JP2001273098A - Image forming apparatus, control method therefor, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide an image forming apparatus capable of automatically setting a compatible protocol with high accuracy, a control method thereof, and a storage medium. SOLUTION: For data flowing on a network within a predetermined time, a frequency calculation process for calculating a frequency for each used protocol is performed (step S303), and a protocol setting process is performed based on the calculated reception frequency for each protocol. Is automatically performed (step S304).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of performing image forming processing in accordance with data of a plurality of different protocols via a network, a control method thereof, and a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent development of network technology,
An image forming apparatus such as a printer is generally used not only by being directly connected to a single personal computer (PC) but also by being connected to a network so that a plurality of PCs can be shared. Has become.

In a network environment such as a LAN, a network OS (NOS) for managing the entire network is required. At present, however, there are many types of NOSs, for example, even within the same company. A different NOS may be used for each department. NO
Since S has a specific protocol, a multi-protocol network printer capable of printing in accordance with a plurality of protocols has been developed.

[0004] In this specification, the term "protocol" refers to a communication protocol necessary for performing data communication.

[0005] Computer networks such as LANs
OSI (Open Syste) defined by ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
ms Interconnection: A hierarchical (layer) structure is adopted as represented by a reference model. The OSI has seven layers from a physical layer, which is the lowest layer, to an application layer, which is the highest layer, and there are protocols used for communication in each layer.

In this specification, for convenience of explanation, LA
The protocols that make up N are roughly divided into connection protocols, network protocols, and application protocols.
It means a generic term for these three protocols.

[0007] The connection protocol is generally realized by the physical layer which is the first layer and the data link layer which is the second layer of the OSI reference model. For example, transmission media and transmission methods,
Ethernet (registered trademark), which is a transmission standard that defines an access method and the like, is widely known as a typical connection protocol. In the case of Ethernet, transmission is performed after a data link layer adds a packet header corresponding to a frame type to data passed from an upper layer. Here, the frame type defines the structure of the packet. In order to perform communication between devices, it is necessary to use the same network protocol and the same frame type. The packet header added to the data differs depending on the frame type, but includes at least a destination address and a source address. Each device on the LAN can check the destination address of the packet header of the received packet and determine that the packet is to be taken if it is addressed to itself. Also, by confirming the source address, it is possible to know from where the message was transmitted. Since the connection protocol does not affect layers higher than the third layer, a plurality of network protocols and application protocols can be used on the constructed LAN.

[0008] The network protocol corresponds to the third layer, the network layer, and the fourth layer, the transport layer. Further, the application protocol corresponds to a layer above the session layer which is the fifth layer.

In the above-described multi-protocol compatible network printer, settings such as enabling a desired network protocol, disabling a network protocol not to be used, and setting a frame type corresponding to the used network protocol are correctly performed. There is a need. Such settings are troublesome for the user, but if these settings are incorrect, LAN communication cannot be performed normally. Therefore, in order to reduce such troublesome setting, a network printer capable of automatically setting a protocol has been developed.

[0010]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional network printer, it is often the case that the user does not notice that the protocol not used by the user is incorrectly set. Further, even in a printer capable of automatically setting a protocol, the frame type may not be set correctly for some reason, and the printer may operate with the wrong setting. In such a case, some types of network OSs periodically broadcast control packets such as routing information, so the printer sends unnecessary data to the network without the user's knowledge. This causes a problem such as that. Thus, if you leave the network printer protocol setting wrong,
In some cases, the network load increases and the communication efficiency decreases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides an image forming apparatus capable of automatically setting an applicable protocol with high accuracy, a control method thereof, and a storage medium. With the goal.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus capable of performing an image forming process corresponding to data of a plurality of different protocols, Protocol identification means for identifying the protocol used by the received data, for data received within a predetermined time, frequency calculation means for calculating the reception frequency for each protocol, based on the calculated reception frequency for each protocol, And a protocol setting means for setting a compatible protocol.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 101 according to the embodiment has three workstations (WS) 1.
02, 103, and 104 are connected to the LAN 100. The image forming apparatus 101 rasterizes the received print data and outputs the rasterized print data in accordance with any of the network protocols A, B, and C. The WS 102, WS 103, and WS 104 perform data communication in accordance with the network protocol A, the network protocol B, and the network protocol C, respectively.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus 101. In the figure, a data receiving unit 201 is an LA
Data flowing through N100 is received, and it is determined whether the received data is data addressed to image forming apparatus 101 or broadcast (broadcast) data. More specifically, if the destination address recorded in the packet header of the received data is the address of the image forming apparatus 101 or is broadcast, the received data is passed to the protocol identifying unit 202. Otherwise, the received data is discarded.

The protocol identifying unit 202 first identifies the frame type from the packet header of the data passed from the data receiving unit 201. Then, a code for identifying a network protocol used by an upper layer is read from a predetermined field defined by the identified frame type, and the network protocol is identified. As a result of the identification, if the network protocol used by the data is the network protocol A, the data is transmitted to the network protocol A processing unit 203.
If the network protocol used by the data is the network protocol B, the data is transmitted to the network protocol B processing unit 204. If the network protocol used by the data is the network protocol C, the data is transmitted to the network protocol C processing unit 205. If the network protocol used by the data is not any of the network protocols A, B, and C, the data is discarded. Further, the identification information at this time can be transmitted to the storage unit 206. Storage unit 206
Can store the received identification information and take statistics on the number of data received for each protocol. This operation will be described later in detail.

Network protocol A processing unit 203
Performs data processing on received data (in this embodiment, data transmitted from the WS 102) in accordance with the network protocol A to extract print data, and, though not shown, via an application protocol corresponding to the network protocol A (not shown). , To the image generation unit 207. The network protocol B processing unit 204 performs data processing on the received data (the data transmitted from the WS 103 in the present embodiment) in accordance with the network protocol B to extract print data. The data is transmitted to the image generation unit 207 via the application protocol. The network protocol C processing unit 205 performs data processing on the received data (the data transmitted from the WS 104 in the present embodiment) in accordance with the network protocol C to extract print data. The data is transmitted to the image generation unit 207 via the application protocol. Image generation unit 20
Reference numeral 7 rasterizes print data received from any of the network protocol A processing unit 203, the network protocol B processing unit 204, and the network protocol C processing unit 205, prints the rasterized data on paper, and then discharges the paper.

The network protocol processing unit 20
Each of 3 to 205 can read out a setting value related to a network protocol stored in the storage unit 206 and change the setting of each network protocol.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a schematic processing procedure for initial setting of the network protocol processing units 203 to 205 performed at the time of initialization such as when the power of the image forming apparatus 101 is turned on. Here, as the protocol setting mode, “automatic mode” that is automatically set, and “manual mode” that is set by the user operating a setting switch or the like can be arbitrarily selected. It is assumed that information is stored in the storage unit 206.

First, the setting mode selection information is read from the storage unit 206 (step S301), and it is determined whether or not the mode is the "auto mode" (step S302).
If the mode is the "automatic mode", the process proceeds to step S303, where a frequency calculation process described later is performed. In step S304, a protocol automatic setting process is performed based on the result of the frequency calculation process. If the read setting mode selection information is not “automatic mode” in step S302, it is determined that the mode is “manual mode”, and the process proceeds to step S305 to perform a protocol setting process by a normal user setting operation.

Next, the contents of the frequency calculation processing in step S303 will be described in detail.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the contents of the frequency calculation process. Here, as an example, the network protocols A, B, and C are frame types a and b, respectively.
Are supported.

First, in step S401, a timer for a predetermined time (for example, 10 seconds) is started. Note that, with the start of the timer, counters Aa, Ab, and B for counting the number of times data is received by a combination of the network protocol and the network protocol.
The contents of a, Bb, Ca, and Cb are reset. In step S402, it is determined whether the timer has expired. The timer generates an event when a predetermined time (10 seconds) elapses, and it is possible to determine whether the timer has ended by checking for the presence or absence of the event. If the timer has not expired, the process advances to step S403 to determine whether print job data has been received from any workstation on the network. If the print job data has not been received, the process returns to step S402.
If print job data has been received, step S404 follows.
To identify the frame type of the data from the packet header of the received data, read the identification code of the network protocol used by the upper layer from a predetermined field defined by the frame type, and identify the network protocol. Then, step S40
At 5, it is determined whether the identified network protocol is the network protocol A.

If it is the network protocol A, the flow advances to step S406 to determine whether the frame type identified in step S404 is the frame type a. If the frame type is a, the flow advances to step S407 to increment the network protocol A-frame type a counter Aa, and then returns to step S402. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S406 that the frame type is not the frame type a, it is determined that the frame type is b, the process proceeds to step S408, the network protocol A-frame type b counter Ab is counted up, and the process returns to step S402. .

If it is determined in step S405 that the protocol is not the network protocol A, step S409
To determine whether the network protocol used by the data is the network protocol B. If it is the network protocol B, the process proceeds to step S410, and it is determined whether the frame type identified in step S404 is the frame type a. If the frame type is a, the flow advances to step S411 to increment the network protocol B-frame type a counter Ba, and then to step S402.
Return to On the other hand, in step S410, the frame type a
If it is determined that the frame type is not the frame type b, the flow advances to step S412 to increment the network protocol B-frame type b counter Bb, and then returns to step S402.

If it is determined in step S409 that the protocol is not the network protocol B, step S413
To determine whether the network protocol used by the data is the network protocol C. If it is the network protocol C, the process advances to step S414 to determine whether the frame type identified in step S404 is the frame type a. If the frame type is a, the flow advances to step S415 to increment the network protocol C-frame type a counter Ca, and then to step S402.
Return to On the other hand, in step S414, the frame type a
If it is determined that the frame type is not the frame type b, the flow advances to step S416 to increment the counter Cb for the network protocol C-frame type b, and then returns to step S402.

When it is determined in step S402 that the timer has expired, the process exits. By checking the count value of the counter for each combination of the network protocol and the frame type by the above processing, the frequency of receiving data of each combination within a predetermined time can be determined.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a count value of a combination of a network protocol and a frame type obtained as a result of the above-described frequency calculation processing. This means that, in a predetermined time (10 seconds), data of a combination of the network protocol A and the frame type a is transmitted 30 times,
20 times, the data by the combination of the network protocol B and the frame type a eight times, the data by the combination of the network protocol b and the frame type b 17 times, the data of the network protocol C and the frame type a This indicates that the combination data has been received three times. Further, data based on a combination of the network protocol C and the frame type b is not received even once, and is displayed as 0. Such a display may be displayed on a display screen (not shown) provided in the image forming apparatus 101.

As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, in the protocol automatic setting process in step S304 of FIG. 3, first, data according to a combination of a network protocol and a frame type for a counter having a count value of 0 is set within a predetermined time. Since it has never been received, the combination is set to "disable" (step S601). In the example shown in FIG. 5, the combination of the network protocol C and the frame type b is "disabled".
Then, the other counter, that is, the count value is 1
The combination of the network protocol and the frame type according to the above counter is set to "enable" (step S602).

In the embodiment described above, a case has been described where the frame types supported by each network protocol are two types of frame types a and b, but it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this. .

The execution timing of the setting process shown in FIG. 3 is not limited to the time when the protocol processing unit is initialized after the power of the image forming apparatus 101 is turned on, and is configured to be executed, for example, at regular time intervals. It is also possible.

FIG. 7 shows a hardware configuration for realizing the functional block diagram shown in FIG. 2 by executing a program by a processor. As shown in the figure, each device constituting the image forming apparatus 101 is connected to a system bus 702. CPU 70
Reference numeral 1 denotes a microprocessor as a central processing unit, which controls processing of the entire image forming apparatus 101. R
The AM 703 is a readable and writable memory that stores a program as a main memory of the CPU 701 and has a temporary storage area for various data used as a work area when the CPU 701 executes control.
The RAM 703 includes counters Aa, Ab, Ba, B
FIG. 2 shows a counter area 703a for b, Ca, and Cb.
And a protocol storage area 703b for the storage unit 206. The external storage device 704 is a storage medium for storing various data. The ROM 705 is a read-only memory that stores fonts, data, and the like necessary for image forming processing in addition to the control program of the image forming apparatus. The image forming processing unit 706 performs an image forming process on a recording medium. The input unit 707 inputs the print job data transmitted via the LAN 100.

As described above, the image forming apparatus of the present invention automatically sets a protocol from data flowing on the network and does not use an unnecessary protocol. It is possible to avoid the problem of sending unnecessary data.

[0034]

[Other Embodiments] Even if the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus (for example, a copying machine) Machine, facsimile machine, etc.).

An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or a recording medium) in which a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (a computer) of the system or the apparatus. Or a CPU or MPU) reads out and executes the program code stored in the storage medium,
Needless to say, this is achieved. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.
The functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by executing the program code read by the computer forming apparatus, and the operating system (OS) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It is needless to say that a case in which the functions of the above-described embodiments are implemented by performing part or all of the actual processing.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into the memory provided in the function expansion card inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. , The CPU provided in the function expansion card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing,
It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing is also included.

When the present invention is applied to the above-mentioned storage medium, the storage medium has been described previously (FIGS. 3, 4 and 6).
The program code corresponding to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide an image forming apparatus capable of automatically setting a compatible protocol with high accuracy, a control method thereof, and a storage medium.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a form of a network to which an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment is connected.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows network protocol processing units 203 to 205
6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the initial setting.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the contents of a frequency calculation process.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of protocol information obtained as a result of a frequency calculation process.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the contents of a protocol automatic setting process.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the image forming apparatus 101.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page F-term (reference)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus capable of performing an image forming process in response to data of a plurality of different protocols, comprising: protocol identification means for identifying a protocol used by received data; For received data, a frequency calculation unit that calculates a reception frequency for each protocol, and a protocol setting unit that sets a compatible protocol based on the calculated reception frequency for each protocol, Image forming device. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the protocol setting unit invalidates a protocol whose reception frequency for each of the calculated protocols is lower than a predetermined value. 3. A method for controlling an image forming apparatus capable of performing an image forming process corresponding to data of a plurality of different protocols, comprising: a protocol identifying step of identifying a protocol used by received data; For data received within the time, a frequency calculation step of calculating a reception frequency for each protocol, and a protocol setting step of setting a compatible protocol based on the calculated reception frequency for each protocol. A method for controlling an image forming apparatus. 4. A storage medium storing a control program for an image forming apparatus capable of performing an image forming process corresponding to data of a plurality of different protocols, and identifying a protocol used by the received data. A program code for a protocol identification step, a program code for a frequency calculation step for calculating a reception frequency for each protocol with respect to data received within a predetermined time, and a protocol that can be supported based on the calculated reception frequency for each protocol. And a program code for a protocol setting step of setting the following.