WO2005055067A1

WO2005055067A1 - Data communication terminal

Info

Publication number: WO2005055067A1
Application number: PCT/JP2004/018071
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hirotada Yokosawa; Hideo Nakamura
Original assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
Priority date: 2003-12-03
Filing date: 2004-11-29
Publication date: 2005-06-16
Also published as: JPWO2005055067A1

Abstract

A data communication terminal includes a first processing unit, a second processing unit, a first storage medium detachably connected to the first processing unit, and a second storage medium detachably connected to the second processing unit. Queue data generated in the first processing unit is stored in the first storage medium and the queue data is transmitted outside via the second processing unit. Cache data received from outside by the second processing unit is stored in the second storage medium and the cache data is processed in the first processing unit.

Description

Description Data communication terminal Technical field

The present invention relates to a data communication terminal, and more particularly to a data communication terminal suitably applied to a POS system for performing data communication between a terminal and a server. Background art

The cashier terminal of the POS system has the same basic structure as a general-purpose computer device. That is, the cashier terminal has a large-capacity hard disk for storing general-purpose OS such as Windows (trade name), an application program for driving the cashier terminal, a communication program with the server, and the like.

When a network such as an Internet network is interposed between the cashier terminal and the server computer, complicated internal processing is required on the cashier terminal side to avoid communication failure.

See Patent Documents 1 and 2 for documents related to this case.

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2 0 0 1-1 8 4 3 0 7

[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-3171756 However, when a general-purpose OS, a large-capacity hard disk, and a computer device having a complicated communication failure avoidance program are adopted as cashier terminals, Cash register terminals become expensive both in hardware and software. Disclosure of the invention Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a data communication terminal device capable of inexpensively and reliably avoiding a communication failure between a terminal and a server computer even if a communication failure occurs.

In order to achieve the above object, the present inventors focused on an external storage medium such as a memory card, and required a data communication terminal for the storage medium instead of a hard disk. I thought about saving the output data (the queue data). This is because when a communication failure occurs, data can be updated by removing this storage medium from the terminal and physically moving it to the server computer.

In order to prevent the effect of communication failure from affecting the queue data of the data communication terminal, it is necessary to save the cache data sent from the server and the queue data independently from the viewpoint of safety and stability. preferable. Therefore, we decided to store the queue data and cache data in separate storage media using separate routes.

As described above, the data communication terminal of the present invention is configured as follows. A terminal main unit including an application processing unit and a first processing unit having a first data management unit; a communication processing unit and a second processing unit having a second data management unit; A first storage medium attached to the storage medium and having a queue unit;

A second storage medium that is detachably attached to the terminal body and has a cache unit.

The queue generated by the application processing unit by the first data management unit is stored in a queue unit of the first storage medium, and the queue data is stored in the first data management unit. Read and sent to the second data management unit of the second processing unit, processed by the communication processing unit, The cache data of the communication processing unit is stored in the cache unit of the second storage medium by the second data management unit, and the cache data is read out by the second data management unit and read by the second data management unit. Sent to the first data management unit of the first processing unit and processed by the application processing unit;

A data communication terminal, characterized in that: Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an outer shape of a cashier terminal according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the cashier terminal according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a cache download is downloaded from a server convenience store to a cashier terminal according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state in which cache data is used in the application processing unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the queue processing generated by the application processing unit is stored.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which the queue is uploaded to the server computer. ,

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a backup state during an overnight cache.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a backup state of queue data.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of a cashier terminal according to another embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the overnight reproduction of the first memory card.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an overnight reproduction of the second memory card.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a countermeasure when the capacity of the memory card reaches the limit. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a state when the capacity of the memory card has reached the limit. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, each element of the present invention will be described. (Terminal itself)

The terminal has a central processing unit, an internal memory device, various interfaces, and a bus connecting them. The interface includes an input device, an output device (display, printer), a communication port, and two ports (a first port and a first port) for detachably connecting a storage medium such as a memory card. A second port) is provided.

The terminal body has a first processing unit and a second processing unit. The first processing unit and the second processing unit may be separate machines (that is, a computer device including a central processing unit, an internal memory device, various interfaces, and a bus connecting these components). Also, two 'virtual machines' may be configured by a program in one combination device. 〇s (operation system) of each processing unit is not particularly limited. However, according to the present invention, since the processing operation in each processing unit is limited and the load on the processing is small, a simple programming language such as J AVA (registered trademark, the same applies hereinafter) can be used. For example, some JAVA chips can operate two virtual machines, and by using these virtual machines as the first processing unit and the second processing unit, the cost of the terminal itself can be reduced. .

The first processing unit has an aggregation processing unit and a first data management unit. The application processing unit and the first data management unit are executed by operating a machine configuring the first processing unit with a program.

The application processing unit controls input devices, such as a barcode / dry key, a display, and a printer as cashier terminals. It also performs calculations on data such as the amount of money input from the cashier terminal.

The first processing unit transmits and receives data to and from the second processing unit in the second processing unit, which will be described later, and transfers data to and from the first storage medium, in addition to the data transfer to the application processing unit. Control. The second processing unit has a communication processing unit and a second data management unit. The communication processing unit and the second data management unit are executed by operating a machine constituting the second processing unit with a program.

The communication processing unit is connected to the server computer via a communication line, and exchanges data with the server computer. The second processing unit controls, in addition to the data transfer to the communication processing unit, the data transfer to the first data management unit in the first processing unit, and the data transfer to the second storage medium. . (First storage medium)

The first storage medium is detachably attached to the terminal body, and exchanges data with the first data management unit of the first processing unit. In the embodiment described later, the memory force is used, but a storage medium having another readable / writable semiconductor memory device such as a USB force force, or a storage medium having a built-in hard disk or flexible disk may be used. This first storage medium has a queue portion as a data storage area. In this queue unit, the output data of the application processing unit is stored as the queue data. This output data is transmitted to the server convenience store and used for product management. ,

This first storage medium can be provided with a backup cache unit as a storage area. In this backup cache unit, the cache of the cache unit of the second storage medium is copied.

(Second storage medium)

The second storage medium is detachably attached to the terminal body, and exchanges data with the second data management unit of the second processing unit. Similarly to the first storage medium, a memory card is used in an embodiment described later, but a storage medium having another readable / writable semiconductor memory device such as a USB flash drive, a hard disk or a flexible disk is incorporated. A storage medium described above can also be used. A storage medium of a different type from the first storage medium can be adopted as the second storage medium. The second storage medium has a cache section as a data storage area. There is no support for this cache Stores the cash receipt for the product master etc. sent from Bakong View Evening. This cache data is used for executing the cash register function by the application processing unit of the first processing unit.

This second storage medium can be provided with a backup queue unit as a storage area. The queue data of the queue section of the first storage medium is copied to this backup queue section.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail based on embodiments. .

FIG. 1 shows an outline of a cashier terminal 1 (data communication terminal) of the embodiment, and FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram thereof.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cashier terminal 1 of the embodiment has two ports (a first port 5 and a second port 6) on a terminal body 3, and a first port 5 and a second port 6. On the other hand, the first memory card 30 and the second memory card 40 are detachably attached. In the figure, reference numeral 7 denotes an input terminal, reference numeral 8 denotes a document output port of the printer, and reference numeral 9 denotes a display.

The terminal body 3 has a first processing unit 10 and a second processing unit 20 composed of virtual machines. The first processing unit 10 includes an application processing unit 11 and a first data management unit 13. The application processing unit 11 controls the input terminal 7, the printer 8, and the display 9 of the cashier terminal via the input / output interface 15. The first port 5 is connected to the first data management unit 13, whereby the first data management unit 13 writes data to and reads data from the first memory card 30. Becomes possible.

The second processing unit 20 includes a communication processing unit 21 and a second data management unit 23. The communication processing unit 21 is connected to a network 50 such as the Internet via a communication interface 25. The second port 6 is connected to the second data management section 23, so that the second data management section 23 can store a second note to the second note 40). Writing and reading are enabled. The first memory key 30 has an area 31 for storing identification information (identification number) unique to the key and a storage area 33 for data storage. Similarly, the second memory card 40 has an area 41 for storing an identification number unique to the card and a storage area 43 for overnight.

5 The server computer 60 is connected to the network 50 and can perform data communication with the cashier terminal 1 of the embodiment. At the server computer 60, there is a box of items related to products. This data is downloaded to the cashier terminal 1 as shown in FIG. That is, the communication processing unit 21 of the second processing unit 20 receives the data from the server combination 60 via the network 50. The received data is sent to the second data management unit 23 and further stored in the cache unit 45 of the data storage area of the second memory card 40.

The data received from the server in this manner is read by the second data management unit 23 and communicated to the first data management unit 13 of the first processing unit 10 as shown in FIG. Is done. The first data management unit 13 sends the received data to the application 15 processing unit 11. Then, this data is provided to the execution of the application processing unit 11. As shown in FIG. 5, the output data obtained as a result of the execution of the application processing unit 11 is stored in the data storage area of the first memory card 30 via the first data management unit 13. It is stored as cue data in the part 35 of the queue. Queue part 3 5

The queue data stored in 20 is read by the first data management unit 13 and communicated to the second data management unit 23 of the second processing unit 20 as shown in FIG. The second data management unit 23 sends this output data to the communication processing unit 21. The communication processing unit 21 sends the output data to the server computer 60 according to a predetermined communication protocol and stores it in the server computer 60. Upload to server computer 60

The queue is deleted from the queue section 35.

According to the cashier terminal 1 of the embodiment configured as described above, even if a communication failure occurs in the network 50 and the effect appears in the download data overnight, it is shown in FIG. As described above, this download data is received only by the second processing unit 20 and the second memory card 40. Unless there is a read instruction shown in FIG. 4, the communication failure does not affect the first processing unit 10 and the first memory card 30. Therefore, when a failure occurs in the network 50, the data generated by the application processing unit of the first processing unit 10 and stored on the first memory card is transferred to the cashier terminal. By removing it from 1 and physically moving it to the server computer 60, the data can be uploaded directly to the server computer 60.

In the examples of Fig. 7 and Fig. 8, data is duplicated and backup is performed when the memory card is damaged. That is, the first memory card 30 has a backup cache unit 37 in its memory area 33, and the second memory card 40 has a backup queue part 47 in its memory area 43.

As shown in FIG. 7, the cache data downloaded from the server computer 60 is written to the cache memory 45 of the second memory card 40 by the second data management unit 23. At the same time, a copy of the cache data is written to the backup cache unit 37 of the first memory card 30 via the first data management unit 13 of the first processing unit 10. Therefore, the data in the cache unit 45 of the second memory card 40 and the data in the backup cache unit 37 of the first memory card 30 are the same, and the data in the cache unit 45 is backed up. Will be

Similarly, the queue data generated by the application processing unit 11 is written to the queue unit 35 of the first memory card 30 by the first data management unit 13 and at the same time, the data is copied. Is written to the backup queue unit 47 of the second memory card 40 via the second data management unit 23 of the second processing unit 20. Therefore, the data in the queue section 35 of the first memory card 30 and the data in the backup queue section 47 of the second memory card 40 become the same, and the data in the queue section 35 is backed up. ' In this way, the data of the queue part 35 of the first memory card 30 is backed up to the back-up cue part 47 of the physically separated second memory card 40, and By backing up the data in the cache section 45 of the memory card 40 to the backup cache section 37 of the first physically separated memory card 30, data security is improved. Secured.

As shown in FIG. 9, for example, a third port 70 is connected to the second data management unit 23, and a third memory card 80 is detachably attached to the third port 70. Can be installed. Then, the copy of the queue portion 35 of the first memory card 30 is copied to the backup queue portion 85 of the data storage portion 83 of the third memory card 80, and The data in the cache unit 45 of the memory card 40 of the third memory card 80 is copied to the backup cache unit 87 of the third memory card 80. Thus, the data of the queue section 35 and the cache section 45 are backed up.

In FIG. 9, the same elements as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. FIG. 10 shows a data reproducing method when the first memory card 30 fails and is replaced with a new memory card.

First, when the first memory card 30 breaks down, the display 9 of the cashier terminal 1 and an indication of the countermeasure are displayed. The operator replaces the first memory card 30 with a new first memory card 130 according to the guidance. Next, when the input terminal 7 is operated to issue an instruction for overnight reproduction, the following processing is executed.

The second data management unit 23 of the second processing unit 20 reads the cache data from the cache unit 45 of the second memory card 40 and reads it from the first processing unit 10. Communication to the data management unit 13 of The first data management unit 13 writes the received cache data to the backup cache unit 1337 of the new first memory card 130. Similarly, the second data management unit 23 reads the queue data from the backup queue unit 47 of the second memory card 40 and communicates it to the first data management unit 13. . The first data management unit 13 receives the queue data The evening is written to the queue section 135 of the new first memory card 130. By using the data stored in the second memory card 40 in this way, a new first memory card 130 is reproduced.

FIG. 11 shows a data reproducing method when the second memory card 40 has failed and is replaced with a new memory card.

First, when the second memory card 40 breaks down, the fact and countermeasure guidance are displayed on the display 9 of the cashier terminal 1. The operator replaces the second memory card 40 with a new second memory card 140 according to the guidance. Next, when the input terminal 7 is operated to instruct data reproduction, the following processing is executed.

The first data management unit 13 of the first processing unit 10 reads the queue data from the queue unit 35 of the first memory card 30 and reads it from the second processing unit 20. Communicate to data management unit 23. The second data management unit 23 writes the received queue data into the backup queue unit 147 of the new second memory card 140. Similarly, the first data management unit 13 reads the cache data from the backup cache unit 37 of the first memory card 30 and communicates it to the second data management unit 23. The second data management unit 23 writes the received cache data to the cache unit 144 of the new second memory card 140. By using the data stored in the first memory card 30 in this way, a new second memory card 140 is reproduced.

The processing when the capacity of the cache part 45 of the second memory card 40 or the capacity of the queue part 35 of the first memory card 30 reaches the limit will be described below.

Fig. 12 shows an example of a case where the data is not duplicated overnight.

When the capacity of the cache unit 45 reaches the limit, the cache data of the cache unit 45 that is unlikely to be used by the application processing unit 11 is deleted by the second data management unit 23, Try to recover that capacity. Possibility of use overnight For example, the data management unit 23 weights the data of the cache unit 45 used to execute the application processing unit 11 in order to rank the data. If the network 50 remains unstable for a long time, the capacity of the queue section 35 may reach its limit. In this case, the display 9 of the cashier terminal 1 and the guidance for the countermeasure are displayed. The operator replaces the first memory card with a new memory card 230 according to the countermeasure guidance. As a result, the subsequent output data of the application processing unit 11 is stored in the queue unit 235 of the new first memory card 230. When the communication between the communication processing unit 21 and the server computer 60 is restored, the first memory card with the limited capacity of the queue unit 3 5. is connected to the cashier terminal to output the data. Overnight, you can do 60 hair programs on the server computer.

If the data is duplicated (see Fig. 13), when the capacity of the cache unit 45 reaches the limit, the display 9 of the cashier terminal 1 and the guidance are displayed. The operator replaces the first memory card with a new memory card 330 according to the countermeasure guidance. As a result, the data in the cache section 45 immediately before the capacity limit is stored in the backup cache section of the new first memory card. After that, the second data management unit 23 deletes the cache data of the cache unit 45 that is unlikely to be used by the application processing unit 11 and recovers its capacity. The cache data of the cache unit 45 is read out to the second data management unit 3, and the backup data of the new first memory card 330 is transferred via the first data management unit 13. It is written to the cache section 3 37. Similarly, when the capacity of the queue section reaches the limit, the display 9 of the cashier terminal 1 and the guidance to that effect are displayed. The operator replaces the first memory card with a new memory card 330 according to the countermeasure guidance. As a result, the subsequent output of the application processing unit 11 is stored in the queue unit 335 of the new first memory card 330. In addition, the backup is stored in the nook queue section 47 of the second memory module 40. The communication processing unit 21 and When the communication between the server computers 60 is restored, the removed first memory card is connected to the cashier terminal, so that the data in the queue section is uploaded to the server computer 60. Do one

As described above, the data communication terminal of the present invention operates the application processing unit using the cache memory of the second storage medium even if the data communication terminal becomes isolated due to a communication failure. The output can be written to a queue on a second storage medium. Therefore, even if a communication failure occurs, the data communication terminal can be continuously operated for a while. When the capacity of the queue section reaches the limit for a long time due to a communication failure, the output can be saved in the queue section of the new storage medium by replacing the storage medium. By physically moving the removed storage medium to the server computer, the queue can be directly uploaded to the server computer. Similarly, by writing the cache data to be downloaded directly from the server computer to the first or second storage medium, the data communication of the server computer can be performed without passing through an unstable network. It can be used on terminals.

The present invention is not limited to the description of the above-described embodiment and examples. Various modifications are included in the present invention without departing from the scope of the claims and within the scope of those skilled in the art. Industrial potential

According to the data communication terminal configured as described above, the processing function required for the terminal main unit is performed by the operation of the application processing unit and the first data management unit in the first processing unit, and by the operation of the second processing unit. Only the operations of the communication processing unit and the second data management unit are performed, and the load required for the CPU is reduced. As a result, each processing unit can be operated using a simple programming language such as JAVA, and the terminal main unit can be provided at low cost. First processing unit in one chip By operating the and the second processing unit independently as a virtual machine, the terminal main unit becomes more inexpensive.

In addition, by making the first processing unit and the second processing unit independent, a problem occurring in each processing unit (particularly in the second processing unit connected to the external network) can be prevented from being caused by other processing units. Can be prevented.

The queue data generated by the application processing unit of the first processing unit and the cache data generated by the communication processing unit of the second processing unit are stored in the first storage medium and the second storage medium, respectively. . In recent years, inexpensive memory cards and the like can be used as these storage media, and in this regard, the entire apparatus is also inexpensive.

Furthermore, even if a communication failure occurs between the data communication terminal and the server computer, the terminal itself (the application processing unit) is operated for a while using the cache data stored in the second storage medium. By storing the output data (queue data) in the first storage medium, the data communication terminal can be operated continuously. If the communication failure lasts for a long period of time, the first storage medium and Z or the second storage medium are removed from the terminal body and physically moved to exchange data between the data communication terminal and the server computer. Becomes possible.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. A terminal main unit including a first processing unit having an application processing unit and a first data management unit, a second processing unit having a communication processing unit and a second data management unit,

A first storage medium detachably attached to the terminal body and having a queue unit;

A second storage medium detachably attached to the terminal main body and having a cache portion,

The queue data generated by the application processing unit by the first data management unit is stored in a queue unit of the first storage medium, and the queue data is stored in the first data management unit. Read and sent to the second data management unit of the second processing unit, processed by the communication processing unit,

The cache data of the communication processing unit is stored in the cache unit of the second storage medium by the second data management unit, and the cache data is read out by the second data management unit. Sent to the first data management unit of the first processing unit and processed by the application processing unit;

A data communication terminal, characterized in that:

2. The cache stored in the cache section of the second storage medium is backed up in the backup cache section of the first storage medium, and stored in the queue section of the first storage medium. 2. The data communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the queued queue is backed up to a backup queue section of the second storage medium.

3. The second data management unit reads out the cache data in the cache unit of the second storage medium and sends it to the first data management unit, and the first data The management unit writes the cache data to the backup cache unit of the first storage medium,

The first data management unit reads the queue data of the queue unit of the first storage medium and sends the queue data to the second data management unit, and the second data management unit stores the queue data in the queue data. 3. The data communication terminal according to claim 2, wherein the data is written in a backup queue section of the second storage medium.

4. When the cache unit of the second storage medium reaches a capacity limit, the second data management unit deletes a predetermined cache data from the cache unit. 3. The data communication terminal according to any one of 3.

5. A third storage medium detachably attached to the terminal body is further provided, and a part or all of the queue data of the first storage medium and / or the second storage medium is provided in the third storage medium. 2. The data communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein a part or all of the cache medium of the storage medium is backed up.

6.- A terminal body including: a first processing unit having an application processing unit and a first data management unit; and a second processing unit having a communication processing unit and a second data management unit, ,

A first port for detachably attaching a first storage medium having a queue section, and a second port for detachably attaching a second storage medium having a cache section,

The first data management unit stores the queue data generated by the application processing unit in a queue unit of the first storage medium, and reads out the queue data to execute the second processing. To the second data management unit, and processed by the communication processing unit; The second data management unit stores the cache data of the communication processing unit in a cache unit of the second storage medium, and reads the cache data to read the cache data and stores the cache data in the first data unit of the first processing unit. A data communication terminal main body, which is sent to an evening management unit and processed by the application processing unit.

7. A first processing unit, a second processing unit, a first storage medium detachably connected to the first processing unit, and a detachable connection to the second processing unit. A second storage medium,

The cue data generated in the first processing unit is stored in the first storage medium, and the cue data is transmitted to the outside via the second processing unit, and the second processing unit A data communication terminal, wherein the cache data received from outside is stored in the second storage medium, and the cache data is processed in the first processing unit.

8. The first processing unit and the second processing unit cooperate to store a copy of the queue data in the second storage medium, and copy the cache data to the first storage medium. 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein:

9. The data communication terminal according to claim 7, further comprising a third storage medium, wherein the queue data and / or the cache data is backed up in the third storage medium.