JP2004139592A - Communication device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently use various kinds of functions in a plurality of function means of a communication device. <P>SOLUTION: This communication device has the plurality of function means for respectively providing functions as applications, and functions for combining a plurality of applications, and capable of communicating with a host machine. In the communication device, data from the host machine are inputted; a system control application 1 determines the sending address of the data based on address information added to the data; the data are distributed to the relevant function means based on the determination; and each function means is provided with a response means for responding by adding information showing the sending origin to the head of data relating to the response when the data are sent from the host machine. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

<< The present invention relates to a communication device capable of communicating with a host machine.

Conventionally, a digital copying machine has been provided with a facsimile function and a printer function, and further, a product having a function of performing copying simultaneously with facsimile has been provided.

In these products, an image editing device called an image processing unit is connected between a host machine and a digital copying machine capable of communicating with the host machine, and digital commands are issued by various commands from the host machine. There is also a type which can take in an image from a copying machine and edit it, or send the edited result and image information from a host machine to a digital copying machine in accordance with an instruction from the host machine and print out the image.
Further, as an example of realizing the function integration, a facsimile machine capable of facsimile transmission instead of printing out a document stored in a floppy disk has been commercialized. As described above, a digital copying machine is provided with a facsimile function, an online printer function, and the like, and is positioned as a so-called multifunction machine in the market.

However, applications such as a facsimile (hereinafter abbreviated as FAX) and a printer (hereinafter abbreviated as PRN) are open to the user only as a single application, and can be viewed from the viewpoint of integrating application functions. For example, only the FAX transmission of the image created by the PRN application is performed, and it cannot be said that the functions of the complex system, which includes the application function in addition to the image information reading / writing function, are fully used. Reality.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and has been made to provide a proposal regarding data flow control between a host machine and a communication partner device necessary for efficiently using the above-described complex system. The purpose is.
In recent years, there has been a movement to connect host computers with a LAN (local area network) to form a network mainly by companies. In addition to the typical UNIX (registered trademark) system, AppleTalk and Novell's NetWare are accelerating networking on a personal computer basis. Also, Ethernet (registered trademark) is the mainstream as a physical medium in data transfer, and the transfer rate is 10 Mbit / sec, which is a little heavy when sending a large number of images, but is sufficient for normal file / control information exchange. . This Ethernet has a capability of about 4 Mbit / sec even when access from each terminal or workstation occurs frequently and collisions in the bus increase.

Further, as networking progresses, there is a demand for a printing device connected to the host computer, and the printing device is shared in the network. For example, network printers are already on the market, and it is expected that digital MFPs equipped with FAX and PRN will be compatible with networks in the future.
However, in this case, simply supporting the network only for using the PRN in the digital multifunction peripheral does not fully utilize the resources in the system. Also, if a system for controlling the entire system by using the interface of the network printer as a contact point is adopted, it is necessary to dispatch data (commands) other than the printer on the printer side. It will hinder.
In addition, this means that even from the viewpoint of the host machine on the network, it is necessary to provide the printer driver software with this system control command correspondence, and commands having different dimensions such as printer control and system control are combined into one driver software. It is not preferable to include it. In addition, when specifications differ depending on the system, it can be said that rewriting the printer driver software each time is very wasteful work in order to cope with them.

The present invention proposes a method for efficiently utilizing the resources of a communication partner device, particularly when connected to a host machine via a network, and proposes a communication device to which such a data flow method is applied. Things.

As a specific example, for example, it is possible to communicate with a host machine, display a manuscript received by facsimile on a terminal on a network, fetch image information fetched from a digital MFP into a PRN, There is an image processing apparatus that enables printing out by filing a form or facsimile transmission.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a communication device that has a plurality of function units each providing a function as an application or a function of combining a plurality of applications, and is capable of communicating with a host machine, A determination unit for inputting data from the host machine and determining a destination of the data based on destination information attached to the data; and a function unit corresponding to the data based on the determination by the determination unit. A distributing means for distributing, and a response means for responding by adding information indicating a transmission source to the head of data relating to a response when data is transmitted from the host machine, to each of the functional means. It is.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the above-mentioned communication device, a designation means for designating a distribution destination of data from the host machine is provided.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a notifying unit for notifying the host machine of the destination information corresponding to each of the functional units.

(Action)
In the communication device according to the first aspect, for example, when the communication device is connected to one or more host machines, it becomes possible to determine the transfer destination at the time of receiving data from the host machine and distribute the data. Provide a plurality of applications as function means and functions in the system, if there is an application etc. that can integrate functions among them, if the data received from the host machine is data for a specific application, the application If it is for an application that realizes a transfer function and a fusion function, the data flow can be efficiently controlled by passing it there, so even if there is only one I / F with the host machine, distribution control to multiple applications Becomes possible.

Also, for example, when transmitting data, status, and other control codes from the communication device to the host machine, sender information indicating which of the functional units such as applications in the system is from is added. For example, when a plurality of host machines on a network, for example, a workstation has a server function for a plurality of applications and a server function for realizing function integration, for each function means, It is possible to respond (transmit) error, status information, and other data.

In the communication device according to the second aspect, for example, the distribution (transmission) destination of the received / transmitted data can be set by the panel operation, the DIP / SW, or the command from the host machine on the communication device side, so that the transmission and reception can be performed. Even if there is no special destination information in the data to be processed, it can be unconditionally distributed to the setting destination.

In the communication device according to the third aspect, for example, ID information or the like can be sent to the host machine so that the destination of data can be specified from the host machine to various applications and units in the communication device. it can.

According to the communication apparatus of the present invention as described above, based on the destination information attached to the data from the host machine, the data is distributed to the corresponding function means, so that various functions in the plurality of function means can be efficiently performed. Will be able to be used

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a multi-image processing system as an embodiment of a communication device proposed in the present invention. Note that there are various interfaces such as SCSI, Centro, Serial, etc. in the form in which the multi-image processing system is connected to the host machine. For convenience of explanation, a case where the multi-image processing system is connected to a network by Ethernet will be described.

FIG. 2 shows a normal data packet format in the network physical layer. FIG. 3 shows a case in which the data portion proposed in the present embodiment has destination header information, for example, ID, as destination information at the head of the data portion.
When the destination here is a data packet from the host machine, each unit as a functional unit in the multi-image processing system, specifically, a PRN application, an image recording device (plotter), or the entire system is referred to. An application to be controlled (system control application) or the like. Conversely, if the data packet is from the multi-image processing system to the host machine, a workstation on the network is specified.

However, this mode differs depending on how to create utility software on the host machine side and on the multi-image processing system side. For example, when the multi-image processing system according to the present embodiment is directly connected to a network, that is, has a server function, the network card itself has an ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) function, and an IP (Internet Protocol) address to an Ethernet (registered trademark). ) Since it is converted into an address and included in the header of the packet, there is no need to include information on the destination in the data.
However, providing a server function as a practical use mode must efficiently handle accesses from a plurality of workstations on a network and process a plurality of received files.
Furthermore, since there are many items required as a server, such as support for various network protocols and data security, the server is far from its original role as a multi-image processing system.

Therefore, in a feasible mode, a host workstation is provided with a server workstation for receiving all services issued to the multi-image processing system from the network, and the multi-image processing system is accessed only from this workstation. So that
In this case, since the server manages IP and Ethernet addresses on the network, appropriate status response and data transmission can be performed between the server and the multi-image processing system to terminals on the network only by managing internal ID information. Become. That is, in such a use form, it is necessary to include information such as the ID of the other party at the head of the data portion of the data packet to the host machine (server).

Next, specific contents of the data flow control proposed in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, a system control application 1 connected to a network receives all data packets from the network. The encapsulated data packet becomes only the data part as it progresses from the physical layer to the application layer. The unit ID specified in the header part of the data in this state, for example, the PRN application 3, is determined, and the appropriate unit is determined. Via the internal bus 5 (including the control command line). Therefore, the system control application 1 corresponds to the determination unit and the distribution unit.
This also has the advantage that each unit in the multi-image processing system can continue the original work of each unit without being swayed by handling with the network.

Of course, as a reverse data flow, when a data packet is sent from each unit to a specific workstation on the network, the server, the multi-image processing system, more specifically, between the system control units (multi-image processing system side) In this case, the system control application functioning as a notification means is applicable), and the ID information determined in advance is included in the data section head area of the packet section and is sent to the server, so that the server section reads out the network address corresponding to this ID. Packetize and send it over the network.
For example, this can realize functions such as sending a facsimile reception report or a received original document to a specific terminal on the network and responding to a status request from a terminal on the network. In addition to enabling remote operation of the system, image information captured by the multi-image processing system can be captured and edited by a host machine on a network.

In addition to the method of including the transfer destination unit ID in the packet, the system control unit of the multi-image processing system is designed so that the data generated by the driver software for network printers already released in the market does not need to be modified. Any packet that does not have destination information at the head of the data portion of the received packet may be delivered to the PRN. Further, in this embodiment, in order to make the data flow control unit in the system control unit more flexible, the data packet itself does not have destination information for unit designation, and the operation panel of the multi-image processing system or the Dip. A data distribution destination can be designated by a designation means such as an SW, and a data packet received from the network can be unconditionally transferred to the designated destination after unpacking.
Furthermore, in addition to including the destination unit ID for each packet, a destination is specified by issuing (receiving) a control command packet from the server, and the destination is specified until the next destination change command is issued. There is also a method that keeps sending it first. Note that such control command packets are also included in “data”.

As described above, according to the present invention, based on the destination information attached to the data from the host machine, the data is distributed to the corresponding function means. Can be used efficiently.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a multi-image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a form of a normal data packet in a network physical layer. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a form of a data packet used in the multi-image processing system illustrated in FIG. 1.

Explanation of reference numerals

1 System control application 3 PRN application 5 Internal bus

Claims (3)

A communication device that has a plurality of function means for providing a function as an application or a function of combining a plurality of applications, and is capable of communicating with a host machine,
Determining means for inputting data from the host machine and determining a destination of the data based on destination information attached to the data; and transmitting the data to a corresponding functional means based on the determination of the determining means. Distribution means for distributing,
A communication apparatus, comprising: a response unit that responds to each of the functional units by adding information indicating a transmission source to the head of data relating to a response when data is transmitted from the host machine. 2. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a designation unit for designating a distribution destination of the data from the host machine. 3. The communication device according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit that notifies the host machine of destination information corresponding to each of the functional units.

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