JPH09311836A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor capable of transferring even a large quantity of data in a short time by remarkably improving the communication speed between PC and I/O device. SOLUTION: This processor connects I/O devices such as a printer, a scanner, etc., to a PC mother board 203 functioning with a personal computer to communicate between each of them, receives information from the I/O devices, processes information to output and allows the I/O device to process. In this case, a bus (PCI bus) 203a the PC mother board and a bus (internal local bus) 201e and 202c each I/O device are bus-connected to each other through an extension board for connecting a PCI bus 204.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus in which a system is configured by connecting an I / O device (input / output device) to a bus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, due to the development of fine processing technology, C
The processing speed of the PU has dramatically increased, and the processing speed of a device equipped with a CPU having such a speed is limited by the performance of the system bus. For this reason, one of the high-speed buses that solves this problem is PCI (Perip).
heral Component Interconn
ect) buses include PCI SIG (Sp
provided by the International Interest Group).

However, the bus in the computer and the bus in the I / O device are connected via a connection cable.

[0004]

By the way, according to the above conventional technique, even if a high-speed bus is used in the computer, it is connected to the bus in the I / O device by a connection cable. As a whole, even if the inside of the computer is high speed, the speed will be restricted by the transfer speed of the interface cable to be connected. For this reason, for example, in a scanner or a laser printer that handles image processing data, a conventionally used interface such as SCSI has a large amount of data, so that it takes time to transmit and receive.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and is achieved by connecting a computer and an I / O device without using an interface cable.
An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus that can remarkably improve the communication speed with an I / O device and can transfer a large amount of data in a short time.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a first means is an information processing apparatus for connecting an I / O device to a computer and transmitting and receiving information between the I / O devices. The bus is connected to the bus in each I / O device.

The second means is characterized in that, in the first means, the bus connecting means for connecting the bus in the computer and the bus in each I / O device is a general-purpose bus.

A third means is characterized in that, in the second means, the general-purpose bus is a PCI bus.

A fourth means is the same as the second means, wherein the bus connecting means is a driver / receiver, and the driver / receiver is a driver / receiver.
The controller includes a controller for controlling the receiver, a PCI bus of a computer motherboard, a PCI bridge for connecting an I / O PCI bus, and a connector for connecting the PC motherboard and each I / O. It is characterized by that.

A fifth means is characterized in that, in the first or the second means, the computer comprises a motherboard having a computer function, which is installed in a printer.

A sixth means is characterized in that, in the fifth means, the motherboard is configured to be connectable to a network via a general-purpose communication card.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment applied to a printer as an information processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a printer device 1 according to this embodiment.
The external view of 02 is shown. Printer device 102 of the present embodiment
In addition to having a printer function by itself, the image data read by the scanner 101 is combined with the scanner 101 as shown in FIG.
It is possible to output at 2. In other words, the copy function can be realized by the configurations of the printer device 102 and the scanner 101. Reference numeral 103 denotes a table for mounting the printer device 102 and the scanner 101.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a control system, which is a main part of the printer device according to the present embodiment. In the figure, a printer device 102 controls a printer engine 102a to realize a printer function, and a printer controller board 201 as a control board of a printer module section, and a printer device 102 side to control a scanner 101 to realize a scanner function. A scanner controller board 202 as a control board of the scanner module unit, a PC (personal computer) motherboard 203 for performing various controls for making the printer device 102 multifunctional, and a printer controller board 201.
And a PCI bus connection expansion board 204 for connecting the internal local buses 201e and 202c of the scanner controller board 202 to the PCI bus 203a of the PC motherboard 203.

The printer controller board 201
Is an ASIC 201a for exchanging data with the printer engine 102a and the printer device 10a.
A CPU 201b for controlling the printer function of 2;
A memory 201c and an I / O 201d, an internal local bus 201e composed of a RISC bus, and an expansion board 20 for connecting the internal local bus 201e to a PCI bus described later.
Connector 205 for connecting to the PCI bridge 204c. Although illustration is omitted, it is assumed that an interface such as NIC for connecting to a LAN or a telephone line and an expansion memory such as an HDD are provided as necessary.

The scanner controller board 202 is an A for exchanging data with the scanner 101.
The SIC 202a, the I / O 202b for realizing the scanner function from the printer device 102 side, the internal local bus 202c composed of the RISC bus, and the internal local bus 201c are connected to a PCI bus expansion board 20 described later.
Connector 206 for connecting to the PCI bridge 204c of No. 4 and a connector 206A for connecting the internal local bus of another expansion board (for example, internal local bus 201e) and the internal local bus 202c of the scanner controller board 202. Is equipped with. Although not shown, a CPU, HDD, etc. may be used if necessary.
It is possible to provide an extended memory such as, and at least have the configuration shown in the figure.

The PC motherboard 203 is a general-purpose PCI.
Bus 203a and internal local bus 2 which is a host bus
03b, PCI bus 203a, and internal local bus 20
PCI host bridge 203c connecting to 3b and CPU for host connected to internal local bus 203b
203d, a memory 203e, an HDD 203f and an I / O 203g connected to the PCI bus 203a, and PCI bus slots 210 to 212 which are PCI connectors for connecting other expansion boards to the PCI bus 203a.

The expansion board 204 for PCI bus connection
Can be connected to a PCI interface connector (first connector) 209 connectable to the PCI bus slots 210 to 212 provided on the PC motherboard 203 and the connectors 205 and 206 of the printer controller board 201 and the scanner controller board 202. Driver / receiver for exchanging data between the two connectors (second and third connectors) 207, 208 for the internal local bus interface and the internal local bus side via the connectors 207, 208 Two
04a, a controller 204b for controlling the driver / receiver 204a, an internal local bus and a PCI bus 2
03a and a PCI bridge 204c for connecting to the device 03a.

An example of mounting (that is, a method of expanding the PCI system) using the PCI bus connection expansion board 204 in the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 3, the PC motherboard 20
The connector 209 of the PCI bus connection expansion board 204 is inserted into the PCI bus slot 210 of No. 3, and the PCI bus connection expansion board 204 is connected to the PC motherboard 203. Next, the connector 205 of the printer controller board 201 is inserted into the connector 207 of the PCI bus connection expansion board 204, and the printer controller board 2
01 is connected to the PCI bus connection expansion board 204.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the internal local bus 201 of the printer controller board 201 is
e is connector 205, connector 207, driver / receiver 204a, PCI bridge 204c, connector 2
09, and is connected to the PCI bus 203a of the PC motherboard 203 via the PCI bus slot 210.

Similarly, the scanner controller board 20
The connector 206 of 2 is the expansion board 20 for PCI bus connection
4 and the scanner controller board 202 is connected to the expansion board 204 for PCI bus connection, the internal local bus 202c of the scanner controller board 202 is connected to the expansion board 20 for PCI bus connection.
PCI bus 203 of PC motherboard 203 via 4
a.

It is also possible to connect the expansion board 301 and the PC motherboard 203 by directly inserting the connector 302 of the expansion board 301 into the PCI bus slot 212 as in the conventional case. However, in this case, it goes without saying that a PCI bus conversion LSI is mounted on the expansion board 301.

Alternatively, the expansion board 2 for PCI bus connection
As another example of mounting using 04, as shown in FIG.
0 to the connector 20 of the PCI bus connection expansion board 204
9 and insert the PCI bus connection expansion board 204 into a PC
After connecting to the motherboard 203, the connector 206 of the scanner controller board 202 is inserted into the connector 207 of the PCI bus connecting expansion board 204 to connect the scanner controller board 202 to the PCI bus connecting expansion board 204, and then the printer. The connector 205 of the controller board 201 may be connected to the connector 206A of the scanner controller board 202.

In this case, the scanner controller board 2
The internal local bus 202c of 02 is P
The internal local bus 201e of the printer controller board 201 is connected to the PCI bus 203a of the PC motherboard 203 via the CI bus connection expansion board 204.
Is the internal local bus 2 of the scanner controller board 202 via the connector 205 and the connector 206A.
Scanner controller board 2 after connected to 02c
PCI via the same route as the internal local bus 202c of 02.
It is connected to the bus 203.

That is, the internal local bus 201e and the internal local bus 202c are integrally connected to the PCI bus 203a.

Although the three PCI bus slots 210 to 212 are provided in the PC motherboard 203 in this embodiment, the number is not particularly limited to this. Similarly, the connector (2
07, 208) is not limited to two.

In this embodiment, the printer (printer controller board 201) and the scanner 101 are also provided.
Although the (scanner controller board 202) is connected to the connector via the PCI bus connection expansion board 204, the scanner controller board 202 can be connected to the network 100 via the PCI bus connection expansion board, or as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, a network connection card 400 configured to include an expansion board for PCI bus connection separately.
Connect to network 100 via
PC (personal computer) 41 connected to 00
0 or WS (workstation) 420 can be configured to communicate with the system. The network connection card 400 enables communication with the network 100 side by connecting the connector 401 to the connector 212 on the PC motherboard 203 side.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the connection is made by the printed wiring board (PCB) and the connector, but the flexible printed wiring board and the connector may be used for connection. By doing this, the personal computer (in this case, the motherboard 203)
A bus connection is possible even if the distance between the I / O and the I / O is large, and the degree of freedom of the distance in the system increases.

Further, although the printer and the scanner are exemplified as the I / O device in the above-mentioned embodiment, other examples include a RAM disk, a flash memory disk, a digital video camera and the like. Also, I /
The O device includes a power supply unit (A / C, D / C) of the I / O device itself, a power switch for turning on / off the power supply, and a display unit for displaying the operation of the I / O device. Is desirable.

Among such I / O devices, for example, RA
Since the M disk has no moving parts, it can read and write much faster than the magnetic hard disk. The SCSI interface has been conventionally used between the magnetic hard disk and the personal computer.
Even if the SCSI interface is used for the disk, the high speed of the RAM disk cannot be utilized, but the bus connection as described above can realize a high speed memory system.

Although the PCI bus is illustrated as a general-purpose bus in the above embodiment, an ISA bus or the like may be used instead.

[0033]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, since the bus in the computer and the bus in each I / O device are connected, the computer and each I / O can be operated at high speed. Data can be transferred between them.

According to the second aspect of the invention, since the bus in the computer and the bus in each I / O device are connected to each other using a general-purpose bus, it is possible to realize high-speed data transfer at low cost.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the general-purpose bus is a commercially available, generally used high-speed PCI bus, it can be provided at a low cost, and
It can also open the way for expansion to third parties and enhance extensibility.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the bus connecting means connects the driver / receiver, the controller for controlling the driver / receiver, the PCI bus of the motherboard of the computer, and the PCI bus of the I / O. And a connector for connecting the motherboard of the computer and each I / O,
The same effect as that of the invention according to claim 3 can be obtained.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the computer comprises a motherboard having a computer function mounted in the printer, the computer function provided in a predetermined device is used to communicate with another I / O device. Expandability can be enhanced.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the information processing apparatus can be provided at low cost because it is configured to be connectable to the network via the general-purpose communication card.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a printer device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a control system of a printer device which is a main part of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing an example of attachment using the PCI bus connection expansion board in the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of attachment using the PCI bus connection expansion board in the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a printer device according to another embodiment that enables network connection using a network connection card.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 Scanner 102 Printer Device 201 Printer Controller Board 201e Internal Local Bus 202 Scanner Controller Board 202c Internal Local Bus 203 PC Motherboard 203a PCI Bus 203b Internal Local Bus (Host Bus) 203c PCI Host Bridge 203d Host CPU 204 Expansion for PCI Bus Connection Board 204a driver / receiver 204b controller 204c PCI bridge 205 connector 206, 206A connector 207, 208 connector (second connector) 209 connector (first connector) 210, 211, 212 PCI bus slot (PCI
Connector) 400 network connection card

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. In an information processing apparatus for connecting an I / O device to a computer and transmitting and receiving information between them, the bus in the computer and the bus in each I / O device are connected. A characteristic information processing device. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the bus connecting means for connecting the bus in the computer and the bus in each I / O device is a general-purpose bus. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the general-purpose bus is a PCI bus. 4. The bus connection means comprises a driver / receiver, a controller for controlling the driver / receiver, a PCI bus of a computer motherboard, and an I / O.
A PCI bridge for connecting to the O PCI bus,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a connector that connects the PC motherboard and each of the I / Os. 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computer comprises a motherboard equipped with a printer and having a computer function. 6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the motherboard is configured to be connectable to a network via a general-purpose communication card.