JP2011238154A - Installation control device, installation control program and installation control method - Google Patents

Abstract

Time required for downloading and installing a plurality of programs is reduced.
Program specifying means for specifying a plurality of programs to be continuously installed, download means for continuously downloading a plurality of installation data corresponding to the specified plurality of programs, and the plurality of installations Determining means for determining completion of data download and installation completion of each of the plurality of identified programs; and installation of one of the plurality of identified programs is completed; An installation control device comprising: an activation unit that activates installation using the installation data corresponding to the other one when downloading of the installation data corresponding to the other one is completed.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an installation control device, an installation control program, and an installation control method.

  Conventionally, a method of downloading and installing a program from a server is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this specification, “installation” is used as a term including both newly installing a program and updating an installed program (so-called version upgrade).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-312105

  However, there are the following problems when installing a plurality of programs in succession. In the conventional installation method, when there are a plurality of programs to be installed, download and installation are sequentially executed for one program, and when the installation for the one program is completed, download of the next one program is started. Therefore, it takes more than the time corresponding to the sum of the total download time of the n programs and the total installation time of the n programs to complete the installation of the n programs. There is a problem of stagnation. In addition, since installation can be executed only with administrator privileges, there is a problem that a dialog for elevating privileges is displayed each time the installation is started. In addition, if a plurality of installations are started from a program executed with administrator authority in order to periodically determine whether update is necessary and perform installation according to the determination result, there is no need for update. Therefore, there is a problem that it is unavoidable that a dialog for privilege escalation is periodically displayed.

  The present invention has been created to solve such problems, and an object thereof is to reduce the time required to download and install a plurality of programs.

(1) A first installation control device for achieving the above object includes a program specifying means for specifying a plurality of programs to be continuously installed, and a plurality of installation data corresponding to the specified plurality of programs. Download means for continuously downloading, a determination means for determining completion of downloading of the plurality of installation data and completion of installation of each of the plurality of identified programs, and one of the plurality of identified programs When the installation is completed and the download of the installation data corresponding to the other one of the plurality of specified programs is completed, the startup that starts the installation using the installation data corresponding to the other one is started Means.
According to the present invention, since download and installation are executed in parallel for a plurality of programs, the time required to download and install a plurality of programs can be shortened.

(2) In the first installation control apparatus for achieving the above object, the program specifying means transmits attribute information of a plurality of installed programs to a server at a predetermined timing, and the transmitted attribute information Specific information for specifying a plurality of corresponding update programs is received from the server, and any two or more of the plurality of installed programs are selected as the plurality of programs to be continuously installed according to the received specific information. The function of the program specifying means may be realized by a program executed with a user authority, and the function of the activation means may be realized by a program executed with an administrator authority.
By adopting this configuration, an installed program that needs to be updated can be automatically identified at a predetermined timing without displaying a privilege elevation dialog. Further, even when there are a plurality of installed programs to be updated, the number of times the privilege elevating dialog is displayed can be suppressed to one.

(3) In the first installation control apparatus for achieving the above object, the program specifying unit is configured to store the plurality of programs to be continuously installed according to the attribute information of the installed program and the contents of the executable file. You may specify.
If this configuration is adopted, even if there is a program having common attribute information and different contents, it is possible to accurately specify whether or not updating is necessary.

(4) A second installation control apparatus for achieving the above object includes download means for continuously downloading a plurality of programs, and each of the plurality of programs is installed in parallel with downloading of other programs. In this way, there is provided an activation unit that activates the installation, and a progress status display unit that simultaneously displays the progress of the download and installation of the plurality of programs.
According to the present invention, since download and installation are executed in parallel for a plurality of programs, the time required to download and install a plurality of programs can be shortened. Further, according to the present invention, since the progress of downloading and installing is displayed for a plurality of programs at the same time, it is easy for the user to predict when the installation of the plurality of programs is completed.

  Note that the function of each means described in the claims is realized by hardware resources whose function is specified by the configuration itself, hardware resources whose function is specified by a program, or a combination thereof. The functions of these means are not limited to those realized by hardware resources that are physically independent of each other. Furthermore, the present invention can be established as an invention of a program for causing a computer to realize these functions, a recording medium for recording the program, and an installation control method executed by a computer that executes the program. To establish. Of course, the program recording medium may be a magnetic recording medium, a magneto-optical recording medium, or any recording medium that will be developed in the future.

It is a block diagram concerning the embodiment of the present invention. It is a sequence chart concerning the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows GUI concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows GUI concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows GUI concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows GUI concerning embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In each figure, corresponding components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.
1. Outline First, an outline of an embodiment of an installation control apparatus according to the present invention will be described. The installation control device is realized by a PC (Personal Computer) that executes an update management program and an installation activation program configured to semi-automatically update an installed program. As shown in FIG. 1, the PC 1 is connected to an HTTP redirect server 8 and a download server 9 via the Internet 7. The PC 1 continuously downloads two update data from the download server 9 to update the printer driver 151 and the scanner driver 152, and continuously updates the printer driver 151 and the scanner driver 152 using the downloaded update data. Execute. At this time, the user needs to perform the procedure for promoting the user authority to the administrator authority only once in the dialog for promoting the authority, but all other processes are automatically executed.

2. Configuration The PC 1 includes an update management program 111, an installation start program 112, a printer driver 151, a scanner driver 152, a hard disk device (HDD) 15 in which various computer programs such as an OS are stored, a RAM 11 in which these programs are loaded, A CPU 12 for executing these programs, a ROM 14 for storing a boot program, an interface (I / F) 13 for connecting them, and the like are provided. The interface 13 includes an image forming apparatus 5 having a printing function controlled by the printer driver 151 and an image reading function controlled by the scanner driver 152, a display 2 for operating the PC 1, a mouse 3, a keyboard 4, Peripheral devices such as the modem 6 are connected.

  The update management program 111 is a resident program for managing the versions of the printer driver 151 and the scanner driver 152. When the version of the printer driver 151 and the scanner driver 152 is updated by the program provider, the update management program 111 updates the printer driver group update compressed data 91 and the scanner driver for updating the printer driver 151 and the scanner driver 152 to the latest version. A function of continuously downloading the group update compressed data 92 is realized.

  The installation activation program 112 is a program for activating installers of the printer driver 151 and the scanner driver 152, and is a program that is activated with administrator authority and does not have a user interface. A function of decoding the printer driver group update compressed data 91 and the scanner driver group update compressed data 92 in response to a request from the update management program 111 and starting the printer driver installer 115 and the scanner driver installer 116 expanded by the decoding Is realized.

  The HTTP redirect server 8 is a computer including a CPU, RAM, ROM, I / F, HDD, and the like. An HDD (not shown) stores a version management table 81, an OS, and the like by a program provider. The version management table 81 includes the version information of the printer driver 151 and the scanner driver 152, the OS, the region, the language, the model name of the image forming apparatus 5, and the corresponding update data as the attribute information of the program provided by the program provider. The URL for accessing and downloading is stored in association with the URL. This URL is an address at which the download server 9 in which the compressed data 91 for updating the printer driver group and the compressed data 92 for updating the scanner driver group are stored as update data is provided. Hereinafter, this URL is referred to as a download address.

  The download server 9 is a computer having a CPU, RAM, ROM, I / F, HDD, and the like. The HDD (not shown) of the download server 9 stores printer driver group update compressed data 91 and scanner driver group update compressed data 92 as installation data. The printer driver group update compressed data 91 is a data file in which an installer for updating the printer driver 151 and the latest version of the program data are compressed. The scanner driver group update compressed data 92 is a data file in which an installer for updating the scanner driver 152 and the latest version of program data are compressed.

3. Program Management Method FIG. 2 is a sequence chart showing an installation control method by the above-described installation control apparatus.
The PC 1 identifies an installed program to be updated at a predetermined timing, such as a specific time on a specific day of the week, by the update management program 111 that is always running with user authority (S100). Specifically, the PC 1 sets the version, OS, region, language, model name of the image forming apparatus 5, etc. for the printer driver 151 and the scanner driver 152 that are managed by the update management program 111. The attribute information of the scanner driver 152 is transmitted to the HTTP redirect server 8. When the HTTP redirect server 8 receives the attribute information from the PC 1, the HTTP redirect server 8 transmits the download address corresponding to the received attribute information as specific information to the PC 1 that is the transmission source of the attribute information. As a result, the PC 1 receives from the HTTP redirect server 8 addresses at which the printer driver group update compressed data 91 and the scanner driver group update compressed data 92 can be downloaded as update data corresponding to the installed printer driver 151 and scanner driver 152. Receive. In this way, by receiving the address for downloading the update data as the specific information, the installed program that is the target of continuous installation is specified. Then, the order of installation is set for each of the plurality of installed programs identified as the targets for continuous installation.

  Here, the HTTP redirect server 8 that has received the attribute information compares the received attribute information with the attribute information held in the version management table 81. If the version specified by the received attribute information is older than the version specified by the corresponding attribute information held in the version management table 81, the HTTP redirect server 8 will download the download address associated with the received attribute information. Is acquired from the version management table 81, and the acquired download address is transmitted to the PC 1 that is the transmission source of the attribute information. If the version specified by the received attribute information matches the version specified by the corresponding attribute information held in the version management table 81, the HTTP redirect server 8 does not need to update the update management program 111. The notification shown is transmitted to the PC 1 that is the transmission source of the attribute information.

  In the following description, it is assumed that the version of the printer driver 151 installed in the PC 1 and the version of the scanner driver 152 are not the latest, and the update order (installation order) is set in the order of the printer driver 151 and the scanner driver 152.

  When the PC 1 receives a download address from which the printer driver group update compressed data 91 and the scanner driver group update compressed data 92 can be downloaded as specific information from the HTTP redirect server 8, the PC 1 starts the installation start program 112 by the update management program 111. (S101). While the update management program 111 is executed with user authority, the installation activation program 112 is a program executed with administrator authority. Therefore, when the installation activation program 112 is activated, a dialog for elevating authority is displayed. Displayed on the display 2 by the OS. When the user performs a predetermined procedure in the dialog for elevating authority, the installation activation program 112 is activated with administrator authority.

  Next, the PC 1 displays a progress display window on the display 2 (S102). As shown in FIG. 3, the progress display window includes an update target list G11 indicating a list of programs to be updated, a progress bar G12 indicating the progress of download, a progress bar G13 indicating the progress of update, and a download and update progress list. This is a window in which stop buttons G14 for receiving a stop instruction are arranged. The progress bars G12 and G13 are updated according to the download progress and update progress described later. That is, the progress of downloading and installing the printer driver 151 and the scanner driver 152 that are the targets of continuous installation are simultaneously displayed in the progress display window G1. Therefore, the update management program 111 has a function of monitoring the progress of download and a function of monitoring the progress of update.

  Next, the PC 1 starts the continuous download of the printer driver group update compressed data 91 and the scanner driver group update compressed data 92 from the download server 9 specified by the received download address by the update management program 111. That is, first, the printer driver group update compressed data 91 that is update data for the printer driver 151 that is the first update target is downloaded (S103). At this time, the PC 1 monitors the download progress of the compressed data 91 for updating the printer driver group by the update management program 111 and updates the progress bar G12 according to the progress.

  When the download of the printer driver group update compressed data 91 is completed, the update management program 111 notifies the installation activation program 112 that the printer driver 151 is ready to be updated (S104).

  The update management program 111 that has notified the installation activation program 112 of the completion of update preparation starts to download the scanner driver group update compressed data 92 for updating the scanner driver 152 that is the second update target (S105). That is, the download of the scanner driver group update compressed data 92 and the update of the printer driver 151 are executed in parallel. During the download, the scanner driver group update compressed data 92 is transferred from the modem 6 to the RAM 11 via the I / F 13. This transfer is executed independently from the processing of the CPU 11 by DMA (Direct Memory Access). In the single download process, the communication speed of the Internet becomes a bottleneck, so the RAM 11 has a sufficient processing capacity. On the other hand, the update of the printer driver 151 is mainly a process of decoding the printer driver group update compressed data 91 and a process of storing the printer driver data 113 expanded in the RAM 11 in the HDD 15. The process of decoding the printer driver group update compressed data 91 is executed by the CPU 11, but the storage process in the HDD 15 is executed independently of the process of the CPU 11 by the DMA. In the single processing stored in the HDD 15, the writing speed of the HDD 15 becomes a bottleneck, so that the processing capacity of the RAM 11 has a margin. Therefore, if the download of the scanner driver group update compressed data 92 and the update of the printer driver 151 are executed in parallel, the processing time can be shortened compared to the case where each is executed sequentially.

  When notified that the update preparation for the printer driver 151 is completed, the installation activation program 112 decrypts the compressed data 91 for updating the printer driver group (S200). As a result, the printer driver data 113 and the printer driver installer 115 are expanded in the RAM 11. The printer driver data 113 is a data file of the latest version of the printer driver 151. The printer driver installer 115 is a program that rewrites the data file of the printer driver 151 with the printer driver data 113 and executes setting processing associated with the update.

Next, the installation activation program 112 activates the printer driver installer 115 (S201).
The printer driver installer 115 activated by the installation activation program 112 updates the printer driver 151 (S301). That is, the PC 1 rewrites the data file of the printer driver 151 with the printer driver data 113 by the printer driver installer 115 and executes setting processing associated with the update.

  When the update of the printer driver 151 is completed, the printer driver installer 115 notifies the installation start program 112 of the completion of the update (S302). The installation activation program 112 notified of the update completion notifies the update management program 111 of the completion of the update of the printer driver 151 (S202).

  When the update completion of the printer driver 151 that is the first update target is notified, the update management program 111 determines whether or not the download of the update data of the scanner driver 152 that is the second update target has been completed. Then, it is determined whether or not downloading of the program to be installed next is completed (S106). The function of the update management program 111 for monitoring the download progress and the update progress described above is realized by a process independent of the process of executing the download. That is, the update management program 111 monitors the download progress and the update progress in parallel with the download. Therefore, the update management program 111 realizes a function of determining whether download is completed or installation is completed, along with a download function.

  When the update of the printer driver 151 that is the first update target and the download of the update data (scanner driver group update compressed data 92) of the scanner driver 152 that is the second update target are completed, the update management program 111 Then, it notifies the installation activation program 112 of the completion of the update preparation for the scanner driver 152 that is the second update target (S107).

When notified of the completion of update preparation for the scanner driver 152 that is the second update target, the installation activation program 112 decrypts the update data for the second update target as well as the first update target (S203). ) And launches the decrypted installer (204). As a result, the scanner driver 152 is updated by the activated scanner driver installer 116 (S401).
When the scanner driver 152 that is the second update target is updated, the update completion of the scanner driver 152 is notified from the scanner driver installer 116 to the update management program 111 via the installation activation program 112 (S402, S205).

  According to the installation control methods described so far, download and update are executed in parallel for the two installed programs, so the time required to download and update the latest versions of the two programs is reduced. Can do. Further, since the update management program 111 is a program executed with the user authority, the procedure for promoting the administrator authority without using the PC 1 with the administrator authority at all times and when there is no program to be updated exists. It is possible to automatically specify a program to be updated at a predetermined timing without forcing the user. In addition, since the progress of downloading and updating is simultaneously displayed for a plurality of programs, it is easy for the user to predict when the updating of the plurality of programs will be completed. Since the installation activation program 112 is a program executed with the administrator authority, even when there are a plurality of programs to be updated, the number of times that the authority promotion dialog is displayed can be suppressed to one.

  The example in which the versions of the two programs of the printer driver 151 and the scanner driver 152 are managed has been described so far, but the same applies to the case of managing the versions of three or more programs. When three programs are subject to continuous update, the progress of downloading and the progress of installation are monitored for the three programs, and as shown in FIG. 3 to FIG. Progress is displayed at the same time. In the example shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, two printers (printer belonging to the PX3000 series and printer belonging to the PX5000 series) connected to the PC 1 and drivers of one scanner (scanner belonging to the SX300 series) are to be updated. It has become. In a state where the decoding of update data for updating the driver of the printer belonging to the PX3000 series and the download of update data for updating the driver of the scanner belonging to the SX300 series are executed in parallel, FIG. The progress of the download is displayed as in the progress bar G12, and the progress of the update is displayed as in the progress bar G13 in FIG. Updating for updating the driver of the printer belonging to the SX300 series is performed in parallel with the update of the driver of the printer belonging to the PX3000 series and the downloading of the update data for updating the driver of the printer belonging to the PX5000 series. In the state where the data download is completed, the progress of the download is displayed as shown by the progress bar G12 in FIG. 5, and the progress of the update is displayed as shown by the progress bar G13 in FIG. Updating of the driver of the printer belonging to the PX3000 series is completed, and the update data for updating the driver of the scanner belonging to the SX300 series is downloaded and the update data for updating the driver of the printer belonging to the PX5000 series is downloaded. In the state of being executed in parallel, the progress of the download is displayed as in the progress bar G12 in FIG. 6, and the progress of the update is displayed as in the progress bar G13 in FIG.

4). Other Embodiments Although the present invention has been specifically described with the embodiment, it is needless to say that the technical scope of the present invention is defined by the scope of the claims and is not limited to the above-described embodiment.
For example, instead of transmitting the download address from the HTTP redirect server 8 to the PC 1, the version management table 81 and update data are stored in the server device that receives the attribute information, and the update data corresponding to the received attribute information is received from the server device. You may transmit to PC1. In this case, what is stored in the version management table 81 in association with the attribute information is not the URL but the address and data file name in the server device that receives the attribute information. In other words, the information transmitted from the server device that has received the attribute information to identify the update target program to the client device does not have to be a physical address or a logical address, and the update data of the program to be updated The file name of the update data may be used.

  Further, instead of determining the completion of download and the completion of installation by the program executed by the user authority (update management program 111), the determination may be made by the program executed by the administrator authority (installation activation program 112). .

  In addition, update data corresponding to a plurality of programs may be included in the compressed update data as one unit of download. For example, one piece of compressed compressed data can include a plurality of program data and a plurality of installers that can be used to update drivers of a plurality of types of printers belonging to the same series. In this case, the installer and program data corresponding to the installed printer driver are identified from among the plurality of deployed installers and program data, and the update is executed using the identified installer and program data.

  Further, when specifying a program to be updated, the contents of the installed program may be referred to together with the attribute information of the installed program. For example, when there are two types of printer drivers having the same attribute information but partially different program contents, one printer driver may be excluded from the version management target by the update management program. Such exceptional handling can be realized by rewriting the setting information of the update management program according to the contents of the program data of the printer driver when a printer driver to be an exception is newly installed.

  The present invention can also be applied to new installation of a plurality of programs. When the present invention is applied to a new installation, a GUI for a user to specify a program to be installed may be displayed, and the program to be continuously installed may be specified using the GUI.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... PC, 2 ... Display, 3 ... Mouse, 4 ... Keyboard, 5 ... Image forming apparatus, 6 ... Modem, 7 ... Internet, 8 ... Redirect server, 9 ... Download server, 11 ... RAM, 12 ... CPU, 13 ... Interface, 14 ROM, 15 HDD, 81 Version management table, 91 Printer driver group update compressed data, 92 Scanner driver group update compressed data, 111 Update management program, 112 Installation start program, 113 Printer driver data, 114 ... Scanner driver data, 115 ... Printer driver installer, 116 ... Scanner driver installer, 151 ... Printer driver, 152 ... Scanner driver, G1 ... Progress status display window Doe, G11 ... updated list, G12 ... progress bar, G13 ... progress bar, G14 ... stop button

Claims (8)

A program identification means for identifying a plurality of programs to be continuously installed;
Download means for continuously downloading a plurality of installation data corresponding to the plurality of identified programs;
Determining means for determining completion of downloading of the plurality of installation data and completion of installation of each of the plurality of identified programs;
When the installation of one of the plurality of specified programs is completed and the download of the corresponding installation data for the other one of the plurality of specified programs is completed, the installation corresponding to the other one is completed. Starting means for starting the installation using the business data;
An installation control device comprising: The program identifying means transmits attribute information of a plurality of installed programs to a server at a predetermined timing, receives identification information identifying a plurality of update programs corresponding to the transmitted attribute information from the server, Specifying any two or more of the plurality of installed programs as the plurality of programs to be continuously installed according to the received specific information;
The function of the program specifying means is realized by a program executed with user authority,
The function of the activation means is realized by a program executed with administrator authority.
The installation control apparatus according to claim 1. The program specifying means specifies the plurality of programs to be continuously installed according to the attribute information of the installed program and the contents of the executable file.
The installation control apparatus according to claim 2. A program identification means for identifying a plurality of programs to be continuously installed;
Download means for continuously downloading a plurality of installation data corresponding to the plurality of identified programs;
Determining means for determining completion of downloading of the plurality of installation data and completion of installation of each of the plurality of identified programs;
When the installation of one of the plurality of specified programs is completed and the download of the corresponding installation data for the other one of the plurality of specified programs is completed, the installation corresponding to the other one is completed. Starting means for starting the installation using the business data;
An installation control program that allows the computer to function as. Identify multiple programs for continuous installation,
Continuously downloading a plurality of installation data corresponding to the plurality of identified programs;
Determining completion of downloading of the plurality of installation data and completion of installation of each of the plurality of identified programs;
When the installation of one of the plurality of specified programs is completed and the download of the corresponding installation data for the other one of the plurality of specified programs is completed, the installation corresponding to the other one is completed. Start the installation using the data for
Including installation control method. Downloading means for downloading a plurality of programs in succession;
Starting means for starting installation so that each of the plurality of programs is installed in parallel with downloading of other programs;
Progress display means for simultaneously displaying download and installation progress for the plurality of programs;
An installation control device comprising: Downloading means for downloading a plurality of programs in succession;
Starting means for starting installation so that each of the plurality of programs is installed in parallel with downloading of other programs;
Progress display means for simultaneously displaying download and installation progress for the plurality of programs;
Installation control program that makes the computer function. Download multiple programs in succession,
Launch installation so that each of the plurality of programs is installed in parallel with the download of other programs,
Displaying the download and installation progress for the plurality of programs simultaneously,
Including installation control method.

Images