JP6330933B2 - Apparatus, information processing system, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a device, an information processing system, an information processing method, and a program.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, an application (hereinafter referred to as “SDK (Software Development Kit)”) that has been published using an API (Application Program Interface) in a device called a multifunction peripheral or a multifunction peripheral. There is a device including an application platform (hereinafter referred to as “SDK platform”) that provides an execution environment of an “application” (for example, Patent Document 1).

  In the SDK platform, an API for enabling functions similar to those realized by a standard application (hereinafter referred to as “standard application”) to be realized by the SDK application is disclosed. Therefore, for example, it is possible to respond to needs such as using an operation screen different from the standard application to use the same function as the standard application (that is, using the operation screen different from the standard application).

  On the other hand, in the SDK platform, in order to publish an API that provides the same function as the function provided by the standard application, it is necessary to separately implement the same implementation as the standard application. For this reason, similar implementations overlap between the SDK platform and the standard application, and inefficiencies are recognized in the development work and maintenance work of the entire device.

  Therefore, the inventor of the present application is examining a mechanism for making the implementation of the standard application available from the SDK platform.

  However, the types of standard apps that are implemented can vary from model to model. For example, a FAX application is not installed in a device that does not have a modem. In such a situation, if the installation process itself of the SDK application that uses the FAX application implementation via the SDK platform is normally performed, the user becomes in use of the SDK application and the SDK application You will notice that it does not work properly.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to reduce the occurrence of inconvenience based on the dependency between programs.

Therefore, in order to solve the above-described problem, whether the device has been installed with the second program that is specified based on the data associated with the first program to be installed and on which the first program depends. When the second program is not installed, the determination unit for determining whether the second program has been installed, the process associated with the abnormality of the installation of the first program is executed , and the second program is installed An installation unit that inquires of an operator whether or not to grant the usage authority to the predetermined user when the usage authority for the second program is not granted to the predetermined user; The section may require that the second program is already installed in the data. If it is, it does not perform the installation of the first program.

  To reduce the occurrence of inconvenience based on dependencies between programs.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the installation system in embodiment of this invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a software configuration example of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the relationship between a scan application and a ScanToFAX application. It is a figure which shows the function structural example of the SDK platform in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example of the process sequence of the construction process of the utilization environment of an SDK application. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example of the process sequence of an installation process. It is a figure which shows an example of installation dependence information. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the warning screen which notifies failure of installation. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the warning screen which urges installation of the dependence destination standard application It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example of the process sequence of a use authority setting process. It is a figure which shows an example of authority dependence information. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of an inquiry screen.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an installation system according to the first embodiment. In the installation system 1 shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 10 and the program management apparatus 20 are communicably connected via a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet.

  The image forming apparatus 10 is a multifunction machine that realizes two or more functions of printing, scanning, copying, FAX transmission / reception, and the like with a single casing. However, a device having any one function may be used as the image forming apparatus 10.

  The program management apparatus 20 stores one or more files (hereinafter referred to as “installation files”) that store programs to be installed in the image forming apparatus 10. In response to a download request for any installation file, the program management apparatus 20 returns the installation file. Note that the installation file may have, for example, an archive file format. Among the installation files, a program installed in the image forming apparatus 10 (“SDK application” described later), a file describing attribute information of the program (hereinafter referred to as “application attribute file”), and the like. Is stored.

  Note that the program management apparatus 20 may be configured by a plurality of computers.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. 2, the image forming apparatus 10 includes hardware such as a controller 11, a scanner 12, a printer 13, a modem 14, an operation panel 15, a network interface 16, and an SD card slot 17.

  The controller 11 includes a CPU 111, a RAM 112, a ROM 113, an HDD 114, an NVRAM 115, and the like. The ROM 113 stores various programs and data used by the programs. The RAM 112 is used as a storage area for loading a program, a work area for the loaded program, and the like. The CPU 111 realizes various functions by processing a program loaded in the RAM 112. The HDD 114 stores a program and various data used by the program. The NVRAM 115 stores various setting information and the like.

  The scanner 12 is hardware (image reading means) for reading image data from a document. The printer 13 is hardware (printing means) for printing print data on printing paper. The modem 14 is hardware for connecting to a telephone line, and is used to execute transmission / reception of image data by FAX communication. The operation panel 15 is hardware including input means such as buttons for accepting input from the user, display means such as a liquid crystal panel, and the like. The liquid crystal panel may have a touch panel function. In this case, the liquid crystal panel also functions as an input unit. The network interface 16 is hardware for connecting to a network such as a LAN (whether wired or wireless). The SD card slot 17 is used for reading a program stored in the SD card 80. That is, in the image forming apparatus 10, not only the program stored in the ROM 113 but also the program stored in the SD card 80 can be loaded into the RAM 112 and executed. The SD card 80 may be replaced by another recording medium (for example, a CD-ROM or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory). That is, the type of recording medium corresponding to the positioning of the SD card 80 is not limited to a predetermined one. In this case, the SD card slot 17 may be replaced by hardware corresponding to the type of recording medium.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a software configuration example of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. 3, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a standard application 121, an SDK application 122, an SDK platform 123, a control service 124, an OS 125, and the like.

  The standard application 121 is a set of application programs that are installed on the image forming apparatus 10 in a standard manner (in advance at the time of shipment). In the figure, a scan application 1211, a print application 1212, a copy application 1213, and a FAX application 1214 are illustrated. The scan application 1211 executes a scan job using the scanner 12 or the like. The print application 1212 executes a print job using the printer 13 or the like. The copy application 1213 executes a copy job using the scanner 12 and the printer 13. The FAX application 1214 executes a FAX transmission job or reception job using the modem 14 or the like. The scanner 12, the printer 13, the modem 14, and the like are examples of hardware unique to the image forming apparatus 10.

  Note that the type of the installed standard application 121 may vary depending on the model of the image forming apparatus 10. For example, in the case of a model that does not have the modem 14, the FAX application 1214 is not installed.

  The control service 124 is a software module group that provides a function for controlling various hardware resources and the like to a host application. For example, a function related to network communication, a control function of the scanner 12, and a control function of the printer 13 And a management function of a memory (RAM 112, ROM 113, NVRAM 115, etc.).

  The SDK application 122 is an application program (also referred to as a plug-in) that is additionally installed in order to expand the functions of the image forming apparatus 10 after the image forming apparatus 10 is shipped. In the figure, a ScanToFAX application 1221 is illustrated as an example of the SDK application 122. The ScanToFAX application 1221 is an SDK application 122 that causes the image forming apparatus 10 to perform scanning of image data from a document and FAX transmission of the image data.

  The SDK platform 123 includes an API (Application Program Interface) for developing the SDK application 122 and provides an execution environment for the SDK application 122. The form of the API may be, for example, a function, an object-oriented class, a class method, or the like. Hereinafter, the API provided by the SDK platform 123 is referred to as “SDKAPI”. For example, the SDK platform 123 provides the SDK application 122 with an SDK API related to the scan function, an SDK API related to the print function, an SDK API related to the FAX function, and the like. The SDK API is open to the public, and the SDK application 122 can be developed by a third vendor or the like. The SDK platform 123 may include a Java (registered trademark) VM (Virtual Machine). In this case, the SDK application 122 is implemented in the Java (registered trademark) language.

  The OS 125 is a so-called OS (Operating System). Each software on the image forming apparatus 10 operates as a process or thread on the OS 125.

  Next, the relationship between the scan application 1211 and the ScanToFAX application 1221 will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an example of the relationship between the scan application and the ScanToFAX application.

  In FIG. 4, the scan application 1211 has a scan API 1211a. The scan API 1211a is an HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) -based API (hereinafter referred to as “WebAPI”) that enables the functions of the scan application 1211 to be used from other programs. Since the scan API 1211a is a Web API, restrictions on the programming language (development language) can be relaxed for other programs that use the scan API 1211a. For example, even when the scan application 1211 is implemented in C language, the scan API 1211a can be easily called from a program implemented in Java (registered trademark) language. Also, the scan API 1211a can be called through the network.

  When the ScanToFAX application 1221 calls SDKAPI related to the scan function to cause the image forming apparatus 10 to scan the document, the SDK platform 123 calls the scan API 1211a corresponding to the SDKAPI via HTTP. That is, in the SDK platform 123, the SDK API corresponding to the scan API 1211a corresponds to an API obtained by wrapping the SDK API. Therefore, the implementation of the SDK API related to the scan function is substantially made common with the implementation of the scan application 1211. As a result, it is possible to reduce the necessity to perform the same mounting as the scan application 1211 in the SDK platform 123. Further, the functional enhancement of the scan application 1211 is automatically reflected in the SDK API.

  It should be noted that the ScanToFAX application 1221 may directly call the scan API 1211a. However, the status of the ScanToFAX application 1221 can be easily grasped in the SDK platform 123 by way of the SDK API.

  Further, the scan API 1211a is not necessarily a Web API. For example, if the dependency on the programming language is allowed, the scan API 1211a may be an API depending on a specific programming language.

  In addition, for other standard applications 121 such as the print application 1212, the copy application 1213, and the FAX application 1214, APIs related to functions unique to the application may be disclosed in the same manner as the copy application 1213. For example, in FIG. 4, only the relationship between the scan application 1211 and the ScanToFAX application 1221 is shown for convenience, but the ScanToFAX application 1221 may have the same relationship as that of FIG. That is, the ScanToFAX application 1221 may call the FAX application 1214 via the SDK API for FAX transmission of scanned image data. As a result, a job for transmitting the scanned image data by FAX is realized.

  As apparent from the above, the ScanToFAX application 1221 uses the scan application 1211 and the FAX application 1214 via the SDKAPI (SDK platform 123), or depends on the scan application 1211 and the FAX application 1214. Therefore, if the ScanToFAX application 1221 is installed in the image forming apparatus 10 of a model in which the scan application 1211 or the FAX application 1214 is not installed, the ScanToFAX application 1221 causes the image forming apparatus 10 to perform normal processing. I can't. In addition, when the right to use at least one of the scan application 1211 and the FAX application 1214 is not given to a certain user, the right to use the ScanToFAX application 1221 is given to the user. However, the user cannot use the ScanToFAX application 1221 normally. When the ScanToFAX application 1221 attempts to call the scan application 1211 or the FAX application 1214 via the SDK API, the image forming apparatus 10 cancels the process because the user has no authority to use the scan application 1211 or the FAX application 1214. Because it will let you.

  Next, a functional configuration example of the SDK platform 123 will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the SDK platform according to the embodiment of the present invention. 5, the SDK platform 123 includes an installation file acquisition unit 1231, an installation dependency information acquisition unit 1232, an installation condition determination unit 1233, an installation unit 1234, an authority dependency information acquisition unit 1235, an authority grant condition determination unit 1236, and an authority grant unit. 1237 and the like. These units are realized by processing executed by the CPU 111 by a program installed in the image forming apparatus 10.

  The installation file acquisition unit 1231 acquires from the program management apparatus 20 an installation file that stores the SDK application 122 to be installed. The installation dependency information acquisition unit 1232 indicates the standard application 121 on which the SDK application 122 to be installed depends from the data recorded in the application attribute file stored in the installation file, and pre-installation of each standard application 121 is performed. Information indicating whether it is essential (hereinafter referred to as “installation-dependent information”) is acquired. The installation condition determination unit 1233 determines whether a condition for permitting the installation of the installation target SDK application 122 (hereinafter referred to as “installation condition”) is satisfied. The installation unit 1234 executes installation of the SDK application 122 to be installed.

  The authority-dependent information acquisition unit 1235 indicates the standard application 121 on which the SDK application 122 depends from the data recorded in the application attribute file corresponding to the SDK application 122 to which the usage authority is granted, Information indicating whether or not the use authority is required in advance is acquired (hereinafter referred to as “authority-dependent information”). The authority grant condition determination unit 1236 determines whether or not a condition for permitting the use authority of the SDK application 122 to be permitted (hereinafter referred to as “authorization condition”) is satisfied. The authority grant unit 1237 executes a process for granting the use authority of the SDK application 122 to a predetermined user.

  Hereinafter, a processing procedure executed by the image forming apparatus 10 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the processing procedure of the construction process of the usage environment of the SDK application.

  For example, when an installation instruction for a certain SDK application 122 is input by the user via the operation panel 15 or the network, the SDK platform 123 executes an installation process for the SDK application 122 (S11). When the installation of the SDK application 122 fails, the subsequent processing of FIG. 6 is not executed.

  If the installation is successful, the SDK platform 123 determines whether or not to set the usage authority for the SDK application 122 at the time of installation (S12). The determination may be performed based on, for example, common setting information for all the SDK applications 122, or may be performed based on individual setting information for each SDK application 122. In the former case, setting information indicating whether or not to set usage authority during installation may be stored in the HDD 114, for example. In the latter case, the setting information indicating whether to set the usage authority at the time of installation may be described in the application attribute file of the SDK application 122 to be installed, for example.

  When setting usage authority during installation (YES in S12), the SDK platform 123 executes usage authority setting processing for the installed SDK application 122 (S13). The setting of the usage authority refers to a setting as to whether or not to grant usage authority for the SDK application 122 to each user. The usage authority may be set for each user or for each group of a plurality of users. Alternatively, it may be performed in common for all users.

  Next, details of step S11 in FIG. 6 will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the processing procedure of the installation processing.

  In step S <b> 101, the installation file acquisition unit 1231 acquires (downloads) an installation file including the installation target SDK application 122 (hereinafter referred to as “target SDK application”) from the program management apparatus 20. For example, the installation file acquisition unit 1231 transmits an acquisition request in which identification information of the installation file is designated to the program management apparatus 20. The program management apparatus 20 returns an installation file related to the identification information. The installation file may be acquired from the SD card 80. That is, the installation file may be distributed by a storage medium such as the SD card 80.

  Subsequently, the installation file acquisition unit 1231 acquires installation dependency information from the application attribute file included in the acquired installation file (S102).

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of installation-dependent information. FIG. 8 shows an example in which the application attribute file is described in an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) format. Further, in FIG. 8, only the description related to the installation dependency information is extracted from the description contents of the application attribute file.

  The value of the depend element enclosed in the <depend> tag is identification information of the standard application 121 that is a dependency destination for the target SDK application. “Scanner” is identification information of the scan application 1211. “FAX” is identification information of the FAX application 1214. Therefore, it can be seen from FIG. 8 that the target SDK application depends on the scan application 1211 and the FAX application 1214.

  The depend element that constitutes the installation-dependent information includes an install attribute. The value of the install attribute indicates the installation condition of the target SDK application in relation to the standard application 121 related to the depend element. Specifically, “forced” indicates that the standard application 121 related to the dependent element is required to be installed in advance (forced). That is, “forced” indicates that the installation of the target SDK application is permitted only when the standard application 121 is installed. On the other hand, “unforced” indicates that it is not essential (not forced) that the standard application 121 related to the dependent element is installed in advance. Note that the state where the install attribute is not specified is synonymous with the state where the value of the install attribute is “unforced”. The application attribute file of the SDK application 122 that does not depend on any standard application 121 does not include a depend element.

  Subsequently, the installation condition determination unit 1233 determines whether the target SDK application depends on any of the standard applications 121 (S103). That is, it is determined whether or not the installation dependency information (depend element) is acquired from the application attribute file of the target SDK application.

  When the target SDK application does not depend on any of the standard applications 121 (NO in S103), the installation unit 1234 executes installation processing of the target SDK application (S109). In the installation process, the application attribute file of the target SDK application is also stored in the HDD 114, for example. However, the application attribute file may not be stored as it is. The contents of the application attribute file may be formatted and stored in another format. Hereinafter, the content of the application attribute file stored by the installation process is referred to as “application attribute data”. If the installation process is successful, the process in FIG. 7 ends normally, and the process proceeds to step S12 in FIG.

  On the other hand, when the target SDK application depends on any of the standard applications 121 (YES in S103), the installation condition determination unit 1233 determines whether all the dependent standard applications 121 have been installed in the image forming apparatus 10. Is determined (S104). All the standard applications 121 on which the target SDK application depends are all the standard applications 121 whose identification information is specified in the depend element of the application attribute file of the target SDK application. The determination in step S104 is performed, for example, by collating the list information of the installed standard applications 121 stored in the NVRAM 115 or the HDD 114 with the value of each dependent element.

  If all the dependent standard applications 121 have been installed (YES in S104), step S109 is executed. If any of the dependent standard applications 121 is not installed (NO in S104), an example of processing associated with an abnormality (abnormal processing) is executed in step S105 and subsequent steps. Specifically, the dependent standard applications 121 that are not installed (hereinafter referred to as “uninstalled dependent applications”) are processed one by one, and step S105 and subsequent steps are executed in order.

  In step S105, the installation condition determination unit 1233 determines whether or not pre-installation of the processing target uninstalled dependence destination application is essential. This determination is made based on whether or not the value of the install attribute of the depend element corresponding to the non-installed dependence destination application is “forced”.

  If the installation is essential, that is, if the value of the install attribute is “forced” (YES in S105), the installation condition determination unit 1233 determines that the installation has failed because the installation conditions are not satisfied. (S106). In this case, the process in FIG. 7 ends abnormally and is not executed after step S12 in FIG. In step S106, the installation unit 1234 may display a warning screen as shown in FIG. 9 on the operation panel 15, for example.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a warning screen for notifying installation failure. The warning screen 510 in FIG. 9 corresponds to a state in which the ScanToFAX application 1221 is the target SDK application and the scan application 1211 is not installed in the image forming apparatus 10. Therefore, the warning screen 510 includes a warning message indicating that the ScanToFAX application 1221 cannot be installed because the scan application 1211 is not installed.

  On the other hand, if the installation is not essential (NO in S105), the installation unit 1234 displays, for example, a warning screen indicating that the standard application 121 that is the dependency destination is not installed on the operation panel 15 (S107).

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a warning screen that prompts the user to install the standard application on which the dependency depends. The warning screen 520 in FIG. 10 corresponds to a state in which the ScanToFAX application 1221 is the target SDK application and the FAX application 1214 is not installed in the image forming apparatus 10. Therefore, the warning screen 520 includes a warning message that prompts the user to install the FAX application 1214.

  When the confirmation button 521 is pressed by the user, the installation condition determination unit 1233 executes step S105 and subsequent steps for all other non-installed dependence destination applications (S108). In the process in which step S105 and subsequent steps are sequentially executed for all the non-installation dependent destinations, when step S106 is executed and does not end abnormally (NO in S108), the installation unit 1234 executes the installation process of the target SDK application. (S109). If the installation process is successful, the process in FIG. 7 ends normally, and the process proceeds to step S12 in FIG.

  Next, details of step S13 in FIG. 6 will be described. FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the processing procedure of the use authority setting process.

  In step S201, the authority-dependent information acquisition unit 1235 acquires authority-dependent information from application attribute data stored in the HDD 114 or the like regarding the SDK application for which usage authority is set (hereinafter referred to as “target SDK application”). (S201).

  FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of authority-dependent information. FIG. 12 shows an example in which application attribute data is described in an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) format. Moreover, in FIG. 12, only the description regarding authority dependence information is extracted from application attribute data.

  The meanings of the depend element and the value of the element are the same as the installation-dependent information shown in FIG. The dependent element constituting the authority-dependent information includes an available attribute. The value of the available attribute indicates an authorization condition regarding the target SDK application in the relationship with the standard application 121 related to the depend element. The authority granting condition is a condition for granting the use authority. Specifically, “forced” indicates that it is indispensable (forced) that the use authority is given in advance to the standard application 121 related to the depend element. That is, “forced” indicates that the use permission of the target SDK application is permitted only when the use right of the standard application 121 is granted. On the other hand, “unforced” indicates that it is not indispensable (not forced) that the use authority is given in advance to the standard application 121 related to the dependent element. Note that a state where the available attribute is not specified is synonymous with a state where the value of the available attribute is “unforced”. The application attribute data of the SDK application 122 that does not depend on any standard application 121 does not include a depend element.

  The authority dependency information may be integrated with the installation dependency information shown in FIG. That is, the influence of the dependency on the standard application 121 by the target SDK application is the same in both installation and usage authority settings. Therefore, both the install attribute and the available attribute may be described for one dependent element.

  Subsequently, the authority grant condition determination unit 1236 determines whether the target SDK application depends on any of the standard applications 121 (S202). That is, it is determined whether or not the authority dependency information (depend element) is acquired from the application attribute data of the target SDK application.

  When the target SDK application does not depend on any standard application 121 (NO in S202), the authority granting unit 1237 executes a process for granting the use authority of the target SDK application (S210). In the usage right grant process, the usage right of the target SDK application is granted to the user who is the target of granting the usage right (hereinafter referred to as “target user”) (use of the target SDK application is permitted). Is set in the HDD 114 or the NVRAM 115. For example, the user to whom the usage authority is given is selected in advance before step S201. As described above, the user to whom the usage authority is given may be a specific user, a plurality of users belonging to a specific group, or all users. Note that if the use authority grant process is successful, the process of FIG. 11 ends normally.

  On the other hand, when the target SDK application depends on any of the standard applications 121 (YES in S202), the authority granting condition determination unit 1236 grants the use authority of all the dependent standard applications 121 to the target user. It is determined whether it has been completed (S203). All standard applications 121 on which the target SDK application depends are all standard applications 121 whose identification information is specified in the dependent element of the application attribute data of the target SDK application. The determination in step S203 is performed by referring to authority setting information stored in the NVRAM 115 or the HDD 114, for example.

  When the usage authority of all the standard applications 121 of the dependence destination has been given to the target user (YES in S203), step S210 is executed.

  When the usage authority of any one of the dependent standard applications 121 is not granted to the target user (NO in S203), an example of abnormal processing is executed in step S204 and subsequent steps. Specifically, the dependency standard application 121 to which the usage authority is not granted (hereinafter referred to as “unauthorized dependency application”) is set as a processing target one by one, and step S204 and subsequent steps are executed in order. The

  In step S <b> 204, the authority grant condition determination unit 1236 determines whether or not prior use authority is essential for the processing-target authority-unassigned dependency destination application. This determination is made based on whether or not the value of the available attribute of the depend element corresponding to the non-authoritative dependency destination application is “forced”.

  When the usage right is required to be granted, that is, when the value of the available attribute is “forced” (YES in S204), the right grant condition determination unit 1236 uses the unprivileged dependency destination application to be processed. An inquiry screen for inquiring whether or not to grant authority is displayed on, for example, the operation panel 15 (S205).

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an inquiry screen. The inquiry screen 530 in FIG. 13 corresponds to a state in which the ScanToFAX application 1221 is the target SDK application and the usage authority for the scan application 1211 is not granted to the target user.

  The operator presses the yes button 531 or the no button 532 depending on whether or not to grant usage authority.

  When the Yes button 531 is pressed, the authority granting unit 1237 executes a process of granting the use authority to the target user regarding the process-unprivileged dependency destination application. When the No button 532 is pressed, the use authority grant process is not executed.

  Subsequently, the authority granting condition determining unit 1236 determines whether or not the authority to use the processing-target authority-independent dependency destination application has been granted (S206). When the usage authority of the unprivileged dependency-dependent application is not granted (NO in S206), the authorization condition determining unit 1236 determines that the setting of the usage authority is unsuccessful because the authorization condition is not satisfied (S207). . In this case, the process of FIG. 11 ends abnormally. When the authority to use the authority-unassigned dependency destination application is granted (YES in S206), the process proceeds to step S209.

  On the other hand, when the use right is not necessarily granted (NO in S204), the right granting unit 1237 displays a warning screen including a warning message indicating that the use right of the standard application 121 as the dependency destination is not given. It is displayed on the operation panel 15 (S208).

  Subsequently, the authority granting condition determination unit 1236 executes step S204 and subsequent steps for all other authority-unauthorized dependency destination applications (S209). In the process in which step S204 and subsequent steps are executed in order for all unprivileged dependency-destination apps, if step S207 is not abnormally terminated (NO in S209), the privilege granting unit 1237 uses the target SDK app. Authority grant processing is executed (S210).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, regarding the installation of the SDK application 122 that depends on any of the standard applications 121 and the setting of usage authority, the installation status of the dependent standard application 121 and the usage authority setting status In accordance with the above, abnormal processing can be executed. For example, as an abnormal process, the process can be stopped or a warning or inquiry can be made to the user.

  As a result, it is possible to avoid that the SDK application 122 is normally installed or the usage authority is normally set without the user knowing the state in which the user cannot normally use. As a result, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of inconvenience based on the dependency between programs.

  Further, in the present embodiment, since the SDK platform 123 performs the above processing in an integrated manner, it is possible to reduce the necessity of implementing the above abnormal processing for each SDK application 122.

  In this embodiment, an example in which the SDK application 122 depends on the standard application 121 has been described. However, the present embodiment is applied to a case where a certain SDK application 122 depends on another SDK application 122. Also good.

  Further, the present embodiment may be applied to devices or systems other than the image forming apparatus 10 such as a projector, a digital camera, and a video conference system.

  By the way, in this embodiment, it is possible to set whether or not the pre-installation of the dependency destination is essential in the install attribute of the depend element. In other words, the pre-installation of the dependee is not fixedly forced. This is to avoid inconvenience due to the restriction of the installation order. For example, it may be considered that the user installs the SDK application 122 for the time being after knowing that the user does not operate normally, and then installs the standard application 121 (reason 1).

  Also, if installation is permitted only when the dependency-destination SDK application 122 is installed, it may be impossible to install two or more SDK applications 122 that depend on each other (reason) 2).

  Furthermore, in the case of the SDK application 122 that depends on the standard application 121 or other SDK application 122 only for a part of the functions, even when the standard application 121 or other SDK application 122 that is the dependency destination is not installed, This is to cope with a case where a function other than the function of the unit can be executed (reason 3).

  In particular, regarding the reason 2 and the reason 3, it is considered that the developer of the SDK application 122 can predict the situation. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to set whether or not pre-installation is essential in an application attribute file that is likely to be created by the developer.

  For the same reason as described above, it is possible to set in the available attribute of the depend element whether or not to grant the prior use authority of the dependency destination.

  In the present embodiment, the installation condition determination unit 1233 or the authority grant condition determination unit 1236 is an example of a determination unit. The program management device 20 is an example of a storage device. The data stored in the application attribute file is an example of data associated with the first program.

  As mentioned above, although the Example of this invention was explained in full detail, this invention is not limited to such specific embodiment, In the range of the summary of this invention described in the claim, various deformation | transformation・ Change is possible.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Installation system 10 Image forming apparatus 11 Controller 12 Scanner 13 Printer 14 Modem 15 Operation panel 16 Network interface 17 SD card slot 20 Program management apparatus 80 SD card 111 CPU
112 RAM
113 ROM
114 HDD
115 NVRAM
121 Standard application 121
122 SDK application 123 SDK platform 124 Control service 125 OS
1211 Scan application 1212 Print application 1213 Copy application 1214 FAX application 1221 ScanToFAX application 1231 Installation file acquisition unit 1232 Installation dependency information acquisition unit 1233 Installation condition determination unit 1234 Installation unit 1235 Authority dependency information acquisition unit 1236 Authority grant condition determination unit 1237 Authority grant unit

JP 2005-269619 A JP 2003-202930 A

Claims (7)

A determination unit that determines whether the second program that the first program depends on is specified based on data associated with the first program to be installed; and
When the second program is not already installed, a process corresponding to an abnormality is executed for the installation of the first program, and when the second program is already installed, the second program is installed. An installation unit that inquires an operator whether or not to grant the use right to the predetermined user if the use right is not given to the predetermined user ;
The installation unit does not execute the installation of the first program when the data indicates that the second program is already installed.
Equipment characterized by that. The installation unit outputs information indicating that the second program is not installed when the data indicates that the second program has been installed. Do not perform installation of the first program,
The device according to claim 1. When the installation unit is instructed not to grant the usage right by the operator, the installation unit does not grant the usage right to the first program to the predetermined user.
The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 , characterized by the above. The installation unit outputs information indicating that the second program is not installed when the data indicates that the second program is not necessarily installed. Performing installation of the first program;
It claims 1 to 3 device according to any one claim, characterized in that. An information processing system comprising: the device according to any one of claims 1 to 4; and a storage device connected to the device via a network and storing the first program. A determination procedure for determining whether or not the second program on which the first program depends is identified based on data associated with the first program to be installed; and
When the second program is not already installed, a process corresponding to an abnormality is executed for the installation of the first program, and when the second program is already installed, the second program is installed. If the usage authority is not granted to the predetermined user, the device executes an installation procedure for inquiring of an operator whether or not to grant the usage authority to the predetermined user ,
The installation procedure does not execute the installation of the first program when the data indicates that it is essential that the second program has been installed.
An information processing method characterized by the above. A determination procedure for determining whether or not the second program on which the first program depends is identified based on data associated with the first program to be installed; and
When the second program is not already installed, a process corresponding to an abnormality is executed for the installation of the first program, and when the second program is already installed, the second program is installed. If the usage authority is not given to the predetermined user, the apparatus is caused to execute an installation procedure for inquiring an operator whether or not to grant the usage authority to the predetermined user ,
The installation procedure does not execute the installation of the first program when the data indicates that it is essential that the second program has been installed.
A program characterized by that.

Images