JP2008033537A - Linkage operation method and communication terminal device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the performance of a processing engine in a communication terminal device and to quickly start operation after the end of a temporary stop of a general-purpose application using the processing engine. <P>SOLUTION: An execution environment section 33 receiving a start request from the general-purpose application 35 notifies the processing engine of a start command. The engine 32 receiving the start command transmits a memory region request to request acquisition of an operation memory region, to the execution environment section 32 through a basic processing section 31 after its own initialization processing or the like. Subsequently, the execution environment section 33 receiving the memory region request assigns a part of a heap region which is a memory region for the general-purpose application, as an operation memory region of the engine 32 by a specified memory amount. When the operation memory region of the engine 32 is assigned, the execution environment section 33 reports a memory address or the like which is the assigned memory region information, to the processing engine through the basic processing section 31. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a linkage operation method and a mobile information device, and more specifically, a linkage operation method for operating a general-purpose application and a processing control unit including a processing engine used by the general-purpose application, and The present invention relates to a communication terminal apparatus that uses a linked operation method.

  Conventionally, communication terminal devices such as mobile phone devices have been widely used. In recent years, in addition to improving the functions of communication terminal devices, in addition to providing communication functions such as call functions, e-mail transmission / reception functions, browser functions, etc., digital contents with contents such as music, novels, and still images and videos It is also possible to appreciate. In addition to purchases from general stores in the form of files, these contents can be obtained using a download service provided by a content provider that has recently been remarkably enriched.

  When reproduction is performed in order to appreciate such content, it is necessary to perform calculations on a large amount of data using a simple reproduction algorithm. For this reason, it is a common practice to use a processing engine for performing high-speed arithmetic processing using the reproduction algorithm. Such a processing engine may be provided by hardware or may be provided by software.

By the way, not only communication terminal devices but also general devices are required to be downsized. In particular, mobile communication terminal devices such as mobile phone devices are strongly required to be small. For this reason, unless it is assumed that the usage frequency is high or the types of applications to be used are large, the processing engine is not usually provided by hardware. For this reason, a processing engine for a function positioned as an additional function for a communication terminal device such as reproduction of digital contents is usually provided by software. For example, in the following Patent Document 1, an invention relating to 3D rendering middleware having a 3D engine realized as software is disclosed.
JP 2006-4276 A

  As described above, conventionally, a processing engine for an additional function for a communication terminal device is usually provided by software. As a method of providing the processing engine, the type of application using a specific processing engine is used. Different schemes are adopted. For example, when a general-purpose application that uses a specific processing engine is described in an intermediate language such as JAVA (registered trademark) and operates independently of the model of the communication terminal device, the general-purpose application is It is common to include a specific processing engine. This is because it cannot be said that there is a high probability that another application using the specific processing engine is mounted on one communication terminal device. As described above, when the general-purpose application includes a processing engine, the processing engine is also described in an intermediate language, so it is difficult to improve the processing performance of the processing engine.

  For this reason, the processing control that constitutes the execution environment for general-purpose applications is used for processing engines that are expected to be used to a certain extent, although the frequency of use by general-purpose applications executed in communication terminal devices is not high enough to be provided by hardware. It may be configured as a native application in the department. Since the processing engine configured as a native engine is described in a machine language or a language close thereto, the processing performance is greatly improved as compared with a case where the processing engine is described in an intermediate language.

  By the way, the general-purpose application has a unique memory area (hereinafter referred to as “general-purpose application memory area”) from the start to the end of the operation. In the period from the start to the end of the operation of the general-purpose application, even if the general-purpose application is suspended, the contents of the general-purpose application memory area are not destroyed by the processing control unit. For this reason, the general-purpose application can be quickly restarted after being paused.

  On the other hand, for native applications, the state of pause is generally not considered. For this reason, when a processing engine is prepared as a native application, when the general-purpose application that uses the processing engine is stopped along with a temporary stop, the memory area that is the working memory area of the processing engine is released. In order to operate the processing engine when the general-purpose application is resumed after being temporarily stopped, it is necessary to newly secure a working memory area for the processing engine. As a result, when the processing engine is prepared as a native application, it takes time to resume the general-purpose application after the suspension.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and in a communication terminal device, while improving the performance of a processing engine, it is possible to speed up the start of operation after the suspension of a general-purpose application that uses the processing engine. It is an object of the present invention to provide a linked operation method that can be achieved.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a communication terminal device capable of improving the performance of a processing engine and speeding up the start of operation after a temporary stop of a general-purpose application that uses the processing engine. .

  From a first viewpoint, the present invention is a linked operation method for operating a general-purpose application and a processing control unit including a processing engine used by the general-purpose application in a communication terminal device, An activation request step in which an application makes an activation request for the processing engine; and a process control unit that receives the activation request processes a part of a general-purpose application memory area that is a memory area reserved exclusively for the general-purpose application. And a memory area securing step for securing an engine use area for engine work.

  Here, the “general-purpose application” refers to an application that can be operated universally if the execution environment is prepared regardless of the model, for example, a JAVA (registered trademark) application.

  In this linked operation method, when the general-purpose application uses the processing engine, the general-purpose application makes a request for starting the processing engine in the processing control unit in the start-up request process. When receiving this activation request, in the memory area securing step, the processing control unit assigns a part of the general-purpose application memory area, which is a memory area reserved exclusively for the general-purpose application, to the work engine use area of the processing engine. To secure as. Here, the general-purpose application memory area is a memory area allocated exclusively for the general-purpose application since the start of the general-purpose application, and the recorded contents are not only during the operation of the general-purpose application but also during the pause. This is an area that is not rewritten without being recognized by the application, that is, an area that is not released until the general-purpose application is completely terminated.

  For this reason, even if the processing engine activated by a request from the general-purpose application is stopped due to the temporary stop of the general-purpose application, the work engine use area used by the processing engine until then is not released. As a result, when the general-purpose application is resumed after being temporarily stopped, it is not necessary to newly secure a work engine use area for the processing engine in order to operate the processing engine.

  On the other hand, the processing engine is implemented as a native application in the processing control unit. For this reason, since the processing engine is described in a machine language or a language close thereto, the processing performance can be greatly improved as compared with the case where the processing engine is described in an intermediate language.

  Therefore, according to the linked operation method of the present invention, in the communication terminal device, it is possible to improve the performance of the processing engine and speed up the operation start after the suspension of the general-purpose application using the processing engine. .

  In the linked operation method of the present invention, the processing control unit includes a basic processing unit that controls and manages resources including the processing engine; command conversion between the general-purpose application and the basic processing unit; and the general-purpose application. Providing an execution environment unit that provides an execution environment for the general-purpose application by providing software resources for execution of the memory area, wherein the memory environment securing step receives the start request, A startup command notification step of notifying the processing engine of a startup command; the processing engine receiving the startup command sends a memory area securing request, which is a request for a working memory area of the processing engine, via the basic processing unit; A memory area securing request step to be sent to the execution environment section; and the execution environment section that has received the memory area securing request includes the general-purpose application. A memory area allocating step for allocating a part of the memory area for allocation to a working memory area of the processing engine; and allocation memory area information which is information on an allocated memory area allocated in the memory area allocating step by the execution environment unit And an allocated memory area reporting step for reporting to the processing engine via the basic processing unit.

  In this case, the processing control unit in which the general-purpose application operates includes a basic processing unit that controls and manages resources including the above-described processing engine, and an execution environment unit that provides an execution environment for the general-purpose application. The above-described memory securing process is executed by the basic processing unit and the execution environment unit operating as follows.

  First, the execution environment unit that receives a startup request from the general-purpose application notifies the processing engine of the startup command in the startup command notification step. The processing engine that has received this start command sends a memory area securing request, which is a request for acquiring the working memory area of the processing engine, through the basic processing unit in the memory area securing request process after its initialization process and the like. Send to the execution environment department. In the memory area securing request, the memory amount of the working memory area to be secured is designated.

  Subsequently, in the memory area allocation step, the execution environment unit that has received the memory area securing request allocates the designated memory amount as a working memory area of the processing engine from a part of the general-purpose application memory area. Then, when the working memory area of the processing engine is allocated, in the allocated memory area reporting step, the execution environment unit sets the memory address that is the allocated memory area information that is the allocated memory area information allocated in the memory area allocating step. Report to the processing engine via the basic processing unit.

  In the linked operation method of the present invention, when a pause event that causes the general-purpose application to pause is generated, the processing control unit stores the address information of the engine use area and stops the processing engine. A suspension step; a suspension processing step in which the processing control unit performs a process using an area other than the memory area for the general application during the suspension of the general application; and a resume event to resume the general application And the engine restarting step of starting the processing engine and notifying the processing engine of the address information of the engine use area.

  Here, the “pause event” includes, for example, an operation that selects a pause of a general-purpose application by the user, in addition to an event that occurs regardless of the user's intention such as an incoming voice call.

  In this case, in the engine stop process, the processing control unit stores the address information of the memory area of the used area allocated to the processing engine for restarting, and then stops the processing engine. Subsequently, in the processing process during suspension performed during suspension of the general-purpose application, the processing control unit uses an area other than the general-purpose application memory area to perform processing related to the event that caused the suspension and other processing. Perform the necessary processing.

  After that, when a restart event that should restart the general-purpose application occurs, in the engine restart process, the processing control unit starts the processing engine and notifies the processing engine of the address information of the engine use area that has been held. To do. In this way, the start of the processing engine is completed, and thereafter, the general-purpose application is executed as usual.

  Here, the “resume event” includes, for example, an operation for selecting resumption of the general-purpose application by the user himself / herself, in addition to an event such as the termination of the incoming voice call.

  According to a second aspect, the present invention includes a general-purpose application and a processing control unit including a processing engine used by the general-purpose application, and the processing control unit issues a startup request for the processing engine from the application. A communication terminal device, wherein when received, a part of a general-purpose application memory area, which is a memory area reserved exclusively for the general-purpose application, is reserved as an engine use area for work of the processing engine. is there.

  In this communication terminal device, when the general-purpose application uses the processing engine, the general-purpose application makes a request for starting the processing engine in the processing control unit. The processing control unit that has received this activation request reserves a part of the general-purpose application memory area, which is a memory area reserved exclusively for the general-purpose application, as a work engine use area of the processing engine.

  That is, in the communication terminal device of the present invention, the above-described cooperative operation method of the present invention can be used. Therefore, according to the communication terminal device of the present invention, it is possible to improve the performance of the processing engine and speed up the operation start after the suspension of the general-purpose application using the processing engine.

  In the communication terminal device of the present invention, the processing control unit is configured to manage a basic processing unit that manages internal resources of the mobile information device, command conversion between the general-purpose application and the basic processing unit, and the general-purpose application. An execution environment unit that provides an execution environment for the general-purpose application by providing software resources for execution, and when the execution environment unit receives a startup request for the processing engine, Notifying the processing engine; upon receiving a request for the working memory area notified from the processing engine via the basic processing unit, a part of the general-purpose application memory area is stored in the working memory area of the processing engine. Allocation; reporting the allocated memory area information to the processing engine via the basic processing unit; Can.

  In this case, the execution environment unit that receives the activation request from the general-purpose application notifies the processing engine of the activation instruction. The processing engine that has received this start command sends a memory area securing request, which is a request for acquiring a working memory area, to the execution environment section via the basic processing section after its initialization processing and the like. Subsequently, the execution environment unit that has received the memory area securing request allocates a part of the general-purpose application memory area as the working memory area of the processing engine for the specified amount of memory. When the working memory area of the processing engine is allocated, the execution environment unit reports the memory address, which is information on the allocated memory area allocated in the memory area allocation step, to the processing engine via the basic processing unit.

  In the communication terminal device of the present invention, the processing control unit stores address information of the engine use area and stops the processing engine when a pause event that causes the general-purpose application to pause is generated; When a resumption event for resuming the general-purpose application occurs, the processing engine is started, and the address information of the engine usage area is notified to the processing engine; It is possible to perform processing using an area other than the application memory area.

  In this case, when a pause event that causes the general-purpose application to pause is generated, the processing control unit saves the address information of the engine use area allocated to the processing engine for restarting, and then performs processing. Stop the engine. Subsequently, while the general-purpose application is temporarily stopped, the processing control unit performs necessary processing using an area other than the general-purpose application memory area.

  Thereafter, when a restart event for restarting the general-purpose application occurs, the processing control unit starts the processing engine and notifies the processing engine of the address information of the engine use area that has been held. In this way, the start of the processing engine is completed, and thereafter, the general-purpose application is executed as usual.

  The communication terminal apparatus of the present invention can further include wireless communication means for performing wireless communication with a base station of a mobile communication network. That is, the communication terminal device of the present invention can be a mobile communication terminal device such as a mobile phone device.

  As described above, according to the linked operation method of the present invention, in the communication terminal device, the performance of the processing engine is improved, and the operation start after the suspension of the general-purpose application using the processing engine is accelerated. There is an effect that it can be achieved.

  In addition, according to the communication terminal device of the present invention, it is possible to enable high-speed restart by devising a memory area securing method.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In these drawings, the same or equivalent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

<Configuration>
FIG. 1 schematically shows an external configuration of a mobile phone device 10 which is a mobile communication terminal device. Here, FIG. 1A shows a front view of the appearance of the mobile phone device 10, and FIG. 1B shows a rear view of the appearance of the mobile phone device 10.

  As generally shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the mobile phone device 10 includes (a) a mobile phone main body 11, (b) a numeric keypad for inputting a telephone number, and an operation. An operation unit 12 having function keys for inputting various commands such as mode switching to a control unit 21 (see FIG. 2) described later, and (c) a liquid crystal display for displaying operation guidance, operation status, received message, and the like. And a display unit 13 as display means having the device. In addition, the cellular phone device 10 includes (d) a call speaker 14 that reproduces an audio signal transmitted from a communication partner during a call, and (e) a sound input during sound collection or a sound input during a call. And (f) a guidance speaker 16 for generating ringtones and guidance sounds, and (g) an antenna 17 for transmitting and receiving radio signals to and from the base station. The display unit 13 has a VRAM (Video RAM) 13V therein (see FIG. 2).

  As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile phone body 11 includes (i) a control unit 21 that controls the overall operation of the mobile phone device 10, and (ii) a base station via an antenna 17. And (iii) a storage unit 23 having a read-only memory (ROM) element and a random access memory (RAM) element for storing a program executed by the control unit 21 and various data. And.

  Here, a content storage area 24 and a work area 25 for storing content files such as comic files are prepared in the storage unit 23. In the work area 25, a normal area 25T and a heap area 25H, which is a dedicated work area for a general-purpose application 35 described later, are prepared.

  The heap area 25H is secured when the general-purpose application 35 is activated, and is released when the general-purpose application 35 is terminated. In the normal area 25T, a frame buffer 26 (see FIG. 3) is prepared in a toggle buffer configuration.

  The control unit 21 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processing unit (DSP), and the like, and performs various data processing in order to realize a general mobile phone function by executing a program. The operation control of the other components described above is performed. The configuration of the program executed in the control unit 21 is shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the program executed in the control unit 21 includes a general-purpose application (hereinafter also referred to as “general-purpose application”) 35 and a processing control unit 34 that operates in conjunction with the general-purpose application 35. included. The processing control unit 34 includes a basic processing unit 31, an engine 32 used by the general-purpose application 35, and an execution environment unit 33. Here, the execution environment unit 33 performs command conversion between the general-purpose application 35 described in JAVA (registered trademark) and the basic processing unit 31, and provides software resources for executing the general-purpose application 35, for example. It is a set of programs.

  The basic processing unit 31, the engine 32, and the execution environment unit 33 are mounted on the mobile phone device 10 from the time of shipment of the mobile phone device 10 from the factory. On the other hand, the general-purpose application 35 may be preinstalled, but in many cases, the general-purpose application 35 is installed after being downloaded from the transmission / reception unit 22 or the like by the operation of the operation unit 12 by the user. In this embodiment, the general-purpose application 35 is an application for viewing still image content such as comics, and the engine 32 has a dedicated function used for content reproduction processing (still image content rendering processing). Have.

<Operation>
Next, the link operation with the general-purpose application 35 in the mobile phone device 10 configured as described above will be described.

  The general application 35 is activated when the general application activation command is explicitly issued by the user, or when the comic content file in the content storage area 24 in FIG. 3 is selected and the user instructs the expansion. The When the general-purpose application 35 is activated, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the basic processing unit 31 that has received a command from the user sends a request to activate the general-purpose application 35 to the execution environment unit 33.

  The execution environment unit 33 that has received the request for starting the general-purpose application 35 first secures a heap area 25H as a work area for the general-purpose application 35 in the work area 25 in step S11. After securing the heap area 25H in this way, the execution environment unit 33 activates the general-purpose application 35.

  The general-purpose application 35 activated in this way performs processing for the user to browse still image content such as comics in conjunction with the processing control unit 34 in accordance with an operation input from the operation unit 12 by the user. In the content browsing process, first, in step S12, page data of still image content is acquired from the content file in the content storage area 24 in the storage unit 23 designated by the user.

  In step S12 which is such page data acquisition processing, as shown in FIG. 5, first, the general-purpose application 35 performs basic processing of a file open request for a content file designated by the user via the execution environment unit 33. Send to part 31. In step S21, the basic processing unit 31 that has received the file open request performs an open process for the content file. When the open process is completed, the basic processing unit 31 sends an open report, which is an open process completion report, to the general-purpose application 35 via the execution environment unit 33. In this way, when the opening process of the content file is completed, the basic processing unit 31 receives a request for page data included in the content file from the general-purpose application 35 thereafter.

  Thus, after the content file is opened for the general-purpose application 35, the content file is opened for the general-purpose application 35 unless the general-purpose application 35 explicitly issues a file close request or the like to close the content file. The state continues. When the content file is opened by a file open request from the general-purpose application 35, the basic processing unit 31 rejects a request to open the content file or a page data request from another application.

  After completion of the file open process, the general-purpose application 35 sends a page data request for a specific page in the content file designated by the user to the basic processing unit 31 via the execution environment unit 33. Upon receiving this page data request, the basic processing unit 31 reads the corresponding page data from the content file in step S22. Then, the basic processing unit 31 sends the read page data to the general-purpose application 35 via the execution environment unit 33. In this way, the general-purpose application 35 acquires desired page data of the content. And the process of step S12 is complete | finished.

  Returning to FIG. 4, after the page data is acquired by the general-purpose application 35 in step S <b> 12, when it is necessary to use the engine 32 for processing by the page data rendering process, the engine activation process is executed in step S <b> 13. .

  In the engine activation process in step S13, as shown in FIG. 6, first, the general-purpose application 35 sends an engine activation request to the execution environment unit 33. Upon receiving this engine start request, the execution environment unit 33 sends a start command to the engine 32.

  The engine 32 that has received the start command first performs its own initialization process in step S31. After this initialization process, the engine 32 sends a memory request, which is a request for a working memory area (engine use area) with a specified memory amount, to the execution environment unit 33 via the basic processing unit 31. The basic processing unit 31 transfers the memory request from the engine 32 to the execution environment unit 33. However, when there is a memory request by another engine application, the basic processing unit 31 itself performs the request for the other engine application. A memory area is allocated and allocated.

  In step 32, the execution environment unit 33 that has received the memory request from the basic processing unit 31 attempts to secure the amount of memory specified in the memory request in the heap area 25H. As a result, when the designated memory amount area cannot be secured, the engine 32 startup failure process is executed. In such a startup failure process, the execution environment unit 33 sends a stop command to the engine 32 and reports to the general-purpose application 35 that the engine startup has failed due to insufficient memory. The general-purpose application 35 that has received this report reports the failure of engine startup to the user by displaying the report content on the display unit 13 or the like.

  If the engine use area is successfully secured in step S 32, the execution environment unit 33 sends an engine use area acquisition report including address information of the secured engine use area to the engine 32 via the basic processing unit 31. send. Upon receiving this acquisition report, the engine 32 sends an activation completion report to the execution environment unit 33.

  The execution environment unit 33 that has received the start completion report from the engine 32 sends the engine start completion report to the general-purpose application 35. Thereafter, the engine start process in step S13 is completed.

  Returning to FIG. 4, when the engine 32 is activated in step S <b> 13, in step S <b> 14, the general-purpose application 35 sets a data area to be rendered for the previously acquired page data. Subsequently, the general-purpose application 35 sends a rendering command specifying the set data area to the engine 32 via the execution environment unit 33. In step S15, the engine 32 that has received the rendering command performs a rendering process on the data in the designated data area.

  In step S16, the engine 32 writes the result of the rendering process in the frame buffer 26 in the normal area 25T described above. When the writing to the frame buffer 26 is completed in this way, the engine 32 sends a rendering completion report to the general-purpose application 35 via the execution environment unit 33.

  Upon receiving the rendering completion report, the general-purpose application 35 transfers the new writing result to the frame buffer 26 by the engine 32 to the VRAM 13V in the display unit 13 described above in step S17. The result of the transfer to the VRAM 13V thus performed is displayed on the display screen of the display unit 13.

  Thereafter, the process from the acquisition of new page data by the general-purpose application 35 in step S12 to the display after the transfer of the data in the frame buffer 26 to the VRAM 13V in step S17 is repeated as appropriate, and still image content is provided to the user. Is done.

<Pause processing of general-purpose application>
Next, the pause process of the general application 35 will be described. In the following, a description will be given of a temporary stop process of the general-purpose application 35 after the engine 32 is started, which is performed together with a process related to the engine use area of the engine 32.

  As shown in FIG. 7, when a pause event such as an incoming voice call occurs while the general-purpose application 35 is being executed, the basic processing unit 31 that has detected the occurrence of the pause event notifies the execution environment unit 33 of the general-purpose application 35. Send a pause request. The execution environment unit 33 that has received this temporary stop request sends a temporary stop command to the general-purpose application 35.

  The general-purpose application 35 that has received the temporary stop command performs a temporary stop process in step S41. In this temporary stop process, the general-purpose application 35 stores information for resumption for resuming the process from the time of the temporary stop when receiving a restart instruction later. In this way, the general purpose application 35 that has performed the suspension process sends a completion report of the suspension process by the general purpose application 35 to the execution environment unit 33.

  Receiving the completion report from the general-purpose application 35, the execution environment unit 33 saves the address information of the engine work area at the current time in step S42. Subsequently, the execution environment unit 33 sends an operation stop request to the engine 32.

  The engine 32 that has received the stop request from the execution environment unit 33 performs an operation stop process. Subsequently, the engine 32 sends an operation stop process completion report to the execution environment unit 33. The execution environment unit 33 that has received the completion report of the operation stop process from the engine 32 sends a temporary stop completion report to the basic processing unit 31. Thus, the general application 35 is temporarily stopped and the engine 32 is stopped due to the occurrence of the pause event.

<Resuming general-purpose application>
Next, a restart process of the general-purpose application 35 that has been paused as described above will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 8, when a resumption event for resuming the general purpose application 35 such as the end of a voice call occurs during the suspension of the general purpose application 35, the basic processing unit 31 that detects the occurrence of the resumption event A restart request for the general-purpose application 35 is sent to the unit 33. Upon receiving this restart request, the execution environment unit 33 sends a restart command to the general-purpose application 35.

  The general-purpose application 35 that has received the restart command performs a restart preparation process in step S51. This restart preparation process is performed using the restart information stored in step S41 described above. Subsequently, the general-purpose application 35 determines whether or not the engine 32 has been activated at the time of the previous suspension. When the engine 32 has been activated as in the case of the occurrence of the pause event described above, the general-purpose application 35 sends an engine activation request to the execution environment unit 33. Upon receiving this engine start request, the execution environment unit 33 sends a start command to the engine 32.

  The engine 32 that has received the start command first performs its own initialization process in step S52 as in the case of step S31 described above. After this initialization process, the engine 32 sends a memory request, which is a request for a working memory area (engine use area) with a specified memory amount, to the execution environment unit 33 via the basic processing unit 31.

  The execution environment unit 33 that has received the memory request from the basic control unit 31 reads the address information of the engine work area stored in step S42 described above. Since the engine use area is secured at the time of suspension, the execution environment unit 33 immediately reserves the engine use secured through the basic processing unit 31 without re-establishing the engine use area. An engine use area acquisition report including area address information is sent to the engine 32. Upon receiving this acquisition report, the engine 32 sends an activation completion report to the execution environment unit 33.

  The execution environment unit 33 that has received the start completion report from the engine 32 sends the engine start completion report to the general-purpose application 35. The general-purpose application 35 that has received the engine start completion report confirms that the state is equivalent to that at the time of the temporary stop, and then sends the restart completion direction to the basic processing unit 31 via the execution environment unit 33. In this way, the restart of the general-purpose application 35 and the startup of the engine 32 due to the occurrence of the restart event are achieved.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the execution environment unit 33 that has received a start request from the general-purpose application 35 notifies the processing engine of a start command. The engine 32 that has received this activation command sends a memory area securing request, which is a request for acquiring a working memory area, to the execution environment unit 33 via the basic processing unit 31 after its own initialization processing and the like. Subsequently, the execution environment unit 33 that has received the memory area securing request allocates a specified amount of memory as a part of the heap area 25H, which is a general-purpose application memory area, as a working memory area of the engine 32. When the working memory area of the engine 32 is allocated, the execution environment unit 33 reports the allocated memory area information, such as the memory address, to the engine 32 via the basic processing unit 31.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when a pause event that causes the general-purpose application 35 to be paused occurs, the process control unit 34 stores the address information of the engine use area allocated to the engine 32 for resumption. After that, the engine 32 is stopped. Subsequently, while the general-purpose application 35 is temporarily stopped, the processing control unit 34 performs necessary processing using an area other than the general-purpose application memory area 25H.

  Thereafter, when a restart event for restarting the general-purpose application 35 occurs, the processing control unit 34 starts the engine 32 and notifies the engine 32 of address information of the engine use area that has been held. Thus, the start of the engine 32 is completed, and thereafter, the general-purpose application 35 is executed as usual.

  For this reason, even if the engine 32 started in response to a request from the general-purpose application 35 is stopped along with the temporary stop of the general-purpose application 35, the work engine use area used by the engine 32 until then is not released. As a result, when the general-purpose application 35 is restarted after being temporarily stopped, it is not necessary to newly secure a working engine use area for the engine 32 in order to operate the engine 32.

  On the other hand, the engine 32 is implemented as a native application in the processing control unit 34. For this reason, since the engine 32 is described in a machine language or a language close thereto, the processing performance can be greatly improved as compared with the case where it is described in an intermediate language.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to improve the performance of the engine 32 and to speed up the operation start after the temporary stop of the general-purpose application 35 using the engine 32.

[Modification of Embodiment]
In the above embodiment, the general-purpose application is an application for viewing still image content such as comics, and the engine is used for rendering processing of still image content that is content playback processing. On the other hand, the general-purpose application may be for viewing other content such as video and music, and accordingly, the engine is used for rendering processing of the video content and music playback. May be.

  In the above embodiment, in the process of acquiring page data from a file by the general-purpose application, first, the general-purpose application makes a file open request, receives a report that the file has been opened, makes a page data request again, and is read. Suppose you get the data. This series of processing may be performed together with a file open request at the time of the first data request, or the basic processing unit that has received the data request makes a judgment by itself and opens the file if it is the first data request. You may do that.

  In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a mobile phone device. However, the present invention can be applied to communication terminal devices other than the mobile phone device.

  As described above, the linked operation method of the present invention can be applied to the general-purpose application in the communication terminal device and the process control unit including the processing engine used by the general-purpose application and the linked operation method. The communication terminal device of the present invention can be applied to a communication terminal device in which a general-purpose application and a process control unit including a processing engine used by the general-purpose application operate in cooperation.

It is a figure which shows roughly the external appearance structure of the mobile communication terminal device of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure in the storage area which exists in the inside of the apparatus of FIG. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the internal structure of the apparatus of FIG. It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation | movement for content appreciation in the apparatus of FIG. It is a sequence diagram for demonstrating the page data acquisition process in FIG. It is a sequence diagram for demonstrating the engine starting process in FIG. It is a sequence diagram for demonstrating the suspension process of the general purpose application in the apparatus of FIG. It is a sequence diagram for demonstrating the restart process of the general purpose application in the apparatus of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Mobile phone apparatus (communication terminal device) 11 ... Mobile phone main body, 12 ... Operation part, 13 ... Display part, 13V ... VRAM, 14 ... Call speaker, 15 ... Microphone, 16 ... Guidance speaker, 17 ... Antenna , 21 ... control unit, 22 ... transmission / reception unit, 23 ... storage unit, 24 ... content storage area, 25 ... work area, 25T ... normal area, 25H ... heap area (general application memory area), 26 ... frame buffer, 31 ... basic processing part, 32 ... engine, 33 ... execution environment part, 34 ... processing control part, 35 ... general purpose application.

Claims (7)

A general-purpose application and a processing control unit including a processing engine used by the general-purpose application is a linked operation method for operating in a communication terminal device,
An activation request step in which the general-purpose application requests activation of the processing engine;
A memory area securing step in which the processing control unit that has received the activation request secures a part of a general-purpose application memory area that is a memory area reserved exclusively for the general-purpose application as an engine use area for work of the processing engine And a linked operation method. The processing control unit includes a basic processing unit that controls and manages resources including the processing engine; software resources for command conversion between the general-purpose application and the basic processing unit, and execution of the general-purpose application Providing an execution environment unit that provides an execution environment for the general-purpose application by providing
The memory area securing step includes
A start command notifying step in which the execution environment unit that has received the start request notifies the processing engine of a start command;
A memory area securing request step in which the processing engine that has received the start command sends a memory area securing request, which is a request for a working memory area of the processing engine, to the execution environment unit via the basic processing unit;
A memory area allocating step in which the execution environment unit receiving the memory area securing request allocates a part of the general-purpose application memory area to a work memory area of the processing engine;
The execution environment unit includes an allocation memory region reporting step of reporting allocation memory region information, which is information of the allocation memory region allocated in the memory region allocation step, to the processing engine via the basic processing unit. The linkage operation method according to claim 1. An engine stop step in which the processing control unit stores the address information of the engine use area and stops the processing engine when a pause event to pause the general-purpose application occurs;
A suspension processing step in which the processing control unit performs processing using an area other than the general-purpose application memory area while the general-purpose application is paused;
An engine restarting step of starting the processing engine and notifying the processing engine of address information of the engine use area when a restart event for restarting the general-purpose application occurs; The linkage operation method according to claim 1, further comprising: A general-purpose application, and a processing control unit including a processing engine used by the general-purpose application,
When the processing control unit receives a request to start the processing engine from the general-purpose application, a part of the general-purpose application memory area, which is a memory area reserved for the general-purpose application, is stored in the processing engine. A communication terminal apparatus, characterized in that it is secured as a working engine use area. The processing control unit includes a basic processing unit that manages internal resources of the mobile information device, command conversion between the general-purpose application and the basic processing unit, and software resources for executing the general-purpose application. An execution environment unit that provides an execution environment to the general-purpose application by providing
The execution environment unit includes:
A startup command is sent to the processing engine when the processing engine startup request is received;
A part of the general-purpose application memory area is allocated to the work engine area of the processing engine when a request for the work memory area notified from the processing engine via the basic processing unit is received;
The communication terminal apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the allocated memory area information is reported to the processing engine via the basic processing unit. The processing control unit
When a pause event to pause the general-purpose application occurs, the address information of the engine use area is saved and the processing engine is stopped;
When a restart event for restarting the general-purpose application occurs, the processing engine is started and address information of the engine use area is notified to the processing engine;
6. The communication terminal device according to claim 4, wherein a process using an area other than the general application memory area is performed during the suspension of the general application. The communication terminal apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 6, further comprising wireless communication means for performing wireless communication with a base station of a mobile communication network.

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