JP2015162062A - event management apparatus and event management method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology of reducing loads on devices and a network, when the devices exist on the network and there is an apparatus including a plurality of applications which require event notifications on the devices.SOLUTION: First to third applications 30a-30c issue event notification requests to an event management service 20. The event management service 20 integrates the event notification requests from applications in one PC, or the first to third applications 30a-30d, and issues only one request to each of devices (first to third devices 90a-90c). Each of the devices transmits an event notification in response to the event notification request. Each of the devices transmits one event notification to one PC, accordingly.

Description

  The present invention relates to an event management apparatus and an event management method. For example, the present invention relates to an event management apparatus and an event management method when a plurality of applications that receive event notifications from devices on a network are executed on the same personal computer.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a system that manages events that occur in a device connected to a network such as an image forming apparatus using a personal computer connected to the same network.

  FIG. 1 shows a network system 101 according to the background art. The network system 101 includes a plurality of personal computers 110 connected to the network 102 and first to third devices 190a to 190c. Note that only one personal computer 110 is shown here. The first to third devices 190a to 190c are image forming apparatuses such as printers, scanners, and multifunction peripherals.

  The personal computer 110 includes a general communication interface 112 and an application execution platform 114 that is a basic application such as “.NET Framework (registered trademark)”. Furthermore, the personal computer 110 includes first to third applications 130 a to 130 c that operate on the application execution platform 114. The first to third applications 130a to 130c are, for example, utility applications that monitor the status of each device, applications that check device jams and remaining toner capacity, and SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). Communicates with each device by polling. On the other hand, WS-Eventing technology that requires event registration from the viewpoint of reliability may be used. In particular, WS-Eventing technology is often implemented in communication between an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral and a PC. When there are many applications that require such event notification, a plurality of event notifications are registered in the device. If there are many applications that require event notification as described above, a plurality of event notifications are registered in the device.

  In WS-Eventing, various techniques for reducing the processing load have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, even if an event occurs in the device immediately after a processing request to the device, this is notified to the host. When the OS (Operation System) is started, the subscriber acquires one entry of the “StatusMonitor” key from all printer driver setting information registered in the registry. If the value is 1, the key entry including “Notification” is acquired. If the value of the array element 0 indicates that there is a notification, the character string of the array element 1 is acquired as the event type, and image formation is performed. Request "Subscribe" to the device. The returned subscription ID is stored, and at the end of the operation of the OS, an “Unsubscribe” request is made to the image forming apparatus for all stored subscription IDs.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-269065

  By the way, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, when there are many applications that require event notification on the same PC, a plurality of event notifications are registered in the device. Since these generally operate on the OS as a resident program, a large number of processes as indicated by broken lines in FIG. 1 may occur, which may increase the processing load on the device and the PC and the network load. Another technique was required.

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a condition, and it aims at providing the technique which can solve the said subject.

The event management apparatus of the present invention commonly manages the event notification request from the application to the device when there are a plurality of applications that make an event notification request to a device connected to the network. An event management unit that makes one event notification request to the device and notifies the application of the event notification acquired from the device;
The event management method of the present invention manages the event notification request from the application to the device in common when there are a plurality of applications that make an event notification request to a device connected to the network. An event management step of making one event notification request to the device and notifying the application of the event notification acquired from the device.

  According to the present invention, when there are a plurality of devices on a network and there is a device on which a plurality of applications that require event notification of these devices exist, a technique for reducing the load on the device and the load on the network is provided. be able to.

1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of a network system in which a personal computer and devices are connected via a network according to the background art. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the personal computer of the network system based on embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the personal computer of the network system based on embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiments”) will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the network system 1 of the present embodiment. As illustrated, a plurality of personal computers 10 a to 10 c and first to third devices 90 a to 90 c are connected on the network 2. The first to third devices 90a to 90c are image forming apparatuses such as printers, scanners, and multifunction peripherals.

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the personal computers 10a to 10c, mainly focusing on event notification requests and event notifications with the first to third devices 90a to 90c. Here, only one personal computer 10a shows detailed functional blocks. Note that message exchange (event notification request and event notification) between devices is performed by WS-Eventing technology. As described above, message exchange in WS-Eventing requires registration in advance.

  The personal computers 10 a to 10 c include a general communication interface 12, an application execution platform 14 that is a base application such as “.NET Framework (registered trademark)”, and an event management service 20. The network system 114 operates on a predetermined OS. The event management service 20 operates on the application execution platform 14.

  Furthermore, the personal computer 10 includes first to third applications 30 a to 30 c that operate on the application execution platform 14. The first to third applications 30a to 30c are applications that centrally manage settings and states of a plurality of printers and multifunction peripherals, as in the first to third devices 90a to 90c, respectively, and perform individual authentication for each user. There are applications that limit the functions to be used, manage the print history, and monitor the device status.

Processing related to event notification with the above configuration will be described.
The first to third applications 30 a to 30 c make an event notification request to the event management service 20. The event management service 20 is an application having an event management function. The event management service 20 aggregates event notification requests from the respective applications existing in one PC, that is, the first to third applications 30a to 30c. Only one request is made to the first to third devices 90a to 90c).

  Each device (first to third devices 90a to 90c) returns an event notification in response to the event notification request. That is, each device (first to third devices 90a to 90c) returns one event notification to one PC.

  When there is an application that does not operate on the event management service 20, an event notification request for such an application is made individually as in the conventional case. Further, when there are a plurality of event management services 20 and an application operates on each event management service 20, an event notification request and an event notification are generated by the number of event management services 20.

  As a result, each device (first to third devices 90a to 90c) receives only one request from one PC in principle. Conventionally, since an event notification request is made for each application as described in the background art of FIG. 1, if three applications are operating, three requests are received from one PC, and each request is received. Responded to the event notification. However, in this embodiment, since there is one event notification request acquisition and one corresponding event notification, the number of processes shown by the broken line in FIG. 3 is compared with the process in FIG. The processing performed by each device is greatly reduced. In addition, since one event notification request is output from the first device 90a, it is possible to prevent a plurality of event notification requests from entering into a conflict state in the communication interface 12 and causing an error.

  The present invention has been described based on the embodiments. This embodiment is an exemplification, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to combinations of these components, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Network system 2 Network 10, 10a-10c Personal computer 12 Communication interface 14 Application execution platform 20 Event management service 30a 1st application 30b 2nd application 30c 3rd application 90a 1st device 90b 2nd device 90c 3rd device

Claims (2)

When there are a plurality of applications that make an event notification request to a device connected to a network, the event notification request from the application to the device is managed in common, An event management unit that performs an event notification request and notifies the application of an event notification acquired from the device;
An event management apparatus comprising: When there are a plurality of applications that make an event notification request to a device connected to a network, the event notification request from the application to the device is managed in common, An event management step of performing an event notification request and notifying the application of an event notification acquired from the device;
An event management method comprising:

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