Installation program

Abstract

To provide an installation program capable of installing a program of an installation application.SOLUTION: An installation part installs an application program. A proxy part installs a program of the installation part in place of the installation part in the case of installing the program of the installation part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] FIELD An embodiment of the present invention relates to an installation program. [Background technology]

[0002] There are installation applications for installing applications. In recent years, installation applications have been installed in image forming devices. If an application that runs on the program to be installed is running, the installation application temporarily stops the operation of the application before installing the program. This is because there is a possibility that an application is accessing files while it is running. If a file or folder is updated to install the program while accessing files, there is a possibility that the file may be corrupted. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-287995 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, when installing a program of an installation application, if the installation application stops running, the installation cannot be performed, which poses a problem that the program of the installation application cannot be installed.

[0005] The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an installation program that can install an installation application program. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] According to an embodiment, an installation program causes a computer to function as an installation unit and a proxy unit. The installation unit installs an application program. When installing a program of the installation unit, the proxy unit installs the program of the installation unit on behalf of the installation unit. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] 1 is an external view showing an example of the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment; [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a system controller that is a control system of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. [Figure 3] 10 is a flowchart showing the process flow of an installed application. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of a proxy installation application. [Figure 5] 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of an installed application at the time of rebooting. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] The installation program according to the embodiment enables installation of an installation application program. The installation program according to the embodiment will be described in detail below. In the present embodiment, an image forming apparatus will be described as an example of an information processing apparatus on which the installation program is installed.

[0009] 1 is an external view showing an example of the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus 100 according to an embodiment. The image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment is, for example, a multifunction peripheral, and has a copy function, a printer function, a scanner function, and a fax function.

[0010] The image forming apparatus 100 includes a control panel 12, a scanner 14, a printer 16, a camera 18, a sheet storage unit 140, and a system controller 1.

[0011] The printer 16 forms an image on a sheet using a developer such as toner. The sheet may be, for example, paper or label paper. The sheet may be any material on whose surface the image forming apparatus 100 can form an image.

[0012] The scanner 14 reads the image information of the object to be read as light and dark. The scanner 14 records the read image information in the main memory 4 of the system controller. The recorded image information may be transmitted to another information processing device via a network. The recorded image information may be formed into an image on a sheet by the printer 16.

[0013] Control panel 12 has a display and a plurality of buttons. The display is an image display device such as a liquid crystal display or an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display. The display is provided with a touch panel. The display displays various information related to image forming apparatus 100. Control panel 12 accepts user operations.

[0014] The sheet storage section 140 stores sheets to be used for image formation in the printer 16 .

[0015] The printer 16 forms an image on a sheet based on image information generated by the scanner 14 or image information received via a communication path. The printer 16 forms an image by, for example, the following process: The image forming unit of the printer 16 forms an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive drum based on the image information. The image forming unit of the printer 16 forms a visible image by attaching a developer to the electrostatic latent image. The transfer unit of the printer 16 transfers the visible image onto the sheet. The fixing unit of the printer 16 fixes the visible image onto the sheet by applying heat and pressure to the sheet. The sheet on which the image is formed may be a sheet stored in the sheet storage unit 140 or a manually fed sheet.

[0016] 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a system controller, which is a control system of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment. In Fig. 2, the system controller 1 includes a system LSI 2, an image processing unit 3, a main memory 4, an HDD 5, a ROM / RAM 6, and an imaging controller 7. The system controller 1 is also connected to a control panel 12, a camera 18, a scanner 14, and a printer 16.

[0017] The system LSI 2 is a chip called an SoC (System On Chip). The system LSI 2 includes an internal bus 51 capable of high-speed communication. A memory controller 9, a CPU 10, a control panel controller 11, and a SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) controller 13 are connected to the bus 51. Furthermore, I / O controllers 8, 17, and 20, and a PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) controller 15 are connected to the bus 51.

[0018] CPU 10 controls the overall operation of image forming apparatus 100. Specifically, CPU 10 makes a control program stored in ROM / RAM 6 resident in main memory 4 and controls each unit based on the program content. Memory controller 9, in response to instructions from CPU 10, controls reading of the resident program from main memory 4, storing of image data in main memory 4, and reading of image data from main memory 4. Main memory 4 has an area capable of storing image information for multiple pages, and can store image information from scanner 14, for example, page by page.

[0019] The SATA controller 13 connects the system LSI 2 to the HDD 5. The HDD 5 compresses and stores image data read by the scanner 14. The I / O controller 8 connects the system LSI 2 to the ROM / RAM 6. The ROM 6 stores control programs and the like. The RAM 6 temporarily stores data.

[0020] The PCIe controller 15 connects the system LSI 2 and the image processing unit 3. The image processing unit 3 performs compression processing and the like on the image data output from the scanner 14. The image processing unit 3 also performs processing such as decompression on the image data and outputs it to the printer 16.

[0021] The I / O controller 17 connects the system LSI 2 and the imaging controller 7. The imaging controller 7 connects to the camera 18. The imaging controller 7 controls the camera 18. Specifically, the imaging controller 7 instructs the camera 18 to capture an image of an approaching user in response to an instruction from the CPU 10. Captured face data indicating the captured user is stored in the main memory 4 via the I / O controller 17, etc. It is also possible to capture an image of the face using the camera 18 and perform face authentication.

[0022] The control panel controller 11 connects the system LSI 2 and the control panel 12. The control panel controller 11 controls the control panel 12 in response to instructions from the CPU 10. The control panel controller 11 includes an I / O controller and an LCD controller. The control panel controller 11 displays various information on the control panel 12 and outputs user operation details to the CPU 10.

[0023] In this embodiment, only one application using the display of the control panel 12 can be running at a time. That is, for example, if application A is running and another application B is started, application A will be terminated. The termination here does not only mean that the display by application A is terminated, but also that application A itself is terminated. In the following description, an application may be simply referred to as an "app." Furthermore, an app program may be referred to as an "app program."

[0024] The image forming apparatus 100 is equipped with an installation application for installing application programs. The installation application programs are stored in the HDD 5 and are executed by the CPU 10 by being loaded into the main memory 4. When installing an application program, the installation application first closes the application before installing it. Therefore, the installation application cannot install its own program.

[0025] Therefore, in this embodiment, when an installation application program is to be installed, a substitute installation application is provided that installs the installation application program instead of the installation application. This substitute installation application program may be pre-installed, or may be installed when the installation application program is to be installed. The user can set in advance whether the substitute installation application program is pre-installed or installed when the installation application program is to be installed. The setting contents are stored in the HDD 5.

[0026] In this embodiment, when installing an installed application program, a copy of the installed application program is installed as the proxy-installed application program. Therefore, the setting content indicates whether or not to install a copy of the installed application program.

[0027] In this embodiment, every app has a unique identifier. This identifier can also be obtained from a downloaded program. Therefore, it is possible to determine whether a downloaded program is, for example, an installed app program. When an app is launched, various pieces of information such as the identifier can be used as arguments for the launched app. Furthermore, the launch and termination of apps are performed by a management module that manages apps.

[0028] 3 is a flowchart showing the process flow of the installation application. The installation application receives an instruction to install an application program from a user via the control panel 12 (ACT101). The installation application determines whether the user who issued the installation instruction has been authenticated as a supervisor who is authorized to install the application program (ACT102). If the user has been authenticated as a supervisor (ACT102: YES), the installation application proceeds to ACT105.

[0029] If the user is not authenticated as the supervisor (ACT102: NO), the installation application performs authentication processing (ACT103). Here, authentication processing is performed using, for example, face authentication, password authentication, or IC card authentication. The installation application determines whether or not authentication is successful (ACT104). If authentication fails (ACT104: NO), the process returns to the authentication processing. If authentication is successful (ACT104: YES), the installation application downloads the program to be installed (ACT105).

[0030] The installation application acquires an identifier from the downloaded program (ACT106). The installation application determines whether the acquired identifier matches the identifier of the installed application program (ACT107). If the identifiers do not match (ACT107: NO), the installation application installs the downloaded program as is (ACT111) and ends the process.

[0031] If the identifiers match (ACT107: YES), the installing application determines whether or not to make a copy of the installed application program (ACT108). Here, the installing application makes this determination by referring to the setting contents stored in the HDD 5 described above. If a copy will not be made (ACT108: NO), since the proxy-installed application program has been installed in advance, the installing application launches the proxy-installed application (ACT109). Note that launching here means that the installing application requests the management module described above to launch the proxy-installed application.

[0032] At this time, the application program is specified as an argument as a file for installing the program. As described above, since only one application using the display can be activated at a time, the processing by the installed application ends when the installed application is terminated (ACT110). The installed application is terminated by the management module.

[0033] If a copy is to be created (ACT108: YES), the installing application installs the copy of the installed application program as a substitute installed application program (ACT112). At this time, the identifier of the copied application is changed. Next, the installing application proceeds to ACT109 described above.

[0034] By doing this, the proxy installation application is launched. The processing of this proxy installation application will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the proxy installation application. The proxy installation application checks the identifier contained in the file specified at the time of launch (ACT201), and installs the program if the identifier does not match (ACT202). The proxy installation application determines whether the installation was successful (ACT203).

[0035] If the installation is successful (ACT203: YES), the proxy installation application specifies information indicating successful installation as an argument and launches the installed application (ACT204). If the installation is successful, the newly installed installed application will be launched. As described above, since only one application that uses the display can be launched at a time, the processing by the proxy installation application ends when the proxy installation application is terminated (ACT205). The proxy installation application is terminated by the management program that manages the application.

[0036] If the installation fails (ACT203: NO), the proxy installation application specifies information indicating the installation failure and the cause thereof as arguments, launches the installation application (ACT206), and proceeds to ACT205. Due to the installation failure, the same installation application as before the installation will be launched. Note that the launch of ACT204 and ACT206 means that the proxy installation application requests the management module described above to launch the installation application.

[0037] By doing this, the installed application is restarted. The process of the installed application to be restarted will be described below. Figure 5 is a flowchart showing the process flow of the installed application when it is restarted. The installed application checks the installation result specified at the time of startup (ACT301) and determines whether the installation was successful or not (ACT302).

[0038] If the installation is successful (ACT302: YES), the installation application displays on the display of the control panel 12 that the installation was successful (ACT303) and ends the process. If the installation is unsuccessful (ACT302: NO), the installation application displays on the display of the control panel 12 that the installation failed and the cause of the failure (ACT304) and ends the process.

[0039] The above-described embodiment enables installation of an installation application program. Note that the above-described management module may install the installation application program instead of the proxy installation application. Furthermore, when installing multiple application programs including an installation application program, the installation application may install the installation application program last. After the installation application program is installed, the installation application may display the installation results of the multiple application programs.

[0040] Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included within the scope and spirit of the invention, as well as within the scope of the invention described in the claims and their equivalents. [Explanation of symbols]

[0041] 1... system controller, 3... image processing unit, 4... main memory, 5... HDD, 10... CPU, 12... control panel, 100... image forming apparatus

Claims

1. Computer, an installation unit for installing an application program; an agent unit that installs the program of the installation unit on behalf of the installation unit when the program of the installation unit is to be installed; It functions as The installation unit determining whether the application program for which an installation request has been received is a program of the installation unit; an installation program for activating the agent unit when it is determined that the application for which an installation request has been accepted is a program for the installation unit;

2. Computer, an installation unit for installing an application program; an agent unit that installs the program of the installation unit on behalf of the installation unit when the program of the installation unit is to be installed; It functions as The agent unit is an installation program for starting the installation unit by specifying, as an argument, information indicating the installation result after installing the program of the installation unit.

3. 3. The installation program according to claim 1, wherein when the agent unit is started, a file for installing the program of the installation unit is specified as an argument.

4. Computer, an installation unit for installing an application program; an agent unit that installs the program of the installation unit on behalf of the installation unit when the program of the installation unit is to be installed; It functions as The agent unit is an installation program that is activated by the program of the installation unit being installed as the program of the agent unit.

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