JP2002132511A - Program update system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program update system capable of preventing simultaneous suspension of service providing by more than one machine placed at a store even in a situation of incapable of controlling directly delivery timing of an update program along with reducing loads of a network. SOLUTION: In the system, a network managing station 2 delivers the update program provided from a program server 1 at a predetermined timing. Among a plurality of complex machines 4 at a store side, any machines 4 not providing services acquire the update program on behalf of the machines 4 to transfer it to other machines 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program updating system for remotely updating a client-side program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of the Internet environment, various services have been provided via the Internet. For example, a service is planned in which a multifunction peripheral having a printer function as an image processing apparatus is deployed at a base such as a convenience store, connected to the Internet, and data to be printed is received via the Internet and printed. I have.

[0003]

However, in the conventional service provision described above, when updating the software of the multifunction machine, the operator needs to go to the base of each service to perform the installation work, and the management burden is large. .

[0004] Therefore, it is conceivable to distribute the update program via the Internet, obtain the update program on each MFP side, and update the program by itself. However, since the service cannot be provided during the update of the program, when a plurality of MFPs are installed in the store, it is desirable that all the MFPs sequentially stop the service and update the program. Further, when a plurality of multifunction peripherals are arranged in each convenience store, distributing the update program to each multifunction peripheral one by one increases communication traffic and increases network load.

Further, since a network for collecting and delivering POS (point on sales) data from stores such as convenience stores is already prepared, it is desirable to use this network as a service form. At present, the distribution timing cannot be directly controlled from the server providing the update program because the distribution device is managed by another management entity.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and provides a service provided by a plurality of devices installed in a store at the same time while reducing the network load and in a state where the distribution timing of the update program cannot be directly controlled. It is an object of the present invention to provide a program updating system that can prevent the program from being stopped unnecessarily.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention provides a service providing apparatus which is provided at a plurality of service bases, each providing a service according to a program, and A server for distributing an update program corresponding to each of the providing devices, wherein a part of a plurality of service providing devices acquires representative of the update program for each service base, and And updates the acquired program to a service providing device that has not been updated among the service providing devices belonging to the same service base. As a result, the number of times the update program is distributed to each service base is reduced, and the load on the network can be reduced.

It is preferable that the service providing apparatus acquires the update program as a representative only when the service is not provided when the update program is received. This prevents the program from being delivered during the provision of the service.

Further, the present invention for solving the problem of the above-mentioned conventional example is a program updating method for managing updating of a program executed by a plurality of service providing apparatuses arranged at each service base, A step in which a part of the plurality of service providing apparatuses at the service base acquires the update program as a representative, a step of updating its own program by the update program, and a step of updating the program among service providing apparatuses belonging to the same service base. Transferring the acquired update program to a service providing apparatus.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a program update system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a program server 1, a network management station 2, a network 3, and a plurality of multifunction peripherals arranged at stores serving as service bases. And 4. The multifunction device 4 corresponds to the service providing device of the present invention. In addition, this multifunction machine 4
Includes a plurality of models, and the content of the update program differs for each model. Further, various devices such as a POS terminal are arranged in the store, and each device is connected to the network 3 in the overall configuration. However, the description is omitted here for simplicity.

The program server 1 stores an update program for each model of the multifunction device 4 and informs the network management station 2 of information (model identifier) for identifying the corresponding model.
Is transmitted in association with the update program. Further, the program server 1 receives information on an error that has occurred in the multifunction peripheral 4 from the network management station 2 together with information for specifying the multifunction peripheral 4 in which the error has occurred, and stores the information for display.

The network management station 2 has a network 3
, And communicates data with various devices on the store side at a predetermined timing. Specifically, the network management station 2 counts POS data from stores in various places. Further, the data transmitted from the store as data addressed to the program server 1 via the network 3 is transmitted to the program server 1. Further, the network management station 2 stores the update program received from the program server 1 and distributes the update program to each store at a predetermined timing. The network 3 includes the Internet and a local area network LAN in a store.

As shown in FIG. 2, the multifunction device 4
1, a scanner 12, a control unit 13, a storage unit 14,
A communication unit 15 and a liquid crystal touch panel 16;
The printer 11 prints image data according to an instruction input from the control unit 13. The scanner 12 reads image data from the set paper medium and outputs the image data to the control unit 13.

The control unit 13 processes a program stored in the storage unit 14 and performs an operation for controlling the printer 11 and the scanner 12. Also, this control unit 13
It performs a process of acquiring an update program and updating its own program, and a process of transferring the update program to another MFP. The structure of the program of the control unit 13 and the specific processing will be described later in detail.

The storage unit 14 is a hard disk or the like, and stores an update program. The communication unit 15 is connected to the network 3 and outputs data received via the network 3 to the control unit 13. The communication unit 15 transmits data to the network management station 2 via the network 3 in accordance with an instruction input from the control unit 13. Further, the communication unit 15 communicates with the communication unit 15 of another multifunction device 4 via the LAN. The liquid crystal touch panel 16 displays and outputs image data according to an instruction input from the control unit 13. When the liquid crystal touch panel 16 detects that a user's finger touches a part of the screen by a sensor provided on the surface, the liquid crystal touch panel 16 outputs a signal indicating the position to the control unit 13.

Here, the processing of the control unit 13 will be specifically described. First, as shown in FIG. 3, a program processed by the control unit 13 includes a basic program OS, an application starting program L (hereinafter, referred to as a launcher) managed under the basic program, and an application program APP. Become. Further, the launcher L and the application program APP include a user interface UI. These application programs APP include a copy application, a facsimile
There are a plurality of applications for providing a predetermined service by the multifunction peripheral, such as a processing application.

The control unit 13 normally operates the launcher L under the basic program OS environment, and outputs a screen as shown in FIG. Here, when the user touches the “copy” button for calling the copy function, the control unit 13 activates the copy application that is the corresponding application program APP and processes the copy application. At this time, a user interface UI included in the copy application is displayed on the liquid crystal touch panel 16. Thus, the control unit 1
3 implements various complex services.

When the update program is input from the communication unit 15, the control unit 13 of the MFP 4 starts the reception process shown in FIG. In this receiving process, the control unit 13
Currently running application program APP
It is determined whether or not there is a service (S1). If there is one that has been activated (if Yes), it is determined that the service is being provided, and the process ends as it is. Also, in the process S1, the activated application program APP is executed.
If there is no (No), the update program is received and stored in the storage unit 14 (S2). The update program stored here includes information on the corresponding model and the main body of the update program. The control unit 13 acquires the information of its own model, compares the information of its own model with the information of the corresponding model, and determines whether or not the stored update program corresponds to itself ( S3).

In this process S3, if the update program corresponds to itself (if Yes), the stored update program is installed in the storage unit 14 as an application program APP (S4). At this time, the application program APP having the same function (for example, the application program AP having the same file name)
P) is overwritten and deleted. A characteristic of the present embodiment is that the application program APP distributed as the update program includes a user interface UI. As a result, the UI subroutine prepared by the basic program OS can be used on the UI program, which facilitates program creation.

The control unit 13 checks whether there is any abnormality in the application program APP installed in step S4 (S5). Here, as a method of checking whether there is any abnormality, a known method such as providing a test routine in the update program and executing the routine is used. Then, the installed application program A
If there is an abnormality in the PP (if Yes), the occurrence of the abnormality is displayed on the liquid crystal touch panel 16, and the occurrence of the abnormality is reported via the network 3, and the process is terminated.

Further, in step S5, if there is no abnormality in the installed application program APP (No), a transfer process is performed (S6), and the process ends. If it is determined in step S3 that the update program does not correspond to itself (if No), the process proceeds to step S6. Note that during the processing of steps S1 to S5, the application program APP may be overwritten, which hinders the activation of the application program APP.
, The image (moving image or the like) may be displayed together with a message such as "Now updating. Please wait for a while."

Next, the transfer process of the control unit 13 will be described. As shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 13 periodically inquires the other MFPs 4 in the store about the processing status of the update program via the LAN (S11). Each MFP 4
If the control unit 13 is currently executing the transfer process (process S6), it responds to the inquiry that the process has been completed. If there are a plurality of update programs, an identifier is assigned to each update program, and an inquiry and a response are made using the identifier to distinguish each update program.

In step S11, the control unit 13 determines whether or not all the MFPs 4 in the store have responded that the update has been completed (S12), and all the MFPs 4 in the store have completed the update. If yes (if Yes), a signal indicating the completion of update of all devices (all end signal) is transmitted to the other multifunction devices 4 (S13), and the update program stored in the storage unit 14 is discarded. Then (S14), the process ends. In addition, if there is any multifunction peripheral 4 that has responded that the update has not been completed in the processing S12, the update program is transmitted to the multifunction peripheral 4 (S15), and the process returns to the processing S11 to continue.

Further, the control unit 13 performs a transfer process (process S
During the execution of 6), when the all end signal is received, the storage unit 1
4 is discarded.

As described above, the control unit 13 receives (representative acquisition) the update program as a representative of the device in the store and transfers it to another device in the store only when the service is not being performed. Each device in the store transfers the update program to the device if the device that has not been updated is in the store.

Here, a case has been described where the update program is held by a plurality of multifunction devices 4 and transferred to the multifunction device 4 in the store. 4 may be moved sequentially on the LAN as if moving sequentially. In this case, it is preferable that the information is deleted when all of the MFPs 4 in the store are moved.

[0027]

According to the present invention, a plurality of service providing devices are provided at each service base, each providing a service according to a program, and a server delivering an update program corresponding to each of the service providing devices. For each service site, a part of the plurality of service providing devices acquires the update program as a representative, updates its own program by the update program, and, among service providing devices belonging to the same service site, Since the program update system transfers the acquired update program to the service update device that has not been updated, it does not increase the load on the network. There is no such thing as service being stopped.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a program update system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram of the multifunction peripheral 4.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a structure of a program processed by a control unit 13.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a display screen of the MFP 4.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a program update process.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a program transfer process.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Program server, 2 Network management station, 3
Network, 4 MFP, 11 Printer, 12 Scanner, 13 Control Unit, 14 Storage Unit, 15 Communication Unit, 1
6 LCD touch panel.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 9/06 640A

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A program updating system, comprising: a plurality of service providing devices arranged at each service base, each providing a service according to a program, and a server delivering an update program corresponding to each of the service providing devices. A system in which, for each service base, a part of a plurality of service providing apparatuses obtains the update program as a representative, updates its own program with the update program, and updates a service providing apparatus belonging to the same service base. A program update system for transferring the acquired update program to a service providing apparatus that has not been updated. 2. The program updating system according to claim 1, wherein the service providing device acquires the update program as a representative only when the service is not provided when the update program is received. A program update system, characterized in that: 3. A program updating method for managing updating of a program executed by a plurality of service providing apparatuses arranged at each service base, wherein a part of the plurality of service providing apparatuses at each service base includes the update program. Obtaining the representative program, updating the own program by the update program, and transferring the obtained update program to a service providing apparatus which has not been updated among the service providing apparatuses belonging to the same service base. A program updating method, comprising: