JPH10116242A - Peripheral equipment switching system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically switch a peripheral device which is used when more than one peripheral devices are connected to one serial port. SOLUTION: A computer 10 has a means 11 which sends identification information corresponding uniquely to peripheral devices 14 when the peripheral devices 14 are used, a means 12 which detects an answer from a specified peripheral device, a means 15a which receives the identification information and decides whether the peripheral device 14 is specified, and an answer means 16a which answers to the computer and enables it ot operate when the device is specified, and sends and receives data to and from the peripheral devices. Consequently, the peripheral devices which are connected to one serial port of the computer can automatically be connected without causing any error so that the operator will not be aware of them.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a peripheral device switching system, and more particularly to a system for switching a plurality of peripheral devices connected to one serial port of a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional peripheral device switching method is, for example, in a "peripheral device switching device" of Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 6-51916, when a plurality of peripheral devices are connected to the same port as shown in FIG. Signal judgment circuit 41 between
And a signal switching circuit 42 composed of a signal switching circuit 42, and a signal obtained by pressing a key that is not frequently used on the keyboard 43 singly or in combination is determined by the signal determination circuit 41, and the signal switching circuit 42
The manual method of switching to an arbitrary peripheral device by instructing the user.

[0003]

The above-described conventional peripheral device switching method has a problem that manual labor is required and a disadvantage that a switching error occurs due to manual operation.

An object of the present invention is to provide a peripheral device switching method for automatically switching peripheral devices connected to the same serial port without manual intervention.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a peripheral device switching method includes a computer having an input / output serial port, a plurality of peripheral devices, and a connection between the input / output serial port and the plurality of peripheral devices. Provided is a multi-box that relays the computer and the plurality of peripheral devices, wherein the computer detects a response from the peripheral device and a transmission unit that requests output of information to the peripheral device, and transmits the information to the transmission unit. A detecting means for notifying, and an identifying means for identifying whether the information received by each of the plurality of peripheral devices is an output request to the own peripheral device, and a responding means for responding to the computer when applicable. It is configured to have.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the information transmitted and received between the computer and the peripheral device includes identification information for instructing the operation of the peripheral device, and information after the operation starts. And information to be output to the peripheral device.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the identification information includes a peripheral device name fixed in advance for each peripheral device, an operation start of the peripheral device, And operation contents indicating that the operation is completed or the reception operation is enabled.

Further, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second or third aspect, the identification means of the peripheral device determines whether a peripheral device name of the identification information matches its own peripheral device name. Are identified, and when they match, the operation content of the identification information is notified to the response means, and when the peripheral device name does not match the own peripheral device name, no response is made to the response means.

Further, in the peripheral device switching method according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, third, or fourth aspect, the responding means of the peripheral device starts operation based on the operation content notified from the identification means. In the case of, the own peripheral device is set in an operable state, and identification information including the name of the own peripheral device and an operation content that can be received is transmitted to the computer, and the operation of the own peripheral device is stopped when the notified operation content is completed. It is configured by setting the state.

In a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, third, fourth or fifth aspect, the detecting means of the computer includes a peripheral device name transmitted from the responding means of the peripheral device. And identification information composed of the operation contents capable of receiving operation and notifying the transmitting means.

In a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the peripheral device switching method according to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth aspect, wherein the transmitting means of the computer outputs the peripheral device when the output of the peripheral device is started. Identification information including a device name and an operation start operation content is transmitted to the serial port, and information to be output to the peripheral device when the identification information is notified from the detection means is transmitted to the serial port. When the output of the peripheral device is completed, the identification information including the name of the peripheral device to be terminated and the operation content of the operation termination is transmitted to the serial port.

[0012]

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

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

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a computer 10 that issues an output request to a peripheral device 14, a serial port 13 that inputs and outputs data, a multi-box 17 that is connected to the peripheral device 14, Peripheral devices 14a,
14b, 14c and 14d. In addition,
The computer 10 includes a transmitting unit 11 for outputting data to the peripheral device 14 and a detecting unit 12 for detecting a response from the peripheral device 14. In addition, each peripheral device 1
4a, 14b, 14c, and 14d are identification means 15a, 15b, 15c, and 1 that identify whether the request is an output request to the peripheral device.
5d, and responding means 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d for responding to the output source computer 10 when identified.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of identification information transmitted and received between the computer of the present invention and peripheral devices.

FIG. 3 shows an operation flow on the computer side of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation flow on the peripheral device side of the present invention.

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

As shown in FIG. 1, according to the peripheral device switching method of the present invention, when a peripheral device is used, identification information predetermined in advance for the peripheral device is transmitted from the transmission means 11 to the serial port 13. The transmitted identification information is transmitted to the multi box 17.

The multi-box 17 stores a plurality of peripheral devices 14a, 14b, 1 connected with the transmitted identification information.
4c and 14d at the same time. The identification means 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d of each peripheral device identifies whether the identification information received at the same time designates itself, and if it is designated, the corresponding response means 16a, 16b, 16c or 16c.
d responds to the computer 10 and sets the peripheral device in an operable state, and the unspecified peripheral device does not respond.

The computer 10 detects a response from the designated peripheral device by the detecting means 12 and transmits / receives data after confirming that the designated peripheral device is connected.

When the use of the peripheral device ends, the computer transmits the end identification information from the transmission means 11 to the peripheral device. The identification means of the peripheral device that has received the identification information of the end notifies the end of the response to the response unit, and stops the operation of the peripheral device.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4.

For example, consider a case where an application program of the computer 10 (hereinafter referred to as an AP) outputs to a printer. As shown in FIG. 2, the unique identification information of the peripheral device (printer) 14a is set in advance as the printer A. AP is AP when outputting to peripheral device 14a
Printer A is set in advance in the output environment setting.

When the printer software operating on the computer 10 is activated and print-out is selected, the printer software transmits to the transmission means 11 of the computer 10 identification information (peripheral device name and operation content) indicating the start of operation to the peripheral device 14a. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, "Printer A * START" is set and transmitted to the serial port 13 (21 in FIG. 3). This identification information is transmitted to the peripheral devices 14a, 14b, 14c, 14 via the multi box 17.
d are transmitted simultaneously.

Each peripheral device identifies whether the received identification information is unique to itself or not by an identification means (3 in FIG. 4).
1). In this case, the identification means 15b, 15c, and 15d of the peripheral devices 14b, 14c, and 14d are ignored because they are not specified (32 in FIG. 4), and the identification means 15a of the peripheral device 14a is specified. And notifies the response means 16a.

The response means 16a sets the peripheral device 14a in a reception operable state, and then, as identification information (peripheral device name and operation content) indicating that the peripheral device 14a can receive data to the serial port 13 via the multibox 17, for example, as shown in FIG. As shown, "Printer A * OK" is responded (33 in FIG. 4).

Since only one device responds, no output collision occurs. The computer 10 that has received the response from the response unit 16a confirms that the peripheral device 14a specified by the detection unit 12 is connected (2 in FIG. 3).
2). If there is no response, the printer software ends (23 in FIG. 3).

Next, the detecting means 12 of the computer 10 detects "Printer A * OK" from the responding means 16a and notifies the transmitting means 11 to confirm that the peripheral device 14a is connected. Peripheral device 1
4a transmits and receives data (24 in FIG. 3 and 3 in FIG. 4).
4). When the printout of the printer software is completed, the printer software sends to the transmission means 11 of the computer 10 identification information (peripheral device name and operation content) indicating the end to the peripheral device 14a, for example, as shown in FIG. * END "is set and transmitted to the serial port 13 (25 in FIG. 3).

The peripheral device 14a recognizes the end of its use by the identification means 15a (35 in FIG. 4), stops the operation, and ends. The same operation is performed for other peripheral devices.

[0031]

As described above, the effect of the present invention is as follows.
The point is that a plurality of peripheral devices connected to one serial port of a computer can be automatically connected without error without manual intervention.

The reason is that the computer transmits identification information unique to the peripheral device before using the peripheral device, and a plurality of peripheral devices are provided with an identification means to determine whether or not they are designated.
When specified, it responds to the computer and makes it operable. This is because the computer detects the response, confirms that the specified peripheral device is connected, and performs data transmission / reception.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of identification information transmitted and received between a computer and a peripheral device in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an operation flow on the computer side in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an operation flow on the peripheral device side of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Computer 11 Transmitting means 12 Detecting means 13 Serial port 14, 14b, 14b, 14c, 14d Peripheral equipment 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d Identification means 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d Response means 17 Multibox

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A computer having an input / output serial port, a plurality of peripheral devices, and a communication device provided between the input / output serial port and the plurality of peripheral devices to relay the computer and the plurality of peripheral devices. Having a multi-box, the computer having a transmitting means for requesting the peripheral device to output information and a detecting means for detecting a response from the peripheral device and notifying the transmitting means, A peripheral device switching method, comprising: an identification unit for identifying whether each received information is an output request to its own peripheral device; and a response unit for identifying and responding to the computer when the information is applicable. 2. The information transmitted / received between the computer and the peripheral device includes identification information for instructing the operation of the peripheral device and information output to the peripheral device after the operation starts. Item 2. A peripheral device switching method according to Item 1. 3. The identification information includes a peripheral device name fixedly set in advance for each peripheral device, and an operation start of the peripheral device.
3. The peripheral device switching method according to claim 2, further comprising an operation content indicating that the operation is completed or the reception operation is enabled. 4. The identification means of the peripheral device identifies whether the peripheral device name of the identification information matches its own peripheral device name, and when the identification information matches, notifies the response means of the operation content of the identification information. 4. The peripheral device switching method according to claim 1, wherein the response unit is not responded when the peripheral device name does not match its own peripheral device name. 5. The response unit of the peripheral device, when the operation content notified from the identification unit is an operation start, sets the own peripheral device to an operable state, and causes the computer to receive the name of the own peripheral device and enable reception of the operation. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the identification information including the operation content is transmitted, and when the notified operation content indicates the operation end, the own peripheral device is set in an operation stop state.
Peripheral device switching method according to 2, 3, or 4. 6. The detecting means of the computer detects identification information including a peripheral device name transmitted from the responding device of the peripheral device and an operation content enabling reception operation, and notifies the transmitting device of the identification information. Claims 1, 2, 3, 4
Or the peripheral device switching method described in 5. 7. The transmitting means of the computer transmits identification information including a peripheral device name to be output and an operation start operation content to the serial port when output of the peripheral device is started, and transmits the identification information from the detecting unit. Is transmitted, the information to be output to the peripheral device is continuously transmitted to the serial port. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the output of the peripheral device is completed, identification information including the name of the peripheral device to be ended and the operation content of the operation end is transmitted to the serial port. 6. The peripheral device switching method described in 6.