JP5529093B2 - Multifunction device emulator, multifunction device emulation method, and multifunction device cooperation application development system - Google Patents

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to a multifunction peripheral emulator, a multifunction peripheral emulation method, and a multifunction peripheral cooperative application development system.

  In recent years, external I / Fs for coordinating a multifunction peripheral with various systems have been proposed. An image processing system including a multifunction peripheral provides an environment in which functions of the multifunction peripheral can be used from external software on a server existing outside the multifunction peripheral, and data recorded by the multifunction peripheral can be referred to. A developer who develops such an image processing system needs to develop external software on a server existing outside the multi-function peripheral, and debug external software developed by the developer as necessary. However, if the developer develops external software and uses an actual multifunction device, the multifunction device is expensive even if it is a single case, which increases development costs.

  Therefore, in order to reduce the development cost of the external software, the developer can use software that mimics the external I / F of the multifunction device and the multifunction device, or an information processing device (hereinafter referred to as “multifunction device emulator”) that implements the software. Is used to develop external software.

JP 2010-44764 A

  However, in the above-described prior art, when a software developer debugs external software that uses an external I / F such as SOAP, it is possible to display what message the software is transmitting / receiving. I could not do it. Therefore, in software development, debugging software such as packet capture software has to be prepared separately in order to examine transmitted / received messages during debugging. Moreover, since the relationship between the message and the execution job or execution time cannot be displayed in a list, the debugging efficiency is poor.

  Therefore, in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, the present invention provides a multifunction peripheral emulator, a multifunction peripheral emulation method, and a multifunction peripheral cooperative application development system that can efficiently present debug information without separately preparing debug software. The purpose is to provide.

  A multifunction peripheral emulator according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a SOAP implementation unit, a packet capture unit, a job execution unit, a counter unit, a log storage unit, a Web screen generation unit, and a Web server.

  The SOAP implementation unit is connected via a network to a server in which an application to be subjected to an operation test is installed, and transmits / receives a packetized message to / from the server. The packet capture unit acquires the packet data received by the SOAP implementation unit, analyzes the packet data, and acquires a message. The job execution unit executes the job requested to be executed by the message acquired by the packet capture unit. The counter unit counts the number of job executions in the job execution unit in units of job execution. The log storage unit stores log data including the packet data and message acquired by the packet capture unit, the ID of the job executed by the job execution unit, the execution time, the execution result, and the execution count counted by the counter unit. . The Web screen generation unit generates a Web screen including debug information including packet data, a message, a job ID, an execution time, an execution result, and the number of executions based on the log data stored in the log storage unit. The Web server outputs the Web screen generated by the Web screen generation unit.

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration example of a multifunction peripheral cooperative application development system including a multifunction peripheral emulator according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of a multifunction peripheral emulator illustrated in FIG. 1. The figure which shows the example of whole structure of the multifunctional device emulator, application server, and developer terminal which are shown in FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a specific example of a start process in the multifunction peripheral emulator shown in FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a specific example of job execution processing in the multifunction peripheral emulator shown in FIG. 1. 5 is a flowchart showing a specific example of debug screen generation processing in the multifunction peripheral emulator shown in FIG. 1. The figure which shows the specific example of the login screen D1 displayed on the developer terminal shown in FIG. The figure which shows the specific example of the debug screen D2 displayed on the developer terminal shown in FIG. The figure which shows the specific example of the debug detail screen D3 displayed on the developer terminal shown in FIG.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration example of a multifunction peripheral cooperative application development system including a multifunction peripheral emulator 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. This multifunction device cooperative application development system is a system in which a developer develops an application using the multifunction device emulator 1. Here, the multifunction peripheral cooperative application development system includes a multifunction peripheral emulator 1 on which software that mimics an external I / F of the multifunction peripheral and the multifunction peripheral, a network 2 such as a LAN or the Internet, an application server 3 that executes an application, And a developer terminal 4 such as a personal computer used by the developer to develop an application. The developer terminal 4 can use an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) function on the MFP emulator 1 connected via the network 2 by executing an application under development on the application server 3.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration example of the multifunction peripheral emulator 1 shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the control device 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, and an input / output interface 14 via a system bus 15. It is connected.

  The CPU 11 is a processing device that executes various arithmetic processes using programs, data, and the like stored in the ROM 12 and the RAM 13. The ROM 12 is a read-only storage device that stores basic programs and environment files for causing the computer to function. The RAM 13 is a storage device that stores a program executed by the CPU 11 and data necessary for execution of each program, and can be read and written at high speed. The input / output interface 14 is a device and a program that mediate connection between various hardware and the system bus 15. The system bus 15 is an information transmission path shared by the CPU 11, ROM 12, RAM 13 and input / output interface 14.

  The input / output interface 14 is connected to hardware such as an input device 16, a display device 17, an auxiliary storage device 18, and a communication device 19. The input device 16 is a device that processes input from a user, and is, for example, a keyboard or a mouse. The display device 17 is a device that displays a calculation result, a creation screen, and the like to the user, and is a CRT, a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, or the like. The auxiliary storage device 18 is a large-capacity storage device that stores programs and data, and is, for example, a hard disk device. The communication device 19 includes a modem, a terminal adapter, a network interface (not shown), and the like.

  Further, a drive 20 is connected to the input / output interface 14 as necessary, and a magnetic disk 21 (including a floppy disk), an optical disk 22 (CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory), DVD (Digital Versatile Disk)). ), A magneto-optical disk 23, a semiconductor memory 24, or the like is appropriately mounted, and a computer program read from these is installed in the auxiliary storage device 18 as necessary. Note that the application server 3 and the developer terminal 4 are also computers having the same configuration, and thus description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of the MFP emulator 1, the application server 3 and the developer terminal 4 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the MFP emulator 1 includes a user information setting unit 101, a user information storage unit 102, a Web server 103, an authentication processing unit 104, a SOAP mounting unit 105, a packet capture unit 106, a packet log storage unit 107, A job execution unit 108, a job log storage unit 109, a counter unit 110, a counter log storage unit 111, a packet filter unit 112, and a web screen generation unit 113 are provided.

  The user information setting unit 101 is a program that defines information of a user who has job execution instruction authority in the job execution unit 108 and stores the information in the user information storage unit 102.

  The Web server 103 is a program that provides display of HTML and objects (images and the like) to the Web browser 402 of the developer terminal 4 (client machine) based on HTTP, or a device that operates the service.

  The authentication processing unit 104 acquires authentication information transmitted from the Web browser 402 of the developer terminal 4 to the Web server 103 from the Web server 103, and refers to the user information storage unit 102 based on the authentication information to authenticate the user. It is a program to be performed.

  The SOAP implementation unit 105 is an external I / F for transmitting and receiving a message converted into packet data based on SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) to and from the application server 3. SOAP is a typical protocol used in a remote procedure call (RPC) in which software exchanges messages (objects) with each other. Since SOAP is also an extensible and distributed framework, it can be used in various computer network communication protocols such as HTTP and SMTP. Specifically, in communication using SOAP, a message having accompanying information called an envelope (envelope) attached to an XML document is exchanged using a protocol such as HTTP. Both the client that uses the service and the server that provides the service have a SOAP generation / interpretation engine, thereby enabling object calls between different environments. In the case of this embodiment, the application server 3 corresponds to the client, and the multifunction peripheral emulator 1 corresponds to the server.

  The packet capture unit 106 is a program that acquires the packet data received by the SOAP mounting unit 105, analyzes the packet data, and acquires a message. The packet log storage unit 107 is a storage device that stores packet log data including packet data and messages acquired by the packet capture unit 106.

  The job execution unit 108 is a program that executes a job requested to be executed by a message acquired by the packet capture unit 106. The job log storage unit 109 is a storage device that stores job log data including the ID, execution time, and execution result (return value) of the job executed by the job execution unit 108.

  The counter unit 110 is a program that counts the number of job executions in the job execution unit 108 in units of job execution. In the present embodiment, the counter unit 110 includes three types of scan counters, print counters, and copy counters. The counter log storage unit 111 is a storage device that stores counter log data including the number of executions counted by the counter unit 110 when a job is executed by the job execution unit 108. The user information storage unit 102, the packet log storage unit 107, the job log storage unit 109, and the counter log storage unit 111 may be separate devices or may be provided as the same device.

  The Web screen generation unit 113 includes packet data, a message, a job ID, an execution time, an execution result, and an execution based on log data stored in the packet log storage unit 107, the job log storage unit 109, and the counter log storage unit 111, respectively. This is a program that generates debug information including the number of times and generates a Web screen that displays the debug information.

  The packet filter unit 112 is a program that removes parts other than the part related to the TCP protocol from the packet data stored in the packet log storage unit 107 to create new packet data and outputs the packet data to the packet log storage unit 107.

  The application server 3 also includes a SOAP mounting unit 301 and a development application 302. The SOAP mounting unit 301 is an external I / F having the same function as the SOAP mounting unit 105 of the multifunction device emulator 1 described above, and enables communication between the multifunction device emulator 1 and the application server 3 in cooperation.

  The development application 302 is an application that is installed in a server that exists outside the multi-function peripheral and is under development so that the function of the multi-function peripheral can be used from the outside and data recorded by the multi-function peripheral can be referred to.

  The developer terminal 4 includes an integrated development environment 401 and a Web browser 402. An integrated development environment (IDE) 401 is a software development environment in which functions such as a compiler, a text editor, and a debugger can be used from one interactive operation environment (for example, GUI). By using such an integrated development environment, even huge and complex software can be developed without imposing a burden on the application developer. The application developer can perform an operation test of the development application 302 from the developer terminal 4 after the development application 302 is installed in the application server 3.

  The Web browser 402 is application software for browsing a Web page, downloads an HTML file, an image file, etc. from the Web server 103 of the multifunction peripheral emulator 1 connected via the network 2 and analyzes the layout. Has a function to display and play. In addition, data input on various displayed screens (Web pages described in HTML) is transmitted to the Web server 103, and an authentication request, a display request for debug information, and the like are performed.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the MFP emulator 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. As described above, the application developer develops an application that operates on the application server 3 using the integrated development environment (IDE) 402 that operates in the developer terminal 4. Must be activated in advance. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the start-up process in the MFP emulator 1 shown in FIG. First, the job execution unit 108 is activated (S401), the packet capture unit 106 is activated (S402), the SOAP implementation unit 105 is activated (S403), and finally the Web server 103 is activated (S404).

  When the application developer activates the development application 302, the development application 302 calls a service in the MFP emulator 1 via the SOAP mounting unit 31 on the application server 3 side. Then, the multi-function device emulator 1 executes processing according to the service call message. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a specific example of job execution processing in the multifunction peripheral emulator 1 shown in FIG.

  First, the SOAP mounting unit 105 of the MFP emulator 1 receives a service call message from the SOAP mounting unit 301 of the application server 3 (S501).

  Next, the already activated packet capture unit 106 stores, in the packet log storage unit 107, log data including the packet data related to the service call message acquired from the SOAP implementation unit 105 and the message acquisition time (S502).

  Next, the job execution unit 108 executes the job based on the message received in S501 (S503). In the present embodiment, it is assumed that one of a scan job, a print job, and a copy job is executed.

  Next, the job execution unit 108 stores log data including the job content and job execution time in the job log storage unit 109 (S504).

  Next, the counter unit 110 determines the content of the job executed by the job execution unit 108 (S505). If it is determined that the execution job is a scan (job ID = “Scan”), the scan counter is updated (S506), and the log data including the job ID and the update time of the scan counter is stored in the counter log storage unit 111. (S507) and the process proceeds to S512.

  When the counter unit 110 determines that the execution job is a print (job ID = “Print”), the counter unit 110 updates the print counter (S508), and stores log data including the job ID and the update time of the print counter. Store in the log storage unit 111 (S509), and proceed to S512.

  When the counter unit 110 determines that the execution job is a print (job ID = “Copy”), the counter unit 110 updates the copy counter (S510), and the log data including the job ID and the update time of the copy counter is counted. Store in the log storage unit 111 (S511), and proceed to S512.

  Then, the job execution unit 108 transmits a response message to the application server 3 via the SOAP mounting unit 105 (S512), and ends the process.

<Debug screen display processing>
After the log data is accumulated by the above processing, the application developer can debug by referring to the log data through communication between the Web browser 402 of the developer terminal 4 and the Web server 103 of the MFP emulator 1. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the debug screen generation process in the MFP emulator 1 shown in FIG.

  First, when an access request to the login screen is made from the Web browser 402 of the developer terminal 4 to the Web server 103 of the MFP 1, the Web screen generation unit 113 generates an authentication login screen D 1, and Output to the server 103. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a specific example of the login screen D1 displayed on the developer terminal 4 shown in FIG.

  Next, when the Web server 103 acquires the login ID (user account) and password input on the login screen D1 displayed on the Web browser 402 of the developer terminal 4 (S602), the authentication processing unit 104 stores the user information. With reference to the storage unit 102, it is determined whether or not there is a login authority (S603). If it is determined that there is a login authority (S603: Yes), the process proceeds to S605. On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no login authority (S603: No), a login error message is output on the login screen D1 (S602) to prompt re-input.

  Next, when the authentication is completed, the Web screen generation unit 113 reads the packet log, job log, and counter log from the packet log storage unit 107, the job log storage unit 109, and the counter log storage unit 111, respectively (S605).

  Next, the packet filter unit 112 acquires a packet log from the packet log storage unit 107 in response to a request from the Web screen generation unit 113, applies a filter that extracts only the TCP protocol, and outputs the filter to the Web screen generation unit 113 (S606).

  Then, the Web screen generation unit 113 sorts each log data and counter value in order of job execution time (S607), generates a debug screen D2 based on the sorted information, and outputs it to the Web server 103. As a result, the debug screen D2 is displayed on the Web browser 402 of the developer terminal 4, and the debug information can be referred to. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a specific example of the debug screen D2 displayed on the developer terminal 4 shown in FIG. Here, job execution time (Time), transmission source IP address (Source), transmission destination IP address (Destination), message (Message), job ID (Job), cumulative scan count (Total Scan), and cumulative print are used as debug information. The number of times (Total Print) and the total number of copies (Total Copy) are listed as items.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a specific example of the debug details screen D3 displayed on the developer terminal 4 shown in FIG. Here, a case where packet data in hexadecimal notation is displayed on the left side of the screen and a character-converted message is displayed on the right side of the screen is shown. For example, it is preferable that this screen can be changed when an HTML link is provided to each piece of information on the debug screen D2 shown in FIG. 8 and the application developer designates it with a mouse or the like. It is assumed that the user can return to the debug screen D2 by pressing the return button.

  As described above, according to the MFP emulator 1 according to the present embodiment, the debugging information such as the external interface name, the argument, and the response message called from the development application 302 is transmitted to the web browser of the developer terminal 4 via the web server 103. It becomes possible to display in 402 along the time series. Therefore, when an application developer develops an application that uses the external I / F of the multifunction machine, the application developer does not prepare software for checking debug information separately, and debugs using the Web browser 402 that is generally spread. Is possible. Further, since the external I / F call, job execution, and the count value after the job execution can be viewed in a time series in a list display or a detailed display, the development application 302 can be debugged efficiently. .

  As mentioned above, although some embodiment of this invention was described, these embodiment is shown as an example and is not intending limiting the range of invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Multifunction device emulator 2 ... Network 3 ... Application server 4 ... Developer terminal 11 ... CPU
12 ... ROM
13 ... RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 ... Input / output interface 15 ... System bus 16 ... Input device 17 ... Display device 18 ... Auxiliary storage device 19 ... Communication device 20 ... Drive 101 ... User information setting part 102 ... User information storage part 103 ... Web server 104 ... Authentication processing part 105 ... SOAP implementation unit 106 ... packet capture unit 107 ... packet log storage unit 108 ... job execution unit 109 ... job log storage unit 110 ... counter unit 111 ... counter log storage unit 112 ... packet filter unit 113 ... Web screen generation unit 301 ... SOAP mounting unit 302 ... development application 401 ... integrated development environment 402 ... Web browser

Claims (9)

A SOAP implementation unit that is connected via a network to a server in which an application to be subjected to an operation test is installed, and that transmits and receives messages converted into packet data based on SOAP to and from the server;
A packet capture unit that acquires the packet data received by the SOAP implementation unit, analyzes the packet data, and acquires the message;
A job execution unit that executes a job requested to be executed by the message acquired by the packet capture unit;
A counter unit for counting the number of executions of the job in the job execution unit in units of execution of the job;
Log data including the packet data and the message acquired by the packet capture unit, an ID of the job executed by the job execution unit, an execution time, an execution result, and the execution count counted by the counter unit; A log storage unit for storing;
Based on the log data stored in the log storage unit, debug information including the packet data, the message, the job ID, the execution time, the execution result, and the number of executions is created, and a Web screen is generated. A web screen generator;
A web server that outputs the web screen generated by the web screen generation unit;
A multi-function device emulator comprising:   The apparatus further comprises a packet filter unit that removes the packet data stored in the log storage unit other than a part related to a TCP protocol to create new packet data and outputs the packet data to the log storage unit. 1 is a multifunction peripheral emulator. A user information storage unit for storing information of a user who has the authority to execute the job in the job execution unit;
The authentication information transmitted from the Web browser of the developer terminal connected via the network to the Web server is acquired from the Web server, and the user information storage unit is referred to based on the authentication information and the user's information is stored. An authentication processing unit for performing authentication;
The multifunction device emulator according to claim 2, further comprising: Connected via a network to an application server on which an application to be subjected to an operation test is installed and a developer terminal that instructs the operation test of the application, and imitates the function of a multifunction device according to a message received from the application A multi-function device emulation method in a multi-function device emulator that executes jobs,
A SOAP implementation step of transmitting / receiving the message converted into packet data based on SOAP to / from the application server;
A packet capture step of acquiring the packet data received in the SOAP implementation step, analyzing the packet data and acquiring the message;
A job execution step of executing a job requested to be executed in the message acquired in the packet capture step;
A counting step of counting the number of executions of the job in the job execution step in units of execution of the job;
Log data including the packet data and the message acquired in the packet capture step, the ID of the job executed in the job execution step, an execution time, an execution result, and the execution count counted in the counting step; A log storage step for storing in the storage device;
Based on the log data stored in the storage device in the log storage step, create debug information including the packet data, the message, the job ID, the execution time, the execution result, and the execution count, A Web screen generation step for generating a Web screen;
A Web screen output step of outputting the Web screen generated in the Web screen generation step to the developer terminal;
A method for emulating a multi-function device.   The log storage step further includes a packet filter step of creating new packet data by removing portions other than the portion related to the TCP protocol from the packet data stored in the storage device, and outputting to the storage device The method of emulating a multifunction machine according to claim 4. A user information storage step for storing in advance in the storage device user information having authority to execute the job in the job execution step ;
Certification information sent to the Web from the browser W eb server of the developer terminal from the Web server, an authentication step of performing authentication by referring to the user information in the storage device based on the authentication information ,
6. The method of emulating a multi-function peripheral according to claim 5, further comprising: An application server on which the application to be tested is installed;
A multi-function peripheral emulator connected to the application server via a network and executing a job imitating a multi-function peripheral in response to a message received from the application;
A developer terminal connected to the application server and the MFP emulator via the network and instructing the operation test of the application;
With
The MFP emulator is
A SOAP implementation unit that transmits and receives the message converted into packet data based on SOAP to and from the application server;
A packet capture unit that acquires the packet data received by the SOAP implementation unit, analyzes the packet data, and acquires the message;
A job execution unit that executes a job requested to be executed by the message acquired by the packet capture unit;
A counter unit for counting the number of executions of the job in the job execution unit in units of execution of the job;
Log data including the packet data and the message acquired by the packet capture unit, an ID of the job executed by the job execution unit, an execution time, an execution result, and the execution count counted by the counter unit; A log storage unit for storing;
Based on the log data stored in the log storage unit, debug information including the packet data, the message, the job ID, the execution time, the execution result, and the number of executions is created, and a Web screen is generated. A web screen generator;
A Web server that outputs the Web screen generated by the Web screen generation unit to the developer terminal;
A multifunction device cooperation application development system characterized by comprising:   The MFP emulator further includes a packet filter unit that creates new packet data by removing the packet data stored in the log storage unit other than the part related to the TCP protocol, and outputs the packet data to the log storage unit. 8. The multifunction peripheral cooperative application development system according to claim 7. The MFP emulator is
A user information storage unit for storing information of a user who has the authority to execute the job in the job execution unit;
An authentication processing unit that obtains authentication information transmitted from the web browser of the developer terminal to the web server from the web server and refers to the user information storage unit based on the authentication information; ,
The multifunction device cooperative application development system according to claim 8, further comprising:

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