JP2009205502A - Application recorder/reproducer, method for rewinding application, and application recording/reproduction program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an application recording/reproduction method that can implement recording/reproduction while reducing the usage of a storage device. <P>SOLUTION: When a user 8 operates an operation part 2 to rewind an application 7, a checkpoint selection part 23 selects a checkpoint corresponding to the rewind point, a log reproduction instruction part 25 selects input event and GUI event logs to the rewind point, and an input event log acquisition/reproduction part 11 and a GUI event log acquisition/reproduction part 12 reproduce them respectively to restore the state of a display server 5 at the rewind point. After the rewind point of the display server 5 is determined, a dependency analysis part 24 determines a rewind point of the application 7 corresponding to the screen rewind point, and the application is returned to the state at the rewind point like the display server 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an application recording / reproducing method, a recording / reproducing apparatus, and a recording / reproducing program.

  Conventionally, a method has been used in which an execution state such as a memory state (contents) of an application and a screen display are recorded in a storage device, and the application is returned to a state at an arbitrary time by playing it later as necessary. . Since the user of the application can rewind the application to a past state at any time, an operation mistake due to carelessness can be easily corrected.

  In the application recording / reproducing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, in order to save and restore the application state, the application memory state and the application are used based on information obtained from the operating system (OS). Acquire and save all application related statuses such as device status and OS internal memory status in the OS.

In the application recording / reproducing apparatus disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1, a virtual device driver is provided, and the device screen records all image differences in the time change of the application screen as bitmap data. Record / restore.
JP 2005-107573 A DejaView: a personal virtual computer recorder, ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles, Proceedings of twenty-first ACM SIGOPS symposium on Operating systems principles

  In the conventional recording / reproducing apparatus, in order to record the state of the computer, a method for saving all program states including the OS as a state as in Patent Document 1 and a special device driver as in Non-Patent Document 1 are used. There has been a technique of using and saving image differences of application screens.

  According to the method of Patent Document 1, in order to record and play back the state of an application at a certain time, all the memory states used by the entire OS, such as the OS kernel and device driver, and the memory contents of the application are stored. Save to device. In this case, since the memory state that must be saved is usually large, the usage amount of the storage device is large.

  According to the method of Non-Patent Document 1, in order to record and play back the state of an application at a certain time, the memory state of the application is periodically saved and the image difference of the application screen using a special device driver. And save all user input. Image difference data is bitmap data and tends to have a large amount of data. For this reason, similarly to the problem in the method of Patent Document 1, the usage amount of the storage device becomes large.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an application recording / reproducing method capable of recording / reproducing while reducing the amount of use of a storage device.

  The application recording / playback apparatus of the present invention acquires input events from a user in the order of their occurrence times and plays back the input event log acquisition / playback unit, and GUI events from the application in the order of their occurrences as GUI (Graphical User Interface) events GUI event log acquisition / reproduction unit to obtain and replay as a log, checkpoint that is a snapshot of the execution state of the application, and replay checkpoint acquisition / reproduction unit, input event log and GUI event log to replay A recording / reproducing control unit that stores the input event log, the GUI event log, and the rewinding application using the checkpoint in accordance with an instruction from the user. .

  According to the present invention, the application execution history and the screen display are recorded while the usage amount of the storage device for saving the application state is suppressed, and the application state at an arbitrary time is restored according to the user's need. can do. Since the event log used as data for reproducing the application is very small compared to the snapshot of the memory contents, the usage amount of the storage device can be reduced.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an application recording / playback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The application recording / playback apparatus 1 includes an input event log acquisition / playback unit 11, a GUI event log acquisition / playback unit 12, a checkpoint acquisition / playback unit 13, and a recording / playback control unit 40.

  The input event log acquisition / reproduction unit 11 acquires and reproduces an input log from the user 8. The GUI event log acquisition / playback unit 12 saves and plays back GUI events from the application 7 in a log. The checkpoint acquisition / reproduction unit 13 acquires a checkpoint that is a snapshot of the execution state of the application 7 and reproduces it. The recording / reproducing control unit 14 stores the input event log and the GUI event log in a reproducible format, and reproduces the past state of the application 7 using the log and the checkpoint according to an instruction from the user 8. The user 8 instructs the recording / playback control unit 14 through the operation unit 2 on the playback method of the application 7. As operations that can be instructed, functions such as rewind, fast forward, and playback are provided that are equivalent to those of general personal video recorders. FIG. 2 shows an example of the operation unit 2. In this example, the operation unit 2 is realized as a GUI, and the user can operate rewinding or fast-forwarding by pressing each button.

  The application 7 is a GUI application that the user 8 operates on the computer. The application 7 receives an input event of the user 8 from the display server 5 as an input, and performs a handler process corresponding to the event. When some kind of screen display is involved in the handler such as window display, a GUI event is issued to the display server 5 to request screen display.

  The display server 5 displays a GUI on the display 6 in response to a GUI event issued from the application 7. Also, an input event from the user 8 is acquired, converted into a GUI event, and input to the application 7 through the GUI event log acquisition / reproduction unit 12.

  The input event log acquisition / reproduction unit 12 relays between the user 8 and the display server 5 and acquires input events from the user 8 by an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse as an input event log in the order of occurrence time. FIG. 3 shows an example of an input event. Types of input events include pressing and releasing a key on the keyboard, clicking a mouse button, pressing and releasing, and moving or dragging the mouse pointer.

  The input event log acquisition / reproduction unit 11 generates an input event log in which event occurrence time information is added to each event, and uses the generated event log as an input to the recording / reproduction control unit 14. FIG. 4 shows an example of the input event log. As can be seen from this figure, for example, in the log of the “Key 'A' on” event, the event occurrence time is “2005-04-01T09: 30: 12.034”.

  The GUI event log acquisition / reproduction unit 12 relays a GUI drawing event from the application 7 to the display server 5, and acquires GUI events as a GUI event log in the order of occurrence time. FIG. 5 shows an example of a GUI event. GUI event types include the creation of widgets such as windows and buttons, and the placement of widgets.

  The GUI event log acquisition / reproduction unit 20 generates a GUI event log in which event occurrence time information is added to each event, and uses the generated GUI event log as an input to the recording / reproduction control unit 14. FIG. 6 shows an example of a GUI event log. As can be seen from this figure, for example, in the log of the “Window # new” event, the event occurrence time is “2005-04-01T09: 30: 12.034”.

  The application 7 and the display server 5 are executed under the control of the checkpoint acquisition / playback unit 13, and checkpoints are periodically acquired by the checkpoint acquisition / playback unit 13. In order to obtain a checkpoint, each application 7 and the display server 5 are provided with an interface for serializing the internal state into a format that can be restored later, and an interface for reading the serialized internal state.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of a checkpoint interface implemented in the application 7. According to FIG. 7, the application 7 includes a function checkpoint () that returns a character string obtained by serializing an internal state, and a function load # checkpoint () for loading the serialized internal state. The checkpoint acquisition / playback unit 13 calls the checkpoint () function of the application at regular intervals, and stores the serialized internal state in the checkpoint storage unit 4. In response to an instruction from the checkpoint instruction unit 21, the checkpoint acquisition / reproduction unit 13 calls the load # checkpoint () function of the application 7 and reads the serialized data stored in the checkpoint storage unit 4. Restore the state of.

  The checkpoint storage unit 4 is storage means for holding the checkpoint acquired by the checkpoint acquisition / reproduction unit 13 and related information.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of checkpoint data stored in the checkpoint storage unit 4. According to FIG. 8, the checkpoint data at each time is serialized as hexadecimal, and the time when the checkpoint () function is called is stored in each data.

  The recording / reproduction control unit 14 includes a checkpoint instruction unit 21, a dependency relationship setting unit 22, a checkpoint selection unit 23, a dependency relationship analysis unit 24, and a log reproduction instruction unit 45. The dependency relationship setting unit 22 sets a dependency relationship between events by setting a sender and a receiver and a unique ID indicating the order of transmission and reception in the input event and the GUI event. The execution history of the display server 5 and the application 7 is divided into several sections according to the time when the checkpoint is acquired. This is called a checkpoint section, and a serial number starting from 0 is assigned to each. Using the checkpoint section number, the dependency relationship setting section 22 stores the GUI event sender and receiver and the set of transmitted and received checkpoint sections in the log storage section 3.

  A specific example of the operation of the dependency relationship setting unit 22 is shown in FIG. For example, the sender of the event b is the application 7 and the receiver is the display server 5. Since the check point section in which the event b is issued from the application 7 is 1, and is the first event transmission / reception occurrence order in the check point section 1, the transmission information is represented as “application: (1, 1)”. Similarly, the check point interval in which event b is received by the display server 5 is 2, and the transmission / reception occurrence order in the interval is 0, so the received information is represented as “display server: (2, 0)”. It is. As described above, the ID of the event b is expressed as transmission = “application: (1, 1)” and reception = “display server: (2, 0)”.

  The log storage unit 3 is a storage unit for holding the event log acquired by the input event log acquisition / reproduction unit 11 and the GUI event log acquisition / reproduction unit 12 and the dependency information set by the dependency relationship setting unit 22. .

  The check point selection unit 23 selects a check point that the display server 5 rewinds according to the rewind / fast forward instruction specified by the user 8.

  A specific example of the operation of the checkpoint selection unit 23 is shown in FIG. In FIG. 10, it is assumed that the user 8 designates a time (rewinding point) t to be rewound by the operation unit 2. The checkpoint selection unit 23 determines a checkpoint section including the rewinding point from the checkpoint storage unit 4 and determines a checkpoint for starting this checkpoint section. In the example of FIG. 10, checkpoint C0 corresponds to this.

  The log reproduction instruction unit 25 acquires logs to be reproduced by the GUI event log acquisition / reproduction unit 12 and the input event log acquisition / reproduction unit 11 from the log storage unit 3 according to the rewinding point designated by the user 8, and The data is transferred to the input event log acquisition / reproduction unit 11 to reproduce the log.

  A specific example of the operation of the log reproduction instruction unit 25 is shown in FIG. In order to rewind the display server 5 to the rewinding point t, an event transmitted / received between the display server 5 and the user 8 or the application 7 is reproduced from the checkpoint C0 selected by the checkpoint selection unit 23. There is a need. Here, it can be seen from the event log stored in the log storage unit 3 that there are two events a and b between the check point C0 and the rewind point. The log reproduction instructing unit 25 extracts these two logs, passes the event a to the GUI event log acquisition / reproduction unit 12, and the event b to the input event log acquisition / reproduction unit 11, and requests reproduction.

  The dependency relationship analysis unit 24 calculates a rewind point of the application 8 from the dependency relationship set by the dependency relationship setting unit 22 and the rewind point of the display server 5.

  A specific example of the operation of the dependency relationship analysis unit 24 is shown in FIG. The dependency relationship analysis unit 24 selects the newest event from the events from the application 7 to the display server 5 before the rewinding point of the display server 5 from the GUI event log stored in the log storage unit 3. Immediately after the time when this event is issued by the application 7 is selected as the rewinding point of the application 7. After the rewinding point is determined, the checkpoint and the event corresponding to the rewinding point are obtained by the checkpoint selection unit 23 and the log reproduction instruction unit 25 in the same manner as the rewinding of the display server 5, and the log is reproduced to reproduce the application. Return 7 to the state of the rewinding point.

Next, the operation of the rewinding process of the display server 5 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
In step 101, the user 8 determines a time (rewinding point) at which the application 7 is to be rewound through the operation unit 2.
In step 102, the checkpoint selection unit 23 determines the latest checkpoint among the checkpoints older than the rewind point of the display server 5 as the checkpoint for rewinding the display server 5.
In step 103, the log reproduction instruction unit 25 selects an event transmitted / received to / from the display server 5 between the check point obtained in step 102 and the rewind point designated in step 101 from the log storage unit 3. .
In step 104, the checkpoint instruction unit 21 passes the checkpoint determined in step 102 to the checkpoint acquisition / reproduction unit 13 and requests reproduction of the checkpoint.
In step 105, the input event log acquisition / reproduction unit 11 and the GUI event log acquisition / reproduction unit 12 reproduce the log using the input event log and the GUI event log selected in step 103 as inputs, thereby displaying the state of the display server 5. To the rewinding point.

Next, the rewinding operation of the application 7 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
In step 201, the dependency relationship analysis unit 24 selects the newest event among the events from the application 7 to the display server 5 before the rewinding point determined in step 101.
In step 202, the checkpoint selection unit 23 obtains a checkpoint section of the application 7 to which the event determined in step 201 is issued, and further determines a checkpoint that has started this checkpoint section.
In step 203, the log reproduction instruction unit 25 selects an event transmitted / received to / from the application 7 between the checkpoint obtained in step 202 and the event occurrence time determined in step 201 from the log storage unit 3. .
In step 204, the checkpoint instruction unit 21 passes the checkpoint determined in step 202 to the checkpoint acquisition / reproduction unit 30, and requests the checkpoint to be reproduced.
In step 205, the input event log acquisition / reproduction unit 11 and the GUI event log acquisition / reproduction unit 12 reproduce the log by using the input event log and the GUI event log selected in step 203 as input, Return to the state.

  The function of the application recording / reproducing apparatus described above is executed by recording a program for realizing the function on a computer-readable recording medium, and causing the computer to read the program recorded on the recording medium. It may be a thing. The computer-readable recording medium refers to a recording medium such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, and a CD-ROM, and a storage device such as a hard disk device built in a computer system. Further, the computer-readable recording medium is a medium that dynamically holds the program for a short time (transmission medium or transmission wave) as in the case of transmitting the program via the Internet, and in the computer serving as a server in that case Such as a volatile memory that holds a program for a certain period of time.

  The application recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention can be applied to computers such as personal computers, workstations, and servers equipped with a GUI.

It is a block diagram of the application recording / reproducing apparatus by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of an operation part. It is a figure which shows an example of an input event. It is a figure which shows an example of an input event log. It is a figure which shows an example of a GUI event. It is a figure which shows an example of a GUI event log. It is a figure which shows an example of the interface for checkpoint acquisition. It is a figure which shows the structure of a checkpoint. It is a figure which shows an example of the dependence relationship set to an event. It is a figure which shows operation | movement of a checkpoint selection part. It is a figure which shows operation | movement of a log reproduction | regeneration instruction | indication part. It is a figure which shows operation | movement of a dependence relationship analysis part. It is a flowchart which shows the rewinding operation | movement of a display server. It is a flowchart which shows the rewind operation | movement of an application.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Application recording / reproducing apparatus 2 Operation part 3 Log storage part 4 Checkpoint preservation | save part 5 Display server 6 Display 7 Application 8 User 11 Input event log acquisition / reproduction part 12 GUI event log acquisition / reproduction part 13 Checkpoint acquisition / reproduction part 14 Recording / Reproduction Control Unit 21 Check Point Instruction Unit 22 Dependency Setting Unit 23 Check Point Selection Unit 24 Dependency Analysis Unit 25 Log Reproduction Instruction Units 101-105, 201-205 Steps

Claims (8)

An input event log acquisition / reproduction unit that acquires and reproduces input events from users in the order of their occurrence time, and
GUI event log acquisition / playback unit that acquires and plays back GUI events from the application in the order of their occurrence as GUI event logs,
A checkpoint acquisition / reproduction unit that obtains and reproduces a checkpoint that is a snapshot of the execution state of the application;
The input event log and the GUI event log are stored in a log storage unit in a reproducible format, and the application is rewound using the input event log, the GUI event log, and the checkpoint according to an instruction from a user. An application recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: a recording / reproducing control unit that controls reproduction. The recording / playback control unit
A dependency setting unit that sets a dependency between events by setting a unique ID indicating the sender and receiver of the event and the order of transmission and reception in the input event and the GUI event;
At the time of rewinding the display server, in accordance with the user's rewind instruction, select a checkpoint that starts the checkpoint section that the display server rewinds, including the rewind point of the application specified by the user, and At the time of rewinding, a checkpoint selection unit that obtains a checkpoint section of an application in which the selected event is issued and selects a checkpoint that starts the checkpoint section;
A checkpoint instruction unit that passes the checkpoint selected by the checkpoint selection unit to the checkpoint acquisition / reproduction unit, and requests reproduction of the checkpoint;
At the time of rewinding the display server, an event transmitted / received to / from the display server between the selected checkpoint and the designated rewinding point is acquired from the log storage unit, and the input event Log acquisition / reproduction unit, requesting the GUI event log acquisition / reproduction unit to reproduce the log, and when rewinding the application, between the selected checkpoint and the occurrence time of the selected event An event transmitted / received to / from an application is acquired from the log storage unit, the input event log acquisition / reproduction unit, a log reproduction instruction unit that requests the GUI event log acquisition / reproduction unit to reproduce a log,
When the application is rewound, the dependency between events set by the dependency setting unit is used, and the latest event among the events from the application to the display server before the rewinding point of the display server is determined. A dependency analysis unit that selects and selects immediately after the time when the event is issued by the application as a rewind point of the application;
The application recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:   The checkpoint acquisition / playback unit calls a function of the application that returns a character string obtained by serializing the internal state, stores the serialized internal state in the checkpoint storage unit, and the checkpoint instruction unit The function for loading the serialized internal state of the application is called in response to the instruction from the application, the serialized data stored in the checkpoint storage unit is read, and the previous state is restored. Item 3. The application recording / reproducing apparatus according to Item 2. A method for rewinding a display server in an application recording / reproducing apparatus,
In accordance with the user's rewind instruction, selecting a checkpoint that starts the checkpoint section that the display server rewinds, including the rewind point of the application specified by the user,
Obtaining events sent to and received from the display server between the selected checkpoint and the designated rewind point;
Playing the selected checkpoint,
Replaying the log of the acquired events;
A display server rewinding method comprising: An application rewinding method in an application recording / playback apparatus,
Selecting the most recent event from the application to the display server before the application rewind point specified by the user;
Determining a checkpoint interval of an application in which the most recent event is issued, and determining a checkpoint that starts the checkpoint interval;
Selecting events sent to and received from the application between the determined checkpoint and the time of occurrence of the selected event;
Playing back the determined checkpoint;
Playing back an event sent to or received from the application. A program for causing a computer to execute the function of the application recording / playback device,
Input event log acquisition / playback procedure for acquiring and playing back input events from users in the order of their occurrence time,
GUI event log acquisition and playback procedure for acquiring and playing back GUI events from the application in the order of their occurrence as GUI event logs,
A checkpoint acquisition / playback procedure for acquiring and playing back a checkpoint that is a snapshot of the execution state of the application;
The input event log and the GUI event log are stored in a log storage unit in a reproducible format, and the application is rewound using the input event log, the GUI event log, and the checkpoint according to an instruction from a user. An application recording / playback program for causing a computer to execute a recording / playback control procedure for controlling playback. The recording / playback control procedure includes:
A dependency setting procedure for setting a dependency between events by setting a unique ID indicating the sender and receiver of the event and the order of transmission and reception in the input event and the GUI event;
At the time of rewinding the display server, in accordance with the user's rewind instruction, select a checkpoint that starts the checkpoint section that the display server rewinds, including the rewind point of the application specified by the user, and When rewinding, a checkpoint selection procedure for obtaining a checkpoint section of an application in which the selected event is issued and selecting a checkpoint that starts the checkpoint section;
A checkpoint instruction procedure for passing the checkpoint selected by the checkpoint selection procedure to the checkpoint acquisition / playback procedure and requesting the playback of the checkpoint;
At the time of rewinding the display server, an event transmitted / received to / from the display server between the selected checkpoint and the designated rewinding point is acquired from the log storage unit, and the input event Log acquisition / playback procedure, requesting log playback to the GUI event log acquisition / playback procedure, and when the application is rewound, between the selected checkpoint and the occurrence time of the selected event An event transmitted / received to / from an application is acquired from the log storage unit, the input event log acquisition / reproduction procedure, a log reproduction instruction procedure for requesting reproduction of a log to the GUI event log acquisition / reproduction procedure,
When the application is rewound, the latest event among the events from the application to the display server before the rewinding point of the display server is used using the dependency relationship between the events set by the dependency setting procedure. A dependency analysis procedure for selecting and selecting immediately after the time when the event is issued by the application as a rewind point for the application;
The application recording / reproducing program according to claim 6, comprising:   The checkpoint acquisition / reproduction procedure calls a function of the application that returns a character string obtained by serializing its internal state, stores the serialized internal state in a checkpoint storage unit, and also the checkpoint instruction unit The function for loading the serialized internal state of the application is called in response to the instruction from the application, the serialized data stored in the checkpoint storage unit is read, and the previous state is restored. Item 8. The application recording / reproducing program according to Item 7.

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