JP2000284956A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To add a new APL(application program) to a RAM in a state of keeping a system started by deleting a prescribed program stored in the RAM when a program to add to the RAM is read from outside, and storing the pro gram read from outside in connection with the RAM in stead of the deleted program. SOLUTION: The leading address (q) of a dummy APL 32 developed at the last portion in a program group developed in a RAM 3 is obtained. Then, the dummy APL 32 is deleted from the RAM 3. At the time of receiving APL data from an external device next, the APL 32 is developed in the RAM 3 from an address (p) obtained as the leading address. Then, it is discriminated whether or not the APL which is developed from the address (q) of the RAM 3 and stored for discriminating the finish of the APL data is a rewriting program 41 in the program group stored in a flash ROM, and then starts the program 41.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a POS (Point Of
Sales: point-of-sale information) Information processing devices such as terminals, in particular, a group of programs for controlling devices connected to the device main body, so-called BIOS (Basic)
Input Output System: ROM with rewritable BIOS
The present invention relates to an information processing device that is stored in a flash memory that is a Read Only Memory (Read Only Memory).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some conventional information processing apparatuses such as POS terminals include a non-rewritable ROM as a built-in memory, a rewritable RAM (Random Access Memory), and an electrically rewritable RAM. Flash ROM that can be used, and the ROM has an OS (Operating System:
Operating system) and a group of programs for starting up the main body of the apparatus are stored in advance, a flash ROM is stored in advance with a BIOS for controlling devices such as a keyboard and a display, and a RAM is received from an external device via a communication medium. Alternatively, an APL (Ap) read from an external storage device such as a floppy disk or a hard disk.
replication Program: application program)
Expand and store groups. In some cases, after the system is started, various APLs are executed by simultaneously or sequentially activating the APLs under the control of the OS and the BIOS.

In this type of information processing apparatus, after starting the system, the APLs developed in the RAM are simultaneously or sequentially activated, so that a new APL cannot be added to the RAM as it is. .

For this reason, for example, when it becomes necessary to rewrite the BIOS stored in the flash ROM, an APL having a rewriting logic of the flash ROM is required. Then, when the system is started up by designating a special job for loading a program, the APL having the rewriting logic of the flash ROM is read from the outside via a communication medium or an external storage device, and loaded into the RAM. And store. Thus, the APL stored in the RAM is started under the control of the OS, the rewriting logic of the flash ROM is started, and the BIOS in the flash ROM is loaded into the BIOS via the communication medium or the external storage device.
It could be rewritten as S.

[0005]

As described above, in this type of conventional information processing apparatus, a new APL could not be added to the RAM while the system was started. For this reason, for example, when an APL having rewriting logic of a flash ROM is added, a complicated process flow of stopping the system, specifying a special operation for loading a program, and loading the APL is required. It was inefficient.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus capable of adding a new APL to a RAM while the system is running. Things. In particular, a new APL can be added to the RAM without affecting the existing work of the system. APL to be added
Is an APL having a rewritable ROM rewrite logic, the rewritable ROM is automatically rewritten.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a group of programs for controlling devices connected to an apparatus main body is stored in a ROM in advance, and various tasks are executed by a processor mounted on the apparatus main body. In an information processing apparatus in which a group of programs to be executed are expanded and stored in a RAM, a program deleting unit for deleting a predetermined program stored in the RAM when a program to be added to the RAM is read from the outside, and the deleting unit. And a program replacement means for expanding a program read from the outside in the RAM in place of the program deleted by the method and storing it. With such a configuration, a new program added after the start-up of the system is stored in the RAM in place of the predetermined program expanded in the RAM, so that the added program is used instead of the predetermined program. It will be started.

Further, the invention according to claim 2 of the present application provides a RAM
Is a dummy program that terminates without any processing when started. By doing so, the program deleted from the RAM in place of the newly added program is a dummy program that terminates without performing any processing when it is started, and thus does not affect the existing operations of the system. It is convenient.

The invention according to claim 3 of the present application provides a RAM
Is a program stored at the end of the RAM. By doing so, it is not necessary to take measures to prevent the new program from being overwritten by another program when the new program is expanded and stored in the RAM.

The invention according to claim 4 of the present application is a rewritable ROM for storing a group of programs for controlling a device connected to the apparatus main body, and the program loaded into the RAM by the program replacement means stores the program. If the rewriting program is a rewriting program of a group of programs stored in a rewritable ROM, a memory rewriting control means for automatically starting up the rewriting program and rewriting the ROM is provided. By doing so, the rewritable ROM
Can be efficiently rewritten.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to an information processing apparatus.
An embodiment applied to a seed POS terminal will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a POS terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. This POS terminal has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) as a processor constituting a control unit main body.
nit: central processing unit) 1. In addition to a read-only ROM 2, a rewritable RAM 3, an electrically rewritable flash ROM 4, and other communication devices, a clock unit 5 for clocking the date and time, a LAN (Local Area Network) and other communications. Host device connected via a medium, for example, a store computer (not shown)
A signal is input from a communication interface 6 for controlling data communication with the POS terminal, and a mode switch 7 for switching among various business modes normally provided in the POS terminal such as "registration", "inspection", "payment", and "setting". An I / O (Input / Output) port 9 for outputting a drive signal to a drawer opening device 8 for automatically opening a drawer (not shown), a keyboard controller 11 for controlling a keyboard 10 and taking in a key signal corresponding to an operation key; A display controller 14 for controlling the operator display 12 and the customer display 13 to display characters corresponding to the display data, a printer controller 16 for controlling the printer 15 and performing receipt printing and the like are mounted. I have. And, the CPU1, ROM2, RAM3, flash ROM
4, clock section 5, communication interface 6, I / O port 9, keyboard controller 11, display controller 1
4 and the printer controller 16 are connected to an address bus,
They are connected by a bus line 17 such as a data bus.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ROM 2 stores in advance fixed programs such as an operating system (OS) 21 as a basic program and an APL replacement program 22 which will be described later.

As shown in FIG. 1, the RAM 3 includes a plurality of programs (A) as programs for causing the CPU 1 to execute various tasks such as "registration", "inspection", "payment", and "setting".
To N; however, it is not limited to 14 from A to N).
m: application program) 31A, 31B,
, 31N and one dummy APL 32 is stored at the end. As shown in FIG. 3, the dummy APL 32 is an application program that terminates without performing any processing when started.

On the other hand, the flash ROM 4 contains a keyboard 10, an operator display 12, and a customer display 13.
And a basic input output (BIOS) which is a program group for controlling devices such as the printer 15 and the like.
System: Bios) is stored.

After the system is started up, the CPU 1 activates the POS business APLs 31A to 31N and the dummy APLs 32 stored in the RAM 3 sequentially under the control of the OS 21 and the BIOS, thereby enabling the CPU 1 to operate as a POS terminal. Perform various tasks. Specifically, first, the POS business A • stored from address p1
Activate APL 31A. When the APL 31A is completed, the POS stored from the address p2 is next stored.
The business B / APL 31B is started. Thus, every time one APL is completed, the APL stored at the next address is
Are sequentially activated. When the POS business N-APL 31N stored at the address pn is terminated, the dummy APL 32 stored at the address q is activated. When the dummy APL 32 is terminated, the process returns to the address p1 and returns to the POS.
The business A / APL 31A is started again. Thus, CP
U1 is each POS business / AP stored in RAM3.
L31A to 31N and each dummy / APL 32 are sequentially activated.

When the CPU 1 receives an APL replacement command from an external device connected to the communication interface 6 via a communication medium, the CPU 1 activates the APL replacement program 22 and executes the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. First, S
Each POS business currently running as T (step) 1A
The PL 31A to 31N and the dummy APL 32 are terminated. Next, a dummy / APL developed at the end of the program group developed in the RAM 3 as ST2.
The start address q of 32 is acquired. Thereafter, as ST3, this dummy APL 32 is deleted from the RAM 3 (replacement target program deleting means).

Next, in step ST4, the process waits for APL data to be received from the external device via the communication medium. When the APL data is received, the APL data is developed in the RAM 3 from the address q obtained as the head address of the dummy APL 32 (program replacement means). Thereafter, when it is determined in step ST6 that the reception of the APL data has been completed, in step ST7, it is determined whether or not the APL developed and stored from the address q of the RAM 3 is the rewrite program 41 of the program group stored in the flash ROM 4 (see FIG. 2). I do. And if it is a rewriting program 41,
In step ST8, the rewriting program 41 is started (memory rewriting control means). If the program is other than the rewriting program 41, the program is not started. With the above, CPU
1 ends the processing of the APL replacement program 22.

The rewriting program 41 includes a flash R
This is an APL having OM4 rewrite logic and BIOS code data to be rewritten. By the way, the rewriting logic is
Once the flash ROM 4 is erased, the logic is to write the BIOS code data into the flash ROM 4 one byte at a time.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the RA
In M3, a plurality of POS operations / A for causing the CPU 1 to execute various operations such as “registration”, “inspection”, “payment”, and “setting”.
In addition to the PLs 31A, 31B,..., 31N, one dummy APL 32 is stored at the end. And
After the system launches, each POS business / APL31A, 3
, 31N and the dummy APL 32 are sequentially activated to execute information processing relating to various tasks required as a POS terminal.

Here, when it becomes necessary to rewrite the BIOS stored in the flash ROM 4, first, a personal computer or the like is used to rewrite the flash ROM 4.
A rewriting program 41 having rewriting logic and BIOS code data to be rewritten is created. Then, the rewriting program 41 is transmitted from an external device to the POS via a communication medium.
Load into terminal.

At this time, in the POS terminal 1, in response to an APL replacement command transmitted from the external device before the rewrite program 41 is loaded, the last dummy AP in the program group developed in the RAM 3 in advance.
L32 is cleared. After clearing, the rewriting program 41 transmitted from the external device via the communication medium is developed and stored from the address q, which was the head address of the dummy APL 32. As a result, the rewrite program 41 is stored in the address q instead of the dummy APL 32 in the RAM.
3 will be stored.

Accordingly, the CPU 1 continues to control the addresses p1, p2,... Pn under the control of the OS and the BIOS.
Since each APL is started in the order of the address q, the rewriting program 41 stored at the address q instead of the dummy APL 32 is stored.
Is also started. Therefore, the rewriting program 41, which is a new APL, can be added to the RAM 3 while the system is running, and the BIOS stored in the flash ROM 4 can be rewritten by the added rewriting program 41.

In the present embodiment, the program on the RAM 3 that is replaced with the rewriting program 41 is
Dummy / APL that terminates without performing any processing even if started
It is fixed to 32. Therefore, other operations such as “registration”, “inspection”, “payment”, “setting”, etc.
POS business executed by PU1 · APL31A, 31
Since B,..., 31N are not deleted, they do not affect the existing business as a POS terminal. In addition, after system startup, dummy
Although the APL 32 is redundantly activated, as described above, even if the dummy APL 32 is activated, the processing is completed without performing any processing. Therefore, the processing time is very short, and the performance of the POS terminal does not decrease.

In this embodiment, the dummy APL
If the APL added to the RAM 3 instead of the APL 32 is the rewriting program 41 of the flash ROM 4,
After the replacement, the rewriting program 41 is automatically started to rewrite the data in the flash ROM 4. Therefore, the labor and time required for rewriting the flash ROM 4 can be greatly reduced.

By the way, RA from an external device via a communication medium is used.
Rewriting program 4 loaded into M3 and automatically started
When 1 is completed and the flash ROM 4 is rewritten,
After that, from the external device, the dummy
The APL 32 is loaded. Thereby, RAM3
The rewriting program 41 developed from the address q is deleted, the dummy program 32 is loaded at the address q instead, and the flash ROM 4 returns to the state before rewriting.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in one embodiment, C
Although the present invention has been applied to the information processing apparatus of the type in which the PU 1 sequentially activates each APL developed in the RAM 3 from address p1, the present invention can be similarly applied to the information processing apparatus of the type in which the APLs are simultaneously activated. Things.

In the above-described embodiment, the replacement target program is the dummy APL 32. However, if there is another program that has a small effect on the operation of the system, the program is loaded into the RAM 3 as a group of programs. Of the dummy APL32
May be omitted.

In order to prevent a new program from being overwritten by another program when the new program is expanded and stored in the RAM 3, a function to automatically search for a free area in the RAM 3 and jump to expand the program is provided. By
It is not always necessary to store the program to be deleted at the end of the group of programs developed on the RAM 3.

In the above-described embodiment, the program to be replaced with the replacement target program is stored in the RA via the communication medium.
If the information processing device is loaded into the M3 but has an external storage device such as a floppy disk drive (FDD) device or a hard disk drive (HDD) device, a program to be replaced is stored in the storage medium of the external storage device. It is also possible to have a configuration in which the CPU 1 reads the data and develops it in the RAM 3 at the time of replacement. In addition, it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0030]

As described in detail above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus capable of adding a new APL to the RAM while the system is running. According to the invention described in claim 2 of the present application, a new APL can be transferred to the RA without affecting the existing business of the system.
An effect that can be added to M can be obtained. Further, according to the invention described in claim 3 of the present application, when a new program is developed and stored in the RAM, there is no need to devise a technique for preventing the program from being overwritten by another program, and the processing can be simplified. Play.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 4, when the APL to be added is an APL having a rewrite logic of a rewritable ROM, the rewritable R is automatically added.
The OM can be rewritten, and the rewritable ROM can be easily rewritten.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a POS terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a memory development state of a main program of the POS terminal.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a dummy / APL processing procedure shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of an APL replacement program shown in FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... CPU 2 ... ROM 3 ... RAM 4 ... Flash ROM 6 ... Communication interface 22 ... APL replacement program 32 ... Dummy program 41 ... Flash ROM rewriting program

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A program group for controlling a device connected to an apparatus main body is stored in a read-only memory in advance, and a program group for causing a processor mounted on the apparatus main body to execute various tasks is randomly accessed. In an information processing device that is developed and stored in a memory, when a program to be added to the random access memory is read from outside, the random access
Program deletion means for deleting a predetermined program stored in the memory; program replacement means for expanding and storing the program read from the outside in the random access memory instead of the program deleted by the deletion means;
An information processing apparatus comprising: 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined program deleted from the random access memory is a dummy program that terminates without performing any processing when started. . 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein a predetermined program to be deleted from said random access memory is stored in said random access memory.
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the program is stored at the end of a memory. 4. A rewritable read-only memory for storing a program group for controlling a device connected to an apparatus main body, wherein the read-only memory is stored in a random access memory by a program replacing means. The program is rewritable read-only
2. A memory rewriting control means for automatically starting the rewriting program and rewriting the read-only memory when the rewriting program is a rewriting program for a group of programs stored in a memory. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1.