JPH10177474A - Data storage method, data storage device and data processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To restore new data upgraded more efficiently to old data. When an instruction to store an old program is issued, a CPU reads a new program from an HDD, reads difference data, and stores the data in a RAM.
Then, the difference data on the RAM 13 is decompressed, the old program is calculated based on the new program, and stored in the HDD 30 instead of the new program.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to data storage in data processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art
In an apparatus that performs some processing based on a program, the processing of the program is performed for the purpose of changing existing processing, adding new processing, or improving the operability of a user who is involved in the processing. It is common to upgrade the version.

In upgrading a program, an old program (hereinafter referred to as an "old program") stored in a memory such as a ROM or a hard disk or the like.
, A new program (hereinafter referred to as “new program”) is stored. Then, the old program is usually not used by the version upgrade.

However, when a new program is inconvenient and it is desired to restore a version-upgraded program,
That is, there is a case where it is desired to return a new program to an old program. For example, there is a case where a bug is included in a new program, and a process that was executable in the old program becomes infeasible. For example, in a case of a program that processes images, This is also the case when an image processed based on the old program is evaluated as being cleaner after the release of the new program.

As described above, when the upgraded new program is returned to the old program, there are the following problems. (1) First, consider a case where an old program is erased from a memory such as a ROM or a hard disk when a version is upgraded. The reason for deleting the old program is that R
The storage capacity of the memory such as the OM and the hard disk is limited, and there is not enough storage area to store the old program, or the storage area is used to store the old program which is considered not to be used. There is no room for it. Here, the amount of information that can be stored in the storage area is proportional to the size of the storage area.

At this time, it is necessary to re-install the old program in the memory or the hard disk. For example, it has been necessary to load and install from a storage medium such as a floppy disk or CD-ROM, or to download and install again from a host via a communication line. As a result, the task of returning from the new program to the old program was time-consuming. Therefore, in an apparatus in which such work frequently occurs, the burden on the person who performs the work has increased. (2) On the other hand, consider a case where the old program is stored in a memory such as a ROM or a hard disk when the version is upgraded.

In this case, as shown in (1), a cumbersome operation such as loading from a storage medium such as a floppy disk or CD-ROM or a host via a communication line is not required. However, it is necessary to save all old programs that are not used or not,
A certain storage area will be used to store the old program. As a result, the storage area cannot be used for another purpose.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and new data such as upgraded new programs are stored without saving or loading all of the old data such as old programs. To the old data such as the old program.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data storage method for storing old data in place of stored new data. The old data is calculated based on the difference data between the old data and the old data, and the calculated old data is stored in place of the new data.

The difference data is calculated from the old data and the new data when the new data is stored in place of the previously stored old data. The information may be stored, or may be supplied from the outside as described in claim 3.

Conventionally, when storing new data in place of old data, for example, overwriting old data with new data, the old data is often erased. When returning to the old data, all the old data is loaded. It took time to fix it. On the other hand, if you keep old data without erasing it,
Although there is no need to reload data when returning to old data, a storage area for storing all of the old data is required.

On the other hand, according to the data storage method of the present invention, when returning the stored new data to the old data,
The old data is calculated based on the difference data between the new data and the old data, and the old data is stored in place of the new data. That is, in the present invention, the old data is restored not based on the old data itself but on the difference data between the new data and the old data. At this time, if there is an identical portion between the old data and the new data, no difference occurs between the portions. As a result, the difference data becomes smaller than the old data itself. Thus, for example, when storing new data in place of previously stored old data, the difference data is calculated from the old data and the new data, and the difference data is stored together with the new data. Is smaller than in the case where all of the above are stored. Also, when acquiring the difference data from the outside, the time required for loading is shorter than reloading all the old data.

Here, the old data and the new data may be any data. For example, as described in claim 4, the old data and the new data are a program for performing a predetermined process. It is thought that it is. In this case, storing the new program in place of the old program means a so-called program upgrade. In such a version upgrade of a program, it is expected that the new program will have many of the same parts as the old program, so that the difference data can be expected to be smaller.

Further, the difference data may be the difference itself, or may have been subjected to a predetermined process for reducing the data amount. For example, claim 5
As shown in (1), the difference data may be compressed by removing the redundant part of the difference between the old data and the new data. In this case, the difference data is smaller than the difference itself.

As described above, since the difference data for restoring the old data becomes smaller, when the difference data is stored, the storage area can be made smaller, and the difference data can be stored in the external storage. When the data is acquired from the server, the load time for the acquisition can be further reduced.

Furthermore, the old data and the new data may be supplied via a communication line. Conventionally, when old data is erased, a device in which old data and new data are supplied from a host via a communication line by download is a floppy disk or CD.
-Unlike a device that is supplied by a storage medium such as a ROM without passing through a communication line, a download is required to restore old data. Therefore, the time required for the download and the usage fee of the communication line are required.

On the other hand, in the data storage method of the present invention, when returning new data to old data, old data is calculated based on the stored new data and difference data. As a result, when returning to the old data, it is not necessary to download at least the old data itself. In other words, if the difference data is stored, no download is required, and even if the difference data is acquired by downloading, the time required for the download is shorter than when all the old data is downloaded. by this,
It is possible to reduce the usage fee of the communication line.

By the way, a data storage device to which the above-described data storage method is applied may have a configuration as described in claim 7 for example. That is, when the data storage device stores new data in place of the old data stored in the data storage device and the data storage device that stores the data,
Calculating means for calculating difference data from old data and new data, and data updating means for storing the difference data calculated by the calculating means in the data storage means and storing new data in the data storage means in place of the old data When storing old data in place of the new data stored in the data storage means, the old data calculation means for calculating old data based on the new data and the difference data stored in the data storage means; And old data writing means for storing the old data calculated in the data storage means in place of the new data.

The data storage device of the present invention includes a data storage means such as a memory such as a ROM or a hard disk for storing data. This data storage means may be physically one storage medium, or may be a plurality of storage media. For example, it may be a hard disk, or a memory such as a ROM and a hard disk.

When storing new data in place of the old data previously stored in the data storage means, the calculation means calculates difference data from the old data and the new data. This difference data may be the difference between the old data and the new data, or may be a result of performing a predetermined process on the difference. Then, the data updating means stores the difference data and the new data in the data storage means.

On the other hand, when returning the new data to the old data, the old data calculating means calculates the old data based on the stored difference data and the new data. Then, the old data writing means stores the calculated old data in the data storage means instead of the new data. This makes it possible to use the storage area smaller than the storage area necessary to store all the old data, and to return the new data to the old data without performing an operation such as loading.

As another data storage device having another configuration,
For example, a configuration as described in claim 8 is also conceivable. That is, the data storage device includes a data storage unit that stores data, a difference data acquisition unit that acquires difference data between new data and old data stored in the data storage unit from outside, and an old data instead of the new data. When storing data, an old data calculation means for calculating old data based on the new data and the difference data obtained by the difference data obtaining means, and a data storage means for replacing the old data calculated by the old data calculation means with the new data And an old data writing means for storing the data in the memory.

In this case, difference data between new data stored in a memory such as a ROM for storing data or data storage means such as a hard disk and old data deleted when storing the new data is stored. The difference data acquisition means acquires from outside. This difference data may be acquired when storing new data and stored in the data storage unit, or may be acquired when restoring old data. When acquiring the new data when storing it, the acquired difference data must be stored in the data storage means, so it is realistic to acquire the old data when restoring the old data. In the case of acquiring difference data via a communication line, the "difference data acquisition means" corresponds to, for example, a CPU or a modem for controlling communication with a host device. For example, the difference data is acquired from a floppy disk by loading it. In such a case, a floppy disk drive device is applicable.

When returning the new data to the old data, the old data calculation means calculates the old data based on the acquired difference data and the new data. Then, the old data writing means stores the calculated old data in the data storage means instead of the new data. As a result, compared to loading all the old data, the difference data smaller than the old data is loaded, so that the time required for loading is reduced. In particular, when the difference data is downloaded from the communication line, the use time of the communication line can be reduced.

As a matter of course, the old data and the new data may be a program for performing a predetermined process. In the case where the old data and the new data are programs, as in claim 10, claim 9
And a data processing device characterized by being configured to be able to execute a process based on a program stored in the data storage means. In this case, the data processing device can immediately execute processing based on the respective programs both when upgrading to a new program and when returning to the old program.

[0026]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment embodying a data processing device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG.
1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an information center 1 which is an embodiment of a data processing device according to the present invention. The information center 1 is connected to a terminal 70 via a transmission line 60.

The information center 1 includes a video device 50 for reproducing video, an encoder 10 for compressing, encoding and outputting video data output from the video device 50, and an input device for giving an instruction to the encoder 10. 20, a hard disk drive (hereinafter referred to as “HDD”) 30 as “data storage means”, and a floppy disk drive (hereinafter referred to as “FDD”) 4
0.

At this time, the HDD 30 has a drive mechanism and a hard disk, whereas the FDD 40 has only a drive mechanism, and is a so-called storage medium, a floppy disk (hereinafter referred to as "FD"). It becomes possible to read and write data by setting 41.

The encoder 10 has a CP as a control means.
U11, ROM 12, and RAM as temporary storage means
13, an input / output I / F (input / output interface) 14, which is an interface between the input device 20, the HDD 30, and the FDD 40, an input unit 17 to which video data from the video device 50 is input, and a video from the input unit 17. An encoding unit 16 for compressing and encoding data is provided, and an output unit 15 for outputting video data encoded by the encoding unit 16 to a terminal 70 via a transmission path 60.

A program for performing a compression process in the encoding unit 16 is stored in the HDD 30. And C
The PU 11 transfers this program from the HDD 30 to the RAM 13
By reading out the above and executing the processing based on this program, the compression processing in the encoding unit 16 is performed.

The information center 1 according to the present embodiment is characterized by processing relating to version upgrade of a program for performing the compression processing. More specifically, (a) a process of storing a new program that is an upgraded program in place of an old program stored in the HDD 30 as a program for performing a compression process, and (b) a defect of the upgraded new program. There is a feature in the process of returning the stored new program to the old program again. In the information center 1 of the present embodiment, the program is supplied by the FD 41 which can be read from the FDD 40,
It is used by storing to 0.

Next, based on the flowchart of FIG.
The process (a) and the new program storage process in the CPU 11 of the encoder 10 will be described in detail. First, in the first step S100, it is determined whether or not an instruction to store a new program has been issued. This determination is made based on the input from the input device 20 in FIG. Here, when there is an instruction to store the new program (S100: YES),
Move to S110. On the other hand, if there is no instruction to store the new program (S100: NO), the new program storage processing ends.

At S110, a new program is read. In the information center 1 of the present embodiment, since the new program is provided by the FD 41 as described above, the user sets the FD 41 to the FDD 40, and the FD 41
1 to read the new program and
Store it in M13.

At S120, the old program is read. Since the old program is stored in the HDD 30, the old program is read from the HDD 30 and read from the RAM of the encoder 10.
13 is stored. At S130, based on the old program and the new program stored in the RAM 13 of the encoder 10, a difference between the two programs is calculated. S
At 140, the redundant part of the calculated difference is removed and compressed to create difference data.

In S150, the new program is stored in the HDD 30 in place of the old program. At this time, the old program is erased by overwriting the new program. In S160, the difference data is stored in the HDD 30
To memorize. Note that the CPU 11 of the encoder 10 corresponds to the “calculating means” and the “data updating means”, and
The processing of S30 and S140 corresponds to the processing as the calculating means, and the processing of S150 and S160 corresponds to the processing as the data updating means.

Next, based on the flowchart of FIG.
The old program storage process by the CPU 11 of the encoder 10 shown in (b) above will be described in detail. First, in the first step S200, it is determined whether or not an instruction to store the old program has been issued. This determination is made based on the input from the input device 20 in FIG. Here, if there is an instruction to store the old program (S200: YES), S
Move to 210. On the other hand, if there is no instruction to store the old program (S200: NO), the old program storage processing ends.

At S210, a new program is read. The new program is stored in the HDD 30 by the processing of S150 in FIG. Therefore, the new program is read from the HDD 30 and the RAM 1 of the encoder 10 is read out.
3 is stored. In S220, difference data is read. By the processing of S160 in FIG. 2, the difference data is stored in the HDD 30 together with the new program. Therefore, the difference data is read from the HDD 30 and stored in the RAM 13 of the encoder 10. In subsequent S230, the difference data read on the RAM 13 of the encoder 10 is decompressed. This is a process corresponding to the compression process of S140 in FIG.

In S240, the RAM 1 of the encoder 10
3, an old program is calculated based on the difference data read and decompressed and the new program. S250 that follows
Then, replace the calculated old program with the new program
Store in D30. The CPU 11 of the encoder 10
Corresponds to “old data calculation means” and “old data writing means”, and the processing of S240 described above corresponds to processing as old data calculation means, and the processing of S250 described above corresponds to processing as old data writing means. Applicable.

Here, in order to facilitate understanding of the effects exhibited by the information center 1 of the present embodiment, the points which have been a problem in the past will be repeatedly described. Conventionally, when storing a new program in the HDD 30 instead of the old program, for example, overwriting the old program with the new program, the old program is often erased from the HDD 30, and when returning to the old program, all the old programs are stored in the FD.
It took time and effort to reload from 41 with FDD40. On the other hand, without deleting the old program
If you save to 0, FD4 when returning to the old program
Although it is no longer necessary to reload the program from 1 using the FDD 40, the HDD 30 needs a storage area for storing all the old programs.

On the other hand, the information center 1 of the present embodiment
Then, the new program is stored in the HDD 30 (S150 in FIG. 2), and the difference data is stored in the HDD 30 (S160 in FIG. 2). When returning to the old program, the old program is calculated based on the difference data (S240 in FIG. 3), and the calculated old program is stored in place of the new program (S250 in FIG. 3).

Therefore, when returning to the old program, the FD
The troublesome work of setting the FD 41 in which the old program is stored in the D 40 and loading and storing the FD 41 in the HDD 30 is not required. In addition, not all of the old program is stored, but difference data based on the old program and the new program is recorded. This difference data is obtained by calculating the difference between the old program and the new program (S130 in FIG. 2), and further removing the redundant portion of the difference and compressing it (S140 in FIG. 2). Since the upgraded new program is expected to have many parts identical to the old program, the difference can be expected to be small. Then, the difference data from which the redundant part of the difference has been removed becomes even smaller than the difference itself. Thus, the storage area for storing the difference data is smaller than the storage area for storing the old program.

In the information center 1 of the present embodiment, H
The video data from the video device 50 can be processed based on the program stored in the DD 30.
Therefore, even when the new program is stored in place of the old program, or when the old program is stored in place of the new program, the video device is immediately stored in the HDD 30 based on the old program or the new program. 5
Video data from 0 can be processed.

As described above, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the new program is replaced by the FD instead of the old program.
When loading from HDD 41, calculate the difference data and
The configuration is such that the difference data is stored in the FD 41 when it is necessary to restore the old program. In that case,
The FDD 40 corresponds to “difference data acquisition means”.

Further, in the above embodiment, the data to be stored in the HDD 30 is a program, but may be data used by processing based on the program, for example. Furthermore, in the information center 1 of the above embodiment, the program is supplied by the FD 41. For example, in an apparatus in which the program is supplied from the host via the communication line, the old program is connected to the communication line. Will need to be downloaded from the host via When the present invention is applied to an apparatus that downloads a program from a host via a communication line, it is not necessary to download at least all of the old program when returning to the old program. If the difference data is stored, it is not necessary to download the difference program for restoring the old program, and even if the difference data is obtained by downloading from outside, the time required for downloading can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information center.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a new program storage process by a CPU of an encoder.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an old program storage process by a CPU of an encoder.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Information center 10 ... Encoder 11 ... CPU 12 ... ROM 13 ... RAM 14 ... Input / output interface 15 ... Output part 16 ... Encoding part 17 ... Input part 20 ... Input device 30 ... Hard disk drive device 40 ... Floppy disk drive device 50 ... Video device 60: transmission line 70: terminal

Claims (10)

[Claims] When storing old data in place of stored new data, old data is calculated based on difference data between the new data and the old data, and the calculated old data is replaced with the new data. A data storage method characterized by storing. 2. The difference data is calculated from the old data and the new data when new data is stored in place of the previously stored old data, and is stored together with the new data. The data storage method according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The data storage method according to claim 1, wherein the difference data is supplied from outside. 4. The data storage method according to claim 1, wherein the old data and the new data are programs for performing a predetermined process. 5. The data storage method according to claim 1, wherein the difference data is obtained by removing a redundant part of a difference between the old data and the new data and compressing the difference data. . 6. The data storage method according to claim 1, wherein the old data and the new data are supplied via a communication line. 7. A data storing means for storing data, and a calculating means for calculating difference data from the old data and the new data when storing new data in place of the old data stored in the data storing means. Data update means for storing the difference data calculated by the calculation means in the data storage means, and storing the new data in the data storage means in place of the old data; and When storing the old data in place of the new data, the old data calculating means for calculating the old data based on the new data and the difference data stored in the data storing means; An old data writing means for storing old data in the data storage means in place of new data. Location. 8. A data storage unit for storing data, a difference data obtaining unit for obtaining difference data between new data and old data stored in the data storage unit from outside, and the old data instead of the new data. When storing data, an old data calculating means for calculating the old data based on the new data and the difference data obtained by the difference data obtaining means; and replacing old data calculated by the old data calculating means with new data. And an old data writing means for storing the data in the data storage means. 9. The data storage device according to claim 7, wherein the old data and the new data are programs for performing a predetermined process. 10. A data processing device comprising the data storage device according to claim 9, wherein the data storage device is configured to execute a process based on the program stored in the data storage means. .