JP2003280827A - Service providing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a service providing device capable of improving reliability without increasing communication data quantity by reducing the number of components as much as possible. <P>SOLUTION: The service providing device 103 connected to a plurality of service users 101 is provided with a second communicating means connected to the other service providing devices 102 and 104 through media physically different from its connection to the service users 101, a means for receiving and storing request data to be transmitted to another service providing device, a holding means for holding data in response to a data storage request transmitted from the other service providing device through the second communicating means, and a means for transferring data stored by the storing means in response to a data transfer request transmitted from the other service providing device by the second communicating means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a service providing apparatus for data communication, and more particularly to a service providing apparatus for improving reliability of printing operation of a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a method for improving the reliability of printing operation of a printer has been proposed. For example, JP-A-8
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 179898, a single printer is equipped with a plurality of network interfaces to multiplex communication paths and improve reliability.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-331104, by transferring data a plurality of times and comparing the data,
Pursuing the accuracy of communication improves reliability.

Further, the applicant has proposed a device for improving reliability by retransmitting only a damaged data portion from another device.

[0005]

However, according to such a conventional device, there is a problem that the number of hardware parts needs to be increased and an increase in cost cannot be avoided.

Further, according to such a conventional apparatus, there is a drawback that it takes time to transfer data a plurality of times.

Further, there has been a problem in transferring data that has once failed in data transfer through a network in which a problem has already occurred.

[0008] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a service providing apparatus capable of suppressing the increase in the number of parts as much as possible and improving the reliability without increasing the communication data amount.

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 is a service providing apparatus connected to a plurality of service users, wherein the service providing apparatus is another service providing apparatus. , A second communication means connected by a medium physically different from the connection with the service user, a means for intercepting and storing request data sent to another service providing apparatus, and another service providing apparatus Second
Storing means for storing data in response to a data storage request sent by the second communication means, and transferring data stored by the external storage means in response to a data transfer request sent by the second communication means from another service providing apparatus. And a transfer means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the service providing apparatus according to the first aspect, means for detecting a failure in data reception, means for specifying a portion where the data reception has failed,
A means for requesting to extract the part where the data reception has failed from the request data stored in another service providing device;
It is characterized by further comprising: a means for sending a request by the second communication means, and a means for continuing the processing by using the retrieved data.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
The service providing apparatus described in the above item 1 has a service providing system including two or more service providing apparatuses.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 is an outline of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The print client 101 issues a print request to any of the print server A 102, print server B 103, and print server C 104. The print server A 102 is not equipped with a mass storage device. The print server B103 is a device in which an optional hard disk 105 is added to the same model as the print server A102. The print server C104 is the print server A102 or B.
It is a printer of a model different from 103, and is equipped with a hard disk 106.

The print client 101 and the print servers 102 to 104 are connected via a network. The print servers A102, B103, C104
Have a plurality of serial communication ports, and are connected to each other by a high-speed serial line.

The application software running on the print client 101 creates a document to be printed, the printer driver running on the print client 101 converts the document into data that can be interpreted by the printer, and the print data is sent as a print request via the network. Send to the printer, and the printer prints the print data.

[Operation at Printer Startup] FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the operation of the printer of the present invention at startup. When the printer is activated (step 201), the connected serial ports are checked one by one (step 202). Detects the printer that has the HDD installed and the data storage function among the connection destinations. Then, it sends its network address to these data storage functions and requests it to start storing the data sent to that address (step 203).
In addition, a device that has this data storage function, and stores it as a “data storage service providing device list” as a destination to request data transfer when data loss occurs. Next, it is judged whether or not oneself can provide the data storage service (step 204). Normally, this is determined by the presence / absence of HDD. If the data archiving service is provided (YES in step 204), the data archiving service and the data resending service described below are started (step 205). After that, it waits for the next request such as a print request (step 206).

[Data Storage Operation] FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the data storage operation of the printer of the present invention. Now, the printers that provide the data storage service are
The network is constantly monitored (steps 301 to 302). When a print request to the printer requested to store the data is detected (YES in step 303), the communication is recorded (step 304). The stored data is retained until the printer that prints the data ends the print request (YES in step 305). After the printing operation is completed (YES in step 306), the time until the data is discarded (steps 307 and 308) depends on the setting for each device, and this time can be set from the printer panel or the like (step 309).

[Data Resending Operation] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the data resending operation of the printer of the present invention. From the printer that is printing (step 401),
When "Data resend request" is sent (step 40)
If YES in step 2, the necessary print request data portion is sent according to the request (step 403). That is, the stored data is read and transferred to the request source according to the information of the data start position and the data retransmission amount included in the “data retransmission request”.

[0019]   [Details of data resend request] ReSend Data;   Original Target = Printer_A;   Data Transfer Begin Time = 14: 25: 09;       Begin = 12345 Byte;       End = ALL; <CR> <LF>

[Response to Data Retransmission Request] RsSend Data; Length = 23456 Byte; <Binary data>

[Printing Operation] FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the data printing operation of the printer of the present invention. When the printer receives a print request from the client,
Printing is started normally (steps 501 and 502). However, if some data is missed due to buffer overrun or momentary interruption of network line (step 5
If YES in 03, the data storage server is requested to retransmit that portion of data (step 504). This is to select one device from the list of data storage service providing devices that was created in advance and request that device to retransmit the data in the above format. The printing process is continued using the received data (step 505) (step 502). This makes it possible to solve the problem of data loss without imposing a load on the print client.

[0022]

According to the present invention, request data can be saved even if the data can be interpreted only by a specific service providing device, and operation confirmation and communication content confirmation can be performed later.

Further, according to the present invention, even if the requested data is missed, a communication error does not occur and the data can be reacquired and the processing can be continued. At this time, since a medium different from the communication medium in which the error has occurred is used, reliability can be improved.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, even if the requested data is missed, a communication error does not occur, and the data can be reacquired and the processing can be continued without burdening the client.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a print system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart when the printer of the present invention is activated.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a data storage operation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a data retransmission operation of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a data printing operation of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 print client 102 Print server A 103 print server B 104 Print server C 105, 106 hard disk

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A service providing apparatus connected to a plurality of service users, wherein the service providing apparatus is connected to another service providing apparatus by a medium physically different from the connection to the service user. Intercepting request data sent to the second communication means and another service providing device,
A means for saving, a saving means for saving the data in response to a data storage request sent from the second service providing device from the second service providing device, and a second communication means from the other service providing device. And a transfer means for transferring the data stored by the external storage means in response to a data transfer request sent. 2. A means for detecting a failure in data reception, a means for identifying a portion where the data reception has failed, and a portion where the data reception has failed, taken out from request data stored in another service providing apparatus. 2. The service provision according to claim 1, further comprising: a means for requesting a request, a means for sending the request by the second communication means, and a means for continuing the processing by using the retrieved data. apparatus. 3. The service providing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a service providing system including two or more service providing apparatuses.