JP2004001425A - Imaging apparatus having a plurality of communication protocols - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging processing apparatus, capable of transmitting and receiving data without the need of providing a processing part according to communication protocols of various applications, and facilitating addition of communication protocols and applications. <P>SOLUTION: An imaging apparatus comprises a connection command intervention means for intervening the connection by notifying the application of the connection command by the communication protocol daemons instead of the communication protocol daemons according to connection advice from a plurality of communication protocol daemons for transmitting or receiving data according to different communication protocols, and a common memory used for interchange of the received data and the transmitted data between the applications and the plurality of the communication protocol daemons, and shared by the plurality of the communication protocol daemons. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a plurality of communication protocols, and more particularly, to an application capable of transmitting and receiving data without having a processing unit corresponding to a variety of communication protocols. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming processing apparatus which facilitates addition of a protocol and an application.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an image forming apparatus in which functions of respective apparatuses such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile, and a scanner are housed in one housing is generally known. Such a composite type image forming apparatus includes a display unit, a printing unit, an imaging unit, and the like in one housing, and provides three types of applications corresponding to a printer, a copying machine, and a facsimile machine, respectively. The apparatus operates as a printer, copier, scanner or facsimile apparatus.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, with the recent widespread use of the Internet and diversification of communication protocols, the above-mentioned conventional composite image forming apparatus having a printer function has to respond to printing requests from various interfaces as market requirements. . In the above-mentioned conventional composite image forming apparatus, in order to meet such market demands, each time a new interface is added, it has been individually dealt with. If you do this individually, you will need to adapt your existing applications to accommodate the new interface. In addition, in order to develop and implement a new application, there is a problem that development must be performed to support a plurality of interfaces.
[0004]
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to control the transmission and reception of print data and image data to and from a device connected via a variety of interfaces so that a variety of communication protocols and image forming processes different from each other are performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming processing apparatus which has an intermediary processing unit for intermediating an application and which facilitates addition of a communication protocol and application.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an application for executing processing relating to image formation, a plurality of communication protocol daemons for transmitting and receiving data according to different communication protocols, and In response to the connection notification from the protocol daemon, the communication protocol daemon has connection request mediation means for mediating the connection by notifying the application that a connection request has been made by the communication protocol daemon in place of the communication protocol daemon. Is configured. Further, according to the present invention, as set forth in claim 2, the received data and the transmitted data are shared by the plurality of communication protocol daemons, and the reception data and the transmission data are stored between the application and the plurality of communication protocol daemons. It can be configured to have data and a shared memory used for transferring the transmission data.
[0006]
In such an image forming apparatus, data transmission / reception is performed using connection request mediation means (request mediation daemon 7) and a shared memory (99) for mediating connections between various communication protocols and an application executing processing related to image formation. A protocol control daemon 9 for controlling is configured. Therefore, there is no need for the interfaces of a plurality of communication protocols and each application to be aware of each other. Therefore, it is possible to easily add a communication protocol and an application to such an image forming apparatus.
[0007]
Further, according to the present invention, as set forth in claim 3, the connection request mediating means includes: a registration means for registering the application in response to a registration request from the application; Accordingly, it is possible to have a buffer registering means for registering a reception buffer and a transmission buffer used exclusively for the application to make it usable.
[0008]
In such an image forming apparatus, a dedicated reception buffer and transmission buffer can be registered in the application registered by the request mediation unit.
[0009]
Further, according to the present invention, when the connection request mediating means receives a connection notification from each of the communication protocol daemons, the connection request mediating means can be used in the shared memory during the connection. And a transmission / reception buffer allocating means for allocating a transmission buffer and a transmission buffer and notifying the communication protocol daemon.
[0010]
In such an image forming apparatus, the connection request mediation unit allocates the reception buffer and the transmission buffer to the communication protocol that requested the connection.
[0011]
Further, according to the present invention, when the application receives the notification of the connection from the connection request intermediation means, the application notifies the connection request intermediation means connection permission and transmits the connection request to the communication protocol daemon. It can be configured to have connection processing means for making connection to the communication protocol daemon and data reception start request means for requesting the communication protocol daemon to start data reception.
[0012]
In such an image forming apparatus, the application requests the start of data reception to the communication protocol daemon that has made the connection request in response to the connection notification from the connection request mediation unit instead of from each communication protocol daemon.
[0013]
Further, according to the present invention, as set forth in claim 6, each of the communication protocol daemons writes the received data in the reception buffer allocated by the transmission / reception buffer allocation means, and starts writing. Receiving data writing means for moving the position by the data length, notifying the application that the receiving data has been written to the receiving buffer, and designating a writing start position and a writing ending position of the receiving data; And a receiving / writing notifying unit for performing a writing notification.
[0014]
In such an image forming apparatus, since the communication protocol daemon writes the received data allocated by the connection request mediation means into the shared memory, the application does not need to directly transfer the received data to each communication protocol daemon. Further, since the communication protocol daemon notifies that the received data has been written, it is possible to know the timing of reading the received data written in the shared memory.
[0015]
Further, according to the present invention, when the application receives a write notification of the received data from the communication protocol daemon, the application starts from the write start position specified by the write notification and ends the write operation. Reading the received data from the reception buffer to a position, and moving the read start position to the write end position; and a communication protocol daemon that reads the received data from the reception buffer. And a receiving / reading notifying means for notifying.
[0016]
In such an image forming apparatus, the application notifies the communication protocol daemon that the received data has been read from the shared memory. In this way, by notifying the communication protocol daemon, it is possible to notify the communication protocol daemon of storing the next received data in the shared memory.
[0017]
Further, according to the present invention, as described in claim 8, the application writes the transmission data to the transmission buffer registered by the buffer registration unit, and moves the writing start position by the data length. A transmission means for notifying the writing means and the communication protocol daemon that the transmission data has been written to the transmission buffer, and performing a write notification for designating a write start position and a write end position of the transmission data; Means.
[0018]
In such an image forming apparatus, since the application writes the transmission data registered by the buffer registration unit of the connection request mediation unit into the shared memory, the application does not need to directly transmit the transmission data to each communication protocol daemon. . Further, since the application notifies the communication protocol daemon that the transmission data has been written, the communication protocol daemon can know the timing of reading the transmission data written in the shared memory.
[0019]
Further, according to the present invention, when each of the communication protocol daemons receives the write notification of the transmission data from the application, the communication protocol daemon starts the write from the write start position designated by the write notification. Transmission data reading means for reading the transmission data from the transmission buffer to the end position and transmitting the transmission data to the communication protocol daemon connected to the application, and reading for moving the read start position to the write end position It can be configured to include a start position moving unit and a transmission read notification unit that notifies the application unit that the transmission data has been read from the transmission buffer.
[0020]
In such an image forming apparatus, the communication protocol daemon notifies the application that the transmission data has been read from the shared memory. In this way, by notifying the application, it is possible to notify the application of storing the next transmission data to be stored in the shared memory.
[0021]
Further, according to the present invention, when the communication protocol daemon notifies the application of all the received data, the communication protocol daemon notifies the application of the completion of data reception. An end notifying unit for notifying the connection request mediating unit of an end in response to a disconnection request from the application may be provided.
[0022]
In such an image forming apparatus, the communication protocol daemon notifies the application that the data reception has been completed, and, in response to the disconnection request from the application, notifies the connection request unit that the communication has been disconnected. I do.
[0023]
Further, according to the present invention, as described in claim 11, when the application receives a notification that the transmission data is read from the communication protocol daemon, the application requests disconnection to the communication protocol daemon. Can be configured.
[0024]
In such an image forming apparatus, the application requests the communication protocol daemon to disconnect.
[0025]
Further, according to the present invention, as set forth in claim 12, each of the communication protocol daemons performs a connection termination process for the communication protocol daemon in response to a disconnection request from the application, and And a connection end notifying unit for notifying the end of the connection.
[0026]
In such an image forming apparatus, the communication protocol daemon performs disconnection processing and notifies the connection request mediation unit of the connection end.
[0027]
Furthermore, the present invention includes a plurality of the applications, wherein each of the communication protocol daemons and each of the applications controls the data transmission and reception via the shared memory. Can be configured.
[0028]
In such an image forming apparatus, in controlling data transmission / reception from a plurality of applications to a plurality of communication protocol daemons, it is not necessary for the interfaces of the plurality of communication protocols and each application to be aware of each other.
[0029]
Further, the present invention manages a plurality of hardware resources used in the image forming process and responds to a use request from the plurality of applications. It can be configured to have a control service for controlling the use to the wear resource and an operating system for controlling the plurality of applications and the control service.
[0030]
Such an image forming apparatus transmits and receives data related to image formation between a plurality of communication protocol daemons and a plurality of applications, and also realizes access to a plurality of hardware resources by the plurality of executed applications. be able to.
[0031]
As a means for solving the above problems, the present invention can also be a data transmission / reception control method for causing a computer to perform a process in the image forming apparatus and a program for causing the computer to execute the process.
[0032]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0033]
An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention (hereinafter, referred to as a multi-functional peripheral) that fuses various image forming functions has a functional configuration as shown in FIG. 1, for example. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a multifunction peripheral that fuses various image forming functions according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0034]
In FIG. 1, the MFP 1200 includes a plotter 1201, a scanner 1202, other hardware resources 1203, and the like, and further includes a software group 1210 including a platform 1220 and an application 1230, and a MFP startup unit 1240. ing. The application 1230 indicates a plurality of applications 1211 to 1217 described later.
[0035]
The multifunction peripheral activation unit 1240 is executed first when the multifunction peripheral 1200 is powered on, and activates the platform 1220 and the application 1230.
[0036]
The platform 1220 interprets the processing request from the application 1230 and generates a hardware resource acquisition request as described below. The platform 1220 manages one or more hardware resources and obtains the hardware resource acquisition request from the control service 1250. It has a system resource manager (SRM (System Resource Manager) 1223) that arbitrates requests and an OS (Operating System) 1221.
[0037]
The control service 1250 is formed by a plurality of service modules. More specifically, the SCS (System Control Service) 1222, the ECS (Engine Control Service) 1224, the MCS (Memory Control Service) 1225, and the OCS (Operation) There are a panel control service (FAC) 1227, an FCS (FAX Control Service) 1227, a network control service (NCS) 1228, and an imaging memory handler (IMH) 1229. The platform 1220 is defined in advance by the platform function 1220. Receives a processing request from application 1230 Having an application program interface that allows.
[0038]
The OS 1221 is an operating system such as UNIX (registered trademark), and executes each software of the platform 1220 and the application 1230 as a process in parallel. By using the open source UNIX (registered trademark), the security of the program can be ensured, the network can be supported, and the source code can be easily obtained. Furthermore, royalties for OS and TCP / IP are not required, and outsourcing is also facilitated.
[0039]
The SRM 1223 controls the system and manages resources together with the SCS 1222. The SRM 1223 includes an engine unit such as a scanner and a plotter, a memory, an HDD file, a host I / O (a Centro I / F, a network I / F, an IEEE 1394 I / F, It performs arbitration in accordance with a request from an upper layer using hardware resources such as RS232CI / F, and controls execution.
[0040]
Specifically, the SRM 1223 determines whether the requested hardware resource is available (whether the requested hardware resource is not used by another request), and if the requested hardware resource is available, the requested hardware resource is Communicate availability to upper layers. In addition, hardware resource use scheduling may be performed in response to a request from an upper layer, and the content of the request (for example, paper conveyance and image forming operation by a printer engine, memory reservation, file generation, etc.) may be directly implemented. .
[0041]
The SCS 1222 includes application management (function 1), operation unit control (function 2), system screen display (job list screen, counter display screen, etc.) (function 3), LED display (function 4), resource management (function 5), It performs a plurality of functions such as interrupt application control (function 6). Specifically, in the application management (function 1), processing for registering an application and notifying the information to another application is performed. In the operation unit control (function 2), exclusive control of the operation unit use right of the application is performed. In the system screen display (function 3), a warning screen corresponding to the state of the engine unit is displayed according to the request content from the application having the operation unit use right. In the LED display (function 4), display control of system LEDs such as a warning LED and an application key is performed. In the resource management (function 5), when an application (ECS) executes a job, a service is provided for exclusive control of engine resources (scanners, staples, etc.) that must be excluded. In the interrupt application control (function 6), control and service for giving priority to a specific application are performed.
[0042]
The ECS 1224 controls an engine unit such as a plotter 1201, a scanner 1202, and other hardware resources 1203, and performs image reading and printing operation, status notification, jam recovery, and the like.
[0043]
The MCS 1225 performs memory control, and specifically performs acquisition and release of an image memory, use of a hard disk device (HDD), compression and decompression of image data, and the like.
[0044]
The OCS 1226 is a module that controls an operation panel serving as information transmission means between the operator and the main body control. The OCS 1226 provides processing for notifying the main body control of key operation events of the operator, and provides a library function for each application to construct a GUI. Processing, processing for managing the constructed GUI information for each application, processing for reflecting the display on the operation panel, and the like are performed.
[0045]
The FCS 1227 performs facsimile transmission / reception using PSTN / ISDN from each application layer of the system controller, registration / quotation of various facsimile data managed by BKM (backup SRAM), facsimile reading, facsimile reception printing, and fusion transmission / reception. API (Application Program Interface).
[0046]
The NCS 1228 is a group of modules for providing a service that can be used in common to an application 1230 that requires a network I / O. The NCS 1228 distributes data received from the network according to each protocol to each application 1230, Mediates when sending data from the to the network side.
[0047]
The IMH 1229 maps image data from a virtual memory area (user virtual space) to a physical memory. In response to the start of the process, a system call is made to map a virtual memory area for the process, or to perform processing for releasing the mapped virtual memory area at the end of the process.
[0048]
The application 1230 includes a printer application 1211 that is a printer application having a page description language (PDL), PCL, and PostScript (PS), a copy application 1212 that is a copy application, and a facsimile application 1213 that is a facsimile application. , A scanner application 1214 as a scanner application, a net file application 1215 as a net file application, a process inspection application 1216 as a process inspection application, and a distribution application 1217 as a distribution application. Since each of the applications 1211 to 1218 can execute an operation using each process on the platform 1220, a screen display control program that performs screen control, key operation control, job generation, and the like is mainly performed. Note that a new application can be installed via the network connected by the NCS 1228. Further, each application can be added or deleted for each application.
[0049]
In this way, the multifunction peripheral 1200 unifies the processing commonly required by the applications on the platform 1220.
[0050]
Next, the hardware configuration of the MFP 1200 will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the multifunction peripheral shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the MFP 1200 includes an operation panel 1310, an FCU (fax control unit) 1320, an engine unit 1350 including a plotter 1201, a scanner 1202 and other hardware, and an ASIC 1301 of the controller 1300. Are connected by a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus or the like. The FCU 1320 has a non-volatile memory (SAF) 1321 for storing received fax data and an RTC (Real Time Clock) 1322 for measuring time in the FCU 1320, and usually stores fax data according to the G3 standard. Send and receive. The FCU 1320 may further include the G3 standard and the G4 standard as options.
[0051]
The controller 1300 connects the ASIC 1301 with a MEM-C 1302, a hard disk drive (HDD) 1303, and the like, and connects the ASIC 1301 with the CPU 1304 via the NB 1305 of a CPU chipset. The reason for connection via the NB 1305 is that the interface of the CPU 1304 itself is not disclosed.
[0052]
Here, the ASIC 1301 and the NB 1305 are not simply connected via the PCI, but are connected via the AGP 1308. The reason for the connection via the AGP 1308 is that the MFP 1200 controls the execution of a plurality of processes forming the platform 1220 and the application 1230. Is reduced.
[0053]
The CPU 1304 performs overall control of the MFP 1200. Specifically, the SCS 1222, the SRM 1223, the ECS 1224, the MCS 1225, the OCS 1226, the FCS 1227, and the NCS 1228 which form the platform 1220 on the OS 1221 are started and executed as processes. At the same time, the printer application 1211, the copy application 1212, the fax application 1213, the scanner application 1214, the net file application 1215, the process inspection application 1216, and the distribution application 1217, which form the application 1230, are activated and executed.
[0054]
An NB 1305 is a bridge for connecting the CPU 1304 to the MEM-P 1306, the SB 1307, and the ASIC 1301. The MEM-P 1306 is a system memory used as a drawing memory of the multifunction peripheral, and the MEM-C 1302 is a copy image buffer. ASIC 1301 is a local memory used as a code buffer. The ASIC 1301 is an IC for image processing having hardware components for image processing.
[0055]
The NB 1305 is connected to the SB 1307 via a PCI bus, is connected to a NIC (Network Interface Controller) 1311 that controls network communication, and is a USB (Universal Serial Bus) that is connected to a personal computer to enable transmission and reception of a large amount of image data. 1312 and IEEE13941313, and a Centronics 1314 connectable by a parallel cable. The SB 1307 is a bridge for connecting the NB 1305 to a ROM, a PCI device, and a peripheral device. The SB 1307 has an RTC (Real Time Clock) 1323 for measuring time in the controller 1300.
[0056]
The HDD 1303 is a storage for storing image data, storing programs, storing font data, and storing forms. The operation panel 1310 receives an input operation from an operator and performs display for the operator. An operation unit.
[0057]
Therefore, the ASIC 1301 is provided with a RAM interface for connecting the MEM-C 1302 and a hard disk interface for connecting the HDD 1303. When inputting and outputting image data to and from these storage units, The destination is switched to the RAM interface or the hard disk interface.
[0058]
The AGP 1308 is a bus interface for a graphics accelerator card proposed to speed up graphics processing, and speeds up the graphics accelerator card by directly accessing the system memory at high throughput.
[0059]
Next, data transmission / reception control between the application 1230 and the NCS 1228 will be described.
[0060]
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an overall outline of a process performed by a process for performing communication control and a process for mediating between an application. In FIG. 3, only the main functional configuration among the functional configurations of the MFP 1200 illustrated in FIG. 1 is illustrated, and other functional configurations are omitted. In FIG. 3, a multifunction peripheral 1200 includes an application 1230 for executing various image forming processes, and an NCS 1228 having a plurality of communication control daemons for controlling various communication protocols. It has an NAI 8 that interfaces between the NCS 1228 and the application 1230, and is connected to the network 15. The NCS 1228 includes a request mediation daemon 7 that mediates between the daemon 9 and the application 1230, and a protocol control daemon 9 configured by various communication protocol daemons. The protocol control daemon 9 includes an http daemon 2, an ipp daemon 91, an ftp daemon 92, a USB daemon 93, an IEEE 1394 daemon 94, and a centronics daemon 95.
[0061]
The http daemon 2 performs communication control in accordance with, for example, HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), performs network setting, device status monitoring, and transmits and receives a device control command by XML in cooperation with an application. The ipp daemon 91 controls reception of print data by IPP (Internet Printing Protocol), which is an HTTP-based printing protocol. The ftp daemon 92 is an FTP (File
Transfer protocol (Transfer Protocol) is provided.
[0062]
The USB daemon 93 controls reception of print data from a device directly connected by a USB cable. The IEEE 1394 daemon 94 controls the reception of print data from a device directly connected to the IEEE 1394 dedicated cable. The Centronics daemon 95 controls the reception of print data from a device directly connected by a parallel cable.
[0063]
3, the application 1230 registers the application with the request mediation daemon 7 of the NCS 1228 via the NAI 8 (Step S0). Upon receiving a connection request via the network 15 (step S1), the protocol control daemon 9 of the NCS 1228 notifies the request mediation daemon 7 (step S2). The request mediation daemon 7 notifies the application 1230 of a connection request via the NAI 8 (Step S3). The application 1230 connects to the protocol control daemon 9 via the NAI 8 (Step S4). The protocol control daemon 9 transmits and receives data to and from the application 1230 via the network 15 by the connection from the application 1230 (step S5).
[0064]
As described above, the NCS 1228 is different from the other services of the control service 1250 in that communication is performed by the two processes of the request mediation daemon 7 and the protocol control daemon 9.
[0065]
NCS 1228 uses shared memory as a means of communicating large amounts of data between processes. The shared memory is a memory area that can be accessed from a plurality of different processes, and is a standard function provided by NetBSD (registered trademark). In order to access the shared memory exclusively from a plurality of processes, it is necessary to exchange information on data read / write with each other.
[0066]
In the overall outline of the processing shown in FIG. 3, a sequence for transferring a large amount of data between the NCS 1228 and the application 1230 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
[0067]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a registration sequence for registering an application. In FIG. 4, the application 1230 makes an inquiry to the request mediation daemon 7 (step S101). Upon receiving a notification of a service supported by the request mediation daemon 7 (step S102), the application 1230 notifies the contents of the service performed by the application 1230. Then, the application is registered in the request mediation daemon 7 (step S103). For example, an application name, a spool function “none”, a job function “none”, and the like are registered as “data reception service”.
[0068]
By this registration, when the request mediation daemon 7 receives the connection notification from the protocol control daemon 9, the request mediation daemon 7 can know which application should be connected to which communication protocol daemon.
[0069]
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a buffer registration sequence for registering an application buffer. In FIG. 5, an application 1230 executes a transmission / reception buffer acquisition process. The application 1230 registers a plurality of transmission / reception buffers for the application 1230 with the request mediation daemon 7 (step S111), and further opens the registered transmission / reception buffer (step S112). The buffer management information is obtained (Step S113). At this time, the application 1230 secures a plurality of transmission / reception buffers exclusively for itself in the shared memory.
[0070]
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a request notification sequence for notifying a request to an application. 6, when the protocol control daemon 9 receives the connection via the network 15 (step S11), it notifies the request mediation daemon 7 of the connection (step S12). In response to the connection notification from the protocol control daemon 9, the request mediation daemon 7 allocates one of a plurality of transmission / reception buffers registered by the application 1230 and notifies the protocol control daemon 9 (step S13).
[0071]
Further, the request mediation daemon 7 performs a connection notification to the application 1230 and notifies a connection destination (step S14). In response to the connection notification, the application 1230 permits connection to the request mediation daemon 7 (step S15). Then, the application 1230 connects to the protocol control daemon 9 (Step S16). The protocol control daemon 9 connected to the application 1230 is one of the daemons 2 and 91 to 95 shown in FIG. Further, the application 1230 sets the notification timing to the protocol control daemon 9 (step S17), and requests to start data reception from the connection destination (step S18).
[0072]
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data transmission / reception sequence. 7, when the protocol control daemon 9 of the NCS 1230 writes the received data to the reception buffer 97 in the shared memory 99 (step S21), it moves the write pointer by the amount of the received data (step S22). The protocol control daemon 9 notifies the application 1230 of writing to the reception buffer (step S23). By this notification, a start pointer that has started writing and an end pointer that has finished writing are notified.
[0073]
Upon receiving the notification from the protocol control daemon 9, the application 1230 reads the received data from the shared memory 99 (Step S24), and moves the read pointer by the amount of the received data (Step S25). Then, the application 1230 notifies the protocol control daemon 9 of reading from the reception buffer (step S26).
[0074]
A case where data is transmitted from the application 1230 to the network 15 will be described. When writing the transmission data to the transmission buffer 98 in the shared memory 99 (step S27), the application 1230 moves the write pointer by the amount of the transmission data (step S27-2). The application 1230 notifies the protocol control daemon 9 of writing to the transmission buffer (Step S28). By this notification, a start pointer that has started writing and an end pointer that has finished writing are notified.
[0075]
Upon receiving the notification from the application 1230, the protocol control daemon 9 reads out the transmission data from the shared memory 99 and transmits it to the connection destination (Step S29), and moves the reading point (Step S30). Then, the protocol control daemon 9 notifies the application 1230 of reading from the transmission buffer (Step S30-2).
[0076]
In FIG. 7, for convenience of description, the reading is performed after the writing of the received data. However, the writing and the reading may be performed simultaneously. The same applies to writing and reading of transmission data.
[0077]
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a connection termination sequence for terminating the connection of the application. In FIG. 8, the protocol control daemon 9 notifies the application 1230 that data reception has been completed (step S31). This notification is provided, for example, when the connection on the network is disconnected. The application 1230 that has received the notification determines that the application is in the disconnected state, and requests the protocol control daemon 9 to disconnect from the daemon that has received the data (step S32). The protocol control daemon 9 performs a termination process and notifies the request mediation daemon 7 of the termination (step S33).
[0078]
As described above, by exchanging information regarding the reading and writing of data between the application 1230 and the protocol control daemon 9, it is possible to exclusively access the shared memory 99 from a plurality of processes.
[0079]
As described above, according to the present invention, the MFP 1200 performs transmission / reception control of print data and image data with devices connected via various interfaces, thereby being different from various communication protocols. A request mediation daemon 7 that mediates connections with a plurality of applications that perform image forming processing, and a protocol control daemon 9 that controls data transmission and reception using a shared memory are configured. Therefore, there is no need for the interfaces of a plurality of communication protocols and each application to be aware of each other. Therefore, it is possible to easily add a communication protocol and an application to the multifunction peripheral 1200.
[0080]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, by performing transmission / reception control of print data and image data with devices connected via various interfaces, various communication protocols and images different from each other are controlled. Since the mediation processing unit that mediates with a plurality of applications performing the formation process is configured in the image forming apparatus, it is not necessary for the interfaces of the plurality of communication protocols and each application to be aware of each other. Therefore, it is easy to add a communication protocol and an application to the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.
[0081]
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a multifunction peripheral that fuses various image forming functions according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the MFP shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process performed by a process that mediates between a process that performs communication control and an application.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a registration sequence for registering an application.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a buffer registration sequence for registering an application buffer.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a request notification sequence for notifying a request to an application.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data transmission / reception sequence.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a connection termination sequence for terminating a connection of an application.
[Explanation of symbols]
2 http daemon
7 Request mediation daemon
8 NAI
9 Protocol control daemon
15 Network
1200 fusion machine, 1201 plotter,
1202 scanner,
1203 Other hardware resources,
1210 software group,
1230 application, 1220 platform,
1221 OS, 1222 SCS,
1223 SRM, 1224 ECS,
1225 MCS, 1226 OCS,
1227 FCS, 1228 NCS,
1229 IMH, 1240 multifunction machine activation unit,
1300 controller, 1301 ASIC,
1302 MEM-C, 1303 HDD,
1304 CPU, 1305 NB,
1306 MEM-P, 1307 SB,
1308 AGP, 1310 Operation Panel
1320 Fax control unit
1311 NIC, 1312 USB,
1313 IEEE 1394, 1314 Centronics,
1350 Engine

Claims (16)

An application for executing processing related to image formation;
A plurality of communication protocol daemons for sending and receiving data according to different communication protocols,
A connection request mediation unit that mediates a connection by notifying the application that a connection request has been made by the communication protocol daemon in place of the communication protocol daemon in response to a connection notification from each of the communication protocol daemons; An image forming apparatus comprising: A shared memory that is shared by the application and the communication protocol daemon, stores received data and transmission data, and is used for passing the reception data and the transmission data between the application and the plurality of communication protocol daemons. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: The connection request mediation means includes:
Registration means for registering the application in response to a registration request from the application,
2. A buffer registering means for registering a receiving buffer and a transmitting buffer used exclusively for the application in response to a request for registering a transmission / reception buffer from the application and making the buffer usable. The image forming apparatus as described in the above. The connection request mediation means includes:
Upon receiving a connection notification from each of the communication protocol daemons, a transmission and reception buffer allocating unit that allocates a reception buffer and a transmission buffer used during the connection in the shared memory and notifies the communication protocol daemon The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: The above application is
Connection processing means for receiving a connection notification from the connection request mediation means, notifying the connection request mediation means of connection permission, and connecting to the communication protocol daemon;
5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a data reception start request unit that requests the communication protocol daemon to start data reception. Each of the above communication protocol daemons
Receiving data writing means for the communication protocol daemon to write reception data to the reception buffer allocated by the transmission and reception buffer allocation means, and to move a write start position by a data length;
It is preferable that the application further includes a reception / write notifying unit that notifies the application that the reception data has been written to the reception buffer and performs a write notification that specifies a write start position and a write end position of the reception data. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, wherein The above application is
When receiving the write notification of the received data from the communication protocol daemon, the received data is read from the reception buffer from the write start position to the write end position specified by the write notification, and the read start position is written. Receiving data reading means for moving to the end position;
7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising: a reception reading notification unit that notifies the communication protocol daemon that the reception data has been read from the reception buffer. The above application is
Transmission data writing means for writing transmission data to the transmission buffer registered by the buffer registration means, and moving a write start position by a data length;
Sending write notifying means for notifying the communication protocol daemon that the transmission data has been written to the transmission buffer and performing a write notification for designating a write start position and a write end position of the transmission data; The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein: Each of the above communication protocol daemons
When receiving the write notification of the transmission data from the application, reads the transmission data from the transmission buffer from the write start position to the write end position specified by the write notification, and reads the communication protocol connected to the application. Transmission data reading means for causing the daemon to transmit the transmission data;
Read start position moving means for moving the read start position to the write end position;
9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising: a transmission read notification unit that notifies the application that the transmission data has been read from the transmission buffer. The above communication protocol daemon,
When notifying the application of all the reception data, reception completion means for notifying the application of data reception completion,
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 9, further comprising: an end notifying unit that notifies the connection request mediating unit of an end in response to a disconnection request from the application. The above application is
The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a disconnection request unit that requests a disconnection to the communication protocol daemon upon receiving a notification that the transmission data is read from the communication protocol daemon. The above communication protocol daemon,
12. The image according to claim 11, further comprising a connection end notifying unit that performs a connection end process for the communication protocol daemon in response to a disconnection request from the application, and notifies the connection request mediating unit of the connection end. Forming equipment. Having a plurality of the above applications,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the communication protocol daemon and each of the applications control the data transmission and reception via the shared memory. A control service that manages a plurality of hardware resources used in the image forming process, and controls use of the plurality of hardware resources in response to a use request from the plurality of applications;
14. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an operating system that controls the plurality of applications and the control service. A data transmission / reception control method for controlling data transmission / reception performed between a plurality of communication protocol daemons and a plurality of applications in which a computer performs data transmission / reception in accordance with different communication protocols,
In response to the connection notification from each of the communication protocol daemons, a connection request mediation procedure for mediating a connection by notifying the application that a connection request has been made by the communication protocol daemon on behalf of the communication protocol daemon. When,
A data transmission / reception control method for controlling the exchange of reception data and transmission data with the application via a shared memory shared by the plurality of communication protocol daemons. A program that causes a computer to execute processing in a data transmission / reception control method for controlling data transmission / reception performed between a plurality of communication protocol daemons and a plurality of applications that respectively perform data transmission / reception according to different communication protocols,
In response to the connection notification from each of the communication protocol daemons, a connection request mediation procedure for mediating a connection by notifying the application that a connection request has been made by the communication protocol daemon on behalf of the communication protocol daemon. When,
A data transmission / reception control procedure for controlling exchange of reception data and transmission data with the application via a shared memory shared by the plurality of communication protocol daemons.

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