1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a peripheral device such as an image scanner, printer, or multi function peripheral.
2. Description of the Related Art
Peripheral devices such as an image scanner, printer, and multi function peripheral are becoming widespread. As interfaces to connect these peripheral devices, a serial interface, parallel interface USB, IEEE1394, LAN, and the like are known. To make a peripheral device usable on a computer, a device driver or application software for the peripheral device needs to be installed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-334449).
However, there are computers in which installation of device drivers and application software is limited. In many cases, the limitation is placed for the sake of security. For example, in an operating system (OS) such as Microsoft Windows®, only a user who has administrator authority can install device drivers. A general user cannot use peripheral devices because he/she cannot install device drivers or application software. Such a situation is expected to frequently occur for on-the-road use of a computer. In addition, even a user having administrator authority conventionally needs to install a device driver in advance before connecting an image reading device. That is, it is conventionally impossible to use the peripheral device without installing the device driver in the personal computer (PC). Device drivers are generally distributed by CD-ROMs. The device drivers cannot be installed unless the CD-ROMs are prepared. For example, losing a CD-ROM makes device driver installation impossible. Although the device driver may be available via the Internet, this requires an environment connectable to the Internet. It is also necessary to correctly grasp the URL of the WEB site where the device driver is provided and the type and name of the peripheral device, resulting in cumbersomeness.
Hence, there is a social need to provide a peripheral device that is usable from an information processing apparatus without installing a device driver in it. More specifically, in the present invention, a PC is caused to recognize a peripheral device as an external storage device. Application software stored in one of the storage areas of the peripheral device, which is recognized as the external storage device, is activated on the PC. Then, the PC writes a control command to control the peripheral device in the storage area recognized as the external storage device in accordance with the application software. The peripheral device writes a response corresponding to the control command in the storage area recognized as the external storage device. This allows the PC to, for example, cause the peripheral device to read an image while recognizing the peripheral device as the external storage device.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds