JPH0455965A - Terminal control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform a specific processing operation with high efficiency by retrieving a processing procedure corresponding to control information given from an input means out of a storage means and carrying out the due processing based on the retrieved processing procedure. CONSTITUTION:A terminal equipment 7 is provided with a terminal communication part 8 which transfers the request information received from a host computer 1 via a transmission part 6 or the return information to be sent to the computer 1, a main terminal control part 9, and a terminal emulator 10 which starts after reading an extension function program 11 out of a terminal storage 14 by a request of the computer 1. Then the processing procedure corresponding to the control information given from an input device 13 is retrieved out of the storage 14, and the due processing is carried out based on the retrieved processing procedure. Thus a specific processing operation is carried out with high efficiency based on the control information.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is a terminal control method in which control information is sent from an information processing device to a connected terminal device, and a specific process is performed based on the control information. It is related to the method.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in a system in which a host computer and a communication terminal are connected and operated via a transmission path, a dedicated terminal is used as a terminal device. For example, when a computer device other than a dedicated terminal such as a personal computer (PC) is used as a terminal device, an emulator of the dedicated terminal that runs on the computer device such as a personal computer is prepared and used.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the emulators in the above-mentioned conventional examples are literal emulators of dedicated terminals, and many of them have only the same level of functionality as the original dedicated terminals. Therefore, in recent years, there has been a drawback that the capabilities of computer devices such as personal computers, which have become increasingly multi-functional and sophisticated, are not fully utilized as intelligent computer devices.

Furthermore, if an attempt is made to add to a terminal emulator the functions of an intelligent computer device that a computer device such as a personal computer inherently has, the program size of the terminal emulator increases.

The present invention was made to solve the above problems, and
The information processing device sends control information to the connected terminal device, and based on the control information, specific processing is performed efficiently (
The purpose is to provide a terminal control method that can perform

[Means and operations for solving the problem] In order to achieve the above object, the terminal control system of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, in a terminal control method in which an information processing device sends control information to a connected terminal device and performs a specific process based on the control information, the information processing device is given control to control the terminal device. The terminal device includes an output means for outputting information, a storage means for storing a processing procedure corresponding to the control information in the terminal device, an input means for inputting the control information, and a process corresponding to the control information from the input means. The apparatus includes a retrieval means for retrieving a procedure from the storage means, an execution means for executing a process according to the processing procedure retrieved by the retrieval means, and a notification means for notifying a result of execution by the execution means.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Explanation of the configuration (Figure 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is a host computer that manages information to be provided to a terminal device 7, which will be described later; 2 is a host storage device that stores request information sent to the terminal device 7 or return information received from the terminal device 7; and 3 4 is a host main control unit that controls the entire host computer 1; 4 is a host communication unit that exchanges request information or return information with the terminal device 7 via a transmission line 6; and 5 is a host communication unit that sends and receives request information or return information read from the host storage device 2. A host program processes the return information received from the terminal device 7 and stores it in the host storage device 2. 6 is a transmission line connecting the host computer l and the terminal device 7.

On the other hand, 7 is a terminal device used as a terminal device equipped with a display function, an input function, etc., and is a personal computer in this embodiment. 8 is a terminal communication unit that sends and receives request information sent from the host computer 1 via the transmission path 6, or return information sent to the host computer 1; 9 is a terminal main control unit that controls the entire terminal device 7; Department,
Reference numeral 10 denotes a terminal emulator that functions as a dedicated terminal, and upon request from the host computer 1, reads an "extended function program" from the terminal storage device 14 and starts it.

11 is a group of "extended function programs" that are started on the terminal emulator 10 in response to a request from the host computer 1; 12 is a display device that displays data sent from the host computer 1; and 13 is a display device that receives input from the user. 14 is a terminal storage device that stores the ``extended function program'' with index information added, 15 is a printing device that prints various data from the host computer 1 as necessary, and 16 is an ``extended function program''. This is the main memory that stores "programs."

Explanation of operations (Figures 2 to 8)> Next, the control of the [extended function program] and related processing operations in this embodiment, which has the above configuration, will be displayed within the functional range of the dedicated terminal. The case where a graph is superimposed and displayed on a text screen using an "extended function program" will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 8.

In this embodiment, the terminal emulator IO has only a text display function, and the program for displaying graphs using the graphic display function that the terminal device 7 originally has is an extended function program in the terminal storage device 14. It is assumed that this is realized by A.

FIG. 2 is a display example of the display device 12 for explaining the operation of this embodiment, and the sales list 201 and the function key label 203 on the bottom line are the text display functions of the terminal emulator 10. Assume that it has already been displayed. An example will be explained in which the terminal 7 superimposes the graph 202 shown in FIG. 2 on the display device 12 in response to a request from the host computer 1.

First, the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 is a processing operation in the host computer 1, which is stored in the host program 5. Then, in step Sl, the host main control unit 3 of the host computer 1 creates request information requesting loading of the "extended function program A" for graph display on the terminal device 7. Then, it instructs the host communication unit 4 to transmit the request information to the terminal device 7 via the transmission line 6.
Send to. Here, the request information to be created and sent is
Indicates whether to request loading of "extension program" and select [
It includes information such as "name of extension program" and "whether to override if already loaded".

In this embodiment, as described above, the "name of extended function program" is the name of the extended function program A that displays the graph, and "whether to override if already loaded" is set to override. ing.

Next, when the status sent from the terminal device 7 is received, the process proceeds to step S2, and the request result at the terminal device 7, which will be described in detail later, is determined.

As a result, if the status indicates success, the process advances to the next step S3, and information requesting execution of the extended function program A is created and sent to the terminal device 7. The request information here indicates whether to request execution of the "extended function program" and includes the "name of the extended function program", "data to be passed to the extended function program", etc. In this embodiment, the above-mentioned These are the name of the extended function program A that performs the graph display, and the sales data for each region for the graph display as "data to be passed to the extended function program."

Next, upon receiving a status indicating the execution result on the terminal device 7, the details of which will be described later, through the host communication unit 7, the process advances to step S4, and the result is determined. Here, if the status indicates success, the process advances to step S5, and information requesting the unloading of the executed extended function program A is created and sent to the terminal device 7. The request information here indicates whether to request the unloading of the "extended function program" and includes information such as the "name of the extended function program" to be unloaded. In this embodiment, as described above, This is the name of the extended function program A that performs graph display.

When the status is received from the terminal device 7, the process advances to step S6, and it is determined whether or not it has been successful. If the result is successful, the request processing to the terminal device 7 is completed, but steps S2, S4. If the result of S6 is failure, the process advances to step S7, and it is reported that the control of the "extended function program" has failed. This process is a process in which a message corresponding to the status from the terminal device 7 is read from the host storage device 2, sent to the terminal device 7, and outputted to the display device 12 or printing device 15 of the terminal device 7.

In addition, in the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, for convenience of explanation,
Although the case where requests to the terminal device 7 are made sequentially has been described, step S3. The process at S4 may be repeated.

On the other hand, on the terminal side, when the terminal communication section 8 of the information terminal device 7 receives the request information from the host computer 1 via the transmission path 6, it notifies the terminal main control section 9 of the reception of the request information. With this notification, the terminal main control unit 9
The terminal emulator 10 according to the flowchart shown in the figure
start processing.

First, in step 5101, the request information sent from the host computer 1 is received, and then in step 5
The process proceeds to step 102, where the request information is analyzed, and the process proceeds to the corresponding steps in accordance with the request.

Here, if the request information is to load an "extended function program", the process advances to step S1.03, and the "extended function program" is loaded into the main memory 16 in a "program load process" to be described later. When the load process is completed, the process advances to step 5113, and status indicating the process result is returned to the host computer l. The details of this [program load processing] are shown in the flowchart shown in FIG.

If the request information requests execution of a program, the process advances to step 5111, and the program specified in "program execution processing" described later is executed. When the execution is completed, the process similarly advances to step 5113. Proceed and display the status showing the processing results on host computer 1.
Send it back to

The details of this "program execution process" are shown in the flowchart shown in FIG. Further, if a program deletion request is received, the process advances to step 5112, and a "program unload process" to be described later is performed. When the process is finished, the status is similarly returned to the host computer 1 in step 5113, and the process is finished. For details of this "program unload processing", see Section 7.
3 is a flowchart shown in the figure.

In addition, in this embodiment, loading the [extension function program],
In addition to processing execution and unloading individually, it is also possible to receive and process request information that combines these processes. For example, if ``loading and execution of extension program J is requested, the process proceeds to step 5104, the specified ``extension program'' is loaded into the main memory 16, and if the loading result is successful in step 5105, Then, the process advances to step 8106, and the loaded "extension program" is executed.

Similarly, load and execute the "extension program".

When unloading is requested, the process advances to step 5107 to load the specified "extension function program" into the main memory 16, and if the loading result is successful in step 8108, the process advances to step 5109. "
In the next step si io, the executed "extension program" is stored in the main memory 1.
Delete from 6.

Further, in step 5113 described above, the result may be displayed on the display device 12, for example, together with the set of statuses to be returned.

Next, the program loading process in this embodiment will be explained below according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In step 5201, the requested "extended function program" (here, extended function program A) is searched from the terminal storage device 14, and in step 5202, it is determined whether a corresponding program is found. As a result, if there is no corresponding program, the process advances to step 5210, and the status sent back to the host computer 1 is "
"Failed" is set and the process ends. However, in step 5202, if there is a corresponding program, the process advances to step 5203, and it is determined whether the requested "extended function program" has already been loaded into the main memory 16. Here, if the corresponding program has not been loaded, step 5206 reads ``Read the extended function program J from the terminal storage device 14 and load it into the main memory 16.''

When this program loading is completed, step 5207
Then, it is determined by a checksum or the like whether the loading was successful or not. If the loading is successful, the process advances to step 5209 and the status is set to "successful"; however, if the loading has failed, the process advances to step 3208.
The status is set to "failed" and the process ends.

If the corresponding program has been loaded in step 5203 described above, the process advances to step 5204, and it is determined whether there is an override specification. Here, if there is a specification, the process proceeds to step 5205, and after deleting the loaded [extension function program] from the main memory 16, a new program is loaded in the above-mentioned step 5206, and the status is set according to the result. Finish the process. However, if no override is specified in step 5204, the process advances to step 5211, where the contents of the "extended function program" on the main memory 16 and the "extended function program" on the terminal storage device 14 are compared. Then, in step 5212, the result is determined, and if the two match, the process proceeds to step 5214, sets the status to "success", and ends the process. However, if there is no match, step 5213
Proceed to the process, set the status to "failed", and end the process.

Next, the program execution process in this embodiment will be explained below according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step 5301, it is determined whether the requested "extended function program" has already been loaded into the main memory 16, and if the corresponding program has not been loaded, the process advances to step 8306, and the status is set to ""Failed" is set and the process ends. However, if the corresponding program has already been loaded, step 53
The process advances to step 02, and display data is created based on the "data to be passed to the extended function program" (here, sales data by region for graph display) sent along with the request information. The process then advances to the next step 5303, where the "extended function program A" is called to execute graph display processing.

Here, the flowchart shown in FIG. 8 is the processing procedure of this extended function program A.

First, in step 5501, "data to be passed to the extended function program" is received, and in step 5502,
The receiver determines whether the received data is correct. If the result is correct, the process advances to step 5503, where the receiver creates a graph 202 shown in FIG. 2 according to the received data and displays it on the display device 12. When the display of this graph 202 is finished, in step 5504, the terminal emulator 10 is notified that the execution was successful, and the process ends. However, in the determination at step 5502 above,
If the received data is determined to be incorrect,
The process advances to step 5505, notifies the terminal emulator 10 that the data is incorrect, and ends the process.

Next, when the execution of the extended function program A is completed, the terminal emulator 10 returns the process to step 5304 in FIG. The process then advances to step 5305, sets the status to "success", and ends the process.

Next, the program unloading process in this embodiment will be explained below according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step 5401, it is determined whether the requested "extended function program" has already been loaded into the main memory 16. If the corresponding program has not been loaded, the process advances to step 5404, and the status The process is terminated by setting ``failure'' to . However, if the corresponding program has already been loaded, the process advances to step 5402 and the already loaded "extended function program" is deleted from the main memory 16. Then, in step 5403, the status is set to "success", and the "program unloading process" is ended.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, the functions of an intelligent computer device that a computer device such as a personal computer originally has can be defined as an "extended function program" separate from a terminal emulator, and This can be used by the host computer when needed.

Therefore, there are effects as described below.

(1) The terminal emulator itself can be used as a dedicated terminal emulator (the program size of the terminal emulator can be reduced).

(2) Since only the functions required by the application system can be included in the "extended function program" of the terminal emulator, the entire application system can be made smaller.

(3) Even when new functions are added to a computer device such as a personal computer, there is no need to change the terminal emulator itself; instead, a new "extended function program" is created on the terminal device side, and the host computer By creating a program that supports this, you can build a highly scalable system.

In the embodiment described above, the graph display function is extended to a terminal emulator that only has a text display function.
By creating an "extended function program" that performs input/output with the card device, and creating a corresponding program on the host computer side, it is possible to extend the IC card reading and writing functions to the terminal emulator.

Similarly, if you create an "extended function program" that performs input/output with the barcode reading device connected to the terminal device, and create a corresponding program on the host computer side, you can add the barcode reading function to the terminal emulator. It becomes possible to expand.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the terminal emulator can be highly expandable.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to send control information from an information processing device to a connected terminal device and to efficiently perform specific processing based on the control information. The results can be announced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a display example for explaining the processing operation of this embodiment, and Figs. 3 to 8 show the processing operation of this embodiment. FIG. In the figure, 1... host computer, 2... host storage device, 3... host main control unit, 4... host communication unit, 5... host program, 6... transmission path, 7・
... terminal device, 8 ... terminal communication section, 9 ... terminal main control section, 10 ... terminal emulator, 11 ... extended function program, 12 ... display device, 13 ... input device , 14...terminal storage device, 15...printing device, 1
6...Main memory.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A terminal control method in which an information processing device sends control information to a connected terminal device, and causes the information processing device to perform a specific process based on the control information, comprising: comprising an output means for outputting control information for controlling the terminal device, a storage means for storing a processing procedure corresponding to the control information in the terminal device, an input means for inputting the control information, and a control information from the input means. a retrieval means for retrieving a processing procedure corresponding to the above from the storage means, an execution means for executing a process according to the processing procedure retrieved by the retrieval means, and a notification means for notifying a result executed by the execution means. A terminal control method characterized by: