JP2004127280A - Image forming apparatus and application start control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform start control for an application in an exclusive relationship or an essential relationship with a certain application. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus with a plurality of applications mounted thereon is provided with: a means for referring to a database wherein information on whether combination of the applications is good or not for each application is recorded; and a start control means for performing start control processing for an application based upon the information on whether combination of the applications is good or not. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that provides a user service related to image forming processing such as copying, a printer, a scanner, and a facsimile, restricts activation of an application having an exclusive relationship with a certain application, The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of starting another application essential or recommended for execution.

In recent years, an image forming apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a “multifunction peripheral”) in which functions of respective apparatuses such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile, and a scanner are housed in one housing is known. This multifunction peripheral includes a display unit, a printing unit, an imaging unit, and the like in a single housing, and three types of software corresponding to a printer, a copying machine, and a facsimile machine, respectively. Is operated as a printer, copier, scanner or facsimile machine.

In such a conventional multifunction peripheral, adjustments are made between existing applications in advance so that the operation of the multifunction peripheral itself does not become unstable even when a plurality of applications are started at the same time.

In addition, in the case of an existing application installed in a conventional multifunction peripheral in advance, there is a situation in which a desired function of the application desired to be used cannot be realized unless another application different from the application desired to be used is started. If so, it was not expected.
JP-A-11-112701

By the way, in such a conventional multifunction peripheral, software corresponding to a printer, a copier, a scanner, and a facsimile machine is separately provided, and therefore, it takes a lot of time to develop each software. For this reason, the applicant has an application that has hardware resources used in image forming processing such as a display unit, a printing unit, and an imaging unit and performs processing specific to each user service such as a printer, a copy or a facsimile. When providing a user service by interposing between a plurality of applications and hardware resources, management, execution control, and image forming processing of hardware resources required by at least two of the applications in common Invented an image forming apparatus (multifunction peripheral) equipped with a platform composed of various control services for performing the following.

In such a new multifunction device, since the application and the control service are provided separately, after the multifunction device is shipped, a user or a third-party as a third party can develop a new application and mount it on the multifunction device. It has a configuration. For this reason, in addition to the applications specific to image forming apparatuses such as copy, printer, scanner, and facsimile that are installed at the time of shipment, there are many new applications developed by users or third vendors that are different from conventional MFPs. It can be started.

In the case of existing applications that are provided in advance in MFPs, such as copiers, printers, facsimile machines, and scanners, adjustments have been made so that operation will not be unstable even if they are started at the same time. In the case of a new application, the current situation is that the vendor does not always develop the compatibility with the existing application or another new application (whether or not there is an exclusive relationship). For this reason, when such a new application is started at the same time as another application (simultaneously or sequentially overlapping), the multifunction peripheral does not operate normally if the applications have an exclusive relationship. A new problem arises that has not been a problem with the multifunction peripheral.

Therefore, it is conceivable to determine the priority of the application to be started, but it is troublesome because the priority must be reset each time a new application is installed. In addition, there is a problem that it is very difficult for a general user to set priorities after accurately understanding which applications cannot be started at the same time and which should be started first. .

Some new applications developed by third parties are premised on launching and executing multiple applications. For this reason, even if it is started and executed independently without knowing it, the original function of the application cannot be realized or the operation stops halfway, and a new problem that has not been a problem with the conventional multifunction machine has occurred. come.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a technique for restricting an application having an exclusive or non-recommended relationship with a certain application from being activated. Further, it is another object of the present invention to provide a technique that enables applications having an essential relationship or a recommended relationship to be started together.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 refers to a database in which information on the suitability of a combination of applications is recorded for each application in an image forming apparatus configured to be capable of mounting a plurality of applications. Means, and start control means for performing start control processing on the application based on information on the suitability of the combination of the applications.

According to the present invention, an appropriate application can be activated based on information on the suitability of a combination of applications.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship between a plurality of applications. Alternatively, a screen for selecting at least one application from a plurality of applications in a non-recommended relationship is displayed on the operation panel of the image forming apparatus.

According to the present invention, a screen for selecting at least one application from a plurality of applications having an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship is displayed, so that the user can select a desired application. Note that the non-recommended relationship is a relationship that can be executed at the same time, but is not desirable to be executed at the same time from the viewpoint of performance or the like.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship between a plurality of applications. Alternatively, at least one of a plurality of applications in a non-recommended relationship is activated or activated.

According to the present invention, since an application is selected from a plurality of applications having an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship and activated, it is possible to prevent simultaneous activation of a plurality of applications having an exclusive relationship.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect, the activation control means activates or activates an application having a higher priority from among a plurality of applications in an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship. .

According to the present invention, even when there are a plurality of applications having an exclusive relationship, a specific application can be started based on the priority order.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship of the application. When the combination with the application is not recommended, a warning screen is displayed on the operation panel of the image forming apparatus.

According to the present invention, since the warning is displayed, the user can determine whether to execute both a certain application and another application.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the second to fifth aspects, the activation control unit is configured to execute the activation request when an activation request or an activation setting request is issued to an application. The startup control process is performed by referring to a database and acquiring an identifier of an application having an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship with the application.

According to the present invention, it is possible to perform a start control process when a start request or a start setting request for an application is made.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the information indicating the exclusive relationship or the non-recommended relationship between the applications includes a level indicating the strength of the exclusive relationship or the non-recommended relationship, and Performs the activation control processing according to the level.

According to the present invention, it is possible to perform various activation control processes according to the level by referring to the level.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an essential relationship or a recommended relationship between a plurality of applications, and the activation control unit is configured to execute On the other hand, a screen showing an application having an essential relationship or a recommended relationship is displayed on the operation panel of the image forming apparatus.

According to the present invention, the user can select an application having an essential relationship or a recommended relationship. Note that the recommended relationship is a relationship that is not indispensable to be activated for a certain application, but is recommended to be activated in order to be able to perform a function extension or the like.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an essential relationship or a recommended relationship between a plurality of applications, and the activation control means is configured to determine whether an application On the other hand, an application which is in a required relationship or a recommended relationship is activated or activated.

According to the present invention, since an application having an essential relationship or a recommended relationship is activated or set to be activated, it is possible to prevent a problem when the application having an essential relationship is not activated. Further, by activating an application having a recommended relationship, an extended function or the like can be used.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the eighth or ninth aspect, the activation control unit determines that the application having the essential relation or the recommended relation is not installed in the image forming apparatus. The application is downloaded from a server via a network.

According to the present invention, since a necessary application is downloaded, user convenience is improved.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the eighth or ninth aspect, the activation control unit determines that the application having the essential relation or the recommended relation is not installed in the image forming apparatus. Then, information on the acquisition of the application is displayed on the operation panel.

According to the present invention, a user can know information necessary for acquiring a necessary application.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the eighth to eleventh aspects, the activation control unit is configured to execute the activation request when an activation request or an activation setting request for a certain application is made. The startup control process is performed by referring to a database and acquiring an identifier of an application having a required relationship or a recommended relationship with the application.

According to the present invention, it is possible to perform a start control process when a start request or a start setting request for an application is made.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, based on the eighth aspect, the information indicating the essential relation or the recommended relation of the application includes a level indicating the strength of the essential relation or the recommended relation, and the activation control means includes: The start control processing is performed according to the level.
According to the present invention, it is possible to perform various activation control processes according to the level by referring to the level.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to thirteenth aspects, a hardware resource used in the image forming process and a control service for controlling the hardware resource are provided. And a virtual application service that operates as a client process using the control service as a server and operates as a server process using the application as a client. According to a fifteenth aspect, in the fourteenth aspect, the virtual application service includes the referencing unit and the activation control unit.

The invention according to claims 16 to 30 is an invention of a method suitable for the above image forming apparatus, and the inventions of claims 31 and 32 are inventions of a program and a recording medium suitable for the above image forming apparatus. It is. According to these inventions, the same operation and effect as the above-described invention of the image forming apparatus can be obtained.

According to the present invention, an appropriate application can be activated based on information on the suitability of a combination of applications. In other words, it is possible to restrict the launch of an application that is in an exclusive or non-recommended relationship with a certain application, and it is also possible to launch applications that are in a required relationship or in a recommended relationship together.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of an image forming apparatus and an application start restriction method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a “multifunction peripheral”) according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the multifunction peripheral 100 includes a monochrome laser printer (B & W LP) 101, a color laser printer (Color LP) 102, and hardware resources 103 such as a scanner, a facsimile, a hard disk, a memory, and a network interface. In addition, a software group 110 including a platform 120, an application (hereinafter, also referred to as an application) 130, and a virtual application service (VAS: Virtual Application Service) 140 is provided.
The virtual application service (VAS) 140 is arranged between the application 130 and the platform 120. The VAS 140 obtains application compatibility information on an application having an exclusive relationship with each application, and generates the application compatibility information file on a hard disk (HD) as a storage unit (HD200 in FIG. 2 described later).

Examples that require exclusive control between applications include, for example, a combination of applications of the same system such as an authentication system and a billing system, and printer applications or display applications that interact with the same device (such as a printer or display unit) as an operation target. , Or a combination of apps with the same app (same file name) but different versions.

例 Further, there is the following example that requires exclusive control of the application. First, as a limitation due to resource reasons, it is known that an application uses a large amount of memory for image processing and so on. Control is needed. The same applies when a large amount of CPU power is required.

Also, exclusive control is required between applications that add, for example, encrypted data for electronic authentication to a RAW file. This is because normal operation is hindered when a plurality of applications add different data to image data generated by scanning.

ア プ リ Even applications that generate RAW files of different formats need exclusive control to prevent problems due to format mismatch.

In addition, applications that manage authentication and charging include an application group suitable for the application. For example, the scanner application A and the copy application A match the authentication application A, and the scanner application B and the copy application A match the authentication application B. If the authentication methods of the authentication application A and the authentication application B are different when the application B is compatible, exclusive control between the authentication application A and the scanner application B, the copy application B, the authentication application B and the scanner application A, the copy Exclusive control between applications A is required.

排 他 Also, exclusive control of a log acquisition application that performs log management by creating thumbnails of copied images and a copy application that forcibly and immediately deletes image data on the hard disk is required.

Further, for example, when there is an agreement that the applications of vendor A and vendor B are not operated on the same machine, these exclusive controls are required.

When acquiring application compatibility information, the VAS 140 also acquires information such as what kind of application each application belongs to (app attribute information). This information is used, for example, for screen display.

{Circle around (4)} The VAS 140 acquires the application compatibility information using the inter-process communication by temporarily activating the application. Alternatively, application compatibility information may be obtained from an external server or the like via a network. Further, the application compatibility information file (database) may be obtained from outside.

{Circle around (4)} Based on the application compatibility information, the VAS 140 detects an application in an exclusive relationship at the time of activation setting or activation of the application, and performs activation control. For example, only one is activated and the other is restricted.

起動 The startup setting is to set the installed application to start when the MFP is turned on. That is, in the multifunction peripheral of the present embodiment, the application is not activated only by installing the application, but the activation setting must be performed to activate the application. Note that, by setting the activation, information indicating that the application is activated is stored in the storage device of the multifunction peripheral. Then, when the power is turned on, the information is referred to and the application is started.

複合 In addition, it is also possible to configure the multifunction peripheral so that the application can be started at any time without using the method of the start setting.

The platform 120 interprets a processing request from an application to generate a hardware resource acquisition request, and a system resource manager that manages one or more hardware resources and arbitrates the acquisition request from the control service. (SRM) 123 and a general-purpose OS 121.

The control service is formed from a plurality of service modules, and includes an SCS (system control service) 122, an ECS (engine control service) 124, an MCS (memory control service) 125, an OCS (operation panel control service) 126, and an FCS. (Fax control service) 127 and NCS (network control service) 128. Note that the platform 120 has an application program interface (API) that enables a processing request from the application 130 to be received by a predefined function.

The general-purpose OS 121 is a general-purpose operating system such as UNIX (registered trademark), and executes each software of the platform 120 and the application 130 in parallel as a process.

The process of the SRM 123 controls the system and manages resources together with the SCS 122. The process of the SRM 123 uses hardware resources such as an engine such as a scanner unit and a printer unit, a memory, an HDD file, and host I / O (centro I / F, network I / F, IEEE 1394 I / F, RS232C I / F, etc.). Arbitration is performed according to a request from the upper layer to be used, and execution is controlled.

Specifically, the SRM 123 determines whether the requested hardware resource is available (whether it is not used by another request), and if it is available, the requested hardware resource is used. Inform the upper layer that it is possible. The SRM 123 also schedules use of hardware resources in response to a request from an upper layer, and directly implements the contents of the request (for example, paper transport and image forming operation, memory reservation, file generation, and the like by a printer engine). .

The SCS 122 process performs application management, operation unit control, system screen display, LED display, resource management, interrupt application control, and the like.

The process of the ECS 124 controls an engine of a hardware resource 103 including a monochrome laser printer (B & W LP) 101, a color laser printer (Color LP) 102, a scanner, a facsimile, and the like.

The MCS 125 process acquires and releases an image memory, uses a hard disk drive (HDD), and compresses and expands image data.

The process of the FCS 127 includes 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, fusion transmission / reception. Provides an API to do so.

The process of the NCS 128 is a process for providing a service that can be used in common to applications requiring network I / O, and distributes data received from the network according to each protocol to each application, or distributes data from the application to the data. Mediation when sending to the network side. Specifically, it has server daemons such as ftpd, httpd, lpd, snmpd, telnetd, and smtpd, and a client function of the same protocol.

The process of the OCS 126 controls an operation panel (operation panel) serving as information transmission means between an operator (user) and main body control. The OCS 126 obtains a key press from the operation panel as a key event, and transmits a key event function corresponding to the obtained key to the SCS 122, and displays various screens on the operation panel in response to a request from the application 130 or the control service. A drawing function for drawing and outputting, a function for controlling the operation panel, and the like are configured from a part of the OCS library registered in advance. This OCS library is implemented by being linked to each module of the application 130 and the control service. Note that all of the OCS 126 may be configured to operate as a process, or all of the OCS 126 may be configured as an OCS library.

The application 130 includes a printer application 111 that is a printer application having a page description language (PDL), PCL, and PostScript (PS), a copy application 112 that is a copy application, and a fax application 113 that is a facsimile application. , A scanner application 114 as a scanner application, a network file application 115 as a network file application, and a process inspection application 116 as a process inspection application. Each of these applications is an application specific to the multifunction peripheral (specific to the image forming apparatus), and transmits an application registration request message together with the process ID of its own process to the VAS 140 at the time of startup. A registration process for the activated application is performed.

Each process of the application 130 and each process of the control service realize user services related to image forming processing such as copy, printer, scanner, and facsimile while performing inter-process communication by transmitting a function call, transmitting a return value thereof, and transmitting and receiving a message. are doing.

As described above, in the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the first embodiment, there are a plurality of applications 130 and a plurality of control services, all of which operate as processes. Then, one or a plurality of threads are generated inside each of these processes, and the threads are executed in parallel. Then, the control service provides a common service to the application 130. For this reason, these many processes perform parallel operation and thread parallel operation, perform inter-process communication with each other, and perform cooperative operation. User services related to image forming processes such as copying, printing, scanning, and facsimile are provided. In addition, the MFP 100 allows a third party such as a third vendor to develop and install new applications 117 and 118 in the application layer above the control service layer. FIG. 1 shows an example in which the new applications 117 and 118 are mounted. The new applications 117 and 118 correspond to applications other than the application unique to the multifunction peripheral.

In the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the first embodiment, a plurality of processes of the application 130 and a plurality of processes of the control service are operating, but the application 130 and the control service process each have a single configuration. Is also possible. Further, each application 130 can be added or deleted for each application.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a hardware configuration of the multifunction peripheral 100.

The multifunction peripheral 100 includes a controller 160, an operation panel 175, a fax control unit (FCU) 176, and an engine unit 177 that is a hardware resource specific to image forming processing such as a printer. The controller 160 includes a CPU 161, a system memory 162, a north bridge (NB) 163, a south bridge (SB) 164, an ASIC 166, a local memory 167, a HDD 168, a network interface card (NIC) 169, and an SD card. , A USB device 171, an IEEE 1394 device 172, and a Centronics 173. Note that the memories 162 and 167 include a RAM, a ROM, and the like. The FCU 176 and the engine unit 177 are connected to the ASIC 166 of the controller 160 via a PCI bus 178.

(4) The CPU 161 reads out a program such as an application and a control service installed in the multifunction peripheral 100 from the memory and executes the program.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the VAS 140 of the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the first embodiment and a relationship between the VAS 140, each application, the control service layer 150, and the general-purpose OS 121.

In the process of the virtual application service (VAS) 140, a dispatcher 144, a control thread 143, an application compatibility information acquisition thread 141, and an application activation restriction thread 142 are operating.

The processing in the VAS 140 can be performed using each thread as described above, but may be performed without using a thread.

The dispatcher 144 monitors the reception of a message from the application 130 or the control service, and issues a processing request to the control thread 143, the application compatibility information acquisition thread 141, and the application activation restriction thread 142 according to the received message. In the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the first embodiment, when the dispatcher 144 receives an application activation request message for a plurality of applications, the dispatcher 144 transmits the received application activation request message to the control thread 143, and sends an application compatibility information acquisition thread from the control thread 143. 141 and the application start restriction thread 142.

The control thread 143 receives the application start request message from the dispatcher 144, and performs the application compatibility information acquisition process and the application start restriction process. Here, the application start restriction process is, for example, an exclusive control process that starts any one of the combinations of the applications and restricts the other applications from starting.

When the application compatibility information regarding all the applications installed in the MFP 100 is not acquired in the application compatibility information file 201, the control thread 143 sends the application compatibility information regarding the application compatibility to the application compatibility information thread 141. A process request can be made to acquire information, and the acquired application compatibility information is stored in the application compatibility information file 201 of the HD 200.

When the control thread 143 refers to the application compatibility information file 201 stored in the HD 200 and obtains information on a combination of incompatible applications among the installed applications, the control thread 143 displays the application compatibility information. A process request is made to the application start restriction thread 142 to perform application start restriction based on the application compatibility information without performing the acquisition processing.

The application compatibility information acquisition thread 141 receives the processing request from the control thread 143 and temporarily activates the application to acquire information necessary for the application compatibility information using inter-process communication. Generated on the hard disk (HD) 200. Further, when the application compatibility information acquisition thread 141 can acquire the application compatibility information via the network and receives necessary data from the network using the process of the control service NCS128, the application compatibility information acquisition thread 141 stores the application compatibility information file 201 as a hard disk ( HD) 200. Such application compatibility information is recorded as a record for each application.

(4) The user may store the application compatibility information file itself in the multifunction peripheral 100. If the application compatibility information file can be downloaded from a server or the like, the VAS 140 may be configured to acquire the application compatibility information file from the server.

The operation of each thread described above is performed when the application is activated, but the same processing can be performed when the application is activated. However, the application start restriction process at the time of start setting is, for example, to display a plurality of applications having an exclusive relationship on a screen and to set start of only the selected application.

The program of the VAS 140 is a file in a format executable or installable on a storage medium such as a CD-ROM or FD (flexible disk) as a part or all of a software development kit (SDK: Software Development Kit) or the like. Provided. Further, the program file of the VAS 140 in such an executable format or an installable format may be provided by a method that can be obtained via a network.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the application compatibility information file 201 stored in the HD 200. As shown in the figure, an application ID (also referred to as a product ID) having an exclusive relationship is recorded for each application. The HD 200 also records a file having the contents shown in FIG. In the file shown in FIG. 5, information such as an application attribute, an application operation target, an application name (application file name), and a version (version number) are recorded for each application ID. This information can be used for display on the operation panel, and can also be used to determine which application is to be activated preferentially.

When there are a plurality of application activation requests, the application activation restriction thread 142 refers to the application compatibility information file 201 to determine whether there is a combination of applications to be exclusively controlled. Only one of the applications is activated, and exclusive control for restricting activation of the other is performed. Here, when performing exclusive control, it is necessary to determine which application is to be activated. For example, if the priority conditions for starting are determined in advance such that a new version of the application is started with the same application name, the application to be started can be automatically determined by using the information shown in FIG. In addition, a plurality of applications that cannot be started at the same time and need to be exclusively controlled may be displayed on the operation panel to allow the user to select the started application.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a user selection screen of a plurality of applications that cannot be started at the same time. As shown in FIG. 6, on the operation panel 210, a start request application list 211 that displays all the applications requested to be started, a non-startable application list 212 that displays a combination of applications that cannot be started at the same time, and a user A radio button 213 and the like used for selection are displayed. The user can alternatively select an application to be activated using an operation key (not shown).

(4) If the application activation restriction thread 142 determines that the application activation restriction is necessary, the application activation restriction thread 142 transmits an activation restriction request message to an application that has received an application activation request but is not activated. On the other hand, when it is determined that it is not necessary to perform the application start restriction, a start request message is transmitted to each application that has made the application start request, and the normal start processing of the application is performed. Further, when an application activation restriction is required, for an application determined to be activated by exclusive control, an activation request message is transmitted, and normal activation processing of the application is performed.

Next, an application start restriction process by the VAS 140 of the MFP 100 configured as described above will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for restricting startup based on compatibility among a plurality of applications that have been requested to start at the same time.

First, when the dispatcher 144 receives an application activation request message from the control service layer 150 (step S501), the dispatcher 144 transfers the application activation request message to the control thread 143 together with the process ID of the application. The control thread 143 determines whether there has been a start request for a plurality of applications (Step S502). In the case of a start request for a plurality of applications, it is determined whether or not there is an application compatibility information file (step S503). If there is a file, the application compatibility information file is referred to (step S504). If not, the application compatibility information file is created (step S505), and the application compatibility information file is referred to in step S504. Note that the subroutine of the application compatibility information file creation processing in step S505 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The application activation restriction thread 142 determines whether or not the combination of the applications having an exclusive relationship exists in the application for which the activation has been requested, by referring to the application compatibility information file 201 in the HD 200 (step S506). . If there is a corresponding combination, a startup restriction process is performed (step S507). The details of the activation restriction process will be described later in detail with reference to FIG.

If there is no combination to be exclusively controlled among the applications to be activated, a normal activation process is performed (step S508).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the creation process of the application compatibility information file.

First, in FIG. 8, the control thread 143 of the VAS 140 determines whether or not the environment is such that the application compatibility information can be obtained via the network (step S601). If the information cannot be obtained via the network, a start request is made. The VAS 140 provisionally starts the application (step S602). Then, application compatibility information is obtained (step S603). Then, based on the application compatibility information, the application compatibility information file 201 is created in the HD 200 (step S604). The application compatibility information for each application is information corresponding to one record of the file shown in FIG.

As described above, the user may store the application compatibility information file itself in the MFP 100 instead of creating the application compatibility information file by acquiring the application compatibility information.

仮 The above-mentioned temporary activation will be described below.

Temporary activation is different from normal activation of an application that uses resources of the multifunction peripheral (activation to achieve the original function of the application is called normal activation). In the provisional activation, the application does not acquire resources such as memory reservation necessary for the original operation of the application, and performs only the process of inter-process communication with the VAS 140. Then, the application provides necessary information such as compatibility information to the VAS 140. The process of the provisionally activated application ends when the communication process with the VAS 140 ends. Further, the function related to the provisional activation of the application is a function common to the application operating on the MFP 100 according to the present embodiment, regardless of the original function of the application. Therefore, for example, when a vendor develops an application, the vendor can be provided with a program template including a function of provisional activation, and the vendor can use the program template to develop an application for a multifunction peripheral. To include the application compatibility information in the application, an include file that records the application compatibility information is created and included when compiling the application.

FIG. 9 shows an outline of a program description (main function) of an application including a function of provisional activation. This description is provided as the above program template.

As shown in FIG. 9, the program description specifies whether the application is provisionally activated or normally activated by an argument (-v). Thereby, when the VAS starts the application, the normal start and the temporary start can be easily used properly. That is, when the provisional activation is designated using the argument (-v), the provisional activation is executed, and the application information providing process is performed. If provisional activation is not specified, normal activation is performed to perform the original operation of the application.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the start restriction process for a combination of applications requiring exclusive control, and is a subroutine process in step S507 of FIG.

First, in FIG. 10, when a start request is issued to a plurality of apps having an exclusive relationship, a selection is made as to whether to start only one of the apps or to limit the launch of all the apps having an exclusive relationship. (Step S701). Which to select is determined, for example, by initial setting. If any one of the applications is to be activated (YES in step S701), it is determined whether there is a selection criterion for the application to be activated (step S702). The selection criterion is, for example, a predetermined priority, which is recorded in the application compatibility information file. As a selection criterion, a criterion of selecting a new version when the application name is the same may be provided.

If there is no selection criterion, a selection screen including a list of unstartable applications is displayed on an operation panel (hereinafter, also referred to as an operation panel) so that the user can make a selection by himself (step S703). FIG. 6 described above is an example of the selection screen of the operation panel. In the activation request application list 211, a plurality of (here, three) application names requested to be activated at the same time are displayed together with the versions. I have. Then, in the non-startable application list 212, two applications (confirmation user and authentication AP) having an exclusive relationship among them are displayed together with other information (version, attribute, operation target), and a selection Radio buttons are provided. The user can easily select the application by simply checking the radio button of the application to be activated while referring to the various information displayed on the panel 210 (step S704).

As described above, when the user selects an application to be activated in step S704, exclusive control is performed to restrict the activation of other applications that are not activated (step S705).

In step S702, if there is a selection criterion for the application to be started, the application selected based on the criterion is started, and the starting of the other application is restricted (step S706), whereby the exclusive control (step S705) is performed. Done.

Furthermore, in step S701, if all the applications in an exclusive relationship are restricted from being activated, or if the user does not select an application to be activated in step S704, all of the application combinations are not activated. It is restricted (step S707).

Note that the above example is an example in a scene of starting an application, but exclusive control can be similarly performed in a scene of start setting. In the case of the start setting, the start setting is performed instead of the actual start.

As described above, in the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the first embodiment, since the exclusive applications are restricted so as not to be started at the same time, the operation becomes unstable or the operation stops. And it can always be operated reliably in a stable state.

In addition, in the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the first embodiment, when acquiring the application compatibility information via the network, it can be easily updated to the latest information at all times, so that it can sufficiently cope with a new application.

In the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the first embodiment, the VAS 140 performs the application compatibility information acquisition processing and the application start restriction processing for all the applications 130, but performs the processing only for some applications. You may comprise so that it may be. For example, the application compatibility information acquisition processing and the application start restriction processing are performed only for an application developed by a third party such as a third vendor such as the new applications 117 and 118, and the existing application such as the printer application 111 and the copy application 112 are performed. Of course, it is also possible to configure so as not to provide such a service.

(Embodiment 2)
In the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the first embodiment, only one VAS 140 exists for all applications. In the multifunction peripheral according to the second embodiment, one VAS is activated for each application. Each VAS performs application compatibility information acquisition and application activation restriction only for the corresponding application.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the multifunction peripheral 800 according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 11, the MFP 800 differs from the MFP 100 according to the first embodiment in that a plurality of virtual application services (VAS) 841 to 848 operate for each application of the application 130. I have.

The VASs 841 to 848 correspond to the printer application 111, the copy application 112, the fax application 113, the scanner application 114, the net file application 115, the process inspection application 116, the new applications 117 and 118, and perform application compatibility information acquisition processing and application start restriction. Processing is performed.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the VASs 841 to 848 of the multifunction peripheral 800 according to the second embodiment, and a relationship between the VASs 841 to 848 and each application, the control service layer 150, and the general-purpose OS 121.

In the multifunction peripheral 800 according to the second embodiment, unlike the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, a VAS control process (daemon) 801 is provided between each VAS 841 to 848 and each application. Is working.

The VAS control process (daemon) 801 generates VASs 841 to 848 corresponding to each application. Further, the VAS control process 801 refers to the application compatibility information file 201 stored in the HD 200, checks whether application compatibility information is recorded in the application compatibility information file 201, and stores the application compatibility information file 201 in the application compatibility information file 201. Determine if it is necessary to create one. If the application compatibility information of the application for which the activation request has been made is not recorded, the application compatibility information acquisition thread 141 acquires the application compatibility information via the application provisional activation or via a network, and stores the application compatibility information in the HD 200. The compatibility information file 201 is created.

In the processes of the virtual application services (VAS) 841 to 848, a dispatcher 144, an application compatibility information acquisition thread 141, and an application activation restriction thread 142 operate, and the function of each thread is the same as that of the first embodiment. The same is true.

According to the multifunction peripheral 800 according to the second embodiment, the stability of the system of the multifunction peripheral 800 can be improved as in the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the first embodiment.

In the MFP 800 according to the second embodiment, the VASs 841 to 848 are separately activated for each application 130 to be activated, so that the activation restriction processing for the plurality of applications 130 is performed by the VASs 841 to 848 corresponding to each application 130. Since the processes can be executed in parallel, it is possible to efficiently perform the start restriction process for the start application.

In the multifunction peripheral 800 according to the second embodiment, the VASs 841 to 848 are separately activated for all the applications, but the VAS may be activated only for some applications.

(Embodiment 3)
In the third embodiment, a description will be given of a multifunction peripheral capable of simultaneously starting applications having an essential relationship or a recommended relationship.

The configuration of the multifunction peripheral according to the third embodiment is the same as the configuration of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. The functions of the VAS 140 are mainly different between the third embodiment and the first embodiment.

The VAS 140 according to the third embodiment refers to the essential application information file 202 stored in the HD 200 and identifies an application that can be executed alone and an application that needs to be executed together with another application (essential application). The essential application information file 202 may be created by the VAS 140 by the VAS 140 acquiring essential application information from the application, or may be stored in the MFP 100 by the user. Further, the multifunction peripheral 100 may acquire the essential application information file from a server or the like via a network.

The essential application information in the essential application information file includes, for example, information on the plug-in software for the application when a new function can be used by adding another application (plug-in software) to the application and executing the application. There is. Needless to say, the essential application information is not limited to this, and there is an application in which the original function can be achieved for the first time by cooperatively operating two or more equal applications. All information about the combination of applications that need to be activated / executed to achieve multiple applications is included.

In addition, in order for the VAS 140 to acquire the essential application information for creating the essential application information file, there are methods of acquiring the essential application information via a network or temporarily starting the application to acquire the essential application information.

Then, the VAS 140 obtains essential application information corresponding to the application requested to be activated, and if there is an essential application corresponding to the application, controls the VAS 140 to activate the applications and the essential applications together. For example, (1) when an application having a required relationship with an application that has been requested to be activated is not requested to be activated, the activation of the requested application is restricted until an application that is required to be activated is requested to be activated. Or (2) if an application in a required relationship is installed, start it together with the requested application even if there is no start request, or (3) start a required application that has not been requested to start. To notify the user (display on the operation panel, voice guidance, warning sound, etc.).

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the VAS 140 of the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the third embodiment and a relationship between the VAS 140, each application, the control service layer 150, and the general-purpose OS 121.

In the process of the VAS 140, a dispatcher 144, a control thread 143, an essential application information acquisition thread 145 as essential application information acquisition means, and an application activation control thread 146 as application activation control means are operating. The function of the dispatcher 144 is the same as that of the first embodiment.

The control thread 143 receives the application activation request message from the dispatcher 144, and performs essential application information acquisition processing and the above-described application activation control processing.

When the essential application information on the application for which the activation request is made is not present in the essential application information file 201, the control thread 143 requests the essential application information acquisition thread 145 to acquire the essential application information on the application. And the acquired essential application information is stored in the essential application information file 201 of the HD 200. Further, the control thread 143 does not perform the essential application information acquisition process when information on the essential application of the application that has been requested to be activated can be obtained only by referring to the essential application information file 202 stored in the HD 200. Then, a process request is made to the application activation control thread 146 to perform application activation control based on the essential application information.

As in the first embodiment, the essential application information acquisition thread 145 temporarily activates an application or acquires essential application information via a network, and generates the essential application information file 202. The user may store the essential application information file in the MFP. Further, the multifunction peripheral may acquire the essential application information file from the server via the network.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the essential application information file 202 stored in the HD 200. As shown in FIG. 14, information such as the presence or absence of an essential application, the type of application, and the partner application ID is recorded in the essential application information file 202 for each application ID (also referred to as product ID).

When an application activation request is received from the control service layer 150, the application activation control thread 146 refers to the essential application information file 201 to check whether information regarding the application for which the activation has been requested is recorded, If the application has been recorded, it is checked whether there is an essential application for the application. If not, a normal activation process is performed. In some cases, by looking at the other party's application ID, it is possible to recognize applications that have an essential relationship. In FIG. 14, a browser (application ID: 103) and a plug-in (application ID: 105) are recorded as essential applications.

If the information on the application requested to be activated is not recorded in the required application information file 202, the application activation control thread 142 sends the information on the application to the required application information acquisition thread 141 via the control thread 143. Request to get

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a notification screen that prompts activation of another application when only one of the two applications having an essential relationship has an activation request. As shown in FIG. 15, the browser and the plug-in are required applications, but since only the browser is requested to start, a start error message is displayed on the operation panel 210 so as to start together.

Next, an application startup control process by the VAS 140 of the MFP 100 configured as described above will be described. FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an application activation control processing procedure.

First, when the dispatcher 144 receives the application start request message from the control service layer 150 (step S801), the dispatcher 144 transfers the application start request message to the control thread 143 together with the process ID of the application. When the control thread 143 receives the application start request message and the process ID from the dispatcher 144, the control thread 143 checks whether or not the information of the application requested to be started is recorded in the essential application information file 202 (step S802). If the information is recorded, the essential application information file 202 is referred to (step S803).

If it is determined in step S802 that the information of the application requested to be activated is not recorded in the required application information file 202, a required application information file is created (step S804). Reference is made (step S803). The subroutine of the essential application information file creation process in step S804 will be described later in detail with reference to FIG.

The application activation control thread 146 refers to the essential application information file 202 to determine whether there is an essential application for the application for which activation has been requested (step S805). If there is, the activation control process is performed on the essential application (step S806). If there is no essential application in step S805, normal startup processing is performed (step S807). The subroutine of the activation control process for the combination of applications in step S806 will be described later in detail with reference to FIG.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the essential application information file creation process.

First, in FIG. 17, it is determined whether essential application information can be acquired via a network (step S901). If information cannot be acquired via a network, the VAS 140 provisionally starts the application (step S902). . Then, necessary information is obtained (step S903). In addition, if there is an application that is already running among the applications that make up the essential application, information about the application can be obtained as it is by inter-process communication. .

(4) The essential application information file 202 is created in the HD 200 based on the acquired information (Step S904).

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the activation control process for a combination of applications.

First, in FIG. 18, the application start control thread 146 determines whether or not an essential application corresponding to the application whose start has been requested has been requested (step S1001).

In step S1002, it is determined whether to limit the activation of the requested application until the required application is activated. This determination can be made, for example, by recording, as essential application information, that a certain application is not activated until the essential application is activated, and referring to the information by the VAS.

(4) When the activation is restricted, a notification for prompting the activation of the essential application is made (step S1003). As a notification example, an error message is displayed on the operation panel 210 as shown in FIG. After the notification, the process returns to step S1001 to determine whether the applications have been requested to start together. If the user notices the notice and activates the browser and the plug-in software together, YES is selected in step S1001, and normal activation processing is performed in step S1008.

Also, in step S1002, when the activation is not restricted, it is determined in step S1004 whether the application not requested to be activated is an installed application, and if the application is already installed, the application is activated ( In step S1007, normal startup processing is performed (step S1008).

Also, in step S1004, if an application for which activation has not been requested is not an installed application, it is determined in step S1005 whether the application can be installed. If installation is possible, installation processing is performed ( Step S1006), the above-described processing of step S1007 and subsequent steps are performed.

In step S1005, if the application cannot be installed, the processing is terminated because the essential applications cannot be started together. At that time, the fact that the essential application could not be installed may be displayed on the operation panel.

処理 The processing described so far is performed when the application is started, but the same processing can be performed when setting the application to be started. At the time of setting the start of the application, the start setting for the application is performed instead of actually starting the application.

As described above, in the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the third embodiment, since the applications that are in an essential relationship are activated together and reliably executed, the stability of the operation of the multifunction peripheral can be achieved.

In the third embodiment as well, as in the second embodiment with respect to the first embodiment, one VAS can be activated for each application. FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the multifunction peripheral 800 in that case.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the VASs 841 to 848 of the multifunction peripheral 800 and a relationship between the VASs 841 to 848 and each application, the control service layer 150, and the general-purpose OS 121.

As shown in FIG. 20, a VAS control process (daemon) 801 operates between each VAS 841 to 848 and each application.

The VAS control process (daemon) 801 generates VASs 841 to 848 corresponding to each application. Further, the VAS control process 801 refers to the essential application information file 202 stored in the HD 200 and checks whether or not essential application information is recorded in the essential application information file 202 for the application for which the activation request has been made. Then, it is determined whether a required application information file needs to be created. If the required application information of the application for which the start request has been made is not recorded, the required application information is acquired by the required application information acquisition thread 145, and the required application information file 202 is created. If the essential application information of the application for which the activation request has been made is recorded, the relevant essential application information is read from the essential application information file 202 and sent to the application activation control thread 146.

In the processes of the virtual application service (VAS) 841 to 848, a dispatcher 144, a required application information acquisition thread 145, and an application activation control thread 146 are operating. The function of each thread is the same as that described in the third embodiment.

(Embodiment 4)
Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. The overall configuration of the multifunction peripheral according to the fourth embodiment is the same as that shown in FIGS.

In the fourth embodiment, the multifunction peripheral 100 stores a database file that can represent both an application having an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship and an application having a required relationship or a recommended relationship. Then, the VAS 140 controls the activation of the application by referring to the file. Hereinafter, the exclusive relationship or the non-recommended relationship may be collectively referred to as “exclusive relationship”, and the essential relationship or recommended relationship may be collectively referred to as “essential relationship”.

FIG. 21 shows an example of the contents of the database file stored in the multifunction peripheral 100. As shown in FIG. 21, for each application, an application having an exclusive relationship or an essential relationship with the application is associated. The number in parentheses in each ID in the column of the application having the exclusive relationship or the essential relationship indicates the level of the exclusive relationship or the essential relationship, and the larger the absolute value on the minus side, the stronger the exclusive relationship, The larger the number on the plus side, the stronger the essential relationship. For example, -1 indicates that it is possible to start both applications, but it is not desirable to start both applications due to the possibility of slowing down the operation (referred to as a non-recommended relationship). For example, -3 indicates that both should never be started. Further, for example, +1 indicates that the corresponding application can be independently activated, but that the + 1-added application can be activated together to use a wider variety of functions (referred to as a recommended relationship). Further, for example, +3 indicates that the corresponding application cannot be used alone and the application to which +3 is added must be started. Regarding the exclusion relationship, in addition to the above-described levels, the starting order may be described. The VAS 140 performs startup control by referring to the file shown in FIG.

In addition, in addition to the information shown in FIG. 21, the reason for the exclusive relationship, the reason for the essential relationship, and other information for each combination of the applications may be included. By doing so, the reason for the exclusive relationship and the reason for the essential relationship can be displayed on the operation panel.

The user may store the file in the multifunction peripheral 100, or the multifunction peripheral 100 may obtain the file from an external server via a network. When the above file is stored in an external server, if any of the multifunction peripherals has a problem with the combination of applications, the information is transmitted to the server in an appropriate format so that the file can be stored. Automatic updating is also possible. Also, when a new application is developed and it is in a required relationship with other applications or in a recommended relationship, the file can be automatically updated by sending the information to the server It is.

Note that this file does not necessarily need to be stored in the MFP, and the VAS 140 may refer to an external file as needed.

Next, the procedure of the boot control process using the file of FIG. 21 in the boot setting scene will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The following processing is executed by the VAS 140.

First, the VAS 140 displays a startup setting screen on the operation panel (step S1101). FIG. 23 shows an example of the activation setting screen. The example shown in FIG. 23 is an example where “simple copy” has already been set to start.

(5) Next, the user selects an application that the user wants to further set. The VAS 140 acquires the product ID of the selected application, and searches for the file shown in FIG. 21 based on the product ID (step S1102).

{Circle around (2)} Then, the product ID of the application corresponding to the product ID and related information (exclusivity, reasons for the essential relationship, etc.) are acquired (step S1103). For example, in the example of FIG. 21, if the product ID of the application to be activated is 101, 102 (-3) and 103 (+1) are acquired.

起動 Then, start control is performed based on the acquired information. If the application corresponding to the acquired product ID is in an exclusive relationship, that is, if the level is negative (Y in step S1104), it is checked whether the application in the exclusive relationship has already been set to start (step S1104). S1105). If the activation setting has not been made, the activation setting of the application selected for the activation setting is performed (step S1106).

If the exclusive application has already been set to be activated (Y in step S1105), the level is checked (step S1107), and a warning is displayed on the screen (if the level is low) (step S1108), or (Step S1109) A selection screen is displayed to allow the user to select whether or not to set the application to be activated. The warning display is a screen for asking the user whether the activation setting may be made. Then, in the case of a warning display, the activation setting of the application to be activated is stopped or the activation setting is performed according to the judgment of the user (step S1110). In the case of the selection screen, the startup setting of the selected application is performed (step S1111). Note that, in this case, the launch setting of the application that is in an exclusive relationship and has been set to be launched is released.

If the application corresponding to the acquired product ID is in an essential relationship (N in step S1104), it is checked whether or not the application is set to be activated (step S1112). (Step S1113). If the activation is not set, the following processing is performed (N in step S1112).

(4) The level of the essential relationship is checked (step S1114). If the level of the essential relationship is high and both applications must be set to be activated, a screen prompting the user to activate the essential application is displayed (step S1115). Then, activation setting is performed according to the user's judgment (step S1116). In this case, both applications are set to be activated.

For example, on the screen shown in FIG. 23, it is assumed that “simple scanner” is an essential application for “edit and print tool”. At this time, if the "edit and print tool" is selected for the activation setting as shown in FIG. 24, the screen shown in FIG. 25 is displayed because the "simple scanner" has not been activated. Here, by pressing OK, both the “edit and print tool” and the “simple scanner” are activated and set.

In step S1114, when the level of the essential relation is low and the relation is in the recommended relation (for example, extended function), it is determined that the application of the acquired product ID can add the extended function to the application selected for the activation setting. A screen to be notified is displayed (step S1117), and startup is set according to the user's judgment (step S1118).

For example, in the example of FIG. 24, when the “user stamp addition module” and the “user comment addition module” are in a relationship capable of providing an extended function to the “edit and print tool”, the screen shown in FIG. 26 is displayed. , OK, three applications are activated.

In addition, when setting an application having an essential relationship, an automatic start setting may be performed without inquiring the user.

In addition, when the application having the essential relationship is not installed in the multifunction peripheral 100, the screen shown in FIG. 27 may be displayed before the screen of FIG. 25 is displayed, and the essential application may be downloaded. Further, instead of downloading, as shown in FIG. 28, an inquiry destination of the application may be displayed.

In the above example, when the application to be set to be activated has an exclusive relationship with the application already set to be activated, the VAS 140 refers to the above-described priority, and automatically assigns the higher priority application automatically. May be set to be activated. For example, if the application to be activated is higher in priority than the application that has already been activated, the activation setting of the application that has already been activated is released, and the activation of the application that is activated is set.

Note that the above example is an example of a startup setting scene. However, in an actual startup scene or an application installation scene, the VAS 140 refers to the file in FIG. Can be performed in the same manner as in the case of the startup setting.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified and applied within the scope of the claims.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a VAS of the multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment and a relationship between the VAS, each application, a control service layer, and a general-purpose OS. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the contents of an application compatibility information file stored in an HD. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the contents of another file stored in the HD. It is a figure showing an example of a display of a user selection screen. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for restricting activation based on compatibility among a plurality of applications that have been requested to activate at the same time. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the preparation process of an application compatibility information file. It is a figure for explaining temporary activation. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a startup restriction process for a combination of apps having an exclusive relationship. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a multifunction peripheral according to a second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a VAS of the multifunction peripheral according to the second embodiment and a relationship between the VAS, each application, a control service layer, and a general-purpose OS. FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a VAS of the multifunction peripheral according to the third embodiment and a relationship between the VAS, each application, a control service layer, and a general-purpose OS. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the contents of a required application information file stored in an HD. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a notification screen that prompts activation of essential applications when only one of the essential applications has a start request. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an application activation control processing procedure according to the third embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the preparation process of an essential application information file. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the start control process with respect to the combination of an essential application. FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating another example of the configuration of the multifunction peripheral according to the third embodiment. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating another configuration of the VAS of the multifunction peripheral according to the third embodiment. 146 is a diagram illustrating an example of contents of a database file in Embodiment 4. [FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of activation control according to the fourth embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a startup setting screen. It is a screen which shows that the application was selected. This is a screen that prompts the user to set the launch of an application that is in a required relationship. This is a screen for prompting the user to set an application having a recommended relationship. This is a screen for downloading an application. It is a screen which displays information about acquisition of an application.

Explanation of reference numerals

100 MFP 101 Black and White Laser Printer 102 Color Laser Printer 103 Hardware Resource 110 Software Group 111 Printer Application 112 Copy Application 113 Fax Application 114 Scanner Application 115 Net File Application 116 Process Inspection Application 117, 118 New Application 120 Platform 121 General-purpose OS
122 SCS
123 SRM
124 ECS
125 MCS
126 OCS
127 FCS
128 NCS
130 Application 140,841-848 Virtual Application Service (VAS)
141 Application compatibility information acquisition thread 142 Application activation restriction thread 143 Control thread 144 Dispatcher 145 Required application information acquisition thread 146 Application activation control thread 150 Control service layer 200 Hard disk (HD)
201 application compatibility information file 202 essential application information file 210 operation panel 211 start request application list 212 non-startable application list 213 radio button 800 multifunction peripheral 801 VAS control process

Claims (32)

In an image forming apparatus configured to be capable of mounting a plurality of applications,
Means for referring to a database that records information on the suitability of a combination of applications for each application;
An activation control unit that performs activation control processing for the application based on the information on the suitability of the combination of the applications. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship between a plurality of applications,
2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the activation control unit displays a screen for selecting at least one application from a plurality of applications in an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship on an operation panel of the image forming device. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship between a plurality of applications,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the activation control unit activates or sets activation of at least one of a plurality of applications in an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the activation control unit activates or activates a high-priority application from a plurality of applications having an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship of the application,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the activation control unit displays a warning screen on an operation panel of the image forming apparatus when a combination of a certain application and another application has a non-recommended relationship. When a start request or a start setting request for an application is made, the start control unit refers to the database, obtains an identifier of an application having an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship with the application, and The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image forming apparatus performs a control process. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an exclusive relation or a non-recommended relation of the application, and the information indicating the exclusive relation or the non-recommended relation includes a level indicating the strength of the exclusive relation or the non-recommended relation. ,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the activation control unit performs the activation control processing according to the level. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating a mandatory relationship or a recommended relationship between a plurality of applications,
2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the activation control unit displays a screen indicating an application having an essential relationship or a recommended relationship with an application on an operation panel of the image forming device. 3. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating a mandatory relationship or a recommended relationship between a plurality of applications,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the activation control unit activates or activates an application having an essential relationship or a recommended relationship with a certain application. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the activation control unit downloads the application having the essential relationship or the recommended relationship from a server via a network when the application is not installed in the image forming apparatus. apparatus. 10. The image according to claim 8, wherein the activation control unit displays information on acquisition of the application in an operation panel when the application having the essential relationship or the recommended relationship is not installed in the image forming apparatus. 11. Forming equipment. When a start request or a start setting request for an application is made, the start control unit refers to the database, acquires an identifier of an application that is in a required or recommended relation to the application, and executes the start control. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the image forming apparatus performs a process. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an essential relationship or a recommended relationship between a plurality of applications, and the information indicating the essential relationship or the recommended relationship includes a level indicating the strength of the essential relationship or the recommended relationship,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the activation control unit performs the activation control processing according to the level. Hardware resources used in the image forming process,
A control service for controlling hardware resources,
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13, further comprising a virtual application service that operates as a client process using the control service as a server and operates as a server process using the application as a client. 15. The image forming apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the virtual application service includes the referring unit and the activation control unit. An application startup control method in an image forming apparatus configured to be capable of mounting a plurality of applications,
Referencing a database that records information on the suitability of the combination of applications for each application;
A start control step of performing start control processing for the application based on the information on the suitability of the combination of the applications. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship between a plurality of applications,
17. The image forming apparatus according to claim 16, wherein, in the activation control step, the image forming apparatus displays, on an operation panel of the image forming apparatus, a screen for selecting at least one application from a plurality of applications in an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship. Startup control method. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship between a plurality of applications,
17. The activation control method according to claim 16, wherein in the activation control step, the image forming apparatus activates or activates at least one application among a plurality of applications in an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship. 19. The activation control method according to claim 18, wherein, in the activation control step, the image forming apparatus activates or activates an application having a higher priority order from among a plurality of applications having an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship of the application,
17. The activation according to claim 16, wherein, in the activation control step, the image forming apparatus displays a warning screen on an operation panel of the image forming apparatus when a combination of a certain application and another application is in a non-recommended relationship. Control method. In the start control step, when a start request or a start setting request for an application is made, the image forming apparatus refers to the database and identifies an identifier of an application that is in an exclusive relationship or a non-recommended relationship with the application. The activation control method according to any one of claims 17 to 20, wherein the activation control processing is performed after the acquisition is performed. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an exclusive relation or a non-recommended relation of the application, and the information indicating the exclusive relation or the non-recommended relation includes a level indicating the strength of the exclusive relation or the non-recommended relation. ,
17. The activation control method according to claim 16, wherein in the activation control step, the image forming apparatus performs the activation control processing according to the level. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating a mandatory relationship or a recommended relationship between a plurality of applications,
17. The activation control method according to claim 16, wherein in the activation control step, the image forming apparatus displays a screen indicating an application having an essential relation or a recommended relation on an operation panel of the image forming apparatus. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating a mandatory relationship or a recommended relationship between a plurality of applications,
17. The activation control method according to claim 16, wherein in the activation control step, the image forming apparatus activates or activates an application having an essential relationship or a recommended relationship. 24. The image forming apparatus according to claim 23, wherein, in the activation control step, when the application having the essential relation or the recommended relation is not installed in the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus downloads the application from a server via a network. 25. The activation control method according to 24. 24. In the activation control step, when the application having the essential relation or the recommended relation is not installed in the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus displays information on acquisition of the application on an operation panel. Or the activation control method according to 24. In the start control step, when a start request or a start setting request for an application is made, the image forming apparatus refers to the database and obtains an identifier of an application having a required relationship or a recommended relationship with the application. 27. The activation control method according to claim 23, wherein the activation control process is performed. The information on the suitability of the combination in the database is information indicating an essential relationship or a recommended relationship between a plurality of applications, and the information indicating the essential relationship or the recommended relationship includes a level indicating the strength of the essential relationship or the recommended relationship,
17. The activation control method according to claim 16, wherein in the activation control step, the image forming apparatus performs the activation control processing according to the level. The image forming apparatus includes:
Hardware resources used in the image forming process,
A control service for controlling hardware resources,
29. The activation control method according to claim 16, further comprising a virtual application service that operates as a client process using the control service as a server and operates as a server process using the application as a client. 30. The activation control method according to claim 29, wherein the virtual application service executes the referring step and the activation control step. An image forming apparatus configured to be capable of mounting a plurality of applications,
Means for referring to a database that records information on the suitability of a combination of applications for each application,
A start control unit that performs start control processing on the application based on the information on the suitability of the combination of the applications;
A program to function as A computer-readable recording medium storing the program according to claim 31.

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