JP2002318703A - Control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To further flexibly configure a control system for applying a uniform interface to a POS application on the basis of Java (C). SOLUTION: A factory class 34 to generate a device service(DS) 13 by device control(DC) 12 refers to an information file 36 and when a trace is requested, a trace class 35 is loaded in place of the DS 13. Then, the trace class 35 loads the DS 13. In such a control system 39, a function of tracing the execution condition of the DS 13 as required can be integrated without affecting the specification of the DC 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a control system using object software executed using a Java virtual machine as a platform.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A component-based program or software (object) based on object-oriented programming is reusable software that runs on an operating system, and various systems have been developed using objects. In particular, a program (Java application or Java) written in Java (registered trademark) language
An applet can be executed as long as there is only a Java virtual machine (JVM). Therefore, any operating system (OS) that supports the JVM can be executed regardless of the type and version of the OS. Therefore, Windows (registered trademark) of OS provided by Microsoft Corporation
The Java application runs regardless of whether it is running on a system running Linux, a system running Linux as an OS, or embedded as microcode in a dedicated computer chip. As described above, since the Java application does not depend on a specific OS, software assets can be protected, and it is economical because there is no need to develop for each system. Further, since the user is not tied to a specific OS, the range of selection is greatly expanded. Furthermore, even if the OS is changed or updated, existing software assets can be continued or succeeded.

The POS system is one of systems assembled by various peripheral devices, and various input / output devices such as a display, a printer, a scanner, a drawer, and a card reader are connected to a host computer such as a personal computer. By doing so, a system is constructed. Therefore, by providing a POS system using a Java application that does not depend on the specifications of the host computer, it is possible to introduce a new POS system using existing hardware,
In addition, since the application development cost is reduced, the burden on the user can be reduced. At the same time, since the system for constructing the POS system can be flexibly selected, the user's choices can be expanded, and many advantages such as the construction of a system suitable for the user's environment can be obtained.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of a Java POS system 10. This POS system 10 is provided for each POS.
POS application program 1 provided by the manufacturer
1, a printer 21, a scanner 22 or a drawer 23
A device control object (first object, hereinafter referred to as DC) 12 is supplied for each type of peripheral device (device) (device class unit), and a service object (for each device, that is, for each device) Second object, hereinafter DS) 13
And Each of the devices 21 to 23 controlled by the DS 13 is connected to a host running an application program 11 such as a personal computer 18 and an object program via a port driver 14 for controlling a serial port, a parallel port or a USB port. ing. Therefore, P
When the OS application program 11 outputs from the printer 21, the data is passed to the printer DC 12, further passed to the DS 13 corresponding to the maker and model of the printer to be output, and supplied to the printer 21 via the port driver 14. You.

The Java POS system 10 shown in FIG.
Then, the object control system 19 provided with the DC 12 and the DS 13
1 and a peripheral device such as the printer 21 is provided with an interface independent of the model. These applications 11, DC12, and DS13 are programs created in the Java language, and are converted into Java bytecodes by a compiler so that they can be executed in a Java virtual machine (JVM). Therefore, a uniform service can be provided without depending on the OS installed on the host 18.

[0006]

In such a POS system, there is a demand to trace the execution status of each object for the purpose of system check or the like.
However, the tracing function is usually unnecessary, and if a log is taken, the storage capacity of the system may be reduced, or extra work may be required to delete the log. Furthermore, if a trace function is incorporated in the DC 12 or the DS 13, the program size may increase and the processing speed may decrease. Therefore, it is desirable to construct a system using objects without a tracing function in normal business.

For this reason, when it is desired to add a trace function to the DS 13, it is necessary to prepare an object having a trace function and an object having no trace function.
Further, it is necessary to select and generate one of them in the DC 12. However, the DS12 has been developed with a single specification for the purpose of providing an interface that does not depend on a device unit, and a specification that selects and reads a plurality of DS13s on a device basis is introduced. Can not do.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a control system that can flexibly construct a distributed system capable of controlling a large number of devices using Java.

[0009]

Therefore, in the present invention, a factory class for generating a DS based on a request from a DC is provided, and the factory class refers to an information file set by a user, and The user can select an object corresponding to a desired device, generated by a request from the user. That is,
In the control system of the present invention that operates using a Java virtual machine (JVM) as a platform, a first object that provides an interface for each device type to an application program that can control a plurality of types of devices, A second object providing an interface to the first object, a third object having an additional function for the second object, and a second object corresponding to the device at the request of the first object Refers to an information file that is at least a possible fourth object and includes at least information indicating the necessity of the third object before generation, and when the third object is requested, the third object Having a fourth object to create . In addition, the fourth object of the control system of the present invention is executed by the JVM, and is requested by a first object that provides an interface for each device type to an application program that can control a plurality of types of devices. When generating a second object that provides an interface for each device, a third object is referred to by referring to an information file including at least information indicating whether or not a third object having an additional function for the second object is necessary. A program having instructions for executing a process of generating a third object when an object of the third type is requested.

In the control system of the present invention, a fourth object, that is, a factory class is provided to generate a second object, that is, a DS, and a DS or a third object can be selected by the factory class. I have. Therefore, without changing the specification of the first object, that is, DC,
The DS or the third object can be generated by the user's selection at the request of the DC without being aware of the S or the third object. For this reason, in the control system of the present invention, a class having a function of tracing the execution status of the second object, that is, an instance of a trace class, is generated as the third object when a system check or the like is required. be able to.

As the trace class, it is possible to prepare a program including DS functions. However, it is necessary to prepare a program having a trace function and a program having no trace function. The number of man-hours and man-hours for inspection are more than doubled. Therefore, it is desirable to provide the third object with a function of generating the second object. That is, to provide a third object,
A second object that provides a device-based interface to a first object that provides an interface for each device type to an application program that can control a plurality of types of devices by being executed by the JVM
It is desirable to provide a program having instructions for executing additional processing for an object and processing for generating a second object.

By providing the function of generating the second object, ie, DS, in the third object,
Only the trace function can be supported as the third object, the trace class. Therefore, when checking the function as a DS, only the DS, that is, the second object needs to be checked, and the version upgrade is also the same. Then, when checking the function as a trace, the trace class, ie, the third class
Only the inspection of the object need be performed. Also, when the additional function of the third object is required as the fourth object, only the third object needs to be generated instead of the second object, so that the configuration is simplified.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible for a user to freely set an object generated at the request of a DC, and to provide a uniform interface for each type of device to an application program using a large number of devices. It is possible to construct a more flexible distributed system that can perform such operations. The above-mentioned third or fourth object for constituting the control system of the present invention is a program having an instruction capable of executing the above-mentioned processing, and is a CD-R.
It can be recorded on an appropriate recording medium such as OM or provided via a computer network, and can be recorded on an appropriate recording medium of a computer on which a JVM operates and used.

[0014] These devices may be virtual. According to the present invention, a control system can be flexibly constructed, and development and verification of a device service are further facilitated. Therefore, the present invention is suitable for a control system such as a printer and a scanner, whose performance and specifications are different depending on the maker and model, and device services are different. That is, the present invention is suitable for a control system that can provide a uniform interface to an application using peripheral devices of a host computer such as a personal computer as a device. Therefore, the present invention is suitable for a control system in which the first object is a device control object provided for each type of peripheral device and the second object is a device service object provided for each peripheral device. One of them is that the application program is PO
A control system that is an S application program can be given.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be further described below based on the Java POS system 10 described above with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows a configuration for controlling a certain device, for example, the printer 21 in the control system 39 of the present invention. A device control (DC) 12 that provides an interface with a printer to the application 11 includes an interface (first interface) 12i that the application 11 can use. Similarly, a device service (DS) 13 that provides the DC 12 with an interface with a specific printer 21 includes an interface (second interface) 13 that the DC 12 can use.
i. When the DC 12 calls the DS 13 in order to access the device 21, an instance is generated and the DS 13 can be used as an object.

For this reason, the control system 39 controls the DC 12
JCL (jpos config / load) that can be called to establish and disconnect a connection by specifying the name of a specific printer
er) object (hereinafter JCL) 31 and this JC
A factory object (fourth object, hereinafter a factory class) 34 for generating an instance of the DS 13 according to an instruction from the L31 is provided. further,
The control system 39 uses the factory class 34
13 is a name resolution which can acquire an entry point in the name information DB 33 including a database (hereinafter referred to as DB) 33 stored by XML or the like and information such as conditions and settings when generating the instance 13. An object 32 is provided. Therefore, the JCL 31 has an interface 31i that the DC 12 can use to specify the name of the printer, and the factory class 34
The JCL 31 has an interface 34i that can specify an entry point.

The control system 39 of this embodiment further includes a DS
Thirteen objects (third object, hereinafter referred to as a trace class) 35 having a trace function, and an information file 36 storing information φ1 as to whether or not to load the trace class 35 instead of the DS13. . The trace class 35 includes, in addition to a function 35a for tracing the execution information of the DS13, a function 35b for loading the DS13 similarly to the factory class 34, an interface 35i similar to the interface 13i for the DS13,
And an event interface 35e mounted on the DC 12 for notifying the DC 12 of the event from the DS 13. Therefore, when an instance of the trace class is generated as the object 35, the DS 13 is generated by the trace class 35, the execution information thereof is traced, and a log is generated. Further, for the device 21, an interface 35i equivalent to the DS13 is provided to the DC12.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing of a method for generating an instance among the functions of the factory class 34. To the factory class 34, information on a device that the DC 12 is about to start is passed from the JCL 31 as information of an entry point (JposEntry) of the DB 33 via the interface 34i. Therefore, in step 51, the name of the device service (DS) 13 corresponding to the device that the DC 12 is about to start is acquired from the DB 33 by the entry point. Next, at step 52, the DS13
The presence or absence of the trace information file 36 is checked, and if not, the DS 13 is loaded with the name obtained at the entry point in step 57.

On the other hand, if there is a trace information file 36, the information φ1 of the information file 36 is read in step 53, and it is determined in step 54 whether or not a trace is necessary. If tracing is not requested, the DS13 is used with the name obtained at the entry point in step 57 as described above.
To load. If tracing has been requested, step 55 loads the trace class 35 for the category of the device to be activated. That is, an instance of the trace class 35 is generated. Since the trace class 35 has a function 35b for loading the DS 13, a DS having a trace function is generated. In this way, the DS of the device for which the DC 12 is about to start is generated, so that step 5
6 and the factory class 34 is DS13 or DS
The information of the entry point is passed to the trace class 35 for loading 13. Thereby, DB33 is stored in DS13.
Is passed, the DS13 or the trace class having the function 35b for loading the DS13 can open the device based on the information of the DB33.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the initial processing (open method) of the trace class 35 loaded by the factory class 34. In step 61, the logical device name of the device that the DC 12 is about to start is stored, and in step 62, an Event Call, which is an interface for an event mounted on the DC 12, is used to notify the event from the DS 13 to the DC 12.
An instance of Backs is created. Further, in step 63, a method for opening the DS 13 using this interface as a parameter is executed.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing of the function 35b for loading the DS 13 of the trace class 35. This function can be performed by a function that receives an entry point from the factory class 34. First, in step 65, the name of the device service (DS) 13 corresponding to the device that the DC 12 is about to start is acquired from the DB 33 by the entry point.
Next, at step 66, the DS 13 is loaded using the name obtained at the entry point. Further, in step 67, the entry point is passed to DS13, and DS13
To reference the data.

In this way, the control system 39 of the present embodiment
In the above, if the information φ1 for requesting a trace is set in the trace information file 36, the trace class 3
5 and DS13 are loaded. For this reason, the DS 13 with the trace function is operated by the control system 39 and the DS 13
13 can be traced.

FIG. 6 shows the processing of the trace function 35a of the trace class 35. In order to easily distinguish the traced method information, an identification number (ID) is added in step 71 for each called method. And
In step 72, the method call information is output to the log in the order of the logical device name, the method name, the ID, the method parameter, and the current time. Then step 7
In 3, the real device service, that is, the method of DS13 is called. In step 74, it is determined whether or not an exception has occurred in the called method. If no exception has occurred, in step 75, the logical device name, ID, return value, and current time are output to a log. Return to
On the other hand, if an exception has occurred, in step 76, the logical device name, ID, exception information, and current time are output to a log, and an exception is issued.

Therefore, in the control system 39 of the present embodiment, by loading the trace class 35 with the factory class 34, it is possible to trace the state of the DS 13 in execution in detail. On the other hand, factory class 34
When the DS13 is loaded, the trace class 35 is not loaded, so that only the DS13 operates in the control system 39, processing time is spent for tracing, and the log is prevented from being created in the memory or the like. Can be. The necessity of tracing can be controlled by the information φ1 set in the information file 36.
The trace class 35 can be incorporated in the control system 39 without affecting specifications common to devices such as C12 and JCL31.

Further, in the control system 39 of the present embodiment, information for loading the DS 13 with the trace class 35 having the same function as the factory class 34, that is, an entry point is passed. Therefore, as the factory class 34, the information file 36
It is only necessary to set the name of the device service class to be opened according to the information φ1 of the above, and a trace function can be added with a very simple configuration. Also, trace class 35
Also, since the DS 13 to be loaded at the entry point can be selected, the device type, that is, the DC 12 can be selected without providing a trace class corresponding to each DS 13.
The trace of the DS 13 can be performed by the trace class 35 corresponding to.

Further, the trace class 35 has the same function as the factory class 34 so that the trace class 3
Since the DS13 is loaded from 5, the trace class 35 does not need to have the function as the DS13. That is, the trace class 35 can be developed and designed completely independently of the DS13. Therefore, even if the function of the service class is upgraded, the trace class is not affected, and only the trace class inspection need be performed when the trace class is developed and inspected. Therefore, the man-hours required for developing these Java applications can be reduced, and a control system having a trace function at low cost can be provided.

As described above, in the control system 19 of the present embodiment, when generating the DS 13 at the request of the DC 12, the user can freely set the DS having the trace function or the DS having no trace function. It becomes possible. Therefore, a distributed system using Java, which can provide a uniform interface for each type of the device 21 via the DC 12 to the application program 11 using a large number of devices 21,
That is, the POS system 10 can be constructed more flexibly.

Control system 3 for JavaPOS of this embodiment
9 and a trace class 35 are Java applets or programs having instructions for executing the functions of the factory class and the trace class described above, and these are CD-ROMs. Alternatively, it can be provided by being recorded on another computer-readable recording medium. If the computer runs the JVM, it can operate using the JVM as a platform without depending on the OS or the like, and can construct the control system 39 as described above.

Although the present invention has been described above based on the POS system handling a variety of devices, the present invention is not limited to the POS system, and a control in which a variety of devices are integrated using Java as a platform. The present invention can also be applied to a system that performs such operations, for example, a factory automation system or a robot control system. Although the present invention has been described based on a trace class having a trace function as the third object, the functions that can be incorporated as the third object are not limited to trace.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, the device control object (DC) as the first object provides an interface for each device, and the device service object (DS) as the second object. Is implemented, a trace class capable of tracing the execution status of the DS is provided as a third object, and when the DS is generated by a request from the DC in the factory class, which is the fourth object, the DS is generated according to the information in the information file. Instead of this, an instance of an object class having additional functions such as a trace function can be generated. Therefore, it is possible to construct a control system using a JVM as a platform that allows a user to freely control tracing on / off without affecting a DC whose specifications are unified to provide a uniform interface. it can.

Therefore, the control system of the present invention
A common interface can be provided to a variety of devices using a VM as a platform and independent of an OS or hardware, so that application programs can be executed without being restricted by hardware specifications and environments. The present invention can provide an environment, and further, according to the present invention, the functions of the control system itself can be easily controlled according to a request of a user or the like.

Further, a third function for adding a function to the DS
Can be designed and manufactured independently of the DS, so that the third object can be equipped with the function to be added almost independently, and the man-hour and cost for development such as inspection are minimized. Can be

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a POS system using an object service.

FIG. 2 is an example of a control system according to the present invention using a JVM as a platform.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing of a factory class shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing of an open method of the trace class shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of loading a device service using the trace class shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing of a trace function of the trace class shown in FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 10 POS system 11 Application program 12 Device control object (first object) 13 Device service object (second object) 19, 39 POS control system 31 JCL 33 Database 34 Factory class (fourth object) 35 Trace class (No. 3) 36 trace information file

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Toshiyuki Sugimoto 3-3-5 Yamato, Suwa-shi, Nagano F-term in Seiko Epson Corporation (reference) 3E042 EA03 EA10 5B076 AA02

Claims (16)

[Claims] 1. A control system that operates using a Java virtual machine as a platform, comprising: a first object providing an interface for each type of device to an application program capable of controlling a plurality of types of devices; A second object for providing the interface of the first object to the first object, and a third object having an additional function for the second object.
And an information file that can generate the second object corresponding to the device at the request of the first object, and at least includes information indicating whether or not the third object is necessary before the generation. And a fourth object for generating the third object when the third object is requested. 2. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the additional function of the third object is a function of tracing an execution state of the second object. 3. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the third object has a function of generating the second object. 4. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the device is a peripheral device of a host computer. 5. The device according to claim 4, wherein the first object is a device control object provided for each type of the peripheral device, and the second object is a device service object provided for each peripheral device. Some control systems. 6. The control system according to claim 4, wherein the application program is a POS application program. 7. The device-based interface is executed by a Java virtual machine to request an application program capable of controlling a plurality of types of devices to provide an interface for each device type. When generating a second object to be provided, a third object having an additional function for the second object
A program having instructions for executing a process of generating the third object when the third object is requested by referring to an information file including at least information indicating the necessity of the object. 8. The program according to claim 7, wherein the additional function of the third object is a function of tracing an execution status of the second object. 9. The program according to claim 7, wherein the device is a peripheral device of a host computer. 10. The device according to claim 9, wherein the first object is a device control object provided for each type of the peripheral device, and the second object is a device service object provided for each peripheral device. A program. 11. The program according to claim 9, wherein the application program is a POS application program. 12. A first object that provides an interface for each device type to an application program that is capable of controlling a plurality of types of devices by being executed by a Java virtual machine. A program having instructions for executing an additional process for the second object and a process for generating the second object. 13. The program according to claim 12, wherein the additional processing is processing for tracing an execution state of the second object. 14. The program according to claim 12, wherein the device is a peripheral device of a host computer. 15. The device according to claim 14, wherein the first object is a device control object provided for each type of the peripheral device, and the second object is a device service object provided for each peripheral device. A program. 16. The program according to claim 14, wherein the application program is a POS application program.