JP3074770B2 - Information processing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus,
Specifically, the first operating system operates as a child process in the second operating system,
The process executed in the environment of the first operating system relates to an information processing device that exchanges data with peripheral devices managed by the second operating system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of information processing apparatus, a peripheral device has a second operating system (hereinafter referred to as a main OS).
In the case where an application program on a second operating system (hereinafter, referred to as a virtual OS) operating as a child process in the main OS and exchanging data with a peripheral device under the management of the main OS, the main OS Has performed an emulation operation on the device driver of the virtual OS.

[0003] Taking an input from an input device such as a keyboard as an example, a main OS responds to an input request from the input device.
Is started, the input from the input device is interpreted and its type is temporarily stored. Then, the occurrence of the input event and the saved type are notified to the virtual OS as a pseudo interrupt. As a result, the input interrupt processing routine in the virtual OS is started, interprets the notification from the main OS, and transfers the type of input to the input buffer in the storage device. By the processing of the input interrupt processing routine of both the main OS and the virtual OS, the type of input can be detected for the first time, and an input request from an application program can be answered.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional configuration, there is a problem in that an overhead of interpretation processing time for duplicate input in both OSs and notification time between OSs occurs. For this reason, it has been considered that a reaction time from an actual input in an application program executed on the virtual OS becomes extremely slow, and it becomes difficult to execute an application program that emphasizes real-time performance. This problem applies not only to input processing but also to output processing.

[0005] The information processing apparatus of the present invention solves such a problem, and the processing executed in the environment of the first operating system allows data exchange between peripheral devices managed by the second operating system. The purpose is to reduce the overhead required for
The following configuration was adopted.

[0006]

As shown in FIG. 1, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a first operating system OS1 and a second operating system OS1.
2, a processing AP that operates as a child process and is executed under the environment of the first operating system OS1
An information processing apparatus for exchanging data with a peripheral device PE managed by the second operating system OS2, wherein the first operating system OS1
And a storage unit MM for temporarily storing data exchanged with the peripheral device PE, and a first unit that mediates exchange of data between the processing AP and the peripheral device PE via the storage unit MM. Device driver DD1, and in the second operating system OS2,
A data request detecting means M1 for detecting that a request for data exchange with the peripheral device PE has occurred, and the detected request being transmitted to the first operating system OS1
Request determination means M2 for determining whether or not the
And the request is the first operating system OS1
When it is determined that the data is stored in the first device driver DD1, the data from the peripheral device PE is directly stored and / or output to the peripheral device PE. And the device driver DD2.

Here, the input / output processing with the peripheral device PE may be either input processing or output processing, or may perform both input / output processing. That is, the first and second operating systems OS1 and OS2 may have a device driver that performs only one of the input processing and the output processing.

[0008] The first and second device drivers DD
Reference numerals 1 and DD2 denote keyboard input device drivers, and the second device driver DD2 may directly rewrite the contents of the storage device MM of the first device driver according to a key input. Further, a configuration may be employed in which the determination as to whether the data request is for the first operating system is made with reference to the management data of the child process managed by the second operating system.

[0009]

In the information processing apparatus of the present invention configured as described above, the first operating system OS1 operates as a child process of the second operating system OS2.
The input of data from the peripheral device PE to the processing AP operating on 1 and / or the output to the peripheral device PE are performed as follows.

First, data input will be described.
When a data input request from the peripheral device PE occurs, the request is detected by the data request detecting means M1.
When the request determining means M2 determines that the request is related to the operating system, the second device driver DD2 provided in the second operating system OS2 transmits necessary data to the first device driver D2.
It is stored directly in the storage means MM in D1. The data stored in this manner can be read at any time from the processing AP executed under the environment of the first operating system OS1.

On the other hand, when outputting data to the peripheral device PE, the first device driver DD1 prepares the data to be output in its storage means MM. When the data request detection unit M1 detects a data output request from the processing AP, the request determination unit M2 determines whether the request is related to the first operating system OS1.
Is determined to be related to the operating system OS1 of the second device driver DD2.
Outputs the data stored in the storage unit MM of the first device driver DD1 directly to the peripheral device PE.

That is, in the information processing apparatus of the present invention, a request for data input / output is made by the first operating system OS.
The first device driver DD1 determines whether or not it is related to the first operating system OS1, and if it is determined to be related to the first operating system OS1, directly from the peripheral device PE to the storage device MM in the first device driver DD1. Is stored and / or output. Therefore, the processing AP is operated by the first operating system OS
1 can input data from the peripheral device PE and / or output data to the peripheral device PE without discriminating in what environment the device 1 is operating.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to further clarify the structure and operation of the present invention described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. This information processing apparatus includes a keyboard as one of the peripheral devices.

As shown in FIG. 2, the information processing apparatus includes a central processing unit 1, a storage device 2, an input device 3, and a display device 4. The storage device 2 includes a central processing unit 1
There is a storage area 21 that can be managed by the main operating system above, a storage area 22 that can be managed by a virtual operating system, and a storage area 23 that can be managed by an application program. The storage area 22 includes an input buffer 24 for storing the type of input input from the input device 3.

The information processing apparatus of the present embodiment having the above configuration executes the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. The information processing apparatus waits until an input is generated by an interrupt from the input device 3 (step S50), and when the central processing unit 1 is interrupted, activates an input interrupt processing routine included in the main operating system. If it is determined that the virtual operating system is running on the central processing unit 1 and that the input device 3 is assigned to an application program running on the virtual operating system (step S60), this input is performed. The interrupt processing routine performs the same processing as the input interrupt processing routine originally included in the virtual operating system, and directly transfers the type of input to the input buffer 24 (step S70). This allows the virtual operating system to give the type of input to the running application program as if it were an input event processed by its own input interrupt processing routine. If the input interrupt processing routine is not an input to an application program on the virtual operating system (step S60), the processing of the interrupt processing routine of the main operating system (step S80) is performed.

In the information processing apparatus of the present embodiment having the above configuration, the main operating system is executed, and when an input is made from the input device 3 to the application program on the virtual operating system, the main operating system is executed. Since the input interrupt processing routine of the operating system performs the same processing as the input interrupt processing routine of the virtual operating system, there is no overlap between the interrupt processing of the two operating systems and the overhead. Therefore, an application program that emphasizes real-time performance can be executed on the virtual operating system without any problem.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an information processing apparatus according to a second embodiment. This information processing apparatus is configured as an engineering workstation, and includes the following units interconnected by a bus centering on a CPU 101 as shown in the figure. In this embodiment, a 32-bit processor (Intel 80386) is used as the CPU 101.

FPU 102: Numerical operation processor that operates as a coprocessor of CPU 101 ROM 104: Mask memory for storing monitor programs and the like RAM 105: Read / write memory forming main memory PIT 106: Interval timer RTC 108 for generating a timer interrupt Real-time clock that measures time after power backup DMAC110: Controller that controls direct memory transfer via bus SIO111: Serial interface that controls communication of RS-232C

PIC 112: an interrupt controller for prioritizing and controlling various interrupts Mouse interface 115: An interface for exchanging data with the two-button mouse 114 Keyboard interface 118: An interface for controlling key input from the keyboard 117 FDC121: Flexible Disk Drive (FD)
D) Flexible disk controller that controls 120 HDC 125: Hard disk drive (HDD) 12
Hard Disk Controller CRTC129 for Controlling CRT4: CRT12 for Displaying Necessary Data and the Like
CRT controller for controlling signal output to printer 8 Printer interface 131: interface for controlling data output to printer 130 In addition to these components, an expansion slot 140 is connected to the bus in preparation for future expansion. Have been.

The information processing apparatus having the above-described configuration employs a multi-tasking time-division processing system OS as a main operating system (hereinafter referred to as a main OS), and a single-task disk operating system (a child process) as its child process. (Hereinafter referred to as a slave OS). Various application programs are executed under the control of the main OS, but those developed for the sub OS are executed under the control of the sub OS. In this information processing apparatus, a mouse 114, a keyboard 11
7. Peripheral devices such as the flexible disk drive 120 are all under the control of the main OS, and exchange data with a process operating on the main OS via a so-called device driver incorporated in the main OS. Is being done.
A slave OS operating on the main OS cannot directly exchange data with peripheral devices.

The slave OS has a conventional device driver for the slave OS, and the application program on the slave OS is similar to the case where the slave OS is used alone.
An attempt is made to input or output data through various device drivers of the slave OS. The application program normally issues an interrupt request to the device driver on the slave OS using an interrupt command (system call) defined by the slave OS for the device driver, and establishes an application interface with the device driver. The data is passed through the server.

The device driver on the slave OS is
When the S operates alone and an interrupt request from a peripheral device occurs, an input instruction (IN) and an output instruction (OU) to the hardware assigned to the IO address are issued.
T) is issued, in this embodiment, the interrupt request from the peripheral device is managed by the main OS, and the interrupt request is output to the device driver of the main OS or the slave OS as necessary. For example, in the case of inputting key data from the keyboard 117, an interrupt request is issued to the keyboard driver of the main OS, and is not output to the keyboard driver of the slave OS.

The state of data input will be described by taking an input from a keyboard as an example. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a flow of data from an input from the keyboard 117 to an application program, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an interrupt routine in the second keyboard driver of the main OS.

As shown, when a key on the keyboard 117 is depressed, a keyboard interface 118 is pressed.
An interrupt occurs via. This interrupt is generated by the PI shown in FIG.
If it is entered into C112 and interrupts are allowed,
The process of the second keyboard driver which is one of the device drivers is started. After the startup, the driver interrupt processing routine of the second keyboard driver of the main OS reads data from the keyboard 117 via the keyboard interface 118 (step S200 in FIG. 6), and determines whether the keyboard 117 is currently assigned to the slave OS. It is determined whether or not it is (step S210). Keyboard 117
The process to assign the input and output of peripheral devices to
By controlling the kernel of the main OS and referring to management data such as an attribute table managed by the kernel,
It is easy to determine whether or not data input from the keyboard 117 is assigned to a slave OS that is one of the child processes of the main OS.

When data input from the keyboard 117 is
If it is determined that it is assigned to S (step S210), a series of processes for directly updating the data of the first keyboard driver is performed (steps S220 to S260). In this updating process, first, data is written to the key input state table (step S220). The key input state table is a table provided for the slave OS to identify which key of the keyboard 117 has been pressed, in which data of hardware mapping is written.

Next, it is determined whether or not the key operation is a shift key press (step S230). If the key operation is a shift key operation, the slave OS enters a shift state table for identifying the shift key operation state. Is written (step S240). Further, the key code received from the keyboard 117 is also determined based on the state of the shift key, converted into a character code corresponding to the key (step S250), and a process of writing this into a keyboard buffer is performed (step S260). After that, "RTN"
To end this routine.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S210 that the keyboard 117 is not assigned to the slave OS, a process for updating the data of the second keyboard driver is performed (step S270), and the process exits to "RTN". To end this routine. The second keyboard driver holds data in a format that allows the main OS to receive key input data from the application program in response to a request from the application program.

According to the information processing apparatus of this embodiment described above, a plurality of child processes are operating under the control of the main OS, and when one of them is the subordinate OS, the keyboard 117
When the data input from is assigned to the normal process 1, as shown in FIG.
The data input from 17 is stored in the second keyboard driver, and is passed to the process in response to a data request (system call) from process 1. On the other hand, when data input from the keyboard 117 is assigned to the slave OS, as shown in FIG.
The data input from 17 is written directly to a table and buffer in the first keyboard driver in the slave OS.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the keyboard 1
When the data input from 17 is assigned to the slave OS, the keyboard drivers of the main OS and the slave OS do not operate redundantly, and no unnecessary overhead occurs. Therefore, even an application program that values real-time performance can be operated without any trouble. In addition, the slave OS operating as a child process of the main OS needs to determine whether the slave OS itself is operating on the main OS or the slave OS directly occupies the hardware and operate. Therefore, there is an advantage that no change is required for the slave OS and the application programs operating under the management of the slave OS. Therefore, both the effective use of the conventional software resources and the active use of the advanced main OS can be compatible.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments at all.
Deviating from the gist of the present invention, such as a configuration for performing key input processing from a terminal using a communication port such as H.232C, a configuration for inputting from a tablet or a digitizer, or a configuration for outputting data to a printer or a plotter. It goes without saying that the present invention can be implemented in various modes without departing from the scope.

[0031]

As described above, in the information processing apparatus of the present invention, when the exchange of data with the peripheral device is related to the first operating system operating as a child process of the second operating system, The data from the peripheral device is directly stored and / or output to the peripheral device with the storage means of the first device driver of the first operating system. Therefore, the problem that both operating systems intervene in data input / output processing and increase the overhead is completely solved. As a result, it is possible to effectively use the software without any trouble in executing an application program that values real-time performance under the first operating system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a state in which data from a keyboard reaches an application program operating on a slave OS.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a driver interrupt processing routine according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of key input when an OS is assigned according to one of a plurality of processes operating under the control of a main OS.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 central processing unit 2 storage device 3 input device 4 display device 24 input buffer 101 CPU 112 PIC 117 keyboard 118 keyboard interface AP processing DD1 first device driver DD2 second device driver M1 data request detecting means M2 request determining means MM storage Means OS1 First operating system OS2 Second operating system PE Peripheral device

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 9/46 G06F 3/02 G06F 13/10

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A first operating system operates as a child process in a second operating system, and a process executed in an environment of the first operating system is managed by the second operating system. An information processing apparatus for exchanging data with a peripheral device, comprising: a storage unit for temporarily storing data exchanged with the peripheral device in the first operating system; The first that mediates the exchange of data between the
Data request detecting means for detecting that a request for data exchange with the peripheral device has occurred in the second operating system, and the detected request is stored in the first operating system. Request means for determining whether the request is related to the first operating system, and when the request is determined to be related to the first operating system, the peripheral device is directly connected to the storage means of the first device driver. And a second device driver for storing data from the external device and / or outputting data to the peripheral device. 2. The first operating system operates as a child process in the second operating system, and a process executed in an environment of the first operating system is managed by the second operating system. An information processing apparatus for exchanging data with a peripheral device, wherein the peripheral device is a keyboard, and the storage device temporarily stores data input from the keyboard in the first operating system. A first device driver for passing data from the keyboard to the processing via a storage unit, wherein data input from the keyboard is assigned to the first operating system in the second operating system; Is stored in the storage device of the first device driver. An information processing apparatus including a second device driver for directly writing data from the keyboard. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein whether the data request is related to the first operating system is determined by referring to management data of a child process managed by the second operating system. .