METHOD, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER PRODUCT FOR MANAGING IMAGE FORMATION RESOURCES

摘要

Common portions of applications are extracted as common system service. A platform is formed by the common system service and a general purpose OS. A printer application, a copy application, and various applications are mounted on the platform. As a result, each software (application) corresponding to a printer, a copier, a facsimile device, and so on can be developed efficiently and the productivity of the apparatus as a whole can be improved.

主权项

1. An apparatus for formation of images, which includes hardware resources, such as a display section, a print section, and an imaging section, used in image formation processing and which provides user service including one or more of printing, coping, or facsimile relating to image formation processing, said apparatus comprising:
applications each of which conducts processing peculiar to each of the user service and which can be mounted in a plurality; and a platform which is interposed between the applications and the hardware resources, and which conducts management of the hardware resources, execution control and image formation processing needed in common by at least two of the applications when providing the user service.