JP2010218561A - Image processor, method for controlling image processor and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing system excellent in scalability, which sufficiently and easily implements desired image processing service by an image processor from a client and is not limited to firmware installed in the image processor. <P>SOLUTION: An interpreter 45 which transmits, receives, encodes/decodes, interprets and executes mobile agents is arranged in a higher layer in control software of the image processor, and the mobile agents 41, 42, ... transferred from a client device such as a computer and a word processor are executed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an interface processing unit for transmitting and receiving data to and from a network, an image processing apparatus having an image processing unit for performing image processing by a predetermined method, a control method thereof, and a storage medium storing the control program It is.

  Conventionally, OA devices such as copiers, fax machines, printers, image scanners, image file systems, and high-functional telephones have been widely used.

  Conventionally, many of the OA apparatuses as described above provide a closed function in a single device without being connected to a network. In recent years, these stand-alone OA devices have been connected to a network such as Ethernet (registered trademark), and products that can be shared by a plurality of computers serving as clients have started to be provided.

  For example, with respect to image recording apparatuses such as copying machines, fax machines, printers, and image scanners, a technique for sharing these from a plurality of clients via a network has been put into practical use from a relatively early stage.

  However, in the prior art, in order to use such an OA device from a client via a network, conventionally, a method is assumed on the assumption that connectivity through the network is always ensured during processing. .

  For example, when a program executed on a client workstation, personal computer, portable information terminal, or the like uses a service provided by the OA device, a predetermined protocol for the server program executed on the OA device, For example, according to a network protocol such as LPR or PAP, a processing request or data necessary for processing is transmitted to control the operation of the target device, and a response or data is received if necessary.

  The client determines the content of the response from the OA device, and repeats sending a new instruction request to the OA device accordingly. Such a server client method is implemented and used on various network protocols such as TCP / IP, but it is necessary to continue interactive communication between the server and the client while the service is processed. was there.

  On the other hand, in the field of distributed computing in a network consisting of purely computers, recently, from techniques such as remote procedure calls that perform distributed computations by repeating dialogs based on protocols that have been actively researched and implemented so far. As a result of the development, a technique called a mobile agent in which an executable program object itself moves through a network and performs distributed computation has been proposed.

  Various proposals are well known as examples of realization of a distributed computing system using a mobile agent, such as Telescript of General Magic of US Pat. No. 560303 and Aglets of IBM Tokyo Research Laboratory.

  The mobile agent is composed of an instruction sequence and data necessary for execution thereof, and is not limited to one execution environment, but is moved from one execution environment to another execution environment and executed on a dedicated interpreter.

JP 09-330260 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-295286

  However, in the control of the OA device performed through the conventional network protocol, the client process for remotely controlling the service provided by the device and the physical mechanism of the device to realize the service provided by the OA device are controlled. Since the server process to run each runs in a separate process execution environment, there are the following problems.

  That is, the client process sends a service request to the server process and data necessary for processing the service, and the server process controls the physical mechanism of the OA device corresponding to this request and responds to the client process. The processing results are returned as necessary, but this interactive exchange must be repeated many times in response to precise control of the requested service. It is a request that is carefully emphasized from the client to finely control the service provided by the OA device shared by the network, but when trying to respond to this request through interactive information exchange using the conventional control protocol, This will increase network congestion. Therefore, the user must use a higher performance and expensive network infrastructure, which is economically disadvantageous.

  Second, if the client attempts to finely control the OA device in the conventional manner, the process for realizing the service provided by the device, for example, interpretation and expansion of PDL (page description language) in the case of a printer device During the paper feeding, image forming, and output paper discharging, the above-described dialogue between the client process and the server process by the control protocol must be maintained.

  This means that the control of a physical mechanism for providing a service and communication via a network must be performed in parallel at the same time for the OA apparatus, which is a heavy burden. This burden is particularly noticeable when the OA device is a multi-client type device that provides services in response to requests from a plurality of clients. In order to maintain the communication connection over the network while controlling the physical mechanism of the device to realize the service, the device processor needs higher performance, and the memory is larger This is a cause of cost increase of the apparatus main body.

  Third, in a method in which a series of interactive processes for controlling an OA device is realized by a protocol, a command system for controlling the device must be designed and implemented in advance as a command protocol. In order to enjoy the new service when the new usage of the device is expanded, the command protocol has been expanded so that both the client process and the server process can support this new command protocol ( Program version upgrade). This is not only troublesome for the user, but in particular, a program for a server process built in a conventional OA device is generally called firmware and is placed in a non-volatile memory or the like. It is often costly or impossible at all. Therefore, the expandability of the service provided by the OA device is poor.

  Fourthly, mobile agents that have begun to be proposed in the field of distributed computing are merely distributed programming methods on computers, and can fully meet the various requirements described above that have recently been required for conventional OA devices. I can't. That is, although a mobile agent execution system can be realized on a server computer that specially controls an OA device represented by a print server, the request can be met to some extent, but between this server computer and the OA device. The need for a network or alternative communication infrastructure remains the same. Therefore, the traffic on the communication medium is still a problem, and the load of interface processing on the OA device side is not reduced. Furthermore, if the control system between the two via a communication infrastructure between the server computer that specializes in controlling the OA device and the device is based on a conventional interactive protocol, the device itself provides It does not solve the problem that the service is not scalable. In addition, for the user, it is necessary to prepare a new server computer dedicated to the apparatus, which is disadvantageous both economically and in terms of installation area.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and in an image processing apparatus having an image processing unit that performs image processing by a predetermined method, a control method thereof, and a storage medium storing the control program, the client to the image processing apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing method that can execute a desired image processing service sufficiently and easily and has excellent expandability that is not limited to firmware installed in an image processing apparatus. .

In the present invention, in an image processing apparatus having an image processing unit that performs image processing by a predetermined method, a control method thereof, and a storage medium storing the control program thereof,
The image processing apparatus has storage means for storing a predetermined function group for operating a plurality of functions,
Furthermore, an interpreting means or interpreting step for interpreting the control program including the instruction sequence expressed by the encoded code;
In accordance with the interpretation means or the interpretation step executing the interpretation processing of the instruction sequence included in the control program, the functions of the object group and the image processing apparatus stored in the control program and stored in the storage means are executed. A configuration using execution means or execution steps for executing a device driver program for executing a function of the image processing apparatus using a function group defined as an interface with the device driver program is adopted.

Alternatively, in an image processing apparatus having an image processing unit that performs predetermined image processing, a control method thereof, and a storage medium storing the control program,
An acquisition means or an acquisition step in which the second control program requests and acquires information indicating the state of the image processing unit controlled by the first control program with respect to the first control program;
Output means or output for outputting an operation instruction of the image processing apparatus from the second control program to the first control program according to the information indicating the state of the image processing unit acquired by the acquisition or acquisition step. Steps,
A configuration using execution means or execution steps for executing the operation of the image processing apparatus corresponding to the operation instruction indicated by the message output by the output means or output step by executing the second control program is adopted.

  According to the present invention, by adopting the above configuration, a desired image processing service can be executed sufficiently and easily from the client to the image processing apparatus, and firmware installed in the image processing apparatus can be used. An image processing method with excellent extensibility that is not limited can be realized.

It is a block diagram explaining the structure of the network system which can apply this invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image processing apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the printer and scanner of FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a hierarchical diagram illustrating a configuration of software processed by the processor of FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a structure in which the mobile agent of FIG. 4 is encoded for network transfer. It is a flowchart which shows the 1st process procedure performed by the command sequence of the mobile agent of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the 2nd processing procedure performed by the command sequence of the mobile agent of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the 3rd processing procedure performed by the command sequence of the mobile agent of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the 4th process sequence performed by the command sequence of the mobile agent of this invention.

  An embodiment of the best mode for carrying out the invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an office system including an image processing apparatus as an OA apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an image processing apparatus. Reference numeral 2 denotes a local area network connected to the image processing apparatus, which is composed of Ethernet (registered trademark) or the like, and realizes mutual communication between the apparatus and other apparatuses or clients. Reference numeral 3 denotes a client such as an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, a workstation, or a word processor, and generally includes an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse that a user inputs and an output device such as a display that outputs information to the user. Connected to network 2.

  Reference numeral 4 denotes a router, which connects the local area network 2 and another network and realizes communication between devices connected to both. In the case of TCP / IP, it is usually responsible for transferring data frames between networks having different network addresses.

  Reference numeral 5 denotes a wide area network such as the Internet or an intranet, which interconnects various local area networks such as a corporate leased line network connecting many networks, the Internet, or a virtual private network on the Internet.

  Reference numeral 6 denotes a second local area network, which is interconnected with the first local area network via the wide area network 5. Reference numeral 7 denotes a second router, which connects the local area network 6 and the wide area network 5. A remote client 8 is connected to the local area network 6 and can be connected to the apparatus 1 from a remote location via the wide area network 5.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal structure of the image processing apparatus 1 of FIG. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 11 denotes a network interface that transmits and receives data frames to and from the local area network 2 and includes an Ethernet (registered trademark) interface or the like. Reference numeral 12 denotes a processor (CPU, MPU) that performs various arithmetic processes. Reference numeral 13 denotes a work memory for storing a program executed by the processor and data related to the execution. Reference numeral 14 denotes a program executed by the processor, an initial value of data related to the execution, and a non-volatile memory for storing data that needs to be saved even after the power is cut off (any one of ROM, Flash ROM, NVRAM, HDD, etc. not shown) Or it consists of several).

  Reference numeral 15 denotes an engine control circuit for controlling an image processing engine that performs image processing by hardware. Reference numeral 16 denotes an image memory for storing image data. Reference numeral 17 denotes a printer as an image processing engine for forming an image corresponding to image data on a transfer sheet. Reference numeral 18 denotes an image scanner which is an image processing engine for reading an image from a document and creating image data. Reference numeral 19 denotes a processor bus, which connects the network interface 11, the processor 12, the work memory 13, the nonvolatile memory 14, the engine control circuit 15, and the image memory 16, and exchanges data, control information, engine status, and the like. An image bus 20 connects the engine control circuit 15, the image memory 16, the printer 17, and the image scanner 18 to exchange image data.

  FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the printer unit 17 and the image scanner unit 18 of the image processing apparatus 1 of FIG. The image recording engine may be based on various recording methods, but here, an electrophotographic image recording engine is considered.

  In FIG. 3, reference numeral 101 denotes a document feeder, which sequentially conveys documents stacked on a document table one by one onto the surface of the document table glass 102. When the original is conveyed, the lamp 103 of the image scanner unit is turned on, and the scanner unit 104 moves to irradiate the original. The reflected light of the document passes through the lens 108 via the mirrors 105, 106, and 107 and is then input to the CCD image sensor 109.

  The signal input to the printer unit 2 is converted into an optical signal by the exposure control unit 201 and irradiates the photoconductor 202 according to the image signal. The latent image formed on the photosensitive member 202 by the irradiation light is developed with toner by the developing unit 203. The transfer paper is transported from the transfer paper stacking section 204 or 205 at the same time as the development, and the developed image is transferred by the transfer section 206. The transferred image is fixed on the transfer paper by the fixing unit 207 and then discharged from the paper discharge unit 208 to the outside of the apparatus. The transfer paper output from the paper discharge unit is discharged to each bin when the sort function is working in the sorter 220, or to the top non-sort bin of the sorter when the sort function is not working. The control circuit of FIG. 2 is mounted on the control board 124.

  4 shows the data structure and program code stored in the work memory 13 of the image processing apparatus 1 (the program code may exist only in the nonvolatile memory 14 if the nonvolatile memory 14 is a ROM or the like). It is a typical hierarchy figure which shows the structure of the software which processes.

  In FIG. 4, each layer has a relationship in which a higher layer uses a service provided by a lower layer. The lowest layer is an operating system 50, which is a hierarchy for managing the execution context of programs and memory management. In the operating system, three device drivers, a network interface driver 51, a printer control driver 52, and an image scanner control driver 53, are incorporated and function in cooperation.

  The network interface driver 51 is software that controls the network interface 11. The printer control driver 52 is software that controls the printer 17 via the engine control circuit 15 and the image memory 16.

  The image scanner control driver 53 is software that controls the image scanner 18 via the engine control circuit 15 and the image memory 16.

  The second layer from the bottom is various libraries, which are statically or dynamically linked to an interpreter 45 and other application programs described later, and mediate between the operating system 50 and the application programs. Among these, the thread library 46 is a library that provides a thread function to a program that uses the library. A thread is a unit for parallel execution of software. A plurality of threads in a single process have different execution contexts (program counter, stack, register value, etc.), but share a memory space and the like. Thread context switching is sometimes called a light-weight thread because it requires less processing than context (program execution).

  The network interface library 47 is a library for realizing data transmission and data reception via the network using the network interface driver 51.

  The printer control library 48 is a library that provides a printer control API (application programming interface) using the functions of the printer control driver.

  The image scanner control library 49 is a library that provides an image scanner control API using the function of the image scanner control driver.

  The third layer from the bottom is the interpreter 45. The interpreter 45 provides an object execution environment for an object such as a mobile agent to operate. The “object” in the present embodiment is a subset of objects in a widely known object-oriented paradigm. That is, it is a software structure in which data and processing related to a concept having a problem area are grouped. Each object exists autonomously, and a series of processing is achieved by operating in parallel as an entire object group while communicating (message passing) with other objects.

  Within the interpreter 45 is an object scheduler that intermittently gives the processor processing time to each object operating on the interpreter. The object scheduler uses the thread library 46 so that the processing of each object proceeds virtually in parallel.

  There is also an object decoder / encoder inside the interpreter. The encoder can substantially restore the original structure of the memory into a bit string that can be transferred to the instruction sequence (script) and data of the object expanded in an executable form on the memory via the network. Encode in the form.

  The decoder decodes the bit string transferred via the network into an object developed in a form executable on the memory. This encoding / decoding process may include some data compression / decompression process to reduce traffic on the network. By including a data compression / decompression process, the amount of data transferred between the client and the image recording device can be further reduced, which helps reduce traffic on the network. A sufficiently practical throughput can be obtained even in a narrow band.

  FIG. 5 is an example of a network packet in which an object is encoded. The network packet in which the object is encoded includes a portion 61 in which all data related to the execution of the original object is encoded, and an instruction sequence portion 62 of the original object. The interpreter described here is provided not only in the image processing apparatus 1 but also in the client 3 and the client 8. The structure and operation of these interpreters are exactly the same, including the following description.

  Referring again to FIG. 4, the highest layer is a plurality of objects managed and executed on the interpreter.

  The printer control object 43 provides a plurality of operations for controlling the printer via the printer control library, and functions as a proxy object for the printer 17. In other words, when an instruction for calling the operation of the printer control object 43 (message passing) is executed in the instruction sequence of the object, control corresponding to the operation is implemented in the printer 17 in the implementation of the operation. Similarly, when an operation for extracting information from the printer control object 43 is executed, status information of the actual printer can be obtained.

  The image scanner control object 44 provides a plurality of operations for controlling the image scanner via the image scanner control library, and functions as a proxy object for the image scanner 18. That is, when an instruction for calling an operation of the image scanner control object (message passing) is executed in the instruction sequence of the object, control corresponding to the operation is performed on the image scanner 18 in the implementation of the operation. Similarly, when an operation for extracting information from the image scanner control object is executed, status information of the actual image scanner can be obtained.

  The printer control object 43 and the image scanner object 44 are resident agents. That is, when the interpreter starts processing after the image processing apparatus 1 is started up, a resident agent is automatically generated, initialized, and started as part of the initial processing. These resident agents remain on the image processing apparatus 1 as one of the nodes on this network throughout the operation of the image processing apparatus 1 (which constitutes an infinite loop within the implementation of the live operation described later). .

  In FIG. 4, two mobile agents 41 and 42 that exist as agents for a certain job are objects that have the property of moving from an interpreter on one network node to an interpreter on another network node. . The mobile agent includes an instruction for calling an operation meaning “move” (hereinafter referred to as “go operation”) in the script.

  When the interpreter in the image processing apparatus 1 and the clients 3 and 8 in FIG. 1 finds a go operation while interpreting and executing the instruction sequence of the mobile agent object, data related to all executions included in the object at that time by the object encoder And the instruction sequence are encoded by an encoding method capable of restoring their data structure, and the encoded package is transferred as a network packet to an interpreter of a node (for example, the image processing apparatus 1) designated as an argument of the go operation. To do.

  The interpreter 45 of the node that has received the transferred packet uses the object decoder to decode the packet as executable instructions and data into a memory space managed by the interpreter, and further participate in the scheduling target of the object scheduler. Since the data related to the execution of the transferred and decrypted object includes data indicating the position of the instruction to be executed next to the object, the instruction executed first by the object at the transfer destination node Is next to the last instruction executed at the transfer source node. Thus, the mobile agent (41, 42) performs the processing described in its command sequence while moving between the network nodes such as the image processing apparatus 1 and the clients 3, 8 including the execution environment (interpreter) of the mobile agent. To do.

  All objects handled by the interpreter 45 have an operation (hereinafter referred to as an initialize operation) that defines a process necessary for initializing itself by the instruction sequence. When the interpreter 45 generates an object, the interpreter 45 first executes an instruction sequence described as an implementation of the initialize operation.

  In addition, the mobile agent (41, 42) and the resident agent (43, 44) have an operation (hereinafter referred to as a live operation) that defines a series of processes to be performed over its own existence. The interpreter executes the instruction sequence described as the implementation of the live operation after the initialization of the object.

  When the execution of the instruction sequence described in the live operation is completed, the interpreter deletes the object and releases all memory areas used only by the object. Objects can also interact with other objects by message passing.

  Since the memory space of the interpreter that exists in each node is completely different for each node, in particular, in order for a mobile agent to start a conversation with another agent at a certain node, the mobile agent must have a partner agent prior to that. You must get a reference to the object. This operation calls an interaction request operation (hereinafter referred to as a meet operation), which is a built-in operation provided by the interpreter, using as an argument the identification information for designating the partner object to be interacted with in the instruction sequence of the mobile agent. This can be achieved.

  Here, the identification information for designating the partner object is information indicating a condition of the corresponding object such as a unique object identifier or an identifier of a class to which the object belongs.

  If the meet operation is successful, the mobile agent obtains a reference to the partner object and can use it to execute the operation of the partner object. That is, message dialogue is possible.

  For example, in FIG. 4, when the mobile agent 41 or mobile agent 42 that has moved from another node meets the printer control object 43 or image scanner object 44 that is a resident agent, the other party's published data is accessed and published. Will be able to invoke the specified operation.

  Accordingly, the mobile agents 41 and 42 generated and activated in the client 3 move to the interpreter of the image processing apparatus 1 and directly there without passing through the network, the printer control object 43 or the image scanner control object of the image processing apparatus 1. By interacting with 44, the image processing apparatus 1 can execute a desired operation, that is, image reading or image recording by a scanner.

  The operation in the above configuration will be described below with reference to the flowcharts in FIG. In the following, image recording will be described as an example, but it is needless to say that processing such as image reading by a scanner can be executed by similar control.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the processing sequence of the instruction sequence for implementing the live operation of the mobile agent according to the present embodiment.

  In step S161, the mobile agent activated by the client 3 opens a file to be printed designated by the user from the local file system of the client machine, and reads it into a buffer that is one of its attributes.

  In step S162, the go operation with the image processing apparatus 1 as the destination moves to the interpreter on the image processing apparatus. At this time, together with the instruction sequence, the data to be printed in the object is also encoded in the format of FIG. 5 and transferred to the image processing apparatus. When the movement of the agent is completed, the interpreter on the client 3 deletes this mobile agent object from the internal table, and releases resources such as a memory space that uses this object.

  In step S163, the mobile agent moved by the interpreter 45 on the memory of the image processing apparatus 1 is decoded, and its execution is started. Then, the mobile agent requests the interpreter 45 to interact with the printer control object residing in the interpreter of the image processing apparatus 1.

  In step S164, an average usage frequency acquisition operation of the printer control object 44 is called to acquire the latest average usage frequency of the printer engine.

  In step S165, this result is compared with a predetermined usage frequency to determine whether the recent usage frequency is sufficiently low. For example, if the acquired average usage frequency over the last hour is 2 to 3 times / hour and the threshold constant embedded in the instruction sequence is 0.5 times / hour, the determination result is false and the process proceeds to step S166. .

  In step S166, execution of the waiting time (for example, 30 minutes) embedded in the instruction sequence is suspended by the sleep operation that is an embedded operation. When the execution suspension time elapses, execution of the instruction sequence is resumed, and the process returns to step S164, and the acquisition and determination of the latest average usage frequency at that time are performed again.

  On the other hand, in the determination in step S165, for example, if the average usage frequency in the last hour is zero and the threshold constant embedded in the instruction sequence is 0.5 times / hour, the determination result is true, and step S167 Proceed to

  In step S167, the print request operation of the printer control object 44 is called with the print data (stored in the client 3) stored in its own buffer, which is the attribute of the mobile agent in step S162, as an argument. As a result, processing corresponding to the implementation of the print request operation of the printer control object is executed by the printer 17 and the data is printed. The format of data to be interpreted and printed by the printer control object 44 is arbitrary. For example, PDL such as PostScript or LIPS is conceivable.

  When step S167 is completed, the live operation ends, and the interpreter 45 deletes the mobile agent object from the internal table and releases resources such as a memory space used by the object.

  Through the above processing, the client 3 can print the data without directly interacting with the image processing apparatus by transmitting the print data and the mobile agent acting as a proxy for the processing to the image processing apparatus 1. In addition, according to the processing of FIG. 6, detailed processing that requires determination based on the state of the image processing device, such as automatically printing low-priority print data when the image processing device 1 is available. The process itself can be executed without any communication with the client side.

  7-9 show different embodiments of the mobile agent's live operation.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of controlling the recording output according to the amount of paper in the live operation of the mobile agent. FIG. 7 is different from FIG. 6 only in steps S174 and S176, and is an example in which the acquisition of the state of the image processing apparatus and the process continuation determination performed after the mobile agent moves to the interpreter of the image processing apparatus 1 are changed.

  In step S174, the remaining amount of print paper is acquired. If the amount of paper is sufficient in step S176, print processing is performed in step S167.

  According to the processing in FIG. 7, if the client 3 transmits print data and a mobile agent acting on behalf of the processing to the image processing device 1, then the client 3 does not directly interact with the image processing device, and then a large amount of low priority. Detailed processing that requires judgment based on the state of the image processing device, such as automatically printing after waiting until the printer paper is sufficiently replenished, can be easily realized. It can be executed without any communication with the side.

  FIG. 8 shows an example in which recording output is performed according to the time designated from the client side in the live operation of the mobile agent.

  In step S184 of FIG. 8, the current time is acquired from a clock circuit (not shown) in the image processing apparatus 1, and in step S186, if the time specified in the instruction sequence has passed, the print process is performed in step S167. This time designation is performed on the client side by including designation data in the instruction sequence.

  According to the process of FIG. 8, the client 3 transmits print data and a mobile agent acting on behalf of the process to the image processing apparatus 1, so that the client 3 has a low priority without directly interacting with the image processing apparatus thereafter. It is possible to easily realize fine-grained processing that requires judgment based on the state of the image processing device, such as automatically printing a large amount of print data after midnight, and this processing itself is also communicated with the client side. It can be executed without doing any.

  Next, FIG. 9 shows an example in which the recording output is controlled according to the fixing temperature of the printer engine of the image processing apparatus 1 in the live operation of the mobile agent.

  In step S194 in FIG. 9, the current temperature of the fixing unit 207 (FIG. 3) is acquired. In step S197, if the temperature specified in the instruction sequence is exceeded (if the fixing temperature is sufficient), a print process is performed. .

  According to the present embodiment, if the client 3 transmits print data and a mobile agent acting on behalf of the processing to the image processing apparatus 1, the client 3 does not directly interact with the image processing apparatus thereafter, particularly when the apparatus is started up. Thus, it is possible to easily realize fine-grained processing that requires determination based on the state of the image processing apparatus, such as automatically printing after waiting until the apparatus is ready.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, if the client 3 transmits print data and a mobile agent acting on behalf of the processing to the image processing apparatus 1, the client 3 does not directly interact with the image processing apparatus thereafter. Detailed processing that requires judgment based on the status of the image processing device, such as automatically printing low-priority print data when the printer is idle, can be easily realized. It can be executed without any communication with.

  Note that, in the above, as a process based on the determination based on the state of the image processing apparatus 1, “print with low priority is processed when the frequency of use of the apparatus is low” (FIG. 6) and “print with a large amount of paper amount” Is processed when the time becomes sufficient "(FIG. 7)," Process when the time reaches the specified time "(FIG. 8)," Process when the temperature of the fixing unit 207 becomes higher than the specified temperature "(FIG. 9). Although the configuration has been shown, the control executed by the mobile agent in the destination OA device is not limited to the above. For example, when the mobile agent is executed, the interpreter of the image recording device, the version information of the printer control object, etc. By referencing, dynamic changes such as controlling the printer engine in different ways are possible, and it is possible to implement mobile agents What it is possible to perform various desired control, which illustrates the scalability of the height of the embodiment.

  In the above description, image recording has been described as an example, but it is possible to execute processing such as image reading by a scanner under similar control. In this case, the scanner is controlled by the mobile agent that has moved from the client. It is also possible to carry the read image to the client by reading the image and moving to the client again by the go operation.

  Further, in an image processing apparatus that performs not only image recording and reading, but also various conversion processing for image data, for example, arbitrary conversion processing such as image scaling, halftone processing, image file format conversion, etc. It goes without saying that the image conversion process can be performed by the mobile agent control similar to the above.

  Further, in the present invention, it is not necessary to keep a connection during the operation of the image recording apparatus to be controlled, so that it is possible to suppress network traffic used for control.

  In addition, the interpreter portion of the mobile agent only needs to be compatible between the image recording apparatus as the client and the server, and can execute the recording process without depending on the operating system of the client and the server.

  In addition, the mobile agent can include an arbitrary instruction sequence as long as the instruction sequence is understood by the printer control object of the image recording apparatus. In the prior art, the instruction sequence itself for performing printer control was fixedly stored in the image recording apparatus, so the expandability was poor. However, according to this embodiment, the instruction sequence understood by the printer control object of the image recording apparatus Any command sequence can be executed, and when the mobile agent is executed, the printer engine is controlled by a different method by referring to the interpreter of the image recording apparatus or the version information of the printer control object. In this case, no communication with the client side is necessary.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, the image processing apparatus 1 can be connected not only in the local area network but also from the remote client 8 in FIG. 1 via a network with a relatively narrow bandwidth such as a wide area network or the Internet. Even if an attempt is made to control the apparatus, the apparatus can be controlled sufficiently and easily. In addition, even if the connection is intermittent, the image processing apparatus 1 can be controlled sufficiently and easily even when the remote client 8 is connected to the wide area network through a dial-up network connection. can do.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image processing apparatus 2 Local area network 3 Client 4 Local router 5 Wide area network 6 Remote network 7 Remote router 8 Remote client 11 Network interface card 12 Processor 13 Work memory 14 Non-volatile memory 15 Engine control circuit 16 Image memory 17 Printer 18 Image Scanner 19 Processor bus 20 Image bus

Claims (14)

Storage means for storing a predetermined function group for operating a plurality of functions of the image processing apparatus;
Interpreting means for interpreting a control program including a sequence of instructions represented by encoded code;
A device driver program for executing the functions of the object group and the image processing apparatus included in the control program stored in the storage unit according to the interpretation unit executing the interpretation process of the instruction sequence included in the control program. And an execution means for executing a device driver program for executing a function of the image processing apparatus using a function group defined as an interface between the image processing apparatus and the image processing apparatus.   The image processing apparatus has a print function, a scanner function, or a network interface function, and the storage means is a printer control library that is a programming interface that controls the print function, or a programming interface that controls the scanner function. A scanner library or a network interface library which is a programming interface for controlling a network interface function is stored as the function group, and the printer control library or the scanner according to the interpretation result of the instruction sequence in the interpretation unit Call at least one of the scanner control library that controls the functions and the network interface library that controls the network interface functions The execution unit executes at least one of a driver program for controlling a print function of the image processing apparatus, a driver program for controlling a scanner function, or a driver program for controlling a network interface function. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1. In an image processing apparatus having an image processing unit for performing predetermined image processing,
Acquisition means for requesting and acquiring information indicating the state of the image processing unit controlled by the first control program from the second control program to the first control program;
Output means for outputting an operation instruction of the image processing apparatus from the second control program to the first control program according to the information indicating the state of the image processing unit acquired by the acquisition means;
An image processing apparatus comprising: execution means for executing an operation of the image processing apparatus corresponding to an operation instruction indicated by a message output by the output means by executing the second control program.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the acquisition unit repeatedly acquires information indicating a state of the image processing apparatus.   5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the first control program is a control program for controlling at least one of a scanner, a network interface apparatus, and a printer apparatus.   The acquisition means acquires information indicating the status of the printer apparatus, and the output means applies a second control program to a first control program that is a printer control object in accordance with the information indicating the status of the printer apparatus. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the output unit outputs a print instruction command. In a control method of an image processing apparatus having storage means for storing a predetermined function group for operating a plurality of image processing functions,
An interpretation step for interpreting a control program including an instruction sequence represented by an encoded code;
A device driver program for executing the functions of the object group and the image processing apparatus included in the control program stored in the storage unit according to the interpretation step causing the instruction sequence included in the control program to be interpreted. And an execution step of executing a device driver program for executing a function of the image processing apparatus using a function group defined as an interface between the image processing apparatus and the image processing apparatus.   The image processing apparatus has a print function, a scanner function, or a network interface function, and the storage means is a printer control library that is a programming interface that controls the print function, or a programming interface that controls the scanner function. A scanner library or a network interface library which is a programming interface for controlling a network interface function is stored as the function group, and the printer control library or the scanner according to the interpretation result of the instruction sequence in the interpretation step Call at least one of the scanner control library that controls the functions and the network interface library that controls the network interface functions. The execution step executes at least one of a driver program for controlling a print function of the image processing apparatus, a driver program for controlling a scanner function, or a driver program for controlling a network interface function. A method for controlling an image processing apparatus according to claim 7. In a control method of an image processing apparatus having an image processing unit for performing predetermined image processing,
An acquisition step in which the second control program requests and acquires information indicating the state of the image processing unit controlled by the first control program from the first control program;
An output step of outputting an operation instruction of the image processing apparatus from the second control program to the first control program according to the information indicating the state of the image processing unit acquired by the acquisition step;
And a step of executing the operation of the image processing apparatus corresponding to the operation instruction indicated by the message output by the output step by executing the second control program.   The method according to claim 9, wherein the acquiring step repeatedly acquires information indicating a state of the image processing apparatus.   The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the first control program is a control program for controlling at least one of a scanner, a network interface device, and a printer device.   The obtaining step obtains information indicating the status of the printer device, and the output step performs a response from the second control program to the first control program that is a printer control object according to the information indicating the status of the printer device. 12. The method for controlling an image processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein a print instruction command is output. In a storage medium storing a control program for an image processing apparatus having storage means for storing a predetermined function group for operating a plurality of image processing functions,
An interpretation step for interpreting a control program including an instruction sequence represented by an encoded code;
A device driver program for executing the functions of the object group and the image processing apparatus included in the control program stored in the storage unit according to the interpretation step causing the instruction sequence included in the control program to be interpreted. Storing a control program for an image processing apparatus, wherein an execution step for executing a device driver program for executing a function of the image processing apparatus is stored using a function group defined as an interface between Storage medium. In a storage medium storing a control program of an image processing apparatus having an image processing unit for performing predetermined image processing,
An acquisition step in which the second control program requests and acquires information indicating the state of the image processing unit controlled by the first control program from the first control program;
An output step of outputting an operation instruction of the image processing apparatus from the second control program to the first control program according to the information indicating the state of the image processing unit acquired by the acquisition step;
A control program for the image processing apparatus, comprising: an execution step for executing the operation of the image processing apparatus corresponding to the operation instruction indicated by the message output by the output step by executing the second control program. Stored storage medium.

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