JPH0612209A - Personal computer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] The present invention is characterized in that the processing work including the area setting of the mounted hard disk pack can be easily performed on the menu screen without inconvenience such as data loss. [Structure] When a hard disk drive (HDD pack) is installed, set the function display section d10 on the menu screen to the valid display ([HD setting] display) state and allow the input of the corresponding function key F10. Is characterized by.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a personal computer which has a function of displaying a menu screen for selecting a work to be executed by an icon and which can be optionally installed in a hard disk pack.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a portable computer of a laptop type, a notebook type, etc., when performing work by various application software, an OS (operating system) which is a basic software for system operation is started before the work is started. System) from floppy disk, hard disk, etc. into the main memory, processing of inputting execution commands, etc.
Since various operations and work are required, there is an operational problem that it is inconvenient especially for beginners.

Further, conventionally, in a personal computer in which a hard disk pack can be optionally mounted, in order to put the disk pack in a usable state, the work is temporarily suspended and the environment setting screen is displayed except at the time of initialization. Display,
It was necessary to input the disk capacity to be used, or to set and input the maximum value of the capacity to be initialized by command input. However, the above operation is very troublesome for those who are unfamiliar with the operation, especially those who purchase and use a new personal computer, regardless of what they are familiar with. Further, in the case where the area has already been set, the area may be newly set and the stored data may be lost, which may be inconvenient.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is a personal computer which has a function of displaying a menu screen for selecting a work to be executed by an icon and in which a hard disk pack can be optionally mounted. Another object of the present invention is to provide a personal computer with improved operability in which processing work including area setting of the mounted hard disk pack can be easily performed on the menu screen without inconvenience such as data loss.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a personal computer which has a function of displaying a menu screen for selecting a work to be executed by an icon and which can be optionally installed with a hard disk pack. A function display guide that is in the effective display state when the hard disk pack is installed is provided in the above, and when the function display guide on the menu screen is in the effective display state, the operation according to the display guide is performed, and thus It is characterized by enabling the initialization processing of and the partition definition.

Further, even if the function display guide on the menu screen is in the valid display state, when the mounted hard disk pack has a partition defined, the partition setting is invalidated to avoid data loss. .

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of a personal computer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 11 is a CPU that controls the entire system, and here, a ROM (DO
For example, MS-DOS (registered trademark), which is basic software for system operation stored in S-ROM 21)
When is installed, in the initialization process,
The menu display processing program (P MENU) 21a stored in the DOS-ROM 21 is started up, and the menu shown in FIG.
A processing routine for menu display as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7 is executed. That is, when the system power is turned on, the floppy disk drive (FDD) 3
1 or hard disk (HDD (optional)) 30
When MS-DOS is installed from the DOS-ROM 21 built in the main body placed in the memory space where the main body of the device can be accessed without installing the MS-DOS from the main body, it is stored in the DOS-ROM 21 by the DOS. Menu display processing program (P MENU) 21a
Is executed, and a processing routine relating to a menu display including setting and execution of the user registration icon as shown in FIGS. 4 to 7 is executed.

11A is each memory and I / O connected to the bus
Bus access control of various system components such as
This is a bus controller that controls bus cycle control and the like. Here, the enable signals E1 and E2 output from the bus controller 11A are used for bank switching among a Kanji ROM 19, a dictionary ROM 20, a DOS-ROM 21, and an application ROM 22 described later. To be done. Reference numerals 12 to 29 are system components connected to the CPU 11 via the system bus 10 and the bus controller 11A, respectively.

Of these, 12 is a main memory used as a storage area for an actual processing (processing target) program, a work area, etc. Here, it has a capacity of 2 MB, and has a system program area (640 KB) shown in FIG. A part of the area excluding can be set as a hard RAM (H-RAM). This hard RAM (H-RAM) can be used as a storage area for commercially available application software read from the floppy disk drive 31, for example.
At this time, by setting a user registration icon for the software, the user registration icon (a4 or a5) highlighted, for example, indicating the registered state on the menu screen shown in FIG. The software of the registered icon is executed only by selecting by operating the cursor keys.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the hard RAM (HDD pack) 30 is not mounted, and the hard RAM is used.
The operation will be described later assuming that a file storing the menu display management information including the display position information of the menu icon is set in the hard RAM.

Reference numeral 13 is a system BIOS-ROM in which a control program including an IRT processing routine is stored.
Here, the floppy disk drive 31 and the hard disk drive (H
When it is confirmed that the MS-DOS is not supplied from the DD pack) 30 etc., the DO that is equipped as standard inside the device
A processing routine for automatically installing the S-ROM 21 is included. The DOS-ROM 21 stores a menu display processing program (P MENU) 21a having processing functions as shown in FIG. 4 to FIG.
The DOS stored in the file handles this menu display processing program (P MENU) 21a as one execution file.

Reference numeral 14 is a DMA controller (DMAC; Di
rect Memory Access Controller) and main memory 1
Direct access control of 2 is performed to perform direct data transfer. 15 is an interrupt controller (PIC; Programmab)
le Interrupt Controller), which controls interrupts according to the set program. 16 is a timer (Prog
rammable Interval Timer), which executes timer count according to the set program. Reference numeral 17 indicates a clock module (RT having a CMOS memory for data storage)
C; SReal-Time Clock), which is used for storing setup information and the like. A battery-backed backup memory 18 is provided for storing system configuration information set by the user.

Reference numeral 19 is a Kanji ROM for storing various Kanji fonts. Reference numeral 20 is a dictionary ROM, which is used as a Kana-Kanji conversion table. This Kanji ROM1
As shown in FIG. 2, the ROM 9 and the dictionary ROM 20 are mapped together with a DOS-ROM 21 and an application ROM 22, which will be described later, on the same address space of 64 Kbytes, and the read access is selectively performed by the bank switching method. To be done.

Reference numeral 21 denotes MS-DOS which is the basic software for system operation in this computer system.
And a menu display processing program (P ME, which is started by this DOS and has processing functions as shown in FIG. 4 to FIG.
NU) 21a, which is composed of 512 Kbytes (64 Kbytes × 8 pages), and has a Kanji ROM 19 and a dictionary ROM 2 as shown in FIG.
0, the application ROM 22 and the like are mapped in the same memory space that can be bank-accessed and selectively accessed by the bank switching circuit.

By having the DOS-ROM 21, the floppy disk drive 31 and the hard disk device (HDD pack) 30 are provided when the system power is turned on.
The system can be automatically started without installing MS-DOS from the etc. Furthermore, in this case,
When the menu display processing program (P MENU) 21a is started, a menu for work selection as shown in FIG. 3 is automatically displayed, and an application ROM, which will be described later, is displayed on this menu.
Applications stored in 22 and software registered in the user registration icons (a1, a2) can be selected and executed.

Reference numeral 22 is an application ROM which stores application software, and here shows an example in which a Japanese word processor and spreadsheet application software are installed.

This application ROM 22 is also the above D
As with the OS-ROM 21, as shown in FIG.
It is mapped in the same memory space that can be bank-accessed together with the OM 19, the dictionary ROM 20, etc., and is selectively accessed by the bank switching circuit. Therefore, in the system having the configuration of this embodiment, the system power is turned on without installing the MS-DOS, application software, etc. from the floppy disk drive 31, the hard disk device (HDD pack) 30, etc.
By selecting a Japanese word processor or spreadsheet from the displayed menu of work selection, the selected work can be executed immediately. Reference numeral 23 is an additional memory that is optionally connected, and is installed as needed to expand the memory.

Among the various ROMs mentioned above, the Chinese character R
The OM 19, the dictionary ROM 20, the DOS-ROM 21, and the application ROM 22 are each constituted by a mask ROM, while the system ROM 23 is constituted by a one-time PROM (OTP).

An FDD controller 24 controls a floppy disk drive (FDD) 31 which drives a 3.5-inch floppy disk (FD). A printer controller 25 controls an optional printer 32. 26 is RS-232
RS controller which is C controller and optionally connected
Controls 32C equipment.

A keyboard controller 27 controls the keyboard 33, mouse, and the like. The 2-bit signal (P36, P37) output from the I / O port of the keyboard controller 27 is used for bank switching among the Kanji ROM 19, the dictionary ROM 20, the DOS-ROM 21, and the application ROM 22.

28 is a display controller,
The video RAM (VRAM) 29 is read / write controlled to control the display drive of the liquid crystal display 34 having a resolution of 640 × 400 dots.

Reference numeral 35 is a power supply controller equipped with a dedicated microprocessor for controlling supply / interruption of the system power supply, including a backup power supply required by the system based on the power supply such as an AC adapter and a built-in battery. It generates various power supplies and controls the charging of the built-in battery.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a memory map of the portable computer in the above embodiment.

Here, as shown in the figure, the address "0E00"
In the 64 Kbyte area from "00H" to "0F0000H",
Kanji ROM 19, dictionary ROM 20, DOS-ROM 2
1, an application ROM 22, a hard RAM window and the like are commonly assigned.

Therefore, the Kanji ROM 19 and the dictionary RO
M20, DOS-ROM21, application ROM
Exclusive control is required for each memory access of the hard disk 22 and the hard RAM. This exclusive control is realized by a bank switching method in which one memory is enabled and the remaining memories are disabled by hardware control.

This bank switching between ROMs is performed by the signals (E1, E) output from the bus controller 11A.
2) and the signal (P36, P37) output from the I / O port of the keyboard controller 27, which is performed by hardware, but the detailed description thereof is omitted here.

FIG. 3 shows DO of the DOS-ROM 21 respectively.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a specific configuration of a menu screen displayed on the liquid crystal display 24 when the system is started up by S.

In FIG. 3, a1 to a12 are menu icons for work selection. Among these icons, a1 is a word processor icon that starts the word processor of the application software installed in the system, a2 is a spreadsheet icon that starts the spreadsheet software of the application software installed in the system, a3 is a calendar, It is an accessory icon that activates accessories such as a calculator and a world clock. a4 and a5 are user registration icons for registering and starting arbitrary software such as commercial software in the menu. a6 is the main body of optional software such as commercially available software (hard RAM (H
-RAM) or hard disk drive (HDD pack) 3
This is a software installation icon for activating registration (copy) in 0). a7 is a floppy disk (F
Launch the commercial software supplied in D) (FD
This is the FD execution icon that starts autoexec.bat. a8
Copies the entire contents of the floppy disk to a new floppy disk (invokes the diskcopy command)
It is a spare FD creation icon. a9 is an FD initialization icon that initializes the floppy disk (starts the format command). a10 copies (backs up) all the contents stored in the main body (hard RAM (H-RAM) set in the main memory 12 or hard disk device 30) to a floppy disk (in the case of hard RAM,
Invokes the allcopy command, and ba for a hard disk
Start ckup command) Main body → FD icon.
a11 is an FD → main body icon for copying the entire contents of the floppy disk to the main body (invoking the allcopy command in the case of hard RAM and activating the backup command in the case of hard disk). a12 is DOS-ROM
Enable the MS-DOS stored in 21 (comm
Launch the and.com) MS-DOS icon. b1
To b12 are icon titles displayed corresponding to the above icons a1 to a12. Reference numeral c1 denotes a message line (title bar) on which the work content of the selected icon, that is, the icon highlighted by reverse display or the like is displayed.

Reference numerals d1 to d10 are function display portions of the function keys F1 to F10 provided on the keyboard 33. Here, the function display portion d6 serves as a function display guide of the function key F6, and the function key F6.
The menu relocation function is selected by the operation of. By operating the function key F6 according to this function display guide, the commands shown in FIG. 4 to FIG. 7 included in the menu display processing program (P MENU) 21a can be executed by executing the command associated with the operation of the function key. To be executed.

Here, d1 is a function display portion of the function key F1 for setting the date and time in the CMOS memory of the RTC 17, d2 is a function display portion of the function key F2 for selecting the kanji input mode and whether or not to practice inputting, d3 is a function key F that sets various modes such as resume, speaker, low battery alarm, auto power off, screen reverse display, hard disk automatic stop etc. to the main unit
3 is the function display section, d4 is the function display section of the function key F4 for selecting the type of printer driver, and d5 is the hardware R
Function display section of function key F5 for setting memory such as AM and EMS, d7 is a function display section of function key F7 for registering a user command in each menu of user registration 1 / user registration 2, and d9 is CONFIG. It is a function display portion of a function key F9 for changing SYS (environment setting file).

D10 is a valid display only when the hard disk device (HDD pack) 30 is mounted, and is a function display portion of the function key F10 for defining and formatting a hard disk partition. When the pack 30 is not mounted, the display is in a blank state, and when the hard disk device (HDD pack) 30 is mounted, [HD setting] is displayed. When the function display section d10 is in the valid display state (that is, when the [HD setting] is displayed), the partition of the mounted hard disk can be defined by operating the corresponding function key F10.

4 to 7 show the above DOS-RO, respectively.
Menu display processing program (P MEN
It is a flowchart which shows the menu display processing flow implement | achieved by U) 21a. Of these, FIG. 4 and FIG.
FIG. 6 shows a display processing flow of the menu screen shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the procedure of starting the menu, and FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the procedure of the menu processing shown in step A4 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a startup processing routine for setting the function display portion d10 on the menu screen shown in FIG. 3 to the effective display state when the hard disk device (HDD pack) 30 is mounted. 7 is executed when the corresponding function key F10 is operated when the function display portion d10 on the menu screen shown in FIG. 3 is in the effective display state (that is, when [HD setting] is displayed). 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a hard disk setting processing routine that is performed. The operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

When the system power is turned on, the CPU 11 executes an initialization processing routine stored in the system BIOS-ROM 13, and in the processing routine, the floppy disk drive 31, the hard disk device (HDD pack) 30 and the like MS-DOS. If it is confirmed that the DOS-ROM is not supplied, the DOS-ROM that comes standard with the device
21 automatically installs the DOS in the main memory 12, and executes the menu display processing program (P MENU) 21a stored in the DOS-ROM 21 on the DOS. It should be noted that in the actually realized device, the above-mentioned boot mode and the boot mode in which the DOS stored in the DOS-ROM 21 is preferentially installed and the system is started up can be selected. Then, the explanation is omitted.

At this time, the DOS-ROM 21 is stored in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the data is mapped on a common address space together with the Chinese character ROM 19, the dictionary ROM 20, and the application ROM 22, so that the read access is selectively performed by the bank switching.

At this time, the bank switching between the ROMs is performed by C
It is performed by hardware using enable signals (E1, E2) set by the PU 11 and output from the bus controller 11A and signals (P36, P37) output from the I / O port of the keyboard controller 27. The enable signal (E1, E2) is E
1 = “0”, E2 = “1”, and the I / O port signals (P36, P37) are P36 = “1”, P37 = “0”.
, The AND gate G5 of the gate circuit 40 causes the ROM
Select enable signal EN is output and DOS-ROM
21 so that the DOS-ROM 21 can be access-controlled.

Menu display processing program (P MENU) 2 at the time of booting with DOS by this DOS-ROM 21
The menu display processing operation according to 1a will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. Incidentally, here, a hard RAM is set in the main memory 12, and the hard RAM is set.
The operation will be described assuming that a file storing the menu display management information including the display position information of the menu icon is stored. First, the startup processing operation for displaying the menu screen will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In the start-up process for displaying the menu screen, first, the hard RAM set in the main memory 12 is set.
Position information of each menu icon required to display the menu screen in the menu display management information file, icon information executed last time (target for reverse display), icon title, message line (description), and each function key The menu components such as the function display section are read into the main memory 12 (step A1 in FIG. 4), and subsequently, each information of the user registration icon (title, execution command, description, icon image, etc.) is read (Fig. 4 steps A2)
After that, a menu screen as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed according to the above information (step A3 in FIG. 4). An icon according to the work to be executed is selected on this menu screen to execute the menu processing (step A4 in FIG. 4). The menu processing at this time will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

On the menu screen shown in FIG. 5, the cursor key and the enter key are operated to select the icon of the work to be executed. That is, for example, by operating the cursor key in the right direction, the icons displayed in reverse are sequentially moved to the right, and after making the target icon in the reverse display state,
For confirmation input, operate the [Enter] key (steps B1 and B2 in FIG. 5).

By this icon selecting operation, the position information of the selected icon is reflected in the menu display management information file, the icon position information in the file is updated, and the work of the selected icon is started. .
That is, when the [Enter] key for confirming the icon selection is operated, the icon position information in the file is updated to the icon position selected now, and the command corresponding to the selected icon is executed (FIG. 5). Steps B3 and B4
). In the next menu display, the icon according to the updated icon position information is highlighted as the initial selection target icon.

When the execution of the selected command is completed, the menu display processing program (P MENU) 21a is started again and the menu screen shown in FIG. 3 is displayed. At this time, the menu in the file The initial selection target icon is highlighted based on the updated icon position information. That is, the icon of the command that has just ended is highlighted as the initial selection target icon (steps B5 and B6 in FIG. 5).
). Next, the hard disk setting processing operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a startup processing routine for setting the function display portion d10 on the menu screen shown in FIG. 3 to the effective display state when the hard disk device (HDD pack) 30 is mounted. 7 is executed when the corresponding function key F10 is operated when the function display portion d10 on the menu screen shown in FIG. 3 is in the effective display state (that is, when [HD setting] is displayed). 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a hard disk setting processing routine that is performed.

In the start-up process shown in FIG. 6, the start of the menu display process first determines whether or not the hard disk device (HDD pack) 30 is mounted (step S1 in FIG. 6).

If the hard disk device (HDD pack) 30 is not mounted here, the function display portion d10 on the menu screen shown in FIG. 3 is set to a non-display (blank) state, and the function key F10 is input on the menu screen. Is invalidated, the start-up process is terminated, and step A4 in FIG.
Return to the menu display of (FIG. 5) (steps S2 and S5 of FIG. 6).
, S6, S7).

Hard disk drive (HDD pack)
When 30 is installed, the function display section d10 on the menu screen shown in FIG. 3 is set to the valid display ([HD setting] display) state, the input of the corresponding function key F10 is permitted, and The display returns to the menu display of step A4 (FIG. 5) (steps S2, S3, S4, S7 in FIG. 6).

Here, when the function display portion d10 on the menu screen is in the effective display ([HD setting] display) state, the function key F10 is operated in accordance with the above display menu to execute the hard disk setting process shown in FIG. To be executed.

In this hard disk setting process, by operating the function key F10, the information of the hard disk is read and it is judged whether or not the mounted hard disk is defined as a partition (step S in FIG. 7).
11-S14).

If the partition is not defined, the partition definition is permitted, the formatting process by the partition definition is executed, the hard disk setting process is terminated, and step A4 (FIG. 5) in FIG.
Return to the menu display shown in (step S15, S16 in FIG. 7).

When the partition is defined, the partition definition is invalidated, a message indicating that the hard disk is already used is displayed, the hard disk setting process is terminated, and step A4 (FIG. 5) of FIG. The display returns to the menu shown in () (step S17 in FIG. 7).
In the hard disk setting process, the initialization process can also be executed, but the description thereof is omitted here. In this way, the processing work including the area setting of the mounted hard disk pack can be easily performed on the menu screen without inconvenience such as data loss.

[0050]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, in the personal computer in which the hard disk pack can be optionally mounted, which has the function of displaying the menu screen for selecting the work to be executed by the icon, the menu By providing a function display guide on the screen that will be in the effective display state when the hard disk pack is mounted, and when the function display guide on the above menu screen is in the effective display state, by performing the operation according to the display guide, Initialization processing of hard disk pack and partition definition can be easily performed.

Even when the function display guide on the menu screen is in the valid display state, if the mounted hard disk pack has a partition defined, the partition setting can be invalidated to avoid data loss.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a personal computer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a memory map of the portable computer in the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a menu screen in the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure of a menu starting process in the above embodiment.

5 is a flowchart showing a menu processing procedure shown in step A4 of FIG.

6 is a flowchart showing a startup processing procedure for setting the function display portion d10 on the menu screen shown in FIG. 3 to an effective display state.

7 is a flowchart showing a hard disk setting processing procedure executed when a corresponding function key F10 is operated while the function display portion d10 on the menu screen shown in FIG. 3 is in an effective display state.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... System bus, 11 ... CPU, 11A ... Bus controller, 12 ... Main memory, 13 ... System BIOS-ROM, 14 ... DMA controller (DMAC), 15
... Interrupt controller (PIC), 16 ... Timer, 1
7 ... Clock module (RTC), 18 ... Backup memory, 19 ... Kanji ROM, 20 ... Dictionary ROM, 21 ... D
OS-ROM, 21a ... Menu display processing program (P
MENU), 22 ... Application ROM, 23 ... Expansion memory, 24 ... FDD controller, 25 ... Printer controller, 26 ... RS-232C controller, 27 ...
Keyboard controller, 28 ... Display controller, 29 ..., 30 ... Hard disk device (HDD pack), 31 ... Floppy disk drive (FDD),
32 ... Printer, 34 ... Liquid crystal display, 35 ... Power supply controller, 40 ... Gate circuit, a1, a2, ... A12 ... Menu icon, b1, b2, ... B12 ... Icon title, c1
... message line (title bar), d1, d2, ... d10 ... function display section (function display guide) of function keys (F1 to F10).

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a personal computer in which a hard disk pack can be mounted, a function display guide which is in an effective display state when the hard disk pack is mounted, and a menu screen having a plurality of icons for work selection are displayed. And a means for enabling the setting processing of the mounted hard disk pack by performing an operation according to the display guide when the function display guide on the menu screen is in an effective display state. And a personal computer. A personal computer comprising means for enabling initialization processing and partition definition. 2. The mounted hard disk pack setting process includes an initialization process and a partition definition, and has means for invalidating the partition setting when the mounted hard disk pack is partitioned. Personal computer.