JP2006268845A - Information processor, control method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily change a connection with a plurality of external apparatuses in an information processor, as a peripheral device, connected with an external apparatus, as a host device, to transmit and receive data using a wireless USB (WUSB). <P>SOLUTION: The information processor includes a WUSB communication unit 10 configured to connect to each of a plurality of external apparatuses as host devices by wireless to transmit and receive data to and from each external apparatus. In such an information processor as a peripheral device, a CPU 3 acquires information about at least one external apparatus among a plurality of external apparatuses via the WUSB communication unit 10. The acquired information is displayed on a display unit 13 before the communication is established with one of a plurality of external apparatuses via the WUSB communication unit 10. A user selects one of the plurality of displayed external apparatuses as a host device and establishes the wireless connection with the selected external apparatus. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a control method, and a program, and in particular, wireless USB communication means for wirelessly connecting to a plurality of external apparatuses as host apparatuses and transmitting / receiving data to / from each external apparatus. The present invention relates to an information processing device as a peripheral device provided with a control method, a control method applied to the information processing device, and a program for causing the control device to execute the control method.

  Conventionally, in an image processing apparatus such as an image reading apparatus having a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface, an external apparatus such as a PC (Personal Computer) as a host apparatus is connected to the image processing apparatus as a peripheral apparatus by a USB cable. The image processing apparatus and the external apparatus communicate with each other in a one-to-one communication mode (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Further, in a wired LAN (Local Area Network) or wireless LAN, a one-to-many or many-to-many communication mode has been established, and a LAN-compatible image reading device transfers scanned images to a plurality of external devices. It is possible (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP 2002-218167 A JP 11-134473 A

  However, in the conventional image processing apparatus connected to the external device by the USB cable, it is a communication mode with one external device as the host device, and when changing the communication partner, once disconnect the USB cable, It had to be reconnected to the desired new external device. Therefore, when the image processing apparatus transmits read image data or the like to a plurality of external apparatuses, it is necessary to connect and disconnect the USB cable many times, which is very inconvenient.

  In addition, the wired / wireless LAN needs to support a complicated protocol for constructing a network, and hardware and software corresponding to the wired / wireless LAN had to be built in the image processing apparatus. .

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and information processing as a peripheral device that transmits and receives data by connecting to an external device as a host device using a wireless USB that performs USB connection wirelessly An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus, a control method, and a program that can easily switch connections to a plurality of external apparatuses.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in a peripheral device wirelessly connected to one host device among a plurality of host devices, the wirelessly connected interface, display means, and control means And the control means controls the wireless connection with the host device through the interface, and controls the display of the connection possibility with each of the plurality of host devices by the display means. Is provided.

  According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in a method for controlling a peripheral device wirelessly connected to a host device, a recognition step of recognizing a host device wirelessly connectable to the peripheral device, and information relating to the recognized host device A storage step for storing information including whether the wireless connection is possible, a display step for displaying the host device recognized as connectable, and host device selection information from the user based on the display in the display step. A selection step; a connection step for establishing the wireless connection with the host device selected in the selection step; and a step of transmitting data to the host device through the wireless connection established in the connection step. A method for controlling a peripheral device is provided.

  Furthermore, a program for causing the control means to execute the communication control method is provided.

  According to the present invention, in an information processing device as a peripheral device that transmits and receives data by connecting to an external device as a host device using a wireless USB, information on the external device is displayed on the information processing device. Can easily grasp information about external devices.

  Also, a user interface is provided for the user to select from a plurality of external devices, receives instruction information indicating one external device selected by the user, and is connected to the external device indicated by the instruction information by wireless USB Is established, and control is performed so that data is transmitted to and received from the external device, thereby making it possible to easily switch connections to a plurality of external devices.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Here, an image reading apparatus will be described as an example of an information processing apparatus as a peripheral device.

  The image reading apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a WUSB communication unit 10 for performing wireless communication with a plurality of external apparatuses as host apparatuses using a wireless USB (hereinafter referred to as “WUSB”). Here, a host device composed of a personal computer (PC) is assumed as an external device.

  The RF modulation unit 9 performs RF modulation on data in order to transmit and receive data wirelessly with an external device by the WUSB communication unit 10. The light source lamp 4 is composed of, for example, a cold cathode tube, and irradiates a document to be read. The light source control circuit 5 is composed of an inverter circuit, and lights up by driving a light source lamp 4 composed of a cold cathode tube.

  The image sensor 1 reads a document image to be read irradiated by the light source lamp 4, converts it into an electrical signal, and outputs it. The A / D converter 2 converts the analog image signal output from the image sensor 1 into a digital image signal. The CPU 3 constitutes a system controller and an image processing unit. The system controller stores an operation processing sequence of the entire image reading apparatus and performs various controls according to instructions from an external device. The image processing unit performs image processing such as offset correction, shading correction, gamma correction, digital gain adjustment, and resolution conversion in the main and sub scanning directions on the image signal digitized by the A / D converter 2.

  The pulse motor 6 serves as a drive source for moving and scanning a scanning unit (not shown) including the image sensor 1 and the light source lamp 4 with respect to the document table (not shown). 7 operates in accordance with the excitation switching signal output from 7. The memory 8 is composed of, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory), and is connected to the CPU 3 via a system bus (not shown) including an address bus and a data bus. The memory 8 is used as a working area when image processing is performed by the image processing unit of the CPU 3, and stores shading data for performing shading correction processing and gamma curve data for performing gamma correction. Further, it is also used as a buffer memory for image data when image data is transferred to an external device via the WUSB communication unit 10. A display unit 13 and an operation unit 11 are provided as a user interface. The display unit 13 performs a display for confirming the setting contents and operation status of the image reading apparatus. An operation unit 11 having a plurality of input keys is provided adjacent to the display unit 13. The power supply unit 12 supplies power to each unit of the image reading apparatus.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a sequence of a series of image reading processes performed in the image reading apparatus and the external apparatus shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the image reading apparatus is represented as “SC” and the external apparatus is represented as “PC”.

  First, the user installs in advance driver software for controlling the image reading device in each external device that has a WUSB communication function and is scheduled to be connected to the image reading device (S100).

  When the external device is connected to the image reading device and used, the user sets the WUSB communication function of the external device to active (S101), and the image reading device of FIG. It arrange | positions in the space position which can be wirelessly communicated with an external device (S102).

  Next, the user turns on the power of the image reading apparatus (S103), and activates the WUSB communication unit 10 of the image reading apparatus (S104). As a result, enumeration (device search, initialization, and environment setting sequence) processing for establishing communication in accordance with the WUSB standard is executed between the external device and the image reading device (S105). . After this enumeration process, the CPU 3 of the image reading apparatus acquires information on the external apparatus via the WUSB communication unit 10 (S106).

  The CPU 3 of the image reading device stores the acquired information on the external device in the memory 8 in the image reading device, and acquires it along with the information on another external device already stored on the display unit 13 in the image reading device. Information on the external device is displayed (S107). FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of information of a plurality of external devices displayed on the display unit 13 of the image reading device. Here, the name (host name), status, etc., of an external device as a host device that can communicate with an image reading device as a peripheral device by WUSB communication are displayed. For example, “OK” is displayed in the status of the external device with which communication has been established by the enumeration process. In addition, although the connection has not been established at present, N / A is displayed in the status for other external devices that can be connected as the host device.

  That is, in such an environment, a user who uses an image reading apparatus can perform information and enumeration processing on the plurality of peripheral external devices in an environment where there are a plurality of external apparatuses around one image reading apparatus. It is possible to grasp the external device with which communication is currently established.

  Next, from the user of the external device (external device whose communication is currently established by the enumeration process) whose status is displayed as OK in the information of the plurality of external devices displayed on the display unit 13, the external device When the image reading device is instructed to scan (scan) the image reading device (S108), first, the CPU 3 of the image reading device has information on an external device other than the external device to which the read image data is transferred. Is deleted from the display unit 13 (S109). The image reading device executes image reading processing while being controlled by the driver software installed in the external device based on the setting on the external device of the image data transfer destination, and reads the read image data into the external device (S110). After the data transfer from the image reading apparatus to the external apparatus is completed, the image reading apparatus is disconnected from the external apparatus by the WUSB release process. If no scan start instruction is issued in step 108 after the PC information is displayed in step 107, the process returns to step 105 to connect to another connectable external device and display the PC information. .

  Then, according to an instruction from a user of another external apparatus in which driver software for controlling the image reading apparatus is installed, the process waits until the connection with the external apparatus is started (YES in S111). The CPU 3 of the reading device executes enumeration processing with the external device (S105), and proceeds to the processing after step S106.

  As described above, in the first embodiment, a WUSB communication environment capable of controlling one image reading device from one of a plurality of external devices is constructed, and thereby troublesome settings and operations are performed. It is possible to easily switch the connection from one image reading device to each of a plurality of external devices without performing the above.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  Also in the second embodiment of the present invention, an information processing apparatus having the configuration of the block diagram of FIG. 1 is used as in the first embodiment.

  In the second embodiment, the operation unit 11 adjacent to the display unit 13 is used. As shown in FIG. 5, the operation unit 11 includes an up / down button 11a and a determination button 11b for a user to make various settings of the image reading apparatus, and a scan button 11c for inputting a reading operation. .

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of image reading processing performed in the image reading apparatus and the external apparatus according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 4, the image reading apparatus is represented as “SC” and the external apparatus is represented as “HOST”.

  First, the user turns on the power of the image reading apparatus provided with the WUSB communication unit 10 to make it operable (S200). A plurality of external devices having a WUSB communication function capable of communicating with the image reading device are arranged around the image reading device (within a communication range by the WUSB communication unit 10). The WUSB communication function of the plurality of external devices is set to active. Upon detecting the WUSB signal, the SC determines whether or not the HOST exists. If the HOST does not exist, the SC waits until the WUSB signal is detected (S201). If a HOST exists, a WUSB connection is established with one of the existing HOSTs (S202).

  After the enumeration process with the connected HOST, the CPU 3 of the image reading apparatus acquires information on the external apparatus on which the enumeration process is executed (hereinafter referred to as “HOST information”) via the WUSB communication unit 10. (S203). Next, the CPU 3 of the image reading apparatus determines whether or not the same information as the HOST information acquired in step S203 exists in the HOST information acquired before and stored in the memory 8 in the image reading apparatus. Is determined (S204). As a result, if it is determined that it exists, the process proceeds to step S206.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the same information as the HOST information acquired in step S203 does not exist in the HOST information stored in the memory 8 in the image reading apparatus, the process proceeds to step S205. In step S205, the CPU 3 of the image reading apparatus stores the HOST information acquired in step S203 in the memory 8 in the image reading apparatus. In step 206, all the HOST information stored in the memory 8 is displayed on the display unit 13. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the display unit 13 displays a plurality of external devices (in the example shown in FIG. 5, personal computer PC001, printer PRN21, and storage device HD003) that can communicate with the image reading apparatus.

  Next, the CPU 3 of the image reading apparatus determines whether or not the scan button 11c of the operation unit 11 of the image reading apparatus has been operated by the user, that is, whether or not there has been an image reading (scanning) start request (S207). If it is determined that there is no start request, the process proceeds to step S213, a request to disconnect the WUSB connection is notified to the external device from which the HOST information has been acquired in step S203, and the process returns to step S201.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S207 that an image reading start request has been made, the process proceeds to step S208, and image data is selected from a plurality of communicable external devices displayed on the display unit 13 as illustrated in FIG. Select an external device to send When the user operates the up / down button 11a and the determination button 11b of the operation unit 11 and there are more external devices than the number of display lines, the display is scrolled. When the cursor is on the external device to be selected, the enter button 11b is operated to select it. When the CPU 3 of the image reading apparatus receives the instruction information indicating the external apparatus that is the selected image data transmission destination, it establishes a WUSB connection with the external apparatus. If the same PC as that connected in the previous step 202 is selected, the process continues as it is, and if a different PC is selected, a new connection is made again (S209). Then, it is determined whether or not the external device selected in step S208 is a personal computer (PC) in which driver software for controlling the image reading device is installed (S210).

  As a result, if it is determined that the PC has driver software, the CPU 3 of the image reading apparatus sends a request to execute the driver software to the PC by controlling the WUSB communication unit 10 (S211). The PC that has received this request executes the driver software installed in the PC based on the settings on the PC. Thereby, the image reading apparatus executes image reading while being controlled by the driver software, and transmits the read image data to the PC (S212).

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S208 that the selected external device is a printer or storage device (which may be a PC) that does not have driver software for controlling the image reading device, the process advances to step S213. move on. In step S213, the CPU 3 of the image reading apparatus executes image reading alone, and sets the read image data in a preset format. Then, the image data set in this format is transmitted to the external device selected in step 207 (S212).

  When the transmission of the image data is completed, the CPU 3 of the image reading apparatus disconnects the WUSB connection with the external apparatus and enters a non-connected state, and then returns to step S201 to shift to a process for detecting a new external apparatus, and thereafter repeats. . If there are a plurality of HOSTs, it is preferable to prioritize connection with HOSTs not stored in the memory 8 in Step 202.

  As described above, also in the second embodiment, a WUSB communication environment in which one image reading device can be shared is constructed by switching a plurality of external devices. Accordingly, it is possible to easily switch the connection from one image reading apparatus to each of a plurality of external apparatuses without performing troublesome settings and operations. In particular, this is possible even when the external device is a printer or storage device that does not have driver software for controlling the image reading device.

  In the second embodiment, a plurality of HOSTs are replaced one after another to establish a connection and acquire each HOST information. However, even if the connection is not established, it is included in the WUSB signal from the HOST. The HOST can be specified from the HOST ID and displayed. For the HOST ID, it is preferable to prepare a correspondence table with easy-to-understand notation for the user in advance and display the notation on the display unit 13. In the above description, the transmission destination HOST is selected (S208) after the determination of the presence / absence of a scan start request (S207). However, the transmission destination HOST may be selected before step 207.

[Other Embodiments]
In the first and second embodiments described above, the image reading device is described as an example of the information processing device as the peripheral device. However, the present invention is applied not only to the image reading device but also to a general information processing device. To get. For example, a camera can be used as a peripheral device, and a printer indicated as PRN 21 in FIG. 5 can be connected as a host device.

  Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and the computer of the system or apparatus (or CPU, MPU, or the like). Is also achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the program code and the storage medium storing the program code constitute the present invention. .

  Examples of the storage medium for supplying the program code include a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a CD-RW, a DVD-ROM, a DVD-RAM, and a DVD. -RW, DVD + RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, etc. can be used. Alternatively, the program code may be downloaded via a network.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. Includes a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. This includes the case where the CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but the OS running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code is actually used. Needless to say, the present invention also includes a case in which the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by performing part or all of the processing and the processing.

  In this case, the program is supplied by downloading directly from a storage medium storing the program or from another computer or database (not shown) connected to the Internet, a commercial network, a local area network, or the like.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus which concerns on the 1st and 2nd embodiment of this invention. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a series of image reading processing procedures performed in the image reading apparatus and the external apparatus according to the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the information of the some external apparatus displayed on the display part of the image reading apparatus of 1st Embodiment. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of image reading processing performed in the image reading apparatus and the external apparatus according to the second embodiment. It is a figure which shows the display part and operation part in 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1 Image sensor 2 A / D converter 3 CPU (acquisition means)
6 Pulse motor 8 Memory (storage means)
9 RF modulator 10 WUSB communication unit (wireless USB communication means)
11 Operation part 13 Display part (display means)

Claims (13)

  In a peripheral device wirelessly connected to one host device among a plurality of host devices, the wireless device has an interface for wireless connection, display means, and control means, and the control means communicates with the host device by the interface. A peripheral device that controls wireless connection and controls whether or not the display means can connect to each of the plurality of host devices.   The peripheral device according to claim 1, further comprising a user interface for selecting one of the plurality of host devices displayed on the display unit.   The peripheral device according to claim 2, wherein the peripheral device transmits and receives data by connecting the bus interface to and from the selected host device.   The peripheral device according to claim 1, further comprising storage means for storing information related to each of the plurality of host devices.   The peripheral device according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral device includes recognition means for recognizing the connectable host device.   The peripheral device according to claim 1, further comprising an image input unit, and transmitting output image data from the image input unit to the selected host device.   The peripheral device according to claim 1, wherein the image input unit is a camera.   The peripheral device according to claim 1, wherein the image input unit is an image scanning input device.   The peripheral device according to claim 1, wherein the host device is a computer.   The peripheral device according to claim 1, wherein the host device is a printer having a host function.   An image processing system comprising the peripheral device according to claim 1 and the plurality of host devices. In a method for controlling a peripheral device wirelessly connected to a host device,
A recognition step of recognizing a host device wirelessly connectable to the peripheral device;
A storage step of storing information on whether or not the wireless connection is possible in the information on the recognized host device;
A display step of displaying the host device recognized as connectable;
A selection step for receiving selection information of the host device from the user based on the display in the display step;
A connection step for establishing the wireless connection with the host device selected in the selection step;
And a step of transmitting data to the host device through the wireless connection established in the connection step.   The control program for performing the control method of Claim 12 by the control means which the said peripheral device has.

Images