System for loading control information from peripheral devices which are ...

United States Patent

[19]

Takahashi et al.

[ii] Patent Number: 5,887,193 [45] Date of Patent: *Mar. 23, 1999

[54] SYSTEM FOR LOADING CONTROL INFORMATION FROM PERIPHERAL DEVICES WHICH ARE REPRESENTED AS OBJECTS TO A CONTROLLER IN A PREDETERMINED FORMAT IN RESPONSE TO CONNECTION OPERATION

[75] Inventors: Fumiaki Takahashi; Akira Suga, both of Tokyo; Hideaki Kawamura, Kanagawa-ken; Takashi Aizawa, Kanagawa-ken; Akira Mamiya, Kanagawa-ken; Kenji Hatori, Saitama-ken, all of Japan

[73] Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, Japan

[ * ] Notice: This patent issued on a continued prosecution application filed under 37 CFR 1.53(d), and is subject to the twenty year patent term provisions of 35 U.S.C. 154(a)(2).

[21] Appl. No.: 942,729
[22] Filed: Oct. 2, 1997

Related U.S. Application Data

[63] Continuation of Ser. No. 281,355, Jul. 27, 1994, abandoned.

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data

Jul. 30, 1993 [JP] Japan 5-189633

Jul. 30, 1993 [JP] Japan 5-189634

Jul. 30, 1993 [JP] Japan 5-189636

Jul. 30, 1993 [JP] Japan 5-189637

[51] Int. CI. G06F 13/00

[52] U.S. CI 395/828; 395/825; 395/830

[58] Field of Search 395/828, 825,

395/830, 835

[56] References Cited

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Primary Examiner—Frank J. Asta
Assistant Examiner—Le Hien Luu
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Robin, Blecker & Daley

A control system comprises a plurality of peripheral devices represented as objects, and a controller connectable to the plurality of peripheral devices via a common communication line for unitarily controlling the plurality of peripheral devices. The controller is arranged to be connected to an arbitrary number of peripheral devices selected from among the plurality of peripheral devices, read control information stored in the arbitrary number of peripheral devices via the communication line into a predetermined memory area of the controller in a predetermined format so that the controller can control the arbitrary number of peripheral devices. The controller is also arranged to issue a command and transmit the command to each of the arbitrary number of peripheral devices via the communication line.

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340/712 395/828

46 Claims, 72 Drawing Sheets