JP2000285010A - Medium recording program for checking operating memory capacity of application - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the abnormal end of a computer that is caused by the deficient capacity of a memory by comparing the current available memory capacity with the necessary memory capacity to perform the prescribed control of the capacity when an application is started. SOLUTION: When an application(AP) is selected by a user on a display screen, a program starts its processing to acquire the information for identifying a starting object AP (101). On the basis of the acquired information, a table which defines the memory capacity necessary for the AP operation is retrieved to acquire the information on the necessary memory capacity (102). Then the program checks in sequence the idle memory capacity for the AP operation in each of areas of a global memory, the user resources and the GDI resources (103-106). If the necessary memory capacity is deficient, an error message is displayed on the screen (108). When the necessary memory capacity is secured in all said areas, the starting object AP is started (107).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording medium storing a program for checking an operation memory amount of an application. An application refers to an application program.

[0002]

[Technical background] If an application runs on a computer without operating in an appropriate operating environment,
Abnormal termination may occur. One of the causes of abnormal termination is
There is a shortage of memory or hard disk space.

[0003] For those who provide business applications involving hundreds or thousands of users, it takes a very long time to support such an error whose cause cannot be identified on the user side. There is a request to reduce it.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to prevent abnormal termination of a computer due to lack of memory.

[0005] A program for checking the amount of memory for operating an application, which is stored in a recording medium according to the present invention, acquires a current amount of memory currently available to a computer when receiving a command for starting an application, and determines a predetermined amount of memory currently available. Comparing the amount of memory required for the operation of the application to be started with the obtained current memory amount, if the current memory amount is larger than the required memory amount, the process proceeds to starting the application, and the current memory amount becomes the required memory amount. If it is less than the amount, the computer is controlled to display a message to that effect.

The memory is constituted by at least one of a semiconductor memory provided on a substrate, a memory mounted in an expansion slot, an external memory such as a card-type memory, a hard disk, or a combination of all of these. And the amount of memory means the capacity of such a memory.

[0007] The recording medium includes not only a portable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, an FD, a magnetic tape, but also an internal memory of a computer, a hard disk, and other external memories.

[0008] This operation memory check program comprises:
If the currently available current memory amount (generally obtained from the OS (operating system)) is larger than the memory amount necessary for the operation of the application to be started, the process proceeds to the start of the application, and the current memory amount is required. If it is less than the amount, a message to that effect is displayed. Upon seeing this display, the user may take measures such as ending the use of other applications to secure the amount of memory necessary for the operation of the application to be started.

As described above, according to the present invention, the necessary memory is checked before the application is started, so that abnormal termination of the computer due to insufficient memory capacity can be prevented.

[0010] In one embodiment, the operating memory check program includes a CD-ROM and an FD together with an application.
Is stored in a portable recording medium such as... And is used exclusively for the application. In this case, it is preferable that data representing the amount of memory necessary for the operation of the application is also stored in the recording medium.

In another embodiment, the operating memory check program is stored on a portable recording medium separate from the application, and is installed on the computer together with the application for use.

In a preferred embodiment, the operating memory check program is shared by a plurality of applications. In this case, a table that defines the amount of memory required for the operation of the application is provided. This table includes the identification code (name) of the application that needs to be checked and the memory required for the operation of the application. The quantity is registered in advance. The table may be stored on a portable storage medium, but in any case it will eventually be expanded into the memory of the computer.

When a command for starting the application including the identification code of the application is given, the check program acquires the current available memory amount from the OS and starts the program by referring to the table using the identification code as a key. The amount of memory required for the operation of the application to be read is read. The current memory amount and the required memory amount are compared, and it is determined whether to proceed to the activation process of the application instructed to be activated or to display a message indicating that the memory is insufficient.

In general, the amount of memory required for the operation of an application is defined for each of a plurality of different memory areas of the memory for the purpose of use and other reasons. The OS of the computer also detects the current available memory amount for each of the plurality of memory areas.

In still another embodiment of the present invention, the table defines the amount of memory required for the operation of the application for each of the plurality of memory areas.

The operation memory amount check program obtains the current memory amount currently available to the computer for each of a plurality of memory areas, and refers to the above-mentioned table to obtain the current memory amount for each memory area necessary for the operation of the application to be started. The memory amount is compared with the current memory amount for each acquired memory area. If the current memory amount is larger than the required memory amount for all the memory areas, the process proceeds to the start of the application, and at least one of the memory areas is started. If the current memory amount is smaller than the required memory amount, the computer is controlled to display a message to that effect.

When the operation memory amount check program is dedicated to one application, the program is preferably stored in one portable recording medium together with the application for pre-start processing of the application. The table may be stored in the same portable recording medium as the check program, or may be provided in an internal memory of the computer. Of course, the operation memory amount check program may be separate from the application.

In still another embodiment, the operation memory amount check program is shared by a plurality of applications. In this case, when the program receives a command for starting the application including the identification code of the application to be started, the amount of memory required for the operation of the application is determined for each of the plurality of applications in each of the plurality of memory areas. The amount of memory for each memory area required for the operation of the application corresponding to the above identification code is read from the table defined for each application, and the amount of memory for each memory area required for the operation of the application to be started and the amount of memory for each acquired memory area are read. Compare with the current amount of memory. Based on the result of the comparison, the operation memory amount check program starts the commanded application or displays a message indicating that the memory is insufficient.

[0019]

FIG. 1 shows the most common computer, especially a personal computer (for example, a PC / AT compatible machine).
3 shows a memory map of the basic memory and the extended memory. Basic memory capacity is 1MB
Yes, 640 KB conventional memory area (commonly called conventional memory) and 384 KB
UMB (Upper Memory Block). The extended memory is divided into a 64 KB HMA (High Memory Area) and a global memory area (generally called a global memory). The global memory area includes a 64 KB GDI (Graphic Display Interface) resource area and a 128 KB user resource area (these are generally called GDI resources and user resources).

FIG. 2 exemplifies the contents of a table defining the amount of memory required for the operation of the application. For each of multiple applications,
The amount of memory required for the operation of the application is described for each memory area described above. For the conventional memory area and the global memory area, the memory amount is expressed in units of bytes (KB, M
B) For the user resource area and GDI resource area, the total amount of memory in these areas is
The required memory amount as 100% is represented by% (percentage).

For example, in order to operate the application (1), the free space of the conventional memory area becomes insufficient.
400KB required, 1MB free global memory area, 10% free user resource area
5% of the GDI resource area is required.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of a program for checking the amount of operation memory of an application.

When the user clicks an icon associated with the application on the display screen or selects an application from the start menu, the operation memory amount check program starts processing.

In a process 101, the program acquires information such as a name and a number for identifying an application to be activated (application to be activated).

In step 102, the program searches the table (FIG. 2) defining the amount of memory necessary for the operation of the application by using the start target application identification information acquired in step 101, Obtain information on the amount of memory required for operation.

The program sequentially checks the conventional memory area, the global memory area, the user resource area, and the GDI resource area to determine whether the amount of free memory is sufficient or insufficient for the operation of the application to be started.

In process 103, the program acquires the current usage status of the conventional memory area (the amount of free memory in the conventional memory area) from the OS, and
At 102, the conventional memory area read from the table is compared with the required memory amount. If the amount of free memory is less than the required amount of memory and the required amount of memory is insufficient, the process proceeds to step 108 to send a message display command. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step 104.

In step 104, the program obtains the current free memory capacity of the global memory area and compares it with the required memory capacity of the global memory area read from the table. If the required memory is insufficient, process
Proceed to 108 to output a message display instruction; otherwise, proceed to process 105.

In process 105, the program obtains the free memory capacity of the current user resource area and compares it with the required memory capacity of the user resource area read from the table. If the required memory is insufficient, process 10
The process proceeds to step 8 to send a message display command. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step 106.

In process 106, the program obtains the free memory capacity of the current GDI resource area and compares it with the required memory capacity of the GDI resource area obtained from the table. If the required memory is insufficient, process 10
The process proceeds to step 8 to send a message display command. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step 107.

In the process 107, the program activates and terminates the application to be activated since the required memory amount is secured for all areas.

In processing 108, the program is divided into processing 103 to 106.
The message is displayed on the screen in response to the command from

FIG. 4 shows an example of a screen display of an error message displayed in the process 108. (A) Memory shortage in the global memory area, (B) Memory shortage in the conventional memory area, (C) Memory shortage in the user resource area, (D) Memory shortage in the GDI resource area Are examples of messages that convey to the user.

The user sees this display and knows that the memory amount is insufficient, including which memory area is insufficient. The message disappears when the user clicks the "OK" button. Thereafter, the user terminates other applications that are currently used but are not always necessary. Since the memory area used by this application becomes empty, the amount of available memory increases. When the user selects the application to be activated again, the check program of FIG. 3 is executed again.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an example of a memory map of a computer.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a table in which a memory amount necessary for an operation of an application is defined.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a memory amount check program.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an error message.

Claims (6)

[Claims] When a command for starting an application is received, a computer obtains a current available memory amount, and determines a predetermined memory amount required for the operation of an application to be started and the obtained current memory amount. If the current memory amount is larger than the required memory amount, the program proceeds to the start of the application, and if the current memory amount is smaller than the required memory amount, a program for controlling the computer to display a message to that effect is displayed. The stored recording medium. 2. The recording medium according to claim 1, wherein data representing an amount of memory required for operation of said application is stored. 3. When receiving a command related to application start including an identification code of an application to be started, a memory amount necessary for operation of the application corresponds to the identification code from a table defined for each of a plurality of applications. 3. The recording medium according to claim 1, wherein a memory amount required for operation of the application to be read is read, and a memory amount required for operation of the application to be started is compared with the acquired current memory amount. 4. A program for checking the amount of operation memory for each of a plurality of memory areas. When a command for starting an application is received, the computer obtains the current amount of memory currently available for each of the memory areas. The amount of memory required for the operation of the application refers to the table defined for each of the multiple memory areas, and the amount of memory for each memory area required for the operation of the application to be started and the current amount of memory for each acquired memory area If the current memory amount is larger than the required memory amount for all the memory areas, the process proceeds to the start of the application. If at least one of the memory areas is smaller than the required memory amount, the effect is notified. The computer to display the message Recording medium storing a program for performing 5. The recording medium according to claim 4, wherein said table is stored. 6. When receiving an application start command including an identification code of an application to be started, for each of the plurality of applications,
The amount of memory necessary for the operation of the application is read from a table defined for each of the plurality of memory areas, and the amount of memory for each memory area required for the operation of the application corresponding to the identification code is read out. 6. The recording medium according to claim 4, wherein a memory amount for each required memory area is compared with an acquired current memory amount for each memory area.