Method of and apparatus for image formation, and computer product
First Claim
1. An apparatus for formation of images, which includes hardware resources, such as a display section, a print section, and an imaging section, used in image formation processing and which provides user service including one or more of printing, coping, or facsimile relating to image formation processing, said apparatus comprising:
- applications each of which conducts processing peculiar to each of the user service and which can be mounted in a plurality; and
a platform which is interposed between the applications and the hardware resources, and which conducts management of the hardware resources, execution control and image formation processing needed in common by at least two of the applications when providing the user service.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Common portions of applications are extracted as common system service. A platform is formed by the common system service and a general purpose OS. A printer application, a copy application, and various applications are mounted on the platform. As a result, each software (application) corresponding to a printer, a copier, a facsimile device, and so on can be developed efficiently and the productivity of the apparatus as a whole can be improved.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. An apparatus for formation of images, which includes hardware resources, such as a display section, a print section, and an imaging section, used in image formation processing and which provides user service including one or more of printing, coping, or facsimile relating to image formation processing, said apparatus comprising:
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applications each of which conducts processing peculiar to each of the user service and which can be mounted in a plurality; and
a platform which is interposed between the applications and the hardware resources, and which conducts management of the hardware resources, execution control and image formation processing needed in common by at least two of the applications when providing the user service. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of forming images, which provides user services including one or more of printing, coping, or facsimile relating to image formation processing, by using hardware resources, such as a display section, a print section, and an imaging section, used in image formation processing, the method comprising the steps of:
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conducting processing peculiar to each of the user service by using applications which can be mounted in a plurality; and
conducting management of the hardware resources, execution control and image formation processing needed in common by at least two of the applications, when providing the user service, by using a platform interposed between the applications and the hardware resources. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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12. Application programs which can be mounted in a plurality on an image formation apparatus, the image formation apparatus including hardware resources, such as a display section, a print section, and an imaging section, used in image formation processing and providing user services including one or more of printing, coping, or facsimile, relating to image formation processing, wherein
each of the application programs is executed to operate on a platform which conducts management of the hardware resources, execution control and image formation processing, when providing user service such as print, copy, or facsimile.
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13. An apparatus for formation of images, which includes hardware resources, such as a display section, a print section, and an imaging section, used in image formation processing and which provides user service including one or more of printing, coping, or facsimile relating to image formation processing, said apparatus comprising:
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applications each of which conducts processing peculiar to each of the user service and which can be mounted in a plurality; and
a platform which is interposed between the applications and the hardware resources, and which conducts management of the hardware resources, execution control and image formation processing needed in common by at least two of the applications when providing the user service, the platform including, common system service which conducts management of the hardware resources, execution control and image formation processing; and
application service which is interposed between the plurality of applications and the common system service and which at least conducts job generation corresponding to applications.
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24. A method of forming images, which provides user services including one or more of printing, coping, or facsimile relating to image formation processing, by using hardware resources, such as a display section, a print section, and an imaging section, used in image formation processing, the method comprising the steps of:
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conducting processing peculiar to each of the user service by using applications which can be mounted in a plurality; and
conducting management of the hardware resources, execution control and image formation processing needed in common by at least two of the applications, when providing the user service, by using a platform, wherein the platform includes common system service which is interposed between the applications and the hardware resources and which conducts management of the hardware resources, execution control and image formation processing, and application service which is interposed between the applications and the common system service and which conducts at least job generation corresponding to an application.
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25. Application programs which can be mounted in a plurality on an image formation apparatus, the image formation apparatus including hardware resources, such as a display section, a print section, and an imaging section, used in image formation processing and providing user services including one or more of printing, coping, or facsimile, relating to image formation processing, wherein
each of the application programs is executed to operate on a platform, when providing user service such as print, copy, or facsimile, and the platform includes common system service which conducts management of the hardware resources, execution control and image formation processing, and application service which is interposed between the applications and the common system service and which conducts at least job generation corresponding to an application.
Specification