JPH07129487A - Communicating method for host terminal emulator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten communication processing time by performing a communication in parallel with plural host computers which are the same as a communication protocol or different from it by a host terminal emulator. CONSTITUTION:In the first connection information file, the name of a gateway, the address of the gateway, a flag as to whether an automatic log-on is performed or not at the time of a start and the name of a log-on command file where commands to be executed are registered when the automatic log-on at the time of the start is YES are registered. When the automatic log-on setting at the time of starting a gateway 5 is YES, a personal computer 8 decides the execution of the automatic log-on and transmits a connection request to a host computer A via the designated gateway 5 based on the contents of this connection information. Further, when it is confirmed that the connection is normally performed, the personal computer 8 performs the log-on for the host computer by the host command registered in the log-on command file.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication method of a host terminal emulator for accessing a plurality of host computers connected to a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, generally, one host computer and a plurality of terminals are connected via a network for communication. Recently, multiple host computers may be connected to the network. Terminals conventionally used in this type of communication system include a terminal whose communication partner is specified and a terminal which can select an arbitrary host computer.

Most of terminals capable of selecting an arbitrary computer use a personal computer, a workstation, or the like. For example, a workstation is equipped with a plurality of types of communication programs, and a user designates the communication program to be executed so that the host Communication with the computer is possible. Computer software that performs such communication program communication or a general-purpose computer that executes the software is called an emulator.
However, since an emulator may refer to a device having another function, it is referred to as a host terminal emulator in this specification for the sake of clear definition.

When communicating with the host computer, the user activates the host terminal emulator and then reads the logon information registered in advance in the terminal and automatically logs on using this information. The automatic logon is to send a connection request to the host computer so that the host computer can communicate with its own terminal. For this purpose, the user inputs a command for performing automatic logon from the keyboard or operates a specific key. In response to this instruction, the host terminal emulator repeatedly sends a connection request message to the host computer until connection is permitted. When the connection permission message is returned from the host computer, a session, that is, a logical relationship mutually agreed between the two communication devices is established between the host computer and the host terminal emulator, and communication is started.

[0005]

In order to establish a session with the host computer, the conventional host terminal emulator must start the host terminal emulator once and then perform an automatic logon operation as described above.
Therefore, in order to access a plurality of host computers, it is necessary to complete communication with one host computer and then automatically log on to another host to establish a session. Therefore, the communication method of the conventional host terminal emulator still has room for improvement in that the total processing time increases as the number of accesses increases.

Therefore, the present invention can reduce the overall processing time when the host terminal emulator accesses a plurality of host computers having the same or different communication protocols or when a plurality of sessions are established for a single host computer. It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication method of a host terminal emulator which can be performed.

[0007]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a communication of a host terminal emulator for accessing a plurality of host computers having the same or different communication protocols connected to a network. In the method, a computer having a multitasking function is used as a host terminal emulator, and file information having communication addresses of a plurality of host computers to be accessed to the auxiliary storage device of the computer and automatic logon related information is registered in advance, The personal computer may automatically log on to the plurality of host computers continuously using the file information at the time of startup.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a computer having a multitask function, such as a personal computer or a workstation, can perform parallel processing of information processing, and in network communication such as LAN, communication stations use communication addresses. Since communication is performed, communication stations other than the station with which the session has been established do not participate in communication, and by automatically logging on to multiple host computers with the same or different communication protocols, It enables parallel communication processing between the two.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, host computer 1, host computer 2 and host terminal emulator 8 are LANs.
(Local area network) 6 is connected. The host computer 1 uses the communication protocol A, for example. The host computer 1 is connected to the LAN via an external gateway 5 for protocol conversion.
Information will be exchanged with 6 Therefore, the host computer 1 and the protocol conversion gateway 5 are connected by a communication line (or channel) 3. , The host computer 2 uses a communication protocol B different from the communication protocol A. The host computer 2 has a built-in gateway 2a for protocol conversion.

The personal computer 8 functions as a LAN-compatible host terminal emulator and is connected to the LAN 6 by a transceiver cable 7. As the personal computer 8, a computer capable of parallel processing, which is a so-called multitask function, is used. Computers of this type generally display a plurality of window screens for instructing processing contents on a display and switch the processing contents by switching the window screens. The personal computer 8 stores an activation information table for automatic logon in an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk. The situation of this activation information table is well known, but since it is related to the present invention, an example thereof is shown in FIG.

The startup information table has an identification name (title in FIG. 2), parameter information regarding automatic logon (connection information file in FIG. 2), and host communication protocol as a set of data. The parameter information related to automatic logon has a command file that defines a gateway name of a host computer of a communication destination, a communication destination address, and information on whether or not to automatically log on at the time of device startup (see FIG. 2). ). The difference between this embodiment and the conventional example is that when the parameters corresponding to a plurality of host computers having the same or different communication protocols indicate that they log on respectively, automatic logon is continuously applied to the plurality of host computers. That is. It should be noted that conventionally, only one host computer is targeted for automatic logon.

The automatic logon process executed in such a system will be described with reference to FIG. The user uses the keyboard in advance for the CPU of the personal computer 8.
To the host computer to be automatically logged on to and set the parameter in the connection information file to YES (execute).

When the LAN-compatible host terminal emulator (communication program built in the personal computer 8) is started up in the personal computer 8, the personal computer reads the connection information file registered in the start-up information table from the auxiliary storage device ( S1
0).

In the first connection information file (connection information 1), as described above, the gateway name, the gateway address (for example, the address for recognizing the terminal by the TCP / IP protocol), and the automatic logon at startup are performed. The flag of whether or not, the name of the logon command file in which the command to be executed when the automatic logon at startup is YES is registered. In the example of FIG. 2, since the automatic logon setting at startup of the gateway 5 is set to YES, the personal computer 8 determines that the automatic logon is executed (S2
0), based on the contents of this connection information, the specified gateway 5 (IP address 133.190.70.1
The connection request is transmitted to the host computer A via 0). When confirming that the connection is normally made, the personal computer 8 logs on to the host computer by the host command registered in the logon command file (command file 1) (S30 to S80). The single automatic logon process is well known and need not be described in detail. The personal computer 8 also performs the same process for the connection information 2 in the startup information table, and the information registered in the startup information table will be described below. Repeat the above procedure for all.

Through the above processing, the two host computers and the personal computer 8 are connected. Since two processing screens appear on the display screen of the personal computer 8 due to the multitasking function, the user accesses the two computers in parallel by sequentially switching the execution screens with an instruction from the keyboard (or mouse). be able to.

Further, in the communication between the personal computer and the host computer, as is well known, the address of the transmission destination is designated and the information is transmitted, so that the communication of the two host computers does not interfere with each other. Besides, the following example can be implemented.

1) In this embodiment, only automatic logon has been described, but a personal computer can automatically log off from a state where it is accessing a plurality of host computers. In this case, the automatic logoff related information is described in the boot information table for the same items as the automatic logon in the above embodiment, and the automatic logoff is performed for the host computer instructing the boot information table in accordance with the automatic logoff instruction, that is, Disconnect the session.

2) The gateway described in the above embodiment may be gateway software operating on a host computer, or may be a dedicated gateway composed of hardware.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the host terminal emulator communicates in parallel with a plurality of host computers having the same or different communication protocols, the communication processing time is greatly shortened as compared with the case where the host terminals are conventionally serially executed.

[0021]

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of a startup information file.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure executed by a personal computer 8.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2 Host computer 8 Personal computer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A communication method of a host terminal emulator for accessing a plurality of host computers having the same or different communication protocols connected to a network, wherein a computer having a multitasking function is used as the host terminal emulator. File information having communication addresses of a plurality of host computers to be accessed to the auxiliary storage device and information related to automatic logon are registered in advance, and the personal computer uses the file information to cause the plurality of host computers to access the auxiliary computer. A method for communicating with a host terminal emulator, characterized in that continuous automatic logon is performed.