Upstream peripheral device serving as a USB host

Details Upstream peripheral device serving as a USB host Upstream peripheral device serving as a USB host

2002-12-13

2004-11-09

Gaffin, Jeffrey (Department: 2182)

Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/

Input/output data processing

Peripheral adapting

C710S008000, C710S031000, C710S038000, C710S072000, C710S104000, C710S110000, C710S305000, C710S316000, C709S208000, C709S209000, C709S211000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06816931

ABSTRACT:

This application incorporates by reference of Taiwan application Serial No. 091107169, filed Apr. 10, 2002.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) upstream peripheral device, and more particularly to a scanner that may serve as a USB host.
2. Description of the Related Art
A Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a plug and play interface between a computer and a peripheral device. The USB allows the addition of a new device to the computer without having to add an adapter card or having to shut down the computer. Many kinds of peripheral devices can be connected, configured, used or removed while the computer is still running, and thus the Plug and Play (PnP) function allows the peripheral device to be installed (“plugged in”) and used immediately be used (“played with”). Furthermore, the data transfer rate conducted by the USB between the computer host and the peripheral devices is much faster. As a result, the USB is a popular type of interface fitted to most PCs available today.
Referring to the
FIG. 1
, it shows the drawing of the topology of a USB computer host and the peripheral devices. A USB host connects with the peripheral devices through the external hubs. A hub can be either attached directly to the peripheral devices, or attached to another hub, which is connected with the peripherals. The peripheral devices cannot directly interconnect to other peripherals. As shown by the example in
FIG. 1
, a USB host
102
is connected to the hub
104
, which is directly connected to a peripheral device
106
, or indirectly connected to the peripheral device
110
via the hub
108
. Also, the peripheral device
106
and peripheral device
110
both are not attached to other peripherals. With the USB, the USB host
102
, the peripheral device
106
, and peripheral device
110
combine to form an information processing system
100
, wherein the USB host
102
is the controller of the whole information processing system
100
, which controls all operations of the peripheral device
106
and peripheral device
110
. In other words, all functionalities of the peripheral device
106
and peripheral device
110
are controlled by the USB host
102
.
Referring to FIG.
2
A and
FIG. 2B
, they show the manner of interconnection among a conventional USB computer host
202
, a scanner
204
, and a printer
206
. They also show a sort of information processing system
200
. In
FIG. 2A
, the scanner
204
and the printer
206
are connected with the computer host
202
by the hub
203
. Hence, the computer host
202
can control the scanner
204
for scanning, and can also transmit the print data to the printer
206
for printing as well. On the other hand, in
FIG. 2B
, the connecting manner of the computer host
202
, the scanner
204
and the printer
206
can adopt not only a conventional USB interface but also an EPP interface as the connecting interface of the information processing system
200
. If the information processing system
200
in
FIG. 2B
applies the EPP interface, the computer host
202
can manipulate the scanner
204
and the printer
206
to work respectively, and also the scanner
204
can directly control the printing function of the printer
206
, so as to provide the scan-to-print function.
However, if a USB interface is applied to the connection structure of
FIG. 2B
, the following method may not be able to provide the scan-to-print function. Here the computer host
202
is connected to the scanner
204
, and the scanner
204
is connected to the printer
206
. The computer host
202
is connected to a hub, which is configured inside the scanner
204
. For the purpose of clarity, in
FIG. 2B
, the hub inside the scanner
204
is not shown. The internal hub is connected with the scanner
204
, and also provides another USB port to be connected with the printer
206
. In the information processing system
200
, the computer host
202
is the USB host, and the scanner
204
and the printer
206
are the peripheral devices. Under the control of the computer host
202
, the scanner
204
and the printer
206
can perform the instructions of the computer host
202
respectively.
The scan-to-print function enables the image data to be scanned by the scanner and then printed by the printer immediately. It is becoming one of the convenient functions needed for performing information processing. However, if the computer host
202
applies a USB interface to connect with the scanner
204
and the printer
206
, the scanner
204
and the printer
206
operate under the control of the computer host
202
because the computer host
202
is the only controller of the whole information processing system
200
. The scanner
204
is a peripheral device and cannot replace the computer host
202
as the USB host to control the printer to print directly. Therefore, according to the structure of the
FIG. 2B
, the scanner
204
cannot transmit the scanned document to be printed by the printer
206
directly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a scanner, which can be a virtual USB host to directly control a printer to print without going through an external host.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide the scanner capable of serving as a USB host. The scanner is connected with a computer host and a printer respectively, wherein the computer host is a USB host. The scanner includes a hub, a scanner component, a virtual printer component and an internal host. The computer host and scanner are both connected to the hub for transferring data from the computer host to the scanner and vice versa. The scanner component stores the initial setting data of the scanner. In addition, the virtual printer component is connected with the hub, so as to output data to the hub and receive data output by the hub. The virtual printer component stores the initial setting data of the printer. Furthermore, the internal host is connected respectively with the scanner component, the virtual printer component and the printer, so as to output data from the printer to the virtual printer component, and also output data respectively from the scanner component and the virtual printer component to the printer. With the virtual printer component and the internal host, the scanner can be the USB host, which can directly control the printer to print.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the scanner provides the function of a USB host, by enabling the scanned image data to be directly transmitted to the printer for printing without being under the control of the computer host.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiment. The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5784581 (1998-07-01), Hannah
patent: 6636923 (2003-10-01), Meirsman et al.
patent: 2002/0161844 (2002-10-01), Overtoom
patent: TW413360 (2000-11-01), None

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