JP2010154312A - Network device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent services from being suspended on the way when providing services to a client, in a network device with a plurality of protocol services packaged therein. <P>SOLUTION: A printer 1 includes: a WSD (Web Service on Device) processing section 15; a UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) processing section 17; and a HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protcol) processing section 13 for assigning a service requirement to the WSD processing section 15 or the UPnP processing section 17 on the basis of a protocol related to a received service requirement when the service requirement is received from a client 3. When the upper limit number of clients to which the WSD processing section 15 can provide services and the upper limit number of clients to which the UPnP processing section 17 can provide services are predetermined, the HTTP processing section 13 manages the number of clients in such a way that the numbers of clients to which the WSD processing section 15 and the UPnP processing section 17 provide services do not exceed the upper limit numbers of clients, respectively. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a network device that provides a service to a client in response to a service request from the client, and more particularly to a network device having a plurality of types of protocol processing units.

  In recent years, UPnP (Universal Plug and Play), a protocol for interconnecting and automatically setting home appliances, etc., and WSD (Web Service on Device), which enables various devices connected to a network to be used with simple procedures Various standards have been proposed.

For example, Patent Document 1 describes a service providing system in which a printer that supports UPnP provides a service to a client terminal.
JP 2006-24197 A

  By the way, a plurality of protocol services such as UPnP and WSD may be installed in one network device. At this time, if requests concentrate on a certain protocol service, resources such as ROM and RAM of the network device may be used up and other protocol services may not operate. This is a particular problem when the capacity of resources is limited, such as printers, scanners, their multifunction devices, and various embedded devices such as digital cameras.

  On the other hand, by limiting the resources that can be used by each protocol service by setting an upper limit number for each protocol service, it is possible to suppress the concentration of requests in one protocol service.

  However, this case has the following problems. That is, in a series of services requested by the client, a plurality of sessions may be used simultaneously. For example, when a client requests a series of services that require three sessions simultaneously for a single protocol service, the maximum number of sessions for the target protocol service has been reached when the first session of that service is established. The second and subsequent sessions of the same service cannot be established. Therefore, a series of services are stopped when the second session request is made. This is not limited to the case where an upper limit is set for the number of sessions, but can also occur when resources are insufficient.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to prevent a service from being stopped halfway when providing a service to a client in a network device on which a plurality of protocol services are mounted.

  A network device according to an embodiment of the present invention is a network device that provides a service to a client in response to a service request from the client, and a first protocol processing unit that provides processing related to a first protocol And a second protocol processing unit that provides processing related to the second protocol, and upon receiving a service request from the client, to the first or second protocol processing unit based on the protocol related to the received service request Allocation means for allocating the service request, a first upper limit number of clients that the first protocol processing unit can provide a service, and a second upper limit client that can provide the service of the second protocol processing unit When the number is predetermined, the assigning means Serial number of clients first and second protocol processing unit provides a service, making client number management that manages the number of clients so as not to exceed the number of the first and second upper client.

  In a preferred embodiment, a first upper limit number of sessions in which the first protocol processing unit can provide a service and a second upper limit number of sessions in which the second protocol processing unit can provide a service are predetermined. The allocating unit further performs session number management for managing the number of sessions so that the number of sessions of the first and second protocol processing units does not exceed the first and second upper limit number of sessions. You may do it.

In a preferred embodiment, the assigning means includes
It may be possible to select any one of (1) performing both the client number management and the session number management, (2) performing only the client number management, and (3) performing only the session number management.

  In a preferred embodiment, the allocating means may be an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) server.

  In a preferred embodiment, the first protocol processing unit may perform processing according to UPnP (Universal Plug and Play), and the second protocol processing unit may perform processing according to WSD (Web Service on Device). .

  Hereinafter, a network device system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network device system according to the present embodiment. In this embodiment, a printer is used as an example of a network device. However, the present invention can also be applied to a network device other than a printer.

  As shown in the figure, the network device system according to the present embodiment includes a printer 1 that can be connected to a network and one or more clients 3 that request services from the printer 1, and these are connected via a network 5. Has been.

  The client 3 is configured by a general-purpose computer system including a processor and a memory, for example, and individual components or functions in the client 3 described below are realized by executing a computer program, for example.

  The client 3 includes an OS (Operating System) 31, a WSD processing unit 33, a UPnP processing unit 35, a printer driver 37, and an application 39.

  The OS 31 is an operating system that supports TCP / UDP / IP protocols, and may be, for example, Windows (registered trademark) of Microsoft Corporation.

  The application 39 is a general-purpose application that can be executed on the OS 31.

  The printer driver 37 generates various commands for the printer 1 and drives the printer 1. For example, a print command for the printer 1 is generated in accordance with an instruction from the application 39.

  The WSD processing unit 33 performs various processes according to the WSD protocol in order to communicate with the printer 1 using the WSD protocol.

  The UPnP processing unit 35 performs various processes according to UPnP in order to communicate with the printer 1 using the UPnP protocol. For example, the UPnP processing unit 35 generates commands relating to detection of a network device connected to the network 5, acquisition of service information provided by the network device, control of the network device, and the like.

  For example, the WSD processing unit 33 or the UPnP processing unit 35 performs processing for transferring a print command generated by the printer driver 37 to the printer 1 via the OS 31 according to a procedure determined by each protocol.

  The printer 1 includes a computer unit 10 including a processor and a memory, and a print engine 100 including a print head and a paper feed mechanism. When the computer unit 10 executes a predetermined computer program, the following constituent elements or functions are realized. That is, the computer unit 10 includes a protocol stack 11, an HTTP processing unit 13, a WSD processing unit 15, a UPnP processing unit 17, and a printer controller 19.

  In the present embodiment, the WSD processing unit 15 and the UPnP processing unit 17 are described as examples of protocol services (protocol processing units), but other protocol services may be used. Furthermore, the number of protocol services provided in the printer 1 is two in this embodiment, but may be three or more.

  The protocol stack 11 stacks TCP / UDP / IP protocols and performs processing according to TCP / UDP / IP.

  The HTTP processing unit 13 is an HTTP server that performs processing according to HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol). When receiving the service request from the client 3, the HTTP processing unit 13 functions as an allocating unit that allocates the service request to the WSD processing unit 15 or the UPnP processing unit 17 based on the location information related to the received service request. The HTTP processing unit 13 includes a session counter 131 and a client counter 133, and manages the number of sessions of services provided by the printer 1 and the number of clients. Detailed processing of the HTTP processing unit 13 will be described later.

  The WSD processing unit 15 is a protocol processing unit that performs various processes according to the WSD protocol in order to communicate with the client 3 using the WSD protocol. For example, the print command transmitted by the WSD processing unit 33 is acquired and passed to the printer controller 19.

  The UPnP processing unit 17 is a protocol processing unit that performs various processes according to UPnP in order to communicate with the client 3 using the UPnP protocol. For example, the print command transmitted by the UPnP processing unit 35 is acquired and passed to the printer controller 19.

  The printer controller 19 controls the print engine 100. For example, the printer controller 19 causes the print engine 100 to execute printing in accordance with the print command acquired from the WSD processing unit 15 or the UPnP processing unit 17.

  The HTTP processing unit 13 will be described again. For example, the HTTP processing unit 13 obtains location information from a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) included in the service request from the client 3, and based on this, the service request to either the WSD processing unit 15 or the UPnP processing unit 17 Determine if there is. The HTTP processing unit 13 assigns the print request processed by the WSD processing unit 33 of the client 3 to the WSD processing unit 15 and assigns the print request processed by the UPnP processing unit 35 of the client 3 to the UPnP processing unit 17.

  The session counter 131 counts the number of sessions established by the WSD processing unit 15 and the number of sessions established by the UPnP processing unit 17. That is, the session counter 131 counts up the number of sessions of the WSD processing unit 15 when the WSD processing unit 15 establishes a session, and counts down the number of sessions of the WSD processing unit 15 when the session ends. Similarly, the session counter 131 counts up the number of sessions of the UPnP processing unit 17 when the UPnP processing unit 17 establishes a session, and counts down the number of sessions of the UPnP processing unit 17 when the session ends.

  The client counter 133 counts the number of clients that have established a session with the WSD processing unit 15 and the number of clients that have established a session with the UPnP processing unit 17 based on the IP address of the client. That is, the client counter 133 counts up the number of clients in the WSD processing unit 15 when a client that has not established a session with the WSD processing unit 15 until now establishes a session with the WSD processing unit 15, When all the sessions with 15 are completed, the number of clients of the WSD processing unit 15 is counted down. Similarly, when a client that has not established a session with the UPnP processing unit 17 until now establishes a session with the UPnP processing unit 17, the client counter 133 counts up the number of clients of the UPnP processing unit 17, and performs UPnP processing with a certain client. When all sessions with the unit 17 are completed, the number of clients of the UPnP processing unit 17 is counted down.

  The number of sessions of the WSD processing unit 15 counted by the session counter 131 and the number of sessions of the UPnP processing unit 17 are determined in advance as upper limit sessions that are upper limit values. The HTTP processing unit 13 manages the number of sessions so that the number of sessions of the WSD processing unit 15 and the number of sessions of the UPnP processing unit 17 do not exceed the respective upper limit number of sessions. For example, when a service request from a certain client 3 to the WSD processing unit 15 is accepted, the HTTP processing unit 13 does not accept the request when the number of sessions of the WSD processing unit 15 exceeds the upper limit value. The same applies to a service request to the HTTP processing unit 17.

  Thereby, it can suppress that a service concentrates only on a specific protocol service. In other words, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to avoid a situation in which only some protocol services provide services, thereby exhausting resources, and other protocol services cannot operate due to resource shortage.

  An upper limit number of clients, which is an upper limit, is predetermined for the number of clients provided by the WSD processing unit 15 counted by the client counter 133 and the number of clients provided by the UPnP processing unit 17. The HTTP processing unit 13 manages the number of clients so that the number of clients that the WSD processing unit 15 provides services and the number of clients that the UPnP processing unit 17 provides services do not exceed the respective upper limit number of clients. For example, when a service request from a new client to the WSD processing unit 15 is received, the HTTP processing unit 13 receives the request when the number of clients that the WSD processing unit 15 provides services exceeds the upper limit. Absent. The same applies to a service request to the HTTP processing unit 17.

  This client number management has the following effects. For example, when using a plurality of sessions for one protocol service in a series of services from one client, even if the number of sessions is managed, the upper limit number of clients is appropriately determined, and the number of clients connected simultaneously is determined. By limiting, it is possible to prevent a series of services from being interrupted.

  The client counter 133 sets an upper limit for the total number of clients that the WSD processing unit 15 and the UPnP processing unit 17 provide services, and the WSD processing unit 15 and the UPnP processing unit 17 provide services. The number of clients may be managed so that the number of clients does not exceed the upper limit.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 2, the process of the above-described HTTP processing unit 13 will be described in detail.

  In the example shown in the figure, the upper limit number of clients of the WSD processing unit 15 is 2, the upper limit number of clients of the UPnP processing unit 17 is 3, and the upper limit number of sessions of the WSD processing unit 15 and the UPnP processing unit 17 is 5, respectively. Here, in the initial state, the sessions established by the WSD processing unit 15 and the UPnP processing unit 17 are zero.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2A, when two service requests S1 and S2 are received from the client A (IP: 192.168.1.10), the HTTP processing unit 13 receives the following service requests S1 and S2 from The client A's IP address and location information are obtained.
S1 IP: 192.168.1.10/SessionID: UPnP
S2 IP: 192.168.1.10/SessionID: WSD
Accordingly, the HTTP processing unit 13 assigns the service request S1 to the UPnP processing unit 17 and the service request S2 to the WSD processing unit 15. The session counter 131 and the client counter 133 are as shown in FIG. 2A, respectively. That is, the session counter 131 counts the number of sessions established by the WSD processing unit 15 and the UPnP processing unit 17, and the client counter 133 determines the session with the WSD processing unit 15 and the UPnP processing unit 17 based on the IP address of the client. Count the number of established clients.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the service request S3 is received from the client B (IP: 192.168.1.20) from this state, the HTTP processing unit 13 receives the following from the service request S3. Obtain the IP address and location information of client B.
S3 IP: 192.168.1.20/SessionID: WSD
Accordingly, the HTTP processing unit 13 assigns the service request S3 to the WSD processing unit 15, and the session counter 131 and the client counter 133 are as shown in FIG. 2B, respectively.

In this state, as shown in FIG. C, when the service request S4 is received from the client C (IP: 192.168.1.30), the HTTP processing unit 13 receives the following request from the service request S4. Get IP address and location information.
S4 IP: 192.168.1.30/SessionID: WSD
Here, the HTTP processing unit 13 does not accept a request from a new client C because the client counter 133 of the WSD processing unit 15 has already reached the upper limit number of clients “2”.

  The HTTP processing unit 13 may perform both the client number management and the session number management described above, or may perform only one of them. That is, it is possible to select whether the HTTP processing unit 13 performs both client number management and session number management or only one of them.

  Further, whether the HTTP processing unit 13 performs management of the number of clients or the number of sessions may be dynamically changed according to each situation. For example, when the HTTP processing unit 13 performs session number management and does not perform client number management, when the number of sessions of the WSD processing unit 15 or the UPnP processing unit 17 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value that is smaller than the upper limit number of sessions, Session number management may be stopped and the number of clients may be shifted to management. Alternatively, when the HTTP processing unit 13 performs client number management and does not perform session number management, the WSD processing unit 15 provides a service when the number of clients exceeds a predetermined threshold value that is smaller than the upper limit number of clients. If the number of sessions of the WSD processing unit 15 remains a predetermined number or more than the upper limit number of sessions, the client number management may be stopped and the process may proceed to session number management.

  The above-described embodiments of the present invention are examples for explaining the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to those embodiments. Those skilled in the art can implement the present invention in various other modes without departing from the gist of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram of a network device system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Explanatory drawing of the process which the HTTP process part 13 performs.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer 3 Client 10 Computer part 11 Protocol stack 13 HTTP process part 15 WSD process part 17 UPnP process part 19 Printer controller 31 OS
33 WSD processing unit 35 UPnP processing unit 37 Printer driver 39 Application 100 Print engine 131 Session counter 133 Client counter

Claims (5)

A network device providing a service to the client in response to a service request from the client,
A first protocol processing unit for providing processing related to the first protocol;
A second protocol processing unit for providing processing related to the second protocol;
An allocation unit that allocates the service request to the first or second protocol processing unit based on a protocol related to the received service request when receiving a service request from the client;
When a first upper limit number of clients that can provide a service by the first protocol processing unit and a second upper limit number of clients that can provide a service by the second protocol processing unit are predetermined,
The allocating unit performs client number management for managing the number of clients so that the number of clients provided by the first and second protocol processing units does not exceed the first and second upper limit number of clients. A network device characterized by When a first upper limit number of sessions in which the first protocol processing unit can provide a service and a second upper limit number of sessions in which the second protocol processing unit can provide a service are predetermined,
The allocating unit further performs session number management for managing the number of sessions so that the number of sessions of the first and second protocol processing units does not exceed the first and second upper limit number of sessions. The network device according to claim 1. The assigning means includes
It is possible to select any one of (1) performing both the client number management and the session number management, (2) performing only the client number management, and (3) performing only the session number management. The network device according to claim 2.   The network device according to claim 1, wherein the allocating means is an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) server.   5. The first protocol processing unit performs processing according to UPnP (Universal Plug and Play), and the second protocol processing unit performs processing according to WSD (Web Service on Device). A network device according to any of the above.

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