Point of sale control device, control method, and storage medium storing a program for a point of sale device

• US 9,110,615 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2012
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Hirayama, Hisashi, Nakazawa, Masatoshi, Jintsugawa, Kei, Furuta, Etsuro
• Primary Examiner(s): Guillermety, Fred
• Application Number:
  US13/561,605
• Publication Number:
  US 20130033720A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,114 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.15
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1206 resulting in increased flexibility in input data format or job format or job type
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1245 by conversion to intermediate or common format
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1284 Local printer device
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0009 Details of the software in the checkout register, electronic cash register [ECR] or point of sale terminal [POS]

Abstract

The effort required to develop a device object is reduced. A host computer 10 has objects including a printer CO 21 that provides a POS application program 11 with an interface for each type of device, and a printer SO 22 that provides the printer CO 21 with an interface to each device type and executes a process by device unit. A wrapper SO 30 executes the process instead of the printer SO 22 when at least one of the methods called by the printer CO 21 is called, and then calls a method of the printer SO 22 based on the result of the executed process. When the printer CO 21 calls other methods, the wrapper SO 30 calls the printer SO 22 method.

Claims

1. A control device that can execute an application program and control at least one type of device, comprising:

a first object that provides the application program with a first interface for each type of device, wherein the control device is a point-of-sale (POS) device and the at least one type of device includes a scanner, a printer, or a peripheral device of the control device;

a second object that provides the first object with a second interface for each type of device, and executes a process by the at least one type of device, wherein the process is executed by a plurality of methods of the second object; and

a third object that executes the process instead of the second object when a first method from the plurality of methods of the second object is called by the first object, and calls the first method of the second object when a second method from the plurality of methods of the second object is called by the first object, wherein the third object is a wrapper for the first interface and the second interface, wherein the wrapper provides one or more processes not provided by the plurality of methods of the second object of the at least one type of device, or provides modifications to the plurality of methods of the second object, thereby providing a new process to the plurality of methods.

2. The control device described in claim 1, wherein:

the third object resides between the second interface provided by the second object and the first object, and when the other method is called by the first object calls the method of the second object through the second interface.

3. The control device described in claim 1, wherein:

the first object is a control object that is provided for each type of device; and

the second object is a service object that is provided for each device.

4. The control device described in claim 1, wherein:

the application program is a POS application program;

the at least one device is the printer;

the first object and second object are objects that control the printer according to requests from the POS application program; and

the process executed by the third object converts from a specific character code set to another character code set compatible with the printer when the first object calls a print method of the specific character code set, and calls a print method of the second object based on the character code set resulting from conversion.

5. The control device described in claim 4, wherein:

the specific character code set is written in Unicode, and the other character code set is written with 1-byte or 2-byte character codes.

6. The control device described in claim 1, wherein:

the first object is an OPOS standard control object;

the second object provides an IDispatch interface as the interface to the first object; and

the third object provides an IDispatch interface to the first object and calls a method of the second object through the IDispatch interface of the second object.

7. The control device described in claim 1, wherein:

the devices include an output device that is controlled by the control device;

the first object is a common control means that outputs output data common to plural types of output devices based on data output by the application program;

the second object is a character data generating means that generates character data in a character set stored internally by the output device based on a character code of a specific character code set contained in the output data; and

the third object is a character code conversion means that resides between the common control means and the character data generating means, and when the internal character set of the output device is another character code set that differs from the specific character code set, converts character codes in the specific character code set contained in the output data to character codes in the other character code set, and outputs to the character data generating means.

8. The control device described in claim 7, wherein:

the output device is a printer;

the character set stored internally by the printer is composed of font data that is specified by character codes on a plurality of code pages for printing with a recording head; and

the character data generating means generates and outputs character codes on the appropriate code page to the printer based on character codes in the specific character code set or character codes in the other character code set.

9. The control device described in claim 7, wherein:

the character data generating means has a conversion process means that, based on the language setting of the operating setting, converts character codes in the specific character code set contained in the output data output by the common control means to character codes in the character code set corresponding to the set language.

10. The control device described in claim 9, wherein:

the character code conversion means converts character codes in the other character code set to data in a format that is not converted by the conversion process means, and outputs to the character data generating means; and

the character data generating means executes a process that restores data input from the character code conversion means to character codes in the other character code set.

11. The control device described in claim 7, wherein:

the common control means is a host driver that executes a method called by the application program, processes data output from the application program, and generates data containing a character code in a common character code set and an output command that can be used in common by a plurality of device types; and

the character data generating means is a client driver that generates character data in a character set stored internally by the output device based on character codes in the specific character code set contained in data generated by the host driver.

12. A method of controlling a device with a control device that executes an application program and can control at least one type of device, the control method comprising:

a first step that calls a method based on data output by the application program through a first object that provides the application program with a first interface for each type of device, wherein the control device is a point-of-sale (POS) device and the at least one type of device includes a scanner, a printer, or a peripheral device of the control device;

a second step that executes a process by device unit through a second object that provides the first object with a second interface for each of the at least one type of device, wherein the process is executed by a plurality of methods of the second object; and

a third step that, when a first method from the plurality of methods of the second object is called by the first object, executes the process through a third object instead of the second object, and when a second method from the plurality of methods of the second object is called by the first object, calls the method of the second object through the third object, wherein the third object is a wrapper for the first interface and the second interface, wherein the wrapper provides one or more processes not provided by the plurality of methods of the second object of the at least one type of device, or provides modifications to the plurality of methods of the second object, thereby providing a new process to the plurality of methods.

13. The control method described in claim 12, wherein:

the first step outputs output data common to plural types of devices based on data output by the application program;

the second step generates character data in a character set stored internally by the device based on a character code in a specific character code set contained in the output data; and

the third step is a step that resides between the first step and the second step, and when the internal character set of the device is another character code set that differs from the specific character code set, converts a character code in the specific character code set contained in the output data to a character code in the other character code set.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein a configuration of the wrapper extends the methods of the second object, wherein the configuration is compatible with the first object.

14. A non-transitory storage medium that stores a program causing a computer that can control at least one type of device to execute an object that provides an interface to an application program, the program causing the computer to function as:

a first object that provides the application program with a first interface for each type of device, wherein the control device is a point-of-sale (POS) device and the at least one type of device includes a scanner, a printer, or a peripheral device of the control device;

a second object that provides the first object with a second interface for each type of device, and executes a process by the at least one type of device, wherein the process is executed by a plurality of methods of the second object; and

a third object that executes the process instead of the second object and calls a method of the second object based on the result of executing the process when a first method from the plurality of methods of the second object is called by the first object, and calls the first method of the second object when a second method from the plurality of methods of the second object is called by the first object, wherein the third object is a wrapper for the first interface and the second interface, wherein the wrapper provides one or more processes not provided by the plurality of methods of the second object of the at least one type of device, or provides modifications to the plurality of methods of the second object, thereby providing a new process to the plurality of methods.

15. The non-transitory storage medium storing the program described in claim 14, wherein:

the first object outputs output data common to plural types of devices based on data output by the application program;

the second object generates character data in a character set stored internally by the device based on a character code in a specific character code set contained in the output data; and

the third object resides between the first object and the second object, and when the internal character set of the device is another character code set that differs from the specific character code set, converts a character code in the specific character code set contained in the output data to a character code in the other character code set, and outputs to the second object.