JP5887952B2 - In-vehicle terminal and application execution environment program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle terminal equipped with an application execution environment.

In-vehicle terminals such as car navigation in recent years have incorporated technologies developed for mobile terminals such as mobile phones and smartphones, and various web browsers, Flash (registered trademark) of Adobe, and Toyota's Tune, An environment for executing an additional application downloaded from outside is installed (see Non-Patent Document 1) . At present, a form in which an additional application distributed as an application provider by a vehicle manufacturer or an in-vehicle terminal manufacturer is managed and disclosed to the user is common. However, in the future, it is expected that users will freely acquire additional applications through public application distribution services such as those performed on mobile phones and smartphones and execute them on in-vehicle terminals.

  Such an additional application is guaranteed to be compatible in operation in each execution environment, and operates on a plurality of types of in-vehicle terminals. However, since each in-vehicle terminal has a hardware difference in CPU performance, graphic performance, memory amount, and the like, it is extremely difficult to ensure that the additional application operates reliably on many in-vehicle terminals.

  Also, in many cases, the management of additional applications at the application provider is limited to the infrastructure development on the server side and the confirmation of the minimum basic operation, and the operation guarantee of the additional application on the in-vehicle terminal is left to the developer. It has been. For this reason, there is a possibility that an additional application with inferior quality may be distributed, and it cannot be said that quality assurance is particularly satisfactory when a plurality of additional applications are simultaneously operated on the in-vehicle terminal.

  Further, in the conventional vehicle-mounted terminal, all necessary resources are secured in advance at the time of activation, as in general embedded software. However, at the time of shipment of the in-vehicle terminal, the configuration of the additional application to be installed is not fixed, and some additional applications are rarely used even if installed in the in-vehicle terminal. For this reason, it is not practical in terms of cost to prepare in advance a resource that allows all additional applications mounted on the in-vehicle terminal to operate simultaneously. Therefore, each additional application generally adopts a dynamic resource allocation method that secures the required amount of resources at the required timing and releases the resources acquired at the unnecessary timing. . When such dynamic resource reservation is performed, it cannot be guaranteed that the amount of resources is sufficient at the shipment stage of the in-vehicle terminal.

  Also, in-vehicle terminals must reliably support driving of the car, such as navigation functions and vehicle status indicators and warnings, even if low quality additional applications cause abnormal conditions due to memory shortage, etc. It is necessary to operate such a driving support function. In order to realize this, the additional application is operated by a task different from the driving support function, and the image generated by the additional application and the driving support function image are generated in different display layers, and the image is synthesized by hardware. A configuration of performing display while being employed is employed. As a result, even if the additional application causes a shortage of resources such as memory, the resources can be released by restarting only the task of the additional application while maintaining the image display by the driving support function. The influence on can be eliminated.

  However, when the additional application is restarted, abnormalities such as missing images, white spots, black spots, etc. of the additional application occur, and the image temporarily disappears due to initialization. The quality of the in-vehicle terminal will be greatly impaired.

  As a workaround for such a problem, monitor the resource usage of the additional application and determine whether the resource usage exceeds a certain value or whether the remaining resource of the entire system falls below a certain value. It has been proposed to detect resource shortage in advance. Then, when a shortage of resources is detected in advance, the additional application is restarted with the normally generated image fixed, and the update of the image is resumed after the restart is completed. Of course, the image fixed at this time is only the image drawn on the display layer corresponding to the additional application, and the update of the display layer corresponding to other functions is continued as it is. By doing this, it is possible to return the additional application to a stable state immediately after activation while preventing image disturbance due to reactivation, and to minimize the influence of reactivation of the additional application.

  In addition to this, in Patent Document 1, when a newly added application cannot be executed due to lack of resources, the application specified by the user is terminated among the running applications, and a new application A resource management method for securing resources required for execution is described.

  Patent Document 2 discloses that when an application ends abnormally, the communication between the other application and the abnormally ended application is temporarily stopped, and the application is restarted after restarting the abnormally ended application. The method is described. According to such a method, an abnormally terminated application can be restored without stopping normal application operation.

“Toyota, car navigation system that can use smartphone apps on Prius v”, Nihon Keizai Shimbun dated January 13, 2011, Internet <URL: http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASFK12013_S1A110C1000000/> JP 2004-64339 A JP 2002-342095 A

  When the shortage of resources is detected in advance, restart the additional application with the normal image fixed, and restart the image update after the restart is completed. Disturbance can be avoided. However, some additional applications, for example, display 0:00 at the time of startup, count up at high speed up to the current time, and then display a normal time, and then display a startup animation at startup. is there. And when such an additional application is restarted, even if it uses the above-mentioned method, a starting animation will be displayed, it will be unsightly to a user and the quality of a vehicle-mounted terminal will be impaired greatly.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an in-vehicle terminal or the like that can restart an application running on an application execution environment without losing quality.

The present invention made in view of the above problems relates to an in-vehicle terminal equipped with an application execution environment for operating an application. The application execution environment includes an activation unit that activates the application after activation of the application execution environment and restarts the application at a predetermined timing, and the application is activated when the activation unit is activated. On the other hand, there is provided notification means for notifying whether or not the activation is performed first after the application execution environment is activated.
The application execution environment includes a stop unit that stops the operation of the application, and a computer that operates the application execution environment that is secured by the application after the operation of the application is stopped by the stop unit. And a release unit that releases resources used in the processing. When the application is activated by the activation unit, the application performs an activation process for displaying a predetermined image.

  According to such a configuration, the application operating in the application execution environment is the first application that has been started after the application execution environment has been started, or the application that has been executed for the second time or later. You can see if there is. For this reason, when this application is configured to perform a startup process such as displaying a startup animation at startup, the application may omit the startup process at the second and subsequent startups (rebooting). it can. In other words, even if the application is restarted when the remaining amount of resources is low, etc., it is abruptly started even if the in-vehicle terminal is in operation by omitting the display of the startup animation in the restarted application. It is possible to avoid a situation such as an animation being displayed.

  Therefore, it is possible to prevent the user from being unsightly, and it is possible to restart the application running in the application execution environment without degrading the quality.

  Normally, when an application running on the application execution environment is stopped, the application releases the resources secured. However, there is a possibility that a low-quality application is installed in the in-vehicle terminal, and in such an application, there is a possibility that resources are not normally released even if the operation is stopped.

  If the resources are not released even when the application is stopped, the available resources decrease every time the application is stopped at the time of restart or the like, and there is a possibility that the operation of the in-vehicle terminal may be abnormal.

On the other hand, according to the present invention , it is possible to release resources that have been secured by the stopped application. For this reason, even if it is a case where the application which has a malfunction is mounted, it can prevent that the resource which can be utilized by restart etc. reduces.

Moreover, when an application with low quality is installed in an in-vehicle terminal, there is a possibility that an excessive amount of resources will be consumed by this application.
Therefore, in the car mounting device, the application execution environment, further comprising a detection means for detecting a decrease in the remaining amount of resources, stopping means, when the decrease of the remaining amount of the resource by the detection means is detected, all applications The starting unit may restart the stopped application at a timing after all the applications are stopped by the stopping unit due to a decrease in the remaining amount of resources .

  According to such a configuration, when the remaining amount of resources decreases, all applications are stopped and all reserved resources are released, and then these applications are restarted. For this reason, it is possible to prevent an application from consuming a large amount of resources and causing an abnormality in another function realized by a program other than the application operating in the application execution environment.

As an application execution environment according to the present invention, an application execution environment program for operating a computer mounted on an in- vehicle terminal may be configured.

Such a program, for example, DVD, CD-ROM, by recording the computer non-transitory recording medium readable such as a hard disk, starts by loading as necessary into the computer, according to the present invention It can function as an in-vehicle terminal. Further, since the program can be distributed using a network, the function of the in-vehicle terminal can be easily improved.

It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions and software constitution of a vehicle-mounted terminal. It is explanatory drawing about the structure of a display layer. It is a flowchart about an additional application execution process. It is a flowchart about an additional application execution environment initialization process. It is a flowchart about an average remaining amount calculation process. It is explanatory drawing which shows the display screen in the navigation apparatus which makes a vehicle-mounted terminal.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment, and can take various forms as long as they belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

[Description of configuration]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the in-vehicle terminal 1 of the present embodiment. The in-vehicle terminal 1 includes a CPU 11, a RAM 10, a display controller 13, and a graphic controller 12, and operates when the CPU 11 and the graphic controller 12 process the in-vehicle terminal software 100 loaded on the RAM 10.

  The in-vehicle terminal 1 includes a display device 20, an input device 30, and an external storage device 40, and is connected to various sensors 50 and other ECUs 60 as external devices mounted on the host vehicle.

The CPU 11 of the in-vehicle terminal 1 supports an OS that can perform a multitask operation. As this CPU 11, for example, a CPU core ARM11 manufactured by ARM can be used.
Further, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the display controller 13 combines the images drawn on the plurality of display layers 111 a to 111 c and outputs the combined images to the display device 20 as one display output image. As the display controller 13 of the in-vehicle terminal 1, a custom display controller of a CPU vendor can be used.

  Further, the graphic controller 12 generates image data on the display layer 111 according to a drawing instruction from the CPU 11. A similar function can be realized by the CPU 11, but the graphic controller 12 is used to improve the processing speed. Note that the graphic controller 12 of the in-vehicle terminal 1 can use, for example, PowerVR SGX535 of Imagination Technologies.

  In addition, programs and data are stored in the RAM 10, and the CPU 11 can read commands and read / write data when the programs are processed in the RAM 10. As the RAM 10 of the in-vehicle terminal 1, for example, a DDR3 DRAM can be used.

  The display device 20 is a function of generating and displaying a display output image displayed on one screen by combining image data generated by the processing of the graphic controller 12 or the CPU 11 and stored in the plurality of display layers 111. Have For example, a full-color liquid crystal panel can be used as the display device 20 of the in-vehicle terminal 1.

  The input device 30 is configured to detect a user operation and output an operation signal. As the input device 30, for example, a pressure-sensitive touch panel or a resistance change switch can be used.

The sensor 50 and other ECUs 60 transmit and receive various data to and from the in-vehicle terminal software 100, but are not particularly related to the present invention, and thus description thereof is omitted.
Next, the in-vehicle terminal software 100 installed in the in-vehicle terminal 1 will be described. The in-vehicle terminal software 100 is executed on the software platform 110 including the operating system 115 (hereinafter abbreviated as OS), the embedded application 130 operating on the software platform 110, the additional application execution environment 120, and the additional application execution environment 120. It comprises a preinstalled application 140 that operates, additional applications 150, 160, and the like.

  The software platform 110 includes an OS 115, an input event generation function 114, a vehicle communication function 116, a drawing function 112, an inter-application communication base 113, and the like, and a plurality of display layers 111 for generating image data to be output to the display device 20. Is secured on the RAM 10.

  The OS 115 supports a file system, reads a software program from the external storage device 40 and loads it onto the RAM 10, and executes the loaded program and assigns individual tasks to a plurality of applications for execution in parallel. It has a task management function. For example, an RTOS such as eT-Kernel of eSOL can be used as the OS 115 of the in-vehicle terminal 1.

  The input event generation function 114 detects an operation signal input from the input device 30 and notifies each application as an operation event. The input event generation function 114 can be configured as a software module having an interrupt handler that performs periodic processing such as AD conversion and a dedicated task that performs event processing such as chattering prevention.

The vehicle communication function 116 transmits and receives various data to and from the external sensor 50 and other ECUs 60.
In addition, the drawing function 112 performs drawing processing on each display layer 111 in accordance with an instruction from the application. In this drawing process, in addition to painting of the display layer 111, drawing of figures and characters, copying of image data between a plurality of display layers 111, and an object to be combined with an image drawn on each display layer 111 Whether or not to do so is set. As the drawing function 112 of the in-vehicle terminal 1, for example, an OpenGL / ES1.1 driver and an EGL driver for SGX535 can be used.

  Further, the inter-application communication infrastructure 113 provides a mechanism for exchanging data between the embedded application 130 and the tasks operating as three types of applications, that is, the pre-installed application 140 and the additional applications 150 and 160. In the inter-application communication infrastructure 113 of the in-vehicle terminal 1, for example, a ring buffer is created on the shared memory provided in the RAM 10, and a message is transferred using the FIFO method, or an inter-task message provided by the OS 115 is used. It is conceivable to use a method.

  The embedded application 130 is an application that realizes a highly important function, and the preinstalled application 140 and the additional applications 150 and 160 are applications that add additional functions and services. The preinstalled application 140 is a kind of the additional applications 150 and 160, but is installed from the time of shipment of the in-vehicle terminal 1, and is distinguished from the additional applications 150 and 160 added later by the user. Further, the built-in application 130, the preinstalled application 140, and the additional applications 150 and 160 are mounted according to the system specifications, and it is conceivable that none of the applications is mounted, or a plurality of them may be mounted. .

  Also, each embedded application 130 is usually provided with one or more tasks, and these can operate in parallel. As the built-in application 130 of the in-vehicle terminal 1, for example, a map drawing application, a route search application, a destination search application, etc. for realizing a navigation function are conceivable.

  The additional application execution environment 120 has an additional application program processing function (also referred to as an additional application processing function) 121, an application screen generation function 124, an inter-application communication function 125, an input event processing function 126, a resource monitoring function 122, and the like. A data buffer 123 for storing data acquired by the inter-application communication function 125 and the input event processing function 126 is secured on the RAM 10.

  The additional application processing function 121 interprets and executes the programs of the preinstall application 140 and the additional applications 150 and 160. That is, the pre-installed application 140 and the additional applications 150 and 160 (hereinafter also simply referred to as an additional application) are configured as programs in which operations are described in a script language or an intermediate instruction code. An interpreter that interprets the script language and the intermediate instruction code is provided, and processing is performed according to the script language or the like.

  In addition, the additional application processing function 121 may have a configuration in which a script language or an intermediate instruction code is converted into a machine language instruction code by a compiler in advance, and processing is performed according to the machine language instruction code.

  When the drawing process is included in this process, the additional application processing function 121 performs the drawing process on the drawing frame buffer acquired from the application screen generation function 124.

  The additional application processing function 121 acquires received data and user operation events by the inter-application communication function 125 and the input event processing function 126, and performs corresponding event processing in accordance with a program such as an additional application. Furthermore, when the process in the additional application includes data transmission processing to another application, the inter-application communication function 125 transmits data to the application.

  The additional application processing function 121 may secure and release shared resource resources such as a shared memory and a semaphore. However, the resource monitoring function 122 accesses the software platform 110 to perform additional application processing. The function 121 is configured to sequentially monitor the consumption amount of the shared resource resource.

  As the additional application processing function 121 of the in-vehicle terminal 1, for example, a rich animation execution environment having a script processing function such as Adobe Flash Lite (registered trademark) can be used.

  The application screen generation function 124 acquires two or more frame buffers from the drawing function 112 of the software platform 110. Then, one of the frame buffers is transferred to the additional application processing function 121 as a drawing frame buffer, and the additional application or the like is caused to perform drawing processing using the drawing frame buffer. Further, by setting another frame buffer as the display layer buffer 111 corresponding to the display frame buffer, the screen of the display device 20 is not disturbed during the drawing process by the additional application or the like. To do. As described above, the application screen generation function 124 of the in-vehicle terminal 1 can use a double buffer method in which the drawing frame buffer and the display frame buffer are alternately switched.

  In addition, the inter-application communication function 125 performs inter-task communication between the embedded application 130, the other ECU 60, the sensor 50, and an additional application using the inter-application communication platform 113 of the software platform 110.

  The reception process in the inter-task communication is performed asynchronously with the operation of the additional application processing function 121. That is, the received data of the inter-task communication is stored in the data buffer 123 in a state where the receiving order and the communication partner are known, and the receiving state is set to “received” when new received data is received. Then, when the reception state is “received”, the additional application processing function 121 reads the received data from the data buffer 123 and deletes the read received data from the data buffer 123, When the received data is read, the reception state is set to “not received”. Further, the read received data is provided to the additional application processing function 121, and processing according to the received data is performed by the additional application or the like.

  As the inter-application communication function 125 of the in-vehicle terminal 1, for example, the data buffer 123 is constructed as a ring buffer on the shared memory provided in the RAM 10, and an event that is a kind of inter-task shared resource resource provided by the OS 115. It is conceivable to set the reception state by a flag.

  The input event processing function 126 receives an operation event from the input event generation function 114 of the software platform 110 and executes operation event processing corresponding to the preinstall application 140 and the additional applications 150 and 160.

  The operation event processing in the input event processing function 126 is performed asynchronously with the operation of the additional application processing function 121. That is, when the operation event is acquired from the software platform 110, the input event processing function 126 stores the operation event on the data buffer 123 and sets the operation event state to “operation present”. On the other hand, when the operation event state is “operation present”, the additional application processing function 121 reads the operation event from the data buffer 123 and deletes the read operation event from the data buffer 123. When the operation event is read out, the operation event state is set to “no operation”. The read operation event is provided to the additional application processing function 121, and the additional application or the like performs processing according to the operation event.

  As the input event processing function 126 of the in-vehicle terminal 1, for example, the data buffer 123 is constructed as a FIFO buffer on the shared memory provided in the RAM 10, and an event that is a kind of inter-task shared resource resource provided by the OS 115. It is conceivable to set an operation event state by a flag.

  In addition, the resource monitoring function 122 monitors the remaining amount of the shared resource resource provided by the software platform 110 and the consumption amount of the shared resource resource used by the additional application execution environment 120. Here, the shared resource resources for monitoring the consumption amount in the additional application execution environment 120 are, for example, shared memory provided by the OS 115, and inter-task synchronization mechanism resources such as semaphores and event flags. The shared resource resource for monitoring the remaining amount may be, for example, a frame buffer provided by the drawing function 112 or a file descriptor for file processing provided by the OS 115 in addition to the shared resource resource for monitoring consumption. .

  Further, the resource monitoring function 122 monitors the ID and address of the shared resource resource secured by each additional application, etc., and if the shared resource resource is not properly released by the additional application, The shared resource resource is forcibly released.

[Description of operation]
Next, the operation of the in-vehicle terminal 1 will be described. The in-vehicle terminal 1 can operate an additional application obtained and installed from the Internet or the like on the additional application execution environment 120, but there is a possibility that an additional application with poor quality may be installed. In such a case, a large amount of shared resource resources are secured by the additional application, which may cause a shortage of shared resource resources and cause an abnormality in the embedded application 130 or the like.

  On the other hand, the in-vehicle terminal 1 operates the embedded application 130 and the like normally even in such a case. When the remaining amount of the shared resource resource is reduced, the additional application and the preinstalled application (the additional application and the like) To the shared resource resource secured by the additional application.

  Further, some additional applications and the like perform a startup process such as displaying a startup animation at the time of startup. By restarting such an additional application or the like while the in-vehicle terminal 1 is in operation, the startup animation is displayed. If this is done, the user will be unsightly. On the other hand, the in-vehicle terminal 1 may notify the additional application or the like whether it is the initial activation or the restart when the additional application is activated, and the activation process may be omitted in the additional application or the like when the additional application is activated. It is configured to be able to.

  Hereinafter, the restart and initialization of the additional application in the in-vehicle terminal 1 will be described in detail. In the following description, various processes executed by the in-vehicle terminal software 100 are described. Needless to say, this is a process executed by the CPU 11 operating according to the in-vehicle terminal software 100. .

(1) Additional Application Execution Process First, the additional application execution process is operated, and when the remaining amount of the shared resource resource is reduced, the additional application execution process for restarting the additional application or the like is illustrated in the flowchart illustrated in FIG. It explains using. This process is a process executed in the additional application execution environment 120, and is started when an additional application or the like is first started after the in-vehicle terminal 1 is started.

In S205, an additional application execution environment initialization process for initializing the additional application execution environment 120 and starting the additional application or the like is performed.
In subsequent S210, the remaining amount of the shared resource resource is detected, and the remaining amount is compared with a predetermined threshold value to detect a decrease in the shared resource resource. Specifically, the instantaneous remaining amount R _si of the shared resource resource and the average remaining amount of the shared resource resource calculated by the average remaining amount calculation process (details will be described later) provided by the software platform 110. R _sa is read out. Further, the consumption amount R _ai of the shared resource resource in the additional application execution environment 120 calculated at the time of executing each additional application is read.

In addition, instantaneous remaining capacity limit G _si , average remaining capacity limit G _sa , and instantaneous application maximum resource limit G _ai are defined as thresholds, and G _si ≧ R _si , G _sa ≧ R _sa , G _ai < It is determined whether any of the three conditions of R _ai is satisfied.

  In subsequent S215, if any of the above three conditions is satisfied, it is considered that the remaining amount of the shared resource resource has decreased (S215: Yes), and the process is performed in S240 to restart additional applications and the like. Is migrated. On the other hand, when neither condition is satisfied (S215: No), the process proceeds to S220.

Note that a decrease in the shared resource resource may be detected by determining whether one (or two) of the three conditions is satisfied. Further, R _si , R _sa , and R _ai may be detected a plurality of times, an average value may be calculated, and a decrease in shared resource resources may be detected based on the average value.

  In S240, the additional application processing function 121 is stopped, and the shared resource resources secured by the additional application processing function 121, the additional application, and the like are released. Here, other functions such as the application screen generation function 124 are not stopped, and the display frame buffer, the reception data registration data buffer 123, and the operation event registration data buffer 123 remain in the same state. Retained. Further, the software platform 110 continues to operate even when the additional application processing function 121 is stopped, and drawing of images on the corresponding display layer 111 and image display on the display device 20 are continuously performed.

  For this reason, the state of the display layer 111 corresponding to the additional application execution environment 120 is maintained, but the display layer 111 corresponding to the embedded application 130 is continuously drawn. Therefore, only the image generated by the additional application or the like and displayed on the display device 20 when the additional application processing function 121 is stopped is fixed, and the update of other images is continued.

  When there is a shared resource resource that has not been released due to a failure of the additional application or the like when the additional application processing function 121 is stopped, the shared monitoring resource 122 forcibly releases the shared resource that has not been released. The shared resource resource is forcibly released (S245), and then the process proceeds to S205. However, the shared resource resources used by the resource monitoring function 122, the application screen generation function 124, the inter-application communication function 125, and the input event processing function 126 that continue to operate even when restarted are not subject to forced release. .

  On the other hand, if the remaining amount of the shared resource resource has not decreased, the additional application or the like is not restarted, and each additional application is executed by the inter-application communication data reading process (S220) or the input event reading process (S225). Event processing such as these is executed, and other periodic processing and timer processing in each additional application etc. are executed by additional application program execution processing (S230). These processes include a data transmission process for inter-application communication that is executed synchronously and a drawing process for a drawing frame buffer.

  Finally, in the additional application screen generation process (S235), the drawing frame buffer and the display frame buffer are switched, and the image of the display layer 111 corresponding to the additional application execution environment 120 is updated. Thereafter, the process proceeds to S210 again.

In these processes, when a shared resource resource is secured and released by an additional application or the like, the consumption R _ai of the shared resource resource in the additional application execution environment 120 is calculated from the amount of the shared resource resource. Is done. In the in-vehicle terminal 1, for example, when a shared resource resource is secured in the additional application execution environment 120, R _ai is calculated by adding the secured amount R _in to the consumed amount R _ai of the shared resource resource. Can be considered. Further, when the shared resource resource is released in the additional application execution environment 120, it is conceivable to calculate R _ai by subtracting the released amount R _de from the shared resource resource consumption R _ai .

(2) Additional Application Execution Environment Initialization Process Next, an additional application execution environment initialization process for initializing the additional application execution environment 120 and starting an additional application will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. This process is a process executed in the additional application execution environment 120, and is configured as a subroutine called from the additional application execution process.

  In S305, whether or not the additional application or the like is activated for the first time after the in-vehicle terminal 1 is activated (the additional application execution environment initialization process executed this time is executed first after the additional application execution process is started). Or not). If an affirmative determination is obtained (S305: Yes), the process proceeds to S310, and if a negative determination is obtained (S305: No), the process proceeds to S335.

  In S310, initialization of the resource monitoring function 122 (initialization of a variable indicating the consumption amount of the shared resource resource secured in the additional application execution environment 120, the additional application, etc.) is performed.

  In the subsequent S315, the additional application processing function 121 secures shared resource resources and initializes internal data necessary for operating the additional application and the like, and the additional application and the like are activated for the first time. A variable is set to indicate that. The additional application processing function 121 provides an interface for notifying whether or not it is the first activation, to the additional application or the like, and the additional application or the like performs different processing at the time of activation depending on whether or not it is the first activation. be able to.

  Thereafter, initialization of the application screen generation function 124 (acquisition of a frame buffer from the rendering function 112 of the software platform 110, initialization of the frame buffer, etc.) is performed in S320, and the process proceeds to S325.

  In S325, the inter-application communication function 125 is initialized (registration of the reception processing handler in the inter-application communication infrastructure 113, initialization of the data buffer 123 for receiving data registration, initialization of the reception state, etc.) The process proceeds to S330.

  In S330, initialization of the input event processing function 126 (registration of the operation event processing handler to the input event generation function 114, initialization of the data buffer 123 for registration of the operation event, initialization of the operation event state, etc.) is performed. Therefore, the process proceeds to S340.

  On the other hand, in S335 that is shifted to when the additional application or the like is not activated for the first time, the additional application processing function 121 performs securing of shared resource resources necessary for operating the additional application or the like, initialization of internal data, and the like. Further, a variable is set to indicate that the additional application or the like is activated for the second time or later, and the process proceeds to S340.

  When the additional application is restarted, the resource monitoring function 122, the application screen generation function 124, the inter-application communication function 125, and the input event processing function 126 remain in operation, and these are initialized. Absent.

  In S340 and S345, a preinstalled application and an additional application are activated. Thereafter, the additional application processing function 121 reads the program of each additional application, etc., and executes each additional application by executing processing in accordance with the program, and secures a shared resource resource at any time in the active additional application. Or release.

(3) Average remaining amount calculation process Next, the average remaining amount R _si and the average remaining amount R _sa of the shared resource resource, which are executed by the software platform 110, are calculated. The amount calculation process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. This process is started when the in-vehicle terminal 1 is activated, and is executed in parallel with the additional application execution process.

In S405, 0 is set to the total value R _ss of the remaining amount of the shared resource resource and N _r which is a counter for calculating the average value of the remaining amount, and the process proceeds to S410.
In S410, R _si which is the instantaneous remaining amount of the shared resource resource is acquired, and then R _si is added to the total value R _ss and 1 is added to the counter N _r (S415).

Then, the value of N _r is made is determined whether reaches 10 (S420), if the determination is affirmed (S420: Yes), the sum R _ss of the remaining amount of shared resources resources divided by N _r, the obtained value, an average value R _sa of the remaining amount of shared resource resources (S425). Thereafter, after setting R _ss and N _r to 0 (S430), the process proceeds to S435. On the other hand, when a negative determination is obtained in the above determination (S420: No), the process proceeds to S435.

In S435, the process by the software platform 110 is executed over a predetermined period, and then the process proceeds to S410 again.
[Specific examples and effects]
Next, a specific example of the in-vehicle terminal 1 according to the present embodiment will be described. A navigation device is conceivable as a specific example of the in-vehicle terminal 1, and FIG. 6 shows an example of a display screen 500 of such a navigation device.

  In such a case, for example, a map drawing function or a navigation guidance function may be implemented as the embedded application 130. In addition, it is conceivable that a display function for displaying spot information 520, various guides 530, audio information and the like displayed on the map image 510 and a display function for various buttons 540 for map operations and the like are implemented as a preinstalled application. . Further, in addition to these, it is conceivable that an additional application having a display function such as character animation is acquired and installed from the Internet or the like by the user.

  In such a case, there is a problem with the additional application, the shared resource resources secured by the additional application are not released appropriately, and the shared resource resources secured by the additional application execution environment 120 increase over time. There is a fear.

  In contrast, in the additional application execution environment 120 in the in-vehicle terminal 1, the remaining amount of the shared resource resource is monitored by the resource monitoring function 122, and when the remaining amount decreases, the additional application execution environment 120 is restarted. Shared resource resources secured by additional applications etc. are released. For this reason, before the remaining amount of the shared resource resource is significantly reduced and the operation of the embedded application 130 and the software platform 110 is affected, the inappropriately secured shared resource resource is released, and operations such as reset and freeze are performed. Abnormality can be avoided.

  Further, even if the additional application execution environment 120 is restarted during route guidance by the navigation function, the operations of the embedded application 130 and the software platform 110 are continued during the restart, so that update of the map image and route guidance are performed. Such functions continue to operate normally. At this time, since the data stored in the display frame buffer or the like is held, the image generated by the additional application or the like and displayed on the display device 20 is in a fixed state. For this reason, during the restart of the additional application execution environment 120, it is possible to prevent image disturbance of the additional application and the like, and the user is not aware that the restart has been performed.

  Even if the additional application has a problem and the shared application resource secured by the additional application is not released even if the additional application processing function 121 is stopped, the resource monitoring function 122 forcibly Shared resource resources are released. For this reason, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the remaining amount of the shared resource resource decreases each time the additional application processing function 121 is restarted.

  Some additional applications execute a startup process such as displaying a startup animation at startup. As an example of such an additional application, a clock that displays the time 550 on the display screen 500, displays 0:00 as the startup animation at the time of startup, and displays the normal time after counting up to the current time at high speed. Can be considered.

  In the case where such an additional application is installed, conventionally, a startup animation is executed by restarting the additional application execution environment 120, and there is a problem that the user notices an abnormality. On the other hand, since the in-vehicle terminal 1 notifies the additional application as to whether or not it is the first activation, the additional application can avoid the execution of the activation animation or the like at the time of restarting, and the user is aware of it. In addition, the additional application execution environment 120 can be restarted. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the user from being unsightly, and the additional application execution environment 120 can be restarted without deteriorating the quality.

[Other Embodiments]
(1) In the in-vehicle terminal 1 of the present embodiment, when the remaining amount of the shared resource resource is reduced, all preinstalled applications and additional applications operating on the additional application execution environment 120 are restarted. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the restart may be performed while only the additional application is targeted while notifying the second and subsequent activations. Even in such a configuration, the shared resource resources secured by the additional application can be released without giving the user unsightly.

  (2) In addition, in the in-vehicle terminal 1 of the present embodiment, the additional application execution environment 120 is restarted when the remaining amount of the shared resource resource is reduced. In addition to this, for example, the consumption of the shared resource resource When a specific process with a large amount is executed, the additional application execution environment 120 may be restarted in the same manner. Even in such a case, the shared resource resources secured by the additional application or the like can be released without giving the user unsightly, and the specific processing can be executed normally. .

[Correspondence with Claims]
The correspondence between the terms used in the description of the above embodiment and the terms used in the description of the claims is shown.

The additional application execution environment 120 corresponds to the application execution environment, and the additional application and the preinstalled application correspond to the application.
Further, S210 and S215 in the additional application execution process correspond to detection means, S240 corresponds to stop means, and S245 corresponds to release means.

  Also, S315 and S335 in the additional application execution environment initialization process correspond to the notification means, and S340 and S345 correspond to the activation means.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... In-vehicle terminal, 10 ... RAM, 11 ... CPU, 12 ... Graphic controller, 13 ... Display controller, 20 ... Display device, 30 ... Input device, 40 ... External storage device, 50 ... Sensor, 60 ... ECU, 100 ... In-vehicle Terminal software, 110 ... software platform, 111 ... display layer, 112 ... drawing function, 113 ... inter-application communication infrastructure, 114 ... input event generation function, 115 ... OS, 116 ... vehicle communication function, 120 ... additional application execution environment, 121 ... additional application processing function, 122 ... resource monitoring function, 123 ... data buffer, 124 ... application screen generation function, 125 ... inter-application communication function, 126 ... input event processing function, 130 ... embedded application, 140 ... Install applications, 150 ... additional applications, 160 ... Add application.

Claims (3)

An in-vehicle terminal equipped with an application execution environment for operating applications,
The application execution environment is:
An activation means for activating the application after activation of the application execution environment and restarting the application at a predetermined timing;
When the application by the activation means is activated, a notification unit for the start, after the activation of the application execution environment, to notify whether or not made initially,
Stop means for stopping the operation of the application;
After the operation of the application is stopped by the stop means, release means to release the azure source has become remains ensured by the application,
As a function of the in-vehicle terminal ,
The vehicle terminal operating according to the application, based on notification by the notification unit, have rows start processing for displaying a predetermined image is at initial startup of the application, at the time of restart can be omitted the activation process,
In-vehicle terminal characterized by The in-vehicle terminal according to claim 1,
The application execution environment is:
Further function the in- vehicle terminal as a detecting means for detecting a decrease in the remaining amount of the resource ,
The stop means stops the operation of all the applications when a decrease in the remaining amount of the resource is detected by the detection means,
The starting unit restarts the stopped application at the timing after all the applications are stopped by the stopping unit due to a decrease in the remaining amount of the resource;
In-vehicle terminal characterized by An application execution environment program for operating a computer installed in an in-vehicle terminal as an application execution environment for operating an application,
Start means for starting the application after starting the application execution environment, and restarting the application at a predetermined timing;
When the application by the activation means is activated, a notification unit for the start, after the activation of the application execution environment, to notify whether or not made initially,
Stop means for stopping the operation of the application;
After the operation of the application is stopped by the stop means, release means to release the azure source has become remains ensured by the application,
And then caused to function the computer,
The computer operating in accordance with the application, based on notification by the notification unit, have rows start processing for displaying a predetermined image is at initial startup of the application, at the time of restart can be omitted the activation process,
An application execution environment program characterized by