JP4425321B1 - Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

The stability of a system on a computer is improved by preventing memory fragmentation caused by repeatedly performing a suspend / resume process as well as shortening a startup time when the system is restarted. In addition, user authentication is performed at the same time as the suspend / resume process, and the safety of the system at the time of restart is increased.
A CPU obtains the number of times a power-off key is pressed and a specified number of soft resets of a portable terminal, and executes a soft reset when the former numerical value exceeds the latter numerical value. When the power ON key is pressed after executing the soft reset, a user authentication screen is displayed to accept user authentication.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a computer having a suspend / resume function that shortens the startup time when the system is restarted, prevents memory fragmentation, and realizes enhanced security.

  In recent years, with the improvement of the portability of computers, the opportunity to use computers intermittently while moving has increased. In order to support such usage, it is essential that the computer has a suspend / resume function.

  The suspend / resume function maintains the work status such as the system work area status, application execution status, and file access status when the power is turned off, such as when the user turns off the mobile device. When the power-on request is made, the CPU reads the stored work state, so that the state immediately before the power-off request is automatically reproduced.

  When this function is used, when the power is turned off or the power is turned on again, it is not necessary for the user to perform an operation for stopping and restarting the OS and applications by himself / herself. Improves.

Various techniques have been developed for the suspend / resume process, and the prior art is described below as a method for realizing a reduction in processing time accompanying an increase in the storage capacity of the main storage device or the like.
JP-A-6-131082 JP-A-6-314134

  However, although the technique for shortening the processing time of the suspend / resume process is disclosed in the above-described prior art, memory fragmentation that can occur by repeating the suspend / resume process cannot be prevented. For this reason, there is a problem that the stability of the system is lowered.

In the above prior art, since the state of the suspend process is reproduced during the resume process, anyone can use the system on the computer without user authentication after the power is turned on again. Therefore, the present invention not only shortens the startup time when the system is restarted, but also prevents the memory fragmentation caused by the repeated suspend / resume process, thereby improving the stability of the system on the computer. The purpose is to increase.

  Another object of the present invention is to perform user authentication at the same time as the suspend / resume process and increase the safety of the system at the time of restart.

The present invention is capable of accepting a power-on and pause instruction by a user, and accepts the pause instruction for each application processed by the information processing apparatus in an information processing apparatus used as a portable terminal for controlling an application. A first storage unit that stores the number of pause instructions indicating the number of times the program has been paused, an update unit that updates the number of pause instructions for an application being processed by the information processing apparatus when a pause instruction to the information processing apparatus is received, When accepting an pause instruction to the information processing apparatus, a pause instruction count to the application stored by said first storage means, the initialization condition including restart predetermined number indicating that require initialization a judging means for judging whether satisfied, accepts the pause instruction to the information processing apparatus according to the user information processing And a rest means for the location dormant, said resting means resting when the pause instruction count is determined and the initialization condition is satisfied by the determination means, perform the initialization of the application the state, if the pause instruction count is determined not to satisfy the initial conditions by the determination means, characterized by the dormant state the application without initialization.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the stability of a system on a computer by preventing memory fragmentation that occurs due to repeated suspend / resume processing.

  Further, according to the present invention, user authentication can be performed simultaneously with the suspend / resume process, and the safety of the system when the system is restarted can be improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a system configuration according to the present embodiment.

  The system according to this embodiment has a configuration in which a mobile terminal 101, a client PC 102, and a server 103 are connected to each other via a network such as a LAN.

  The portable terminal 101, the client PC 102, and the server 103 are configured by an information processing apparatus such as a computer.

  The portable terminal 101 is a portable information processing apparatus such as a handy terminal and has a suspend / resume function. In addition, it is possible to have an application downloaded in a client PC 102 described later in an external memory. Further, it is possible to have a data table as shown in FIG. This will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  The client PC 102 selects an application to be downloaded to the mobile terminal 101 from an external memory of the server 103 described later. Further, it is possible to instruct to register a list of applications to be downloaded to the mobile terminal 101 as a data table.

  The server 103 includes an application downloaded to the mobile terminal 101 by the client PC 102, a user name (or an ID) of a user who uses the mobile terminal 101, a personal identification number stored in association with each user name, and the mobile terminal 101. A list of applications to be stored is stored as a data table. Specifically, the database 105 connected to the server 103 stores the above information.

  The hub 104 plays a role of connecting LANs to a network.

  The network 106 plays a role of connecting the devices.

  Also, there may be a plurality of mobile terminals 101 and client PCs 102.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus used in the present embodiment.

  In FIG. 2, reference numeral 201 denotes a CPU 201 that controls each device and controller connected to the system bus 204 in an integrated manner.

  Further, the ROM 202 or the external memory 211 is necessary for realizing a function executed by a basic input / output system (BIOS) or an operating system program (hereinafter referred to as an OS), which is a control program of the CPU 201, or a server or each client. Various programs to be described later are stored.

  The RAM 203 functions as a main memory, work area, and the like for the CPU 201.

  The CPU 201 implements various operations by loading a program necessary for execution of processing into the RAM 203 and executing the program.

  An input controller (hereinafter referred to as input C) 205 controls input from a pointing device such as a keyboard 209 or a mouse (not shown).

  A video controller (hereinafter referred to as VC) 206 controls display on the display 210. The display may be a CRT display or a liquid crystal display.

  A memory controller (hereinafter referred to as MC) 207 is configured to store a boot program, browser software, various applications, font data, user files, edit files, various data, and the like on a hard disk (hereinafter referred to as HD) or a floppy (registered trademark) disk ( FD) or PCMCIA card slot is controlled via an adapter to control access to an external memory 211 such as a CompactFlash (registered trademark) memory.

  A communication I / F controller (hereinafter referred to as communication I / FC) 208 is connected to and communicates with an external device via the network 106, and executes communication control processing in the network. For example, Internet communication using TCP / IP is possible.

  Note that the CPU 201 enables display on the display 210 by executing outline font rasterization processing on a display information area in the RAM 203, for example.

  Further, the CPU 201 enables a user instruction with a mouse cursor (not shown) on the display 210.

  A program for realizing the present invention is recorded in the external memory 211, and is executed by the CPU 201 by being loaded into the RAM 203 as necessary.

  Further, various data and various tables used by the program according to the present invention are stored in the external memory 211, and detailed description thereof will be described later.

FIG. 3 is a module configuration diagram of software that runs on the mobile terminal 101 in the system according to the present embodiment. Reference numeral 301 denotes an OS (operating system) stored in the external memory 211 of the mobile terminal 101.

  Reference numeral 302 denotes an application stored in the external memory 211 of the mobile terminal 101. The application is stored in the external memory 211 of the server 103 and is stored in the mobile terminal 101 according to a download instruction from the client PC 102.

  In this figure, only one application 302 is described, but a plurality of applications can also be stored.

  Hereinafter, the system according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart when an event occurs in the system according to the present embodiment.

  When the portable terminal 101 is powered on, the CPU 201 stands by in the event occurrence monitoring state in step 401.

  When the occurrence of an event is confirmed in step 401, in step 402, the CPU 201 determines whether the event that has occurred is a power-off key press.

  If it is determined that the power OFF key has been pressed, in step 403, the CPU 201 executes a suspend process. The suspend process will be described in detail later with reference to FIG.

  If it is determined that the power OFF key has not been pressed, in step 404, the CPU 201 determines whether the generated event is an application activation process.

  If it is determined that there is an application activation process, in step 405, the CPU 201 executes an application activation process.

  If it is determined that there is no application activation processing, the process returns to step 401, and the CPU 201 waits in the event occurrence monitoring state and waits for the occurrence of an event.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a series of suspend / resume processes in the system according to the present embodiment.

  When the power of the mobile terminal 101 is in the suspend state, in step 501, when the CPU 201 receives an instruction to turn on the power to the mobile terminal 101, in step 502, the CPU 201 determines whether or not a soft reset is performed during the suspend process. A specific determination method is such that a flag is set when a soft reset is performed, and if the flag is “1” when the power ON key is pressed, it is determined that a soft reset has been performed. It is good and is not specified.

  If soft reset execution is not performed, the process proceeds to step 503. If soft reset execution is performed, the process proceeds to step 504.

  When the soft reset is not executed, in step 503, the CPU 201 reproduces the state immediately before the power-off request and enters the return state. This process will be described in detail in steps 702 to 710 described later.

  When soft reset is executed, in step 504, the CPU 201 reproduces the state immediately before the power-off request and enters the return state. This process will be described in detail in steps 802 to 805 described later.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart when the power OFF key is pressed (suspend process) in the system according to the present embodiment.

  In step 601, the CPU 201 receives a power-off request by pressing the power-off key. This process is the same as the case where the power OFF key has been pressed in the determination of whether or not the power OFF key has been pressed, which has been described in step 402 above.

  When receiving the power-off request, in step 602, the CPU 201 acquires the process name being executed on the portable terminal 101 from the OS. In this embodiment, acquisition is performed using WinAPI in the OS, but the acquisition method is not limited to this.

  In step 603, the CPU 201 acquires the specified number of soft resets for the process being executed and the number of times the power OFF key has been pressed from the environment setting table (FIG. 9) stored in the external memory 211 of the mobile terminal 101.

  Here, FIG. 9 will be described.

  FIG. 9 is an environment setting table for applications stored in the mobile terminal 101 and stored in the external memory 211 of the mobile terminal 101. In this embodiment, the items registered in the environment setting table are the stored application name (“process name” in the figure), “specified number of soft resets” for each application, and “number of times the power OFF key is pressed” for each application. "

  Note that the environment setting table (FIG. 9) is not limited to being stored in the mobile terminal 101, but may be stored in the server 103 and acquired by making an inquiry from the mobile terminal 101.

  The “specified number of soft resets” referred to here is a number indicating whether the application 302 stored in the external memory 211 of the mobile terminal 101 needs to be soft reset when the power OFF key is pressed.

  The “number of times the power OFF key is pressed” here is a number indicating how many times the power OFF key is pressed when the application stored in the mobile terminal 101 is being executed.

  These “specified number of soft resets” and “number of times the power OFF key is pressed” have those numerical values for each application stored in the mobile terminal 101.

  In the present embodiment, the “number of times the power OFF key is pressed” and the “number of times of software reset” are defined for each application, and the value of the application being executed is acquired. Is not to be done.

  For example, the mobile terminal 101 may store the “power OFF key press count” and “soft reset prescribed count” of the OS, and the OS itself may be reset.

  Subsequently, the description returns to FIG.

  In step 604, the CPU 201 determines whether or not to execute a soft reset from the number of times the power OFF key is pressed and the specified number of soft resets acquired in step 603 above.

  Specifically, as a determination method, a comparison may be made as to whether the number of times the power OFF key is pressed is smaller or smaller than the prescribed number of soft resets of the running application.

  If it is determined in step 604 that the number of times the power OFF key is pressed is smaller than the specified number of soft resets of the application being activated, it is determined that soft reset is unnecessary, and the process branches to step 605. If the power OFF key has been pressed more times, it is determined that a soft reset is necessary, and the process branches to step 608.

  If it is determined that a soft reset is not necessary, in step 605, the CPU 201 updates the number of times the power OFF key is pressed stored in the external memory 211 of the mobile terminal 101. Specifically, the value at the time point determined in step 605 is updated by adding 1.

  In step 606, the CPU 201 displays a message from the message table (FIG. 10) stored in the external memory 211 in order to display a message screen prompting the user to wait during the resume process executed in step 702 of FIG. The message screen (not shown) is displayed on the display 210.

  Here, FIG. 10 will be described.

  FIG. 10 is a table showing an example of a message stored in the external memory 211 of the mobile terminal 101 and stored in advance for a message to be displayed on the display 210. For example, in order to display and control “Please wait for a while” in Step 606 of FIG. 6, the CPU 201 acquires “Message ID” 00001 from the external memory 211 and displays it on the display 210.

  Subsequently, the description returns to FIG.

  Next, in step 607, the CPU 201 holds the work state such as the system work area state, the application execution state, and the file access state, and puts the portable terminal 101 into a dormant state.

  If it is determined in step 604 that a soft reset is necessary, in step 608, the CPU 201 obtains a message from the message table (FIG. 10) in order to display a message screen (FIG. 11) that prompts the user to perform a soft reset. The screen (FIG. 11) is displayed and waits in a monitoring state of a selection instruction for executing soft reset. The message acquisition method and display method in this case are the same as the processing in step 606 above.

  If soft reset execution is selected in step 609, the process branches to step 610.

  The selection instruction method may be an instruction received from the display screen of the display 210 if the display 210 of the mobile terminal 101 has a touch panel function, or any method that does not have a touch panel function. An instruction by pressing the button may be accepted.

  In this embodiment, a step for determining whether or not to issue a soft reset execution instruction is provided in step 609. However, since this process does not directly affect the effect of the invention, the configuration is not performed. Good.

  In step 610, the CPU 201 performs a soft reset of the application of the mobile terminal 101. Specifically, the processing content stored in the RAM 203 is held and restarted.

  If execution of soft reset is not selected in step 609, the process branches to step 606.

  In this case, since the number of times of software reset is exceeded, in order to prevent fragmentation, a soft reset execution promotion message may be displayed periodically thereafter.

When a soft reset is executed in step 610, the CPU 201 holds the work state such as the system work area state, application execution state, and file access state in step 608 so that the application 302 is not restarted. In this embodiment, the software reset is executed when the “number of times the power OFF key is pressed” exceeds the “number of times the software reset is specified”, but the number of times the power OFF key is pressed is soft. Even when the specified number of resets is not exceeded, a soft reset of the application 302 may be executed when a forced suspension instruction is received from the user.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart when the power ON key is pressed in the system showing the present embodiment (no soft reset is executed during the suspend process).

  When the power of the portable terminal 101 is in the suspended state, if the portable terminal 101 is requested to be turned on again in step 701, the CPU 201 holds the system work area state held during the suspend process in step 607 in step 702. Resume processing is executed from the working state such as the application execution state and the file access state.

  The reception of pressing the power ON key in step 701 is the same as the reception of pressing the power ON key in step 501 described above.

  In step 703, the state immediately before the power is turned off is reproduced to obtain a resume message. The state immediately before the power is turned off is the same as that displayed in step 606.

  The “resume message” referred to here is a message indicating the power state that is “resume from suspend” sent from the system when returning from the suspended state in step 607 by pressing the power ON key in step 601 (resume). That is. This message is acquired by the API, and it is determined whether or not the process has been switched to the resume process.

  When the resume message is acquired, in step 704, the application 302 stored in the external memory 211 as a separate process is called, and the process branches to step 705.

  Call is a process in which the CPU 201 loads (reads) and executes the application 302 stored in the external memory 211 into the RAM 203. In this embodiment, the application 302 stored in the external memory 211 is loaded into the RAM 203 and executed.

  In step 705, the CPU 201 activates the application 302 called in step 704.

  When the activation process of the application 302 starts, in step 706, the CPU 201 reads an initial activation screen (FIG. 12) and displays it on the display 210.

  When the activation process is completed, in step 707, the CPU 201 reads the user authentication screen (FIG. 13) and displays it on the display 210, accepts the authentication, and approves the personal identification number stored in the database 105 corresponding to the user data. .

  In addition, after calling the application 302 stored in the external memory 211 in step 704, the process branches to step 708 to cancel the double activation of the application 302. After performing the wait process, the timing is measured and an end process is performed in step 709.

  The processing in steps 708 and 709 is performed in parallel with the processing in steps 705, 706, and 707 described above. Further, in this embodiment, the timing of the end process in step 709 is not particularly defined.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart when the power ON key is pressed in the system showing the present embodiment (soft reset is executed during the suspend process).

  In step 801, when the mobile terminal 101 is requested to turn on the power again, in step 802, from the work state such as the system work area state, application execution state, and file access state held in step 607. Execute resume processing and reproduce the state just before the power was turned off. Note that the reception of pressing the power ON key in step 801 is performed by the same receiving method as the pressing of the power ON key in step 501 described above.

  When the resume process is completed, in step 803, the CPU 201 newly starts the application 302. Here, it is the return from the soft reset state of the application 302 of the mobile terminal 101 executed in step 610.

  When the activation process of the application 302 is started, in step 804, the CPU 201 displays an initial activation screen (FIG. 12).

  When the activation process ends, in step 805, the user authentication screen (FIG. 13) is displayed to accept the authentication, and when the password stored in the database 105 corresponding to the user data is approved, the user operation is performed. Enable. The display method of the user authentication screen in this process is the same display method as the user authentication screen described in step 707 described above.

  With the above configuration, memory fragmentation due to repeated suspend / resume can be prevented by determining the number of prescribed soft resets for each application, monitoring the number of times the power OFF key is pressed, and executing soft reset.

  Further, with the above configuration, the user authentication screen (FIG. 13) is displayed when the system is restarted, and security can be strengthened by requiring user authentication.

  The present invention not only shortens the startup time when the system is restarted, but also improves the stability of the system on the computer by preventing memory fragmentation caused by repeated suspend / resume processing. it can.

  In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the safety of the system at the time of restarting by performing user authentication at the same time as the suspend / resume process.

  It should be noted that the configuration and contents of the various data described above are not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the various data and configurations are configured according to the application and purpose.

  Although one embodiment has been described above, the present invention can take an embodiment as, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or recording medium, and specifically includes a plurality of devices. The present invention may be applied to a system including a single device.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing a system configuration of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus in FIG. 1. It is a module block diagram which shows schematically the structure of the module with which the information processing apparatus in FIG. 1 is provided. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure at the time of the event generation which the information processing apparatus in FIG. 1 performs. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a suspend / resume function executed by the information processing apparatus in FIG. 1. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of processing (suspend processing) when a power OFF key is pressed performed by the information processing apparatus in FIG. 1. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of processing (resume processing when soft reset is not executed) executed by the information processing apparatus in FIG. 1 when a power ON key is pressed. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of processing (resume processing when soft reset is executed) executed by the information processing apparatus in FIG. 1 when a power ON key is pressed. 3 is an environment setting table for application ID acquisition processing executed by the information processing apparatus in FIG. 1. 3 is a message table of message display processing executed by the information processing apparatus in FIG. 1. It is an example of the message screen which the information processing apparatus in FIG. 1 displays. 2 is an example of an initial startup screen displayed by the information processing apparatus in FIG. 1. It is an example of the user authentication screen which the information processing apparatus in FIG. 1 displays.

Explanation of symbols

101 mobile terminal 102 client PC
103 server 104 hub 105 database 106 network line network

Claims (11)

In an information processing apparatus that can accept a power-on and pause instruction by a user and is used as a portable terminal that controls an application ,
First storage means for storing the number of pause instructions indicating the number of times the pause instruction has been received for each application being processed by the information processing apparatus;
Updating means for updating the number of pause instructions of an application being processed in the information processing apparatus when receiving a pause instruction to the information processing apparatus;
When accepting an pause instruction to the information processing apparatus, a pause instruction count to the application stored by said first storage means, the initialization condition including restart predetermined number indicating that require initialization a judging means for judging whether satisfied,
A pause unit that puts the information processing apparatus into a dormant state when receiving a pause instruction to the information processing apparatus by the user ;
The rest unit, when the pause instruction count is determined and the initialization condition is satisfied by the determination means, the hibernation mode after executing the initialization of the application, the pause instruction number by said determining means An information processing apparatus, wherein when it is determined that the initialization condition is not satisfied, the application is put into a sleep state without being initialized. Second storage means for storing a processing state of the application being processed when a pause instruction to the information processing apparatus is received;
An application return unit that reads the processing state of the application stored by the second storage unit and applies the processing state read to the application to restore the processing state of the application. Item 4. The information processing apparatus according to Item 1. The application return unit, when receiving a power-on instruction to the information processing apparatus from the user, returns the processing state of the application regardless of whether or not to initialize the application. 2. The information processing apparatus according to 2 . An authentication screen display for displaying a confirmation screen for accepting user authentication for confirming that the user who has instructed suspension to the information processing apparatus is the same as the user who has made the input instruction before restarting the application With means,
When the user authentication information received via the authentication screen displayed by the authentication screen display means confirms that the user who has given the suspension instruction and the user who has given the input instruction are the same, the application return The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the unit displays the application . An end receiving means for receiving an end instruction for ending the processing of the information processing apparatus;
If the initialization condition is not satisfied, and the termination instruction is instructed by the termination acceptance unit, the processing of the application is terminated without storing the processing state of the application in the second storage unit The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus. Third storage means for storing the prescribed restart number for each application;
Whether or not to restart by determining whether the number of suspension instructions for each application satisfies an initialization condition including a specified restart number for each application indicating that initialization is required. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the information processing apparatus determines whether or not A selection screen display means for displaying a selection screen for allowing the user to select whether or not to restart when it is determined by the determination means to satisfy the initialization condition and restart;
2. The suspension unit pauses without initializing the application when a restart instruction is not given by the user via the selection screen displayed by the selection screen display unit. The information processing apparatus according to any one of 1 to 6 . When the determination unit determines that the initialization condition is satisfied and should be restarted, the suspension unit is processed by the information processing device without restarting the operating system of the information processing device. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing state of a running application is restored . When the determination unit determines that the number of suspension instructions and the prescribed restart number satisfy the initialization condition and restarts, the suspension unit restarts the operating system of the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8 . A portable device that can accept power-on and pause instructions by a user, can control the application, and can store the number of pause instructions indicating the number of times the pause instruction has been received for each application processed by the information processing apparatus A method for controlling an information processing apparatus used as a terminal for a computer,
An update process in which the updating unit of the information processing apparatus updates the number of pause instructions of the application being processed in the information processing apparatus when the user has received a pause instruction to the information processing apparatus;
Judging means of the information processing apparatus, when the accepting an pause instruction to the information processing apparatus, again indicating that the pause instruction number to the application stored in the information processing apparatus, which require initialization a determination step of determining whether initialization condition is satisfied which includes the activation prescribed number,
Pause means of the information processing apparatus, and a pause step of the pause instruction to accept the rest of the information processing apparatus state to the information processing apparatus according to the user,
The rest step, when the pause instruction count is determined and the initialization condition is satisfied by the determination means, the hibernation mode after executing the initialization of the application, the pause instruction number by said determining means A control method, wherein when it is determined that the initialization condition is not satisfied, the application is put into a sleep state without being initialized. A program that can accept a power-on and pause instruction by a user and that functions as an information processing device used as a portable terminal that controls an application ,
First storage means for storing the number of pause instructions indicating the number of times the pause instruction has been received for each application being processed by the information processing apparatus;
Updating means for updating the number of pause instructions of an application being processed in the information processing apparatus when receiving a pause instruction to the information processing apparatus by the user;
When accepting an pause instruction to the information processing apparatus, a pause instruction count to the application stored by said first storage means, the initialization condition including restart predetermined number indicating that require initialization a judging means for judging whether satisfied,
When receiving the pause instruction to the information processing apparatus according to the user to function as a rest means for the information processing apparatus dormant,
The rest unit, when the pause instruction count is determined and the initialization condition is satisfied by the determination means, the hibernation mode after executing the initialization of the application, the pause instruction number by said determining means A program characterized in that, when it is determined that the initialization condition is not satisfied, the application is put into a sleep state without being initialized.