a result, if the processing is normally completed, data is downloaded from the master device Pos1.

In the above embodiment, the master device P
Although the required time is calculated on the os1 side, the required time may be calculated on the host computer Host side. In the above embodiment, the required time is calculated with reference to the contents of the time calculation file 18-1. However, for example, the processing time for each file processing may be fixedly stored.

[0017]

According to the present invention, when there is a processing request that requires a return of a processing result from a predetermined requesting device, it is transmitted that a time is required to obtain the processing result, and the request is transmitted. By temporarily disconnecting the communication connection with the device, it is not necessary to keep the communication connection state for a long time even during the execution of the data processing,
When a processing result is obtained by executing the data processing for the processing request, a response is sent to the requesting apparatus, and a communication connection with the requesting apparatus is performed again, and the processing result is transmitted to the requesting apparatus. Since it is immediately transmitted to the device, the requesting device does not need to keep the communication connection state for a long time even during the execution of data processing for the processing request,
In addition, the processing result can be obtained immediately when the processing result is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an entire POS system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a host computer Host.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a master device Pos1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a billing table 7-1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a time calculation file 18-1.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a result file 18-2.

FIG. 7 shows a host computer Host and a master device Po.
9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of transmitting and receiving data to and from s1.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of a determination process shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a specific example when determining whether to keep the line connected or disconnected based on the required time.

FIG. 10 shows a host computer Host and a master device P.
The figure which showed the data transmission / reception state with os1 concretely.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Host Host computer Pos1 Master device Pos2, Pos3 Slave device M1, M2 Modem ONL Public line 1, 11 CPU 2, 12 ROM 7-1 Billing table 15 Inline control unit 18-1 Time calculation file

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI theme coat ゛ (Reference) G07G 1/12 341 G07G 1/14 1/14 H04L 13/00 307A

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A data processing device for performing communication processing with a predetermined requesting device and executing data processing in response to a processing request from the requesting device, wherein the processing request from the requesting device returns a processing result. A first transmission unit that transmits to the requesting device that it takes time to obtain a processing result by executing data processing corresponding to the processing request when the processing request requires the processing request; When the processing result is obtained by executing the data processing for, a response that the processing result is obtained is sent to the requesting device whose communication connection is temporarily disconnected during the execution of the data processing. And a second transmitting means for transmitting the processing result to the requesting device after re-communication connection with the requesting device. 2. A data processing method for executing data processing in response to a processing request from a predetermined requesting device that is communicatively connected, wherein the processing request from the requesting device is a processing request that requires a return of the processing result. Is transmitted to the requesting device that it takes time to obtain a processing result by executing the data processing corresponding to the processing request, and the processing result is obtained by executing the data processing corresponding to the processing request. When the data processing is performed, a response that the processing result is obtained is sent to the requesting device whose communication connection has been temporarily disconnected during the execution of the data processing, and after the communication connection with the requesting device is made again, Transmitting the processing result to the requesting device.