KR20030084709A - Extensible device driver - Google Patents

Abstract

A device driver program of a device driver that supports the use of an external device by a computing device running an operating system, the device driver program being called by the operating system to detect the presence of a driver plug-in program and obtain information from the detected driver plug-in program. And an initialization portion for transferring information from the detected driver plug-in program to the operating system, and also accessing and executing a function portion of the detected plug-in program, receiving an event notification corresponding to an external device from the operating system, And an operating portion that forwards the event notification to the detected driver plug-in program when the driver plug-in program receives the event notification.

Description

Extensible Device Driver {EXTENSIBLE DEVICE DRIVER}

The present invention is directed to a device driver that provides dynamically extensible functionality without the need to recompile the device driver. For example, the present invention may be implemented as a printer driver connected to an operating system, where the printer driver detects a driver plug-in module, provides information to the operating system corresponding to the detected driver plug-in module, and thereafter, Dynamically access the functionality of the detected driver plug-in module.

Typically, device drivers, such as printer drivers, are installed on workstations or computers to support access and use of such devices, such as printers. Device drivers are generally developed and provided by the manufacturer of the device and are installed when the device is physically installed in the computing environment or before the user uses the device.

Device drivers in the Windows operating system typically consist of a plurality of files, known as dynamic link library (dll) files, each of which implements a functional component of the device driver. For example, the printer driver may include a user interface.dll for displaying a user interface property sheet, a graphics rendering.dll for handling mandatory rendering of image data, and other.dll representing other functional parts of the printer driver. It consists of files. In this example, the user interface .dll file contains compiled code for implementing user interface functionality for the printer driver by using and accessing operating system interface calls. In this manner, the user interface .dll file provides the necessary information and parameters to the operating system so that the desired user interface property sheet for the printer driver can be displayed on the user's display.

In addition, the user interface.dll file has necessary functional code to dynamically provide background support for the displayed user interface. For example, the user interface may include buttons and dialog features for black and white printing or color printing. Additionally, if the user selects black and white printing, the function code of the user interface.dll file is displayed. Recognizing the user's selection on the user interface properties sheet, an internal flag is passed to the graphics rendering .dll file to set the user's selection to be implemented.

As described above, the .dll file of the device driver implements certain functionality of the device driver, such as a graphics rendering .dll file and a user interface .dll file for the printer driver. Each .dll file itself contains calls to other .dll files. For example, the user interface.dll file may provide a user interface consisting of several tabbed property sheets to allow the user to select according to the capabilities of the device type they wish to access and / or modify. In such a case, the user interface .dll file may include a fixed call to other predetermined .dll files representing each tabbed property sheet of the user interface.

Device drivers as described above are typically compiled by the manufacturer of the device driver after the drivers are statically fixed relative to the device driver's functional capabilities. For example, the user interface .dll file is compiled prior to distribution and subsequent installation on a user's computer, so that the user interface property sheets displayed and supported by the user interface .dll file are always the same. Even in the above example where the user interface .dll file contains fixed calls to other predetermined .dll files, the identity of each of the other predetermined .dll files is determined by the user interface.dll file. It is always fixed at compile time.

Thus, the functionality of device drivers installed on a user's computer is fixed and it is not easy to make modifications to add additional functionality that may be required by the user or by a network administrator in a networked computing environment. For example, a network administrator may wish to have a user's printer driver support a wide range of network print jobs, such as reliable printing and job evaluation. As mentioned above, the printer driver is not easily modified by the administrator for the addition of such a function. Instead, developers of printer drivers are modifying user interface .dll files and other .dll files to add functionality, and then recompiling them to test .dll files. The modified .dll files of the printer driver will be installed on the user's computer. This modification process, which is required whenever a new feature is added to a device driver, is inefficient to annoy users, network administrators, and device driver developers.

1 illustrates a computing environment that may be implemented in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram illustrating the internal architecture of the computer shown in FIG.

3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a user interface module of a printer driver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a plug-in module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a local data structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a flowchart illustrating the use of a plug-in module by a printer driver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a main dialog property sheet of a printer driver user interface according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a main dialog property sheet of a printer driver user interface incorporating tabbed conversation property sheets from a plug-in module according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

9 is a flowchart illustrating registration of a plug-in module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

10 is a flowchart illustrating interaction between a plug-in module, a printer driver, and an operating system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10: desktop computer

11: display

12: host processor

13: fixed disk

14: mouse

15: keyboard

16: CD-ROM drive

20: printer

30: server

The present invention solves the above problems by providing a printer driver that interfaces with the operating system, whereby the printer driver detects one or more driver plug-in modules and provides information to the operating system corresponding to each detected driver plug-in module. And dynamically access the functionality of each detected driver plug-in module. In this way, the functionality of the device driver is a function that is dynamically extended based on the number and type of driver plug-in modules detected by the device driver, and there is no need to redesign, recompile and retest the device driver.

Thus, one aspect of the invention relates to a device driver program for supporting the use of an external device by a computing device executing an operating system, the device driver program comprising an initialization portion called by the operating system. This initialization portion detects the presence of a driver plug-in program, obtains information from the detected driver plug-in program, and transfers this information from the detected driver plug-in program to the operating system. Further, the device driver program accesses and executes the function portion of the detected plug-in program, receives an event notification corresponding to an external device from the operating system from the operating system, and when the detected driver plug-in program accepts the event notification, It also includes an operation portion that delivers event notifications to the detected driver plug-in programs.

The driver plug-in program is preferably detected by searching the system registry of the operating system for an entry corresponding to the driver plug-in program. Information is also obtained from a driver plug-in program by using an information function call accessed by a pointer that is exported out of the driver plug-in program. In addition, the device driver program is preferably a user interface program, and the information obtained from the driver plug-in program can be executed by the driver plug-in program for implementing specific functions or other functions such as properties of the dialog property sheet for display and evaluation of print jobs. It is preferable to include a pointer to the code. The information obtained from the driver plug-in program is also preferably stored in a local data structure by the user interface program. Finally, the information obtained from the driver plug-in program includes an event request indicator for use in determining what type of event notifications should be delivered to the driver plug-in program.

Because of this, the functionality of the device driver can be dynamically extended based on the number and type of driver plug-in programs detected on the computing device of the device driver, so that the function of each detected driver plug-in program is redesigned, redesigned. Accessed and used by device drivers without compilation and retesting.

According to another aspect, the invention relates to a user interface program of a printer driver for supporting the use of a printer by a computing device running an operating system. The user interface program includes an initialization portion called by the operating system, which detects the driver plug-in identifier in the operating system's system registry, accesses and loads the driver plug-in program corresponding to this driver plug-in identifier in memory, Obtains a pointer from the driver plug-in program to the information function call in the driver plug-in program, executes the information function call to receive information from the driver plug-in program, stores the received information in a local data structure, and calls the operating system function. Using a part of the received information is delivered to the operating system. In addition, the user interface program includes an operation portion for accessing and executing a function portion of the driver plug-in program using the function pointer provided in the received information, and receiving event notifications corresponding to print jobs performed by the printer from the operating system. If the event request indicator provided in the reception information indicates that the driver plug-in program accepts the event notification, the event plug-in is delivered to the driver plug-in program.

The information obtained from the driver plug-in program preferably includes an attribute of a dialog property sheet for display and a pointer of code executable in the driver plug-in program for implementing a specific or other function such as print job management. The event request indicator also preferably defines which type of event notification is to be delivered to the driver plug-in program.

Because of this, the function of the device driver can be dynamically expanded based on the number and type of driver plug-in programs detected by the device driver on the computing device, so that the function of each detected driver plug-in program can be redesigned, Accessed and used by device drivers without recompilation and retesting.

According to another aspect, a driver plug-in program is provided for use by a device driver program of a device driver, which device driver is to support the use of an external device by a computing device running an operating system. The driver plug-in program includes a functional part having executable code supporting a functional application, a resource part including resource information corresponding to the functionality supported by the driver plug-in program, and an information pointer of an information function call. The information pointer is accessed by the device driver program to initiate an information function call that carries the resource pointer corresponding to the resource information of the resource portion and the function pointer corresponding to the executable code of the functional portion to the device driver program.

Resource information is accessed by using resource pointers, and includes a number of conversation property sheets supported by the driver plug-in program, types of respective conversation property sheets supported by the driver plug-in program, and each supported by the driver plug-in program. It is preferable to include the properties of the dialog property sheet. In addition, the resource portion preferably includes an event pointer of an event handler, where the event pointer is passed to the device driver program through an information function call, whereby the event pointer receives the event notification received by the device driver program. Used by the device driver program to initiate an event handler for passing from to a driver plug-in program. It is preferable that the device driver program and the driver plug-in program each consist of a dynamic link library (dll) file.

Because of this, the function of the device driver can be dynamically extended based on the number and type of driver plug-in programs registered for detection on the computing device by the device driver, so that the function of each detected driver plug-in program is determined by the device driver. It is accessed and used by device drivers without redesigning, recompiling, and retesting.

In yet another embodiment, the present invention relates to a method for registering a driver plug-in program for use by a device driver program of a device driver that supports use of an external device by a computing device. The method identifies at least one available driver plug-in program located at an external source, selects at least one available driver plug-in program for installation on the computing device, and stores each selected driver plug-in program in memory on the computing device. Thereby installing each selected driver plug-in program on the computing device, and entering an identifier corresponding to each selected driver plug-in program into a system registry of an operating system running on the computing device.

The method of the present invention is preferably performed by an installation script provided by the developer of the device driver or an installation script obtained from an installation program provided by another source such as web or CD-ROM. In addition, the identifier corresponding to each selected driver plug-in program is preferably entered in a system registry location corresponding to the name of the external device.

For this reason, the driver plug-in program can be easily accessed and registered at the time of printer installation or later. Thus, the function of the device driver program can be dynamically extended based on the number and type of driver plug-in programs registered for detection in the computing device by the device driver, so that the function of each detected driver plug-in program is the device driver. It is accessed and used by device drivers without redesign, recompile, and retest.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a method for performing a print job on a printer is provided, wherein the print job is sent to the printer by the computing device. The method receives, by execution of an operating system on a computing device, a first user input request for displaying a primary printer conversational feature sheet on a display of the computing device, and by the operating system for a printer driver corresponding to the printer. Initiates execution of the user interface program, retrieves an identifier from the system registry corresponding to the driver plug-in program by the user interface program, obtains tapped interactive property sheet information and a function pointer from the driver plug-in program by the user interface program, It includes passing the conversation property sheet information and the main conversation property sheet information from the user interface program to the operating system.

The present invention also provides, by the operating system, a main printer dialog property sheet on the display, the main dialog property sheet comprising a tab for accessing a tabbed dialog property sheet corresponding to the tabbed dialog property sheet information obtained from the driver plug-in program. And display, by the operating system, a second user input request for displaying the chat property sheet tapped by the operating system, and display the tapped chat property sheet in response to the second user input request. In addition, the method of the present invention receives a third user input request for utilizing a function supported by a conversation property sheet tapped by the operating system, and sends the third user input request to the user interface program by the operating system. And, upon use of the function pointer by the user interface program, initiate execution of executable code in a driver plug-in program that implements a function corresponding to a user input request, and initiates printing of image data by a printer by the operating system. Receiving the print request, and upon receiving the print request from the operating system, rendering the image data into the print job by the printer driver and sending the print job to the printer that will execute the print job. Finally, the method includes sending a print event notification related to a print job from a user interface program to a driver plug-in program, wherein the print event notification is used by executable code in the driver plug-in program.

The tapped conversation information is obtained from the driver plug-in program using an information function call accessed by a pointer passed out from the driver plug-in program. In addition, the tapped conversation information preferably includes attributes of the dialog property sheets for display and pointers of executable code within the driver plug-in program to implement specific or other functions, such as evaluating print jobs. The information obtained from the driver plug-in program is also preferably stored in a local data structure by the user interface program. Finally, the information obtained from the driver plug-in program includes an event request indicator for use in determining what type of event notifications should be delivered to the driver plug-in program.

As such, the function of the device driver can be dynamically extended based on the number and type of driver plug-in programs detected by the device driver on the computing device, so that the function of each detected driver plug-in program can be redesigned, It is accessed and used by device drivers without recompilation and retesting.

The above brief summary is intended to provide a thorough understanding of the nature of the present invention, and the invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description and preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Example>

The present invention relates to scalable device drivers used in computing devices to support the use of external devices such as printers. In particular, the device driver of the present invention may detect and integrate existing plug-in modules on the computing device to extend the functional capabilities of the computing device. As one example, the present invention discusses one embodiment where the device driver is a printer driver to support the use of a printer. The present invention can be implemented for other device drivers that support other devices such as digital copiers, scanners, cameras, and the like.

1 illustrates a system diagram of a computing environment in which the present invention may be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1, the computing environment includes a computer 10, a printer 20, a server 30, and a connection communication path 1. The connection communication path 1 may be a simple local connection communication path 1 between the computer 10 and the printer 20, such as serial, USB, FireWire or other connection communication paths. Alternatively, the connection communication path 1 may be a network such as an Ethernet network medium composed of a bus-type physical architecture. The connection communication path 1 may be made up of another type of network including the Internet.

Desktop computer 10 is preferably a conventional personal computer or workstation having a Windows operating system environment, such as Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows ME, or Microsoft Windows XP. In the case of a PC type computer, the desktop computer 10 typically includes a display 11, a keyboard 15, a mouse 14, a host processor 12, a fixed disk 13, a CD-ROM drive 16 and a floppy. It is desirable to have a drive and / or other type of storage medium (not shown). The contents of the fixed disk 13 of the computer 10 according to the present invention are described in detail with reference to FIG. 2 below.

The printers 20 and 25 are also connected to the computer 10 by the connection communication path 1, and a laser or ink jet printer capable of printing images on a recording medium based on the received print data is preferable. For example, the computer 10 allows a print job to be made by executing the printer driver according to the present invention, as discussed below. The printer 20 executes the print job after receiving the print job handed over from the computer 10 and / or from other sources through the connection communication path 1. The printer 20 communicates bidirectionally with the computer 10 through the connection communication path 1, so that the status of the print job can be reported back to the computer 10 while the print job by the printer 20 is being performed. It is desirable to. The printer 25 operates in a similar manner to the printer 20 as described above. The invention may be implemented in other types of computing devices, and is not limited to implementation in the computer 10 as shown in FIG. In addition, the present invention can be used to support types of devices other than printers such as scanners, copiers, digital cameras, and the like.

Further, the connection communication path 1 is preferably a network connection communication path such as an Ethernet network medium consisting of a bus-type physical architecture. The server 30 is also connected to the connection communication path 1. The server 30 preferably includes a PC compatible computer having a Windows operating system environment, such as Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows ME, or Microsoft Windows XP. The server 30 preferably has a fixed disk 31, which is a large fixed disk for storing numerous files, applications, data, web pages, and plug-in modules discussed below. Thus, server 30 may be used by another device on connection communication path 1, such as computer 10, as a file server, web page server, application server, or other type of server. The server 30 may act as a gateway for other devices on the access communication path 1 to access other networks such as the Internet. As a result, server 30 may act as a web server that supports web pages for access by computer 10 to obtain and install plug-in modules, as described below.

2 is a block diagram illustrating the internal architecture of a computer 10, including the contents of a fixed disk 13 for implementing the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the internal architecture of the computer 10 includes a fixed disk 13, a RAM 17, and a processor (CPU) 19. In a typical computer, operating system 40 loads executable code of a desired program into RAM 19 for access and execution by CPU 19. The fixed disk 13 of the computer 10 includes an operating system 40, a printer driver 50, and a storage area 60. As noted above, the operating system 40 is preferably a Windows operating system, particularly a Microsoft Windows operating system that supports function calls to provide an application program interface to applications running on the operating system 40. In particular, the function call preferably includes a call of the operating system 40 capable of obtaining properties and information corresponding to the property sheet for rendering of the property sheet on the display 11 of the computer 10. In addition, the operating system 40 also preferably includes a function call to assist in providing status information of the external device to an application running on the computer 10.

The registry 41 is a location for storing information on the fixed disk 13 which may belong to a file folder or a database of the fixed disk 13. The registry 41 is maintained and used by the operating system 40 and contains information needed by the operating system to support devices such as printers, scanners, copiers, and the like. In this case, for convenience of description, the registry 41 is shown to include only data corresponding to the printers 20 and 25 supported by the operating system 40 of the computer 10. In particular, the registry 41 contains plug-in identifiers that implement the present invention, and shows two columns corresponding to the printers 20 and 25 respectively supported by the operating system 40. Printer 1_id 42 and printer 2_id 47 are device identifiers for each of printers 20 and 25, which typically consist of the name and code of the corresponding printer. For example, the printer 1_id 42 represents "LASER1" of the printer 20, and the printer 2_id 47 represents "INKJET1" of the printer 25, so that the user of the computer 10 through the operating system 40 can use it. Identifies two printers.

In each column at the bottom of the printer 1_id 42 and the printer 2_id 47, in order to implement the present invention without adding, modifying, recompiling, and testing the device driver by adding a function to an existing device driver, for example, the printer driver 50, A list of plug-in identifiers is provided that identifies each plug-in module available in storage area 60 for printer driver 50. Preferably, each plug-in identifier is an address for a location in storage area 60 for the corresponding plug-in module. Alternatively, each plug-in identifier may consist of a name or code for the corresponding plug-in module.

In the registry 41, the column below the printer 1_id 42 corresponding to the printer 20 includes plug-in identifiers for sec_plugin_id 42, rdr_plugin_id 44, inst_plugin_id 45, and act_plug_id 46. These correspond to the safety print plug-in module 63, the job redirect plug-in module 62, the installation plug-in module 61, and the job accounting plug-in module 65 located in the storage area 60. In this way, the registry 41 maintains a plug-in identifier for each printer to help the printer driver 50 determine which plug-in module is needed in the printer driver 50 to extend its functionality. . In this regard, each plug-in identifier in the registry 41 is assigned to a specific device identifier in the registry 41 by the user or system administrator of the computer 10 at or after the device is installed, according to the following method. It belongs to the lower part of.

In FIG. 2, the printer driver 20 is a driver module for execution by the operating system 40 that allows the computer 10 to communicate with the printer 20 and enable its use. A similar printer driver (not shown) may be used to enable communication with the printer 25 and use thereof, but a description thereof will be omitted for convenience of description. As shown in Fig. 2, the printer driver 50 is composed of three modules: user_interface_mod (51), graphics_render_mod (52), and other_mod (53). user_interface_mod 51 is used to provide a user interface for the user to access and control the printer driver 50. For example, in the embodiment of the present invention, the device driver is a printer driver 50 for driving the printer 20 by the computer 10, so that user_interface_mod 51 allows the user to characterize the printer driver 50. It is executed when a user interface is to be displayed on the display 11 for access and control. In a Windows operating system, such as operating system 40, it is common for a user to press a button corresponding to "printer characteristics" in order to display a dialog property sheet to display a printer driver user interface, and the printer driver user interface is generally Consists of a main dialog property sheet, which has tabs for accessing other tabbed dialog property sheets, each of which provides buttons, information, and dialogs relating to certain functions of the printer driver. .

As noted above, the present invention provides a plug-in module for accessing and combining device drivers to extend the functionality of the device driver. In the above embodiment, the plug-in module is used to add new functions, such as job accounting, safety printing, to the printer driver 50. The plug-in module also provides a tabbed interactive property sheet corresponding to the new function for coupling to the printer driver's user interface and displaying on the display 11 by access by the user_interface_mod 51. The combination and operation of the user_interface_mod 51 will be described in detail below. graphics_render_mod 52 is another component of the printer driver 52, which is used to process given image data into a print job according to the settings desired by the user of the computer 10. other_mod 53 represents another module used to implement the printer driver 50. In this regard, graphics_render_mod (52) and other_mod (53) can also extend their functionality by accessing and combining plug-in modules, but for convenience of explanation, the use of plug-in modules is described in detail with respect to user_interface_mod (51). Let's explain. Preferably, the aforementioned modules of the printer driver 50 are dynamic link library files.

Storage area 60 is a fixed disk 13 area used by both operating system 40 and printer driver 50 to operate a computer and use printer driver 50 in accordance with the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the storage area 60 includes an installation plug-in module 61, a job redirect plug-in module 62, a safety print plug-in module 63, a policy management plug-in module 64, and a job accounting plug-in module ( 65 and feature mode plug-in module 66. As discussed above in connection with the registry 41, these plug-in modules are used to access and expand the functionality of device drivers, such as the printer driver 50. For example, the installation plug-in module provides a function for installation of a new printer to be used by the computer 10, and the job redirect plug-in module 62 provides a function to redirect print jobs from one printer to another printer, The print plug-in module 63 provides a function for confirming that a print job has been delivered to the printer and printed securely. The policy management plug-in module 64 provides a function for managing access to the printer and the functions of the printer. The plug-in module 65 provides functions for tracking and reporting of print jobs delivered to the printer, and the feature mode plug-in module 66 is new hardware added to the printer, such as a finishing device such as a paper tray or a stapler. Provides a function to support it. Of course, the type of plug-in module shown in the storage area 60 shown in FIG. 2 is an example of the functions used by the printer driver to support the printer, which may be printers as well as other devices such as scanners, copiers, digital cameras, etc. It should not be understood as limiting the list of types of functions that can be implemented by the plug-in module for the driver to this. Preferably, these plug-in modules are dynamic link library files.

Referring back to FIG. 2, storage area 60 also includes other modules 67, other files 69, web browsers 70, system folders 71, databases, local data structures 73, and registered applications ( 74). The other modules 67 and other files 69 are used not only for the operation of the computer 10 by the operating system 40 but also by other applications executed by the CPU 19 of the computer 10. . The web browser 70 is executed by the CPU 19 to allow a user of the computer 10 to access a web page of a web server such as the server 30 through the connection communication path 1. The system folder is a management location that stores files and applications used by the operating system 40 and other applications executed by the CPU 19. Similarly, database 72 is used to store information that can be accessed and used by operating system 40 and other applications executed by CPU 19. The local data structure 73 is a set of data structures used by the user_interface_mod 51, which will be described in detail below. Finally, the registration application 74 is preferably an application consisting of a command script used to identify and install a plug-in module in the registry 41, which will be described in detail below.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining a combination of user_interface_mod 51 of the printer driver 50 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, user_interface_mod 51 is composed of an initialization portion 80 and an operation portion 90. The initialization portion 80 is used to initialize user_interface_mod 51 in response to a user's request to display a user interface to the printer driver 50. For example, when the user selects a "printer personality" button corresponding to the printer 20 on the display 11, the operating system 40 initializes the user interface of the printer driver to display the necessary interactive property sheet information. In order to transfer the data to the operating system 40, the initialization of the initialization portion 80 of the user_interface_mod 51 is initiated. The initialization portion 80 includes a plug-in search function 81, a plug-in information function 82, a conversation structure function 83, and a static conversation property sheet attribute 84.

The plug-in retrieval function 81 retrieves the registered plug-in module corresponding to the printer 20 at a predetermined position such as a register. Of course, other locations such as a system directory folder or a database may be used as a predetermined location that stores the plug-in module for access by the plug-in search function 81. The plug-in information function 82 obtains information corresponding to any plug-in module detected by the plug-in search function 81 and selects a plug-in module that can be used by the user_interface_mod 51 from the detected plug-in modules. . The plug-in information function 82 stores each information obtained for the selected plug-in module in a local data structure. The conversation structure function 83 obtains information and attributes obtained for each tabbed conversation property sheet supported by the selected plug-in module, as well as information obtained for each static conversation property sheet supported by the user_interface_mod 51. And attributes are passed to operating system 40. When operating system 40 receives information and attributes for each conversation property sheet, operating system 40 displays the processed conversation property sheet on display 11 of computer 10. In this regard, the static conversation property sheet property 84 includes information and properties of each static conversation property sheet supported by user_interface_mod 51.

The operating portion 90 of user_interface_mod 51 is composed of static conversation property sheet support code 91, static function code 92, plug-in function access code 93, and plug-in event code 94. The operating portion 90 is executed after completion of the initialization portion 80, and supports a static dialog property sheet, accesses a corresponding plug-in module for supporting each tabbed dialog property sheet supported by the selected plug-in module. If necessary, it is used to convey event information for the appropriate plug-in module. The static conversation property sheet support code 91 monitors user modifications to the settings and buttons in each static conversation property sheet, updates the static conversation property sheet in a corresponding manner, and updates the modified settings in the static function code ( 92) and, if necessary, passed to other parts of the printer driver 50, such as graphics_render_mod 52, to implement the user's modifications, thereby providing a conversation process for supporting static conversation property sheets. For example, the user may select monochrome printing instead of color printing, using one button in the main dialog properties sheet of the displayed printer driver user interface. The static interactive property sheet support code 91 will pass this user selection to graphics_render_mod 52 so that the image data will be processed in black and white in the print job of printing by the printer 20. The static function code 92 is used to handle other static functions of the user_interface_mod 51, such as monitoring the status of communication with the printer 20 or monitoring the status of print jobs performed by the printer 20.

The plug-in function access code 93 supports the tabbed conversation property sheet provided by the corresponding selected plug-in module, and each selected plug-in to implement the functions supported by the cache selection plug-in module, such as job accounting, policy management, and the like. It is used to access the function code of. The plug-in event code 94 receives an event notification from the operating system 40 corresponding to the printer 20, determines whether the received event notification has been called from the selected plug-in module, and sends the event notification to the purpose. Pass it to the appropriate optional plug-in module.

4 is a block diagram illustrating a combination of a plug-in module according to an embodiment of the present invention. In order to generally describe the combination of plug-in modules, the job accounting plug-in module 65 is described as an example in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 4, task accounting plug-in module 65 includes a resource portion 100 and a functional portion 130. Typically, resource portion 100 provides information and functionality that enables user_interface_mod 51 to access and implement tapped conversation property sheet information and functionality supported by task accounting plug-in module 65. The function portion 130 generally provides function codes that support the tabbed conversation property sheet described in the resource portion 100, and the job accounting plug-in module 65 for tracking and reporting the number and type of print jobs delivered to a given printer. ) Function.

As shown in FIG. 4, the resource portion includes an interface 101 and an attribute 110. Interface 101 provides information and functionality that enables user_interface_mod 51 to access and implement tapped conversation property sheet information and functionality supported by task accounting plug-in module 65. The interface 101 is a plug-in function type 102, an information function pointer 103, an event handler pointer 104, a resource pointer 105, a function pointer 106, an information acquisition function 107, and an event handler 108. It includes. The plug-in function type 102 provides an indication (preferably text or code) of the type of function supported by the plug-in module, in this case the job accounting function. The information function pointer 103 is a pointer representing an address of the information acquisition function 107. When the job accounting plug-in module 65 provides the user_interface_mod 51 together with the information function pointer 103, the user_interface_mod 51 is The information function pointer 103 is used to call the information acquisition function 107 to access the information contained in the job accounting plug-in module 65.

The event handler pointer 104 is a pointer to the address of the event handler 108, which is provided to the user_interface_mod 51 by the task accounting plug-in module 65 so that the user_interface_mod 51 calls the event handler 108 to call the pointer. The notification of the event for 20 is provided to the task accounting plug-in module 65. In this regard, user_interface_mod 51 determines whether event notification should be delivered to task accounting plug-in module 65 based on event handler 108 passed to user_interface_mod 51 via information acquisition function 107. . In another embodiment, the event handler 108 may be provided with text or code to provide a descriptor for the type of event notification that should be delivered to the task accounting plug-in module 65. For example, the job accounting function of the job accounting plug-in module 65 requires the number of success pages of the print job and the type of the print job in order to maintain accurate accounting of all print jobs delivered to the printer 20. The resource pointer 105 is a pointer to the address of the attribute 110, which is provided to the user_interface_mod 51 via the information acquisition function 107, so that the user_interface_mod 51 is supported by the job accounting plug-in module 65. Allows access to the type and properties of the tabbed dialog property sheet in. Similarly, the function pointer 106 is a pointer to the address of the attribute 110, which is provided to the user_interface_mod 51 via the information acquisition function 107, so that the user_interface_mod 51 is supported by the job accounting plug-in module 65. Allows access to the type and properties of each tabbed dialog property sheet being created.

The attribute 110 is accessed by the resource pointer 105 and includes the number 111 of the conversation property sheet and the property sheet property 115. Number 111 of conversation property sheets indicates the number of conversation property sheets supported by job accounting plug-in module 65. The property sheet property 115 is a data structure that includes columns for each conversation property sheet supported by the job accounting plug-in module 65. The property sheet property 115 includes a property sheet number 116, a type 117, and an attribute 118. Indicates. As such, when the resource pointer 105 is obtained by the user_interface_mod 51, the type and attribute of each interactive property sheet supported by the job accounting plug-in module 65 is obtained from the user_interface_mod 51, and the tabbed property sheet is obtained. Is delivered to operating system 40 for processing on display 11. The type 117 is preferably a text or code representation of the type of the dialog property sheet, for example "information" for a static property sheet, and "" for a user to modify a parameter using a button or the like in a dynamic property sheet. Choice ", and so on. The attribute 118 includes descriptive data about the dialog property sheet layout, buttons, and dialogs on the dialog property sheet, which are required by the operating system 40 to process the dialog property sheet on the display 11. Other aspects of may also be included.

The functional portion 130 includes a function code 131 and an event status monitor code 132. The function code 131 is executable code called by the user_interface_mod 51 using the function pointer 106 and is obtained by the user_interface_mod 51 through the information acquisition function 107. The function code 131 implements the functions of the job accounting plug-in module 65, which in this case is print job accounting. The event status monitor code 132 handles the reception of event notifications delivered from the user_interface_mod 51 to the job accounting plug-in module 65 via the event handler 108. The event status monitor code 132 forwards the received event notification to the function code 131 for use in implementing the functions supported by the task accounting plug-in module 65.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram for explaining the combination of the local data structures 73 of the storage area 60 shown in FIG. As described in connection with the initialization portion 80 of user_interface_mod 51 in FIG. 3, user_interface_mod 51 uses information acquisition function 107 to obtain information, pointers, and attributes from task accounting plug-in module 65. . When the initialization portion 80 receives this information from the job accounting plug-in module 65, the initialization part 80 places the information in a separate data structure corresponding to the job accounting plug-in module 65, Later, the information acquisition function 107 can be accessed quickly and effectively without using it again. In particular, the plug-in information function 82 and the dialog structure function 84 in the initialization portion 80 of the user_interface_mod 51 obtain information from each selected plug-in module, which is a separate directory of the local data structure 73. Place it in the structure.

Referring again to FIG. 5, local data structure 73 includes structures 140, 160, 180, and 200 corresponding to four respective plug-in modules registered in printer1_id 42 in registry 41 corresponding to printer 20. Doing. For convenience of description, only the data structure 140 corresponding to the information obtained by the user_interface_mod 51 from the job accounting plug-in module 65 will be described. As can be seen in data structure 140, the information contained herein is a portion of the information contained within resource portion 100 of task accounting plug-in module 65. In particular, this information includes a plug-in function type 142, a resource pointer 143, a function pointer 144, an event handler pointer 145, and an attribute 150. The attribute 150 includes the number of conversation property sheets 151, the number of property sheets 152, type 153, and properties for each conversation property sheet supported by the job accounting plug-in module 65. Since these data have been described above in connection with the job accounting plug-in module 65, no further description will be given.

6 is a flowchart illustrating the interaction relationship between the user_interface_mod 51 and the task accounting plug-in module 65. In step S601, user_interface_mod 51 receives an initialization call from operating system 40 to activate initialization portion 80. In step S602, the plug-in retrieval function 801 retrieves the presence of a plug-in module corresponding to the printer 20 in the registry. In step S603, it is determined whether the plug-in module is detected. If not detected, the processing proceeds to step S615. If a plug-in module is detected, the process proceeds to S604 where the detected plug-in module, for example, the job accounting plug-in module 65, is loaded into a memory such as the RAM 17. Next, in step S605, the plug-in information function 82 obtains the information function pointer 103 from the job accounting module 65. Then, in step S606, the plug-in information function 82 uses the information function pointer 103 to receive information and conversation property sheet attributes 110 from the resource portion 100 of the job accounting plug-in module 65. The information acquisition function 107 is called.

In step S607, it is determined whether the detected plug-in module (job accounting plug-in module 65 in this case) is supported by the user_interface_mod 51. If it is not supported, the processing proceeds to step S602 to continue searching for the registered plug-in module. If the plug-in module is supported, that is, in this case, if job accounting is supported, the process proceeds to step S608 in which the information received from the job accounting plug-in module 65 is stored in the local data structure 73. In a separate local data structure 140. In step S609, the dialogue structure function 83 passes the attributes of all the dialogue property sheets from the static and the plug-in to the operating system 40, and is processed by the operating system 40 as a printer driver user interface on the display 11. Be sure to In step S610, the operational portion 90 of user_interface_mod 51 is executed, and the functional portion 130 of the task accounting plug-in module 65, which is required to implement the functions supported by the task accounting plug-in module 65, is called. And is executed by the operating portion 90.

Next, in step S611, it is determined whether or not there are more plug-ins to be coupled by the user_interface_mod 51, and if present, the process proceeds to step S602. If it does not exist, the processing proceeds to step S612, where the user_interface_mod 51 receives an event notification for the printer 20 from the operating system 40. In step S613, it is determined whether the received event notification is requested by the job accounting plug-in module 65 using the event handler 108. If so, processing proceeds to step S614 where an event notification is passed from user_interface_mod 51 to job accounting plug-in module 65 for use by executable code within job accounting plug-in module 65; After that, the processing returns to step S615. If it is not requested, the processing procedure immediately returns to step S615.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a printer driver user interface 220 when no plug-in module is detected and no plug-in module is coupled to user_interface_mod 51. As shown in FIG. 7, the printer driver user interface 220 consists of eight tapped interactive property sheets 221-228, which represent the static interactive property sheet that is originally supported by user_interface_mod 51. These eight tapped interactive property sheets 221-228 represent various printing aspects of the printer 20.

8 is a diagram illustrating a printer driver user interface 220 when three plug-in modules are detected and combined by the user_interface_mod 51. As shown in FIG. 8, printer driver user interface 220 includes eight tapped interactive property sheets 221-228 that represent static interactive property sheets that are originally supported by user_interface_mod 51. The printer driver user interface 220 also includes three additional tabbed dialog property sheets for administration 229, installation printer 230, and redirect 231, which are policy management plug-in module 64, installation plug-in module. 61 and the work redirecting plug-in module 62. As such, the tabbed conversation property sheet for each of these three additional functions is provided by their respective plug-in via user_interface_mod 51 without having to modify, recompile and test user_interface_mod 51.

9 is a flowchart illustrating the identification and registration of a device plug-in module according to the present invention. In step S901, the plug-in module registration application 74 is accessed by the user of the computer 10. In this regard, the user may be a system administrator who is responsible for the configuration and maintenance of the computer 10 or may simply be a user of the computer 10. As mentioned above, the plug-in module registration application 74 is a fixed disk (when a corresponding device such as the printer 20 is installed, or when a new function is to be added to the printer driver 50 for the printer 20. 13 may be accessed and loaded. For example, the plug-in module registration application 74 may be accessed from an installation file provided to the printer 20 by the manufacturer, for example, a CD-ROM, accessed from a web page via the web via the connection channel 1, or may be fixed disk ( 13) or from another memory medium. In this case, the plug-in module registration application 74 preferably installs the components of the printer driver 50 together. In addition, the plug-in module registration application 74 may be configured as a separate application not associated with the initial installation of the printer 20, and may be accessed and downloaded from the web, CD-ROM, fixed disk 13, or other memory media. .

Preferably, the plug-in module registration application 74 consists of installation scripts although programmed code can be used. 9, the available plug-in modules provided by the plug-in module registration application 74 are identified for display on the display 11 in step S902. The available plug-in module may be placed at the same location from which the plug-in module registration application 74 is accessed or at another location such as a web page, CD-ROM, fixed disk 13, or other storage medium on the web. Preferably, the available plug-in modules can be arranged and arranged based on the printer name, printer type or some other parameter. In step S903, it is determined which available plug-in modules have been identified. Otherwise, the flow returns to step S911. Once the available plug-in modules have been identified and displayed, at least one applicable plug-in module is selected for installation in step S904. In this regard, the selection of available plug-in modules may be manual selection by a user of the computer 10 or may be automatically based on the detected type of the printer driver 50 of the computer 10. The latter case is particularly useful when the plug-in module is installed at the time when the printer 20 is installed.

The plug-in module selected in step S905 is copied from the original and stored in the storage area 60 of the fixed disk 13, and the registry 41 is accessed to prepare for registration of the selected plug-in module. In step S906, it is determined whether the existing plug-in module is already registered in the registry 41 of the same type or the same name as the selected plug-in module. If so, the flow goes to step S908 where the user of the computer 10 is notified of the situation, and in step S908 the user is instructed to replace or rename the existing plug-in module and proceed with the installation of the selected plug-in module. If the user selects a replacement (or rename), the flow goes to step S909 where the existing plug-in module is optionally deleted or renamed. The flow goes to step S910. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S908 that the user has not been instructed to replace or rename the existing plug-in module and proceed with the installation of the selected plug-in module, the flow returns to step S911.

If it is determined in step S906 that the selected plug-in module and the existing plug-in module are not already registered in the registry 41 of the same type or the same name, the flow goes directly to step S910. In this case, an identifier is then input to the registry 41 for the selected plug-in module in response to an entry for the device supported by the plug-in module selected in the printer 20 (step S910). The identifier is entered for an entry based on a device identifier, such as in the registry 41 shown in FIG. 2, or the device type, username or computer name while user_interface_mod 51 searches for a registered plug-in module based on the entry type. Can be entered for an entry based on. The flow returns to step S911. In this way, the plug-in module can be easily accessed, installed and registered after installation or installation of the corresponding device, providing new functionality of the device driver for the device without having to change, recompile and test the device driver.

10 is a flowchart illustrating an interface of an operating system 40 with multiple plug-in modules and user_interface_mod 51 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In step S1001, the operating system 40 receives a user request for display of the main dialog property sheet of the user interface for the printer driver 50. The operating system 40 sends an initialization call to user_interface_mod 51 in response to a user request for display of the main conversation property sheet in step S1002. User_interface_mod 51 then searches registry 41 for detection of a registered plug-in module corresponding to printer 20. In step S1004, it is determined whether the registered plug-in module is detected in step S1005. If nothing is detected, the flow returns to step S1019. If the plug-in module is detected, the flow goes to step S1005, and as described above, the user_interface_mod 51 uses the information pointer to obtain information and attributes corresponding to the tapped conversation property sheet from each detected plug-in module.

Next, in step S1006, user_interface_mod 51 passes to the operating system 40 the information and attributes obtained according to the information and attributes for the static tapped conversation property sheet that are uniquely supported by user_interface_mod 51. In step S1007, the operating system 40 delivers the main dialog properties sheet of the printer driver user interface on the display 11 of the computer 10, where the main dialog properties sheet is another tabbed dialog obtained from the detected plug-in module. It has a tab to access the property sheet. The operating system 40 receives a request for display of one of the other tapped conversation property sheets obtained from the plug-in module detected in step S1008. In step S1009, the operating system 40 displays the requested tapped conversation property sheet obtained from one of the detected plug-in modules. In step S1010 a request to utilize the functionality supported by the tapped conversation property sheet indicated by the operating system 40 is received, and in step S1011 the operating system 40 sends a function request to user_interface_mod 51.

In step S1012, the user_interface_mod 51 accesses and executes the function code in the plug-in module corresponding to the tapped conversation property sheet that has received the function request by using the function pointer. In this way, the plug-in module implements functionality not natively supported by the user_interface_mod 51 of the printer driver 50. In step S1013, it is determined whether there are no more plug-in modules to be integrated in the user_interface_mod 51, and if so, the flow goes to step S1005 to obtain information about another plug-in. Otherwise, the flow goes directly to step S1014 where the operating system 40 receives a print request from the user to print image data by the printer 20. The operating system 40 forwards the print request to the printer driver 50 in step S1015, and the image data is transferred to the print job and sent to the printer to print in step S1016. user_interface_mod 51 receives the event notification from the operating system 40 in consideration of the state of the printer 20 in step S1017, and user_interface_mod 51 sends the event notification to the appropriate plug-in module in step S1018. The flow returns to step S1019.

In this way, the operating system, device drivers, and driver plug-in modules work together in a coordinated manner to provide additional functionality to the device driver without the need to change, recompile, and test the device driver.

It will be appreciated that the present invention can be implemented to extend the functional capabilities of device drivers other than printer drivers that support other types of devices. In addition, the present invention may be implemented in other types of computing devices and other types of peripherals with other types of operating systems beyond those described herein. In addition, functional aspects of software modules, functions, programs, applications, and other files may be implemented in the form of software and instructions other than those described herein.

The present invention has been described in particular illustrative embodiments. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and various changes and modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. In particular, as described above, the present invention can be used to manage various types of network devices as well as network printers.

Claims (35)

In a device driver program of a device driver that supports the use of an external device by a computing device running an operating system, An initialization portion called by the operating system to detect the presence of a driver plug-in program, to obtain information from the detected driver plug-in program, and to transfer information from the detected driver plug-in program to the operating system; And Access and execute a functional portion of the detected plug-in program, receive an event notification corresponding to the external device from the operating system, and notify the event notification when the detected driver plug-in program receives the event notification. Operation portion to deliver to detected driver plug-in program Device driver program comprising a. The device driver program of claim 1, wherein the driver plug-in program corresponds to a dialog property sheet for display by the computing device. The device driver program of claim 1, wherein the initialization portion detects the presence of the driver plug-in program by detecting an identifier for the driver plug-in program in a system registry of the operating system. The device driver program of claim 1, wherein the initialization portion detects the presence of the driver plug-in program by detecting an identifier for the driver plug-in program in a database file located on a storage medium accessible to the computing device. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the initialization portion receives information from an information function call in the driver plug-in program and obtains information from the detected driver plug-in program by executing an information function call returning information to the initialization portion. Driver program. The information of claim 1, wherein the information received by the initialization part from the detected driver plug-in program includes a resource pointer indicating an address of a resource part of the detected driver plug-in program and an address of a functional part of the detected driver plug-in program. A device driver program that contains a function pointer that represents. The device driver program of claim 1, wherein the information conveyed by the initialization portion to an operating system is a subset of the information received from the detected driver plug-in program. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the information conveyed by the initialization portion to the operating system is information supported by the detected driver plug-in program and information corresponding to a plurality of conversation property sheets supported by the detected driver plug-in program, respectively. The device driver program that contains the properties of the interactive property sheet. 7. The device driver program of claim 6, wherein the functional portion of the detected driver plug-in program consists of executable code for implementing the functionality presented by the detected driver plug-in program. The system of claim 1, wherein the information received from the detected driver plug-in program includes a type of functionality supported by the detected driver plug-in program, and wherein the initialization portion is based on the type of functionality. A device driver program for conveying information and determining whether to access and execute a functional part of the detected driver plug-in program. The device driver program of claim 1, wherein the external device is a printer. 12. The device driver program of claim 11, wherein the device driver program is a user interface module and the detected driver program implements functionality with respect to one or more interactive property sheets. 2. The device driver program of claim 1, wherein the functional portion of the detected driver plug-in program utilizes the event notification delivered in the initialization portion. 2. The device driver program of claim 1, wherein the information obtained by the initialization portion comprises an event request indicator corresponding to one or more types of event notifications that the detected driver plug-in program will accept from the initialization portion. A user interface module of a printer driver that supports the use of a printer by a computing device running an operating system, Called by the operating system, it detects a driver plug-in identifier in the system registry of the operating system, accesses and loads a driver plug-in program corresponding to the driver plug-in identifier into the memory, and stores the driver plug-in program in the driver plug-in program from the driver plug-in program. Obtain a pointer to an information function call, execute the information function call to receive information from the driver plug-in program, store the received information in a local data structure, and receive the received information using an operating system function call. An initialization portion for transferring a portion of information to the operating system; And Access and execute a functional part of the driver plug-in program using the function pointer provided in the received information, receive an event notification corresponding to a print job being executed by the printer from the operating system, and receive the driver plug-in. An operational portion that forwards the event notification to the driver plug-in program if the customer request indicator provided in the received information indicates that a program receives the event notification. User interface module comprising a. A driver plug-in program for use in a device driver program of a device driver that supports the use of an external device by a computing device running an operating system, A functional portion having executable code that supports the functional application; And A resource portion including resource information corresponding to functionality supported by the driver plug-in program and an information pointer for an information function call, The information pointer is accessed by the device driver program to return the resource pointer corresponding to the resource information of the resource portion and the function pointer corresponding to the executable code of the functional portion to the device driver program. Driver plug-in program that initiates a function call. A driver plug-in program for use in a user interface program of a printer driver that supports the use of a printer by a computing device running an operating system, A functional portion having executable code supporting at least one conversation property sheet corresponding to the functional application; And A plurality of conversation property sheets supported by the driver plug-in program, types of respective conversation property sheets supported by the driver plug-in program, attributes of each conversation property sheet supported by the driver plug-in program, information function calls A resource portion including an information pointer, and resource information including an event pointer to an event handler, The information pointer is accessed by the user interface program to return the resource pointer corresponding to the resource information of the resource portion and the function pointer corresponding to the executable code of the functional portion to the user interface program. Initiate a function call, The event pointer is used by the user interface program to initiate the event handler that delivers the event notification received by the user interface program from the operating system to the driver plug-in program, wherein the event notification is sent to the printer. Driver plug-in program that corresponds to the status of the print job being performed. A method of registering a driver plug-in program for use in a device driver program of a device driver that supports the use of an external device by a computing device, Identifying at least one available driver plug-in program located at an external source; Selecting at least one of the available driver plug-in programs for installation on the computing device; And Each selected driver to the computing device by storing each selected driver plug-in program in a memory of the computing device and entering an identifier corresponding to each selected driver plug-in program into a system registry of an operating system running on the computing device. Steps to install the plug-in program Driver plug-in program registration method comprising a. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the driver plug-in program is executed by an installation script provided to install the device driver. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the method is executed by an application. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the application is accessed from a web page. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein each identifier is entered in a system registry location corresponding to the name of the external device. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein each identifier is entered in a system registry location corresponding to a user's name. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein each identifier is entered in a system registry location corresponding to the name of the computing device. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein each identifier is entered in a system registry location corresponding to the external device type. 19. The driver plug-in of claim 18, further comprising controlling the content of the user interface of the driver displayed on the display to increase the number of tab sheets in the user interface when a new plug-in program is installed. How to register a program. A computer readable medium storing computer executable processing steps, 27. The computer executable processing step includes a processing step of supporting the use of an external device by a computing device executing an operating system and executing a method according to any one of claims 18 to 26. . A device for registering a driver plug-in program for use by a computer device in a device driver program of a device driver supporting the use of an external device, Identification means for identifying at least one available driver plug-in program located at an external source; Selection means for selecting the at least one available driver plug-in program for installation on the computing device; And Each selected driver to the computing device by storing each selected driver plug-in program in a memory of the computing device and entering an identifier corresponding to each selected driver plug-in program into a system registry of an operating system running on the computing device. Installation means to install plug-in programs Driver plugin program registration device comprising a. 29. The device of claim 28, controlled by an installation script provided to install the device driver. 29. The driver plug-in program registration according to claim 28, further comprising control means for controlling the content of the user interface of the driver displayed on the display such that the number of tab sheets in the user interface increases when a new plug-in program is installed. Device. 29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the device is controlled by an application. 32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the application is accessed from a web page. 29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein each identifier is entered in a system registry location corresponding to the name of the spoof device. 29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein each identifier is input to a system registry location corresponding to a user's name. 30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein each identifier is entered in a system registry location corresponding to the name of the computing device.