Command interface to object-based architecture of software components for extending functional and communicational capabilities of network devices

• US 6,854,121 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2001
• Issued: 02/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon USA, Inc. (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon USA, Inc. (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Wilson, Richard, Barnard, John
• Primary Examiner(s): El-Hady, Nabil
• Application Number:
  US09/789,934
• Publication Number:
  US 20020116544A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,453 Days
• Field of Search: 719/311, 719/313, 719/315, 719/328, 719/310, 709/310
• US Class Current: 719/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2805 Home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204

Abstract

Interfacing a plurality of virtual device container modules to a third-party application, each of the virtual device container modules being in communication with a tracker module through a software bus, including receiving an interface command at the interface module from the third-party application via a third-party connection, the interface command relating to a designated one of the plurality of virtual device container modules, establishing a direct connection between the interface module and the designated virtual device container module by using an address pointer, receiving information data, at the interface module, from the designated virtual device container module via the direct connection, the information data relating to the designated virtual device container module, and sending the information data from the interface module to the third-party application via the third-party connection.

Claims

1. A method for interfacing a plurality of virtual device container modules to a third-party application, each of the virtual device container modules being in communication with a tracker module through a software bus, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving an interface command at an interface module from the third-party application via a third-party connection, the interface command relating to a designated one of the plurality of virtual device container modules;

establishing a direct connection between the interface module and the designated virtual device container module by using an address pointer;

received from the tracker module

receiving information data, at the interface module, from the designated virtual device container module via the direct connection, the information data relating to the designated virtual device container module; and

sending the information data from the interface module to the third-party application via the third-party connection.

2. A method according to claim 1, further including the steps of:

sending an address request from the interface module to the tracker module via an intermediate connection, the address request relating to the designated virtual device container module; and

receiving, at the interface module, the address pointer from the tracker module via the intermediate connection, the address pointer relating to the designated virtual device container module.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the interface module initiates execution of the tracker module and establishes the intermediate connection.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the information data is received in response to an information request which is sent from the interface module to the designated virtual device container module via the direct connection.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the intermediate connection is a standard interface connection.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the standard interface connection is supported by an operating system component interoperability standard.

7. A method according to claim 5, wherein the standard interface connection is a COM connection.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein each of the virtual device container modules corresponds to a network device.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the network device is a network printer.

10. A method according to claim 8, wherein the network device is a network copier.

11. A method according to claim 8, wherein the network device is a network scanner.

12. A method according to claim 4, wherein the address request is a standard interface command.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the standard interface command is supported by an operating system component interoperability standard.

14. A method according to claim 12, wherein the standard interface command is a COM command.

15. A method according to claim 1, wherein the third-party application is a network management application.

16. A method according to claim 1, wherein the third-party application is an e-mail printing application.

17. A method according to claim 1, wherein the third-party application is a network security application.

18. A method according to claim 1, wherein the third-party application is a resource management application.

19. A method according to claim 1, wherein the third-party application is a print job accounting application.

20. A method according to claim 1, wherein the software bus is managed by a software bus control module.

21. A method according to claim 20, wherein each virtual device container module and the tracker module contain a software bus connector module which supports communication over the software bus.

22. A method according to claim 21, wherein communication over the software bus between the software bus connector modules over the software bus is implemented by using a plurality of different software bus messages.

23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the software bus includes a data channel and a command channel.

24. A method according to claim 22, wherein one of the software bus messages is a discovery request for identification information corresponding to each of the virtual device container modules.

25. A method according to claim 22, wherein the software bus messages are supported by a plurality of different communication protocols.

26. A method according to claim 1, wherein communication over the software bus is implemented in one of a plurality of different communication protocols.

27. A method according to claim 1, wherein the tracker module obtains a unique address pointer from each virtual device container module via the software bus in response to a discovery request sent from the tracker module over the software bus to the plurality of virtual device container modules.

28. A method according to claim 1, wherein the third-party connection is a standard data interface.

29. A method according to claim 28, wherein the standard data interface has an input channel and an output channel.

30. A method according to claim 28, wherein the standard data interface includes two standard data pipes.

31. A method according to claim 1, wherein the interface command is one of a set of predefined commands.

32. A method according to claim 31, wherein the set of predefined commands are supported by the interface module.

33. A method according to claim 31, wherein the set of predefined commands are implemented in the third-party application.

34. A method according to claim 31, wherein the set of predefined commands includes a get-command which requests the information data from a designated virtual device container module.

35. A method according to claim 34, wherein the information data is received in response to the get-command in ASCII format.

36. A method according to claim 31, wherein the set of predefined commands includes a set-command which sends settings to a designated virtual device container module.

37. A method according to claim 31, wherein an error indicator is returned in response to one of the set of predefined commands.

38. A method according to claim 31, wherein the set of predefined commands includes a discovery request which requests identification information for each module communicating through the software bus.

39. A method according to claim 31, wherein the set of predefined commands includes a discovery request which requests identification information for each virtual device container module of a designated device type.

40. A method according to claim 36, wherein the identification information includes a device identifier for the designated virtual device container module.

41. A method according to claim 39, wherein the identification information includes a network address for the designated virtual device container module.

42. A method according to claim 39, wherein the identification information includes a device name for the designated virtual device container module.

43. A method according to claim 39, wherein the identification information includes a model name for the designated virtual device container module.

44. A method according to claim 39, wherein the identification information includes a device location for the designated virtual device container module.

45. A method according to claim 39, wherein the identification information includes an administrator identification for the designated virtual device container module.

46. A method according to claim 39, wherein the identification information includes status information for the designated virtual device container module.

47. A method according to claim 31, wherein the set of predefined commands includes a status request which requests status information for a designated virtual device container module.

48. A method according to claim 47, wherein the status information includes a plurality of status tokens, each status token representing a unique device property status.

49. A method according to claim 48, wherein the plurality of status tokens includes at least one status token corresponding to an operational state of the device.

50. A method according to claim 48, wherein the plurality of status tokens includes at least one status token corresponding to a device capability.

51. A method according to claim 48, wherein the plurality of status tokens includes at least one status token corresponding to a device hardware specification.

52. A method according to claim 31, wherein the set of predefined commands includes a settings request which requests the receipt of settings information for a designated virtual device container module.

53. A method according to claim 52, wherein the settings information includes a device name, a device location and a device administrator identification for the designated virtual device container module.

54. A method according to claim 31, wherein the set of predefined commands includes a settings request which sends settings information to a designated virtual device container module.

55. A method according to claim 54, wherein the settings information includes a device name, a device location and a device administrator identification for the designated virtual device container module.

56. A method according to claim 31, wherein the set of predefined commands includes a control request which requests receipt of control information for a designated virtual device container module.

57. A method according to claim 56, wherein the control information includes a plurality of control tokens, each control token representing a functional operation which is supported by the designated virtual device container module.

58. A method according to claim 31, wherein the set of predefined commands includes a control request which sends control information to a designated virtual device container module.

59. A method according to claim 58, wherein the control information includes a plurality of control tokens, each control token representing a functional operation command for execution by the designated virtual device container module.

60. A method according to claim 1, wherein the direct connection is a standard interface connection.

61. A method according to claim 60, wherein the standard interface connection is supported by an operating system component interoperability standard.

62. A method according to claim 60, wherein the standard interface connection is a COM connection.

63. A method according to claim 1, wherein the information data is received from the designated virtual device container module via the direct connection through a standard interface command.

64. A method according to claim 63, wherein the standard interface command is supported by an operating system component interoperability standard.

65. A method according to claim 63, wherein the standard interface command is a COM command.

66. A method according to claim 1, wherein the tracker module maintains a unique address pointer for each virtual device container module.

67. A method according to claim 1, wherein the third-party application is a knowledge module.

68. A method according to claim 67, wherein the knowledge module contains a plurality of sub-modules, each sub-module corresponding to a respective virtual device container module for a type of network device.

69. A method according to claim 68, wherein each sub-module instantiates a plurality of device-modules, each device module corresponding to a network device.

70. A method according to claim 1, wherein the interface module initiates execution of the tracker module.

71. A method according to claim 1, wherein the third-party application initiates execution of the interface module and establishes the third-party connection.

72. A method according to claim 1, wherein the tracker module initiates execution of each of the plurality of virtual device container modules.

73. A method according to claim 72, wherein the tracker module receives a unique address pointer from each of the plurality of virtual device container modules via the software bus.

74. A method according to claim 73, wherein the unique address pointers are received in response to a discovery request sent from the tracker module to the plurality of virtual device container modules via the software bus.

75. A method according to claim 1, wherein the interface module is connected to a plurality of tracker modules via a plurality of intermediate connections, respectively.

76. A method according to claim 1, wherein an error indicator is returned with the information data.

78. A computing device for interfacing a plurality of virtual device container modules to a third-party application, each of the virtual device container modules being in communication with a tracker module through a software bus, said computing device comprising:

a program memory for storing process steps executable to perform a method according to any of claims 1 to 77; and

a processor for executing the process steps stored in said program memory.

79. Computer-executable process steps stored on a computer readable medium, said computer-executable process steps for interfacing a plurality of virtual device container modules to a third-party application, each of the virtual device container modules being in communication with a tracker module through a software bus, said computer-executable process steps comprising process steps executable to perform a method according to any of claims 1 to 77.

80. A computer-readable medium which stores computer-executable process steps, the computer-executable process steps to interface a plurality of virtual device container modules to a third-party application, each of the virtual device container modules being in communication with a tracker module through a software bus, said computer-executable process steps comprising process steps executable to perform a method according to any of claims 1 to 77.

77. A method for interfacing a plurality of virtual device container modules to a third-party application, each of the virtual device container modules being in communication with a tracker module through a software bus, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving an interface command at an interface module from the third-party application via a third-party connection, the interface command relating to a designated one of the plurality of virtual device container modules;

sending an address request from the interface module to the tracker module via an intermediate connection, the address request relating to the designated virtual device container module;

receiving, at the interface module, an address pointer from the tracker module via the intermediate connection, the address pointer relating to the designated virtual device container module;

establishing a direct connection between the interface module and the designated virtual device container module by using the address pointer;

sending an information request from the interface module to the designated virtual device container module via the direct connection;

receiving information data, at the interface module, from the designated virtual device container module via the direct connection, the information data relating to the designated virtual device container module; and

sending the information data from the interface module to the third-party application via the third-party connection.