JPH09244985A - Computer system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily exchange a control program in the case that the external device of a new machine kind is connected and in the case that a failure is present in an existing control program. SOLUTION: For this computer system composed by connecting the external device, a storage part input means 11 for inputting storage part information for indicating a storage part on a network where the control program for controlling the operation of the external device is stored is provided. Also, a control program input means 12 for inputting the control program from the storage part indicated by the storage part information inputted by the storage part input means 11 is provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer device to which an external device such as a printer device, a disk device, and an interface device is connected.
It is suitable for application to a computer device that controls the operation of an external device using a control program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, when a computer device controls the operation of an external device by using a control program, it is of course necessary to previously incorporate a control program suitable for the external device to be controlled into the computer device. There is. Therefore, conventionally, the following three methods have been considered as means for inputting a control program to a computer. First, as the first conventional technology,
There is a method in which a control program is stored in a floppy disk or the like attached to an external device and the computer program is read to input the control program. Further, as a second conventional technique, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-168682
As disclosed in the publication, there is a method of preliminarily storing a plurality of control programs in a computer device and selecting an appropriate one from the plurality of control programs based on a response from an external device. Furthermore, as a third conventional technique, there is a method of storing a control program in an external device in advance and loading the control program from the external device to the computer device.

[0003]

However, all of the above-mentioned conventional techniques have the following problems. First,
The first conventional technique has a problem in that the operation for loading the control program using a floppy disk or the like is troublesome. Further, in the second conventional technique, when a so-called new type external device developed and put into practical use after the computer device is connected, there is a problem that a control program input before that is not suitable. Further, the third conventional technique has a problem that when a defect is found in the control program stored in the external device, the control program stored in the external device needs to be replaced.

[0004]

According to the present invention, in a computer device to which an external device is connected, storage location information indicating a storage location on a network in which a control program for controlling the operation of the external device is stored. And a control program input means for inputting a control program from the storage location indicated by the storage location information input by the storage location input means.

In the computer device having the above configuration,
When inputting the control program for controlling the operation of the external device, the storage location information indicating the storage location on the network where the control program is stored is input by the storage location input means, and the input storage location information. The control program suitable for the external device is input by the control program input means from the storage location on the network indicated by.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a computer device to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, a CPU (central processing unit) 1 is a control program (software) stored in a RAM (random access memory) 2 or a ROM (read only memory) 3.
The processing operation is performed in accordance with the above, and the processing operation of the entire computer device is controlled. For example, when the power is turned on, the processing operation is executed according to the control program stored in the ROM 3,
As a result, the initialization command file in the hard disk is read via the hard disk controller 4.
Further, by executing the read command file, the control program in the hard disk is loaded into the RAM2.
It is read in and various processing operations are executed according to the read control program. The CRT / KB control unit 5
It controls a display device, a keyboard device, etc. connected to the computer device, which is controlled according to a control program read into the RAM 2. The network control unit 6 sends and receives data to and from the network, and is also controlled according to the control program read in the RAM 2. The printer interface controller 7 outputs data to a printer device which is an external device, and is also controlled according to a control program read into the RAM 2.

Next, the input processing of the control program for controlling the operation of the external device will be described. The input processing of this control program is performed by the CPU 1, and a functional block diagram for the input processing is shown in FIG.
Shown in In FIG. 2, the storage location input means 11 is for inputting storage location information indicating a storage location on a network in which a control program for controlling the operation of an external device is stored. The control program input means 12 is
The control program is input from the storage location indicated by the storage location information input by the storage location input means 11 described above. The control program incorporating means 13 incorporates the control program input by the above-mentioned control program inputting means 12 into the RAM 2 so that the control program input by the control program inputting means 12 can be used. The control program management means 14 includes the storage location input means 11, the control program input means 12, and the control program incorporation means 1 described above.
3 is actually operated to manage the control program for controlling the operation of the external device. The connection recognition means 1
5, the error recognizing means 16 and the judging means 17 are additional constituents of the computer device according to the present invention.
These contents will be described in detail later.

A system configuration applied as the first embodiment is shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, a printer device 101 as an external device is connected to a computer device 100 according to the present invention. Further, the computer device 100 and the server device 102 can communicate with each other via the network 103. At this time, the storage location information of the printer driver (control program) for controlling the operation of the printer device 101 is defined in the environment definition file 105 stored in the magnetic disk 104 of the computer device 100, and the server device File 107 of magnetic disk 106 of 102
It is assumed that a printer driver suitable for the printer device 101 is stored therein.

In such a case, the functional means 11 to 14 constituted by the CPU 1 are controlled by a control program (printer driver) according to the flow chart shown in FIG.
Input processing of. That is, the control program management means 14 activates the storage location input means 11, which causes the storage location input means 11 to store the environment definition file 105 stored in the magnetic disk 104 in the computer apparatus 100.
From among the above, the storage location information of the printer driver is acquired (step S11).

Here, "printer driver storage location information" means storage on a network in which a printer driver (control program) for controlling the operation of an external device (printer device 101 in the illustrated example) is stored. The environment definition file 105 is a specific example of the location.
The storage location information defined therein is shown in FIG. In the storage location information shown in FIG. 5, the character string “123.456.789.555” indicates the address of the server device 102 on the network 103, and the character string “/ usr / share / drv” is the magnetic disk 106 of the server device 102. "Prnxxx.drv" indicates the directory in which the printer driver is stored.
Indicates the printer driver file name. The storage location information is U on the Internet.
It may include a file transfer protocol (FTP) such as RL (user request language).

Next, the control program management means 14 activates the control program input means 12, which causes the control program input means 12 to indicate the storage location on the network indicated by the previously obtained storage location information, that is, the server device 1.
02 from the magnetic disk 106
The printer driver file conforming to 1 is read (S12). Further, the control program management means 14
The printer driver file read from the server device 102 is used as the magnetic disk 1 in the computer device 100.
After storing in 04, the control program incorporating means 13
Is started to incorporate the printer driver into the OS (operating system), and the printer driver is brought into a usable (executable) state (S13).

FIG. 6 shows a system configuration applied as the second embodiment. In FIG. 6, a printer device 201 is connected to a computer device 200 according to the present invention. The computer device 200, the first server device 202, and the second server device 203 can communicate with each other via the network 204.
At this time, the magnetic disk 20 of the computer device 200
5, the storage location information of the storage location table of the printer driver for controlling the operation of the printer device 201 is defined in the environment definition file 206 stored in
Further, the storage location table is stored in the file 208 of the magnetic disk 207 of the first server device 202, and the printer 210 compatible with the printer device 201 is stored in the file 210 of the magnetic disk 209 of the second server device 203.
It is assumed that the driver is stored.

In such a case, the functional means 11 to 14 constituted by the CPU 1 are controlled by a control program (printer driver) according to the flow chart shown in FIG.
Input processing of. That is, the control program management means 14 activates the storage location input means 11, which causes the storage location input means 11 to store the environment definition file 206 stored in the magnetic disk 205 in the computer device 200.
The storage location information of the storage location table is acquired from among these (S21).

Here, the "storage location information of the storage location table" indicates a storage location on the network where the storage location table of the control program for controlling the operation of the external device is stored. 8 shows the storage location information of the storage location table defined in the environment definition file 206. In the storage location information shown in FIG. 8, the character string “123.456.789.333” indicates the address of the first server device 202 on the network 204, and the character string “/ usr / share” is the first server device 202.
Indicates the directory in which the storage location table in the magnetic disk 207 is stored, and the character string "adrbook" indicates the file name of the storage location table.

Next, the storage location input means 11 stores the storage location on the network indicated by the storage location information of the storage location table acquired previously, that is, the storage location table from the magnetic disk 207 of the first server unit 202. The file 208 is read, and the storage location information of the printer driver suitable for the printer device 201 is acquired from the file 208 (S22). Here, a specific example of the storage location table stored in the magnetic disk 207 is shown in FIG. In the storage location table shown in FIG.
The character string "CDAAA" indicates the model name of the CD-ROM device, and the character strings "PRNXXX" and "PRNYYY" indicate the model name of the printer device, respectively. In addition, the character string written on the next line of each model name is the driver software (CD-ROM driver,
The storage location information of the printer driver, etc.) is shown.

Therefore, when the storage location information of the printer driver is acquired in step S22, the storage location input means 11 first operates the computer device 2, for example.
Model information of the printer device 201 defined in the environment definition file 206 of 00, that is, "PR" in FIG.
Acquire the model information "PRNXXX" described in the line following the character string "INTER MODEL", and store the printer driver storage location information corresponding to that model information "PRNXXX", that is, "123.456.789.555 ~ prnxxx" in FIG. .drv ”information is acquired. In the storage location information of this printer driver,
The character string “123.456.789.555” is the second server device 20.
3 shows the address on the network 204, "/ usr / s
The character string "hare / drv" indicates the directory in which the printer driver is stored in the magnetic disk 209 of the second server device 203, and the character string "prnxxx.drv" indicates the file name of the printer driver. There is.

Subsequently, the control program management means 14 activates the control program input means 12, whereby the control program input means 12 causes the control program input means 12 to indicate the storage location on the network indicated by the storage location information previously acquired, that is, the second server. From the magnetic disk 209 of the device 203, a printer driver file suitable for the printer device 201 is read (S23). Further, the control program managing means 14 stores the printer driver file read from the second server device 203 in the magnetic disk 205 in the computer device 200, and then activates the control program incorporating means 13 to cause the OS to print the printer. Incorporate the driver and make it available (executable) (S2)
4).

In the second embodiment described above, the model information of the printer device 201 defined in the environment definition file 206 of the computer device 200 is acquired. If the printer 200 and the printer device 201 are connected by an interface capable of bidirectional communication, the printer device 2
The model information may be directly acquired from 01.

FIG. 10 shows a system configuration applied as the third embodiment. In FIG. 3, a printer device 301 is connected to a computer device 300 according to the present invention. In this case, the computer device 300 and the printer device 301 communicate with each other by, for example, IEEE.
They are connected according to the 1284 standard. The computer device 300 and the server device 302 are connected to each other via a network 303.
It is possible to communicate with each other via. At this time, it is assumed that the storage location information of the printer driver is stored in the memory or the like of the printer device 301, and the printer driver is stored in the file 306 of the magnetic disk 305 of the server device 302.

In such a case, the respective functional means 11 to 14 constituted by the CPU 1 carry out the input processing of the control program (printer driver) according to the flow chart shown in FIG. That is, the control program management means 14 activates the storage location input means 11, and thereby the storage location input means 11 sends a notification request message to the printer device 301. Then, in the printer device 301, according to the received notification request message, the printer
An electronic message including the storage location information of the driver is sent to the computer device 300, and the computer device 300 is thereby received.
The side acquires the storage location information of the printer driver (S31).

FIG. 12 shows a specific example of the electronic message sent from the printer device 302. In FIG.
The character string "123.456.789.555" indicates the address of the server device 302 on the network 303, and "/ usr / share / d"
The character string "rv" is the magnetic disk 305 of the server device 302.
Indicates the directory in which the printer driver is stored, and the character string "prnxxx.drv" indicates the file name of the printer driver.

Next, the control program management means 14 activates the control program input means 12, whereby the control program input means 12 stores the storage location on the network 303 indicated by the storage location information acquired previously, that is, the server device 302. The file of the printer driver suitable for the printer device 301 is read out from the magnetic disk 305 (S32). Further, the control program management means 1
4 stores the printer driver file read from the server device 302 in the magnetic disk 307 of the computer device 300, then activates the control program embedding means 13 to embed the printer driver in the OS,
This is put into a usable (executable) state (S33).

In the third embodiment, the computer device 300 inquires of the printer device 301 about the storage location information of the printer driver, and the electronic message sent from the printer device 301 is received by the computer device 300. However, in addition to this, for example, the printer device 301 voluntarily sends a message including the storage location information,
When the computer device 300 receives the message,
The configuration may be such that the storage location information of the printer driver is acquired.

Next, an application example of the computer device according to the present invention will be described. First, as a first application example, a case in which the connection recognizing means 15 is provided in the functional means shown in FIG. 2 will be described. This connection recognition means 15 is shown in FIG.
Taking the system configuration of the above as an example, the computer device 100
The printer device 101 recognizes that the printer device 101 has been connected, and in this case, the connection is recognized depending on whether or not there is a response from the printer device 101 side to the computer device 100.

In the first application example, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 13, when the computer device 100 is started, the connection recognition means 15 determines whether or not there is a response from the printer device 101 (S41). If there is a response, the process of "A" is executed. That is, when there is a response from the printer device 101, the connection recognition means 15 notifies the control program management means 14 of that fact. In response to this, the control program management means 14 activates the storage location input means 11, the control program input means 12, and the control program incorporation means 13, and the printer device 10
A printer driver that is compatible with 1 is a computer device 1
After being stored in the magnetic disk 104 of No. 00, it is incorporated in the OS.

As a result, when the printer device 101 is connected to the computer device 100, the input process of the printer driver can be automatically executed.

Next, as a second application example, a case where the functional means shown in FIG. 2 is provided with the error recognition means 16 will be described. Taking the system configuration shown in FIG. 3 as an example, the error recognizing means 16 recognizes an error (for example, a command error) on the printer device 101 side. In this case, is there an error response from the printer device 101? Error recognition is performed depending on whether or not it is.

In the second application example, as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
It is determined whether or not there is a print output request from the printer device 101 (S51), and print data is output to the printer device 101 at the time of the print output request (S52). As a result, on the printer apparatus 101 side, data conversion processing based on the print data output from the computer apparatus 100, for example, processing such as dot matrix conversion is performed. At that time, the error recognition means 16 determines whether or not there is an error response from the printer device 101 (S53). At this time, if there is no error response, the process returns to step S51 and the printer device 1 is restarted.
The process waits for the print output request from 01, and if there is an error response, the process of "B" is executed.

That is, when there is an error response from the printer device 101, the error recognition means 16 notifies the control program management means 14 of that fact. In response to this, the control program management means 14 determines that the printer driver currently installed in the OS has some trouble, and the storage location input means 11, the control program input means 12, and the control program installation are carried out as described above. The means 13 is started up, a printer driver suitable for the printer device 101 is stored in the magnetic disk 104 of the computer device 100, and then incorporated in the OS.

Thus, when a defect is found in the existing printer driver, it is possible to automatically execute the input process of the improved printer driver (the printer driver in which the defect is eliminated).

Next, as a third application example, a case where the judgment means 17 is provided in the functional means shown in FIG. 2 will be described. Taking the system configuration of FIG. 3 as an example, the determination unit 17 is a printer driver in the storage location indicated by the storage location information acquired by the storage location input unit 11, that is, the file 107 of the magnetic disk 106 of the server apparatus 102.
It is determined whether or not the attributes or contents of the printer driver stored therein and the printer driver already input to the computer apparatus 100 satisfy a predetermined condition (described later).

In the third application example, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 15, the computer device 100 acquires the model information of the printer device 101 from the electronic message sent from the printer device 101 (S61). Then, it is determined whether or not the printer driver matching the acquired model information is stored in the magnetic disk 104, that is, whether or not it has been loaded (S62). At this time, if it has not been loaded yet, the processing of "C" is executed. That is, the control program management means 14 activates the storage location input means 11, the control program input means 12, and the control program incorporation means 13 to store the printer driver suitable for the printer device 101 in the magnetic disk 104 of the computer device 100. After that, it is installed in the OS.

On the other hand, when the printer driver matching the previously acquired model information has already been loaded, the control program management means 14 causes the storage location input means 1 to operate.
1 is started, and a printer compatible with the printer device 101
The storage location information on the network 103 where the driver is stored is acquired (S63). Next, the control program management means 14 activates the control program input means 12,
From the storage location indicated by the storage location information acquired earlier, that is, from the file 107 of the magnetic disk 106 of the server apparatus 102, the attribute information of the printer driver file suitable for the printer apparatus 101 (the date when the program was updated and the version of the program) Etc.) are read (S64).

At this time, the attribute information of the read file is notified to the judging means 17, and in response to this, the judging means 17 stores it in the magnetic disk 106 of the server device 102 based on the previously read attribute information of the file. It is determined whether the printer driver currently installed is newer than the loaded printer driver stored in the magnetic disk 104 (S65). Here, when the judging means 17 judges that the printer is old, the series of processes is terminated without directly executing the input process of the printer driver. On the other hand, when the judging means 17 judges that the new one is new, the processing of "D" is executed.

That is, the determination means 17 notifies the control program management means 14 that the stored printer driver is newer than the existing printer driver. Then, the control program management means 14 activates the control program input means 12 again to acquire the printer driver stored in the magnetic disk 106 of the server apparatus 102, and the acquired printer driver is acquired by the computer apparatus 100. After storing in the magnetic disk 104, the control program incorporating means 13 is activated to incorporate the printer driver into the OS.

Thus, it is possible to surely avoid useless processing operations such as inputting the same control program a plurality of times, a printer driver compatible with a new model of external device, and a printer driver free of troubles. Can extract only printer drivers that have a replacement value, such as updated printer drivers, and automatically execute the input processing.

Incidentally, the determination as to whether or not to execute the input process of the printer driver is made, for example, in addition to the determination based on the novelty of the printer driver based on the attribute information of the printer driver file as described above. The same effect as above can be obtained by adopting such a form. That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 16, the printer from the storage location indicated by the storage location information
After the driver is read, that is, after the processing of "F", the contents of the read printer driver and the already input printer driver are compared by the judging means 17 (S71), and the contents do not match. Only in the case of, the process of "F" is executed. In the process of “F”, the control program managing means 14 activates the control program incorporating means 13 to execute incorporation of the printer driver into the magnetic disk 104.

In the above-described embodiment, the printer device has been described as an example of the external device connected to the computer device. However, the external device may be a device other than the printer device, for example, a disk device, an interface device, a CD. It may be a ROM device or the like. However, the external device connected to the computer device is, for example, a CD-R.
If it is an OM device, the corresponding control program is C
The control program corresponds to an external device such as a D-ROM or a driver. Further, in the system configuration applied in the above-described embodiment, the case where only one external device is connected to the computer device has been illustrated, but the number of connected external devices may be two or more, and both may be connected to the network. It may also be connected via.

In addition, as the storage location information of the control program, the control program corresponding thereto is uniquely determined from the address, directory, and file name on the network as described above, that is, the storage location information and the storage indicated by it. The case where the control program in the place corresponds to 1: 1 has been described, but various modifications other than this are conceivable.

For example, if the printer model is "PRN12"
There is a type called "prn12a.drv" and "pr" whose contents match each other as compatible printer drivers.
It is possible that two files "n12b.drv" are stored. In this case, one of the printer driver files is automatically selected for the "PRN12" type printer device. At this time, if you give a condition such as preferentially selecting a file with a high end number as the file selection condition of the printer driver, the printer driver can be selected from multiple files alternatively. It can also be selected.

As another modification, there are two types of printer devices, "PRN1201" and "PRN1202", and a printer driver conforming to these types is "prN1201" and "PRN1202".
It is also possible that only "n120x.drv" (x is arbitrary) files are stored. In this case, "prn120x.drv" is set regardless of which type of printer device is the external device connected to the computer device. The printer driver file corresponding to the file name "" is automatically selected.

[0042]

As described above, according to the computer device of the present invention, the storage location information indicating the storage location on the network where the control program for controlling the operation of the external device is stored is input as the storage location. The control program is input from the storage location on the network indicated by the storage location information by the control program input means, so when a new model external device is connected or the input control program has a problem. Even if found, without forcing the operator to perform a troublesome operation,
A control program suitable for an external device can be easily incorporated in the computer device. As a result, maintenance and management of the control program in the computer device becomes extremely simple.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a computer device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram for program input.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram applied as a first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of input processing according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of storage location information of a control program.

FIG. 6 is a system configuration diagram applied as a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an input process according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of storage location information of a storage location table.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the contents of a storage location table.

FIG. 10 is a system configuration diagram applied as a third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an input process according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of contents of a message including model information.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a first application example.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a second application example.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart (No. 1) for explaining a third application example.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart (part 2) explaining a third application example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Storage Location Input Means 12 Control Program Input Means 13 Control Program Embedding Means 14 Control Program Management Means 15 Connection Recognition Means 16 Error Recognition Means 17 Judgment Means 100, 200, 300 Computers 101, 201, 301 Printers (External) 102 , 202, 203, 302 Server device 103, 204, 303 Network

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A storage device input means for inputting storage device information indicating a storage device on a network in which a control program for controlling the operation of the external device is stored in a computer device connected to an external device. And a control program input means for inputting the control program from a storage location indicated by the storage location information input by the storage location input means. 2. A connection recognizing unit that recognizes that the external device is connected, and a control program input process that is executed by the control program input unit when the connection recognizing unit recognizes the connection of the external device. The computer device according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. An error recognition means for recognizing an error on the external device side, and a control means for executing an input process of a control program by the control program input means when the error recognition means recognizes an error. The computer device according to claim 1, further comprising: 4. Judgment means for judging whether or not attributes or contents of a control program in a storage location indicated by the storage location information and a control program already input satisfy a predetermined condition, and the determination means. 4. The computer apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, further comprising: control means for executing the input processing of the control program by the control program input means when it is determined that the predetermined condition is satisfied.