JPH0455966A - Mizusue control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently attain a specified processing by inputting control information from an information processor or processing procedure to a terminal equipment and executing the processing according to the processing procedure corresponding to the inputted control information. CONSTITUTION:A host computer 1 managing the information to be supplied to a terminal equipment 7 and a host storage device storing request information storing an extended function program 11 after adding index information to transmit it to the terminal equipment 7 or returning information received from the terminal equipment 7 are provided. The terminal equipment 7 executes the processing according to the processing procedure corresponding to the control information inputted in an input device 13. Thus, the specified processing can be efficiently performed by transmitting the control information to the terminal equipment 7 connected from an information processor 1.

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
An object of the present invention is to provide a terminal control method that allows an information processing device to send control information to a connected terminal device to efficiently perform specific processing.

[Means and effects 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 causes the information processing device to perform a specific process based on the control information, the information processing device is activated by the terminal device. an output means for outputting a processing procedure and control information for controlling the processing procedure; and a storage means for storing the processing procedure outputted by the output means; The apparatus includes an input means for inputting a processing procedure, an execution means for executing a process according to the processing procedure corresponding to the control information inputted by the input means, and a notification means for notifying the result of execution by the execution means.

〔Example〕

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

Description of the configuration (Fig. 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, and 2 is a terminal that stores request information or a terminal that stores extended function programs with index information and sends them to the terminal device 7, which will be described later. A host storage device stores the return information received from the device 7, a host main control unit 3 controls the entire host computer 1, and a host controller 4 sends and receives request information or return information to and from the terminal device 7 via a transmission path 6. 5 is a host program that processes the request information read from the host storage device 2 or the return information received from the terminal device 7 and stores it in the host storage device 2; 6 is the host computer l and the terminal device; This is a transmission line connecting 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 l; 9 is a terminal main control unit that controls the entire terminal device 7; ,
1o is a terminal emulator that functions as a dedicated terminal, and upon a request from the host computer 1, reads an "extended function program" from the terminal storage device 14 and starts it.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a group of "extension function programs" that are started on the terminal emulator 10 in response to a request from the host computer 1, 12 a display device that displays data etc. sent from the host computer 1, and 13 a display device that displays user input. 14 is a terminal storage device such as a hard disk device or floppy disk device; 15 is a printing device that prints various data from the host computer l as needed; and 16 stores a group of "extended function programs". This is the main memory for

<Explanation of operation (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 10 has only a text display function, and the program that displays graphs using the graphic display function that the terminal device 7 originally has is an extended function program in the host storage device 2. It shall be 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 using the "extended function program A" downloaded 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 S1, the host main control unit 3 of the host computer 1 searches the host storage device 2 for the "extended function program A" for graph display on the terminal device 7. When this search is completed, the process advances to step S2 and the result is determined. If there is no program, the process proceeds to step S9, but if there is, the process proceeds to step S3, where request information for downloading the searched program A is created.

Then, it instructs the host communication unit 4 to send the request information to the terminal device 7 via the transmission line 6. The request information created and sent here indicates which "extended function program code" is to be downloaded, and includes information such as "if it has already been loaded, whether to override it or not."

In this embodiment, the "extended function program code" is the extended function program A that performs graph display, and the "whether to override if already loaded" is set to override.

Next, when the status sent from the terminal device 7 is received, the process proceeds to step S4, 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 S5, and information requesting execution of the extended function program A is created and sent to the terminal device 7. The request information here indicates which "extended function program" is requested to be executed, and includes "name of the extended function program", "data to be passed to the extended function program", and the like. In this embodiment, as described above, the name of the extended function program A that performs the graph display and the sales data of each region for the purpose of displaying the graph are used 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 S6, and the result is determined. Here, if the status indicates success, the process advances to step S7, 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 which "extended function program" is requested to be unloaded, and includes information such as the "name of the extended function program" to be unloaded. In this embodiment, as described above, the graph This is the name of the extended function program A that performs the display.

When the status is received from the terminal device 7, the process advances to step S8, and it is determined whether or not it was successful. If the result is successful, the request processing to the terminal device 7 is completed, but steps S4, S6. If the result of S8 is failure, the process advances to step S9, and notification is made 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 S5. The process at S6 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 l is received, and 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 download an "extended function program", the process advances to step 5103, and the "extended function program" is loaded into the main memory 16 in a "program load process" to be described later. When the loading process is completed, the process proceeds to step Sl13,
A status indicating the processing result is sent back to the host computer l. For details of this "program load processing", see Chapter 5.
3 is a flowchart shown in the figure.

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, not only the downloading, execution, and unloading of the "extended function program" are processed individually, but also
It is also possible to receive and process request information that combines these processes. For example, "extended function program"
If downloading and execution is requested, the process advances to step 5104 and the specified "extension program"
is loaded into the main memory 16, and if the loading result is successful in step 5105, the process advances to step 5106, and the loaded "extension program" is executed. Similarly, when a request is made to download, execute, and unload an "extension program," the process advances to step 5107, where the designated "extension program" is loaded into the main memory 16, and then loaded at step 8108. If the result is successful, the process advances to step 5109 to execute the "extension program", and in the next step 5110,
Delete the executed extended function program J from the main memory 16.

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, 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, Stella '7'S 204 displays the message "Download the extended function program J from the host computer l and load it into the main memory 16. When this program loading is completed, the process proceeds to step 5205. The process proceeds and it is determined by a checksum etc. whether the loading was successful or not. If it is successful, the process proceeds to step 5207 and the status is set to "successful"; if it is unsuccessful, the process proceeds to step 8206. Proceed, set the status to "failed" and end the process.

If the corresponding program has been loaded in step 5201 described above, the process advances to step 5202, and it is determined whether an override is specified. Here, if there is a specification, the process proceeds to step 5203, and after deleting the loaded "extension function program" from the main memory 16, a new program is loaded in the above-mentioned step 5204, and the status is set according to the result. Finish the process. However, in step 5202, if no override is specified, the process advances to step 5208, and the contents of the ``extended function program J'' in the main memory 16 and the ``extended function program J downloaded from the host computer 1'' are compared. Then, in step 5209, the result is determined, and if the two match, the process proceeds to step 5211, sets the status to "success", and ends the process. However, if they do not match, the process advances to step 5210 and the status is set to "
A failure J is set and the process ends.

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 is already loaded,
The process advances to step 5402, and the already loaded "extended function program" is deleted from the main memory 16. Then, in step 3403, status is “successful”.
, and finish the [Program unloading process].

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 downloaded from the host computer and used 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) Only the functions required by the application system can be made into the "extended function program" of the terminal emulator, and by having the "extended function program" collectively on the host computer side, the entire application system can be made small ( can do.

(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 (a new "extended function program" is created on the terminal device side, and the host computer side By creating a program that supports this, it is possible to 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 drawings]

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. Patent Applicant Canon Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Yasunori Otsuka

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: outputting means for outputting a processing procedure started by the processing procedure and control information for controlling the processing procedure; and a storage means for storing the processing procedure outputted by the outputting means; an input means for inputting control information or a processing procedure, an execution means for executing a process according to a processing procedure corresponding to the control information inputted by the input means, and a notification means for notifying the result of execution by the execution means. A terminal control method characterized by comprising: