JP7679652B2 - Information processing system, inspection method and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing system and method for inspecting multiple files, and a program for causing a computer to execute the inspection.

Information processing systems such as PCs (Personal Computers), multiple files stored in a storage device are inspected at regular intervals to determine whether each file is infected with a computer virus. When there are a huge number of files to be inspected, the inspection takes a considerable amount of time, and so the inspection may be interrupted midway to allow other processing to be performed.

Computer virus scans are generally performed in ascending or descending order of the initial letters of the file name, but scanning according to such a rule is inefficient because the same files are always given priority.

Therefore, a technology has been proposed that randomly creates a file search order, records the search status as in progress when temporarily suspending, and then randomly sets the search order when resuming, searching for files in the in progress state first (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Computer virus inspections are performed not only on storage devices that are equipped with an information processing system, but also on external storage devices that are connected to and used by the information processing system. Some information processing systems are made up of multiple systems, and share an external storage device by switching the connection between the systems. In such information processing systems, inspection is temporarily suspended when the connection is switched, and no new viruses are introduced during the time until inspection is resumed when the connection is switched again.

In the conventional technology described above, even in a system that guarantees that no new viruses are introduced between the time when the inspection is temporarily suspended and the time when it is resumed, there is a possibility that the second or subsequent file after the resumption will be inspected as if it were the same file as before the suspension, which causes the inspection time to increase.

The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems and provide a system, device, method, and program that can reduce the inspection time for multiple files.

According to the present invention, there is provided an information processing system for inspecting a plurality of files, comprising:
An inspection means for inspecting a plurality of files stored in an external storage device connected to the information processing system;
A switching unit for switching a connection destination of the external storage device,
The switching means notifies the inspection means of the switched connection destination when the connection destination is switched;
An information processing system is provided in which, when the switching means switches the connection destination from a specified connection destination to another connection destination, the inspection means retains the results of the inspected file and suspends the inspection, and when the switching means switches the connection destination again and the connection destination notified by the switching means is the specified connection destination , the inspection means resumes file inspection based on the retained results.

The present invention can reduce the inspection time for multiple files.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an image processing apparatus as an information processing system. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a main body controller. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a main body section and an operation section included in the image processing apparatus. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing a process flow for switching the mount destination from the operation unit to the main body unit. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing a process flow for switching the mount destination from the main body unit to the operation unit. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of another switching process from the operation unit to the main body unit. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of another switching process from the main body unit to the operation unit.

The present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described below.

Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an image processing device as an information processing system. Here, the information processing system is described as an image processing device, but it is not limited to an image processing device as long as it is a device or system made up of multiple systems. Note that the multiple systems may be connected by cable in a wired manner, or may be connected wirelessly (including infrared), or multiple devices may be connected by wire or wirelessly.

Therefore, the information processing system may be a combination of two or more of the following devices: an image processing device, a PJ (Projector), an IWB (Interactive White Board: an electronic whiteboard with a blackboard function that allows intercommunication), an output device such as digital signage, a HUD (Head Up Display) device, industrial machinery, an imaging device, a sound collection device, medical equipment, network home appliances, automobiles (Connected Cars), notebook PCs, mobile phones, smartphones, tablet terminals, game consoles, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), wearable PCs, desktop PCs, etc., or may be composed of two or more of the same devices.

The image processing device 10 will be described below as an MFP (Multi-Function Peripheral), with multiple systems being the main body unit 11 and the operation unit 12.

The main body 11 and the operation unit 12 are connected by a cable 13. The main body 11 includes a main body controller 20 that controls the operation of the main body 11, a scanner device 21 that reads documents, and a plotter device 22 that prints on paper.

The main body controller 20 controls, for example, drawing, communication with the scanner device 21 and plotter device 22, communication via the network 14, input from the operation unit 12, etc. The scanner device 21 converts the scanned original into image data and outputs it. The plotter device 22 executes printing based on the image data. The scanner device 21 and the plotter device 22 can include an image processing section that processes the image data, and can execute error diffusion, gamma conversion, etc. as image processing.

The main body controller 20 can communicate with a terminal device 15, such as a PC, connected to the network 14. The main body controller 20 can also communicate with a terminal device 17, such as a smartphone or tablet terminal, via a wireless access point 16 connected to the network 14. In this example, the terminal device 17 uses WiFi (registered trademark) to communicate via the wireless access point 16 and the network 14, but it may also communicate directly with the main body 11 using short-range wireless such as Bluetooth (registered trademark). When communicating using short-range wireless, the main body 11 can be equipped with a short-range communication circuit.

The network 14 may be a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), or the Internet, and may be a wired or wireless network. The network 14 may be a single network, or may be composed of two or more networks connected by relay devices such as a proxy server or a router.

The operation unit 12 includes an operation unit controller 23 that controls the operation of the operation unit 12, hard keys 24 operated by the user, a liquid crystal touch panel 25 that displays the screen and accepts operation input, and a removable external storage device 26. The external storage device 26 is a memory card, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, etc.

The hard keys 24 include a numeric keypad for accepting settings for image formation conditions such as density settings, and a start key for accepting a copy start command. The liquid crystal touch panel 25 displays application switching keys, allowing the user to select the document box function, copy function, printer function, facsimile function, etc. by switching between them in sequence. When the document box function is selected, the document box mode is selected, and when the copy function is selected, the copy mode is selected. When the printer function is selected, the printer mode is selected, and when the facsimile function is selected, the facsimile mode is selected. The document box function is a function that stores data read by the copy function, facsimile function, etc. in a storage device such as an HD (Hard Disk) in the main body 11, so that the data can be reused.

The operation unit 12 has a connection port that allows the external storage device 26 to be attached and detached, and the connection port is not limited to one type of external storage device, and two or more connection ports may be provided so that two or more types of external storage devices can be attached and detached.

The external storage device 26 is shared by the two systems (main unit 11 and operation unit 12) and is used by switching the connection destination (mount destination) that is the source of use when each system uses it. Note that mounting means connecting and making it available.

When the operation unit 12 inspects a file stored in the external storage device 26, the external storage device 26 is mounted on the operation unit 12, and when printing a file stored in the external storage device 26, the mount destination is switched from the operation unit 12 to the main body unit 11.

The mount destination is switched, for example, when the user selects one of the files stored in the external storage device 26 on the operation unit 12, sets the number of copies to be printed using the hard keys 24, starts printing, and the operation unit 12 accepts the instruction, which is a trigger for the mount destination being switched to the main body unit 11. When the mount destination is switched to the main body unit 11, the main body unit 11 receives an instruction from the operation unit 12 and executes printing of the selected file.

Here, printing of a file stored in the external storage device 26 has been described, but this is not limited to printing, and may also be storing scanned image data in the external storage device 26. In the case of storing scanned image data, the mount destination is also switched when the operation unit 12 receives an instruction to read a document.

Figure 2 shows an example of the hardware configuration of the main body controller 20 provided in the main body 11. The main body controller 20 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 30, a system memory (MEM-P) 31, a north bridge (NB) 32, a south bridge (SB) 33, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 34, a local memory (MEM-C) 35 which is a storage unit, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) controller 36, and a HD 37. The NB 32 and the ASIC 34 are connected by an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus 38.

The CPU 30 is a control unit that performs overall control of the image processing device 10. The NB 32 is a bridge that connects the CPU 30 with the MEM-P 31, the SB 33, and the AGP bus 38. The NB 32 has a memory controller that controls reading and writing to the MEM-P 31, a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) master, and an AGP target.

The MEM-P31 is composed of a ROM (Read Only Memory) 31a, which is memory for storing programs and data that realize the various functions of the main body controller 20, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 31b, which is used for expanding programs and data, and as a drawing memory during memory printing. The programs stored in the RAM 31b may be provided as installable or executable files recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory), CD-R (Compact Disk Recordable), or DVD (Digital Versatile Disc).

SB33 is a bridge for connecting NB32 with PCI devices and peripheral devices. ASIC34 is an IC (Integrated Circuit) for image processing applications that has hardware elements for image processing, and acts as a bridge connecting AGP bus38, PCI bus39, HDD controller36, and MEM-C35. ASIC34 is made up of a PCI target and AGP master, an arbiter (ARB) that is the core of ASIC34, a memory controller that controls MEM-C35, multiple DMACs (Direct Memory Access Controllers) that rotate image data using hardware logic, and a PCI unit that transfers data between scanner device21 and plotter device22 via PCI bus39.

The ASIC 34 may also be connected to a USB interface or an IEEE 1394 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1394) interface.

MEM-C35 is a local memory used as an image buffer for copying and a code buffer. HD37 is a storage device that stores image data, font data used during printing, and forms. HDD controller 36 controls the reading and writing of data from and to HD37 under the control of CPU30. AGP bus 38 is a bus interface for a graphics accelerator card proposed to speed up graphic processing, and by directly accessing MEM-P31 at high throughput, the graphics accelerator card can be made faster.

Here, the hardware configuration of the main body controller 20 has been explained, but the operation controller 23 also includes similar hardware such as a CPU, HD, ROM, RAM, etc., and so an explanation of the hardware configuration of the operation controller 23 will be omitted.

Figure 3 shows an example of the configuration of the main body 11 and operation unit 12 of the image processing device 10. The main body 11 includes a main body controller 20, a scanner device 21, and a plotter device 22, and the main body controller 20 includes an OS (Operating System) 40, a communication control unit 41, a communication I/F 42, a print control unit 43, and a transmission control unit 44.

The communication control unit 41, the print control unit 43, and the transmission control unit 44 can be realized by one or more processing circuits. Here, the processing circuit in this specification includes a processor (CPU) programmed to execute each function by software, such as a processor implemented by an electronic circuit, an ASIC designed to execute each function described above, a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), a conventional circuit module, and other devices. The OS 40 is executed by one or more processing circuits.

The OS 40 is software that provides basic functions for the control operations of the main body controller 20. The communication control unit 41 controls data communication with the operation unit 12 and terminal devices 15, 17 via the communication I/F 42, which is a communication device such as USB, serial, wired LAN, wireless LAN, Bluetooth (registered trademark), or IrDA (Infrared Data Association). The communication control unit 41 transfers data received from the outside to the print control unit 43 and transmission control unit 44, and transfers data from the print control unit 43 and transmission control unit 44 to the outside.

The print control unit 43 controls the scanner device 21, plotter device 22, etc., and manages print jobs. The transmission control unit 44 manages transmission jobs such as email and folder delivery. Folder delivery is a function that sends data to a specified folder and accumulates it.

The operation unit 12 includes an operation unit controller 23, hard keys 24, an LCD touch panel 25, and an external storage device 26, and the operation unit controller 23 includes an OS 50, a communication control unit 51, a communication I/F 52, an operation information input/output unit 53, an external storage device control unit 54, an external storage device switching unit 55, and an application (hereinafter abbreviated as app) 56.

The communication control unit 51, the operation information input/output unit 53, the external storage device control unit 54, and the external storage device switching unit 55 can also be realized by one or more processing circuits. The OS 50 and the app 56 are executed by one or more processing circuits. Note that the app 56 is executed by one or more processing circuits to realize a predetermined function, but the following description will be given assuming that the app 56 executes the predetermined process.

The OS 50 is software that provides basic functions for the control operation of the operation unit controller 23. The communication control unit 51 controls data communication with the main body unit 11 via the communication I/F 52, which is a communication device such as USB, serial, wired LAN, wireless LAN, Bluetooth (registered trademark), or IrDA. The communication control unit 51 transfers data received from the outside to the operation information input/output unit 53, the external storage device control unit 54, the external storage device switching unit 55, and the app 56, and transfers data from the operation information input/output unit 53, the external storage device control unit 54, the external storage device switching unit 55, and the app 56 to the outside.

The operation information input/output unit 53 displays a screen to the user on the liquid crystal touch panel 25 and accepts user operations from the hard keys 24 and the liquid crystal touch panel 25. The operation information input/output unit 53 stores the correspondence between the functions of the main body unit 11 and the apps 56 of the operation unit 12 and the device to which the external storage device 26 is to be mounted. The operation information input/output unit 53 determines the device to which the external storage device 26 is to be mounted based on the stored correspondence in accordance with the function of the main body unit 11 or the apps 56 of the operation unit 12 activated from the operation unit 12.

The external storage device switching unit 55 switches the mount destination of the external storage device 26. For example, when the external storage device 26 is mounted on the main body unit 11 while the operation unit 12 is mounted, the mounting by the operation unit 12 is temporarily released, and the external storage device 26 is mounted as storage for the main body unit 11 via USB or the like. Also, when the external storage device 26 is mounted on the main body unit 11 and the operation unit 12 is to be used as the source, the mounting by the main body unit 11 is temporarily released, and the external storage device 26 is mounted on the operation unit 12.

The app 56 is an application program such as an image viewing app that runs on the operation unit 12. The app 56 includes a media printing app, a security app, and the like. Note that the functions included in the main body unit 11 or the operation unit 12 do not necessarily need to be implemented inside the main body unit 11 or the operation unit 12, and may be realized as functions available on the network 14.

The media printing app is an app for printing files stored in the external storage device 26. The security app is an app for checking whether files stored in storage devices such as the HD 37 and in the external storage device 26 are infected with computer viruses. The security app checks not only for computer viruses but also for other malware such as Trojan horses, and performs the check by virus scanning. Furthermore, if the security app performs the check and finds a file infected with a virus, it removes the virus. Virus removal is achieved by deleting or isolating the infected file.

Here, the inspection of multiple files will be described as checking whether they are infected with a virus, but this is not limited to this.

When the external storage device 26 is attached to the operation unit 12 and mounted on the operation unit 12, the files stored in the external storage device 26 become available. If a virus-infected file is present among the files stored in the external storage device 26, the infection may spread within the image processing device 10, and the infected file may be sent to the outside via email, fax, etc., causing the virus to spread further. For this reason, when starting to use the device, the security app performs a virus scan to check for any virus-infected files.

Since a virus scan is a time-consuming task, the user may select one of the files stored in the external storage device 26 during the virus scan and print the file. In this case, the virus scan is temporarily interrupted, the mount destination of the external storage device 26 is switched from the operation unit 12 to the main body unit 11, and the plotter device 22 of the main body unit 11 prints the selected file.

When printing of the file is complete, the mount point of the external storage device 26 can be switched from the main body unit 11 to the operation unit 12, and the virus scan can be resumed.

When the mount destination is switched from the operation unit 12 to the main unit 11, and then switched from the main unit 11 to the operation unit 12, the external storage device 26 remains attached to the operation unit 12, only the source of use is switched, and there is no access from the outside. Since the main unit 11 receives instructions from the operation unit 12 and executes specified processes such as printing, the operation unit 12 is a system that the main unit 11 can trust. Then, from the time the virus scan is interrupted to the time it is resumed, the external storage device 26 to be scanned remains connected to the reliable operation unit 12, and it is guaranteed that no new viruses have been introduced.

In this state, if the virus scan is restarted from the beginning, the tests performed up until the interruption will be wasted, which is inefficient. In addition, the safety of the external storage device 26 cannot be quickly confirmed.

Therefore, when the scan is interrupted, the scan results up to that point are retained before the interruption, and when the scan is resumed, the virus scan is resumed based on the retained scan results. This shortens the time it takes to complete the scan of the external storage device 26, making it possible to confirm the safety of the external storage device 26 more quickly.

Specific processing will be described with reference to FIG. 4. This processing is executed by the external storage device switching unit 55 and apps 56 of the operation unit controller 23. Here, the external storage device switching unit 55 will be described as a monitoring service 60 functioning as a switching means, and the apps 56 will be described as a security app 61 functioning as an inspection means, and apps other than the security app 61. In this example, apps other than the security app 61 will be simply referred to as apps 62, and the external storage device 26 will be simply referred to as media. The apps 62 include apps such as a media printing app that function as an instruction means for instructing the main body unit 11 to perform a specified process such as printing.

Figure 4 is a sequence diagram showing the process flow when switching the mount destination from the operation unit 12 to the main body unit 11. The security application 61 registers itself in advance with the monitoring service 60 as the contact point for inquiries when switching the mount destination (S1). This allows the monitoring service 60 to receive an inquiry before executing the switching process when switching the mount destination.

When media is mounted on the operation unit 12, the monitoring service 60 notifies the security application 61 in the operation unit 12 that media has been mounted on the operation unit 12 (S2). The notification includes information on the mount destination as well as information on the type of media. The information on the type of media is information classified according to the type of media, such as a memory card, USB memory, etc.

If only one type of media can be attached to the operation unit 12, the above notification may only include information about the mount destination.

The security application 61 receives the notification and starts a virus scan (S3). Based on the information on the type of media included in the notification, the security application 61 performs a virus scan of the corresponding type of media. The virus scan can be performed in ascending or descending order of the initial characters of the file names, or the files can be randomly rearranged and the virus scan can be performed in the rearranged order. However, when rearranging files randomly, the random rearrangement order needs to be stored. The virus scan can also be performed in ascending or descending order of the file update date and time, type, size, creation date and time, creator, etc. Note that the ascending order is from "a" to "n" if the initial characters of the file name are hiragana, from "A" to "Z" and "a" to "z" if they are alphabetic, and from "0" to "9" if they are numbers. The descending order is the opposite of the ascending order.

The monitoring service 60 notifies the security app 61 in the operation unit 12 as well as the app 62, etc., that media has been mounted on the operation unit 12 (S4).

For example, the app 62 accepts a selection of one of the files stored on the medium from the user, and when an instruction is given to print the selected file, it requests the monitoring service 60 to switch the mount destination (S5). When the monitoring service 60 receives the mount destination switch request from the app 62, it makes an inquiry to the security app 61 that is registered as the contact point when switching the mount destination (S6). Unlike the above notification, the inquiry is made only to the registered contact point. For this reason, it is written as "oneway" in FIG. 4. The inquiry asks whether it is okay to switch the mount destination, and includes information on the mount destination and information on the type of media. Here, the mount destination is the main unit 11, but the mount destination may be another system.

When the security application 61 receives an inquiry from the monitoring service 60, it interrupts the virus scan currently being performed (S7). At this time, the security application 61 retains the scan results of the virus scans that have been performed up to that point. The scan results include information about the scanned file and information indicating whether or not the file is infected with a virus.

When starting a virus scan, the security application 61 can create a list that determines the scan order based on file information stored in the external storage device 26, and perform a virus scan according to the list. The security application 61 can set a flag for each file in the list, and set a flag for files that have been scanned, making it possible to know how much of the scan has been completed. This makes it easy to know where to resume a scan if it is interrupted. Note that this method is just one example, and any method can be used as long as it is possible to distinguish between files that have been scanned and files that have not been scanned, and to scan only unscanned files after resuming.

The security application 61 returns a response to the inquiry to the monitoring service 60 (S8). The response is a response indicating that it is OK to switch the mount destination. Upon receiving the response from the security application 61, the monitoring service 60 switches the mount destination from the operation unit 12 to the main body unit 11 (S9). After switching the mount destination, the monitoring service 60 notifies the security application 61 and application 62 that the media has been unmounted from the operation unit 12 (S10, S11). The notification includes information on the type of media, information on the mount destination, and the cause of the unmount. The cause of the unmount indicates the reason for the unmount. Examples of reasons include switching the media mount destination.

The monitoring service 60 notifies the security application 61 and application 62 that the media has been mounted on the main unit 11 (S12, S13). The notification includes the media type information, the mount destination information, and the mount cause. The mount cause indicates the reason for mounting. Examples of such reasons include switching the media mount destination.

Figure 5 is a sequence diagram showing the process flow when switching the mount destination from the main body unit 11 to the operation unit 12. In this example, switching of the mount destination from the main body unit 11 to the operation unit 12 is described, but switching of the mount destination from another system to the operation unit 12 may also be possible.

When the app 62 receives a notification that the process it instructed the main unit 11 to execute has been completed, it requests the monitoring service 60 to switch the mount destination (S1). When the monitoring service 60 receives the mount destination switch request from the app 62, it makes an inquiry to the security app 61 that is registered as the contact point when switching the mount destination (S2). The inquiry is made only to the registered contact point. The inquiry asks whether it is OK to switch the mount destination, and includes information on the mount destination and information on the type of media.

The security application 61 returns a response to the inquiry from the monitoring service 60 (S3). The response is a response indicating that it is OK to switch the mount destination. In response to the response from the security application 61, the monitoring service 60 switches the mount destination from the main body unit 11 to the operation unit 12 (S4). After switching the mount destination, the monitoring service 60 notifies the security application 61 and the application 62 that they have been unmounted from the main body unit 11 (S5, S6). The notification includes information on the type of media, information on the mount destination, and the cause of the unmount.

The monitoring service 60 notifies the security application 61 and application 62 that the media has been mounted on the operation unit 12 (S7, S8). The notification includes information on the type of media, the mount destination, and the mount cause.

The security application 61 receives a notification from the monitoring service 60 that the file has been mounted on the operation unit 12, and resumes the virus scan based on the scan results recorded during the temporary suspension (S9). Because the scan results include the results of the scanned files, it is possible to perform a virus scan on files that have not yet been scanned.

The virus scan will end when it has been completed for all files stored on the media. If you have set it to run a virus scan on a specific file on the media, the virus scan will end when it has been completed for that specific file. The specific file may be a file in a specific folder.

Virus scanning is performed on storage devices provided in the image processing device 10 in addition to the external storage device 26. The storage devices are storage devices such as HDs provided in the main body unit 11 and storage devices provided in the operation unit 12. Unlike the external storage device 26, virus scanning on the storage devices provided in the image processing device 10 is always attached and can be performed during times when the image processing device 10 is not in use, such as at night, so that a lower priority is set for the virus scanning process on the external storage device 26.

When there is a low-priority virus scan process like this and a high-priority virus scan process for the external storage device 26, the high-priority virus scan process will be executed, but it is inefficient if nothing is executed when the high-priority virus scan process is interrupted. Therefore, it is possible to execute the low-priority virus scan process during the time between when the high-priority virus scan process is interrupted and when it is resumed.

With reference to Figure 6, another process when switching the mount destination will be described. Figure 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of another switching process from the operation unit 12 to the main body unit 11. The security application 61 of S6 shown in Figure 4 receives an inquiry from the monitoring service 60 and starts this process from step 100. In step 101, the security application 61 interrupts the virus scan process of the media (media scan).

In step 102, security application 61 checks whether there is a virus scan process (scan job) waiting. When there are multiple scan jobs, security application 61 has a function of queuing those jobs and executing scan jobs in order starting with the highest priority. Queuing refers to managing scan jobs using a queue. Note that a queue is a data structure that arranges scan jobs in the order in which they were input, and retrieves scan jobs that were input first in order. Here, it is checked whether there is a scan job with a low priority waiting.

If there is a scan job with a low priority, the security app 61 proceeds to step 103, starts the waiting scan job, and ends the switch in step 104.

On the other hand, if there is no scan job with a lower priority in step 102, the process goes into a scan standby state, proceeds to step 104, and ends. Incidentally, the process shown in FIG. 6 is a process when a media scan is executed and then interrupted, and therefore is a process when there is no job with a higher priority than a media scan.

Next, another switching process from the main body unit 11 to the operation unit 12 will be described with reference to FIG. 7. Upon receiving a notification that the security application 61 of S8 shown in FIG. 5 has been mounted on the operation unit 12, this process starts from step 200. In step 201, the security application 61 compares the priority of the ongoing job with that of the media scan based on preset priority information. The ongoing job is a job currently being executed by the security application 61, such as a scan job of other media or a storage device provided in the image processing device 10. The priority information is information indicating the priority associated with each job.

In step 202, the security application 61 determines whether the media scan has a higher priority as a result of the comparison. If it is determined that the media scan has a higher priority, the process proceeds to step 203, where the ongoing job is interrupted. Then, in step 204, the security application 61 resumes the media scan, and in step 205, the switching is completed.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 202 that the level is low, the process proceeds to step 205 and the switching process ends. In this case, the security application 61 continues the job that is currently being executed, and resumes the media scan after the job that is currently being executed is completed.

As described above, the present invention makes it possible to efficiently inspect multiple files and shorten the inspection time for multiple files.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and may be modified within the scope of what a person skilled in the art can conceive, such as changing or deleting the components of this embodiment, or adding other components to the components of this embodiment, and any aspect is within the scope of the present invention as long as it provides the effects of the present invention.

10... image processing device 11... main body 12... operation unit 13... cable 14... network 15, 17... terminal device 16... wireless access point 20... main body controller 21... scanner device 22... plotter device 23... operation unit controller 24... hard key 25... liquid crystal touch panel 26... external storage device 27... connection I/F
30...CPU
31...MEM-P
31a...ROM
31b...RAM
32...NB
33…SB
34...ASIC
35...MEM-C
36...HDD controller 37...HD
38: AGP bus 39: PCI bus 40: OS
41: Communication control unit 42: Communication I/F
43: Print control unit 44: Transmission control unit 50: OS
51: Communication control unit 52: Communication I/F
53... Operation information input/output unit 54... External storage device control unit 55... External storage device switching unit 56... Application 60... Monitoring service 61... Security application 62... Application

Patent No. 4622523

Claims (6)

1. An information processing system for inspecting a plurality of files, comprising:
an inspection means for inspecting a plurality of files stored in an external storage device connected to the information processing system;
A switching unit for switching a connection destination of the external storage device,
The inspection means, when the connection destination is switched from a specified connection destination to another connection destination by the switching means, retains the results of the inspected file and interrupts the inspection, and when the connection destination is switched back to the specified connection destination by the switching means, resumes file inspection based on the retained results, and is capable of inspecting a plurality of storage devices, including the external storage device, connected to the information processing system in accordance with a preset priority, and interrupts the inspection of the external storage device and performs inspection of storage devices with a lower priority than the external storage device until the inspection is resumed. The information processing system includes:
a first system including the inspection means and the switching means;
a second system connected to the first system and executing a predetermined process in response to an instruction from the first system;
the external storage device is connected to the first system;
2. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the switching means switches the connection destination from the first system to the second system in response to an instruction to execute the predetermined process using a file stored in the external storage device. 3. The information processing system according to claim 2 , wherein the switching means switches the connection destination from the second system to the first system in response to receiving a notification of completion of execution of the predetermined process from the second system. the information processing system is an image processing apparatus including, as the first system, an operation unit that receives an operation from a user, and, as the second system, a main body unit that executes image processing in response to the received operation;
the operation unit includes the inspection means, the switching means, an input/output means for receiving the operation, and an instruction means for instructing the main body to execute image processing,
4. The information processing system according to claim 2 , wherein the inspection means executes a virus scan process for the external storage device. 1. A method for inspecting a plurality of files by an information processing system, comprising:
A step in which an inspection means included in the information processing system inspects a plurality of files stored in an external storage device connected to the information processing system;
a step of storing a result of the file inspected by the inspecting means in response to an instruction to execute a predetermined process using the file stored in the external storage device;
A step of switching from a first connection destination to a second connection destination by a switching means included in the information processing system in order to execute the predetermined process;
in response to receiving a notification of completion of the execution of the predetermined process, the switching means switches from the second connection destination to the first connection destination;
The inspection means includes a step of restarting inspection of the file based on the stored result,
the inspection means is capable of inspecting a plurality of storage devices, including the external storage device, connected to the information processing system in accordance with a preset priority order;
The method comprises:
13. A testing method comprising the steps of: suspending a test on the external storage device, and, until the test is resumed, executing a test on a storage device having a lower priority than the external storage device. A program for causing a computer to execute a process for inspecting a plurality of files,
causing the computer to function as an inspection means, and inspecting a plurality of files stored in an external storage device connected to the computer by the inspection means;
a step of storing a result of the file inspected by the inspecting means in response to an instruction to execute a predetermined process using the file stored in the external storage device;
causing the computer to function as a switching unit and switching from a first connection destination to a second connection destination by the switching unit to execute the predetermined process;
switching from the second connection destination to the first connection destination by the switching means in response to receiving a notification of completion of execution of the predetermined process;
and resuming the inspection of the file based on the result stored by the inspection means.
the inspection means is capable of inspecting a plurality of storage devices, including the external storage device, connected to the computer in accordance with a preset priority order;
The program is
a program for causing a user to execute a step of interrupting a check on the external storage device and, until the check is resumed, executing a check on a storage device that has a lower priority than the external storage device.