JP3274641B2 - Computer systems and peripherals - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer system and peripheral devices, and more particularly, to a computer system including a plurality of computer terminals such as personal computers connected to a LAN, and peripheral devices shared by these computer terminals. It relates to peripheral devices used in the computer system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in a limited area such as an office, a plurality of computer terminals (personal computers, workstations, word processors, etc.) are connected to a LAN (local area network), and peripheral devices such as printers, scanners, and facsimile machines are connected. Computer systems that commonly use are becoming popular. In such a computer system, a place where a computer terminal is installed and a place where peripheral devices such as a printer are installed are often separated from each other. Usually, settings such as the paper size used for printing are made on the operation panel of the printer. However, in this case, when changing the paper size, it is necessary to go to the place where the printer is installed, and the operability is poor. In order to solve this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-6557 discloses a system in which the setting of a printer at a location remote from a computer terminal can be changed.
And Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-56696.

[0003]

However, as a result of giving a print instruction to a printer located away from the computer terminal and going to the printer to check the print output, an error is found and reprinting is performed. In such a case, even if the mistake is made in setting the paper size, for example, it is necessary to return to the place of the computer terminal and re-execute the print instruction, and there still remains a problem that the operability is not sufficient.

[0004] In recent years, personal computers have been operated in a multimedia and multitasking environment, and are unfamiliar to specific application software (for example, C
In some cases, a dedicated operation panel provided with a plurality of buttons, each corresponding to specific application software, is attached so that the D player playback software) can be easily called and executed (CD playback). or,
Scanners and the like that can execute corresponding application software by simple button operation are also commercially available.

However, these dedicated operation panels and scanners are used in a one-to-one correspondence with a specific personal computer. Remote control using infrared rays or the like.
Therefore, it cannot be applied to a computer system in which a plurality of computer terminals are connected to a LAN and a peripheral device is shared.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem by making it possible to give a simple instruction from a peripheral device to a computer terminal designated by a user and execute a certain process. It is to provide a computer system as well as peripheral devices that can be used in such a system.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer system comprising a plurality of computer terminals connected to a LAN and a peripheral device shared by the computer terminals. A specific process automatic execution means for automatically executing application software in accordance with an operation procedure registered in advance when a predetermined specific control signal is received via the LAN, and for inputting a user instruction to the peripheral device; And a controller for transmitting a specified specific control signal to a specified computer terminal in accordance with an instruction input from the operation panel.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the computer system according to the first aspect, a user sets an operation procedure of application software corresponding to a specific control signal automatically executed by the specific processing automatic execution means. It is characterized by having means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the computer system according to the first or second aspect, the operation panel includes a small number of keys for inputting a user's instruction, and the controller includes a plurality of the operation panels. The method is characterized in that a specified specific control signal is transmitted to a specified computer terminal by determining a combination of key operations.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the computer system according to the first or second aspect, a plurality of terminal selection keys corresponding to each computer terminal and one of specific control signals are selected on the operation panel. A plurality of function designating keys for transmitting a specific control signal corresponding to the pressed function designating key to the computer terminal corresponding to the pressed terminal selection key. .

[0011]

[0012]

[0013]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention.

The computer system according to the present embodiment
The peripheral device 1 is connected to the LAN 3 and includes a plurality of computer terminals 2a, 2b..., And the peripheral device 1 has an operation panel 11 provided with a key for receiving a request from a user.
And a controller 12 having a function of transmitting a specified control signal to a computer terminal 2i (i is a, b,...) Specified in accordance with an instruction input to the operation panel 11, and data from the outside. A data transmission / reception buffer 13 used for data exchange, an input / output interface 14 capable of bidirectional data transmission / reception to / from the outside, and a peripheral device control routine 15 for controlling the peripheral device 1. A CPU 21 for controlling a terminal, a data transmission / reception buffer 22 used for exchanging data with the outside, an input / output interface 23 capable of bidirectional data transmission / reception to / from the outside, and a multitask environment based on a specific control signal from the peripheral device 1 Specific processing in which the processing procedure of the application software to be automatically executed under is registered And a line routine 24. Although not shown, the CPU 21 controls all the processing routines of the computer terminal 2i in addition to the specific processing execution routine 24.

In the above computer system, a plurality of specific control signals for controlling the computer terminal 2i from the peripheral device 1 are predetermined, and the user operates the operation panel 11 of the peripheral device 1 to specify one specific control signal. By selecting a control signal and transmitting it to the designated computer terminal 2i, a process corresponding to the specific control signal can be automatically executed. Therefore, even if the peripheral device 1 is installed at a remote location, it is possible to perform necessary processing without returning to the installation location of the computer terminal 2i, thereby improving the operability of the system.

The operation panel 11 is used for inputting an instruction for local control of the peripheral device 1 and for remote control of the computer terminal 2i. A display function for displaying the current state of the device and the like are provided on the surface thereof. And an input key for receiving a request from the user. A key buffer is provided inside. The input keys may be provided separately for local control and remote control, or may be provided with a common key used for both purposes.

The controller 12 determines an input from the operation panel 11 and, in the case of local control, causes the peripheral device control routine 15 to perform a corresponding process and to cause the operation panel 11 to perform a necessary display. When the input is a remote control, the address of the designated computer terminal 2i and the designated specific control signal are selected, and the LA is transmitted via the data transmission / reception buffer 13 and the input / output interface 14.
Send to N3. Further, the controller 12 also has a function of receiving input data from the LAN 3 from the data transmission / reception buffer 13, passing the data to the peripheral device control routine 15, performing corresponding processing, and performing necessary display on the operation panel 11.

The specific processing execution routine 24 is a program for automatic execution in which a predetermined processing procedure for application software is stored in correspondence with a plurality of specific control signals. Is selected by the CPU 21 and automatically executed. Note that the specific process execution routine 2
4 and the CPU 21 constitute a specific process automatic execution means.

The data transmission / reception buffers 13 and 22 are LA
It temporarily stores data to be transmitted / received to / from the outside via N3, and includes a transmission buffer and a reception buffer.
It is an interface that can transmit and receive data bidirectionally with the outside, such as a Bus) interface.

Next, the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be specifically described by taking the case where the peripheral device 1 is a printer as an example. At this time, the peripheral device control routine 15 is a printer control routine, and includes a local control routine for performing local settings such as paper selection and a print control routine for executing print processing. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the controller 12 in FIG.
Hereinafter, this will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

First, when a user presses an input key on the operation panel 11, input information corresponding to the pressed key is stored in a key buffer in the operation panel 11.
The controller 12 constantly monitors the contents of the key buffer (step S1). When data is stored in the key buffer, it determines whether the data is a local control request or a remote control request of application software to the computer terminal 2i (step S1). Step S2). If the request is the local control request, the control is transferred to the local control routine in the printer control routine (peripheral device control routine 15) (step S3), the printer status is displayed on the display of the operation panel 11, and the process proceeds to step S1. Return. If the result of the determination in step S2 is a remote control request, the controller 12 first selects the address information of the designated computer terminal 2i and the designated specific control signal from the internal storage unit, and selects the data transmission / reception buffer. 13 from the input / output interface 14 to the LAN.
3 to the computer terminal 2i (step S3).
5) Return to step S1.

The computer terminal 2 i receives the specific control signal sent via the LAN 3 at the input / output interface 23 and stores it in the data transmission / reception buffer 22. Upon receiving the data, the input / output interface 23 sends a reception message (interrupt) to the CPU 21. Upon receiving the received message, the CPU 21 extracts the specific control signal stored in the data transmission / reception buffer 22, and executes the corresponding processing of the specific processing operation execution routine 24. If the content of the specific control signal is a print data retransmission command, the print data is retransmitted from the computer terminal 2i to the printer.

When print data is transmitted from the computer terminal 2i to the printer, the controller 12
The contents of the data transmission / reception buffer 13 are checked via steps S1 and S6 in FIG. 2 (step S7). If the data is print data, control is passed to a print control routine to execute print processing (step S8). On the other hand, the display of the printing status is instructed, and the process returns to step S1. If the data received from the computer terminal 2i is printer control data for remotely controlling the local setting of the printer, such as changing the paper used by the printer, the flow advances from step S7 to step S3 to control the local control routine. Transfer.

As described above, the operation panel 1 of the printer
By operating the key 1, the printer can control the computer terminal 2i. Key operations necessary for this are an operation of designating a computer terminal and an operation of designating a specific control signal. If the number of computer terminals connected to the LAN and the number of specific control signals that can be used are small, both can be designated by a single key operation by providing a dedicated selection key for each. When the number of computer terminals and the number of specific control signals are large, a common keypad, for example, may be provided, and both may be sequentially designated by two-digit numbers.

The specific processing executed in response to the specific control signal includes, for example, reprinting the entire document created by the document creation software and instructed immediately before printing, or specifying a page to copy a part of the document. A process for reprinting is conceivable. These processing procedures are preset as a system and registered as a specific processing execution routine common to each computer terminal. The designation of the print page is transmitted from the printer as a parameter accompanying the specific control signal, and is incorporated into the specific processing execution routine and executed. Further, it is also possible to start the document creation software, designate a created document by the document identification number, and print it.

The user sets the operation procedure of the application software corresponding to the specific control signal in each computer terminal so that the processing content for the specific control signal is not common to each computer terminal and can be set for each computer terminal. It is also possible to provide processing procedure setting means.

Although the description has been given centering on the printer, the same technical idea can be applied to peripheral devices other than the printer, such as a scanner and a digital camera.

[0029]

As described above, according to the computer system and the peripheral device of the present invention, using the operation panel of the peripheral device, a specific control signal set in advance as a system can be transmitted to an arbitrary LAN connected to the LAN. By transmitting the data to the computer terminal, a specific process corresponding to the data can be executed. Thus, for example, when the user comes to the printer away from the computer terminal and notices a paper setting error, the printer can instruct a reprint request without returning to the computer terminal. This has the effect of further improving the operability of the system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the controller shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 peripheral device 2 computer terminal 3 LAN 11 operation panel 12 controller 13, 22 data transmission / reception buffer 14, 23 input / output interface 15 peripheral device control routine 21 CPU 24 specific processing execution routine

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] In a computer system comprising a plurality of computer terminals connected to a LAN and peripheral devices shared by these computer terminals, each computer terminal receives a specific control signal predetermined via said LAN. A specific process automatic execution means for automatically executing application software in accordance with an operation procedure registered in advance upon receipt is provided, and the peripheral device includes an operation panel for inputting a user's instruction, and an operation panel input from the operation panel. A computer system comprising: a controller that transmits a specified control signal to a computer terminal specified in accordance with an instruction. 2. A computer according to claim 1, further comprising processing procedure setting means for allowing a user to set an operation procedure of application software corresponding to a specific control signal automatically executed by said specific processing automatic execution means. system. 3. The operation panel includes a small number of keys for inputting a user's instruction, and the controller determines a combination of a plurality of key operations of the operation panel and designates the combination to a designated computer terminal. 3. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein the specified control signal is transmitted. 4. The operation panel has a plurality of terminal selection keys corresponding to each computer terminal and a plurality of function designation keys for selecting one of specific control signals, and the controller is depressed. 3. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein a specific control signal corresponding to the pressed function designation key is transmitted to a computer terminal corresponding to the terminal selection key.