Storage terminal, information processing apparatus, and information processing system

• US 7,930,466 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2008
• Issued: 04/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Narusawa, Atsushi, Ishii, Nobutake
• Primary Examiner(s): Gu; Shawn X
• Application Number:
  US12/015,983
• Publication Number:
  US 20080215795A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,188 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

A storage terminal includes a storage unit, a communication unit, and a controlling unit. The storage unit stores first information and second information. The first information is information that is displayed according to a procedure defined in an Internet browser program. The second information is information that is output according to a procedure defined in a program different from the Internet browser program. The communication unit carries out communications with an information processing apparatus on which the Internet browser program is executed. The controlling unit executes processing according to a request received from the information processing apparatus, by executing an Internet server program. The first information is transmitted according to a communication standard for communications by the storage terminal, and the second information is read and transmitted according to a read/write standard for reading and/or writing to the storage unit.

Claims

1. A storage terminal comprising:

a storage unit that stores first information and second information, the first information being information that is displayed according to a procedure defined in an Internet browser program, and the second information being information that is output according to a procedure defined in a program different from the Internet browser program;

wherein the first information is information written in a markup language that is parsed by the Internet browser program, and

wherein the second information includes at least one of data of music that is played back according to a procedure defined in a music processing program, data of an image that is displayed according to a procedure defined in an image processing program, and data of a document that is displayed according to a procedure defined in a document processing program;

a communication unit that carries out communications with an information processing apparatus on which the Internet browser program is executed; and

a controlling unit that executes processing according to a request received from the information processing apparatus, by executing an Internet server program;

wherein when the request received from the information processing apparatus by the communication unit is a request specifying the first information, the controlling unit reads the specified first information from the storage unit, and sends the first information from the communication unit to the information processing apparatus according to a communication standard for communications by the storage terminal, and when the request received is a request generated by encapsulating specification information specifying the first information according to an Internet communication protocol used on the Internet and further encapsulating resulting data according to the communication standard for communications by the storage terminal, the controlling unit decapsulates the request to extract the specification information, and encapsulates a piece of first information specified by the specification information among the first information stored in the storage unit according to the Internet communication protocol, further encapsulates resulting data according to the communication standard, and sends resulting data to the information processing apparatus, and

wherein when the request received from the information processing apparatus by the communication unit is a request specifying the second information, the controlling unit reads the specified second information from the storage unit, and sends the second information from the communication unit to the information processing apparatus according to a read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage unit, and when the request received is a request generated by encapsulating specification information specifying the second information according to the Internet communication protocol and further encapsulating resulting data according to the communication standard, the controlling unit decapsulates the request to extract the specification information, attaches a command for allowing the information processing apparatus to control the storage terminal as a peripheral device to a piece of second information specified by the specification information among the second information stored in the storage unit, encapsulates resulting data according to the read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage unit, and sends resulting data to the information processing apparatus.

2. The storage terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the Internet communication protocol is the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol,

wherein the communication standard for communications by the storage terminal is the Communication Class,

wherein the read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage unit is the Mass Storage Class, and

wherein the command for allowing the information processing apparatus to control the storage terminal as a peripheral device is a Small Computer System Interface command.

3. The storage terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the communication unit exchanges the request or information according to the Universal Serial Bus standard.

4. A storage terminal comprising:

a storage unit that stores first information and second information, the first information being information that is displayed according to a procedure defined in an Internet browser program, and the second information being information that is output according to a procedure defined in a program different from the Internet browser program;

wherein the first information is information written in a markup language that is parsed by the Internet browser program, and

wherein the second information includes at least one of data of music that is played back according to a procedure defined in a music processing program, data of an image that is displayed according to a procedure defined in an image processing program, and data of a document that is displayed according to a procedure defined in a document processing program;

a communication unit that carries out communications with an information processing apparatus on which the Internet browser program is executed; and

a controlling unit that executes processing according to a request received from the information processing apparatus, by executing an Internet server program;

wherein when the request received from the information processing apparatus by the communication unit is a request specifying the first information or the second information, the controlling unit reads the specified first information or second information from the storage unit, and sends the first information or second information from the communication unit to the information processing apparatus according to a read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage unit,

wherein when the request received is a request generated by encapsulating specification information specifying the first information according to an Internet communication protocol used on the Internet and further encapsulating resulting data according to the read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage unit, the controlling unit decapsulates the request to extract the specification information, and encapsulates apiece of first information specified by the specification information among the first information stored in the storage unit according to the Internet communication protocol, further encapsulates resulting data according to the read/write standard, and sends resulting data to the information processing apparatus, and

wherein when the request received is a request generated by encapsulating specification information specifying the second information according to the Internet communication protocol and further encapsulating resulting data according to the read/write standard, the controlling unit decapsulates the request to extract the specification information, attaches a command for allowing the information processing apparatus to control the storage terminal as a peripheral device to a piece of second information specified by the specification information among the second information stored in the storage unit, encapsulates resulting data according to the read/write standard, and sends resulting data to the information processing apparatus.

5. The storage terminal according to claim 4,

wherein the Internet communication protocol is the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol,

wherein the read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage unit is the Mass Storage Class, and

wherein the command for allowing the information processing apparatus to control the storage terminal as a peripheral device is a Small Computer System Interface command.

6. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a storage unit that stores information;

a communication unit that carries out communications with a storage terminal on which an Internet server program is executed; and

a controlling unit that reads specified information from the storage unit and that sends the specified information from the communication unit to the storage terminal according to a read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage terminal, by executing an Internet browser program;

wherein

the specified information is encapsulated according to an Internet communication protocol used on the Internet,

in response to sending the specified information to the storage terminal, the information processing apparatus is able to control the storage terminal as a peripheral device to a piece of information specified by the specified information among information stored in the storage terminal, and the information processing apparatus receives resulting data from the storage terminal according to the read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage terminal, and

the information stored in the storage terminal includes at least one of data of music that is played back according to a procedure defined in a music processing program, data of an image that is displayed according to a procedure defined in an image processing program, and data of a document that is displayed according to a procedure defined in a document processing program.

7. An information processing system comprising:

a storage terminal that executes an Internet server program; and

an information processing apparatus that executes an Internet browser program;

wherein the storage terminal includes;

a storage unit that stores first information and second information, the first information being information that is displayed according to a procedure defined in the Internet browser program, and the second information being information that is output according to a procedure defined in a program different from the Internet browser program;

wherein the first information is information written in a markup language that is parsed by the Internet browser program, and

wherein the second information includes at least one of data of music that is played back according to a procedure defined in a music Processing program, data of an image that is displayed according to a procedure defined in an image processing program, and data of a document that is displayed according to a procedure defined in a document processing program;

a communication unit that carries out communications with the information processing apparatus; and

a controlling unit that executes processing according to a request received from the information processing apparatus, by executing the Internet server program, wherein when the request received from the information processing apparatus by the communication unit is a request specifying the first information, the controlling unit reads the specified first information from the storage unit, and sends the first information from the communication unit to the information processing apparatus according to a communication standard for communications by the storage terminal, and wherein when the request received from the information processing apparatus by the communication unit is a request specifying the second information, the controlling unit reads the specified second information from the storage unit, and sends the second information from the communication unit to the information processing apparatus according to a read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage unit;

wherein when the request received is a request generated by encapsulating specification information specifying the first information according to an Internet communication protocol used on the Internet and further encapsulating resulting data according to the read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage unit, the controlling unit decapsulates the request to extract the specification information, and encapsulates a piece of first information specified by the specification information among the first information stored in the storage unit according to the Internet communication protocol, further encapsulates resulting data according to the read/write standard, and sends resulting data to the information processing apparatus, and

wherein when the request received is a request generated by encapsulating specification information specifying the second information according to the Internet communication protocol and further encapsulating resulting data according to the read/write standard, the controlling unit decapsulates the request to extract the specification information, attaches a command for allowing the information processing apparatus to control the storage terminal as a peripheral device to a piece of second information specified by the specification information among the second information stored in the storage unit, encapsulates resulting data according to the read/write standard, and sends resulting data to the information processing apparatus; and

wherein the information processing apparatus includes;

an executing unit that executes the Internet browser program;

a sending unit that sends a request specifying the first information or the second information to the storage terminal; and

a receiving unit that receives the first information or the second information sent from the communication unit of the storage terminal.

8. An information processing system comprising:

a storage terminal that executes an Internet server program; and

an information processing apparatus that executes an Internet browser program;

wherein the storage terminal includes;

a storage unit that stores first information and second information, the first information being information that is displayed according to a procedure defined in the Internet browser program, and the second information being information that is output according to a procedure defined in a program different from the Internet browser program;

wherein the first information is information written in a markup language that is parsed by the Internet browser program, and

wherein the second information includes at least one of data of music that is played back according to a procedure defined in a music processing program, data of an image that is displayed according to a procedure defined in an image processing program, and data of a document that is displayed according to a procedure defined in a document processing program;

a communication unit that carries out communications with the information processing apparatus; and

a controlling unit that executes processing according to a request received from the information processing apparatus, by executing the Internet server program, wherein when the request received from the information processing apparatus by the communication unit is a request specifying the first information or the second information, the controlling unit reads the specified first information or second information from the storage unit, and sends the first information or second information from the communication unit to the information processing apparatus according to a read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage unit;

wherein when the request received is a request generated by encapsulating specification information specifying the first information according to an Internet communication protocol used on the Internet and further encapsulating resulting data according to the read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage unit, the controlling unit decapsulates the request to extract the specification information, and encapsulates a piece of first information specified by the specification information among the first information stored in the storage unit according to the Internet communication protocol, further encapsulates resulting data according to the read/write standard, and sends resulting data to the information processing apparatus, and

wherein when the request received is a request generated by encapsulating specification information specifying the second information according to the Internet communication protocol and further encapsulating resulting data according to the read/write standard, the controlling unit decapsulates the request to extract the specification information, attaches a command for allowing the information processing apparatus to control the storage terminal as a peripheral device to a piece of second information specified by the specification information among the second information stored in the storage unit, encapsulates resulting data according to the read/write standard, and sends resulting data to the information processing apparatus; and

wherein the information processing apparatus includes;

an executing unit that executes the Internet browser program;

a sending unit that sends a request specifying the first information or the second information to the storage terminal; and

a receiving unit that receives the first information or the second information sent from the communication unit of the storage terminal.

9. An information processing system comprising:

a storage terminal that executes an Internet server program; and

an information processing apparatus that executes an Internet browser program;

wherein the information processing apparatus includes;

a first storage unit that stores information;

a communication unit that carries out communications with the storage terminal; and

a controlling unit that reads specified information from the first storage unit and that sends the specified information from the communication unit to the storage terminal according to a read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage terminal, by executing the Internet browser program;

wherein

the specified information is encapsulated according to an Internet communication protocol used on the Internet,

in response to sending the s specified information to the storage terminal, the information processing apparatus is able to control the storage terminal as a peripheral device to a piece of information specified by the specified information among information stored in the storage terminal, the information processing apparatus receives resulting data from the storage terminal according to the read/write standard for reading information from or writing information to the storage terminal, and

the information stored in the storage terminal includes at least one of data of music that is played back according to a procedure defined in a music processing program, data of an image that is displayed according to a procedure defined in an image processing program, and data of a document that is displayed according to a procedure defined in a document processing program; and

wherein the storage terminal includes;

a second storage unit that stores information;

a communication unit that carries out communications with the information processing apparatus; and

a controlling unit that stores information received from the information processing apparatus by the communication unit in the second storage unit, by executing the Internet server program.