JP2010039689A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device for reducing an amount of resources reserved when installing, to a device having a resource for executing an application, an application mutually related to each other. <P>SOLUTION: Identification information 6003 on related applications and an amount of resources 6004 used for simultaneous start with the related applications are added to property information m 4003 of the application a 4001. Identification information 6007 of the related applications and an amount of resources 6008 used for simultaneous start with the related applications are added to property information m 4006 of the application b 4004. Thus, when the application is started, the relation between the applications is determined from the identification information 6003 and the identification information 6007, and a necessary amount of resources is secured based on the amounts of resources 6004 and 6008 to be used. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus capable of installing an application. More specifically, the present invention relates to a technique for determining the resource usage necessary for starting an application in consideration of the simultaneous operability of a plurality of applications.

In an information processing device such as a multifunction peripheral that has an image forming function, installation of Java (registered trademark) allows applications to be installed from other information processing devices on the network in the same manner as information processing devices represented by PCs. The environment is getting better. As a result, a new application is installed when the function is expanded. Specifically, the installed application is stored in a nonvolatile storage medium such as a hard disk existing in the information processing apparatus. The installed application starts and operates in the information processing apparatus, and realizes a function that provides various added values to the information processing apparatus having an image forming function such as a copying machine. These applications require an operation of reading information recorded in the nonvolatile storage medium onto the memory at the start. At this time, as a conventional technique, there is generally a method for securing a necessary memory at the start based on a property file that is paired with an application and using the required resource usage (for example, Patent Literature) 1).
JP 2004-30601 A

  In such a conventional multi-function peripheral, all application programs are started for each functional unit such as a printer, a copy, a facsimile, and a scanner within a limited resource range such as a memory. In other words, the conventional multi-function peripheral provides enough resources to start all application programs, and it is not assumed that a situation where the application programs cannot be started occurs. However, in addition to pre-installed applications, new multifunction devices are configured so that users or third parties that are third parties can develop new applications and install them in multifunction devices after the multifunction devices are shipped. . Thus, at the start of a plurality of applications, a sharable memory area is secured for each application. Therefore, the present invention is directed to an apparatus having hardware resources used in image forming processing such as a display unit, a printing unit, and an imaging unit. Therefore, an image forming apparatus (composite) that includes describing hardware resources commonly required by at least two applications in property information associated with each application, and calculating resource usage at the time of executing each application. Machine).

  As means for solving the above-mentioned problem, the invention of claim 1 is an information processing apparatus provided with a resource capable of executing an application. Furthermore, the information processing apparatus can acquire information associated with the application, an operating state of an application having a relationship with the application, and resource usage information included in the accompanying information. In addition, a client terminal that displays the status of the application via a network and a display unit of the client terminal are configured to calculate the resource usage necessary for executing the application from the resource usage information. is there.

  Further, the accompanying information of the application includes information on the name of the application, information on the identification of the application, identification information on the related application, status information indicating start and stop of the application, and affiliation of the application Including at least one or more pieces of information regarding the application group to be executed. The invention of claim 2 is configured to acquire each of these pieces of information with respect to the invention of claim 1.

  Further, the accompanying information includes, in the identification information related to the application having the relation, the resource usage information paired with the application having a plurality of relations and the application having the plurality of relations. Here, the invention of claim 3 is configured to acquire the resource usage information in the previous period which is paired with the application having the above-mentioned relationship with respect to the invention of claim 2.

  Further, the invention of claim 4 is configured to compare with the invention of claim 3 by comparing information relating to identification of the application and identification information relating to the application having the association to determine whether or not they match. It is.

  Furthermore, the invention of claim 5 compares the information on the group to which the application belongs with the information on the group to which the application having the relation belongs to the invention of claim 3 to determine whether or not they match. It is composed.

  Further, in the invention of claim 6, in contrast to the invention of claim 4, if the determination result matches the identification information of the application and the identification information of the application having the association, the resource usage information to be paired is included. get. At this time, if there is a mismatch, the normal resource usage information is obtained.

  Further, in the invention of claim 7, in contrast to the invention of claim 4, in the determination of the group to which the application belongs and the group to which the application having the association belongs, if the determination result is the same, the resource to be paired Get usage information. At this time, if there is a mismatch, the normal resource usage information is obtained.

  Further, in the invention of claim 8, in contrast to the invention of claim 1, the application status display means displays one or more of the information included in the accompanying information. At this time, if an application having a relationship with the application is in a start state, items that can be displayed in common between the two applications are displayed together.

  Further, in the invention of claim 9, in contrast to the invention of claim 1, the application status display means displays one or more of the information included in the accompanying information. At this time, even if an application having a relationship with the application is in a start state, items displayed by the two applications are individually displayed.

  According to the present invention, at the start of the installed application, necessary resource usage information paired with the accompanying information of the application being started and the accompanying information of the started application is acquired. As a result, the required resource usage can be changed more flexibly than the start of an application that does not consider the relationship between the applications, and this can easily lead to an increase in the number of applications that can be started within a limited resource. Further, the user can display the information of the application on the WEB page, and can grasp the resource usage by the application having the relation. Therefore, the user can start and stop the application systematically.

  Next, details of the present invention will be described in accordance with the description of the embodiments.

  In the first embodiment, the present invention is implemented in a system using an image forming apparatus and a network.

  FIG. 1 is a general system configuration diagram in which an image forming apparatus system according to the first exemplary embodiment is used.

  An MFP 1008 is an information processing apparatus that reads a document, prints it, or transmits it to various apparatuses. The client PC 1004 to the client PC 1006 issue a print instruction to the multifunction peripheral 1008 or store document data read by the multifunction peripheral 1008. The network 1007 is a network to which the information processing apparatus 1001, the client PC 1004 to the client PC 1006, and the multifunction peripheral 1008 are connected, and is assumed to be accessible to each other. The connection medium at this time may be any as long as it can communicate bidirectionally, and the protocol used for data transmission / reception between the client PC 1004 to the client PC 1006 and the multifunction peripheral 1008 on the connection medium is also HTTP ( Any of existing protocols such as Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (SOAP), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) may be used. That is, it may be a completely unique application protocol. Further, any number of client PCs may be connected on the network 1007.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that a Java (registered trademark) execution environment is incorporated in the multifunction peripheral 1008, and a Java (registered trademark) application can be executed.

  FIG. 2 is a system block diagram of an information processing apparatus having an image forming function such as a multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment.

  FIG. 2 is a system block diagram according to the first embodiment, which is mounted on a multifunction peripheral 1008.

  The Controller Unit 2000 is a controller for inputting / outputting image information and device information by connecting to the Scanner 2070 as an image input device and the Printer 2095 as an image output device. On the other hand, the same operation is possible by connecting LAN 2011 or public line (WAN) 2051. The CPU 2001 is a controller that controls the entire system. A RAM 2002 is a system work memory for operating the CPU 2001, and is also an image memory for temporarily storing image data or a work memory for executing various applications. ROM 2003 is a boot ROM, which stores a system boot program. The HDD 2004 is a hard disk drive that stores system software, image data, various applications, history of various jobs processed in the image forming apparatus, and the like. In addition, it is possible to share a storage area with a predetermined client via the network I / F 2010 described later. An operation unit I / F 2006 is an interface unit with an operation unit (UI) 2012 having a touch panel, and outputs image data to be displayed on the operation unit 2012 to the operation unit 2012. Also, it plays a role of transmitting information input from the operation unit 2012 by the system user to the CPU 2001. Network I / F2010 connects to LAN2011 and inputs / outputs information. A Modem 2050 is connected to the public line 2051 and inputs / outputs information. The above devices are arranged on the system bus 2007. Image Bus I / F2005 is a bus bridge that connects a system bus 2007 and an image bus 2008 that transfers image data at high speed, and converts the data structure. The image bus 2008 is configured by a PCI bus or IEEE1394. The following devices are arranged on the image bus 2008. A raster image processor (RIP) 2060 expands the PDL code into a bitmap image. A device I / F unit 2020 connects an image input / output device such as a scanner 2070 and a printer 2095 to the controller 2000, and performs synchronous / asynchronous conversion of image data. A scanner image processing unit 2080 corrects, processes, and edits input image data. The printer image processing unit performs printer correction, resolution conversion, and the like on the print output image data. The image rotation unit 2030 rotates image data. The image compression unit 2040 performs compression / decompression processing of JPEG for multi-value image data and JBIG, MMR, and MH for binary image data. The Removable Media Slot 2100 is a slot to which a removable data storage medium such as a memory card can be connected, and can store and read image data. The encryption / decryption processing unit 2110 is a hardware accelerator board that performs data encryption / decryption processing using a predetermined key or the like.

  FIG. 3 is a system block diagram according to the first embodiment, which is mounted on the client PCs 1004 to 1006.

  The client PCs 1004 to 1006 include a CPU 3001, a RAM 3002, a CRT (cathode ray tube) 3003, a keyboard 3004, a pointing device 3005, a ROM 3006, a DISK 3007, a communication I / F (1) 3008, and a communication I / F ( 2) 3009 is connected to each other via a system bus 3010.

  A program for controlling the PC is stored in the ROM 3006 or DISK 3007, read into the RAM 3002 as necessary, and executed by the CPU 3001. In addition, the CPU 3001 displays through the CRT 3003 and receives a user instruction from the keyboard 3004 and the pointing device 3005. The CPU 3001 communicates with an external device through the communication I / F (1) 3008 and the communication I / F (2) 3009.

  In this embodiment, unless otherwise specified, in the PC of FIG. 3, the CPU 3001 receives user input from the keyboard 3004 and the pointing device 3005 via the system bus 3010. Further, the RAM 3002, the CRT 3003, the ROM 3006, the DISK 3007, the communication I / F (1) 3008, and the communication I / F (2) 3009 are controlled and executed. The communication I / F (1) 3008 is connected to the multifunction peripheral 1008 via the network 1007.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of the application a4001 in the first embodiment.

  The application 4002 is an entity of the application a4001, and is a program that actually runs on the multifunction peripheral 1008. The property information m4003 is property information of the application a4001 itself, and stores information shown in FIG.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that the application b4004 has the same structure.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of the license a5001 according to the first embodiment.

  The license 5002 is an entity of the license a5001, and is information that is referred to when the application a4002 is installed in the multifunction peripheral 1008. The property information n5003 is property information of the license a5002 itself, and stores information shown in FIG.

  In this embodiment, the license 5002 and the property information n5003 are expressed by different blocks, but they need not be physically different depending on the data format. It is also assumed that the license b5004 has an equivalent structure.

  FIG. 6 shows the contents of the property information m4003 in the first embodiment.

  Information 6001 is information representing the amount of hardware resources necessary for the operation of the application a4001. Information 6002 is information for uniquely identifying the application. Information 6003 is information representing an application related to the application a4001. In the first embodiment, the information 6003 of the application a4001 and the information 6006 of the application b4004 are equal, and the information 6007 of the application b4004 and the information 6002 of the application a4001 are equal, which indicates that these applications are related. Information 6004 is the amount of hardware resources required when operating simultaneously with the related application. If the application has a plurality of related applications, the related application information may list a plurality of corresponding related applications and shared maximum resource usage. In addition, information for identifying a plurality of applications as a group may be added to the related application information. Thus, there is no limitation on the notation method as long as the correspondence between the related application information and the shared maximum resource usage is taken.

  The relationship between the information 6004 and the information 6008 will be described with reference to FIGS. 9, 10, and 11 to be described later.

  Note that the property information of the present embodiment takes a text format, but may use a markup language, may be a binary format, and does not limit the data format itself.

  FIG. 7 shows the contents of the property information n5003 in the first embodiment.

  Information 7001 is information for identifying the individual MFP 1008 that is permitted to be installed. In this embodiment, the information 7001 indicates that installation can be performed only on the MFP 1008 having the identification information SN-abcd12345. Information 7002 is information for identifying an application that is paired with the license a5001, and indicates that it is paired with the application a4001 by being the same value as the information 6002. The property information n5006 has a similar structure and indicates that it is paired with the application b4004.

  Note that the property information of the present embodiment takes a text format, but may use a markup language, may be a binary format, and does not limit the data format itself.

  FIG. 8 is an application installation screen of the multifunction peripheral 1008 according to the first embodiment.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that the MFP 1008 is equipped with an HTTP server, and this installation screen is transmitted from the application installation unit of the MFP 1008 in response to a request from the Web browser of the client PC 1004. This installation screen is displayed on the CRT 3003 of the client PC 1004 by a Web browser via the communication I / F (1) 3008 and the network 1007.

  Reference numeral 8001 denotes an application input field for designating an application stored in the DISK 3007 of the client PC 1004. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the file name of the application a4001 has been input. Reference numeral 8002 denotes a license input field for designating a license stored in the DISK 3007 of the client PC 1004. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the file name of the license a5001 has been input. Reference numeral 8003 denotes a button for instructing start of installation, and has a function of transmitting input information to the application installation unit of the information processing apparatus 1001. Reference numeral 8004 denotes a button for instructing to interrupt the process of the installation screen and return to the operation screen not shown. Here, the installation screen has an application field, a license field, a button for instructing start of installation, and a button for interrupting the processing of the installation screen and returning to the operation screen. However, if the application input, license input, installation start and stop can be expressed, the installation screen itself is not limited.

  FIG. 9 is an application list screen of the multifunction peripheral 1008 according to the first embodiment. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the MFP 1008 is equipped with an HTTP server, and this application list screen is transmitted from the application installation unit of the MFP 1008 in response to a request from the Web browser of the client PC 1004. Further, this application field screen is displayed on the CRT 3003 of the client PC 1004 by the Web browser via the communication I / F (1) 3008 and the network 1007. A name 9001 is an item name representing an installed application name. The application ID 9002 is an item name representing identification information of the installed application. The application state 9003 is an item name representing the operation state of the application, and possible values are start / stop. The resource usage status 9004 is an item name representing the usage amount of the hardware resource used by the corresponding application. Here, it is assumed that the application a4001 and the application b4004 are already installed. Information 9005, information 9006, information 9007, and information 9008 relate to application a4001. Information 9009, information 9010, information 9011 and information 9012 relate to application b4004. In FIG. 9, the status 9007 of the application a4001 indicates start, the status 9011 of the application b4004 indicates stop, and the usage status 20 of hardware resources by the application a4001 is illustrated. FIG. 10 is an application list screen in which the status 9007 of the application a4001 indicates stop, the status 9011 of the application b4004 indicates start, and the usage status 20 of hardware resources by the application b4004.

  FIG. 11 is an application list screen in a state where both the application a4001 and the application b4004 are started. Information 11001 represents both the name of application a4001 and the name of application b4004. Information 11002 represents both application identification information 6002 of application a4001 and application identification information 6006 of application b4004. Information 11003 indicates that the states of both the application a4001 and the application b4004 are started. Information 11004 represents a hardware resource usage state 35 obtained by adding the maximum resource usage amount 6004 when sharing the property information m4003 of the application a4001 and the maximum resource usage amount 6008 when sharing the property information m4006 of the application a4004. This application list screen shows the name, application ID, status, and resource usage status. However, the display items are not limited to these, and display of the application ID non-display, installation date, usage history, etc. is allowed. . Furthermore, in the display method at the time of simultaneous start of a plurality of applications, it is not necessary to combine and display these applications, and it is possible to display the maximum resource usage during sharing for each application. Therefore, the application list screen does not limit the application list screen itself.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a part of the processing at the time of installation of the application activation installation unit already installed in the multifunction peripheral 1008 information processing apparatus 1001 according to the first embodiment. More specifically, this is processing associated with a start request when a user executes a Java (registered trademark) application via an operation unit (UI) 2012 having a touch panel.

  Further, this is a process associated with an application start request such as when another Java (registered trademark) application is called from the executed Java (registered trademark) application. 11 is a process when an application A4001 and a license A4005 are transmitted together with an installation instruction when the button 11003 in FIG. 11 is pressed, and shows a process after recognizing the installation instruction.

  Step 12001 is a step of holding information on applications that have already been started, and stores which applications each application has associated with. Step 12001 is a step of changing an application that has received a start request from a user or another application to a start state. Step 12002 is a step of obtaining the resource usage of each application based on the related information between applications, and details will be described later with reference to FIG. Step 12003 is a step of performing preprocessing accompanying the start of the application that has received the start request, and details will be described later with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 13 is a detailed flowchart of step 12002 showing a part of the processing for calculating the required hardware resource usage from the related information between applications accompanying the application start request to the multifunction peripheral 1008 information processing apparatus 1001 in the first embodiment. It is. In step 13001, T is secured as a temporary area having the property information of the application. In step 13002, T is one of the applications in the start state. Step 13003 proceeds to step 13004 if T has an associated application, otherwise proceeds to step 13006. Step 13004 proceeds to Step 13005 if there is an application in the start state that is equal to the related application of T, otherwise proceeds to Step 13006. Step 13005 holds the maximum resource usage at the time of sharing corresponding to the related application information of T. Step 13006 holds the T standard maximum resource usage. The step 13007 proceeds to the step 13008 if the patrol of all the applications in the start state by T is incomplete, otherwise proceeds to the step 13009. In step 13008, T is set to be an application in a start state different from that in the past, and the process returns to step 13003. In step 13009, the resource usage of each application in the start state held in step 13005 and step 13006 is totaled. After the end of this step, the process of this flowchart is ended.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing details of step 12003 for performing pre-processing accompanying the start of an application that has received an application start request to the multifunction peripheral 1008 in the first embodiment. In step 14001, it is determined whether the hardware resource usage obtained in step 13009 can be secured. If so, the process proceeds to step 14002. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step 14003. Step 14002 starts the application that has received the start request. The starting method of this application depends on the application to be started. After the end of this step, the process of this flowchart is ended. Step 14003 returns the state of the application that has received the start request changed in Step 12001 to stop. After the end of this step, the process of this flowchart is ended.

1 is a general system configuration diagram in which an image forming apparatus system in Embodiment 1 is used. 1 is a system block diagram implemented in a multifunction machine 1008 according to a first embodiment. 1 is a system block diagram implemented in client PCs 1004 to 1006 in Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating the structures of an application a4001 and an application b4004 in the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of a license a5001 and a license b5004 in the first embodiment. The contents of property information m4003 and property information m4006 in the first embodiment are shown. The contents of property information n5003 and property information n5006 in the first embodiment are shown. 6 is an application installation screen according to the first embodiment. FIG. 10 is an application list screen in an application a4001 start state and an application b4004 stop state in the first embodiment. FIG. 10 is an application list screen in an application a4001 stop state and an application b4004 start state in Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 10 is an application list screen in an application a4001 start state and an application b4004 start state in the first embodiment. 6 is an overall flowchart of an application start request according to the first exemplary embodiment. 6 is a flowchart of resource usage calculation of an application in the first embodiment. 6 is a flowchart for starting an application according to the first exemplary embodiment.

Claims (9)

An information processing apparatus having resources for executing an application,
When the application is started, resource status information indicating the status of the resource in the information processing apparatus is acquired, and the acquired resource status information and means for acquiring information associated with the application are related to resources used Means for acquiring resource usage information, means for confirming the start of an application having a relationship with the application, and acquiring resource usage information included in the accompanying information resource usage information in response to the start of the application having the relationship Based on the resource usage information obtained from the means for displaying the status of the application via a WEB page from a client terminal connected to the network, and the means for obtaining the resource usage information, Having a means to calculate the area to run the application Information processing apparatus according to symptoms.   The accompanying information resource usage information includes one or more of information relating to the name of the application, information relating to identification of the application, information relating to the application, information relating to the state of the application, and information relating to the group to which the application belongs. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for acquiring each piece of information included in the resource usage information.   In the information related to the application having the relationship included in the accompanying information resource use information, including the application having a plurality of relationships, including resource usage information paired with the plurality of related applications included in the accompanying information, The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising means for acquiring resource usage information paired with the plurality of related applications.   4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the information on the name of the application in the accompanying resource use information is compared with the information on the application having an association with the previous period of the accompanying information to determine whether or not they match. .   The information on the group to which the application belongs in the accompanying information and the information on the group to which the application belongs in the accompanying information of the application having the association are compared to determine whether or not they match. 3. The information processing apparatus according to 3.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the determination unit of the application having the relation with the application adaptively acquires the resource usage information of the accompanying information based on a determination result.   The determination unit of a group to which the group to which the application belongs and a group to which the application having the association belongs belongs to adaptive acquisition of the resource usage information of the accompanying information based on a determination result. Information processing device.   2. The application state display means displays one or more of the accompanying information, and displays together if the application having the association with the application is in a start state. Information processing device.   2. The application state display means displays one or more of the accompanying information, and individually displays the associated information regardless of a start state of the application having the association with the application. Information processing device.

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