Abstract:
A device management apparatus is adapted to be connected to devices which constitute at least one device group. An application is running in the device management apparatus. Each of the device managers is associated with one of the devices and is operable to create usage information of the associated one of the devices. A device group manager is associated with the at least one device group and coupled to the device managers to receive the usage information from each of the device managers. The device group manager is operable to notify the usage information in response to an inquiry from the application.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to technology for managing a plurality of parallel operating devices, and relates more particularly to technology for managing a plurality of devices in groups.  
         [0002]     JAVA POS is an application programming interfacing for building point-of-sale (POS) systems using JAVA (registered trademark). JAVA POS also has a function for using device statistics, that is, information relating to usage of devices connected to a POS terminal. The JAVA POS standard enables an application running on a POS terminal to acquire and use these device statistics for example as device usage information. This usage information is information indicating usage of particular device functions, and in the case of a printer is information relating to the number of lines printed or the number of characters printed, for example.  
         [0003]     The device statistics are individually managed in each of several individual devices, including, for example, a printer, a magnetic ink character reader (MICR), a scanner, and a cash drawer.  
         [0004]     There are also hybrid apparatuses having a printer, an MICR, and a scanner, for example, in a single housing. In addition to the usage statistics that are kept for each of the component devices in this type of hybrid device, usage information for the hybrid device as a whole may also be needed. However, while statistics such as the operating time can be acquired for the individual component devices in a hybrid device according to the prior art, determining the total continuous operating time of the hybrid apparatus in toto is not possible.  
         [0005]     In addition to managing device statistics by individual device or the hybrid device overall, grouping two or more devices together and maintaining the device statistics by device group may also be desirable.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     It is therefore an object of the present invention to manage the device statistics while associating two or more devices with each other.  
         [0007]     In order to achieve the above object, according to the invention, there is provided a device management apparatus adapted to be connected to a plurality of devices which constitute at least one device group, comprising:  
         [0008]     an application running in the device management apparatus;  
         [0009]     a plurality of device managers, each of which is associated with one of the devices and is operable to create usage information of the associated one of the devices; and  
         [0010]     a device group manager, associated with the device group and coupled to the device managers to receive the usage information from each of the device managers, the device group manager being operable to notify the usage information in response to an inquiry from the application.  
         [0011]     Preferably, the device management apparatus further comprises a plurality of device drivers, each of which is associated with one of the devices to drive the associated one of the devices. One of the device managers creates the usage information when the application instructs the one of the device drivers to drive one of the devices.  
         [0012]     Here, it is preferable that the device management apparatus further comprises:  
         [0013]     a storage component, storing device group information defining the device group; and  
         [0014]     a creator component, which refers, when one of the device drivers is activated, the device group information to specify a device group including one of the devices associated with the activated one of the device drivers, and which dynamically creates a device group manager if no device group manager is associated with the specified device group.  
         [0015]     Preferably, the device management apparatus is adapted to be connected to at least one hybrid device including at least two of the devices. The usage information includes information pertaining to each of the at least two devices and information pertaining to the hybrid device.  
         [0016]     The device management apparatus may additionally include a multi-group device group manager associated with device managers of individual devices associated with different device groups. Correlations between the device managers and the devices may be dynamically generated. Virtual counters may be associated with the plurality of devices that communicate with the device managers to create the usage information based on predicted usage counts. In this context, the apparatus may additionally include a cumulative counter that accumulates the predicted usage counts for each of the devices  
         [0017]     According to the invention, there is also provided a device management method, comprising:  
         [0018]     connecting a device management apparatus to a plurality of devices which constitute at least one device group;  
         [0019]     running an application in the device management apparatus;  
         [0020]     obtaining usage information of one of the devices; and  
         [0021]     notifying the obtained usage information in response to an inquiry from the application.  
         [0022]     Preferably, the device management method further comprises providing a plurality of device drivers, each of which is associated with one of the devices to drive the associated one of the devices. The usage information is created when the application instructs the one of the device drivers to drive one of the devices.  
         [0023]     Here, it is preferable that the device management method further comprises:  
         [0024]     storing device group information defining the at least one device group;  
         [0025]     referring, when one of the device drivers is activated, the device group information to specify a device group including one of the devices associated with the activated one of the device drivers; and  
         [0026]     if no device group manager is associated with the specified device group, creating dynamically a device group manager for notifying the usage information to the application.  
         [0027]     According to the invention, there is also provided a device management apparatus, comprising:  
         [0028]     a general purpose computer having a processor and a memory, the general purpose computer communicating with the devices and running a management application;  
         [0029]     a plurality of device managers, each of which is associated with one of the devices and is operable to create usage information of the associated one of the devices; and  
         [0030]     a device group manager, associated with the at least one device group and coupled to the device managers to receive the usage information from each of the device managers, the device group manager being operable to notify the usage information in response to an inquiry from the application. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0031]     The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail preferred exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0032]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a POS system according to one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0033]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart of a process for creating a data statistics object executed in the POS system of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0034]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart of a process for predicting device usage executed in the POS system of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0035]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart of a process for terminating a data statistics object executed in the POS system of  FIG. 1 ; and  
         [0036]      FIG. 5  is a timing chart showing a relationship between operation time periods of device managers in the POS system of  FIG. 1  and an existing time period of the data statistics object. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
       [0037]     Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
         [0038]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , a POS system according to one embodiment of the invention has a POS terminal  1  and at least one hybrid device. In this embodiment, two hybrid devices  2 A and  2 B are connected to the POS terminal  1 . The hybrid device  2 A has a printer (a-printer)  21 A, a MICR (b-MICR)  22 A, and a scanner (c-scanner)  23 A, and hybrid device  2 B has a printer (d-printer)  21  B and MICR (e-MICR)  22 B.  
         [0039]     These hybrid devices are merely shown by way of example, and the devices (device categories) that are included in the hybrid devices may vary as needed.  
         [0040]     The POS terminal  1  is built using a general purpose computer having a processor and a memory, and the components and functions of the POS terminal  1  described below can be achieved by running a computer program in the POS terminal  1 .  
         [0041]     The POS terminal  1  has printer managers  11  ( 11 A,  11 B), MICR managers  12  ( 12 A,  12 B), a scanner manager  13  ( 13 A), an object manager  15 , a group information storage  17 , and at least one application  100 .  
         [0042]     The printer managers  11 , MICR managers  12 , and scanner manager  13  for managing each of the devices in the hybrid devices  2  are also collectively referred to herein as device managers. Each device manager manages usage information for the respective managed devices.  
         [0043]     The group information storage  17  stores group information related to groups of plural devices. For example, the group information storage  17  stores group names linked to identification information for each device in a group. In the example shown in  FIG. 1 , the printer  21 A, MICR  22 A, and scanner  23 A housed in the case of hybrid device  2 A form a device group A, and the printer  21  B and MICR  22 B housed in the case of hybrid device  2 B form a device group B.  
         [0044]     These groupings are merely shown by way of example, and a particular application  100  could be used to desirably set and change the group information stored in the group information storage  17 . More specifically, a desired combination of devices can be defined as a group, usage information can be managed by group unit, and devices that are part of different hybrid devices  2  can be combined in the same group.  
         [0045]     The object manager  15  generates and manages the data statistics (DS) objects  150  ( 150 A,  150 B). The data statistics objects  150  are objects for gathering and managing the usage information related to data statistics in the JAVA POS specification. One data statistics object  150 , for example, manages virtual usage information for each device based on the groups defined by the group information storage  17 , and returns the virtual usage information for the devices belonging to a requested group. This virtual usage information is calculated by virtual counters  112 ,  122 , and  132  as described in further detail below.  
         [0046]     The data statistics objects  150  can be dynamically generated as needed and deleted when no longer necessary. In this arrangement the object manager  15  also maintains a data statistics object list  151 . When a data statistics object  150  is then generated, the object name and other identification information is added to the data statistics object list  151 , and deleted when the object  150  is deleted.  
         [0047]     The data statistics objects  150  can also be provided for individual groups. For example, when a request is received from the printer managers  11 , the MICR managers  12 , or the scanner manager  13 , the object manager  15  references the group information storage  17  to find the group containing the devices  21 ,  22 ,  23  associated with the manager  11 ,  12 , or  13  that sent the request, and then creates a data statistics object  150  for that group. In the example shown in  FIG. 1 , data statistics object  150 A manages the group A, and data statistics object  150 B manages the group B. The name of the data statistics object  150  is preferably set so that the group managed by the data statistics object  150  can be identified from the object name.  
         [0048]     The printer manager  11 A, the MICR manager  12 A, and the scanner manager  13 A are respectively linked to and manage the printer  21 A, the MICR  22 A, and the scanner  23 A of the hybrid device  2 A. The printer manager  11 B and the MICR manager  12 B are likewise respectively linked to and manage the printer  21 B and the MICR  22 B of the hybrid device  2 B. These correlations of managers and devices can also be dynamically generated. If the printer manager  11 A acquires identification information from the printer  21 A when the printer manager  11 A is activated or created, for example, the printer manager  11 A is configured to manage the printer  21 A identified by the received identification information.  
         [0049]     The printer managers  11 , the MICR managers  12 , and the scanner manager  13  respectively comprise a printer driver  111 , a MICR driver  121 , a scanner driver  131  for driving the related device, and a virtual counter  112 ,  122 ,  132 . Note that the internal driver and the virtual counter are not shown in the printer manager  11 B and the MICR manager  12 B in  FIG. 1 . Note that processors belonging to group A are primarily described below, and that processors belonging to group B are the same.  
         [0050]     The printer driver  111  receives print requests and other commands from the application  100  and drives the printer  21 A based on the received commands. The MICR driver  121  and the scanner driver  131  likewise drive the MICR  22 A and the scanner  23 A according to requests from the application  100 .  
         [0051]     When the printer driver  111  drives the printer  21 A according to a request from the application  100 , the virtual counter  112  predicts the expected printer usage, that is, how much the printer  21 A is used when driven. More particularly, when the printer driver  111  drives the printer  21 A to print, the virtual counter  112  predicts the number of characters or lines printed by the printer  21 A, how much paper is consumed (the paper transportation distance if using a rolled sheet, and how many sheets if using cut sheets), and how many times the rolled sheet is cut. The predicted counts are then reported to the data statistics object  150 A.  
         [0052]     The virtual counters  122  and  132  run processes similar to that of the virtual counter  112 . More particularly, the virtual counters.  122  and  132  predict the counts for predefined usage parameters indicating how much the MICR  22 A and the scanner  23 A are used when driven by the MICR driver  121  and the scanner driver  131 , and send these counts to the data statistics object  150 A.  
         [0053]     Predicting usage information for different functions of the printer  21 A based on commands sent by the virtual counter  112  to the printer  21 A is described below by way of example.  
         [0054]     (1) If the command is a text printing command, the virtual counter  112  predicts the number of characters and lines printed by the printer  21 A by counting the number of characters and line returns specified by the parameters of the print command.  
         [0055]     (2) If the print command is a barcode print command, the virtual counter  112  counts the number of dots printed by the printer  21 A to print the image data contained in the barcode print command, and converts this dot count to the equivalent number of characters in a specified font. For example, the number of dots per character used for this conversion could be the number of dots in the font size most frequently printed on the printer  21 A (such as  12  dots wide by  24  dots tall), or the average number of dots in one character.  
         [0056]     Image data print commands also contain image size and scaling information. The virtual counter  112  could thus use this information to determine the height of the image when printed by the printer  21 A, and predict the number of lines printed based on the calculated image height and the predetermined height (line feed distance) of one line.  
         [0057]     (3) The virtual counter  112  also detects escape sequence control commands to predict printer usage. The virtual counter  112  could, for example, count the number of times the paper is cut based on the number of times a paper cut command is sent, and count the number of paper cut escape sequences contained in the print command.  
         [0058]     The virtual counter  112  also counts the actual number of times the printer  21 A executes commands corresponding to barcode printing, slip insertion, and reversing the paper (changing the side that is printed). The number of home position errors can also be represented by a mechanical error count.  
         [0059]     If the individual devices  21 A,  22 A,  23 A have internal counters for counting device usage, the virtual counters  112 ,  122 ,  132  of the device manager can be omitted. In this arrangement device usage is monitored by reading the internal counters of the individual devices, and the counter readings can be reported to the data statistics object  150 .  
         [0060]     The data statistics object  150 A also has a cumulative counter  155 . The cumulative counter  155  accumulates the predicted usage counts (values) for each of the devices  21 A,  22 A,  23 A belonging to the group A. A cumulative counter  155  is provided for each device category and counted parameter. The data statistics object  150 A also stores the creation time  156  denoting when the data statistics object  150 A is created.  
         [0061]     If a read request is then received from the application  100 , the cumulative counter  155  returns the internally stored cumulative count. These read requests could retrieve all parameters for all devices, parameters for a particular device category, or a specific parameter for a specific device. If the data statistics object  150 A is requested for the time elapsed since the data statistics object  150 A is created, the data statistics object  150 A calculates and returns the time elapsed since the data statistics object  150 A is created.  
         [0062]     Note that like data statistics object  150 A, data statistics object  150 B also has a cumulative counter and stores the creation time, and has the same functions as the data statistics object  150 A.  
         [0063]     Operation of the foregoing system according to this embodiment of the invention is described below with reference to the flow charts in FIGS.  2  to  4 .  
         [0064]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart of the process of creating a data statistics object. When any one of the device managers, that is, the printer manager  11 A, the MICR manager  12 A, or the scanner manager  13 A, is activated, the object manager  15  receives a report from the activated device manager (S 11 ). This example assumes that the printer manager  11 A is activated.  
         [0065]     The report sent in step S 11  contains identification information (a-printer) for the device (printer  21 A in this example) linked to the activated printer manager  11 A. Based on identification information (a-printer) for the reported device, the object manager  15  references the group information storage  17  to find the group containing the identified device (S 12 ). Group A is thus identified in this example.  
         [0066]     The object manager  15  then references the data statistics object list  151  to determine if a data statistics object  150 A for managing the identified group A already exists (S 13 ).  
         [0067]     If the corresponding data statistics object  150 A has not been created (NO in S 13 ), the object manager  15  creates the data statistics object  150 A, assigns a group name identifying the object as a data statistics object for group A, and registers the group name in the data statistics object list  151  (S 14 , S 15 ).  
         [0068]     If the corresponding data statistics object  150 A has already been created (YES in S 13 ), steps S 14  and S 15  are skipped.  
         [0069]     The data statistics object name for group A is then returned to the printer manager  11 A that reported being activated (S 16 ). The data statistics object  150 A is also informed that the printer manager  11 A is active by reporting the identification information for the printer  21 A, for example (S 17 ), thus completing a two-way relationship between the data statistics object  150 A and the activated device manager, i.e., printer manager  11 A.  
         [0070]     The process run by the device manager will be described with reference to the flow chart in  FIG. 3 . The printer  21 A and the printer manager  11 A are used by way of example below, and other devices and device managers operate in the same way.  
         [0071]     This process starts when the printer manager  11 A receives a specific print command sent from the application  100  as a usage information request for the printer  21 A (S 21 ). The printer driver  111  then drives the printer  21 A based on this print command (S 22 ). The printer  21 A thus operates as controlled by the application  100 .  
         [0072]     The virtual counter  112  also interprets the print commands received from the application  100  and predicts usage values for specific items such as the number of characters and number of lines printed by the printer  21 A (S 23 ). These predicted counts are then sent to the data statistics object  150 A for the group containing the printer  21 A (S 24 ). The data statistics object  150 A separately accumulates and stores the reported counts (S 25 ).  
         [0073]     The MICR manager  12 A and the scanner manager  13 A also run the process shown in  FIG. 3 . The corresponding virtual counters  122 ,  132  likewise predict the usage counts for specified parameters of the MICR  22 A and the scanner  23 A, and report these counts to the data statistics object  150 A. The data statistics object  150 A also separately accumulates and stores these reported counts.  
         [0074]     The application  100  can thus reference the data statistics object  150  that manages a particular group to acquire information about all of the devices belonging to that group and the overall operating time for the entire group. The data statistics objects in this embodiment thus enable the system to manage device statistics relating to the operation of respective devices in each of the groups.  
         [0075]     A process for terminating a data statistics object  150  is described next with reference to the flow chart in  FIG. 4 .  
         [0076]     If operation of one of the active device managers stops because the process ended or if a device manager is to be deleted, an appropriate message is sent to the data statistics object  150  (S 31 ).  
         [0077]     When the data statistics object  150  receives an end of operation report from a device manager, the data statistics object  150  determines if another device manager in the same group is still active (S 32 ). If another device manager is still active (YES in S 32 ), this process aborts.  
         [0078]     However, if there is no other active device manager in the same group (S 32  returns no), the data statistics object  150  terminates itself (S 33 ) and sends a corresponding report to the object manager  15 .  
         [0079]     When the object manager  15  receives a report that a data statistics object  150  is terminated, the object manager  15  deletes the corresponding data statistics object record from the data statistics object list  151  (S 34 ).  
         [0080]     A data statistics object  150  stays alive as long as any device manager  11 ,  12 ,  13  associated with the group managed by the data statistics object  150  is still active. The data statistics object  150  is terminated when all device managers  11 ,  12 ,  13  in the managed group stop operating.  
         [0081]     Therefore, when the printer managers  11 , the MICR managers  12 , and the scanner manager  13  start and stop operation at the timings shown in  FIG. 5 , the data statistics object  150  is created when the device manager that is activated first, the MICR manager  12  in this example, starts operating, and lasts until the last operating device manager, the scanner manager  13  in this example, stops operating. As a result, the application  100  can determine how long the hybrid device  2 A has been continuously operating by querying the data statistics object  150  to get the elapsed time since the data statistics object  150  is created.  
         [0082]     Although the present invention has been shown and described with reference to specific preferred embodiments, various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the teachings herein. Such changes and modifications as are obvious are deemed to come within the spirit, scope and contemplation of the invention as defined in the appended claims.