JP2000284977A - Port connection controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain multi-data transfer by performing access form other application to a port even when the exclusive control of the port is operated for each application. SOLUTION: This device is provide width a non-port event controlling part 32 separately from a port event controlling part 17 which operates information transmission and reception with a USB device by relating an application with a USB port for operating exclusive control. In this case, the non-port event controlling part 32 directly performs the access of an event from the application to a pipe 34 exclusive for request transmission and a pipe 33 exclusive for request result reception without relating the application with the port.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a port connection control device for controlling communication with devices and the like connected via ports, and more particularly to access to device information of these devices and the like from a plurality of applications via ports. To a port connection control device that controls

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a type in which a host such as a personal computer is connected to a peripheral device such as a communication device via a port. In this case, the host transmits and receives communication information to and from connected peripheral devices by controlling communication with devices and the like connected via the port as a port connection control device. A typical example of the connection technology between the port connection control device and the peripheral device is RS, which is a serial interface standard established by the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA).
-232C (Recommended Standard 232C).

In recent years, central processing units (hereinafter referred to as CPUs) have been developed due to advances in host integration technology and the like.
Abbreviated. ) And semiconductor devices such as memories have been significantly increased in speed. Along with this, the processing contents of the host and the contents of communication with peripheral devices are becoming more sophisticated and larger in capacity. In such a situation, the standard maximum transfer rate is no longer 19.2.
RS-232C at kilobits per second (kbps) is a bottleneck in terms of communication capacity with peripheral devices. Therefore, a Universal Serial Bus (hereinafter abbreviated as USB) with a maximum transfer rate of 12 megabits per second (Mbps) has been proposed as a new serial interface standard.

[0004] In the USB, an isochronous transfer for transferring audio and video information which requires real-time performance by avoiding data delay by securing a transfer band in advance, and a large amount of data are sent, but the transfer band is secured. Modems and terminal adapters (Term
inal Adapter: hereinafter abbreviated as TA. ), And various transfer methods such as bulk transfer for transferring communication information are adopted, and are suitable for a connection method between a host and peripheral devices for multimedia information.

FIG. 7 schematically shows the configuration of an information processing system to which a conventional port connection control device is applied. In this information processing system, the port connection control device 1
0 and a USB device 11 are connected via a USB cable 12. In the port connection control device 10, the first and second applications 13 ₁ and 13 ₂ stored in a memory (not shown) are executed by a CPU (not shown). The first and second applications 13 ₁ and 13 ₂ access the USB device 11 connected to the port connection control device 10 when executing the respective applications. The access includes information transfer to the USB device 11 and information acquisition from the USB device 11 in response to a request to the USB device 11.

[0006] Access to the USB device 11 is based on the first
And the second application 13 ₁, 13_TwoEach
Request is sent in the form of an event from the USB device.
It is input to the chair control unit 14. USB device control unit 1
4 is transmitted via the USB host controller control unit 15 to U
The control of the SB port 16 is performed.
The USB cable 12 is connected to the SB port 16.
You. The USB device control unit 14 performs port event control
A first and a second application;
13₁, 13_TwoEvents and USB cables from each
Request input from the USB device 11 via the
Sort the quest results by content, and
Control data transmission and reception between the USB device 11 and the USB device 11.
You.

The USB device 11 has a USB port 18
, A USB control unit 19 and a memory 20.
The USB port 18 is connected to the USB cable 12. The USB control unit 19 receives an application request transmitted from the port connection control device 10 via the USB port 18 and controls transmission and reception of information stored in the memory 20 in response to the request.
Do between. The memory 20 stores a result processed by a USB device execution unit (not shown). For example, when the USB device 11 is a TA, incoming information is sequentially stored as device information.

As described above, the device information of the USB device 11 is stored in the first
And an event from the _second application 13 ₁ , 13 ₂ . These events are USB
It is managed by the device control unit 14.

FIG. 8 shows the main components of the USB device control unit 14 shown in FIG. However, the same parts as those of the port connection control device shown in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals. The USB device control unit 14 includes the port event control unit 17, the request result reception dedicated pipe 21, the request transmission dedicated pipe 22, and the communication data reception dedicated pipe 23 and the communication data transmission dedicated pipe 24 which are data queues. Have. When an event is input from each application, the port event control unit 17 determines whether the event is a control request command for the USB device 11 or a communication data transmission / reception event for the USB device 11. . When it is determined that the input event is a control request, the request command is passed to the request transmission dedicated pipe 22. On the other hand, when it is determined that the input event is a communication data transmission / reception event, if the request is a communication data transmission request, the data is passed to the communication data transmission dedicated pipe 24, and if the request is a communication data reception request, the request is transmitted. The data is obtained as reception data from the result reception dedicated pipe 21. USB host controller control unit 1 for transmitting / receiving information to / from USB device 11 via a USB port
5 sequentially from these pipes according to the control contents of 5
A request or communication data is exchanged with the host controller control unit 15.

Also, the USB device control unit 14
When information is received from the B device 11, it is received via the USB port 16 and the USB host controller control unit 15. When this information is input, the USB device control unit 14 determines whether the data is response data to an event issued by the application or communication data for reception from the USB device 11. When the input reception information is determined to be response data to the event issued by the application, the response data is passed to the request result reception dedicated pipe 21. On the other hand, when it is determined that the input reception information is communication data for reception from the USB device 11, the data is transferred to the communication data reception dedicated pipe 23.

As described above, the port event control unit 17 allocates each event from the application to each dedicated transmission pipe, extracts the received data stored in each dedicated reception pipe, and issues the event. Deliver the content for each application.
As a result, each application executed by the port connection control device 10 is connected to the U connected via the USB port 16.
It transmits and receives information to and from the SB device 11.

[0012]

[0005] Such a port connection control device is provided with an operating system (Operating System).
stem: Hereinafter, abbreviated as OS. ) May manage resources such as data and hardware of each application of the user. Such an OS is provided with a port connection control library in advance. Usually, these libraries are used for the port connection control as described above in these port connection control devices, so that development man-hours are reduced, reliability is improved, and compatibility is maintained. In a port connection control library prepared in such an OS, a COM (Communic
ation), the COM port is assigned to each application. That is, the COM port is not assigned to a plurality of applications.

FIG. 9 shows a state in which COM ports are assigned to respective applications in a general OS. That is, the port number 25 for identifying each COM port and the application 2
6 is registered in a one-to-one correspondence. By referring to such a table, for a specific device to be accessed,
Exclusive control can be performed while preventing access from a plurality of applications. In the port connection control device 10 shown in FIG. 7, the port connection control by the port connection control library prepared by such an OS is generally performed by the port event control unit 17.

Therefore, the conventional port connection control device always performs an "open" process on the COM port before performing communication, and executes a "open" process on each of the USB ports virtually connected to the USB port regarded as the COM port. Access to the device. That is, for example, C which is regarded as a virtual port for TA which is a USB device
While transmitting and receiving communication data by opening the OM port, it was not possible to obtain device information such as collecting incoming information from the TA by another application. This has a problem that the above-mentioned feature of USB that enables multi-data transfer cannot be fully utilized under the constraint that a common library or the like of the OS must be used for compatibility and shortening the development period. Means that.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a port connection control device that enables multi-data transfer by allowing another application to access this port even if exclusive control of the port is performed for each application. To provide.

[0016]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, (a) one or more ports to which each peripheral device is connected, and (b) data transmission from the application to each peripheral device. A request queue for queuing the requested request, and (c)
A request result queue for queuing the request result transmitted from each of the peripheral devices in response to the request, and (d) each application occupying a port by associating one of the ports with each application, and connected to these. Port event control means for queuing a first request from an application to a peripheral device in a request queue and notifying the application of a request result queued in a request result queue in response to the first request; (E) A second request for a peripheral device from another application different from the application that transmitted the first request is queued in a request queue, and the second request is And non-port event control means for notifying the queued request results in response to the request result queue in the fed versus another application,
(F) The port event control means occupies the port associated with each application, and transmits and receives the first and second requests and the corresponding request results between the peripheral device and the request queue and request result queue. The port connection control device is provided with the port control means.

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a request queue for queuing a data transmission request requested by an application between a peripheral device connected to one or a plurality of ports,
A request result queue for queuing a request result transmitted from a peripheral device in response to the request is provided. The port event control means associates any one of these ports for each application, occupies the port for each application, queues a first request from the application to a peripheral device connected thereto to a request queue, The request result queued in the request result queue in response to the first request is notified to the application. The non-port event control means queues a second request for a peripheral device from another application different from the application that transmitted the first request in a request queue, and further responds to the second request. The request result queued in the request result queue is notified to this other application. Then, the port control means occupies the port associated with each application by the port event control means, and the first and second requests and the corresponding request results between the peripheral device and the request queue and the request result queue. Was sent and received.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the port connection control device according to the first aspect, the non-port event control means is provided for each of a plurality of different applications different from the application that transmitted the first request. Second for peripheral devices from each of the applications
Request is queued in a request queue and the request result queued in the request result queue is stored in a second one of a plurality of different applications.
The notification is sent to the application that sent the request.

That is, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the non-port event control means is provided for each of a plurality of different applications different from the application that transmitted the first request. A second request for a peripheral device from each of different different applications is queued in a request queue, and the result of the request queued in the request result queue is notified to the application that transmitted the second request. .

According to the third aspect of the present invention, (a) one or more ports to which peripheral devices are respectively connected, and (b) a request transmission queue for queuing information acquisition requests to each of the peripheral devices. ,
(C) a request result reception queue for queuing a request result from each peripheral device corresponding to the request queued in the request transmission queue; and (d) transmission / reception data for queuing transmission / reception data between each peripheral device. The queue is exclusively associated with one of the ports for each application (e) so that each application occupies the port associated with the application and an access request from the application to a peripheral device connected to the application is transmitted to the peripheral device. Determining whether the request is an information acquisition request to the peripheral device or a request for transmitting and receiving communication data with the peripheral device; and if the determination unit determines that the request is an information acquisition request to the peripheral device, the access request is requested. When the request is determined to be a communication data transmission / reception request with a peripheral device by the determination unit, the communication data is transmitted / received between the transmission / reception data queue and the application, and the access request allocated to the request transmission queue is determined. First, the request result queued in the request result reception queue corresponding to the request is transmitted to the application.
And (f) queue a request for information acquisition for a peripheral device from another application different from the application that made the access request in a request transmission queue and respond to the request. Non-port event control means for transmitting the request results queued in the request result reception queue to another application, and (g) occupying a port associated with each application by the port event control means, and peripheral devices Request send queue between and
The port connection control device is provided with a request queued in the request result reception queue and the transmission / reception data queue and port control means for transmitting / receiving the request result and transmission / reception data corresponding to the requests.

That is, according to the third aspect of the present invention, a request transmission for queuing an information acquisition request to a peripheral device connected to a port is performed between the peripheral device connected to one or more ports. A queue, a request result reception queue for queuing a request result from a peripheral device corresponding to the request queued in the request transmission queue, and a transmission / reception data queue for queuing transmission / reception data with the peripheral device. I have. Then, the port event control means exclusively associates one of these ports for each application so that each application occupies the associated port, and the determination means applies the application to the peripheral device connected thereto. The first request control means determines whether the access request from the device is a request for information acquisition to the peripheral device or a request for transmission / reception of communication data with the peripheral device. When it is determined that there is a request, the access request is distributed to the request transmission queue, and when it is determined that the request is a communication data transmission / reception request with a peripheral device, the communication data is transmitted / received between the transmission / reception data queue and the application. Rutotomoni, and to transmit a request results in response to the access request that is distributed to the request transmission queue are queued in the request result receiving queue to the application. In addition, the non-port event control means queues a request for information acquisition for the peripheral device from another application different from the application that has made the access request in the request transmission queue, and in the request result reception queue in response to this request. The result of the queued request is sent to another application. The port control means occupies a port associated with each application by the port event control means, and requests that are queued in a request transmission queue, a request result reception queue, and a transmission / reception data queue with a peripheral device. Request results and transmission / reception data corresponding to these are transmitted and received.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the port connection control device according to the third aspect, the non-port event control means is provided for each of a plurality of different applications different from the application which has made the access request. Requests for information acquisition for peripheral devices from each application are queued in a request transmission queue, and the request results queued in a request result reception queue corresponding to the request are transmitted to another application. .

In other words, according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the non-port event control means is provided for each of a plurality of different applications different from the application which made the access request, and each queue is distributed.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the port connection control device according to the first to fourth aspects, the port is a port of a universal serial bus.

In other words, according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the port is a port of the universal serial bus, the transfer to and from the peripheral device can be performed at a high speed, and can be easily applied to a conventional port connection control device. .

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the port connection control device according to the fifth aspect, the peripheral device is a terminal adapter, and another application in the non-port event control means is an application for receiving the incoming information stored in the terminal adapter. It is characterized by displaying the incoming call information requested to be obtained.

That is, according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the port event control means occupies the port connected to the terminal adapter as in the prior art to transmit and receive communication data, while receiving the incoming call stored in the terminal adapter. Since the information can be obtained by another application, incoming call monitoring excellent in real time can be performed.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the port connection control device of the sixth aspect, communication information between the port and the peripheral device is transferred by multi-data.

That is, in the present invention, since multi-data transfer is adopted, the efficiency of data transfer can be greatly improved, and more complicated communication control can be performed.

[0030]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0031]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of the configuration of an information processing system to which a port connection control device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. However, the same parts as those of the information processing system to which the conventional port connection control device shown in FIG. 7 is applied are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the information processing system according to the present embodiment, the port connection control device 30 and the USB device 11 are connected via the USB cable 12. In the port connection control device 30, the first and second applications 1 stored in a memory (not shown)
3 _1, 13 _2, and is executed processed by a not-shown CPU. The first and second applications 13 ₁ and 13 ₂ are connected to the port connection control device 30 when the respective applications are executed.
The SB device 11 is accessed. The access includes information transfer to the USB device 11 and information acquisition from the USB device 11 in response to a request to the USB device 11. Access to the USB device 11 is performed by the first and second applications 13.
_A request is sent from each of the devices ₁ and 13 _{2 in} the form of an event, and is input to the USB device control unit 31. US
The B device controller 31 controls the USB port 16 via the USB host controller controller 15, and the USB cable 12 is connected to the USB port 16.

The USB device control unit 31 includes a port event control unit 17, a non-port event control unit 32, a request result reception dedicated pipe 33, a request transmission dedicated pipe 34, a communication data reception dedicated pipe 35, And a transmission-only pipe 36. The port event control unit 17 regards the USB port connected to the USB device as a virtual COM port when the port connection is controlled by the OS as in the past, associates this with the application, and associates the USB port with the application. By controlling the request, exclusive control of the port is performed for each application. The non-port event control unit 32 is provided for each application, and controls only requests from corresponding applications. Here, the port event control unit 17 between the second application 13 _2, non-port event control unit 32 first application 1
Between 3 ₁ and has a control request issued in the event of the form, respectively.

The USB device 11 has a USB port 18
, A USB control unit 19 and a memory 20.
The USB port 18 is connected to the USB cable 12. The USB control unit 19 receives an application request transmitted from the port connection control device 30 via the USB port 18 and controls transmission and reception of information stored in the memory 20 in response to the request.
Do between. The memory 20 stores a result processed by a USB device execution unit (not shown). For example, when the USB device 11 is a TA, incoming information is sequentially stored as device information.

As described above, the device information of the USB device 11 is the first information processed by the port connection control device 30.
And events from the _second application 13 ₁ , 13 ₂ . These events are US
It is managed by the B device control unit 31.

FIG. 2 shows the main components of the USB device control unit 31 shown in FIG. However, the same parts as those of the port connection control device shown in FIG. The USB device control unit 31 includes the port event control unit 17 and the non-port event control unit 32 described above.
A dedicated pipe 33 for receiving a request result, a dedicated pipe 34 for transmitting a request, a dedicated pipe 35 for receiving communication data and a dedicated pipe 3 for transmitting communication data.
6 is provided. Request result receiving pipe 33
Receives a request result from the USB host controller 15 and sends the request result not only to the port event control unit 17 but also to the non-port event control unit 32. The request transmission dedicated pipe 34 includes not only the port event control unit 17 but also the non-port event control unit 33.
The request from is input. The communication data reception dedicated pipe 35 sends out the received communication data to the port event control unit 17. Communication data transmission dedicated pipe 3
In 6, communication data for transmission from the port event control unit 17 is input.

The port event control unit 17, the second application 13 ₂ from the event is input, whether the event is a control request command to the USB device 11, or communication data transmitted and received with respect to the USB device 11 Determine whether the request is a request.
When it is determined that the input event is a control request, the request command is passed to the request transmission dedicated pipe 34. On the other hand, when it is determined that the input event is a communication data transmission / reception request, if the request is a communication data transmission request, the data is passed to the communication data transmission dedicated pipe 36, and the communication data reception request is transmitted. In the case of, the data is acquired from the request result reception dedicated pipe 21 as reception data. In accordance with the control contents of the USB host controller control unit 15 that transmits and receives information to and from the USB device 11 via the USB port, U-ports are sequentially transmitted from these pipes.
A request or communication data is exchanged with the SB host controller control unit 15.

[0038] Non-port event control unit 32, when the first event from the application 13 ₁ is input, and passes the request transmission dedicated pipe 34 that event as the control request. In addition, the non-port event control unit 3
2, when receiving the request result to the request passed to the requestor only pipe 34 is notified, acquires the request result from the request result receiving dedicated pipe 33, passes the first application 13 _1. In accordance with the control content of the USB host controller control unit 15 that transmits and receives information to and from the USB device 11 via the USB port, the USB is sequentially transmitted from these pipes.
The request is exchanged with the B host controller control unit 15.

When receiving the communication information from the USB device 11, the USB device control unit 31 receives the communication information via the USB port 16 and the USB host controller control unit 15. When this information is input, the USB device control unit 31 determines whether the data is response data to an event issued by the application or communication data for reception from the USB device 11. When it is determined that the input reception information is response data to an event issued by the application, the response data is passed to the request result reception dedicated pipe 33. On the other hand, when it is determined that the input reception information is the communication data for reception from the USB device 11, the data is passed to the communication data reception dedicated pipe.

It should be noted that, between the USB device controller 31 and the USB host controller 15 and between the USB host controller 15 and the USB device 11, a request, a request result, and an event issued by any application for each transmission / reception data. Is associated.

As described above, the port event control unit 17 and the non-port event control unit 32 distribute each event from the application to each transmission-only pipe, extract the event stored in each reception-only pipe, and convert the event into the event. Deliver the content to the corresponding application. Further port connection control device in this embodiment, even when the second application 13 ₂ has port open through the port event control unit 17, since the non-port event control unit 32 to perform the event management , it is possible to perform access to the request transmitted only pipe 34 and the request result reception dedicated pipe 33 directly, the first application 13 ₁ to the USB device port by a second application 13 ₂ has exclusive control port Can be accessed without opening.

FIG. 3 shows such a USB device control unit 3.
1 shows an outline of a series of event processing contents. First USB device controller 31, a first application 13 _first or second event by an application 13 ₂ monitors whether or not issued (step S40). Here, when it is determined that there is no event issued from both applications (step S40: N), the event processing ends as it is (end). On the other hand, when it is determined that an event has been issued from any application (step S4).
At 0: Y), it is checked whether the event is a non-ported event (step S41). The term “via non-port” means that the event processing is performed by the non-port event control unit 32 as an application in which the port event control unit 17 does not perform exclusive control of the port for each application.

In step S41, the U shown in FIG.
When this event SB device control unit 31 is issued event from the first application 13 ₁ as is the event via non port (step S41: Y), the request transmission dedicated pipe 34 that event as a request Send (Step S4
2). After that, this request is input to the USB host controller control unit 15 and issued to the USB device 11 via the USB port 16. This U
Upon receiving this request via the USB port 18, the SB device 11 acquires device information from the memory 20 in response to the request received by the USB control unit 19. The obtained device information is transmitted from the USB device 11 to the port connection control device 30 by the USB control unit 19. The transmission result is input to the request result reception dedicated pipe 33 as corresponds to the first application 13 ₁ by the USB host controller control unit 15. Then, the non-port event control unit 32, which was obtained as a result of the request (step S43), and notifies the result of the event to the first application 13 ₁ Event Publisher (step S44), a series of event processing To end (end).

In step S41, the U shown in FIG.
Is not through the non-port, it is determined that an event of ports through which the this event SB device control unit 31 is issued event from the second application 13 ₂ (step S41: N). Then, the port event control unit 17 determines whether this event is a communication data transmission / reception request or a control request (step S45). This event is transmitted to and received from the USB device control unit 31 in a predetermined format between the application and the USB device control unit 31, so that it can be easily determined whether the event is a communication data transmission / reception request or a control request. ing. When it is determined that this is a control request (step S45: N), the request is transmitted to the request transmission dedicated pipe 34 (step S45).
42). Thereafter, this request is fetched by the USB host controller control unit 15 and the USB port 1
6 is issued to the USB device 11. When the USB device 11 receives the request via the USB port 18, the device information of the memory 20 is obtained according to the request received by the USB control unit 19. The acquired device information is
The data is transmitted from the USB device 11 to the port connection control device 30 by the SB control unit 19. This transmission result is US
It is obtained in the request result reception dedicated pipe 33 as corresponds to the B host controller control unit 15 by a second application 13 _2. Then, the port event control unit 17, which obtains (step S43) as the request result, and notifies the result of the event for the second application 13 the _second event publisher (step S44), the sequence of event processing End (end).

In step S45, when it is determined that the event input to the port event control unit 17 is a communication data transmission / reception request (step S45: Y), it is further determined whether the event is a communication data transmission request. It is determined whether the request is a data reception request (step S46). Therefore, when it is determined that the input event is a request for receiving communication data (step S46: Y), reception data is obtained from the communication data reception dedicated pipe 35 (step S47), and this is transmitted to the event issuer. the second can be notified to the application 13 ₂ as an event result of (step S44), and ends the series of event processing (eND).

In step S46, when it is determined that the event input to the port event control unit 17 is a communication data transmission request (step S46: N), the communication data is transmitted to the communication data transmission dedicated pipe 36. After transmission (step S48), a series of processing ends (end).

As described above, the port connection control device 30 according to the present embodiment is different from the port event control unit 17 that associates a port for each application and performs exclusive control on access to the USB device 11 from each application as in the related art. Request transmission dedicated pipe 3 for control requests from applications
4 and the non-port event control unit 32 that accesses the request result reception dedicated pipe 33, the application via the port event control unit 17 can access the USB device being accessed.
It becomes possible to access the same USB device 11 without performing the port open processing as in the related art. Therefore, between the USB ports, while the port connection control device 30 is performing data transfer with the USB device 11 by the second application, the port connection control device 30 performs data transfer with the USB device 11 by the first application. Multi data transfer.

Next, in order to facilitate understanding of the operation of the port connection control device in the present embodiment, a specific configuration of the port connection control device in this embodiment includes a USB.
Description will be made assuming that a TA is connected as a device.

FIG. 4 shows an outline of a more specific configuration of an information processing system to which the port connection control device in this embodiment is applied. However, the same portions as those of the information processing system to which the port connection control device in the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is applied are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be appropriately omitted. In this information processing system, the port connection control device 30 and the TA 50 are connected via the USB cable 12. The port connection control device 30 is the same as the port connection control device shown in FIG.

The TA 50 has a USB port 18 and a USB
The control unit 19, the memory 51, and an external terminal ISDN
(Integrated Services Digital Network) port 52
, An ISDN control unit 53, an analog port 54 as an external terminal, and an analog control unit 55. IS
An ISDN line (not shown) is connected to the DN port 52, so that communication information can be transmitted and received with an ISDN network (not shown). An analog telephone (not shown) is connected to the analog port 54, and the connected analog telephone can transmit and receive communication information to and from an ISDN network (not shown) via the ISDN port 52. The ISDN control unit 53 includes:
By controlling the ISDN port 52, storing communication data in the memory 51 and reading from the memory 51,
Communication is performed via the N line. The analog control unit 55 controls the analog port 54 to store communication data in the memory 51 and read from the memory 51,
Communicate via a network. Thus, in TA50, US
The memory 51 and the port controller 30 are controlled by the B controller 19.
Information is transmitted and received between the MFP 1 and the USB port 18 via the USB port 18, and communication with each network can be performed via the ISDN line via the memory 51.

Here, it is assumed that the TA 50 sequentially stores the incoming call information of the analog telephone in the memory 51 via the ISDN line. The second application 13 ₂ executed by the port connection control unit 30 opens the USB ports to TA50 via the port by the port event control unit 17, which is performing data communication with the TA50 And The first application 13 ₁ to be executed by the port connection control unit 30, rather than through the port, is an application that monitors the incoming analog telephone line connected to TA50 via the non-port event control unit 32 Shall be.

Therefore, the second application 13
₂ , the application and the USB port are associated by the port event control unit 17 of the USB device control unit 31 assuming that the application and the USB port are virtual COM ports.
Exclusive control is performed on the TA 50, and communication data is transmitted and received between the two. Here, the first application 13 ₁ in order to monitor the incoming analog telephone TA50
It is assumed that a request for information acquisition has been issued to the USB device control unit 31 so as to acquire the incoming call information stored in the memory 51.

In the case of a conventional port connection control device, a USB
Save the device control section 31, temporarily release the port open second to the application 13 _2, make the port open process with again this port and the first application 13 _1, the TA50 in the memory 51 Was sent to get the incoming information. However, in the port connection control device according to the present embodiment, when an event requesting information acquisition from the _first application 131 is input to the USB device control unit 31, the non-port event control unit 32 converts the event into communication data. Is transmitted to the request transmission dedicated pipe 34 which operates independently of the transmission / reception pipe of the request. The USB host controller control unit 15 that has received the request for acquiring the incoming call information transmits the TA 50 via the USB port 16.
The processing for acquiring the incoming call information stored in the memory 51 is performed between these steps.

FIG. 5 shows the USB port of the port connection controller 30.
Strike controller control unit 15 and USB control unit of TA50
Of the incoming information acquisition process performed between
This is an example. First, as mentioned above,
Request transmission dedicated pipe 34 of B device control unit 32
USB host controller that received the request issued by
The roller control unit 15 controls the TA5 via the USB port 16.
0, an information acquisition request 60 is issued. this
USB controller 19 input via USB port 18
Prepares for transfer of the information requested to be acquired. USB ho
The strike controller control unit 15 then sends the requested information.
"IN" command 61 for requesting the transmission of a report ₁Is sent
You. The USB control unit 19 transfers information requested to be acquired.
Indicates that there is no data to transfer while not ready
"NAK" command 62₁Reply. This "NA
K "command 62₁USB host controller
The control unit 15 recognizes that the transfer is not ready yet.
After a lapse of a predetermined time, the “IN” command 61_TwoSend
Put out. The USB host controller control unit 15 obtains
"IN" command 61 until the transferred information is transferred_Two~ 6
1_NIs sent. Eventually, the information requested in the memory 51
When the information is ready to be forwarded, the incoming
The received data 6 via the USB port 18 by the control unit 19
3_TwoTo get.

It is assumed that the received data thus obtained is a request result for a request transmitted to the request transmission dedicated pipe 34 prior to this,
Sent to the request result reception dedicated pipe 33 of the B-device control unit 31, it is notified to the first application 13 ₁ which is issuing the request. First application 13 ₁ makes a display of monitoring information of the incoming receiving this request results.

Modification

In the port connection control device according to the present embodiment, the first application via the non-port communicates with the non-port event controller 32, and the second application via the port communicates with the port event controller 17 respectively. Event was to be issued. In the port connection control device according to the present modification, the port connection control device according to the present embodiment is also provided by providing a non-port event control unit for each non-port application via a non-port application. In the same way as the above, another application can access a USB device whose port is open. The configuration of the port connection control device in this modification is the same as the configuration of the port connection control device in the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1, but the configuration of the USB device control unit is different.

FIG. 6 shows an outline of the configuration of the USB device control section 70 of the port connection control device in this modification. However, the same parts as those of the USB device control unit shown in FIG. Here, the first and third applications 13 ₁ and 13 _{3 are} assumed to be applications via a non-port, and the second application 13 _{2 is} assumed to be an application via a port. Thus the USB device controller 70 in the present modification, the first non-port event control unit 71 ₁ is corresponding to the first application 13 _1, 3
Application 13 ₃ corresponding to the second non-port event control unit 71 ₂ are respectively provided. The second application 13 _2, like a conventional USB device controller, the port event control unit 17 is regarded as a virtual COM port USB port for each application in a one-to-one, exclusive control by assigning this Has been done. The operations of the first and second non-port event controllers 71 ₁ and 71 ₂ are the same as those of the non-port event controller 32 in the present embodiment. The request result receiving pipe 33 is connected to the port event control unit 17.
Not only the first and second non-port event controllers 7
Also it sends a result request to 1 _1, 71 _2. The request transmission dedicated pipe 34 is connected to the port event control unit 1.
Requests from the first and second non-port event control units 71 ₁ and 71 ₂ are input as well as the request.

The application between the USB device controller 70 and the USB host controller 15 and the application between the USB host controller 15 and the USB device for each request, request result, and transmission / reception data are determined. Are associated. Therefore, the operation of the port connection control device according to the present modification is the same as that of the present embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

As described above, the port connection control device according to the present embodiment and the modification example associates a port with each application and sets
Apart from the port event control unit 17 that performs exclusive control on access to the SB device 11, an event from the application is directly transmitted to the request transmission only pipe 34 and the request result reception dedicated pipe 33 without associating the application with the port for each application. A non-port event control unit for accessing the port is provided. For compatibility and the like, another application different from the application that performs the exclusive control of the port by the port event control unit may be used to connect the USB device whose port is opened to the USB device. You can also access it.

In the port connection control device according to the present embodiment and the modification, a device connected via a port has been described as a USB device connected by a USB system, but the present invention is not limited to this. As long as the port connection method adopts multi data transfer, the type is not limited.

[0062]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a port is associated with each application as in the prior art, and exclusive control is performed on access to a peripheral device via a port occupied by each application. Apart from the port event control means to be performed, a non-port event control means is provided to queue events from the application directly without associating the application with the port, so that an application that performs exclusive control of the port It is possible to access the peripheral device accessed from another application from another application different from this.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, apart from the port event control means for exclusively controlling access to peripheral devices from each application by associating a port with each application as in the prior art,
A non-port event control means for accessing a request transmission queue and a request result reception queue for a control request from an application is provided. As a result, a peripheral device that is being accessed from an application that has performed exclusive control of a port can be accessed from another application that is different from the peripheral device. Thus, communication data is not transmitted and received from different applications at the same time, the reliability of exclusive control is maintained, and the apparatus can be simplified.

Further, according to the second or fourth aspect of the present invention, a non-port event control means is provided for each of a plurality of applications, and Queue events from applications directly without associating applications with ports. As a result, it is possible to access the same device from a plurality of applications without performing the port open process associated with the exclusive control of the port by the conventional port event control means.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the port is a universal serial bus port,
Transfer to and from a peripheral device is performed at high speed, and it can be easily applied to a conventional port connection control device.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 6,
While the port event control means occupies the port connected to the terminal adapter as in the prior art and transmits and receives communication data, the incoming information stored in the terminal adapter can be obtained by another application, thereby realizing real-time communication. Excellent incoming call monitoring can be performed.

Further, according to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since multi-data transfer is adopted, the efficiency of data transfer can be greatly improved, and more complicated communication control can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an outline of a configuration of an information processing system to which a port connection control device according to an embodiment is applied.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating a main configuration of a device control unit of the port connection control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an outline of a series of event processing contents of a device control unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram illustrating an outline of a more specific configuration of an information processing system to which the port connection control device according to the present embodiment is applied.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a sequence of acquiring incoming call information performed between a USB host controller control section of the port connection control device and a TA USB control section.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram illustrating a main configuration of a device control unit according to the modification.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram illustrating an outline of a configuration of an information processing system to which a conventional port connection control device is applied.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing a main configuration of a device control unit of a conventional port connection control device.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a conventional assignment situation between an application and a USB port.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 30 port connection control device 11 USB device 12 USB cable 13 _{1 to} 13 ₃ first to third application 14, 31 USB device control unit 15 USB host controller control unit 16, 18 USB port 17 port event control unit 17 ₁ , 17 ₂ First and second non-port event control unit 19 USB control unit 20, 51 Memory 21, 33 Request result reception dedicated pipe 22, 34 Request transmission dedicated pipe 23, 35 Communication data reception dedicated pipe 24, 36 Communication data Transmission dedicated pipe 32 Non-port event control unit 50 TA 52 ISDN port 53 ISDN control unit 54 Analog port 55 Analog control unit

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A request queue for queuing a request for data transmission from an application to each of the peripheral devices, one or more ports to which the peripheral devices are connected, A request result queue for queuing a request result transmitted from each of the peripheral devices; and an application for a peripheral device connected to the application by occupying the port by associating each application with one of the ports for each application. The first request from the application is queued in the request queue, and the request result queued in the request result queue corresponding to the first request is sent to the application. Port event control means for notifying the request, and queuing a second request for the peripheral device from another application different from the application that transmitted the first request to the request queue, and A non-port event control unit that notifies the request result queued in the request result queue to the another application, and occupies the port associated with each application by the port event control unit. Port connection means for transmitting and receiving the first and second requests and corresponding request results between the peripheral device and the request queue and request result queue. Apparatus. 2. The non-port event control means is provided for each of a plurality of different applications different from the application that has transmitted the first request, and receives a second request from each of the different applications to the peripheral device. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: queuing the request in the request queue and notifying a request result queued in the request result queue to an application that has transmitted the second request among the plurality of other applications. The port connection control device according to the above. 3. One or a plurality of ports to which respective peripheral devices are connected, a request transmission queue for queuing information acquisition requests to the respective peripheral devices, and requests queued in the request transmission queue A request result reception queue for queuing a request result from each of the peripheral devices, a transmission / reception data queue for queuing transmission / reception data between the peripheral devices, and one of the ports for each application. By exclusively associating each application with a port associated with the application, and determining whether an access request from the application to a peripheral device connected thereto is an information acquisition request to the peripheral device. A determining unit that determines whether the request is a communication data transmission / reception request with a peripheral device, and when the determining unit determines that the request is an information acquisition request for the peripheral device, the access request is distributed to the request transmission queue. When the determination unit determines that the request is a communication data transmission / reception request with the peripheral device, the communication unit transmits / receives communication data between the transmission / reception data queue and the application, and allocates the access request allocated to the request transmission queue. A port event control unit comprising: a first request control unit for transmitting the request result queued in the request result reception queue to the application corresponding to the request result queue; of An information acquisition request from the application to the peripheral device is queued in the request transmission queue, and the request result queued in the request result reception queue is transmitted to the another application in response to the request. Non-port event control means, and occupy the port associated with each application by the port event control means, and queue the request transmission queue, the request result reception queue, and the transmission / reception data queue with the peripheral device. A port control unit for transmitting / receiving the request being sent, the request result corresponding to the request, and transmission / reception data. 4. The non-port event control means is provided for each of a plurality of different applications different from the application that has made the access request, and sends a request for information acquisition to the peripheral device from each of these other applications. 4. The port connection control device according to claim 3, wherein the request is queued in a transmission queue, and the request result queued in the request result reception queue is transmitted to the another application in response to the request. 5. The port connection control device according to claim 1, wherein said port is a universal serial bus port. 6. The terminal device according to claim 5, wherein the peripheral device is a terminal adapter, and the another application requests acquisition of the incoming information stored in the terminal adapter and displays the acquired incoming information. Port connection control device. 7. The port connection control device according to claim 6, wherein communication information between said port and said peripheral device is transferred by multi-data.