JP2004272764A - Function extension method for computer system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a function extension technique for peripheral equipment that dispenses with the installation operation of driver software and application software for peripheral equipment when the peripheral equipment is connected as a function extension to a computer system, in a computer system having an operating system. <P>SOLUTION: The function extension method for a computer system, which connects peripheral equipment to a computer system having an operating system and a given interface to extend the function of the computer system, uses an Autorun function of the operating system to automatically install driver software or application software for controlling the peripheral equipment in the computer system from the peripheral equipment. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for connecting a peripheral device to a computer system to extend a function.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, personal computers have been increasingly used in a wider range of applications and applications as hardware functions and performance have been improved and software functions such as basic software and application software have been enhanced. With the arrival of a full-fledged information society, personal computers (PCs) are now an important means of supporting the information society, and the need to connect various devices (peripheral devices) is increasing. Therefore, there is no doubt that personal computers will be required to have even higher function expandability in the future.
[0003]
By the way, a general personal computer can be connected to various peripheral devices such as a printer or a scanner or an audio device such as a speaker, but inside the personal computer, software such as an OS (basic software), an application, and a device driver are installed. It is well known that a group controls these peripheral devices as a unit. In the personal computer, the software group and the hardware operate in cooperation with each other to send a signal to a peripheral device via an appropriate interface and receive an electric signal from the peripheral device. As a result, the operation of the peripheral device can be controlled and data can be read from the peripheral device. As described above, the personal computer is provided with a universal interface such as a USB as a standard so that various peripheral devices can be connected.
[0004]
By the way, now, consider manufacturing a completely new peripheral device and connecting it to an existing personal computer. For example, first, a personal computer is connected to a CD-ROM drive and a speaker through an interface such as a USB and activated. At this time, when the music CD is inserted into the CD-ROM drive, the music is automatically played from the speaker, so that the personal computer can be used as a jukebox.
Then, consider adding a "microphone" as a newly-developed peripheral device to a USB or the like so that a personal computer that has functioned as a jukebox can function as a "karaoke device". As described above, adding a new function by additionally connecting a peripheral device to an existing state is generally called function expansion.
[0005]
However, simply connecting a newly-developed microphone to the USB of a personal computer does not usually make it possible for a jukebox to quickly turn into a karaoke device.
This is because in order for a microphone to have a karaoke function, software (applications and device drivers) for operating the function must be installed in a personal computer.
On the other hand, a personal computer equipped with basic software after Windows 98 (registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States) is equipped with a USB interface and a set of software for a CD-ROM drive for connection via the USB interface as standard. For this reason, the user simply connects the CD-ROM drive of USB interface (of course, IDE interface specification may be used) and starts up the personal computer, and the CD-ROM drive can be used as it is.
[0006]
Therefore, the user can use the microphone (peripheral device) by mounting the CD-ROM (recording medium of the application and the device driver) attached to the microphone (peripheral device) in the CD-ROM drive and executing the installation.
To start the installation, double-click the file of the setup program contained in the set CD-ROM with the mouse to start it. After that, according to the installation menu displayed on the display screen of the personal computer, if necessary items are sequentially selected, the installation work is completed.
However, such an installation work has to be performed by the user every time a peripheral device is added, so that it is very complicated. In addition, it is very troublesome for the user to manage a medium such as a CD-ROM containing a driver or the like for each peripheral device.
[0007]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-53289 discloses a technique for automating the installation work and reducing the burden on the user. The technology disclosed herein automatically installs software such as driver software and automates version-up simply by connecting an extended function device such as a peripheral device to an information processing device (personal computer). . The information processing device automatically detects the connection of the peripheral device, compares the software information transferred from the peripheral device with the software information already possessed by the information device itself and the software information obtained via the network, The latest version can be stored in the information device.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-53289 has the following problems. That is, while the software has the advantage that software such as driver software can be automatically installed in the information device and the version upgrade can be further automated, the information device has an installation program that shows the procedure of installation and version upgrade in advance. (Installer) must be installed.
In other words, the entity that starts the installation is located on the information device side, and the installer inside the information device automatically starts when the information device detects the connection of the peripheral device. Therefore, it is necessary to save the installer in all the information devices in advance, so that the user is forced to install the installer for each information device (personal computer), which is complicated.
[0009]
In the case where peripheral devices are taken out on a business trip or the like and connected to another information device for use, the installer must be separately stored in a medium such as a CD-ROM or a floppy disk and carried.
Therefore, the present situation is that the ultimate demand that the peripheral device can be used anytime and anywhere as soon as it is connected, has not been sufficiently satisfied. The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a function of a personal computer in which peripheral devices function immediately without connecting a user to installation work by simply connecting a completely new device to the personal computer. It provides an extension method.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for connecting a peripheral device to a computer system having an operation system and a predetermined interface via the interface to extend the functions of the computer system. , The peripheral device comprises a predetermined interface connected to the computer system, a CD-ROM drive simulation means connected to the computer system via the interface, and software storage means for storing a program such as software, The CD-ROM drive simulating means has a file reading means, a first file simulating means, and a second file simulating means, and the software storage means includes driver software for controlling the peripheral device by the computer system, and driver software. Driver soft And a function (plug-and-play function) for detecting a CD-ROM drive of the operation system when the peripheral device is connected to the computer system. A function of detecting the presence or absence of a CD-ROM and automatically reading and executing a file in a root directory of the CD-ROM (auto-run function), and the first file simulation means via the file read simulation means. Is read, the file name of the second file simulating means (startup file) is specified, and the second file simulating means is read out via the file reading simulating means, and the contents of the second file simulating means are read. Instrument in the software storage means It reads and executes le program in a computer system, in which to install the driver software in the software storage unit in a computer system in accordance with the installation program.
[0011]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the peripheral device is a USB device having a USB interface.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, application software for expanding the function of the peripheral device is stored in the software storage means, and the software is stored in accordance with the installation program. The application software is installed on a computer system.
[0012]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, or third aspect, a third file simulation means corresponding to the driver software is provided in the CD-ROM drive simulation means. It was done.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, third, or fourth aspect, the fourth file simulation means corresponding to the application software is the CD-ROM drive simulation means. Is provided.
[0013]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments.
FIG. 1 shows an example in which a karaoke microphone is connected to a personal computer 2 as a peripheral device 1 as a first embodiment according to the present invention, and is connected to the personal computer 2 together with other peripheral devices 3 (speakers). Is shown.
In FIG. 1, a karaoke microphone (peripheral device 1) has a USB interface 4 for connecting to a personal computer 2, and a CD-ROM with a CD-ROM mounted when viewed from the personal computer 2 through the USB interface 4. CD-ROM drive simulation means 5 recognized as a drive, software storage means 9 for storing and storing an installation program 6, a microphone driver 7 (driver software), and a karaoke software 8 (application software); The karaoke microphone has a microphone function element 10 such as a conversion function, a volume setting function, and an echo amount setting function.
[0014]
Further, the CD-ROM drive simulation means 5 includes a file reading simulation means 11 for executing file reading according to an instruction from the personal computer 2, and an installation to be read by the file reading simulation means 11 when an instruction from the personal computer 2 is received. A first file simulating unit 12 in which a file name of the program is recorded; a second file simulating unit 13 for simulating a file of an installation program designated by the first file simulating unit 5; 3) a third file simulation means 14 corresponding to the device driver and a fourth file simulation means 15 corresponding to the application software file.
[0015]
The personal computer 2 also has a USB interface 16, a plug-and-play function 17 for automatically recognizing peripheral devices connected to the USB interface 16, and a peripheral device (CD- An auto-run function 18 for reading a file on a medium mounted on a ROM drive) and automatically executing the file, and a speaker driver 19 for controlling a speaker (peripheral device 3) connected via the USB interface 16 are provided. Provided as standard.
The speaker (peripheral device 3) includes a USB interface 20 and a speaker function element 21 for reproducing a signal supplied from the personal computer 2 through the USB interfaces 16 and 20 as sound.
[0016]
The peripheral device 1 shown in FIG. 1 operates as follows.
First, consider a state in which only the speaker (peripheral device 3) is connected to the personal computer 2 and activated. When the power of the personal computer 2 is turned on, the operation system (assuming Windows 98 or later) is read from the hard disk (not shown) to the memory (not shown) inside the personal computer 2, and the operation system is started. At this time, the driver of the peripheral device 3 (speaker) is automatically read from the hard disk (not displayed) to the memory (not displayed), and the peripheral device 3 can be controlled.
[0017]
Next, the peripheral device 1 is connected to the USB interface 16. At this time, the CD-ROM drive simulation means 5 of the peripheral device 1 sends an electric signal based on a device ID called GUID to the personal computer 2 via the USB interface 4.
Here, the personal computer 2 (operation system) is provided with a plug and play function 17 which originally receives the GUID and automatically recognizes whether or not a peripheral device is connected. Therefore, when the personal computer 2 receives the electric signal based on the GUID through the USB interface 16 and detects that the new peripheral device 1 is connected, the personal computer 2 changes the driver of the standard CD-ROM drive to a hard disk (not shown). To a memory (not shown), and the peripheral device 1 is recognized as a CD-ROM drive.
[0018]
Here, when viewed from the computer system, the CD-ROM drive simulation means 5 of the peripheral device 1 is simulated as a CD-ROM drive with a CD-ROM mounted.
Therefore, the operation system activates the auto-run function (also called the auto-play function) 18 following the plug-and-play function 17, searches the root directory of the CD-ROM simulated on the CD-ROM drive simulation means 5, and searches for the root directory. autorun. The file "inf" is automatically searched.
[0019]
Therefore, the file reading simulation means of the CD-ROM drive simulation means 5 searches the CD-ROM root directory simulated in the CD-ROM drive simulation means 5 according to the instruction of the operation system. (The CD-ROM drive simulation means 5 is generally realized by being constituted by a microcomputer, a memory, and software, but may have any structure.)
[0020]
At this time, a first file simulation means 12 (autorun.inf) and a second file simulation means (install.exe) are prepared in the root directory of the CD-ROM simulation means, and the first file simulation means is prepared. The contents of the file of the means 12 (autorun.inf) are set to [Autorun] OPEN = install. exe. Then, the file reading simulation means 11 reads the first file simulation means 12 (autorun.inf) according to the instruction of the operation system (autorun function 18), and sends it to the operation system.
[0021]
The operating system receives the autorun. inf file described in the file contents of inf. exe, the "OPEN =" portion is recognized as an instruction to be automatically executed, and the file "install.exe" existing in the same root directory is the name of the program to be automatically executed (installation start file). Identify.
The operating system reads out the start-up file (install.exe) through the file reading simulation means 5 and executes it. Here, the storage location of the installation program 6 (software storage means 9) and the instruction to read it are described in the contents of the startup file (install.exe).
[0022]
Then, the operation system reads the installation program 6 from the software storage means 9 via the file reading simulation means 11 and executes it according to the description contents of the startup file (install.exe). Here, the installation program 6 is a program showing a procedure for automatically introducing the karaoke software 8 (driver software) and the “microphone” driver 7 (application software) from the peripheral device 1 to the personal computer 2. The storage location of the karaoke software 8 and the "microphone" driver 7 (the location of the program storage means 9) and the procedure for obtaining the program are shown.
[0023]
The operating system reads out the third file simulation means 14 or the fourth file simulation means 15 via the file reading simulation means 11 in accordance with the contents described in the started installation program 6, and similarly according to the contents described here. The microphone driver 7 (driver software) and the karaoke software 8 (application software) are sequentially read from the software storage means 9. Then, it is loaded into a memory (not shown) and written on a hard disk (not shown). At this time, when writing the microphone driver 7 (driver software) to the memory and the hard disk, it is searched whether or not the driver already exists in the installation destination. If the driver is already installed, the installation is stopped and the karaoke software 8 is stopped. It is preferable to shift to the installation of (application software) and start the installation of the driver software if there is no existing driver software.
[0024]
Note that the third file simulation means 14 and the fourth file simulation means 15 are provided in the CD-ROM drive simulation means 5 in correspondence with the microphone driver 7 and the karaoke software 8. Alternatively, the contents of the third file simulation means 14 and the fourth file simulation means 15 may be described in the installation program.
With the above procedure, the operation of installing the microphone driver 7 (driver software) and the karaoke software 8 (application software) on the personal computer is completed.
[0025]
Here, when the karaoke software 8 (application software) installed on the personal computer 3 is started, the started application software can directly access the karaoke function element 10 of the karaoke microphone via the USB interface 4, and the volume, It is possible to control the karaoke function element 10 such as setting of sound quality and echo. Here, the control of the karaoke function element 10 may be performed directly via the USB interface 4 or a fifth file simulation means 22 is formed in the CD-ROM simulation means 5 in advance, and A method of controlling the karaoke function element 10 via the karaoke function element may be used.
[0026]
The procedure for starting the karaoke software 8 (application software) may be described in the installer 6. In this way, the karaoke software 8 (application software) is automatically started after the installation is completed, so that the user who starts the karaoke software 8 can save time and effort. Since input / output to / from the CD-ROM drive simulation means 5 is performed via the USB interface 4, peripheral devices can be connected as they are while the power supply of the personal computer is turned on. There is no need to restart the personal computer, so there is no burden on the user.
[0027]
As described above, the peripheral device 1 includes the CD-ROM drive simulation unit 5 and the software storage unit 9, and the personal computer 2 recognizes the peripheral device 1 as a CD-ROM drive with a CD-ROM mounted thereon, The auto-run function 18 of the operation system automatically operates, and the installer 6, the "microphone" driver 7, and the karaoke software 8 stored in the software storage means 9 are automatically and sequentially introduced into the personal computer. The present invention can provide a method for extending the functions of a computer system that does not burden the user with installation work.
[0028]
The software stored in the software storage means 9 provided in the peripheral device 1 is generally a machine language code that can be executed by a personal computer. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It may be an intermediate code that can be interpreted by the JAVA engine or a command character string that can be executed by the command execution function of the personal computer. Further, the software may be stored in the software storage means 9 in a compressed state, and the file reading simulation means 11 may decompress (decompress) the software and deliver it to the personal computer. Further, the software may be stored at a specific location (address) of the software storage means 9 or the size (data size) of the software may be recorded at a specific address. By doing so, the file reading simulation means 9 and the software storage means 8 can be generalized, and the software update processing is simplified, which is convenient.
[0029]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, a peripheral device is provided with a USB interface CD-ROM drive simulating means and software storage means, and when the peripheral device is connected to a personal computer, the personal computer has the peripheral device mounted on the CD-ROM drive. And the auto-run function of the CD-ROM drive of the operation system is activated, and the installation program, driver software, and application software stored in the software storage means are automatically and sequentially installed on the personal computer. Therefore, it is very effective to provide a function expansion method for peripheral devices that does not require any installation work on the user side.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a function expansion method of a peripheral device according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1, 3 peripheral device 2 personal computer 4, 16, 20 USB interface 5 CD-ROM simulation means 6 installer 7 "microphone" driver 8 karaoke software 9 software storage means 10 microphone function element 11 File reading simulation means 12 First file simulation means 13 Second file simulation means 14 Third file simulation means 15 Fourth file simulation means 17 Plug and play function 18 Autorun function 19 Speaker Driver 21: Fifth file simulation means

Claims (5)

A method of connecting a peripheral device to a computer system having an operation system and a predetermined interface via the interface to extend the function of the computer system, wherein the peripheral device includes a predetermined interface connected to the computer system, and the interface And a software storage means for storing a program such as software. The CD-ROM drive simulation means includes a file reading means, a first file simulation means, File simulation means, and the software storage means includes driver software for controlling the peripheral device by the computer system and installation software for installing the driver software in the computer system. Has stored the Lumpur program, when connected to the peripheral device to the computer system,
A function of detecting the CD-ROM drive of the operation system (plug and play function) and a function of detecting the presence or absence of a CD-ROM and automatically reading and executing a file in a root directory of the CD-ROM (autorun function) ) To read out the first file simulation means via the file reading simulation means, specify the file name of the second file simulation means (startup file), and specify the file name via the file reading simulation means. The second file simulation means is read, the installation program in the software storage means is read into the computer system according to the contents of the second file simulation means and executed, and the driver software in the software storage means is read in accordance with the installation program. Computer system Enhancements method of a computer system, characterized in that the installation. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral device is a USB device having a USB interface. 3. The computer program according to claim 1, wherein application software for expanding the function of the peripheral device is stored in the software storage unit, and the application software is installed in a computer system according to the installation program. A method for expanding a function of a computer system according to any one of the above. 4. The function of the computer system according to claim 1, wherein a third file simulation unit corresponding to the driver software is provided in the CD-ROM drive simulation unit. Expansion method. 5. The CD-ROM drive simulation means according to claim 1, wherein a fourth file simulation means corresponding to the application software is provided in the CD-ROM drive simulation means. How to extend the functionality of a computer system.

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