JP7259348B2 - Information processing device, method for starting information processing device, and start program for information processing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing apparatus activation method, and an information processing apparatus activation program.

2. Description of the Related Art In an information processing apparatus having a main body having main functions and an operating section for scanning the functions of the main body, there is known a configuration in which the main body and the operating section have different CPUs. In such an information processing apparatus, for example, an application provided in the operation unit manages the connection between the operation unit and the main unit. In this information processing apparatus, startup processing is performed in the following order at the time of startup.
(1) The main unit and the operation unit each start startup processing (2) The main unit waits for a preparation completion notification from the operation unit application before processing that requires connection to the operation unit (3) The operation unit starts After the OS starts, the application on the OS starts, and the application sends a preparation completion notification to the main unit. (4) The main unit receives the preparation completion notification, connects to the operation unit, and completes startup processing.

Since the application of the operation unit runs on the OS for the operation unit, the application cannot be started until the OS for the operation unit is started, and the preparation completion notification cannot be sent until then. There was a problem that the main unit was in a state of waiting for the notification of completion of preparation early, and it took extra time to start up because the processing could not be continued.

An object of the present invention is to shorten the boot time.

In order to solve the above-described problems, an information processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes a main unit, an operation unit, and an operation unit provided in the operation unit so as to be operable independently of an OS of the operation unit, and a program that takes a shorter startup time and performs a part of the startup processing of the operation unit, and when the main unit and the operation unit are started in parallel, the operation unit and the OS together with the program is also activated, and when the activation processing of the operation unit by the program is completed, the program transmits a preparation completion notice to the main unit.

Startup time can be shortened.

Overall configuration diagram of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment Hardware configuration diagram of the operation unit Main unit hardware configuration diagram Functional block diagram of information processing device Diagram explaining the external sequence at startup Diagram explaining the internal sequence at startup Sequence diagram at startup in the first modified example Processing sequence diagram between an application and a program in the second modification Functional block diagram of the information processing device of the third modification External sequence diagram at startup in the third modification Internal sequence diagram at startup in the third modification Internal sequence diagram at startup in the third modification Processing sequence diagram between an application and a program in the third modified example Schematic diagram showing an example of a storage structure using a queue structure Internal sequence diagram when judging whether or not to send a notification to the application

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In order to facilitate understanding of the description, the same constituent elements in each drawing are denoted by the same reference numerals as much as possible, and overlapping descriptions are omitted.

[Embodiment]
An embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. FIG. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an information processing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment.

The information processing apparatus 1 is, for example, a multifunction peripheral called MFP (Multifunction Peripheral/Printer/Product), that is, a device having image processing functions and communication functions such as a facsimile machine, a scanner, a copier, or a printer. As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing device 1 is a single device comprising a main unit 10 and an operation unit 20. As shown in FIG.

The main unit 10 has main functions such as the above image processing function and communication function. The operation unit 20 receives user's operation of each function of the main unit 10 . The main unit 10 and the operation unit 20 are provided with separate CPUs 111 and 21 (first and second CPUs), respectively. The main unit 10 and the operation unit 20 are connected by a communication method such as USB.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the operation unit 20. As shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the operation unit 20 has a configuration similar to that of a general information processing terminal. That is, the operation unit 20 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 22, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 23, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 24, and an I/F 25 connected via a bus 26. ing. An LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 27 and an operation input section 28 are connected to the I/F 25 .

The CPU 21 is computing means and controls the overall operation of the operating section 20 .

The RAM 22 is a volatile storage medium capable of reading and writing information at high speed, and is used as a work area when the CPU 21 processes information.

The ROM 23 is a read-only non-volatile storage medium and stores programs such as firmware.

The HDD 24 is a non-volatile storage medium from which information can be read and written, and stores an OS (Operating System), various control programs, application programs, and the like.

The I/F 25 connects and controls the bus 26 and various hardware and networks.

The LCD 27 is a visual user interface for the user to check the status.

The operation input unit 28 is a user interface such as a keyboard and a mouse for the user to input information.

FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of the main unit 10. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3 , the main unit 10 has a configuration in which a controller 11 and an engine unit 15 are connected by a PCI (Peripheral Component Interface) bus 16 .

The controller 11 controls the overall control of the main unit 10 , drawing, communication, and input from the operation unit 20 .

The engine unit 15 is a printer engine or the like connectable to the PCI bus 16, such as a black-and-white plotter, a 1-drum color plotter, a 4-drum color plotter, a scanner, or a facsimile unit. The engine section 15 includes an image processing section such as error diffusion and gamma conversion in addition to a so-called engine section such as a plotter.

The controller 11 includes a CPU 111, a north bridge (NB) 113, a system memory (MEM-P) 112, a south bridge (SB) 114, a local memory (MEM-C) 117, and an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). 116 and a hard disk drive (HDD) 118 , and an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus 115 connects between a north bridge (NB) 113 and an ASIC 116 . The MEM-P 112 further has a ROM 112a and a RAM 112b.

The CPU 111 performs overall control of the main unit 10, has a chipset composed of the NB 113, MEM-P 112 and SB 114, and is connected to other devices via this chipset.

The NB 113 is a bridge for connecting the CPU 111, the MEM-P 112, the SB 114, and the AGP bus 115, and has a memory controller that controls reading and writing with respect to the MEM-P 112, a PCI master, and an AGP target.

The MEM-P 112 is a system memory used as a memory for storing programs and data, a memory for developing programs and data, a drawing memory for a printer, and the like, and consists of a ROM 112a and a RAM 112b.

The ROM 112a is a read-only memory used as a memory for storing programs and data, and the RAM 112b is a writable and readable memory used as a memory for developing programs and data, a drawing memory for a printer, and the like.

The SB 114 is a bridge for connecting the NB 113 with PCI devices and peripheral devices. The SB 114 is connected to the NB 13 via a PCI bus, to which a network interface (I/F) section and the like are also connected.

The ASIC 116 is an image processing IC (Integrated Circuit) having hardware elements for image processing, and serves as a bridge connecting the AGP bus 115, PCI bus 16, HDD 118 and MEM-C 117, respectively.

This ASIC 116 includes a PCI target and AGP master, an arbiter (ARB) that forms the core of the ASIC 116, a memory controller that controls the MEM-C 117, and a plurality of DMACs (Direct Memory) that rotate image data using hardware logic. and a PCI unit that transfers data to and from the engine unit 15 via the PCI bus 16 .

An FCU (Facsimile Control Unit) 12 , a USB (Universal Serial Bus) 13 , and an IEEE 1394 (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1394) interface 14 are connected to the ASIC 116 via a PCI bus 16 . An operation unit 20 is also directly connected to the ASIC 16 .

MEM-C 117 is a local memory used as a copy image buffer and code buffer.

The HDD 118 is a storage for storing image data, programs, font data, and forms. HDD 118 also stores license files for applications executed on main unit 10 .

The AGP bus 115 is a bus interface for graphics accelerator cards proposed for speeding up graphics processing, and speeds up the graphics accelerator card by directly accessing the MEM-P 112 with high throughput. is.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the information processing device 1. As shown in FIG. The operation unit 20 includes an OS (Operation System) activation unit 210 , an OS 220 , a program activation unit 230 and a program 240 .

The OS activation unit 210 activates the OS 220 .

The OS 220 is composed of an application launcher 221 and an application 222 . The application activation unit 221 activates the application 222 .

The application 222 is provided within the OS 220 of the operation unit 20 and operates on the OS 220 . The application 222 manages the connection between the main unit 10 and the operating unit 20 and performs activation processing of the operating unit 20 . The application 222 is composed of a startup processing unit 223 and a communication unit 224 . The activation processing unit 223 executes activation processing of the operation unit 20 . It receives a notification from the main unit 10 via the communication unit 224 and uses it for activation processing. The communication unit 224 receives a notification necessary for activation processing from the main unit 10 and transfers it to the activation processing unit 223 .

The program activation unit 230 activates the program 240 .

The program 240 is provided separately from the OS 220 within the operation unit 20 and can operate independently of the OS 220 . The program 240 takes a shorter startup time than the OS 220 and executes part of the startup processing of the operation unit 20 by the application 222 . The program 240 is composed of a startup processing unit 241 and a communication unit 242 . The activation processing unit 241 executes activation processing of the operation unit 20 . When the preparation process to be executed by the program 240 is completed, a preparation completion notice is created and passed to the communication unit 242 . The communication unit 242 transmits the preparation completion notification received from the activation processing unit 241 to the main unit 10 . Also, the communication unit 242 passes the notification received from the main unit 10 to the communication unit 224 of the application 222 .

The main unit 10 is composed of an activation processing unit 110 and a communication unit 120 .

The boot processing unit 110 executes processing necessary for booting the main unit 10 . A notification of completion of preparation is received from the communication unit 120 . In addition, the activation processing unit 110 exchanges notifications necessary for activation processing with the operation unit 20 via the communication unit 120 .

The communication unit 120 receives the preparation completion notification from the communication unit 242 of the program 240 of the operation unit 20 and passes it to the activation processing unit 110 . Also, the communication unit 120 passes the notification received from the activation processing unit 110 to the operation unit 20 .

Each of the OS activation unit 210, the OS 220, the program activation unit 230, the program 240, the application activation unit 221, the application 222, the activation processing units 223 and 241, and the communication units 224 and 242 of the operation unit 20 of the information processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. The function is to load predetermined computer software (startup program) onto hardware such as the CPU 21 and RAM 22 of the operation unit 20 to operate various hardware under the control of the CPU 21, and to read data in the RAM 22 and HDD 24. This is achieved by reading and writing the The functions of the startup processing unit 110 and the communication unit 120 of the main unit 10 can be controlled by the CPU 111 by reading predetermined computer software (startup program) into hardware such as the CPU 111 and the RAM 112b of the main unit 10. This is achieved by operating various hardware with and reading and writing data in the RAM 112 b and the HDD 118 . That is, by causing the boot program of the information processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment to be executed on a computer, the operation unit 20 of the information processing apparatus 1 can operate the OS activation unit 210, the OS 220, the program activation unit 230, the program 240, It functions as an application activation unit 221 , an application 222 , activation processing units 223 and 241 , and communication units 224 and 242 .

A method for starting the information processing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an external sequence at startup. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an internal sequence at startup. Here, the “external sequence” is a sequence viewed from the outside of the information processing apparatus 1 , and is a sequence in which each process can be confirmed from the outside of the information processing apparatus 1 . On the other hand, the “internal sequence” is a sequence seen by internal functions of the information processing apparatus 1 (start processing units 223 and 241, communication units 224 and 242, etc.).

First, referring to FIG. 5, the external sequence will be explained in comparison with the sequence numbers in the figure.

1: Independent start-up processing The main unit 10 first executes start-up processing that can be performed independently. When the activation process that can be performed independently is completed, it waits for the notification of completion of preparation.

2: Program start (start step, start function)
The program 240 of the operation unit 20 is activated. Program 240 can run outside OS 220 .

2.1: Startup processing (startup processing step, startup processing function)
When the program 240 is activated, next, the operation unit 20 is activated. Here, the startup processing of the operation unit 20 to be executed by the program 240 includes, for example, the minimum processing that enables the operation unit 20 to communicate with the main unit 10 .

2.1.1: Notification of completion of preparation (transmission step, transmission function)
When the activation process to be executed is completed, the program 240 transmits a preparation completion notification to the main unit 10 .

3. The OS 220 of the OS activation operation section 20 is activated.

3.1: Application activation When the activation of the OS 220 is completed, the application 222 is activated on the OS 220 .

3.1.1: Activation process The application 222 executes the activation process of the operation unit 20 when the activation of the application 222 is completed. Here, the start-up processing of the operation unit 20 to be executed by the application 222 includes processing other than the start-up processing executed by the program 240 in sequence 2.1.

4: The processing main unit 10 that requires communication with the operation unit cancels the waiting state when the notification of completion of preparation arrives, and executes the processing that requires communication with the operation unit 20 .

4.1: Communication (notification step, notification function)
The main unit 10 transmits a notification to the program 240 of the operation unit 20 during execution of processing that requires communication with the operation unit 20 .

4.1.1: Communication (notification transmission step, notification transmission function)
Upon receiving the notification, the program 240 of the operation unit 20 transmits the notification to the application 222 .

3.1.1.1: Use Notification The application 222 of the operation unit 20 uses the received notification for activation processing.

Next, referring to FIG. 6, the internal sequence will be explained in comparison with the sequence numbers in the figure. Also, in the following description, the correspondence between the functional blocks in FIG. 4 and the sequence numbers in the external sequence diagram in FIG. 5 will be described in the following format.

Sequence number: Function block name
: Sequence content (sequence number of external sequence diagram)

1: Startup processing unit 110: Startup processing execution (1)
The activation processing unit 110 of the main unit 10 executes activation processing. When the activation process that can be performed independently is completed, it waits for the notification of completion of preparation.

2: Program activation unit 230: Program activation (2)
A program activation unit 230 of the operation unit 20 activates a program 240 .

2.1: Activation processing unit 241: Execution of activation processing (2.1)
A start-up processing unit 241 of the program 240 executes start-up processing of the operation unit 20 .

2.1.1: Activation processing unit 241: Passing the notification of completion of preparation to the communication unit (2.1.1)
The activation processing unit 241 of the program 240 passes a preparation completion notification to the communication unit 242 when the activation processing of the operation unit 20 to be executed by the program 240 is completed. Here, the startup processing of the operation unit 20 to be executed by the program 240 includes, for example, the minimum processing that enables the operation unit 20 to communicate with the main unit 10 .

2.1.1.1: Communication unit 242: Send preparation completion notification (2.1.1)
The communication unit 242 of the program 240 transmits a preparation completion notice to the main unit 10 .

2.1.1.1.1: Communication unit 120: Receiving preparation completion notification (2.1.1)
Communication unit 120 of main unit 10 receives the preparation completion notification.

2.1.1.1.1.1: Communication unit 120: Passes preparation completion notification to activation processing unit (2.1.1)
The communication unit 120 of the main unit 10 passes the preparation completion notification to the activation processing unit 110 .

3. OS activation unit 210: OS activation (3)
An OS activation unit 210 of the operation unit 20 activates an OS 220 .

3.1: Application activation unit 221: Application activation (3.1)
An application activation unit 221 of the operation unit 20 activates an application 222 .

3.1.1: Activation processing unit 223: Execution of activation processing (3.1.1)
A startup processing unit 223 of the application 222 executes startup processing of the operation unit 20 to be executed by the application 222 . Here, the startup processing of the operation unit 20 to be executed by the application 222 includes processing other than the startup processing executed by the program 240 in sequence 2.2.1.

4: Boot processing unit 110: Resume boot process (4)
The activation processing unit 110 of the main unit 10 receives the preparation completion notification, cancels the waiting state, and restarts the activation process. The activation process restarted here is a process that requires communication with the operation unit 20 . Therefore, in order to restart the process, the minimum processing that enables the operation unit 20 to communicate with the main body unit 10 (here, "activation processing of the operation unit 20 to be executed by the program 240" in sequence 2.2.1) ) is completed and communication with the main unit 10 is enabled.
In the present embodiment, this waiting time can be eliminated or shortened by receiving this preparation completion notification earlier.

4.1: Startup processing unit 110: Pass notification to communication unit (4.1)
The activation processing unit 110 of the main unit 10 passes the notification to the operation unit 20 to the communication unit 120 .

4.1.1: Communication unit 120: Send notification (4.1)
Communication unit 120 of main unit 10 transmits the notification to communication unit 242 of operation unit 20 .

4.1.1.1: Communication unit 242: Receive notification (4.1)
The communication section 242 of the program 240 of the operation section 20 receives the notification from the main body section 10 .

4.1.1.1.1: Communication unit 242: Send notification (4.1.1)
Communication unit 242 of program 240 sends a notification to communication unit 224 of application 222 . Before or during this transmission, the program 240 may perform some processing (for example, converting the notification for the application).

3.1.1.1: Communication unit 224: Pass notification to activation processing unit (4.1.1)
The communication unit 224 of the application 222 receives the notification and passes it to the activation processing unit 223 .

3.1.1.1.1: Startup processing unit 223: Use notification (3.1.1.1)
The activation processing unit 223 of the application 222 uses the received notification for activation processing. The content of this notification includes information such as parameters of the main unit 10 that are necessary for starting the operation unit 20 .

In this embodiment, the transmission of the notification in the direction from the main unit 10 to the operation unit 20 is described, but the notification may be transmitted in the opposite direction (from the operation unit 20 to the main unit 10).

Effects of the present embodiment will be described. As described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, in the information processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the main unit 10 and the operation unit 20 are activated simultaneously (it is sufficient if there is a parallel activation state, but not necessarily simultaneously). ), the operation unit 20 also activates the program 240 together with the OS 220, and when the activation process of the operation unit 20 by the program 240 is completed, the program 240 transmits a preparation completion notification to the main unit. The main unit 10 transmits a notification to the application 222 to the program in response to the reception of the preparation completion notification, and the program 240 transmits the notification received from the main unit 10 to the application 222 started after the OS 220 completes starting.

In a conventional device in which the main unit 10 and the operation unit 20 are operated by different CPUs, the OS 220 of the operation unit 20 must be installed in order for the main unit 10 to perform processing that requires communication with the operation unit 20 when the device is started. It was necessary to wait until the activation was completed, the activation of the application 222 in the OS 220 was completed, and the preparation completion notification was received from the application 222 . On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the program 240 responsible for part of the startup processing of the operation unit 20 by the application 222 is provided in the operation unit 20 so as to be operable independently of the OS 220, and the application 222 can be started up. Before completion, the program 240 forwards the preparation completion notification to the main unit 10 . As a result, the main unit 10 can receive the preparation completion notification from the operation unit 20 more quickly than the conventional configuration in which the operation unit 20 is not provided with the program 240, so that the "processing that requires communication with the operation unit" can be performed more quickly. This makes it possible to eliminate or reduce the waiting time from "single activation processing" to "processing requiring communication with the operation unit". As a result, start-up time can be shortened.

Next, as described above, the operating unit 20 includes the OS 220, the application 222, and the program 240, and each specific format will be described.

The OS 220 is assumed to be a general OS such as Android, Windows, and macOS. In this embodiment, the format of the OS 220 is Android.

It is assumed that the format of the application 222 differs depending on the OS 220 . When the OS 220 is Android as in this embodiment, an Android application is generally used.

The format of the program 240 must be a format that starts up faster than the application 222 . In this embodiment, it is a program format that operates in a general background called daemon.

Communication between the application 222 and the program 240 requires communication between processes because the processes are different. As a means of inter-process communication, a general Binder system is assumed, and other means may be used.

Since the processing of the program 240 was originally a processing executed by one application 222, means for notifying parameters by notification is required even when the processing is separated. Although the Binder method can notify the parameters, other methods may be used as long as the parameters can be notified.

Communication between the operation unit 20 and the main unit 10 is assumed to be a general connection means such as USB connection or wireless LAN. In the configuration of this embodiment, the communication unit 242 of the program 240 of the operation unit 20 communicates with the communication unit 120 of the main unit 10. In order to reduce the frequency of communication, the program 240 internally receives notification contents from the main unit 10. You can keep it. As a storage means, writing to a file (storage unit) by general file input/output means such as C language or C++ is assumed. Moreover, when the notification content is used on the application 222 side, it is also possible to notify the application 222 from the program 240 and store it on the application 222 side.

[First modification]
A first modification will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram at startup in the first modified example.

In the present embodiment, processing that was conventionally completed by the application 222 (for example, activation processing of the operation unit 20) is divided into the application 222 and the program 240. FIG. Therefore, depending on the process, it is necessary to transmit and receive a process request notification between the application 222 and the program 240 to execute the process.

Since the program 240 starts up earlier than the application 222, there is a case where the application 222 has not started yet when the program 240 tries to send the processing request to the application 222, as shown in section A in FIG. Occur. However, if the program 240 waits for the activation of the application 222 and completely stops the processing, a new wait occurs and the activation time becomes longer.

In order to solve this problem, in the first modification, the application 222 sends an activation completion notification to the program 240 to notify that the activation of the application 222 has been completed, for example, as shown in section B in FIG. , the program 240 transmits a processing request notification to the application 222 after receiving the activation completion notification from the application 222 .

In order to implement the processing shown in FIG. 7, the application 222 can have, for example, the following functions.
A notification transmission unit that transmits the activation completion notification of the application 222 to the program 240 A notification reception unit that receives a processing request from the program 240 A processing execution unit that receives a processing request from the program 240 and executes processing

Similarly, program 240 may have, for example, the following functions.
- A notification receiving unit that receives a start notification from the application 222

[Second modification]

A second modification will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a processing sequence diagram between the application 222 and the program 240 in the second modified example.

In order to prevent the processing of the program 240 from being stopped by waiting for the activation completion notification from the application 222 described in the first modification, in the second modification, processing is performed within the program 240 as shown in FIG. The “execution thread” that executes is separated from the “waiting thread” that waits for the application 222 to start.

When the execution thread wants to request the application 222 to process, it requests the waiting thread to store the process once, as indicated by section C in FIG. 8, for example. This processing allows the execution thread to continue processing the program 240 as it is, and the wait for the application 222 to start up does not occur.

In order to carry out the processing shown in FIG. 8, the program 240 can have, for example, the following functions.
- Executes the processing of the program 240, requests the application 222 to store the processing, receives a restart request, and issues a transmission request. Send and receive waiting threads, processing request notifications, and startup notifications, pass notifications to threads, retain and store the order in which transmission/reception threads and accumulation requests are received, and when receiving startup notifications Accumulation means for performing restart requests in order

Similarly, application 222 may have the following functionality.
・Transmitting/receiving thread for transmitting/receiving processing request notifications and startup notifications, and passing notifications to effective threads ・Execution threads for executing application 222 startup processing, receiving processing requests from program 240 and executing processing

[Third Modification]
A third modification will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 14. FIG. The third modification is obtained by collectively applying the features of the first modification and the features of the second modification to the configuration of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of the information processing device 1 of the third modified example. As shown in FIG. 9, in the third modified example, the program 240 further includes a notification accumulation unit 243 and a transmission impossibility determination unit 244 .

In addition to the functions of the above embodiment, the communication unit 224 of the application 222 transmits an activation completion notice to the communication unit 242 of the program 240 when the activation of the application 222 itself is completed.

The communication unit 242 of the program 240 transmits the preparation completion notification received from the activation processing unit 241 to the main unit 10 . Also, the communication unit 242 passes the notification received from the main unit 10 to the notification storage unit 243 . In addition, the communication unit 242 passes the activation completion notification of the application 222 received from the communication unit 224 of the application 222 to the transmission disapproval determination unit 244 .

The notification accumulation unit 243 of the program 240 periodically receives the judgment value held by the transmission failure judgment unit 244, and accumulates the notifications received from the communication unit 242 in the order received while the value is "impossible". When the value changes to "possible", the notifications accumulated up to that point are passed to the communication unit 242 in the order in which they were received.

The transmission impossibility determination unit 244 of the program 240 delivers an internally held value (either “possible” or “impossible”) when the communication unit 242 requests a determination. The initial value of the value is “impossible”, and changes to “possible” when a startup completion notification is received from the communication unit 242 of the program 240 .

FIG. 10 is an external sequence diagram at startup in the third modification. Only differences from the external sequence diagram of the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 5 will be described.

4.1.1: Accumulation of notification When the program 240 of the operation unit 20 receives a notification from the main unit 10 in step 4.1 while not receiving the activation completion notification from the application 222, the program 240 stores the notification. accumulate.

4.1.2: Continued processing other than sending After the program 240 of the operating unit 20 accumulates the notification, it continues processing other than sending the notification. By continuing the process, it is possible to avoid falling into a complete application startup waiting state.

3.1.1: Activation Completion Notification The application 222 sends an activation completion notification to the program 240 when the activation of the application 222 in step 3.1 is completed.

3.1.1.1: Send notification When the program 240 of the operation unit 20 receives the activation completion notification from the application 222 , it transmits the notification accumulated in step 4.1.1 to the application 222 . At this time, notifications are transmitted in the order in which they are accumulated.

Note that "3.1.2: startup processing" and "3.1.2.1: use notification" in FIG. 10 correspond to "3.1.1: startup processing" and "3.1. 1.1: Use notification”.

11A and 11B are internal sequence diagrams at startup in the third modification. Only differences from the internal sequence diagram of the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 6 will be described.

4.1.1.1.1: Communication unit 242: Pass notification to notification storage unit 243 (4.1.1)
The communication unit 242 of the program 240 of the operation unit 20 passes the notification received in step 4.1.1.1 to the notification storage unit 243. FIG.

4.1.1.1.1.1: Notification storage unit 243: Receives judgment from transmission impossibility judgment unit 244 (4.1.1)
The notification accumulation unit 243 of the program 240 of the operation unit 20 receives the judgment value from the transmission impossibility judgment unit 244 . Since the initial value of the judgment is "impossible", "impossible" is passed here.

4.1.1.1.1.1.1: Notification Accumulator 243: Accumulating Notifications (4.1.1)
The notification accumulation unit 243 of the program 240 of the operation unit 20 internally accumulates the notification since it has received the "impossible" judgment. When receiving multiple notifications and accumulating them in order, the order in which they are received must be retained and accumulated. As a method of this accumulation, there is a method of accumulating messages in a message queue by intentionally not receiving messages in the mechanism of sending and receiving messages between threads, and a method of storing and retrieving by implementing a queue structure of a general data structure. Examples such as An example of accumulation of notifications will be described later with reference to FIGS.

3.1.1: Communication unit 224: Transmit activation completion notification (3.1.1)
The communication unit 224 of the application 222 of the operation unit 20 transmits a start-up completion notification of the application 222 to the program 240 after the application 222 has been started in step 3.1. Although the criterion for determining the completion of activation is arbitrary, it is an essential condition that the preparation for communication with the program 240 necessary for sending the notification has been completed.

3.1.1.1: Communication unit 242: Passes activation completion notification to transmission failure determination unit 244 (3.1.1.1)
The communication unit 242 of the program 240 of the operation unit 20 , upon receiving the activation completion notification from the application 222 , passes it to the transmission disapproval determination unit 244 .

3.1.1.1.1: Transmission impossibility determination unit 244: Change the determination to “possible” (3.1.1.1)
The transmission impossibility determination unit 244 of the program 240 of the operation unit 20 changes the internal determination value of the transmission impossibility determination unit 244 from "impossible" to "possible".

3.1.1.1.2: Notification accumulation unit 243: Receives judgment from transmission impossibility judgment unit 244 (3.1.1.1)
The notification accumulation unit 243 of the program 240 of the operation unit 20 periodically receives the determination from the transmission impossibility determination unit 244 and checks the value of the determination.

3.1.1.1.2.1: Notification accumulation unit 243: Takes out notification and passes it to communication unit 242 (3.1.1.1)
The notification accumulation unit 243 of the program 240 of the operation unit 20 extracts the accumulated notification and transfers it to the communication unit 242 when the confirmed determination is “possible”.

3.1.1.1.2.2: Communication unit 242: Send notification (3.1.1.1)
The communication unit 242 of the program 240 of the operation unit 20 transmits the accumulated notification to the application 222 when the judgment received from the transmission impossibility judgment unit 244 is “possible”. An example of retrieval of accumulated notifications will be described later with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. FIG.

An example of a notification accumulation method will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. FIG. FIG. 12 is a processing sequence diagram between the application 222 and the program 240 in the third modified example.

The “message” used in FIG. 12 is used for communication between processes or between threads, and has a send function and a receive function. When a sender sends a message using the send function, the message is once stored in a place called a message queue. When the receiving side calls the receive function once, it is possible to receive one message in the order in which it was accumulated in the message queue.

The message management mechanism may be, for example, a general message management mechanism prepared in advance in the C language. For example, in C language, messages can be sent with the snd_msg function and messages can be received with the rcv_msg function.

In the example of FIG. 12, while the application 222 is waiting for the activation completion notification, the message that triggers the notification transmission process is intentionally not received by the waiting thread. is synonymous with accumulating

The sequence diagram of FIG. 12 will be described in detail below.

1: Activation Completion Notification Waiting State The “waiting thread” of the program 240 , which is a dedicated thread that waits for activation completion notification, first enters the activation completion notification waiting state of the application 222 . This corresponds to the notification accumulation unit 243 and the transmission impossibility determination unit 244 of the functional block. A waiting thread does not call the receive message function while waiting.

2: Message A
3: Message B
The “execution thread” of the program 240 that performs the main process sends a message that triggers the notification sending process to the waiting thread in order to send a notification to the application 222 . In this example, message A (trigger for transmission processing of notification A) and message B (trigger for transmission processing of notification B) are transmitted in this order. The execution thread corresponds to the activation processing part 241 of the function block.

4: Application activation 4.1: Transmission of activation completion notification 4.1.1: Transfer of activation completion notification When the application 222 completes activation, the application 222 transmits an activation completion notification to the program 240 . When the "send/receive thread" of the program 240 receives the activation completion notification, it passes the activation completion notification to the waiting thread. A transmission/reception thread corresponds to the communication unit 242 of the function block.

5: Message received 6: Resume request A
6.1: Notification transmission request A
6.1.1: Send Notification A When the waiting thread of the program 240 receives the startup completion notification, it cancels the waiting state and calls the message reception function. Since message A was first accumulated in the message queue, message A will be received here. Upon receipt of message A (trigger for transmission processing of notification A), the waiting thread requests the execution thread to resume processing for transmission of notification A. The execution thread that has restarted the transmission process makes a notification transmission request A to the transmission/reception thread. The send thread sends notification A to application 222 .

7: Message received 8: Resume request B
8.1: Notification transmission request B
8.1.1: Send notification B When the waiting thread of program 240 next calls the receive message function, it receives message B. Thereafter, message B is processed in the same manner as message A, and notification B is sent to application 222 .

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a storage structure using a queue structure. In the example of FIG. 12, a general data structure called a queue structure shown in FIG. 13 is implemented by implementation. A queue structure accumulates data from one end and retrieves data from the other end of stored data. This mechanism allows data to be retrieved in the order in which it was stored.

This queue structure implementation part corresponds to the notification accumulation part 243 of the program 240 of the function block. The notification is accumulated in the queue structure in step "4.1.1.1.1.1.1: notification accumulation unit: accumulate notification" in the internal sequence of FIG. 11, and step "3.1.1.1. 2.1: Notification accumulating unit: Takes out notifications and passes them to the communication unit” sequentially retrieves the notifications accumulated in the queue structure and transfers them to the communication unit 242 for transmission.

As for the method of accumulating notifications or notification transmission triggers, methods other than the methods illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13 may be used.

The effects of the third modified example will be described. Since the program 240 starts earlier than the application 222, there may be cases where the application 222 has not yet started when the program 240 attempts to send the processing request to the application 222. FIG. However, if the program 240 waits for the activation of the application 222 and completely stops processing, additional waiting occurs and the activation time becomes longer. On the other hand, in the third modified example, the application 222 transmits an activation completion notification to the program 240 when the activation processing of the application 222 is completed, and the program 240 receives the activation completion notification from the main unit 10. Send the received notification to the application 222 . With this configuration, the above problem can be solved, and the program 240 can reliably send the notification after the activation of the application 222 is completed. Also, since the program 240 can execute other processes until it receives the activation completion notification from the application 222, it is possible to avoid the program 240 from entering a waiting state and shorten the activation time.

In addition, in the third modification, the program 240 has an execution thread that executes the processing of the program 240 and a waiting thread that accumulates processing to be performed after the application 222 has been activated. After receiving the activation completion notification from the application 222, the program 240 causes the executing thread to execute the process accumulated in the waiting thread. With this configuration, when the execution thread wants to request the application 222 to process, it can once request the waiting thread to accumulate the processing and continue the processing of the program 240 as it is. As a result, it is possible to prevent the processing of the program 240 from stopping due to waiting for the activation completion notification of the application 222, thereby further shortening the activation time.

Further, in the third modification, the program 240 includes a transmission disapproval determination unit 244 that determines whether or not the notification received from the main unit 10 can be transmitted to the application 222, and the transmission disapproval determination unit 244 determines that the and a notification accumulation unit 243 for accumulating notifications. When receiving the activation completion notification from the application 222, the transmission disapproval determination unit 244 switches to the determination that the notification can be sent to the application 222. The notification stored in the unit 243 is sent to the application 222 .

With this configuration, the program 240 can accurately determine whether or not the notification to the application 222 can be transmitted, that is, whether or not the application 222 has been activated. It is possible to accurately determine whether or not to send a notification to. This makes it possible for the program 240 to more efficiently transmit the notification to the application 222 .

FIG. 14 is an internal sequence diagram when determining whether or not to send a notification to an application.

Notifications received from the main unit 10 may include notifications that are used only by the program 240 and do not need to be sent to the application 222 . Therefore, instead of transmitting all notifications to the application 222 , it is also possible to determine whether or not a notification needs to be transmitted to the application 222 and accumulate only necessary notifications in the notification accumulation unit 243 . As a result, among the notifications from the main unit 10, for notifications that do not need to be transmitted to the application 222 (used only in processing within the program), accumulation in the notification accumulation unit 243 and transmission to the application 222 can be omitted. , can expedite the startup process.

As an overview flow, when the communication unit 242 of the program 240 receives a notification from the main unit 10 , the communication unit 242 passes the notification to the activation processing unit 241 instead of the notification accumulation unit 243 . The activation processing unit 241 determines whether or not the notification content needs to be passed to the application 222, and if it is not necessary, it is used for activation processing in the program 240, and if it is necessary, the notification is passed to the notification storage unit 243. The notification accumulating section 243 accumulates according to the judgment "impossible" from the transmission disapproval judging section 244 as usual.

Processing for making such a necessity determination will be described with reference to FIG. 14, which is an excerpt from the internal sequence diagram of FIG.

4.1.1.1.1: Communication unit 242: Passing notification to activation processing unit 241 The communication unit 242 of the program 240 receives the notification received from the main unit 10 in step 4.1.1. It is passed to the processing unit 241 .

4.1.1.1.1.1: Activation processing unit 241: Determining whether or not transmission to application 222 is necessary The activation processing unit 241 of program 240 determines whether notification content needs to be passed to application 222. . If it is determined in this step that the notification needs to be sent to the application 222, the process proceeds to the subsequent steps.

4.1.1.1.1.2: Activation processing unit 241: Passing notification to notification storage unit 243 The activation processing unit 241 of the program 240 starts the activation process in the program 240 if there is no need to send it to the application 222. If it is necessary to use it and transmit it to the application 222 , the notification is passed to the notification accumulation unit 243 .

4.1.1.1.1.3: Notification Accumulation Unit 243; Receives judgment from transmission impossibility judgment unit 244 4.1.1.1.1.3.1: Notification Accumulation Unit: This accumulation unit for accumulating notifications sequence is unchanged from steps 4.1.1.1.1.1 and 4.1.1.1.1.1.1 in FIG.

When it is determined in step 4.1.1.1.1.1 that the notification needs to be sent to the application 222, if the activation completion notification has already been received from the application 222, this notification is sent to the notification storage unit 243. may be transmitted to the application 222 without being stored in the . As a result, when the application 222 has already been activated, the time for accumulating the notification once can be omitted, and the notification can be sent to the application 222 more quickly.

Alternatively, the program 240 may extract only information that needs to be transmitted to the application 222 from the notification received from the main unit 10, create a new notification, and transmit the created new notification to the application 222. As a result, the program 240 deletes unnecessary information for the application 222, so that the amount of data to be transmitted can be reduced, and the transmission time can be shortened.

The present embodiment has been described above with reference to specific examples. However, the present disclosure is not limited to these specific examples. Design modifications to these specific examples by those skilled in the art are also included in the scope of the present disclosure as long as they have the features of the present disclosure. Each element included in each specific example described above and its arrangement, conditions, shape, etc. are not limited to those illustrated and can be changed as appropriate. As long as there is no technical contradiction, the combination of the elements included in the specific examples described above can be changed as appropriate.

1 information processing device 10 main unit 111 CPU (first CPU)
20 operation unit 21 CPU (second CPU)
210 OS activation unit 220 OS
221 application activation unit 222 application 230 program activation unit 240 program 241 activation processing unit 242 communication unit

JP-A-2003-337711 Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-202105

Claims (12)

a main body;
an operation unit;
a program that is provided in the operation unit so as to be operable independently of the OS of the operation unit, has a shorter startup time than the OS, and executes a part of the startup process of the operation unit;
with
When the main unit and the operation unit are started in parallel, the operation unit starts up the program together with the OS, and when the program completes the startup process of the operation unit, the program starts the main unit. send a ready notification to the department,
Information processing equipment. an application that is provided in the OS of the operation unit, operates on the OS, manages the connection between the main unit and the operation unit, and performs startup processing of the operation unit;
The main unit transmits a notification to the application to the program in response to receiving the preparation completion notification,
wherein the program transmits the notification received from the main unit to the application started after the completion of starting the OS;
The information processing device according to claim 1 . The operation unit has an OS activation unit that activates the OS and a program activation unit that activates the program,
The OS has the application that operates on the OS and an application launcher that launches the application,
The program comprises: an activation processing unit that activates the operation unit and creates the preparation completion notification; and transmits the preparation completion notification created by the activation processing unit to the main unit, and transmits the notification from the main unit. a communication unit that receives and sends the notification to the application;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 2. The program has a storage unit that stores the content of the notification received from the main unit,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 or 3. The application transmits a startup completion notification to the program when startup processing of the application is completed;
After receiving the activation completion notification, the program transmits the notification received from the main unit to the application.
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4. Said program
an execution thread for executing the processing of the program, and a waiting thread for accumulating processing to be performed after the completion of activation of the application among the processing,
causing the executing thread to execute the processing accumulated in the waiting thread after receiving the activation completion notification from the application;
The information processing device according to claim 5 . Said program
a transmission impossibility determination unit that determines whether or not the notification received from the main unit can be transmitted to the application;
a notification accumulation unit for accumulating the notification determined to be unsendable by the unsendable determination unit;
has
the transmission-impossibility determination unit, when receiving the activation completion notification from the application, switches to determining that the notification can be transmitted to the application;
wherein the program transmits the notification stored in the notification storage unit to the application in response to switching of the determination of the transmission failure determination unit;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 5 or 6. Said program
When the transmission-impossibility determination unit determines that the notification received from the main unit can be transmitted to the application, the notification is transmitted to the application without being stored in the notification storage unit;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 7. The program determines whether the notification received from the main unit needs to be transmitted to the application, and accumulates the notification determined to need to be transmitted to the application in the notification storage unit.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 . The program extracts only information that needs to be transmitted to the application from the notification received from the main unit, creates a new notification, and transmits the new notification to the application.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 . a main body;
an operation unit;
a program that is provided in the operation unit so as to be operable independently of the OS of the operation unit, has a shorter startup time than the OS, and executes a part of the startup process of the operation unit;
A method for starting an information processing device comprising
a start-up step in which the operation unit starts up the program together with the OS when the main unit and the operation unit are started in parallel;
an activation processing step in which the program activated in the activation step performs activation processing of the operation unit;
a transmission step of transmitting a preparation completion notification from the program to the main unit when the activation processing by the program executed in the activation processing step is completed;
including,
A method for starting an information processing device. A startup program for an information processing device comprising a main body and an operation unit,
a program that is provided in the operation unit so as to be operable independently of the OS of the operation unit, has a shorter startup time than the OS, and executes a part of the startup process of the operation unit;
an activation function that activates the program together with the OS by the operation unit when the main unit and the operation unit are activated in parallel;
an activation processing function in which the program activated by the activation function performs activation processing of the operation unit;
a transmission function for transmitting a preparation completion notification from the program to the main unit when the activation process by the program executed by the activation process function is completed;
A start-up program for an information processing device for realizing on a computer.

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