JP2011175395A - Information processor, image reading device, portable terminal, memory control method for information processor, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the performance deterioration of an application by reducing the number of times of the memory securing processing and memory releasing processing of an operation system whose memory securing processing and memory releasing processing is relatively slow, and reducing the stand-by time of the application. <P>SOLUTION: A memory management mechanism 50 to be executed by the control part of an information processor secures a memory region with a prescribed capacity by making the memory securing request of the prescribed capacity to an operation system (virtual memory management module 43) in response to the first memory securing request from the application 44, and assigns an unused region in the secured memory region to the application 44 in response to a memory securing request from the application 44, and releases assignment to the application 44 with respect to the region whose release request has been made from the application 44 in response to a memory release request from the application 44, and performs assignment to the application 44 again. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to memory control of an information processing apparatus operating in an operating system that secures a physical memory area when receiving a memory securing request and releases the secured physical memory area when receiving a memory release request. .

  The operating system (OS) has a function of distributing memory reservation required by various tasks using a resource called a single physical memory.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 discloses a technique for realizing access including physical memory allocation required by various tasks with a bus lock flag to achieve both improvement in memory utilization and performance.

  On the other hand, in the OS, the physical memory area is secured / released when the memory allocation / release request is received, and the physical memory area is not allocated / released when the memory allocation request / release is received. In some cases, the physical memory area is secured / released when the memory area is accessed. In general, it is known that the former takes more time to process a memory reservation / release request than the latter.

  Some OSs have an advanced memory management function for performing compression processing, defragmentation processing, clear processing, and the like of a memory area in use in order to improve memory use efficiency. In such an apparatus operating on the OS, processing for increasing the memory use efficiency occurs at the timing when a memory securing request or a release request is issued to the OS. These processes are known to take time because the number of accesses to the physical memory increases.

JP-A-2-146669

  When the above-mentioned OS with advanced memory management is adopted, in order to place importance on the memory usage efficiency, the memory allocation process used in the memory allocation process is compressed, defragmented, and cleared. As a result, the performance of the memory allocation process and the release process has been reduced.

  Even if the above-described advanced memory management is not performed, the OS that secures the physical memory area at the time of receiving the memory securing request does not actually secure the physical memory area at the time of receiving the memory securing request. When an access to the memory area occurs, the OS that secures the physical memory area takes time to process the memory securing request.

  Therefore, in the case of an apparatus using these OSs, there is a possibility that the performance may be lowered when an application requests the OS to secure or release memory.

  For example, in an application that performs image processing, a large number of memory allocation requests and release requests are made in order to expand and process images, and a large amount of image memory is required, which is executed on the OS as described above. If this happens, performance may decrease.

Moreover, in recent portable terminals, there are applications (web browsers) that display web pages and various applications such as image processing, but it can be said that the portable terminals and the like do not necessarily have plenty of physical memory. Absent.
For this reason, when an application with a large memory capacity to be used, such as displaying a web page with an undefined capacity or performing image processing, is executed on a portable terminal operating on the OS as described above, the performance may be degraded. There is sex.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. The object of the present invention is, for example, an OS that secures / releases a physical memory area when a memory secure / release request is received, In an information processing apparatus using an OS that has a relatively slow memory allocation / release operation, such as an OS having a memory management function, a mechanism is provided to reduce the number of memory allocation / release requests to the OS and suppress the performance degradation of the application. It is to be.

  The present invention is an information processing apparatus that operates in an operating system that secures a physical memory area when receiving a memory securing request and releases the secured physical memory area when receiving a memory release request, In response to an initial memory securing request from the application program, a securing means for securing a memory area of the predetermined capacity by making a memory securing request of the predetermined capacity to the operating system, and a memory securing request from the application program And an allocating unit that allocates, to the application program, an area that is not allocated to the application program in the memory area secured by the securing unit.

  According to the present invention, by securing a predetermined amount of memory in advance, the number of memory securing requests and memory releasing requests to the operating system is substantially reduced, and a memory securing request and memory releasing request from an application can be promptly met. Correspondingly, the application performance can be prevented from deteriorating by not waiting the application unnecessarily.

1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an image reading apparatus to which an information processing apparatus showing Embodiment 1 of the present invention is applied. 1 is a functional block diagram of an image reading apparatus to which an information processing apparatus of the present invention is applied. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a memory securing operation of an operating system that operates on the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a memory allocation sequence diagram of the image reading apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows an example of the memory management table of the memory management mechanism in Example 1 of this invention. 3 is a flowchart showing a memory reservation sequence process (memory management process of the memory management mechanism) of the image reading apparatus to which the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the invention is applied. 3 is a flowchart showing a memory release sequence process (memory release process of the memory management mechanism) of the image reading apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The figure which showed an example of the memory management table of the memory management mechanism in Example 2 of this invention. 9 is a flowchart showing a memory securing sequence process (memory securing process of a memory management mechanism) of an image reading apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. 9 is a flowchart showing a memory release sequence process (memory securing process of the memory management mechanism) of the image reading apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an image reading apparatus to which an information processing apparatus showing Embodiment 1 of the present invention is applied.
As shown in FIG. 1, the image reading apparatus 1 of this embodiment is a network type scanner, and can be opened and closed with a lower unit 10 constituting the apparatus main body and a link member such as a hinge with respect to the lower unit 10. And an upper unit 20 that forms a document conveyance path (not shown) with the lower unit 10 in a closed state.

  In this embodiment, a paper feed tray 11 on which documents are stacked is provided at the upper end of the lower unit 10. Documents stacked on the paper feed tray 11 are automatically conveyed along a conveyance path between the lower unit 10 and the upper unit 20, and image reading processing is executed by an image reading unit (described later) inside the apparatus. The The original after image reading is discharged toward a paper discharge tray 12 provided at the lower end of the lower unit 10.

  Further, the image reading apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is provided with an information display unit 21 that displays various information on the front surface of the upper unit 20. Here, for example, in this embodiment, the information display unit 21 includes a liquid crystal panel 21a and a transparent touch panel 21b that receives a user operation. That is, the information display unit 21 can display, for example, a document image read by the image reading unit or a setting screen used for setting a reading mode and various settings via the liquid crystal panel 21a. The user can directly input various setting items by using the touch panel 21b, for example, while displaying a setting screen, an input screen, or the like on the liquid crystal panel 21a.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 2, components that indicate functions of the image reading apparatus 1 to which the information processing apparatus of the present invention is applied will be described.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the image reading apparatus 1 to which the information processing apparatus of the present invention is applied.
As shown in FIG. 2, the image reading apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes an image reading unit 31 serving as an ADF (Auto Document Feeder) scanner unit, an image reading unit 31 and the like for a system bus 30 that transmits information. A control unit 32 including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) to be controlled and an MMU (Memory Management Unit) having a function of converting a virtual address into a physical address using an address table to be described later, a processing method for instructing a scan operation, and reading setting A recording medium 33 composed of a non-volatile flash memory for storing various data such as information and programs and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 34 for temporarily storing read image data, various data and programs, etc. are connected to each other. Has been. The image reading unit 31 and the system bus 30 may be configured to be connected via a predetermined interface such as a USB interface, for example. The MMU of the control unit 32 may be a module built in a CPU (processor), or may be another chip coupled to the CPU.

  In addition, an information display unit 21 including a liquid crystal panel 21 a that displays a GUI and a touch panel 21 b that receives an operation using a GUI (Graphical User Interface) is connected to the system bus 30. Further, the system bus 30 stores the read image data and the like with other computers (including PCs (Personal Computers), client computers, etc.) and servers (including host computers and servers that relay communications between segments). An external communication interface 35 that transmits to the network is connected.

  The CPU of the control unit 32 controls the image reading apparatus 1 by executing a program (a program or application program corresponding to the operating system) recorded on the recording medium 33.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a memory securing operation of the operating system that operates on the information processing apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment.
In order for an application program (hereinafter referred to as an application) 44 to secure a memory, the application 44 uses an operating system (hereinafter referred to as an OS) interface (for example, VirtualAlloc API in the case of Windows (registered trademark)) to manage virtual memory. The module 43 (that is, one of the OS memory management functions) is requested to secure the memory. Note that the memory management function of the OS provides a virtual memory space and an address table to the application when the application is activated. The address table is stored and managed on a physical memory (RAM 34). The address table conversion module 42 (configured by the above-described MMU or OS memory management function) converts a virtual address on the virtual memory into a physical address on the physical memory (RAM 34) using this address table. . There is also a configuration in which a copy of the address table is held in the MMU and the address conversion is performed at high speed.

The virtual memory management module 43 of the OS requested to secure the memory requests memory allocation to the address table conversion module 42 that allocates the virtual memory to the physical memory based on the virtual memory address table.
The requested address table conversion module 42 searches the physical memory free area via the physical memory access module 41 (reserves the area), obtains the address of the physical memory free area, and uses the physical memory free area as virtual. Information related to the free area of the memory is set in the address table.
That is, the physical memory area is allocated (mapped) to the virtual memory area. Further, the address table conversion module 42 uses the start address of the virtual memory area to which the physical memory area is allocated (mapped) as described above as the start address of the secured memory via the virtual memory management module 43. Return to application 44.

  As described above, the OS operating on the information processing apparatus (image reading apparatus 1) of the present invention allocates physical memory when receiving a memory area securing request (memory securing request) from the application 44 (physical memory). Secure). In addition, when a memory release request is received from the application 44, the allocation of physical memory is released (physical memory is released). Therefore, the OS running on the information processing apparatus of the present invention is different from the OS that does not allocate physical memory until the memory is actually accessed even when a memory area securing request is received from an application program. The operation at the time of memory allocation and release becomes relatively slow. For this reason, when the application 44 frequently requests memory reservation, the operation speed may be reduced.

  Further, in a system with abundant physical memory, the address table conversion module 42 can immediately search for a free area in the physical memory and return a physical address assigned to the virtual memory. However, in the case of an OS of a system having a small physical memory, such as an embedded device, or a program created in a language strict for virtual memory management, such as the image reading apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the address table conversion module 42 uses the physical memory. Before the area is secured, compression processing, fragmentation elimination processing, and clear processing of the memory area in use of the virtual memory and physical memory occur. For this reason, the reaction of the address table conversion module 42 is delayed. Such an address conversion process occurs every time the application 44 requests the virtual memory to secure the memory. Therefore, in a system that frequently secures and releases the memory, the operation speed further decreases. In the image reading apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the physical memory can recognize only 512 MB, for example, according to the specification of the address table conversion module 42 of the OS, but the present invention is not limited to this.

FIG. 4 is a memory allocation sequence diagram of the image reading apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 4, 50 is a memory management mechanism. In a general memory allocation sequence, as shown in FIG. 3, the application 44 directly calls a memory allocation release process to the virtual memory management module 43 (that is, one of the memory management functions of the OS). It becomes the same as the state where 50 does not exist.

  For this reason, in a general memory allocation sequence, an information processing apparatus operating on an OS that takes a relatively long time for memory allocation / release processing causes a decrease in the operation speed as described with reference to FIG.

Therefore, in the present invention, instead of calling the memory securing process of the virtual memory management module 43 (OS) directly from the application 44, the memory securing process of the memory management mechanism 50 is called from the application 44 (as a memory securing request). Further, instead of calling the memory release process of the virtual memory management module 43 (OS) directly from the application 44, the memory release process of the memory management mechanism 50 is called from the application 44 (as a memory release request). As described above, by using the memory securing process / release process of the memory management mechanism 50 from the application 44, the number of executions of the memory securing process / memory releasing process occurring in the address table conversion module 42 is substantially reduced, and the execution speed can be reduced. Shall prevent decline. The process flow for this will be described with reference to FIG.
The memory management mechanism 50 is realized by the CPU in the control unit 32 reading and executing a program recorded on the recording medium 33 so as to be readable by a computer. Means, release means and the like.

  Note that the application 44 stores the image data acquired by the image reading unit 31 in a physical memory (RAM 34), performs image processing, and outputs the image data to the recording medium 33 (records it on the recording medium 33). In the present invention, at the time of securing and releasing an image memory (memory for storing the above-described image data) that requires performance, requires a large memory size, and has a large number of memory securing requests and memory releasing requests, Assume that the memory management mechanism 50 is used. That is, the application 44 makes a memory allocation request to the memory management mechanism 50 in order to store the image data acquired by the image reading unit 31, and allocates a memory area allocated to store the image data to the memory management mechanism 50. Request memory release to return to Therefore, the application program 44 issues a memory allocation request to the memory management mechanism 50 when the image reading unit 31 reads an image, and issues a memory release request to the memory management mechanism 50 when the image data processing is completed. The application 44 is configured to be able to distinguish whether the image memory is secured / released or other memory secured / released.

  The functions of the memory securing process and the releasing process of the memory management mechanism 50 of the present invention are provided by programs such as a library and can be executed by calling these programs from the application 44.

Hereinafter, a standard memory management table used for memory management by the memory management mechanism 50 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a memory management table of the memory management mechanism 50 according to the first embodiment of this invention.
In FIG. 5, 51 is a standard memory management table, which corresponds to the management means of the present invention. In the standard memory management table 51, a column 52 indicates a memory management number. A column 52 indicates a memory reservation state of an address corresponding to the memory management number. Each row of the standard memory management table 51 indicates the correspondence between the memory management number (column 52) and the memory allocation state (column 53). In this embodiment, the standard memory management table 51 has 65536 elements, and stores the usage status of 4 KB of memory per element (for each memory management number).

  The standard memory management table 51 is stored in the memory management mechanism when the first memory reservation request is made by an application in the image reading apparatus 1 (that is, when the memory reservation request process of the memory management mechanism 50 is first called). 50 is created on the RAM 34. At this time, the memory management mechanism 50 requests the OS to reserve a virtual memory having a predetermined amount of memory (for example, the maximum memory capacity that can be reserved in the OS at a time, which is 256 MB in this embodiment) (Windows ( In the case of (registered trademark), for example, a virtual memory reservation is requested from the OS using the VirtualAlloc API). In response to this request, the OS reserves an area in the virtual memory of the application. By this reservation processing, the memory management mechanism 50 can secure a continuous memory area. Further, when the memory management mechanism 50 creates the standard memory management table 51, the memory management mechanism 50 initializes the state of all areas (all areas) corresponding to all memory management numbers in the standard memory management table 51 to “unallocated”. deep. Note that the memory reservation state includes “not reserved”, “not used”, “first”, and “in use”. First, “unallocated” indicates a state in which no physical memory is allocated to the virtual memory area (4 KB) corresponding to the memory management number (unallocated area). “Unused” indicates a state in which physical memory is allocated to the virtual memory area corresponding to the memory management number (usable state) and not allocated to the application (unused area). “Top” and “In Use” indicate a state in which the virtual memory area corresponding to the memory management number is allocated to the application by the memory allocation process of the memory management mechanism 50 (a state in which the application is in use) region). Note that “head” indicates the head area of the area allocated to the application, and “in use” indicates an area other than the head area. By providing such a standard memory management table 51, the memory management mechanism 50 can manage the state (presence / absence of reservation, presence / absence of assignment to an application, etc.) in the reserved memory area.

Hereinafter, the memory allocation sequence process and the memory release sequence process in the image reading apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a memory securing sequence process (memory securing process of the memory management mechanism 50) of the image reading apparatus to which the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied. In the figure, S601 to S607 indicate each step. Note that the processing in this flowchart is realized by the CPU in the control unit 32 reading and executing a program recorded in the recording medium 33 so as to be readable by a computer. This memory securing process is executed by the memory management mechanism 50 when a memory securing instruction (memory securing request) is issued from the application 44 to the memory management mechanism 50.

  First, in step S601, the memory management mechanism 50 (the CPU in the control unit 32) determines whether or not the current memory reservation request is the first memory reservation request made from the application 44 to the virtual memory (that is, whether or not the memory has not been reserved). ). In this embodiment, whether or not it is the first memory reservation request is determined by whether or not the memory management number 1 in the standard memory management table 51 of FIG. That is, when the memory management number 1 in the standard memory management table 51 is in an “unsecured” state, it is determined that this is the first memory reservation request. Further, even when the standard memory management table 51 is not created at the time of S601, the memory management mechanism 50 determines that the first memory is secured, and in this case, creates the standard memory management table 51 according to the above procedure. And

  If it is determined in S601 that the memory allocation request is the first (first) memory allocation request (memory not yet allocated), the memory management mechanism 50 has a predetermined capacity (preliminarily required for the entire processing of the application 44). In order to check whether or not the (memory amount) exists as free memory on the physical memory, the process proceeds to S602.

It is assumed that the memory usage required for the entire process is stored on the recording medium 33 in advance. In the case of the present embodiment, 49152 blocks are set as the secured amount to be secured in advance. The secured amount varies depending on the setting of the application program of the image reading apparatus 1 to a necessary memory amount. In the image reading apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the image reading unit 31 of the image reading apparatus 1 may determine according to the volume of image data that can be read by one reading process. For example, if the image reading unit 31 is a device that can read both sides of a document with a single reading process, the above-mentioned secured amount is a memory that is at least three times the reading size of image data per one side of the document read by the image reading unit 31 It may be an amount. Further, if the image reading unit 31 is a device that reads one side of a document by a single reading process, the secured amount is a memory amount that is at least twice the reading size of image data per one side of the document read by the image reading unit 31. Also good. That is, the secured amount may be a memory amount that is at least a multiple of the reading size of the image data per one side of the document read by the image reading unit 31. Note that the image processing unit by the application 44 of the image data read by the image reading unit 31 and stored in the physical memory is an image data unit on one side of the document. That is, the secured amount is the amount of memory corresponding to the size obtained by adding the size of the image data of the image processing unit (one side of the original) in the application 44 to the size of the image data read by the image reading unit 31 in one reading process. It is good.
Further, the secured amount may be a memory amount obtained by subtracting the system use capacity (capacity used by the CPU of the control unit 32 in addition to the memory secured in advance) from the maximum memory capacity that can be requested to the OS at a time.

  In S602, the memory management mechanism 50 determines in advance whether or not the amount of memory required for the entire processing exists as free memory on the physical memory. If it is determined in S602 that the required amount of memory does not exist as free memory on the physical memory, the memory management mechanism 50 advances the process to S605 in order to notify the application 44 of memory shortage.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S602 that the required amount of memory exists as free memory on the physical memory, the memory management mechanism 50 determines whether the required amount of the entire process is actually reserved in S603 (allocating process). ). By the processing of S602, it is possible to control the OS to make a memory reservation request only when the amount of free memory required by the application 44 exists in the physical memory. It is possible to avoid waste such as an error. In other words, when there is no free memory amount required by the application 44, error processing can be performed promptly without causing the application 44 to wait.

  In S603, the memory management mechanism 50 knows that the required amount of memory exists as free memory on the physical memory, so that the OS can actually secure the required amount of memory for the entire process. (When the OS is Windows (registered trademark), for example, a virtual alloc API is used to request memory reservation from the OS). In response to this memory reservation request, the OS secures a physical memory having the requested capacity. That is, as described in FIG. 3, the OS maps the physical memory free space of the requested capacity to the virtual memory area (the area in the area reserved when the standard memory management table 51 is created) (physical memory). The information relating to the free memory area and the virtual memory area is set in the address table), and the start address of the virtual memory area to which the physical memory area is allocated is returned to the memory management mechanism 50. The memory management mechanism 50 sets the “unused” flag in the state 53 of the memory management mechanism 50 by the amount of memory secured from the top memory address of the virtual memory responded from the OS, and advances the process to S604. Through the processing of S603, the memory management mechanism 50 manages whether the area corresponding to each memory management number in the area reserved when the standard memory management table 51 is created is an area where the memory has been reserved or an area where the memory has not been reserved. Thereafter, the reserved area can be quickly allocated to the application 44.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S601 that the memory allocation request is the second or later (memory allocation has been completed), the memory management mechanism 50 determines whether the necessary memory exists as a free memory allocated by the memory management mechanism 50. In order to check whether or not, the process proceeds to S604.

  In S <b> 604, the memory management mechanism 50 determines whether or not the memory amount currently requested by the application 44 exists in an area “unused” in the standard memory management table 51 of the memory management mechanism 50. If the memory management mechanism 50 determines in S604 that the requested memory amount exists as free memory in the standard memory management table 51, the memory management mechanism 50 performs S606 (allocation processing) in order to make it usable by the application. ).

  In S606, the memory management mechanism 50 knows that the amount of memory requested by the application 44 exists as free memory on the memory management mechanism 50, and therefore has an “unused” flag for the requested size. And the start address is notified (assigned) to the application 44 as a usable memory area. Further, the memory management mechanism 50 stores that the memory is being used for the requested amount from the top address in order not to return that the used memory area is usable when the next memory securing request is made. Then, the process proceeds to S607. The application 44 that has received the notification in S606 can use as much memory as requested from the notified start address.

  In step S <b> 607, the memory management mechanism 50 stores the memory state of the standard memory management table 51 of the memory management mechanism 50 as “used” for the requested size from the top address as a memory area usable for the application 44. Processing (however, the start address is stored as “start”), and the processing ends. By the processing of S607, the memory management mechanism 50 reliably manages the memory area (used area) allocated to the application 44 in the memory area where the memory is secured, and quickly allocates the memory to the application 44. Can do. The start address may be stored together with the memory capacity reserved this time and referred to when executing a search process for searching for a free area in S604.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S604 that the requested memory amount does not exist as free memory in the standard memory management table 51, the memory management mechanism 50 performs the process in S605 to notify the application 44 of the memory shortage. To proceed.

In step S <b> 605, the memory management mechanism 50 secures the memory management mechanism 50 by the amount of memory requested by the application 44, whether the amount of memory required for the entire processing does not exist as free memory on the physical memory. Since there is no “unused” state (free memory area) in the memory area, the application 44 is notified that the memory is insufficient by returning an error, and the process ends. As a result of the processing in S605, if there is no free memory amount required by the application in the reserved memory area, error processing can be performed promptly without causing the application 44 to wait.
Through the above memory allocation sequence process, the memory management mechanism 50 can quickly allocate a memory having a capacity requested by the application to the application 44 without causing the application 44 to wait. In other words, the application 44 can quickly acquire the requested amount of memory and continue the processing, and can reduce unnecessary waiting time and performance degradation.
The application program 44 may be configured to output a memory release request for returning all the allocated areas when the program ends.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a memory release sequence process (memory release process of the memory management mechanism 50) of the image reading apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, S701 to S705 indicate each step. Note that the processing in this flowchart is realized by the CPU in the control unit 32 reading and executing a program recorded in the recording medium 33 so as to be readable by a computer. This memory release process is executed by the memory management mechanism 50 when the application 44 issues a release instruction (memory release request) specifying the start address to the memory management mechanism 50.

  In S701, the memory management mechanism 50 (the CPU in the control unit 32) determines whether or not the start address specified in the current memory release request is the start address of the virtual memory reserved in the memory reservation sequence process of FIG. . Specifically, it is determined whether or not the memory address corresponds to the memory management number 52 of the standard memory management table 51.

  If it is determined in S701 that the head address specified by the memory release request is not the head address of the virtual memory secured by the memory securing sequence process of FIG. 6, the memory management mechanism 50 secures the memory management mechanism 50. Since it is not a valid memory, the process is terminated. For example, when the memory management number 2, 3, 6, or the like in the standard memory management table 51 is designated, the memory state is not “the top address”, and therefore the condition is to end the processing.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S701 that the head address specified in the memory release request is the head address of the virtual memory secured in the memory securing sequence of FIG. 6, the memory management mechanism 50 resets to the unused state. Then, the process proceeds to S702 (assignment release process).

  In S702, the memory management mechanism 50 changes the state from the first address to the next start address or from the next unused address to the unused state. In other words, the memory management mechanism 50 cancels the allocation of the memory to the application 44 for the area requested to be released from the application 44 and allows the area to be reassigned to the application 44. For example, when the memory management number 1 in the standard memory management table 51 is designated, the memory statuses of the memory management numbers 1 to 3 are changed to “unused”. When the memory management number 4 is designated, only the memory management number 4 is changed to “unused”. Through the processing of S702, the allocation of the memory area requested to be released (returned) by the application 44 can be released and can be allocated again to the application 44 (memory return from the application 44 is processed).

  Next, in S703, the memory management mechanism 50 determines that the memory in use exists on the memory management mechanism 50 (that is, the memory corresponding to the address for which the “unused” flag is set in S702 is the last memory in use). Determine whether or not. If it is determined in S703 that the memory in use exists on the memory management mechanism 50, the memory management mechanism 50 ends the release process. In this embodiment, the process of checking whether there is a memory in use is performed by searching the memory management number 52 of the standard memory management table 51 in order from 1, and the first address state is reached until the last number in the table. It shall be realized by checking whether or not.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S703 that the memory in use does not exist on the memory management mechanism 50, the memory management mechanism 50 releases the memory secured by the memory management mechanism 50 (the memory secured in S603 in FIG. 6). Therefore, the process proceeds to S704.

  In S704, the memory management mechanism 50 performs a process of releasing the physical memory in which the memory secured in S603 in FIG. 6 is mapped on the virtual memory. In the example of FIG. 5, the areas with memory management numbers 1 to 49152 are released from the virtual memory mapping of the OS. The memory management mechanism 50 makes a memory release request for the memory secured in S603 of FIG. 6 to the OS (in the case of Windows (registered trademark), for example, a virtual free API is used to request memory release from the OS). In response to this request, the OS releases the requested area from the virtual memory mapping of the OS. That is, the OS deletes information relating the physical memory area to the virtual memory area from the address table, and enables the corresponding physical memory area to be assigned to the virtual memory again. Through the processing in S705, all the reserved areas can be released, and any program can be used.

  Since the virtual memory is released in S704, it is necessary to consider the first memory reservation when the next memory reservation request is received from the application 44. Therefore, in S705, the memory management mechanism 50 performs a process of changing the memory state 53 of all the memory management numbers 52 in the standard memory management table 51 to the “unsecured” state, and ends the process. Through the processing in S705, the memory management mechanism 50 reliably manages that the area corresponding to each memory management number in the area reserved when the standard memory management table 51 is created is an area where memory is not yet secured. When a memory securing request is received from the application 44, the memory securing request can be made to the OS again to secure the memory.

  Through the memory release sequence process described above, the memory management mechanism 50 can quickly make the memory in the area requested by the application a realizable area without waiting for the application 44 (can be returned). In other words, the application 44 can quickly return the memory that is no longer needed, and can continue the processing, thereby suppressing unnecessary waiting time and suppressing performance degradation.

  When there is a memory allocation request from a plurality of applications in the memory management mechanism 50, that is, for example, an application that handles direct data such as images is relayed to an application that manages data handled by a database, assuming a workflow. In such a case (in the case of cooperation between a dedicated application used for scanner control and general-purpose applications such as for various databases), the memory management mechanism provides a mechanism for transferring the memory reserved in the first application to the next application. May be provided.

  For example, before the first application is terminated, the memory area secured by the memory management mechanism 50 is copied to the memory management mechanism 50 of the application process to be relayed and remapped, and then the process of the first application is terminated. Process. Specifically, the virtual memory area reserved by using the above VirtualAlloc or the like (that is, the area managed by the management table 501 and including the area in which the memory is secured in S601 in FIG. 6) is used by using VirtualCopy or the like. Relay is realized by copying virtual memory between processes. That is, while managing the memory allocation request for each application to the memory management mechanism 50, considering the timing of each memory allocation request and memory release, all or a part of the memory allocated in the first application is transferred to the next application. When relaying to, the memory may be allocated to the next application. Thereby, the memory can be used effectively.

  As described above, in the information processing apparatus (image reading apparatus 1) according to the present invention, a memory allocation request or a memory release request that is frequently made by an application is performed without frequently making a memory allocation request or a memory release request to the OS. In response, the memory can be allocated to the application. Therefore, an OS that secures a physical memory area when a memory securing request is received and releases the secured physical memory area when a memory releasing request is received. In the environment where the application operates, the memory management mechanism 50 of the present invention can quickly respond to the memory securing request and the memory release request from the application, and the application is not made to wait unnecessarily, so that the performance degradation of the application can be suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to improve the performance of the entire process and improve user convenience. In particular, by using the memory management mechanism 50 at the time of securing and releasing the image memory, the OS does not perform time-consuming memory securing and releasing processing during image processing that requires performance, thereby improving the performance of the entire processing. Can do.

  Note that in an information reading apparatus operating on an OS having an advanced memory management function that performs compression processing, fragmentation elimination processing, clear processing, etc. at the time of memory allocation / release, the OS frequently makes memory allocation requests and memory release requests. Therefore, a decrease in performance due to compression processing, fragmentation elimination processing, and clear processing at the time of release executed by the OS during memory allocation processing and memory release processing can be suppressed, and further effects can be expected.

Example 2 will be described below.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the memory management table of the memory management mechanism 50 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
In the second embodiment, there are two memory management tables: a standard memory management table 51 of a reserved memory area where high-speed memory can be secured, and an extended memory management table 81 which secures memory each time it is requested at a low speed. To do. The extended memory management table 81 corresponds to the extended management means of the present invention.

  In the extended memory management table 81, a column 82 indicates a memory management number. A column 82 indicates a memory reservation state of an address corresponding to the memory management number. Each row indicates the correspondence between the memory management number (column 82) and the memory allocation state (column 83).

  The standard memory management table 51 and the extended memory management table 81 are created in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 32 on the RAM 34 when the first memory reservation request is made from an application within the image reading apparatus 1, and all memory management numbers are not yet stored. Initialized as a secured state. The method for creating the standard memory management table 51 and the extended memory management table 81 is the same as the method for creating the standard memory management table 51 shown in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

  In the second embodiment, each of the standard memory management table 51 and the extended memory management table 81 has 65536 elements, and stores a memory usage state of 4 KB per element (for each memory management number).

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a memory securing sequence process (memory securing process of the memory management mechanism 50) of the image reading apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, S601 to S607 and S900 to S905 indicate the respective steps, and the same steps as those in FIG. Note that the processing in this flowchart is realized by the CPU in the control unit 32 reading and executing a program recorded in the recording medium 33 so as to be readable by a computer. This memory securing process is executed by the memory management mechanism 50 when a memory securing instruction (memory securing request) is issued from the application 44 to the memory management mechanism 50.

  In this embodiment, if it is determined in S604 of FIG. 9A that the requested memory amount does not exist as free memory in the standard memory management table 51 (No in S604), the memory management mechanism 50 (control) The CPU in the unit 32 executes the extended memory securing process (FIG. 9B) in S900 without causing an error. In this case, although no error occurs in the present embodiment, the memory allocation processing / release processing is performed as the original OS memory allocation processing / memory release processing, so the memory management mechanism 50 described in the first embodiment allocates memory. Compared with processing, speeding up cannot be expected.

Hereinafter, the extended memory securing process in S900 will be described with reference to FIG.
In S901, the memory management mechanism 50 determines whether or not the memory amount requested by the application 44 exists as free memory on the physical memory. If it is determined in S901 that the amount of memory requested by the application 44 does not exist as free memory in the physical memory, the memory management mechanism 50 advances the process to S903 in order to notify the application 44 of memory shortage. . With the processing of S901, it is possible to control the OS to make a memory reservation request only when the amount of free memory required by the application 44 exists on the physical memory, and request the OS for a memory capacity that cannot be secured. It is possible to avoid waste such as an error. In other words, when there is no free memory amount required by the application 44, error processing can be performed promptly without causing the application 44 to wait.

  In S903, the memory management mechanism 50 notifies the application 44 that the memory is insufficient because the amount of memory requested from the application 44 does not exist as free memory on the physical memory, by returning an error, The process ends.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S901 that the memory amount requested by the application 44 exists as a free memory in the physical memory, the memory management mechanism 50 performs S902 in order to actually secure the memory amount requested by the application 44. The process proceeds to S905 (extended allocation process).

  In S902, the memory management mechanism 50 knows that the amount of memory requested by the application 44 exists as a free memory in the physical memory, so that it actually secures the amount of memory requested by the application 44. The memory is requested to the OS. In response to this request, the OS secures a physical memory having the requested capacity. That is, as described in FIG. 3, the OS maps the free area of the physical memory to the area on the virtual memory (sets information associated with the free area of the physical memory and the virtual memory area in the address table). The start address of the virtual memory area to which the physical memory area is allocated is returned to the memory management mechanism 50. Then, the memory management mechanism 50 advances the process to S904 to make the application 44 usable. Through the processing in S902, it is possible to secure a physical memory having an amount of free memory required by the application 44.

  In S904, the memory management mechanism 50 notifies the application 44 of the start address secured in S902 and mapped on the virtual memory (the start memory address of the virtual memory returned from the OS) as a usable memory area. The application 44 that has received the notification in S902 can use as much memory as requested from the notified start address. Further, since the memory management mechanism 50 directly reserves physical memory and is different from the memory area collectively managed in the standard memory management table 51, the memory management mechanism 50 is currently secured as an extended memory by the amount of memory secured from the top address. In order to store this, the process proceeds to S905.

  In S905, the memory management mechanism 50 sets the status of the extended memory management table 81 of the memory management mechanism 50 as the memory size that can be used by the application 44 for the requested size from the start address, “extension start”, “ensure expansion” (memory management). (Such as No. 1 and No. 2) are stored (registered as an expansion reservation area), and the process is terminated. Note that the memory capacity reserved this time may be stored together with the state at the expansion reserved head address. Through the processing of S905, the memory management mechanism 50 determines whether the area corresponding to each memory management number in the area reserved when the extended memory management table 81 is created is an area allocated to the application 44 after securing the memory, or an unallocated memory. It is possible to reliably manage the area, and thereafter, the memory can be secured and the memory can be quickly allocated to the application 44.

  As described above, in the memory allocation sequence processing according to the second embodiment, even when a memory capacity exceeding the memory allocated in advance is requested, additional memory is ensured by the capacity requested when requested by the application, and the memory is insufficient. Without falling into the process, memory can be allocated to the application and the process can be continued. Further, the influence on the system can be minimized.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a memory release sequence process (memory securing process of the memory management mechanism 50) of the image reading apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, S701 to S705 and S1000 to S1003 indicate steps, and the same steps as those in FIG. Note that the processing in this flowchart is realized by the CPU in the control unit 32 reading and executing a program recorded in the recording medium 33 so as to be readable by a computer. This memory release process is executed by the memory management mechanism 50 when a release instruction (memory release request) is issued from the application 44 to the memory management mechanism 50 by designating the head address.

  In this embodiment, when it is determined in S701 in FIG. 10A that the head address specified in the memory release request is not the head address of the virtual memory secured in S606 and S607 in FIG. 9A (in S701). In the case of No), the memory management mechanism 50 (CPU in the control unit 32) executes an extended memory release process (FIG. 10B) in S1000.

Hereinafter, the extended memory release process of S1000 will be described with reference to FIG.
In S1001, the memory management mechanism 50 determines whether or not the current memory release request is the start address where the expansion of the virtual memory is secured in the memory securing sequence process of FIG. 9B. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the memory state of the address specified in the extended memory management table 81 is “extended head”. If it is determined in S1001 that the virtual memory address specified in the memory release request is not the expanded reserved start address, the memory management mechanism 50 does not have the memory reserved by the memory management mechanism 50, and the process is performed. finish. Specifically, when a memory management number other than 1 or 3 in the extended memory management table 81 is designated, it is a condition for ending the processing because it is not the start address secured for expansion.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S1001 that the address of the virtual memory specified in the memory release request is the head address that has been secured, the memory management mechanism 50 performs S1002 (expanded release) to perform the physical memory release process. Process proceeds to (Process).

  In S1002, the memory management mechanism 50 in the extended memory management table 81 extends from the head address reserved for expansion (the address of “ensured expansion”) to the head address reserved for the next expansion or the next “unsecured” address. And the OS is requested to release the memory so as to release the physical memory that has been secured. In the example of FIG. 8, when the memory management number 1 in the extended memory management table 81 is designated, a memory release request for releasing the memory corresponding to the memory management numbers 1 to 2 from the virtual memory mapping of the OS is issued. To the OS. When No. 3 is designated, a memory release request is issued to the OS to release only the memory corresponding to No. 3 from the virtual memory mapping of the OS. In response to this request, the OS releases the requested area from the virtual memory mapping of the OS. That is, the OS deletes information relating the physical memory area to the virtual memory area from the address table, and enables the corresponding physical memory area to be assigned to the virtual memory again. By the processing in S1002, the extended memory area returned from the application 44 can be released, and any program can be used.

Next, in S1003, since the memory management mechanism 50 has released the physical memory at the address corresponding to the memory management number released in the process of S1002, the address corresponding to the memory management number released in the process of S1002 above. The process of changing the memory state 83 of the extended memory management table 81 to the “unsecured” state is performed (registered as an unsecured area), and the process ends. By the processing in S1003, the memory management mechanism 50 can secure the memory for the memory area released in S1002 again.
As described above, in the memory release sequence process according to the second embodiment, the memory additionally reserved in the memory reservation sequence process according to the second embodiment is released when the memory is released from the application so that an arbitrary program can be used. The system can be prevented from running out of memory.

  As described above, in the image reading apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, even when a memory capacity exceeding the reserved memory reserved in advance is requested, the process can be continued by allocating memory to the application without falling short of memory. Therefore, the usability of the system can be improved.

(Other Example 1)
The information processing apparatus of the present invention may be a mobile terminal including a smartphone, a mobile phone, various tablet computers, and the like.

  Similar to the information processing apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the portable terminal of the present invention has a control unit, a RAM, a recording medium, a communication unit, a display unit, and the like, and the control unit stores the web page received by the communication unit in the RAM. A web display application (web browser) that performs display processing on the display unit using (physical memory) can be executed. A web page refers to user input such as data for displaying moving images, images, text, etc. using a tag markup language (structured language) such as html or xml, or a Java (registered trademark) script. Includes a program for changing the display content (that is, data expressed using a structured language) and can be displayed by an application such as a web browser. Since the web page is hierarchized by the markup language, the data capacity is undefined until the analysis is completed.

  In addition, an image processing application that includes an image capturing unit such as a camera and performs image processing of image data acquired from the image capturing unit by causing the image capturing unit to perform image capturing processing may be configured to be executable. Further, an image processing application that performs image processing of image data acquired from the communication unit may be configured to be executable. The portable terminal and a scanner as an external device may be connected so as to be communicable (wired or wirelessly), and an image processing application that acquires image data from the scanner and performs image processing may be configured to be executable. Furthermore, the portable terminal and a printer as an external device can be communicably connected (wired or wirelessly) to execute an image processing application that performs image processing on image data stored in a RAM or a recording medium and prints the image on the printer. You may comprise.

  The portable terminal of the present invention operates in an operating system that secures a physical memory area when a memory securing request is received and releases the secured physical memory area when a memory release request is received. Furthermore, the portable terminal of the present invention has the memory management mechanism shown in the first and second embodiments. The web display application that operates on the portable terminal of the present invention uses the memory management mechanism 50 when securing and releasing the memory for performing the web page display process. Note that this application is configured to be able to distinguish between securing / releasing memory for performing web page display processing and securing / releasing other memory. In the case of this application, the memory allocation amount that the memory management mechanism 50 collects memory at the time of the first memory request from the application is determined from the maximum memory capacity that can be requested to the OS at one time from the system use capacity (the above-mentioned reservation is ensured in advance). In addition to the memory, a memory amount obtained by subtracting a necessary minimum capacity used by the control unit (CPU) of the mobile terminal may be used.

  Similarly, the image processing application is configured to be able to distinguish whether the image memory is secured / released or other memory secured / released, and the memory management mechanism 50 is used when securing and releasing the image memory. In the case of this image processing application, the memory allocation amount that the memory management mechanism 50 collects memory at the time of the first memory request from the application is equal to the size of the image data that the camera or scanner reads in one reading process. The size of image data in the image processing unit (for example, one side of a document for scanning, one frame for a camera, and one page for a print) may be the amount of memory corresponding to the added size. That is, in the case of document image reading processing, a memory capacity of a predetermined capacity corresponding to, for example, several pages and the number of sheets of the document can be set as the memory reservation amount according to the image processing capability of the application.

  By having such a configuration, even a mobile terminal that does not necessarily have abundant physical memory may increase the memory capacity to be used, such as displaying web pages or performing image processing with an undefined capacity. Even when an application is executed on a portable terminal operating on the OS as described above, it can quickly respond to a memory securing request or a memory releasing request from the application, and the application does not have to wait unnecessarily. The decrease can be suppressed.

  In the present invention, an OS that secures / releases a physical memory area when a memory securing / release request is received, a compression process or a fragmentation elimination process for a memory area that is in use when a memory securing / release request is received, The number of memory allocation requests and release requests to the OS is determined in an information processing apparatus that operates on an OS with relatively slow memory allocation and release processing, such as an OS having an advanced memory management function that performs clear processing and the like. To reduce application performance degradation. In particular, during processing that requires performance, it is configured not to make a memory allocation request and a release request to the OS.

  Specifically, a memory capacity for processing to be processed at a high speed is secured in advance before processing requiring performance is started, and no memory allocation request or memory release request is issued to the OS during the processing. Like that. When the process is completed, the memory secured before the process is released. Also, since memory is used in the system and other applications, it is difficult to allocate all physical memory for high-speed image processing. In order to prevent a memory shortage, a memory securing request and a memory releasing request are made at any time.

  With the above configuration, the number of times the OS performs memory allocation / release is reduced, the memory management mechanism 50 of the present invention can quickly respond to memory allocation requests and memory release requests from the application, and the application does not wait unnecessarily. , Application performance degradation can be suppressed. In addition, even when a memory capacity exceeding the reserved memory reserved in advance is requested, additional memory is secured by the capacity requested when requested by the application, and the memory is allocated to the application without causing a memory shortage. It is possible to continue. Further, the influence on the system can be minimized.

  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 the form of, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or storage medium, and specifically includes a plurality of devices. The present invention may be applied to a system including a single device.

(Other Example 2)
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.
Further, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications (including organic combinations of the embodiments) are possible based on the spirit of the present invention, and these are excluded from the scope of the present invention. is not. That is, the present invention includes all the combinations of the above-described embodiments and modifications thereof.

  The information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes an OS that secures / releases a physical memory area when a memory allocation / release request is received, and a compression process or fragment of a memory area that is in use when a memory allocation / release request is received The effect can be expected by applying it not only to an OS having an advanced memory management function for performing de-serialization processing, clear processing, etc., but also to an information processing apparatus that operates on an OS with relatively slow memory securing and releasing processes.

1. Information processing device (image reading device)
21 Information Display Unit 31 Image Reading Unit 32 Control Unit 33 Storage Medium 34 RAM
35 External communication interface (external communication I / F)
50 Memory management mechanism 51 Standard memory management table 81 Extended memory management table

Claims (25)

An information processing apparatus operating in an operating system that secures a physical memory area when receiving a memory securing request and releases the secured physical memory area when receiving a memory release request,
In accordance with an initial memory securing request from the application program, a securing unit that performs a memory securing request with a predetermined capacity to the operating system and secures the memory area with the predetermined capacity;
An allocating unit that allocates, to the application program, an area that is not allocated to the application program in the memory area secured by the securing unit in response to a memory securing request from the application program;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a process including a memory securing process of the securing unit and an allocation process of the allocating unit is called from the application.   2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: deallocation means for performing deallocation processing for deallocating an area requested to be released from the application program in response to a memory release request from the application program. Or the information processing apparatus of 2.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein an allocation cancellation process of the allocation cancellation unit is called from the application.   A release unit that issues a memory release request for the memory area secured by the securing unit to the operating system when all the areas allocated to the application program are deallocated by the deallocation unit; The information processing apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that: Management means for storing and managing the allocation state of each area in the memory area secured by the securing means to the application program;
The securing means registers all areas in the secured memory area in the management means as unused areas indicating areas not allocated to the application program,
The assigning means registers the area assigned to the application program in the managing means as a use area indicating an area assigned to the application program,
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the deallocation unit registers an area that has been unassigned to the application as the unused area in the management unit.   When the allocation unit does not have an area of the capacity requested by the application program that is not allocated to the application program in the memory area secured by the securing unit, the allocation unit 4. A memory allocation request for a capacity requested by a program is made, a new memory area is secured, and an extended allocation process for allocating the secured new memory area to the application program is performed. The information processing apparatus according to any one of 6.   When the memory area requested for memory release from the application program is a memory area allocated by the extended allocation process, the deallocation unit issues a memory release request for the memory area requested for release to the operating system. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein an extended release process is performed. Extended management means for storing and managing a secured state of a memory area that can be newly secured by the extended allocation process;
The allocating means registers the area secured by the extended allocation process as an expanded secured area in the extended management means,
9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the deallocation unit registers the area released by the extension release process in the extension management unit as an unsecured area.   The operating system performs a compression process and / or a fragmentation elimination process of the physical memory when the physical memory is secured and / or when the physical memory is released. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9.   11. The information according to claim 1, wherein the application program outputs a memory release request for returning all the areas allocated by the allocation unit when the program ends. Processing equipment. Having image reading means for reading image and acquiring image data;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the application program stores and processes image data acquired by the image reading unit in the physical memory.   The application program makes the memory allocation request to store the image data acquired by the image reading means, and issues the memory release request to return the memory area allocated to store the image data. The information processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the information processing apparatus is performed.   14. The application program makes the memory allocation request when the image reading unit reads an image, and makes the memory release request when the processing of the image data is completed. The information processing apparatus described in 1.   15. The predetermined capacity is a memory capacity obtained by subtracting a capacity used by the information processing apparatus in addition to the predetermined capacity from a maximum memory capacity that can be requested to the operating system at a time. The information processing apparatus according to any one of the above.   13. The predetermined capacity includes a memory capacity obtained by adding a size of image data as a processing unit in the application program to a size of image data read by the image reading unit in one reading process. The information processing apparatus according to any one of 14.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is a mobile terminal. The information processing apparatus includes a communication unit and a display unit,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the application program displays the data expressed using the structured language received by the communication unit on the display unit using the physical memory. An image reading apparatus that operates in an operating system that secures a physical memory area when receiving a memory securing request and releases the secured physical memory area when receiving a memory release request,
Image reading means for reading an image and outputting image data;
An application for storing and processing image data output from the image reading means in the physical memory;
In accordance with an initial memory securing request from the application, a securing unit that performs a memory securing request with a predetermined capacity to the operating system and secures the memory area with the predetermined capacity;
In response to a memory securing request from the application, an allocating unit that allocates, to the application, an area that has not been allocated to the application in the memory area secured by the securing unit;
An image reading apparatus comprising:   20. The device according to claim 19, further comprising: deallocation means for performing deallocation processing for deallocating an area requested to be released from the application in response to a memory release request from the application. Image reading device. Having a communication means and a display means, securing a physical memory area when receiving a memory securing request, and operating in an operating system for releasing the secured physical memory area when receiving a memory releasing request; A portable terminal capable of executing an application for displaying data expressed using a structured language received by the communication unit on the display unit using the physical memory,
In accordance with an initial memory securing request from the application, a securing unit that performs a memory securing request with a predetermined capacity to the operating system and secures the memory area with the predetermined capacity;
In response to a memory securing request from the application, an allocating unit that allocates, to the application, an area that has not been allocated to the application in the memory area secured by the securing unit;
A portable terminal characterized by comprising:   24. The method according to claim 21, further comprising: deallocation means for performing deallocation processing for deallocating an area requested to be released from the application in response to a memory release request from the application. Mobile device. A memory control method of an information processing apparatus operating in an operating system that secures a physical memory area when receiving a memory securing request and releases the secured physical memory area when receiving a memory release request,
A securing step in which a processor provided in the information processing apparatus makes a memory securing request with a predetermined capacity to the operating system in response to an initial memory securing request from an application, and secures the memory area with the predetermined capacity. When,
An allocation step in which the processor allocates, to the application, an area that is not allocated to the application in the memory area secured in the securing step in response to a memory securing request from the application;
A memory control method for an information processing apparatus.   The processor includes a deallocation step for performing deallocation processing for deallocating an area requested to be released from the application to the application in response to a memory release request from the application. 24. A memory control method for the information processing apparatus according to 23.   19. A computer operating in an operating system that secures a physical memory area when receiving a memory securing request and releases the secured physical memory area when receiving a memory release request. A program for causing an information processing apparatus to function.

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