JPH05274401A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To adequately grasp information in the processor during image processing by easily carrying out debugging during the image processing by a client-server system which handles the image. CONSTITUTION:A system which utilizes a server-client system consists of an image processing server 21a which performs, specially, image processing and application programs 22a,... which utilize the image processing server 21a; and the image processing server 21a inquire whether or not the processing is carried on of the application programs at the end of specific position, and the application programs 22a,... when inquired of by the image processing server 21a, display information on the memory contents, etc., in the processor before sending a request to restart the processing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus in which a plurality of applications jointly use an image processing server to perform image processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, many systems utilize a server / client method to perform processing. The server-client system is a system in which a server and a client connected via one computer or via a communication line such as a LAN exchange information and proceed with processing. For example, engineering workstation EW
It is used by S.

A system in which such a server-client system is adopted and a plurality of clients use one server is often used. The client is an application program or application. The work is not done only by the application, but by asking the server for a small and commonly used work called a job. In other words, the application configures some of its tasks with jobs,
Perform jobs by requesting jobs from the server.

An example of this is JP-A-2-231626.
The server / client method is shown in the issue. This server controls a bitmap display which is a display device. Then, the client is shown to receive information from the server and signal.

[0005]

In the conventional information processing apparatus, image data is often handled. A certain image is read by a scanner and a certain image is output by a printer. Furthermore, the image data read by a scanner or the like is very large and difficult to handle.

Further, the information processing apparatus or the like adopts the server / client method, so that the program is decomposed into a plurality of programs. If the decomposed programs exchange image data with each other, the computer cannot operate efficiently. Therefore, there is a need for a program that specializes in images.

Therefore, a program dedicated to image processing is installed and operated in the image processing apparatus. However, when a program dedicated to image processing collectively performs image processing, operation management may occur.

For example, it is necessary to confirm whether the image read from the optical disk is normally stored in the memory or whether the newly added program is operating normally.

Furthermore, it was necessary to confirm the operation without affecting the program for image processing, which is operating independently.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus capable of easily controlling a program that specially handles images and confirming the operation contents.

[0011]

An image processing apparatus according to the present invention controls a plurality of image input / output devices, and uses these devices to perform a series of operations for processing an image consisting of a plurality of steps. Section, a control section that requests the image processing section to process an image, and, in response to a request from this control section, the process is temporarily stopped during a series of operations in the image processing section, and the image processing section It is composed of output means for outputting the operation status upon execution.

The image processing apparatus of the present invention has a first program for performing image processing by performing an operation consisting of a plurality of steps, and a second program for controlling the first program. The second program is provided with instructing means for instructing confirmation of the program in the course of the series of operations in the first program, and the first program is instructed to confirm the program by the instructing means. At this time, output means for outputting the program in the process is provided.

[0013]

According to the present invention, a plurality of image input / output devices are controlled by the image processing unit, and the image processing unit uses these image input / output devices to perform a series of operations for processing an image consisting of a plurality of steps. The control unit requests the image processing unit to process the image, and in response to the request from the control unit, the process is temporarily stopped in the middle of a series of operations in the image processing unit. The operation status is output.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows an image processing system according to the present invention. A plurality of image processing devices (nodes) 1 are provided.
, a, 1b, 1c, ... Are connected via a communication line 2 such as a LAN.

The image processing devices 1a, ... Are devices for processing and accumulating images and other information therein.

The image processing apparatus 1a has a central control processing unit (CPU) therein, as shown in FIG. The CPU 3 controls the entire image processing apparatus 1a. In this image processing apparatus 1a, the CPU 3 is connected with a first interface 4, a main memory 5, a page memory 6, a display memory 7, an image processing unit 8, a second interface 9 and a communication interface 10 via a system bus 11. ing.

The system bus 11 transfers information between the above-mentioned devices and the CPU 3. A keyboard 12, a mouse 13, and a magnetic disk device 14 are connected to the first interface 4. The first interface 4 mainly controls the input / output of devices related to the man-machine interface. The first interface 4 sends information input from the keyboard 12, mouse 13 and magnetic disk device 14 to the system bus 11.

The information sent from the system bus 11 is sent to each keyboard 12, mouse 13 and magnetic disk device 14. Further, the main memory 5 stores programs and data for controlling the image processing apparatus 1, data used temporarily, and the like. Page memory 6
The data such as the image handled by the image processing apparatus 1 is temporarily stored in. A display device 15 such as a CRT is connected to the display memory 7, and data to be displayed on the display device 15 is stored therein.

The image processing section 8 is a section for performing image processing such as encoding, decoding, linear density conversion, enlargement and reduction of image data handled by the page memory 6 and the display memory 7. An optical disk driver 17, a scanner 18, and a printer 19 that drive the optical disk 16 are connected to the second interface 9. The second interface 9 mainly controls input / output of image information.

The communication interface 10 controls transmission / reception of communication signals to / from the communication line 2. The main memory 5, page memory 6, display memory 7, image processing unit 8, second interface 9, and communication interface 10 that handle images are connected via an image bus 20. The image bus 20 transmits the image information for each layer replacement. Since image information is usually a huge amount, the system buses 11 are mixed by transmitting and receiving on the system bus 11. Therefore, the image bus 20 is provided in order to efficiently transmit the image information. The image bus 20 has a bit width wider than that of the system bus 11 for strengthening.

The other image processing apparatuses 1b, ... Have the same structure as the image processing apparatus 1a.

Thereafter, "a" is added to each part of the image processing apparatus 1a such as an optical disk 16a, and "b" is added to each part of the image processing apparatus 1b such as an optical disk 16b. Optical disk 16c in each part
As such, "c" is added for the description.

The image processing apparatuses 1a, ... Use, for example, a multi-user, multi-task operating system (OS) manufactured by AT & T, for example, as an operating system. For the communication line 2, for example, one made by Xerox Co., Ltd. is used.
It uses the CP / IP protocol.

In the image processing apparatuses 1a, ..., The program is used in the server client system. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram (a schematic configuration diagram of software) of a program in the server client system of the image processing apparatuses 1a, ....

That is, the image processing apparatuses 1a, 1b, 1
Since c, ... Use a multi-user, multi-task OS, a plurality of programs are used at the same time. In the image processing apparatuses 1a, ..., Image processing servers 21a, 21b, 21c, ..., Application clients (applications) 22a, 22b, 22c ,.
, And the programs of the communication means 23a, 23b, 23c, ... Are operating.

The above applications 22a, 22b, 2
A plurality of 2c, ... May be used for each image processing apparatus 1a ,.

The image processing servers 21a, ... And the applications 22a, ... Send and receive signal information to and from the communication means 23a ,. In addition, the image processing server 21a,
... and applications 22a, ... send and receive signals to and from each other via communication means 23a ,.

The image processing server 21a (21b, ...)
This program specializes in image processing. This image processing server 21a (21b, ...)
Processing is performed by requesting image processing from 2a, 22b, .... The operation of this image processing server 21a is as follows.
The image bus 20 in the image processing apparatus 1a shown in FIG.
The activities involved in are central.

The image processing servers 21a, ... Have job execution units 29a ,.

As an operation example of the image processing server 21a, an image is read by the scanner 18a and this image information is sent to the page memory 6a. Another operation is to read the image information stored in the optical disc 16a and send it to the printer 19a.

As another example, the image information stored in the page memory 6a is sent to the printer 19a, and as another example, the image is read by the scanner 18a and the image information is sent to the optical disk 16a.

As another example, the image information stored in the page memory 6a is sent to the optical disc 16a. As another example, the image information stored in the optical disk 16a is read and sent to the page memory 6a.

The above is an example of the operation of the image processing server 21a. A plurality of applications 22a may operate. An example of this application 22a is to receive input from the keyboard 12a and mouse 13a, read a specific image stored in the optical disc 16a to the image processing server 21a, and output it to the printer 19a.

Further, the communication means 23a communicates with the communication means 23b, 23c, ... Of the other image processing apparatuses 1b, 1c, ... Connected on the communication line 2 via the communication line 2. The communication unit 23a communicates information with the image processing server 21a and the application 22a in the image processing apparatus 1a, and between the image processing apparatus 1a and other image processing apparatuses 1b, 1c ,. It also communicates information.

Further, the application 22a transfers the image information stored in the optical disk 16b to the printer 19
When the image processing server 21a is requested to output to c, the image processing server 21a recognizes that the optical disk 16b and the printer 19c are in the other image processing apparatuses 1b and 1c.

As a result, the image processing server 21a sends an image output request to the image processing server 21b and the image processing server 21c. As a result, the image information stored in the optical disc 16b is sent to the image processing server 21c via the image processing server 21b, the communication means 23b, the communication line 2 and the communication means 23c. Then, the image processing server 21
It is output from the printer 19c by c.

Next, the application 22a shown in FIG.
An example of (22b, ...) Is shown. This application 2
Reference numeral 2a (22b, ...) Is a program for performing image processing, and requests the image processing server 21a (21b, ...) For an operation (job) required for specific image input processing and the like.

This application 22a (22b,
..) is shown in FIG.

In the example of this program, the scanner 18a
This is an example in which the image read in 1 and the image read from the optical disc 16a are combined and the combined image is output from the printer 19a. The application 22a is activated by the operator operating the keyboard 12 and the mouse 13.

For the application 22a, the operator selects data as a source of image input. Here, the operator can read the data of the scanner 18a and the optical disc 1
One page of image data having a specific file in 6a is selected (ST1).

Next, the application 22a needs two jobs, a job which is an image input operation from the scanner 18a to the page memory 6a and a job which is an image input operation from the optical disk 16a to the page memory 6a. Here, the application 22a requests the two jobs to the image processing server 21a, which is a program that specializes in image processing.

First, the application 22a requests the scanner 18a to send an image to the page memory 6a (ST2). At the same time, the application 22a
Requests to send the image from the optical disk 16a to the page memory 6a (ST3). Since the OS of the image processing apparatus 1 is a multi-user multi-task OS, the job of reading an image from the scanner 18a to the page memory 6a and the job of reading an image from the optical disk 16a to the page memory 6a are performed in parallel. Will be done.

Therefore, step 2 and step 3 are illustrated in parallel in the flowchart of FIG. In this job, the image is read at different addresses in the page memory 6a.

Next, the application 22a knows from the image processing server 21a that the reading of the image is completed by both the scanner 18a and the optical disk 16a. Then, the application 22a synthesizes the read image next. In this image composition, an area for storing the image after the image composition is taken in the page memory 6a.

Then, the image read by the scanner 18a and the image read by the optical disk 16a are combined,
A new image is created on the page memory 6a. The operation of this application 22a is step 4.

Next, the application 22a outputs the combined image to the printer 19a. In this processing, the application 22a is a job and the image processing server 2
Ask 1a. The output from the printer 19a is processed by the image processing server 21a as a job (ST
5). After the image is output from the printer 19a, the end is confirmed (ST6), and when the process is required again, the process returns to step 1.

As described above, in the image processing apparatus 1a,
When the necessary application 22a is activated, the image processing server 21a is activated in the application 22a.
Is used. As in this example, three jobs are requested to the image processing server 21a in one application 22a.

As described above, in the server client system,
The applications 22a (22a, ...) And the image processing server 21a exist on a plurality of image processing apparatuses (nodes) 1a, ... Connected to each other by a communication line 2 such as a LAN.
Therefore, when information is transmitted and received via the communication means 23a, both the information transmission side and the information reception side
First, it is necessary to specify the target image processing apparatuses 1b, ....

A node I for identifying a specific node from a plurality of nodes 1a, ...
D (identification number) node-id is defined. If the node ID is given, the node is uniquely specified. For example, in FIG. 1, the image processing apparatuses 1a and 1b connected by the communication line 2,
1c, ... Are node IDs (1
00, 200, 300, ...).

User ID (identification number) user-id
(10, 20, 30, ...), Group ID (identification number)
The group-id (1000, 2000, 3000, ...) Is given to a user (operator) who uses the image forming apparatus (1a, ...).

When the user uses the image forming apparatus (1a, ...), the user I
D, tells the group ID.

The user IDs and group IDs of the applications (22a, ...) Are not predetermined when designing the application, but the user IDs and group IDs of the users who have executed the application are the user IDs of the application, It becomes the group ID.

For example, users “a”, “b”, and “b” are assigned to two groups “A” and “B”, respectively.
It is assumed that there are three users, “c” and users “x”, “y”, and “z”. (A: a, b, c,
B: x, y, z) Then, if the user "a" executes the search application and the user "b" executes the editing application, the search application is the user ID and group of the user "a". The editing application has a group ID of “A” and the user I of the user “b”
It has a group ID of D and a group "A".

As described above, the two applications having the same group ID are set at the time of executing the applications so that they can work together. That is, the permissions are set so that the users can work together.

Further, permissions are set for other group IDs so as not to cooperate with each other.

[0057]

[Table 1] In Table 1, the applications 22a, ... Are image processing servers 2
1A, ... Is an example of a command issued when requesting processing.

Commands relating to start and end of use of the image processing service, commands relating to image transfer request,
There are commands related to image input / output requests, commands related to job execution status inquiry, commands related to job control, and commands related to job completion notification control.

Each command requires a job control information parameter job-para and a job return parameter job-resp as common parameters.

The job control information parameter is a node ID node-id as request source information for specifying the request source,
Group ID group-id, user ID user-id, application ID (identification number) apl-id, job control mode,
Notification mode, job ID job-id, job control flag job-
It is a structured parameter group that contains cntl and other information.

The job return parameter is the job ID
(Identification number) job-id, job status job-status, substatus sub-status, page memory ID (identification number) pm-key, number of input images, number of output images, and other structured information It is a parameter group.

The job status includes job acceptance completion, source device reservation completion, destination device reservation completion, page memory reservation completion, page memory release completion, input completion, output completion, job completion, and the like.

The sub status includes a request to another node, waiting, executing, waiting for interruption, interruption, interruption (error), wait for cancellation, interruption, restart waiting, and the like.

The applications 22a, ... Which are going to use the image processing service, use the start request command Cmd-
The Start is issued to the image processing server 21a, ....

At this time, the applications 22a, ...
Image processing server 21 trying to receive image processing service
A node I that identifies its own node 1a, ...
D, a group ID for specifying a group of applications 22a, ... Which perform processing in cooperation when performing cooperative processing, and a user ID for specifying the type of work are given as job control information parameters.

The applications 22a, ... Set these parameters on the main memory 5a, ... And issue a usage start request command to the image processing servers 21a ,. Upon receiving the use start request command, the image processing servers 21a, ... Receive the above parameters from the main memory 5a ,.

The image processing servers 21a, ...
(Identification number) apl-id, job return parameter, and status are returned to the applications 22a, ....

The applications 22a, ... Which are going to end the use of the image processing service issue a use end request command Cmd-End to the image processing servers 21a ,. The use end request command has a job control information parameter and a job return parameter as parameters.

The applications 22a, ... Are node I
D, group ID, user ID and image processing server 2
Designate the application ID obtained as a response to the use start request command from 1a, ....

As a general rule, the commands relating to the image input / output request are the job control information parameter and source (input side)
Information, destination (output side) information, and job return parameters.

Scanner Mode Setting Command Cmd-Scn-Mode
Has a job control information parameter, a scanner parameter scn-para, and a job return parameter as parameters. The scanner parameter is a structured parameter group relating to the scanners 18a, ...
Device node ID (identification information) of a, ... dev-node-id
, Device type dev-type, device ID dev-id, device name dev-name, scanner mode scn-mode, and the like.

The scanner mode is a set of an identifier of a mode to be set and a value to be set, and the resolution, the grayscale value, and the document size are selected as the mode and the respective values are designated. How many kinds of modes are specified depends on the number of settings
Specify with.

The scanner input command Cmd-ScnPm has a job control information parameter, a scanner parameter, a page memory parameter pm-para, and a job return parameter as parameters.

The scanner parameter has the same meaning as the scanner mode setting. The page memory parameter is a structured parameter group for the page memory 6a, ..., The page memory ID pm-key, the image size pm-wid.
Specify th, pm-height, etc.

Printer mode setting command Cmd-PrnMode
Has a job control information parameter, a printer parameter prn-para, and a job return parameter as parameters.

The printer parameter prn-para is a structured parameter group relating to the printers 19a, ..., And the device node ID, device type, device ID, device name, printer mode of the printers 19a ,.
Includes prn-mode etc.

The printer mode is a set of the identifier of the mode to be set and the value to be set, and the paper size and the number of copies are selected as the mode and the respective values are designated. How many kinds of modes are specified is specified by the set count.

The printer output command Cmd-Pm-Prn has job control information parameters, page memory parameters, printer parameters, and job return parameters as parameters.

The page memory parameter is a structured parameter group relating to the page memories 6a, ...
Page memory I containing the image to be printed out
D, image size, etc. are designated.

The page memory parameter has the same meaning as the printer mode setting.

The optical disc search command Cmd-Odd-Pm is used to retrieve the images retrieved from the optical discs 16a ,.
Store in a, ... It has a job control information parameter, an optical disc parameter odd-para, a page memory parameter, and a job return parameter as parameters.

The optical disc parameter odd-para is a structured parameter group relating to the optical discs 16a, ..., The device node IDs of the optical discs 16a ,. Search record number including record-no etc.

The page memory parameter is the optical disc 1
The page memories 6a, ... For storing the images obtained as a result of the search of 6a ,.

The optical disk registration command Cmd-Pm-Odd registers the images on the page memories 6a, ... On the optical disks 16a ,. Job control information parameter, page memory parameter, optical disc parameter,
It has a job return parameter.

Page memory copy transfer command Cmd-Pm-Pm
Transfers the designated partial image of the image on the page memory 6a, ... Specified by the job control information parameter to the separately designated page memory 6a ,. As a parameter, a job control information parameter, two types of first,
It has a second page memory parameter pm-para1, pm-para2 and a job return parameter.

The first page memory parameter specifies the page memory ID and the image size for the copy source page memories 6a, ....

The second page memory parameter specifies the page memory ID and the image size for the copy destination page memories 6a, ....

The partial image can be enlarged or reduced depending on the relationship between the image sizes of both.

Job status inquiry command Cmd-Job-Status
Is the image processing server 21.
This is a command for inquiring the execution status of the requested job for a, ....

As parameters, there are a job control information parameter and a job return parameter.

The specified job ID, job status, sub status, etc. are returned in the job return parameter.

The execution status indicates that the job status includes job acceptance completion, source device reservation completion, destination device reservation completion, page memory reservation completion, page memory release completion, input completion, output completion, job completion, and sub status. , Waiting, Running, Waiting for Suspension, Suspending, Suspending (Error), Waiting for Abort, Suspending, Waiting for Resume, Complete.

Job number inquiry command Cmd-Job-Number
Is an application 22a, ... Is the image processing server 21
This is a command for inquiring a list of requested job numbers for a, ....

As parameters, there are a job control information parameter and a job number job-number.

For the job number, the application 22a, which issued this command, ... Is the image processing server 21a,
A list of job numbers (job IDs) of the requested jobs is returned.

The command relating to job control has a job control information parameter and a job return parameter as common parameters.

Job suspension request command Cmd-Job-Suspend
Is a command that requests the image processing servers 21a, ... To suspend the job of the specified job ID. Job ID to be interrupted by the job control information parameter
Is specified.

The status of the processing result of the job suspension request command is returned to the job return parameter.

Job cancellation request command Cmd-Job-Cancel
Is a command that requests the image processing servers 21a, ... To cancel the job with the specified job ID. Job ID that should be canceled with the job control information parameter
Is specified.

The status of the processing result of the job cancel request command is returned to the job return parameter.

Job restart request command Cmd-Job-Restart
Is a command that requests the image processing server 21a, ... To restart the job of the specified job ID. Job ID that should be restarted with the job control information parameter
Is specified.

The status of the processing result of the job restart request command is returned to the job return parameter.

The procedure for image transfer by the application 22a (22b, ...) Is as follows. 1 Register the application in the image processing server 21a. 2 Request image transfer to the image processing server 21a.

The requested contents are held in the image processing server 21a as a job. 3 When the image transfer performed by the application 22a is completed, the application 22a requests the registered image processing server 21a to delete the registration.

FIG. 4 shows application management tables 24a, ... Provided respectively on the main memories 5a, ... For managing registered applications.

Application management table 24a (2
4b, ...) is a storage area 30 in which an application ID is stored, a storage area 31 in which a requester ID is stored,
It is composed of a storage area 32 in which a permission as a read / write permission condition of another application 22a, ... With respect to the secured page memory 5a is stored.

The storage area 31 is composed of a storage area 33 for storing a node ID, a storage area 34 for storing a group ID, and a storage area 35 for storing a user ID.

The storage area 32 stores a read / write permission condition (permission) for all applications 22a, ..., A read / write permission condition for applications 22a ,. A storage area 37 in which a permission) is stored, a storage area 38 in which a read / write permission condition (permission) for an application having the same group ID is stored, a read / write for an application 22a having the same user ID, ... The storage area 39 stores the permission conditions (permissions).

For example, if the r bit is on, it indicates write permission, and if the w bit is on, it indicates read permission.

The storage area 32 includes the storage areas 36, ...
39 is a 1-byte structure with 2 bits each.

FIG. 5 shows the application management table 24.
It is a flow chart which shows registration of data into a (24b, ...).

That is, the application 22a sends an application registration command to the image processing server 21a. At this time, the node ID, group ID, and user ID of the user are stored in the job control information parameter as arguments of the command.

The registration of the application in the image processing server 21a starts by receiving this usage start request command (ST11). The arguments of the usage start request command are the job control information parameter and the job return parameter. After reception, an application ID as a new identifier is generated (ST12).

The application ID is the request source ID
(Node ID, group ID, user ID) obtained by calculation, those obtained by adding time from a timer (not shown) to them, or those given in the order of registration well.

The point is that only one application 22a and the image processing server 21a have their application IDs.
You just need to know.

The generated application ID is stored in the storage area 30 of the application management table 24a on the main memory 5a, and the node ID, the group ID and the user ID as request source IDs are stored in the storage areas 33 and 3, respectively.
4 and 35, and similarly, the permission of the job control information parameter is registered in the storage areas 36, 37, 38 and 39 (ST13).

Thereafter, the image processing server 21a returns the application ID to the application 22a (ST
14).

Further, in FIG. 6, contrary to the registration, the application 22a sends an end request command to the image processing server 21a when the application 22a ends.
4 is a flow of deleting the information of the own application 22a from 4a.

The deletion of the application in the image processing server 21a starts upon receiving this end request command (ST15). The argument of the end request command is a job control information parameter in which the requester ID of the own application and the application ID obtained by registration are stored. The image processing server 21a confirms that the request source ID and the application ID obtained from the application exist in the application management table 24a (ST16).

If it exists, the image processing server 21a
Deletes the application request source ID and each permission from the application management table 24a (S
T17). If it does not exist, the image processing server 21a
Returns an error to the requesting application 22a (ST18).

Further, the application 22a registers a job in the image processing server 21a by an input / output request,
Do business. For example, when the image is read by the scanner 18a and transferred to the page memory 6a, the job is registered in the image processing server 21a by transmitting the scanner input command to the image processing server 21a, and the job is registered as an identifier for identifying the job. A job ID is issued.

FIG. 7 shows job management tables 25a, ... Provided in the main memories 5a ,.

Job management table 25a (25b, ...)
Is a storage area 40 in which a job ID is stored, a storage area 41 in which an application ID is stored, a request source ID
, A storage area 43 in which the status is stored, a storage area 44 in which a node ID indicating the execution of a job in another node and a job ID are stored, and a storage area 45 in which a source parameter is stored, Storage area 46 for storing destination parameters, storage area 47 for storing permissions, completion notification source no
Storage area 48 where tice-from is stored, completion notification destination no
It is composed of a storage area 49 in which the tice-to is stored.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for registering a job of the image processing server 21a, ... Having received a job execution request.

The applications 22a, ... Set the request source ID and application ID in the job control information parameter for requesting the job. The requester ID is the one when the application was registered.
D is obtained by registration. Image processing server 21
The registration process of a, ... Receives a job execution request from the applications 22a ,.

The received application 22a, ...
It is checked whether or not the request source ID from the application and the application ID are registered in the same row of the application management table 24a, ... (Step 22). If the application 22a is not registered, the error that the application 22a is unregistered in step 23,
Return to ...

The registered application 22a,
If it is a request from ..., it is judged whether or not the job is possible within its own node 1a, ... (step 24), and another node 1a,
If the job is to be executed by ..., the job is requested to the image processing servers 21a, ... of the appropriate nodes 1a, ..., and the job ID issued by the image processing server 21a, ... is obtained (S
T25).

Whether or not the job can be executed within the own node 1a, ... Is determined by the second argument of the input / output command (source device (eg, page memory 6a, ... Optical disk 16a, ... Image data such as scanner 18a ,. Transfer source) designation parameter) and a third argument (destination device (for example, page memory 6a, ... Optical disc 16a, ... Image data transfer destination such as printer 19a, ...) Designation parameter). The determination rule is in order of priority: 1) The designated device executes the job in the nodes 1a, ... Of the page memories 6a ,.

2) Input / output device (scanner 18a, ...
The job is executed by the nodes 1a, ... With the printers 19a ,.

3) If both are input / output devices, or both are page memories 6a, ..., It is executed by the destination node 1a ,.

It is something.

For example, the page memory 6 of another node 1b
When outputting the image of b to the printer 19c of the own node 1c, the image processing server 21b of the node 1b having the page memory 6b is requested to execute the job. The argument of the command at this time is the same as the received content.

However, the application ID of the job control information parameter is deleted, the permission is a copy of the permission of the application management table 24a, ... And the image of the request source as shown in FIG. 9 as the fifth argument is the job management information. The node ID and job ID of the processing server 21a are stored and notified to the requested image processing server 21b.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of processing when the image processing server 21a receives a job request from another image processing server 21b, ....

That is, the request source ID of the application 22a, ..., Which has requested the job from the job control information parameter of the first argument in step 31, the permission, the source device designation parameter of the second argument, the destination designation parameter of the third argument, The node ID of the request source and the job management table 2 from the job management information of the fifth argument
The job IDs of 5a, ... Are obtained (ST31).

Next, it is judged from the source device designation parameter and the destination device designation parameter whether the job can be executed in the own node 1a (ST32).
When the device cannot be found because the device cannot be found, an error is returned to the requesting image processing server 21b, ... (S
T33).

The image processing server 21 that received this error
.. returns an error to the applications 22b.
If the job can be executed, a new job ID is issued (ST34), the job management table 25b, ... Is registered, and the job execution unit 29b ,.
T35). Finally, the job ID is returned to the requesting image processing server 21a (ST36).

The applications 22a, ... Can request a job by immediate return. For this reason, the application 22a, ... Does not know the status such as the end of the job unless inquiring about the current status of the own job. In order to inquire about the job status and use commands for controlling the job, the job management table 25a,
It is necessary to obtain the job ID of ... A job to be controlled is designated by this job ID.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart for the application 22a, ... To obtain the job ID. The application 22a, ... Is sent to the image processing server 21a ,.
Inquire about the job ID of the job requested by a, ....
The image processing servers 21a, ... Acquire the request source ID and application ID stored in the job status inquiry command received from the request destination (ST41).

The image processing servers 21a, ... Check whether or not the received request source ID and application ID are registered in the same row of the application management tables 24a ,. If not registered, an error is returned to the applications 22a, .... If registered, job management table 2 with application ID
5a, ... Are searched to obtain the job ID. This job ID is enumerated and stored in the job number, and the application 22a,
Return to ...

It is possible to inquire of the image processing server about the status of the job identified by the job ID obtained in this way, which allows the job to be executed, waiting, suspended, suspended, suspended, resumed. It can be seen that the status is either waiting or ending. The applications 22a, ... Are their requester ID / application I
D. The job ID is set in the job control information parameter and the job status inquiry command is sent to the image processing server 21a ,.
Send to. The application 22a, ... Is the job progress status of the job being executed from the job status of the job return parameter of the second argument of the command, the status of the job from the sub status (request of another node, waiting, executing, waiting for interruption, interrupting, error) Interruption, waiting for cancellation, waiting for resumption).

12 and 13 show the image processing server 21a,
Is a flowchart for receiving the job status inquiry command and returning the status to the applications 22a ,.

That is, the image processing servers 21a, ... Obtain the request source ID, application ID, and job ID of the requested application 22a, ... From the job return parameter of the command argument (ST51). It is checked whether the request source ID and the application ID exist in the same row of the application management table 24a, ... (S
T52). If it does not exist, an error is returned to the applications 22a, ... (ST53).

If it exists, it is checked whether or not the application ID retrieved by the job management table 25a, ... With the received job ID is equal to the received application ID (ST54). If they are not equal, an error is returned to the applications 22a, ... (ST55). If they are equal, the status obtained by searching the job management table 25a, ... With the job ID is checked (ST56), and the other node 1
If a job is requested to a, ..., Other node 1a,
The image processing servers 21a, ... Are inquired about the situation (ST57).

In the inquiry, the application ID is deleted from the job control information parameter obtained in step 51 as the first argument of the command to the image processing server of the nodes 1a, ... Designated by the node ID of the storage area 44. Job ID obtained from the storage area 44 in the job ID
Is set, and the job statuses of the other nodes 1a, ... Are stored in the second argument.

The job status thus obtained is stored in the job return parameter obtained at step 51, and the status is returned to the application 22a, ... Which has requested the status. If it is a job in its own node 1a, ..., The status of the job management table 25a ,.

Image processing server 21 of other nodes 1a, ...
When a job status inquiry is received from a ... (ST
61), the received image processing server 21a, ... Of the node 1a of the image processing server 21a ... Is searched from the job management table 25a of ..., and it is confirmed that the node ID of the request source is correct (ST62), and the status is requested. Original image processing server 2
Return to 1a, ... (ST63). If the requester's node ID is incorrect, an error is returned to the requesting application 22.
Return to a ... (ST64).

The page memory 6a secured by the application 22a, ... Requesting the image processing server 21a ,.
... have page memory management tables 26a, ... As shown in FIG. 14, in which permissions as read / write permission conditions for other applications 22a ,.

Page memory management table 26a (26
b, ...) is a storage area 51 in which a page memory ID is stored, a storage area 52 in which an address is stored, a node I
The storage area 53 stores D, the storage area 54 stores a job ID, the storage area 55 stores a requester ID, and the storage area 56 stores a permission.

The storage area 55, as shown in FIG.
Storage areas 55a and 55b for respectively storing a node ID, a group ID, and a user ID as request source IDs,
It is composed of 55c.

The storage area 56, as shown in FIG.
Lead for all applications 22a, ...
A storage area 56a in which a write permission condition is stored, a storage area 5 in which a read / write permission condition for the application 22a having the same node ID, ... Is stored.
6b, a storage area 56c for storing read / write permission conditions for applications having the same group ID, and an application 22 having the same user ID
It is composed of a storage area 56d in which a read / write permission condition for a, ... Is stored.

For example, as shown in FIG. 17, if the r bit is on, read permission is given to the page memories 6a, ..., And if the w bit is on, write permission is given to the page memories 6a ,.

The storage area 56 includes the storage areas 56a,
56d has a 1-byte structure with 2 bits each.

The image data is stored in the page memory 6a (6b,
...) is not used, but one portion of the page memory 6a is divided so that a plurality of image data can be handled. The applications 22a, ... Acquire and use the required size of memory from the page memory 6a. Label the memory when you acquire it. The page memory ID is
It is registered in the page memory management table 26a, ... Corresponding to the address of the page memory 6a actually acquired. The page memory 6a secured with a specific page memory ID can be specified by the page memory ID instead of its address by other applications 22a, ....

When the job secures the page memory 6a, the permissions of the job management table 25a are copied to the page memory management table 26a. Thereafter, access to the page memory 6a is managed by the page memory management table 26a. The stage specified by the page memory ID of this page memory management table 26a is
It is deleted by releasing the page memory 6a regardless of whether the job is completed.

Next, the job control command will be described.

Job interruption request command: When the application 22a, ... Suspends the job of the job ID obtained by the job number inquiry command, the application 22a ,.
Is requested to the image processing servers 21a, ... Using the job control information parameter storing the parameter as an argument.

18 and 19 show the image processing server 21a,
Is a flowchart for interrupting the job.

That is, a job interruption request command is received from the applications 22a, ... Within the own node 1a, .. and the request source ID, application ID, and job ID are obtained from the job control information parameters of the command (ST
71). It is checked whether the received application IDs of the applications 22a, ... And the requester ID are in the same row of the application management tables 24a ,.
2) If it does not exist, an error is returned to the requested application 22a, ... (ST73).

If it exists, it is checked whether the received job ID exists in the job management table 25a, ... (ST7
4) If not present, request application 22
An error is returned to a, ... (ST75). If the job ID exists, it is determined whether the job of the job ID is a job requested to another node 1a, ...
If the status is "request to another node", the process proceeds to step 77 to request the node 1a, which is recorded in the node ID, to suspend the job. If the status is not "request to another node", step 7
Go to 8.

When it is determined in step 76 that the image processing server 21a of the other node 1a, ... Is requested, the application ID is blanked from the job control information parameter obtained in step 71 as an argument of the command, and the job is further processed. A job control information parameter in which the job ID at the request destination from the storage area 44 is stored in the ID is prepared and the request is transmitted (ST77). Other node 1 in step 76
If the request is not for a, ..., Job management table 2
The statuses of the received job IDs of 5a, ... Are put in a waiting state for interruption, and an interruption instruction is transmitted to the job executing sections 29a ,.

Image processing server 21 of other nodes 1a, ...
The image processing servers 21a, ..., Which have received the request from a, ... (ST81), search the job management table 25a, ... With the received job ID (ST82), and the node ID is the requesting image processing server 21a ,. If it is equal to ..., A suspend command is transmitted to the job execution units 29a, ... Waiting for the status to be suspended (ST83). If they are not equal, the error is sent back to the requested application 22a, ... (ST8).
4).

Job cancel request command: When the application 22a, ... Cancels the job having the job ID obtained by the job number inquiry command, the application 22a ,.
Is requested to the image processing servers 21a, ... Using the job control information parameter storing the parameter as an argument.

20 and 21 show the image processing server 21a,
Is a flowchart for canceling the job.

That is, a job cancel request command is received from the application 22a, ... Within the own node 1a, .. (ST91), and from the job control information of that command,
Obtain the requester ID, application ID, and job ID. It is checked whether the received application IDs of the applications 22a, ... And the requester IDs exist in the same row of the application management tables 24a ,.
2) If it does not exist, an error is returned to the requested application 22a, ... (ST93).

If it exists, it is checked whether the received job ID exists in the job management table 25a, ... (ST9
4) If not present, request application 22
An error is returned to a, ... (ST95). If the job ID exists, it is determined whether the job of the job ID is a job requested to another node 1a, ....
If the status is "request to another node", the node 1 recorded in the node ID is checked (ST96).
Request a to cancel the job (ST97).

That is, when it is determined that the image processing server 21a, ... Of the other node 1a, ... Is requested, the application ID is blanked from the job control information parameter obtained in step 91 as a command argument, and the job ID is further set. Job ID at the request destination from storage area 44
Prepare a job control information parameter that stores the and send the request. When it is not requested to another node in step 96, the status of the received job ID in the job management table 25a, ...
A cancel instruction is transmitted to a, ... (ST98).

Image processing server 21 of other nodes 1a, ...
The image processing servers 21a, ..., Which have received the request from a, ... (ST101), search the job management table 25a ,.
If D is equal to the requesting image processing server 21a, ...
A cancel instruction is transmitted to the job execution units 29a, ... Waiting for the status to be canceled (ST103). If they are not the same, an error is returned to the request destination application 22a, ... (ST104) Job restart request command: application 22a ,.
When resuming the job with the job ID obtained by the job number inquiry command, the command is sent to the image processing servers 21a, ... Using the job control information parameter storing the application ID of the own application 22a ,. Request to restart.

22 and 23 show the image processing server 21a,
Is a flowchart for restarting the job.

That is, the job restart request command is received from the applications 22a, ... Within the own node 1a, .. (ST111), and the request source ID, application ID, and job ID are obtained from the job control information job control information parameter of the command. .. Application received 2
It is checked whether the application IDs 2a, ... And the requester IDs exist in the same row of the application management tables 24a, .. (ST112), and if they do not exist, an error is returned to the requested application 22a ,.

If it exists, it is checked whether the received job ID exists in the job management table 25a, ... (ST1
14) If it does not exist, the application 22 is sent to the request destination
An error is returned to a, ... (ST115). If the job ID exists, it is determined whether the job of the job ID is a job requested to another node 1a, ...
If the status is "request to another node", the node 1 recorded in the node ID is checked (ST116).
.. is requested to restart the job (ST117).

That is, when it is determined that the image processing server 21a of the other node 1a ... Is requested, the application ID is blanked from the job control information parameter obtained in step 111 as an argument of the command, and the job ID is further set. Job I at the request destination from storage area 44
Prepare the job control information parameter storing D and send the request. If it is not requested by another node in step 116, the status of the received job ID in the job management table 25a, ... Is put in a waiting state for resuming, and a resuming instruction is transmitted to the job executing units 29a ,.

Image processing server 21 of other nodes 1a, ...
a, ... The image processing server 21a ...
121), the job management table 2 with the received job ID
5a, ... Are searched (ST122), and if the node ID is equal to the requesting image processing server 21a ,. If they are not equal, the error is returned to the application 22a, ... Of the request destination (ST1).
24) Next, a specific example will be described with reference to the configuration diagram shown in FIG.

That is, the application 22a1 is an application for transferring the document from the scanner 18a of the node 1a to the page memory 6a in order to output the document. First, the application 22a1 is registered in the image processing server 21a. In registration, the identifier of the application 22a1 is stored in the job control information parameter and transmitted to the image processing server 21a. The image processing server 21a1 performs application registration processing (see FIG. 5).

Accordingly, the request source ID of the application 22a1 is node ID = 100, group ID = 10.
00 and user ID = 40, the application management table 24a stores "100", "1000", "4" in the storage areas 33, 34, and 35 as shown in FIG.
"0" is stored.

The permission in this example is that page memory 6a (own application 22a1) is used for applications having the same group ID (1000 in this example).
Application 2 that allows read (r) secured in step 1) or has the same user ID (40 in this example)
2a, ... to the page memory 6a (own application 22
Read / write (r, secured by a1)
w) is allowed, and nothing is allowed for other applications.

The image processing server 21a generates the application ID "11" in its own node 1a, and sends the request source I
It is registered in the storage area 30 of the application management table 24a in association with D. This application ID is returned to the application 22a1.

Registered application 22a1
Uses the scanner input command to the image processing server 21a to read the image of the scanner 18a into the page memory 6a. At this time, the application 22a1 stores the application ID in the job control information parameter of the first argument of the command, turns on the immediate return bit, specifies the scanner 18a in the own node 1a as the source device specification parameter of the second argument, and Of the page memories 6a, the page memory with the page memory ID of 1 is designated and transmitted as the destination parameter designating parameter of three arguments.

Upon receiving the scanner input command, the image processing server 21a searches the application management table 24a and confirms that the application ID, node ID, group ID and user ID are in the same row. In this example, since the confirmation is successful, a job ID as a job identifier is issued in the node 1a. Scanner 1 in this example
The job ID of the image transfer job from the page memory 8a to the page memory 6a is "10".

After that, by checking the second argument and the third argument of the command, it can be seen that this job is a job that can be performed in the own node 1a because both are devices of the own node 1a. If the job can be executed within the own node 1a, it is registered in the job management table 25a. At this time, the permission from the storage area 32 of the application management table 24a is copied to the permission of the job management table 25a, and the application ID, request source ID, source parameter, and destination parameter are copied from the argument data of the command. Waiting is set in the status.

After the registration in the job management table 25a, the job execution unit 29a is instructed to execute the job and the job ID is returned to the application 22a.

The job executing section 29a reserves the memory of the page memory 6a having the page memory ID "1", registers the page memory ID and the secured memory address of the page memory 6 in the page memory management table 26a, and The request source ID / permission of the job being executed is copied from the job management table 25a and registered in the page memory management table 26a.

When it is desired to suspend this job, the job suspension request command is used. Application 22a
1 stores the request source ID, the application ID, and the job ID in the job control information parameter of the first argument of the job suspension request command, and sends them to the image processing server 21a.

The image processing server 21a, after receiving the command,
It is confirmed that the received application ID and the requester ID are in the same row of the application management table 24a, and the job management table 25a is searched by the job ID. Since the status of the retrieved job ID is not “execute on another node”, the job management table 25
The status of “a” is set to the suspension wait state, and the job execution unit 29a is instructed to suspend the job. The job execution unit 29a suspends the job and sets the status to suspended.

The same applies to the case of restarting a suspended job, and the job stop request command is used to stop the job.

It is assumed that the application 22a2 can obtain the requester ID of the application 22a1 by some method. At this time, the application ID obtained by registering the application 22a1 in the image processing server 21a is different from the application ID obtained by the application 22a1.

Therefore, even if the application 22a
The image processing server 21a distinguishes the application and returns an error to the application 22a2 even if the job suspension is requested by the above method in order to suspend the job 1 (job ID = 11).

Now, in the application 22b, the page memory ID on the page memory 6a of the other node 1a is "1".
The image of the application ID in the memory of the own node 1b
For output to the printer 19b. The application 22b is the image processing server 21 of the own node 1b.
b, node ID = 200 as a requester ID, group I
D = 1000 and user ID = 60 are registered, and the application ID (50 in this example) is obtained.

In this case, the first argument of the command is the application ID of the application 22b and the request source I.
The image whose page memory ID of the page memory 6a of the node 1a is "1" is designated as the second argument, and the third argument is
The printer 19b of the own node 1b is designated as an argument.

The image processing server 21b checks the application ID and request source ID and generates a new job ID (see FIG. 8). Other node 1 as source device
Since the page memory 6a of a is specified, the job is requested to the image processing server 21a of the node 1a having the page memory 6a.

The command argument is the application 22b.
Use as received from. The difference is that the application ID is deleted from the job control information parameter, the application ID is not communicated to the other node 1a, the permission of the application management table 24b is copied to the permission of the job control information parameter, and the fifth is the job management information. The argument is provided.

The fifth argument is the request source node ID and the request source job ID. In this example, the node ID is "20.
The job ID is “0” and the job ID is “2”. The job ID issued by the image processing server 21a in response to this request is stored in the job ID of the job return information of the fourth argument and returned. In this example, it is "11".

When the request is made to the image processing server 21a of the other node 1a, the job is registered in the job management table 25b. That is, the job ID issued by the image processing server 21b, the request source ID, the application ID, the source parameter, and the destination parameter received from the application 22b, and the image processing server 21.
The job ID (11 in this example) received from a is registered in the status, and "running in another node" is registered in the status.

After this registration, the job ID (2 in this example) issued by the image processing server 21b in the own node 1b is returned to the application 22b.

The image processing server 21a receives the page memory 6a requested by the image processing server 21b of the other node 1b.
The process when the image transfer from the printer to the printer 19b is received is described in steps 31 to 36 of FIG.

After receiving the command, it is judged from the second and third arguments whether the job is possible within the own node 1b. A new job ID (11 in this example) if possible within its own node 1b
To issue. After issuing the job ID, the job ID is registered in the job management table 25b in step 35.

In this registration, the image processing server 21b leaves the application ID blank because it is not in the received job control information parameter, and copies the requester ID / permission from the job control information parameter of the first argument.
Copy the source parameter from the second argument, the destination parameter from the third argument, node ID, job I
D is the node ID of the job management information of the fifth argument, job I
Copy from D. After registration, the job execution unit 29b is instructed to execute the job, and in step 36, the job ID (11 in this example) is returned to the image processing server 21b.

The job executing section 29b is connected to the page memory 6a.
The permission information of the page memory 6a is obtained from the page memory management table 26a of the page memory 6a secured with the page memory ID of "1". This permission is copied from the permission from the application management table 24a, and read permission is given to the application having the same group ID (1000 in this example) of the request source of the page memory management table 26a.

The job executing unit 29b determines that the group ID of the request source ID registered corresponding to the job ID "2" in the job management table 25b is the page memory management table 26.
Since it is equal to the group ID of a, the page memory 6a at the address of the page memory management table 26a can be read.

In the case of this page memory 6a, if the user IDs are the same even if the group IDs are not the same, permission is given to not only read but also write.

Next, an example of the job of the image processing server 21a will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

FIG. 25 is an example of a job for reading an image from the scanner 18a and storing it in the page memory 6a.

First, when the application 22a requests a job, the process is accepted (ST131). Scanner 1
It is confirmed whether 8a can be used or not (ST132).
Next, it is confirmed and secured whether the page memory 6a can be used (ST133).

Next, the scanner 18a is operated to read the image and transfer it to the page memory 6a (ST134).
Next, the application 22a is the image processing server 21a.
To know the end of image transfer from (ST135). Next, the secured scanner 18a is released (ST136). Next, the image processing server 21a notifies that the processing is completed. Then, the job is ended (ST137).

FIG. 26 shows an example of a job for outputting the image stored on the optical disk 16a to the printer 19a.

First, when the application 22a requests a job, the process is accepted (ST141). Confirm whether the optical disk 16a can be used and secure it (ST14
2). Next, it is confirmed whether the printer 19a can be used and secured (ST143). Next, it is confirmed and secured whether the page memory 6a can be used (ST144).

Then, the optical disc 16a is operated to read out the image and transfer it to the page memory 6a (ST14).
5). Next, the application 22a knows the end of image transfer from the optical disk 16a to the page memory 6a from the image processing server 21a (ST146). Next, the printer 19a is operated to read the image in the page memory 6a and transfer it to the printer 19a (ST147). next,
The application 22a knows the end of image transfer from the page memory 6a to the printer 19a from the image processing server 21a (ST148).

Next, the reserved page memory 6a is released (ST149) and the printer 19a is released (ST1).
50), the optical disc 16a is released (ST151).
Next, the image processing server 21a notifies that the processing is completed. Then, the job is ended (ST152).

FIG. 27 shows an example of a job for outputting the image stored in the page memory 6a to the printer 19a.

First, when the application 22a requests a job, the process is accepted (ST161). Next, it is confirmed whether the printer 19a can be used or not (ST16).
2). Next, check if the page memory 6a can be used,
It is secured (ST163).

Next, the printer 19a is operated to read the image in the page memory 6a and transfer it to the printer 19a (ST164). Next, the application 22a knows the end of image transfer from the page memory 6a to the printer 19a from the image processing server 21a (ST165).

Next, the secured page memory 6a is released (ST166) and the printer 19a is released (ST.
167). Next, the image processing server 21a notifies that the processing is completed. Then, the job is terminated (ST
168).

FIG. 28 shows an example of a job for reading an image with the scanner 18a and storing it on the optical disk 16a.

First, when the application 22a requests a job, the process is accepted (ST171). Scanner 1
It is confirmed whether 8a can be used or not (ST172).
Next, it is confirmed whether the optical disk 16a can be used or not (ST173). Next, it is confirmed whether the page memory 6a can be used and secured (ST174).

Next, the scanner 18a is operated to read the image and transfer it to the page memory 6a (ST175).
Next, the application 22a is the image processing server 21a.
The end of image transfer from the scanner 18a to the page memory 6a is known (ST176). Next, the optical disc 16a
To read the image in the page memory 6a and transfer it to the printer 19a (ST177). Next, the application 22a knows the end of image transfer from the page memory 6a to the optical disc 16a from the image processing server 21a (ST178).

Next, the secured page memory 6a is released (ST179), and the optical disk 16a is released (ST.
180) and releases the scanner 18a (ST181).
Next, the image processing server 21a notifies that the processing is completed. Then, the job is ended (ST182).

FIG. 29 shows an example of a job for storing the image stored in the page memory 6a on the optical disc 16a.

First, when the application 22a requests a job, the process is accepted (ST191). Next, it is confirmed whether the optical disc 16a can be used or not (ST1).
92). Next, it is confirmed and secured whether the page memory 6a can be used (ST193).

Next, the optical disc 16a is operated to read the image in the page memory 6a and transfer it to the printer 19a (ST194). Next, the application 22a knows the end of image transfer from the page memory 6a to the optical disk 16a from the image processing server 21a (ST195).

Next, the secured page memory 6a is released (ST196), and the optical disk 16a is released (S
T197). Next, the image processing server 21a notifies that the processing is completed. Then, the job is terminated (S
T198).

FIG. 30 shows an example of a job for outputting the image stored in the optical disk 16a to the page memory 6a.

First, when the application 22a requests a job, the process is accepted (ST201). Confirm whether the optical disk 16a can be used and secure it (ST20
2). Next, check if the page memory 6a can be used,
It is secured (ST203).

Next, the optical disc 16a is operated to read the image and transfer it to the page memory 6a (ST20).
4). Next, the application 22a knows the end of image transfer from the optical disk 16a to the page memory 6a from the image processing server 21a (ST205).

Next, the secured optical disk 16a is released (ST206). Next, the image processing server 21a notifies that the processing is completed. Then, the job is ended (ST207).

FIG. 31 is an example of a job for transferring the image stored in the page memory 6a to the display memory 7a.

First, when the application 22a requests a job, the process is accepted (ST211). Whether the display memory 7a can be used is confirmed and secured (ST212).
Next, it is confirmed whether the page memory 6a can be used and secured (ST213).

Next, the image in the page memory 6a is read out,
The data is transferred to the display memory 7a (ST214). Next, the application 22a knows the end of image transfer from the page memory 6a to the display memory 7a from the image processing server 21a (ST215).

Next, the image processing server 21a notifies that the processing has been completed. Then, the job is terminated (S
T216).

FIG. 32 shows an example of a job for transferring the image stored in the display memory 7a to the page memory 6a.

First, when the application 22a requests a job, the process is accepted (ST221). Whether the display memory 7a can be used is confirmed and secured (ST222).
Next, it is confirmed and secured whether the page memory 6a can be used (ST223).

Next, the image in the display memory 7a is read out and transferred to the page memory 6a (ST224). Next, the application 22a knows the end of image transfer from the display memory 7a to the page memory 6a from the image processing server 21a (ST225).

Next, the image processing server 21a notifies that the processing has been completed. Then, the job is terminated (S
T226).

Next, the application 22a (22b,
..) is called by the image processing server 21a (22b, ...) With reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the application 22a sets parameters, application ID, node ID, group ID, process ID and the like in the main memory 5a (ST231). Next, the application 22a calls the image processing server 21a (ST232). Next, the application 22a receives a notification regarding the requested job from the image processing server 21a (ST233). Here, the application 22a confirms the command indicating the end (ST234).

Then, upon receiving the end command, the application 22a ends the process. Next, if it is not finished, the application 22a confirms whether or not to stop the program (ST235). When the application 22a attempts to cancel the program, the job cancel request command to cancel is issued to the image processing server 21a.
To (ST236). Next, the application 22a
Receives a return signal corresponding to the job cancellation request command (ST237). If the application 22a is not stopped in the previous step 235, it is confirmed whether the application 22a is going to perform other processing (ST238).

If the application 22a is going to perform another process, the process program for that operation is executed (ST239). Here, for example, the image editing program or the debug program is executed. Then, after the execution processing is completed, and when other processing is not called in step 238, the application 22a sends a job restart request command instructing the restart of the job to the image processing server 21a (ST24.
0).

Next, FIG. 34 shows a part of the job control information parameters sent from the application 22a to the image processing server 21a. The job control information parameter includes request source information, a job control mode, and a notification mode in addition to the command.

The request source information includes a request source node number that stores a node ID, a request source group number that stores a group ID, a request source user number that stores a user ID, and an application. ID
Has an application number that is the part that stores

Further, the third bit of the job control mode is turned on when the one-step execution is performed, and turned off when the one-step execution is not performed. This one-step execution is an operation in which the image processing servers 21a, ... Inquire of the applications 22a, ... Whether or not to stop and restart each operation in the job when the job is executed.

Next, FIG. 35 shows a part of the job return parameters sent from the image processing servers 21a, ... To the applications 22a ,. In this job return parameter, in addition to the command, the job number, job status,
Sub status, page memory ID, number of input images,
Contains the number of output images.

The job status contains the current status of the job. As the status of this job, there are eight items shown in FIG. 36: job acceptance completion, source device reservation completion, destination device reservation completion, page memory reservation completion, page memory release completion, input completion, output completion, job completion. Goes in.

Further, the sub status contains the current status of the job. As the sub-status, nine items shown in FIG. 37, that is, request to another node, waiting, executing, suspending wait, suspending, suspending (error), waiting for stop, suspending, restart wait are entered.

Next, in the page memory ID, the key of the area of the page memories 6a, ... Used is entered. Then, the number of input images includes the number of pages of the input image. Also,
The number of output images includes the number of pages of the output image.

The notification mode of FIG. 34 has a 4-bit structure as shown in FIG. Whether each of the bits is on or off determines the timing of inquiring the application 22a, ... During job execution.

The first bit is the image processing server 21a,
Indicates that the inquiry is made only when the job is accepted. The second bit indicates that the image processing servers 21a, ... Make an inquiry by securing an input / output device. The third bit indicates that the image processing servers 21a, ... Make an inquiry each time the steps shown in FIGS. 25 to 32 are performed. The fourth bit indicates that the inquiry is made when all the jobs are completed.

Therefore, when the third bit of the job control mode of FIG. 34 is ON, the image processing servers 21a, ... In response to the respective bits of the notification mode of FIG. 34, the applications 22a ,. Ask to restart the job execution.

If the third bit of the job control mode in FIG. 34 is off, one-step execution is not performed.

Next, FIG. 3 shows the signal contents and operations of the application 22a (22b, ...) And the image processing server 21a (21b, ...) When this one-step execution is performed.
This will be described using 9. This is the application 22a
Is a case of requesting a specific job from the image processing server 21a. For example, if the contents of the optical disk 16a are printed by the printer 1
This is the case when outputting at 9a.

In FIG. 39, one-step execution is performed,
This is at the completion of all operations in which the 4th bit of the notification mode is ON. At this time, the application 22a requests the image processing server 21a for processing using the job information parameter. On the other hand, the image processing server 21a sends a job number notification using the job return parameter in order to notify the application 22a of the acceptance.
The job return parameters are the job number, the job status of job acceptance completion, and the sub status of waiting.

Next, the application 22a issues a request for executing the job. Then, the image processing server 21a uses the application 22a after the end of the job.
To the end using the job return parameter.
The job return parameters are a job number, a job status of ending, and a sub status of ending.

Next, the case where the application 22a is executed in one step and the fourth bit of the notification mode in the job return parameter is ON will be described. At this time, the application 22a transmits a signal in step 232 shown in FIG. 33, and receives a signal from the image processing server 21a in step 233. Further, at this time, the image processing server 21a stops at each step of the flowcharts shown in FIG. 25 to FIG. 32, notifies the application 22a of the operation stop each time, and notifies the application 2
It waits for the job restart request command from 2a. Transmission and reception of signals at this time will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the application 22a requests a job from the image processing server 21a. On the other hand, the image processing server 21a sends a job number notification using a job return parameter in which the job number, the job status indicates that the job has been accepted, and the sub-status indicates that the job has been accepted in order to notify the application 22a of the acceptance. Next, the application 22a issues a request to execute the job.

Then, when one step of the flow charts shown in FIGS. 25 to 32 is completed, the image processing server 21a sends it to the application 22a by using the job return parameter indicating that the processing is stopped. A job number, a job status according to the situation, and a sub status according to the state are added to the job return parameter.

Then, the application 22a has the configuration shown in FIG.
The restart signal is sent as shown in step 240 shown in FIG.
As described above, the image processing server 21a is configured by
A signal is sent to the application 22a at each step of the flowchart shown in FIG.
Send a job restart request command to restart the job.
Then, the image processing server 21a returns to the application 22a by using a job return parameter indicating that the job is completed.

Next, the case where the application 22a calls another process in step 239 of FIG. 33 will be described.

For example, when an image is called from the optical disc 16a, edited, and output to the printer 19a, the application 22a sends the image to the image processing server 2.
For 1a, a job for reading an image from the optical disc 16a and outputting the image to the printer 19a is selected. in this case,
Third job control mode in the job control information parameter
The bit is turned on, one-step execution is shown, the fourth bit in the notification mode is turned on, and the completion of all operations is shown. Then, the job is executed using the job control information parameter.

That is, as shown in FIG. 40, a signal in the middle of return and a restart is transmitted and received between the application 22a and the image processing server 21a.

Then, when the image is stored in the page memory 6a, the application 22a executes step 239 so as to call another process in step 238 shown in FIG. Here, the image editing program (built in the main memory 5a) shown in FIG. 41 is called. The timing when this image editing is called depends on the image processing server 21.
The application 22a confirms and executes the job status and substatus in the job return parameter sent from a.

Then, when the editing of the image is completed, FIG.
In step 240, the restart command is sent to the image processing server 21a. Then, the process is continued, and the process ends.

As shown in the flow chart of FIG. 41, the image editing program executes a display screen setting process (ST25
1), end confirmation processing (ST252), image reading processing (S
T253), read device setting process (ST254), read destination address (page memory address) setting process (ST2)
55), image processing server calling process (ST256), signal reception process from image processing server (ST257), image output confirmation process (ST258), output destination device setting process (S).
T259), page memory address setting process (ST26
0), image processing server calling process (ST262), signal reception process from image processing server (ST263), image composition confirmation process (ST264), composition source / composition destination page memory address setting process (ST265), composition process (ST2).
66), confirmation processing of image enlargement / reduction processing (ST267),
Before / after page memory address setting process (ST2
68) and enlargement / reduction processing (ST269).

Next, debugging of the node 1a (1b, ...) Will be described.

Debugging is performed when a program is developed using this node 1a or when the operation is confirmed while using this node 1a. At this time, by setting the debug mode, the value of each memory, the parameter of each device, and other arguments and values are displayed on the display device 15a.

That is, the debug mode is set, and the application according to the job control information parameter is executed.
At this time, the third bit of the job control mode in the job control information parameter is turned on, one-step execution is shown, the fourth bit of the notification mode is turned on, and the completion of all operations is shown.

Then, the job of the image processing server 21a returns to the application 22a step by step, and the debug program (built in the main memory 5a) is called at step 239 of the application 22a. An example of this debug program is shown in FIG. Each value is display device 1
After being displayed in 5a, the application 22a returns to step 240 and the steps of each processing job are executed. As a result, debugging can be performed without adding a new program device to the image processing server 21a.

As shown in FIG. 42, the debug program has a parameter setting process (ST271), a display image saving process (ST272), and a display content selection process (ST27).
3), display processing (ST274), display image restoration processing (S
T275). [Collaboration Processing] An embodiment in which a plurality of applications 22a, ... Collaborate and collectively execute a series of image processing while transferring image data is shown in the configuration diagram of FIG. 1 and FIGS. This will be described using a flowchart.

With respect to the contents of the cooperative processing described here, the image obtained as a result of the processing by the application 22b running on the second node 1b is further processed by the application 22c running on the third node 1c. This is an example of the case.

For example, the application 22b is running on the second node 1b, retrieves an image from the optical disc 16b, cuts out a predetermined position, and performs enlargement processing to transfer the obtained image to the third node 1c. . It is assumed that the application 22c is operating in the third node 1c and the image transferred from the application 22b is added with a title and a date and is printed out to the printer 19c.

The image transfer is executed by the image processing server 21b in accordance with the instruction given by the application in advance. [First Application (22b)] First, the application 22b issues a use start request command of the image processing service to the image processing server 21b (ST2).
81). The usage start request command requires a job control information parameter as an argument. The job control information parameter is structured data including a request source node ID, a request source group ID, and a request source user ID, and is set in the main memory 5b by the application 22b.
It is referred to by the image processing server 21b.

Upon receiving the command (ST301), the image processing server 21b determines the type of command (ST.
302), when it is confirmed that the command is a use start request command, the application 22b refers to the request source node ID, the request source group ID, and the request source user ID in the job control information parameter set in the main memory 5b, On the other hand, an application identifier (application ID) is assigned by the above-mentioned means (ST3
03), and notifies this to the application 22b (S
T304).

The application 22b uses the notified application ID as a basis for the subsequent image processing server 21.
It is used as an identifier for authenticating the application 22b itself when issuing various commands to b.

As described above, the application 22b starts using the image processing service (ST351).

Next, the application 22b issues an optical disc search command to the image processing server 21b to retrieve an image from the optical disc 16b. The optical disc search command requires a job control information parameter and an optical disc designation parameter as parameters.

The job control information parameter includes a request source node ID, a request source group ID, and a request source user I required to authenticate the image processing server 21b of the job request source.
D, set application ID. The optical disc designation parameter is structured data including a device node ID, a device type, a device ID, and a device name that designates the optical disc 16b to be an image search target.

Upon receiving the command (ST301), the image processing server 21b determines the type of command (ST.
302), when recognizing that it is an optical disk search command, the job of this optical disk search command is registered as a new job in the job management table 25b (ST
305), and job execution is started (ST306).

The application 22b inquires of the image processing server 21b about the status of the job (S
(T285), when the job for the optical disk search command is completed, the page memory ID and the image size in which the image obtained as a result of the search exists are acquired. [Setting of job completion notification destination] Next, application 2
2b indicates that when the image enlargement processing job to be requested to the image processing server 21b is completed,
Since it is necessary to transfer the image data obtained as a result of the job to the application 22c (ST282), the application 22c of the image transfer destination is registered as the "job completion notification destination".

For this purpose the application 22b
Indicates to the image processing server 21b the application 22c of the image transfer destination, that is, the node ID, group ID, and user ID required to specify the application of the job completion notification destination, in the "completion notification destination of job control information parameter". Is set in advance (ST283).

Next, after the "completion notification destination" is set in advance, the application 22b copies the page memory to the image processing server 21b in order to perform the image cutout enlargement processing on the image obtained by the optical disc search. A transfer command is issued (ST284). The page memory copy transfer command requires specification of the job control information parameter, the first page memory information of the image transfer source, and the second page memory information of the image transfer destination as parameters.

The job control information parameter includes a request source node ID, a request source group ID, and a request source user I required to authenticate the job request source to the image processing server 21b.
Set D.

In the first page memory information of the image transfer source, the page memory ID in which the image obtained as a result of the optical disk search and the image cutout area are set, and in the second page memory information of the image transfer destination. , A page memory for the image size after the enlargement processing is secured, and the page memory I
Set D.

In addition, the job control flag in the job control information parameter is "notify other nodes of job completion /
There is a bit that specifies "do not". The application 22b sets this bit to "notify other nodes of job completion".

Upon receiving the command (ST301), the image processing server 21b determines the type of command (ST3).
02), recognizes that it is a page memory copy transfer command, and registers this job for image cropping and enlargement in the job management table 25b as a new job (ST30).
7).

At the same time, the image processing server 21b sends a "job completion notification to other node" of the job control flag in the job control information parameter set in the main memory 5b by the application 22b before issuing the page memory copy transfer command. If the “Yes / No” bit is set and “Notify job completion to other node” is set, the application of the job completion notification destination on the main memory 5b is referred to and the job completion notification destination is set to the job management table. It is registered in the storage area 49 in 25b.

In this state, the image processing server 21b notifies the application 22b that the command has been received, and starts the page memory copy transfer command, that is, the image cutout enlargement process (ST308).

As described above, the first application 22b
The job requested by is executed (ST352).

The application 22b inquires of the image processing server 21b about the status of the job at any time while proceeding with other processing (ST285), and responds that the job (in this case, image retrieval and job completion notification to other nodes) is completed. When (ST286) is obtained, the whole process ends (ST353). [Second application (22c)] On the other hand, the application 22c also issues a use start request command of the image processing service to the image processing server 21c, similarly to the application 22b (ST291). The usage start request command requires a job control information parameter as an argument. The job control information parameter is the requesting node I
It is structured data including D, request source group ID, and request source user ID, and is set in the main memory 5c by the application 22c.

Upon receiving the command (ST301), the image processing server 21c determines the type of command (ST).
302), when it is confirmed that the command is a use start request command, the request source node ID and the request source group I in the job control information parameter that is an argument of the use start request command.
D, an application identifier (application ID) is assigned by the above-mentioned means based on the request source user ID (ST303), and this is notified to the application 22c (ST304).

The application 22c uses the notified application ID when it issues various commands to the image processing server 21c thereafter.
2c is used as an identifier for authenticating itself.

As described above, the second application 22c
Starts using the image processing service (ST354).

Next, the application 22c needs to start after the image editing and printout job to be requested of the image processing server 21c is transferred with the image data from another application ( ST292), image transfer source application 2
2b is registered in advance as a "job completion notification source". For this purpose, the application 22c sends a job completion notification source to the image processing server 21c, that is,
The node ID, group ID, and user ID required to specify the image transfer source application 22b are set in the main memory 5c (ST293).

Next, the application 22c issues a printer output command to the image processing server 21c to print out the image (ST294). The printer output command requires a job control information parameter and a printer parameter as arguments. The job control information parameter is structured data including a job control flag, and is provided with a bit for specifying "receive / not receive job completion from another node".

The application 22c sets this bit to "notify other nodes of job completion". The printer parameter is used to specify a printer to print out, and the device node ID, device type, device ID,
It is structured data including a device name and is set in the main memory 5c by the application 22c.

Upon receiving the command (ST301), the image processing server 21c determines the type of command (ST3).
02), when the printer output command is recognized, the newly requested printer output command is registered in the job management table 25c (ST309).

At the same time, the image processing server 21c notifies the job completion flag to the other node of the job control flag in the job control information parameter set in the main memory 5c by the application 22c before issuing the printer output command. If it is set to "notify other nodes of job completion" by checking the "no" bit, the job management table 25c is referenced by referring to the job completion notification source without the job control information parameter, that is, the image transfer source application. The completion notification source is registered in the storage area 49 of FIG.

In this state, the image processing server 21c notifies the application 22c that the command has been received, and waits for the end of image transfer (reception) (ST31).
0).

As described above, the second application 22c
The job requested by is put in a waiting state (ST35
5).

When image transfer between the nodes 1b and 1c by the image processing servers 21b and 21c described later is completed, the image processing server 21c starts execution of the job requested by the application 22c (ST356).

The application 22c inquires of the image processing server 21c about the status of the job at any time while advancing other processing (ST295), and responds that the job (in this case, job completion notification from another node and print output) is completed. When (ST296) is obtained, the whole process ends (ST357). [Inter-node image transfer] The movement of the image processing servers 21b and 21c in the above-described image transfer between the nodes 1b and 1c will be further described with reference to FIGS. 48 and 49.

When the image processing server 21b finishes executing the inter-page-memory image transfer job (image cut-out enlargement processing) registered in the job management table 25b, it is also recorded in the storage area 49 of the job management table 25b. By referring to the job completion notification destination “1c” and knowing that the application 22c is specified, the following processing is executed in cooperation with the image processing server 21c of the node 1c of the completion notification destination.

The image processing server 21b registers an image transfer "waiting" job with the image processing server 21c of the completion notification destination node 1c registered as the job completion notification destination in the storage area 49 of the job management table 25b. Inquire whether there is any (ST361).

The state of the job management table 25b at this time is shown in FIG. The application ID in the storage area 41 is the job request source application identifier issued by the image processing server 21b, and the job ID in the storage area 40 is the job identifier accepted by the image processing server 21b. The status of the storage area 43 is the job status,
The completion notification destination “1c” of the storage area 49 is the designation of the application 22c of the job completion notification destination, and the completion notification source “−” of the storage area 48 is the designation of the application of the job completion notification source.

If the power of the node c is not turned on or the image processing server 21c is not operating for some reason, a communication error occurs and the application 2
2b is notified of a communication error from the image processing server 21b.

As a result of referring to the job management table 25c (shown in FIG. 49 (b)) by the image processing server 21c, if the job completion notification source is not registered, the image processing server 21b is set to "wait" for image transfer. The application 22b is notified of the “wait” image transfer from the image processing server 21b.

As a result of the image processing server 21c referring to the job management table 25c, if the job completion notification source is specified, the image processing server 21b is notified of the "presence" of the job waiting for image transfer (ST362).

In this case, the image processing server 2 for both transmission and reception
1b and 21c have received the corresponding image transfer requests, the image processing server 21b instructs the image processing server 21c to specify the size of the page memory 6c of the image to be transferred to the image processing server 21c. Is requested (ST363).

The image processing server 21c uses the image processing server 2 as the end of the page memory reservation and the secured page memory ID.
1b is notified (ST364). Image processing server 21b
Specifies the page memory ID of the image transfer source and the page memory ID of the image transfer destination and starts execution of the image transfer (ST
365).

When the image transfer is normally completed until the end of the image data (ST366), the job of the application 22b is completed for the first time (ST367), and the job of the application 22c is started (ST368).

These processes mean that the image processing server 22b executes a job and image transfer without involvement of the application 22b. [Change of job completion notification destination] As described above, the applications 22a, ...
When making a request to a, ..., “Job completion notification” to notify the completion of the job and transfer the image when the job is completed can be designated in advance.
It is possible to cooperate with each other while transferring image data between a ...

As another example of the cooperative processing by the plurality of applications 22a, ...
The flow of image transfer from the application 22b to the application 22b is changed in the middle so that the application 22c can be inserted between the processing of the application 22a and the processing of the application 22b.
Consider a case where the above process is executed in between. That is, the flow of image transfer is changed from 22a → 22b to 22a → 22c → 2.
This is the case of changing to 2b.

The application 22a issues a job completion notification change request command (Cmd-Notify-Ctrl) in its own node 1a when it is necessary to change the flow of image transfer while the above-mentioned cooperative processing is in progress. Is issued to the image processing server 21a. The job completion notification change request command requires a job control information parameter. The application 22a sets "job completion notification destination" in the job control flag of the job control information parameter, and specifies the job completion notification destination by the node ID, group ID, and user ID.

Upon receiving the command (ST301), the image processing server 21a determines the type of the command (ST).
302), when recognizing that the command is a job completion notification change request command from a normal application (ST31
1), it knows that it is a "completion notice destination" change or a "completion notice source" change (ST312, 313).

When the "completion notification destination" is changed, the image processing server 21a checks whether or not another node is designated (ST31.
4) If the other node is designated, the command is transferred to the image processing servers 21b, ... Of the other node (ST315). If the other node is not designated, the image processing server 21a sets the registered content of the job completion notification destination of the storage area 49 corresponding to the designated job ID of the job management table 25a to the node ID and group I that identify the application 22c.
Change to D, user ID, application ID (S
T316, 317).

When the "completion notification source" is changed, the image processing server 21a checks whether or not another node is designated (ST3
18), if another node is designated, the command is transferred to the image processing server 21b, ... Of the other node (ST319).
If it is not designated as another node, the image processing server 21a
Changes the registration content of the job completion notification source in the storage area 48 corresponding to the designated job ID in the job management table 25a to the node ID, group ID, user ID, and application ID that specify the application (22c) (ST320, 321). ).

The image processing server 21a refers to the job management table 25a every time the job is completed, and confirms whether the job completion notification destination or the job completion notification source in the job management table 25a is specified. Will be notified to new job completion notification destinations and job completion notification sources.

For example, a plurality of applications 22
When a large amount of image data is to be continuously processed in a, ..., the flow of image transfer can be changed or the content of the process to be executed in cooperation can be changed when the process reaches a certain image. It will be possible.

As described above, when an application that handles image data serves as a client and calls an image processing server that performs image processing to perform processing, the image processing server asks the application whether or not to continue after the specific operation. By utilizing this inquiry, information in the device is obtained during this inquiry.

That is, in relation to the system using the server-client method, particularly in an image processing server that performs image processing and an application that uses the image processing server, the image processing server is To the application, the application asks whether to continue processing.
When the inquiry from the image processing server is accepted, the information such as the memory contents in the apparatus is displayed before requesting the restart of the processing.

As a result, debugging can be easily performed during image processing, and information in the apparatus during image processing can be properly grasped.

[0318]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
By dividing the program that processes images from the program that uses the images, an image processing device that can efficiently use the devices in the device and can easily confirm whether each program is operating correctly is provided. Can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a software configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image processing system according to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of an example of the application of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an application management table in FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing registration of data in an application management table shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing deletion of data from the application management table of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a job management table in FIG.

8 is a flowchart showing registration of data in the job management table of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating job management information.

10 is a flowchart showing registration of data in the job management table of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining a job ID inquiry operation.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining a job status inquiry operation from the application of FIG. 1;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining a job status inquiry operation from the image processing server in FIG.

14 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a page memory management table in FIG.

15 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a request source ID in the page memory management table of FIG.

16 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a permission in the page memory management table of FIG.

17 is a diagram showing the contents of the permission shown in FIG.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a job interruption operation in the image processing server in FIG. 1.

19 is a flowchart for explaining a job interruption operation in the image processing server of FIG.

20 is a flowchart for explaining a job interruption operation in the image processing server of FIG.

21 is a flow chart for explaining a job interruption operation in the image processing server of FIG.

22 is a flowchart for explaining a job restart operation in the image processing server of FIG.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart for explaining a job restart operation in the image processing server of FIG.

24 is a diagram showing a specific software configuration example of the image processing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a job in the image processing server in FIG. 24.

26 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a job in the image processing server of FIG.

27 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a job in the image processing server of FIG.

28 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a job in the image processing server in FIG.

29 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a job in the image processing server in FIG.

30 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a job in the image processing server of FIG.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a job in the image processing server in FIG. 24.

32 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a job in the image processing server in FIG. 24.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart for explaining a calling process of the image processing server in the application of FIG. 24.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing a configuration example of job control information parameters from the application of FIG. 24.

FIG. 35 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a job return parameter from the image processing server of FIG. 24.

36 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a job status in the job return parameter of FIG.

FIG. 37 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a sub status in the job return parameter of FIG. 35.

38 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a notification mode in the job control information parameter of FIG. 34.

FIG. 39 is a diagram for explaining the exchange of signals between the application of FIG. 24 and the image processing server when one-step full operation is completed.

FIG. 40 is a diagram for explaining a signal exchange between the application of FIG. 24 and the image processing server at the time of notification for each one-step operation.

FIG. 41 is a flowchart for explaining image editing processing.

FIG. 42 is a flowchart for explaining debug processing.

43 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the application on the image data transmitting side of FIG.

44 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the application on the image data receiving side of FIG.

FIG. 45 is a flowchart for explaining processing of the image processing server in FIG.

FIG. 46 is a flowchart for explaining processing of the image processing server of FIG. 1.

FIG. 47 is a diagram for explaining a signal exchange between the application of FIG. 1 and the image processing server.

48 is a diagram for explaining the exchange of signals between the application of FIG. 1 and the image processing server.

FIG. 49 is a diagram showing an example of storage of the job management table of FIG. 1.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a, 1b, 1c, ... Image processing devices (nodes), 2 ...
Communication lines 5a, 5b, 5c, ... Main memory, 6
a, 6b, 6c, ... Page memory, 7a, 7b, 7
c ... Display memory, 8a, 8b, 8c, ... Image processing unit, 16a, 16b, 16c, ... Optical disk, 18
a, 18b, 18c, ... Scanners, 19a, 19b,
19c, ... Printers, 21a, 21b, 21c ,.
Image processing server, 22a, 22b, 22c, ... Application.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Watanabe 70 Yanagicho, Sachi-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Toshiba Yanagimachi Co., Ltd. (72) Shiro Takagi 70, Yanagicho, Sachi-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Toshiba Yanagimachi, Ltd. Within

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image processing unit for controlling a plurality of image input / output devices and performing a series of operations for processing an image consisting of a plurality of processes by using these devices, and an image processing unit for performing image processing. A requesting control section, and an output means for temporarily stopping the process in the middle of a series of operations in the image processing section in response to a request from the control section and outputting an operation status when the image processing section is executed; An image processing apparatus comprising: 2. An image processing apparatus having a first program for performing image processing by performing an operation consisting of a plurality of steps, and a second program for controlling the first program, wherein the second program is provided. Is provided with instruction means for instructing confirmation of the program in the course of a series of operations in the first program, and when the first program is instructed to confirm the program by the instruction means, An image processing apparatus comprising an output means for outputting a program in a process.