JP2014123281A - Information processing device, method for controlling the same, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processing device having a plurality of CPUs that suppress the occurrence of communication between the CPUs for acquisition of setting data and stores the setting data properly.SOLUTION: An information processing device has a plurality of CPUs and individual nonvolatile storage areas that the CPUs can access directly. The nonvolatile storage areas store setting data used for each CPU. When the information processing device determines that setting data stored in each of the nonvolatile storage areas corresponding to each CPU is the same as data stored in a nonvolatile storage area corresponding to other CPU and the number of access times to the setting data stored along with the setting data is unchanged, the information processing device deletes the setting data. Accordingly, the information processing device determines setting data that has no need to be stored in the plurality of nonvolatile storage areas dynamically, and deletes the setting data.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a control method thereof, and a program, and more particularly to setting data management in the information processing apparatus.

  Some information processing apparatuses in recent years have a plurality of CPUs (Central Processing Units) that are arithmetic processing apparatuses in order to improve the performance of the entire process. For example, an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) as an information processing apparatus may have an image processing CPU and an information processing CPU. The image processing CPU is mainly responsible for control of the printer and scanner engine, image processing, and the like, and the information processing CPU is mainly responsible for user interface and application operations.

  In an information processing apparatus having a plurality of CPUs, an HDD (hard disk drive) or the like that is a non-volatile storage is often configured to be directly readable from only one CPU. In this configuration, inter-CPU communication occurs when information is read from other CPUs. For example, when a job such as scanning or printing is executed by a multifunction device, if a setting item for controlling the operation of the multifunction device is set by the user, a program on the CPU side for information processing is set in the nonvolatile storage area. Save. Thereafter, when the user kicks a job such as copying, a program on the CPU side for image processing reads the setting data from the non-volatile storage area and uses it to execute an operation. Because of these operation specifications, communication between CPUs occurs every time a job such as copying is executed, which greatly affects the performance of the apparatus. Note that communication between CPUs can be assumed to be performed via a network, in which case the communication cost further increases and the performance deteriorates. In addition, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of communication between CPUs for data access by caching the setting data, but in that case, the cached data disappears every time the power is turned off, and the settings are made again by communication between CPUs at startup. Data must be acquired.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 discloses a technology that enables access to a memory at a usage rate corresponding to the amount of data in a configuration having a memory accessed from a plurality of buses corresponding to a plurality of processors. It is disclosed that the number of accesses corresponding to the amount of transfer data is set for each bus, the number of accesses to the memory for each of the plurality of processors is counted, and an end signal is output when the set number of accesses is reached. Yes.

Japanese Patent No. 2887476

  An object of the present invention is to suppress the occurrence of communication between CPUs for acquiring setting data in an information processing apparatus having a plurality of CPUs and to appropriately hold setting data.

  An information processing apparatus according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus having a plurality of CPUs, each of which is an individual non-volatile holding unit that can be accessed by one of the plurality of CPUs. And the number of accesses to the setting data from the one CPU accessible to the holding means, and the other holding means accessible by other CPUs of the plurality of CPUs Holding means for holding, for each setting data, first information indicating whether or not the same setting data as the setting data is held; the number of accesses and the first information held in the holding means; It is determined that the setting data is held in an access means for accessing the other CPU and another holding means accessible by the other CPU, and the access is made. A deletion unit that deletes the setting data from the accessible holding unit when it is determined that the change in the number of accesses related to the setting data acquired by the unit is equal to or less than a predetermined value. To do.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of communication between CPUs for acquiring setting data. Further, with respect to setting data held by a plurality of holding means, setting data can be deleted from holding means that do not need to be held based on the number of accesses, and setting data can be held appropriately. it can.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image forming apparatus as an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the configuration manager shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a setting value storage area. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example in 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example in 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the setting process of the access flag at the time of start in 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a setting value storage area. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example in 3rd Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In an information processing apparatus having a plurality of CPUs (Central Processing Units) that are arithmetic processing units, as a method for suppressing the occurrence of communication between CPUs for acquiring setting data such as setting values used for operation control or the like, Can be considered. A separate nonvolatile storage area that can be directly accessed by each CPU is separately prepared for each CPU as a storage area for setting data of each CPU, and setting data used by each CPU is held. At this time, setting data accessed from a plurality of CPUs is held in a plurality of nonvolatile storage areas accessed by each CPU, and synchronization processing is performed using inter-CPU communication when updating data. . By doing so, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of communication between CPUs for data access, and there is no need to acquire setting data by communication between CPUs at every startup after the power is turned off.

  However, if the same setting data is held in a plurality of non-volatile storage areas, even if it is not necessary to hold the same setting data in a plurality of non-volatile storage areas, such as when there is a deviation in the access frequency from each CPU, the state is There is a problem of continuing. The adverse effects of holding the same setting data in a plurality of non-volatile storage areas include an increase in communication between CPUs for synchronization, a risk of inconsistency between setting data in the non-volatile storage areas, and the like. Further, for example, the following items can be mentioned as the characteristics of the setting data of the MFP (Multi Function Peripheral). First, even in the same model, setting data used from the program differs depending on the device configuration such as the finisher, the type of installed application, the presence / absence of function activation based on the license, and the like. Moreover, the access frequency with respect to the various setting data hold | maintained by a user's usage. Furthermore, in the multi-CPU configuration, it is possible to select which application is executed on which CPU.

  Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention described below, the number of accesses to each setting data for each CPU is dynamically estimated in order to dynamically estimate the number of accesses (access frequency) to each setting data that changes according to the various conditions as described above. Keep information. If it is not necessary to store the same setting data in each of the plurality of nonvolatile storage areas according to the access count information, the state is canceled. In this way, the occurrence of communication between CPUs for acquiring the setting data is suppressed, and even if the setting data is initially arranged between the plurality of nonvolatile storage areas corresponding to the CPUs, It becomes possible to appropriately perform the dynamic arrangement of the setting data during the operation.

(First embodiment)
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image forming apparatus as an information processing apparatus having a plurality of CPUs according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a main controller 100 that controls an information processing unit and a sub-controller 101 that controls an image processing unit. The main controller 100 and the sub controller 101 are connected between the buses via a bus bridge 116.

  First, the configuration of the main controller 100 will be described. The CPU-A 108 generally controls each functional unit connected to the system bus 115. The CPU-A 108 executes a program (software) stored in the FLASH ROM (flash memory) 110 or the HDD (hard disk drive) -A 111. The FLASH ROM 110 and the HDD-A 111 are used not only as programs but also as storage areas for image data and setting data set by user settings.

  A RAM (Random Access Memory) -A 109 functions as a main memory or work area of the CPU-A 108. An operation unit I / F (interface) 112 performs drawing on an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel 104 provided in the image forming apparatus. In addition, operation buttons and / or a touch panel 103 are also connected to the operation unit I / F 112. The operation unit I / F 112 is integrated with the LCD panel 104 and controls an instruction input by an operator (user).

  The network I / F (interface) 113 is, for example, a network interface card (NIC). The network I / F 113 exchanges data bidirectionally with other network devices or file servers via a communication network 102 such as a LAN (Local Area Network). The external serial I / F (interface) 114 is an external storage interface compliant with, for example, the USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard. The external serial I / F 114 connects an external device such as a memory media reader or an IC card reader to exchange data bidirectionally.

  Next, the configuration of the sub controller 101 will be described. The image reading unit 105 is for reading an image printed on paper. For example, an auto document feeder (not shown) is attached as an option to the image reading unit 105, and a plurality of documents can be automatically read. The printing unit 106 is a printing unit for paper realized by, for example, an electrophotographic method or an inkjet method. The image reading unit 105 and the printing unit 106 exchange control signals with the CPU-B 117 through the device I / F (interface) 120.

  The CPU-B 117 generally controls each functional unit connected to the system bus 127. The CPU-B 117 executes a program (software) stored in an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) -B 125. The HDD-B 125 is used not only as a program but also as a storage area for setting data.

  An image input from the image reading unit 105 is input as a read image to a RAM (Random Access Memory) -B 118 via the scanner image processing unit 121. The memory image processing unit 123 processes the image on the RAM-B 118 and outputs it to the RAM-B 118. The image processing in the memory image processing unit 123 includes processing such as rotation, scaling, color space conversion, gray scale conversion, composition, encoding, and decoding.

  The CPU-B 117 stores the image on the RAM-B 118 in the FLASH ROM 110 or the HDD-A 111 of the main controller 100 via the bus bridge 116 after the image processing in the memory image processing unit 123. Further, the CPU-B 117 reads an image stored in the FLASH ROM 110 or the HDD-A 111 of the main controller 100 via the bus bridge 116 to the RAM-B 118 and outputs it to the printing unit 106 via the printer image processing unit 122. .

  The processes in the scanner image processing unit 121 and the printer image processing unit 122 include color space conversion, movement, color adjustment, density control, delay amount control, and the like. A raster image processor (RIP) 119 expands a PDL (Page Description Language) code on the RAM-B 118 into a bitmap image and outputs the bitmap image to the RAM-B 118. The SRAM 124 and HDD-B 125 input / output various data to / from the CPU-B 117. A modem (MODEM) 126 is connected to the public line 107 and performs modulation / demodulation associated with input / output of a fax image.

  Next, the software configuration of the image forming apparatus that operates as the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Although the nonvolatile storage area on the main controller 100 side for holding setting data such as setting values will be described as HDD-A 111, the FLASH ROM 110 may be used as the nonvolatile storage area. Further, a non-volatile storage area on the sub controller 101 side for holding setting data such as setting values will be described as HDD-B 125.

  A user interface application (UI Application) 200 is a module that controls a UI (user interface) screen to be drawn on the LCD panel 104. A job application 201 is a module that provides a function as an image forming apparatus, and exists for each function such as copy, PDL, and FAX. A network application 202 is a module that controls network communication with other network devices or file servers via the network I / F 113.

  The configuration manager (Config Manager) -A 203 is a module that accesses a setting value storage area in the HDD-A 111 in response to a request from another module, and acquires or changes setting data stored therein. . The request source module includes a UI application 200, a job application 201, a network application 202, a configuration manager B 206, and the like. The detailed description of the configuration manager-A 203 will be described later. The UI application 200, job application 201, network application 202, and configuration manager-A 203 are expanded on the RAM-A 109 at the time of execution and executed by the CPU-A 108.

  A job controller 204 is a module that controls jobs executed by the job application 201. An image processor 205 is a module that controls the scanner image processing unit 121, the printer image processing unit 122, and the memory image processing unit 123 to perform image processing on an image stored on the RAM-B 118. .

  A configuration manager (Config Manager) -B 206 is a module that accesses a setting value storage area in the HDD-B 125 in response to a request from another module, and acquires or changes setting data stored therein. is there. The request source module includes a configuration manager-A 203, a job controller 204, an image processor 205, and the like. The detailed description of the configuration manager-B 206 will be described later. The job controller 204, the image processor 205, and the configuration manager-B 206 are expanded on the RAM-B 118 at the time of execution and executed by the CPU-B 117.

  Next, detailed configurations of the configuration manager-A 203 and the configuration manager-B 206 shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG. The configurations of the configuration manager-A 203 and the configuration manager-B 206 are the same. Therefore, only the configuration manager-A 203 will be described here, and the description of the configuration manager-B 206 will be omitted.

  The configuration manager-A 203 includes a database access method-A301, a deletion request notification method-A302, and a deletion method-A303. A database access method-A301 accesses a setting value storage area in the HDD-A111 to refer to or change setting data and information associated therewith. A deletion request notification method (Deletion order method) -A302 issues a deletion request for setting data that satisfies a specific condition. A deletion method (Deletion method) -A303 deletes setting data that satisfies a specific condition.

  The setting value storage area of the HDD-A 111 and HDD-B 125 will be described. Here, the set value storage area of the HDD-A 111 is directly accessible by the CPU-A 108 and cannot be directly accessed by the CPU-B 117. Similarly, the setting value storage area of the HDD-B 125 is directly accessible by the CPU-B 117 and cannot be directly accessed by the CPU-A 108.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, the setting value storage area of the HDD-A 111 includes an ID 401, setting data (setting value) 402, the number of accesses 403 from the CPU-A 108 as its own CPU, and first information. Flag information 404 is held for each setting data. The flag information 404 is information indicating whether or not setting data is also stored in a non-volatile storage area (for example, a setting value storage area of the HDD-B 125) on the CPU-B 117 side which is another CPU.

  Further, in the setting value storage area of the HDD-B 125, as shown in FIG. 4B, an ID 405, setting data (setting value) 406, the number of accesses 407 from the CPU-B 117 as its own CPU, and the first Flag information 408 as information is held for each set data. The flag information 408 is information indicating whether or not setting data is also stored in a nonvolatile storage area (for example, a setting value storage area of the HDD-A 111) on the CPU-A 108 side which is another CPU. In this example, the flag information 404 and 408 has a value of 1 when the setting data is stored in a non-volatile storage area on the other CPU side, and a value of 0 otherwise.

  The setting data of Keys 1, 2, and 3 shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B are accessed from both CPU-A 108 and CPU-B 117, and HDD-A 111 and HDD-B 125 as nonvolatile storage areas. The values are kept in sync with each other. The setting data of Key4 is accessed only from CPU-B117, but is held in each of HDD-A111 and HDD-B125 as nonvolatile storage areas. The setting data of Key5 is accessed only from the CPU-A 108 and is held only in the HDD-A 111 as a nonvolatile storage area. All setting data is initially stored in the HDD-A 111, and the setting data of the Keys 1, 2, 3, and 4 are read from the HDD-A 111 and stored in the HDD-B 125 when referenced from the CPU-B 117. Shall be. By doing so, it becomes possible to dynamically switch the presence or absence of synchronization of each setting data even if a change occurs in which of the CPU-A 108 and CPU-B 117 a certain program operates.

  Next, the processing operation in the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 illustrates an operation in which the configuration managers 203 and 206 delete setting data that does not need to be stored in a plurality of nonvolatile storage areas from the HDD-B 125 in accordance with the number of accesses to the setting data (access frequency). It is a flowchart which shows an example.

  FIG. 5A shows processing by the configuration manager-A 203, and the processing shown in FIG. 5A is realized by the CPU-A 108 operating according to the program expanded in the RAM-A 109. . FIG. 5B shows processing by the configuration manager-B 206. The processing shown in FIG. 5B is realized by the CPU-B 117 operating according to the program expanded in the RAM-B 118. Is done.

  In step S501 shown in FIG. 5A, the database access method-A301 of the configuration manager-A203 accesses the setting value storage area in the HDD-A111 to refer to or change the setting data. Each time the setting data is accessed, the value of the number of accesses to the setting data held in the setting value storage area is incremented by one.

  In step S502, the deletion request notification method-A302 stores the setting data accessed in step S501 in the non-volatile storage area (HDD-B125) of another controller, and the cumulative access count is a predetermined number or more. It is determined whether or not. If the target setting data is also stored in the non-volatile storage area of another controller and the cumulative access count is equal to or greater than a certain number (exceeds a predetermined value), the process proceeds to step S503; If so, the process ends. For example, if the threshold value for the cumulative access count is 100, in the example shown in FIG. 4A, if the accessed setting data is the setting data for Keys 1 and 2, the process proceeds to step S503. If the setting data is 5, the process is terminated.

  In step S503, the deletion request notification method-A302 issues a deletion request for the setting data accessed in step S501 to the deletion method-B306 of the configuration manager-B206. In step S504, the deletion method-B306 receives the setting data deletion request issued from the deletion request notification method-A302 of the configuration manager-A203 in step S503. Upon receiving the setting data deletion request, the deletion method-B306 requests the database access method-B304 to acquire the number of access times of the setting data requested to be deleted.

  In step S505, the database access method-B304 accesses the setting value storage area in the HDD-B125, acquires the access count of the target setting data, and passes it to the deletion method-B306. In step S506, the deletion method-B306 determines whether the access count acquired in step S505 has not changed since the previous deletion request was received. As a result of the determination, if the number of accesses has not changed, the process proceeds to step S507, and if the number of accesses has changed, the process proceeds to step S508. As a method of determining whether the number of accesses has changed since the previous deletion request was received, the access number counter may be reset (cleared) at each reference time, or the number of accesses when the previous deletion request was received. May be stored separately. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 4B, if the setting data requested to be deleted is the setting data for Key1, the process proceeds to step S507. If the setting data is the setting data for Key2, the process of step S507 is skipped. It will be.

  In step S507, the delete method-B306 deletes the setting data stored in the HDD-B125. Next, in step S508, the deletion method-B306 notifies the configuration manager-A203 of the processing result. In step S509, when the configuration manager-A 203 receives the processing result from the configuration manager-B 206, the process proceeds to step S510.

  In step S510, the deletion request notification method-A302 determines whether the setting data requested for deletion has been deleted at the deletion request destination. As a result of the determination, if the setting data is deleted at the deletion request destination, the process proceeds to step S511, and if not, the process ends. In step S511, the deletion request notification method-A302 requests the database access method-A301 to clear the flag of the setting information flag information 404 deleted at the deletion request destination. Then, the database access method-A301 changes the value of the flag information 404 of the target setting data from 1 to 0 and ends the process. For example, when the target setting data is Key1, the setting value storage area of the HDD-A 111 is as shown in FIGS. 4 (A) to 4 (C).

  According to the present embodiment, by providing a plurality of nonvolatile storage areas corresponding to each CPU and holding the setting data, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of communication between CPUs for acquiring the setting data. In addition, regarding the setting data held in each of the plurality of nonvolatile storage areas corresponding to each CPU, setting data that does not need to be held in the plurality of nonvolatile storage areas is dynamically changed based on the number of accesses. Can be deleted at the discretion. For example, regarding setting data held in the setting value storage areas of the HDD-A 111 and the HDD-B 125, setting data that does not need to be held can be dynamically determined and appropriately deleted.

  In the above description, the deletion method-B 306 receives the setting data deletion request, and when the access count for the setting data requested to be deleted has not changed since the previous deletion request was received, the HDD- The setting data stored in B125 is deleted. Not limited to this, a setting data deletion request is received, and when the change in the number of accesses to the setting data requested to be deleted is less than or equal to a predetermined value, it is stored in the HDD-B 125. The set data that has been set may be deleted. Further, instead of the number of accesses to the setting data requested to be deleted, it may be determined whether or not to delete the setting data requested to be deleted using an access frequency obtained from the number of accesses within a predetermined time. .

  The processing result notification from the deletion request destination may be notified only when the setting data is deleted. In this case, the deletion request source may determine that the setting data is not deleted at the deletion request destination if there is no notification of the processing result even after a predetermined time has passed since the setting data deletion request was issued.

  In the above description, the deletion method-B306 deletes the setting data on condition that the setting data deletion request is received from the deletion request notification method-A302. For example, the deletion method-B306 acquires the number of accesses to the setting data at a predetermined timing when the setting data is also stored in the nonvolatile storage area of another controller. When the change in the number of accesses to the setting data is less than or equal to a predetermined value (or has not changed), the deletion method-B306 may delete the setting data stored in the HDD-B125. .

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the first embodiment, the configuration managers 203 and 206 have shown an example in which setting data that does not need to be held in a plurality of nonvolatile storage areas is deleted from the nonvolatile storage areas in accordance with the number of accesses. In the second embodiment described below, the following two processes are added to the first embodiment.

  When the deletion request notification method issues a setting data deletion request, the deletion request is issued with information indicating whether or not the nonvolatile storage area exists in the controller as the second information. Further, when the deletion method deletes the setting data requested to be deleted, whether or not the non-volatile storage area exists in the requester of the setting data deletion request based on the information attached as the second information Make a decision. By doing this, after confirming that there is a non-volatile storage area at the setting data deletion request source and that the setting data to be deleted is stored in the non-volatile storage area of the deletion request source The setting data can be deleted.

  In the following description, the description of the same parts as those in the first embodiment is omitted. FIG. 6 illustrates an operation in which the configuration managers 203 and 206 delete setting data that does not need to be stored in a plurality of nonvolatile storage areas from the HDD-B 125 in accordance with the number of accesses to the setting data (access frequency). It is a flowchart which shows an example.

  FIG. 6A shows processing by the configuration manager-A 203, and the processing shown in FIG. 6A is realized by the CPU-A 108 operating according to the program expanded in the RAM-A 109. . FIG. 6B shows processing by the configuration manager-B 206. The processing shown in FIG. 6B is realized by the CPU-B 117 operating in accordance with the program expanded in the RAM-B 118. Is done.

  The processes in steps S601 and S602 shown in FIG. 6A are the same as the processes in steps S501 and S502 shown in FIG. In step S603, the deletion request notification method-A302 of the configuration manager-A203 issues a deletion request for the setting data accessed in step S601 to the deletion method-B306 of the configuration manager-B206. At this time, information indicating whether or not the nonvolatile storage area exists in the main controller 100 is attached to the deletion request.

  The processes in steps S604, S605, and S606 illustrated in FIG. 6B are the same as the processes in steps S504, S505, and S506 illustrated in FIG. In step S607, the deletion method-B306 refers to the attached information of the setting data deletion request received in step S604, and determines whether or not a non-volatile storage area exists in the deletion request source. As a result of the determination, if a non-volatile storage area exists in the deletion request source, the process proceeds to step S608, and if not, the process proceeds to step S609.

  The subsequent processing in steps S608 and S609 shown in FIG. 6B is the same as the processing in steps S507 and S508 shown in FIG. 5B, respectively. In addition, the processes in steps S610, S611, and S612 illustrated in FIG. 6A are the same as the processes in steps S509, S510, and S511 illustrated in FIG.

  According to the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of inter-CPU communication for acquiring setting data. In addition, regarding setting data held in each of the plurality of nonvolatile storage areas corresponding to each CPU, setting data that does not need to be held based on the number of accesses can be dynamically determined and deleted. become. In addition, after confirming that there is a non-volatile storage area at the setting data deletion request source and that the setting data that you want to delete is stored in the non-volatile storage area of the deletion request source, delete the setting data. Can be executed.

(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the configuration managers 203 and 206 delete setting data that does not need to be held in a plurality of nonvolatile storage areas from the nonvolatile storage area according to the number of accesses. An example to do. In the above-described example, there is a possibility that the setting data that is referred to at the time of activation may be a deletion target. If the setting data is deleted, activation cannot be performed until the setting data is acquired. Therefore, at the time of startup, it is necessary to acquire setting data held in a nonvolatile storage area corresponding to another CPU that cannot be directly accessed from the own CPU by performing inter-CPU communication. However, at startup, it takes time to establish a session between the CPUs, and since the usage rate of both CPUs is generally high and communication takes time, it takes time to acquire the setting data and the startup time is slow. Problem arises.

  Therefore, in the third embodiment, information indicating whether or not the setting data is accessed by the own CPU at the time of activation is stored for each setting data as the third information. For the setting data accessed by the own CPU at the time of starting, a flag indicating that it has been accessed at the time of starting is set, and the setting data is deleted even if the deletion condition in the first embodiment described above is satisfied. Do not. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the setting data referred to at the time of startup from being deleted from the nonvolatile storage area that can be directly accessed from the own CPU, and to prevent the startup time from increasing.

  In the following description, the description of the same parts as those in the first embodiment and the second embodiment described above will be omitted. First, in the third embodiment, processing for setting a flag indicating that the configuration manager has accessed at the time of startup will be described for the setting value accessed at the time of startup. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing for setting a flag indicating that the configuration manager has accessed at the time of startup. The processing shown in FIG. 7 is realized by the CPU operating in accordance with a program expanded in the RAM.

  In the third embodiment, setting data is held in a setting value storage area of a nonvolatile storage area as shown in FIG. FIG. 8 exemplifies a setting value storage area of the HDD-B 125. In addition to the ID 801, setting data (setting value) 802, the number of accesses from the own CPU 803, and flag information 804, activation as third information is illustrated. An hour access flag 805 is held for each setting data. In this example, the startup access flag 805 has a value of 1 when the setting data is being accessed at startup, and 0 otherwise.

  In step S701 shown in FIG. 7, the database access method accesses the setting value storage area in the HDD and acquires setting data required at the time of activation. In step S702, the database access method sets the startup access flag 805 for the setting data acquired in step S701 (changes the value from 0 to 1).

  Next, setting data deletion processing according to the third embodiment will be described. FIG. 9 illustrates an operation in which the configuration managers 203 and 206 delete setting data that does not need to be stored in a plurality of nonvolatile storage areas from the HDD-B 125 in accordance with the number of accesses to the setting data (access frequency). It is a flowchart which shows an example.

  FIG. 9A shows processing by the configuration manager-A 203, and the processing shown in FIG. 9A is realized by the CPU-A 108 operating according to the program expanded in the RAM-A 109. . FIG. 9B shows processing by the configuration manager-B 206, and the processing shown in FIG. 9B is realized by the CPU-B 117 operating according to the program expanded in the RAM-B 118. Is done.

  The processes in steps S901, S902, and S903 shown in FIG. 9A are the same as the processes in steps S601, S602, and S603 shown in FIG. In step S904 shown in FIG. 9B, the deletion method-B306 of the configuration manager-B206 receives the setting data deletion request issued in step S903. Upon receiving the setting data deletion request, the deletion method-B 306 requests the database access method-B 304 to obtain the number of access times of the setting data requested to be deleted and the startup access flag information.

  In step S905, the database access method-B304 accesses the setting value storage area in the HDD-B125, acquires the access count and start-up access flag information of the target setting data, and passes them to the deletion method-B306. In step S906, the deletion method-B306 refers to the startup access flag information acquired in step S905, and determines whether or not the startup access flag is set. As a result of the determination, if the startup access flag is not set, the process proceeds to step S907, and if it is set, the process proceeds to step S910. In the example illustrated in FIG. 8, if the setting data requested to be deleted is the setting data for Keys 2, 3, and 4, the process proceeds to step S 907. If the setting data is the setting data for Key 1, the process proceeds to step S 910. Become.

  The subsequent processes in steps S907, S908, S909, and S910 shown in FIG. 9B are the same as the processes in steps S606, S607, S608, and S609 shown in FIG. 6B, respectively. Further, the processes in steps S911, S912, and S913 illustrated in FIG. 9A are the same as the processes in steps S610, S611, and S612 illustrated in FIG.

  According to the third embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment and the second embodiment, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of communication between CPUs for acquiring setting data. Also, dynamically determine the setting data that does not need to be stored in the non-volatile storage area, and delete it after confirming that the setting data to be deleted is stored in the non-volatile storage area of the deletion request source. Can do. In addition, it is possible to prevent the setting data accessed by the CPU at the time of activation from being deleted regardless of the number of subsequent accesses. In the above description of the third embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the second embodiment has been described as an example, but the present invention can be similarly applied to the first embodiment.

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

  The above-described embodiments are merely examples of implementation in carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited thereto. That is, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the technical idea or the main features thereof.

100: Main controller 101: Sub controller 108, 117: CPU 109, 118: RAM 111, 125: HDD 203, 206: Configuration manager 301, 304: Database access method 302, 305: Deletion request notification method 303, 306: Deletion The method

Claims (9)

An information processing apparatus having a plurality of CPUs,
Individual non-volatile holding means that can be accessed by one of the plurality of CPUs, together with setting data used to control the operation, from the one CPU that can access the holding means The number of accesses to the setting data, and first information indicating whether or not the same setting data as the setting data is held in another holding unit accessible by another CPU among the plurality of CPUs. Holding means for holding each setting data;
Access means for accessing the number of accesses and the first information held in the holding means;
It is determined that the setting data is held in another holding unit accessible by the other CPU, and a change in the number of accesses related to the setting data acquired by the access unit is equal to or less than a predetermined value. An information processing apparatus comprising: deletion means for deleting the setting data from the accessible holding means when it is determined that When it is determined that the number of accesses to the setting data acquired by the access means exceeds a predetermined value and the setting data is held in another holding means accessible by the other CPU , Deletion request notification means for issuing a deletion request notification of the setting data to the other CPU,
The deletion unit receives a setting data deletion request notification from another CPU, and accesses the setting data from the previous reception of the deletion request notification according to the number of accesses to the setting data acquired by the access unit. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the change in the number of times is determined to be equal to or less than a predetermined value, the setting data is deleted from the accessible holding unit.   The deletion means can be accessed when it is determined that the number of accesses to the setting data has not changed since the previous reception of the deletion request notification by the number of accesses to the setting data acquired by the access means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the setting data is deleted from the holding unit. The deletion request notification means outputs, to the other CPU, second information indicating whether or not the non-volatile holding means is accessible together with the setting data deletion request notification.
In addition to the determination, the deletion unit is accessible when it is determined by the second information received together with the setting data deletion request notification that the request source has the nonvolatile holding unit accessible. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the setting data is deleted from the holding unit. From the CPU accessible to the holding means, third information indicating whether or not the setting data is accessed at the time of activation is held in the holding means for each setting data together with the setting data,
In addition to the determination, the deletion unit is accessible when the setting data is determined not to be accessed at the time of activation based on the third information related to the setting data acquired by the access unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the setting data is deleted from the information processing apparatus.   The said deletion means performs determination using the access frequency calculated | required from the frequency | count of access within predetermined time instead of the frequency | count of access with respect to the said setting data, The any one of Claims 2-5 characterized by the above-mentioned. Information processing device.   The deletion unit resets the value of the number of accesses to the setting data held in the accessible holding unit when receiving a setting data deletion request notification from another CPU. The information processing apparatus according to any one of? A plurality of CPUs and individual non-volatile holding means that can be accessed by one of the plurality of CPUs, respectively, and the setting means used to control the operation, and the holding means accessible The number of accesses to the setting data from one CPU and whether or not the same setting data as the setting data is held in another holding means accessible by other CPUs of the plurality of CPUs. 1 is a control method of an information processing apparatus having holding means for holding information for each setting data,
An access step of accessing the number of accesses and the first information held in the holding means;
It is determined that the setting data is held in another holding unit accessible by the other CPU, and the change in the number of accesses related to the setting data acquired from the holding unit is less than or equal to a predetermined value. A control method for an information processing apparatus, comprising: a deletion step of deleting the setting data from the accessible holding means when it is determined that the information is present. A plurality of CPUs and individual non-volatile holding means that can be accessed by one of the plurality of CPUs, respectively, and the setting means used to control the operation, and the holding means accessible The number of accesses to the setting data from one CPU and whether or not the same setting data as the setting data is held in another holding means accessible by other CPUs of the plurality of CPUs. 1 is a program for causing a computer to execute a control method of an information processing apparatus having holding means for holding each piece of setting data.
An access step of accessing the number of accesses and the first information held in the holding means;
It is determined that the setting data is held in another holding unit accessible by the other CPU, and the change in the number of accesses related to the setting data acquired from the holding unit is less than or equal to a predetermined value. A program for causing a computer to execute a deletion step of deleting the setting data from the accessible holding means when it is determined that there is.

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