JP2014222450A - Information processor, processing method thereof and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mechanism for facilitating setting by displaying components that a user should set due to a dependency relation in order (side by side) in accordance with unset components on a setting screen.SOLUTION: An information processor for setting a component includes: storing means for storing a dependency relation of the component and a set state of the component; set state determination means for determining whether the set state of the component is in an unset state; specification means for specifying an unset component depending on the component according to the dependency relation in the case that the set state determination means determines that it is in an unset state; and display means for displaying the component specified by the specification means and the component determined to be an unset state by the set state determination means side by side so that the component required to be set in accordance with the set of the unset component can be identified.

Description

  Information processing apparatus, processing method, and program for setting component

Conventionally, when environment setting of a system (virtual machine, server-side application, MR, VR system, etc.) configured by combining a number of components (devices) is performed with a GUI, in order to provide an overview of the entire setting, as shown in FIG. The user changes the settings using the component list 1501 and a setting screen 1502 for performing detailed settings.
This component is classified into a list form or a tree form, and the user can access a detailed setting screen 1502 by clicking a node.
In such an environment setting application, a component is added or deleted when a plug-in or a peripheral device is added to a system to be set.

  In such a case, the GUI is usually designed so that the optimal procedure is set in order from the top of the category list (system, display...), And the user follows that rule of thumb. Although the setting is performed, there is no strict procedure, and the user can perform each setting in an arbitrary order.

  As a general solution to the problem that the order of items to be set is difficult to understand, a method is often used in which a wizard-type GUI is prepared and the setting is completed by answering according to a prepared question. However, it is difficult to apply to a system with a wide variety of setting patterns as described above. Further, since the skilled user knows the items that need to be set at a minimum, in such a case, the wizard-type GUI increases the number of work steps, which causes a problem that it is difficult to use.

  For this reason, the user can freely make settings on the setting screen as shown in FIG. 15. In this case, it is conceivable that a conflict occurs in the set contents. Therefore, a technique for preventing a conflict from occurring in various fields in order to prevent a conflict from occurring is disclosed (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-163954 A

  However, in the mechanism described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to present conflicting items when the setting is changed, but there is a problem that the order to be set is not known.

  In addition, in the case of a system in which components can be added, in order to operate the entire system when components are added, it is necessary to change the settings of other components. If you need to change the settings but want to test the added component, you may not need to change the settings of other components. There is a problem that it is not easy to use.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for facilitating setting by displaying components to be set by the user in order (aligned) on the setting screen in accordance with unset components. is there.

  An information processing apparatus for setting a component for achieving the object of the present invention, wherein the component dependency relationship, a storage means for storing the component setting state, and whether the component setting state is an unset state A setting state determination unit that determines whether or not a setting state determination unit specifies a component in an unset state that depends on the component according to the dependency relationship when the setting state determination unit determines that the component is in an unset state And the component specified by the specifying unit and the setting state determining unit are determined to be in an unset state so that the component that needs to be set can be identified according to the setting of the component and the component in the unset state And display means for displaying the components side by side.

  According to the present invention, the setting by the user can be facilitated by displaying on the setting screen the components to be set by the user in order (aligned) in accordance with the unset components.

It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of the information processing apparatus 100 in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the functional block structure in this invention. It is a figure which shows the state (setting completed, unset) of the component in this invention, and the dependency between components. It is a flowchart showing the process which serializes the graph of a dependence relationship It is an image diagram of the result of serializing unconfigured components It is a figure which shows a data transition diagram It is a flowchart which determines the screen transition button display method It is a figure which shows an example of the setting screen of a component It is a figure which shows an example of a dependency relationship table It is a figure which shows the dependence between components at the time of HDD2 addition. It is a figure which shows an example of the setting screen of the component at the time of HDD2 addition It is a figure which shows the dependence between components at the time of VRAM non-setting. It is a figure which shows the dependence between components at the time of VRAM non-setting. It is a figure which shows an example of the setting screen of the component at the time of VRAM non-setting An example of a conventional setting screen

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

  FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an information processing apparatus 100 according to the present invention. Here, the environment setting application of the virtual machine is taken as an example, but FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of hardware as a host that executes the environment setting application.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a CPU that comprehensively controls each device and controller connected to the system bus 105. In addition, the ROM 102 or the auxiliary storage device 112 is configured to realize a BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) or an operating system program (hereinafter referred to as an OS), which is a control program of the CPU 101, or a function executed by each server or each PC. Various necessary programs to be described later are stored.

  Reference numeral 103 denotes a RAM which functions as a main memory, work area, and the like for the CPU 101. The CPU 101 implements various operations by loading a program or the like necessary for execution of processing from the ROM 102 or the auxiliary storage device 112 into the RAM 103 and executing the loaded program.

  Reference numeral 105 denotes an input controller which controls input from a pointing device such as a keyboard (KB) 109 and a mouse 110. A video controller 106 controls display on a display device such as the display 111. Note that the display type is not limited to the CRT, but may be another display such as a liquid crystal display. These are used by the administrator as needed.

  A memory controller 107 is provided in an external storage device (hard disk (HD)), a flexible disk (FD), or a PCMCIA card slot for storing a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, editing files, various data, and the like. Controls access to the auxiliary storage device 112 such as a compact flash (registered trademark) memory connected via the adapter.

  A network controller 108 connects and communicates with an external device via a network (for example, the network 113 shown in FIG. 1), and executes communication control processing in the network. For example, communication using TCP / IP is possible.

  Note that the CPU 101 enables display on the display 111 by, for example, executing outline font rasterization processing on a display information area in the RAM 103. In addition, the CPU 101 enables a user instruction with a mouse cursor or the like on the display 111.

  Various programs to be described later for realizing the present invention are recorded in the auxiliary storage device 112, and are executed by the CPU 101 by being loaded into the RAM 103 as necessary. Furthermore, definition files and various information tables used when executing the program are also stored in the auxiliary storage device 112, and detailed descriptions thereof will be described later.

Moreover, the structure which operate | moves as an environment setting application of other systems, such as an environment setting application of the system of Mixed Reality, may be sufficient.
Next, a functional block diagram according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a functional block configuration in the present invention.

The dependency relationship management unit 201 has a function of managing the setting state of each component and the dependency relationship between components, and a function of deriving an appropriate setting order based on the dependency relationship between components.
The setting state is managed by having “not set (not set)” or “set (set)” for each component.

  When a new virtual machine is created or when a component is newly added, the component starts from an unset state. When the user operates the environment setting application and explicitly inputs settings, the component is in a set state.

  It is desirable for the component to be set and checked explicitly by the user, but it should be in the set state. However, if the default value can be used, an expert user can set and operate only the minimum necessary items. This is not the case if you want to.

  The dependency between components is defined as that the component 1 depends on the component 2 when it is recommended to set the component 2 before setting the component 1. The definition of the dependency relationship can be derived from the dependency relationship table of FIG. Further, this dependency relationship is represented by a graph structure as shown in FIG.

The dependency relationship management unit 201 orders the components in a row while maintaining this dependency relationship, and derives an appropriate setting order for the user. Derivation and display of the setting order will be described later.
The screen transition management unit 202 is a function for managing the correspondence between a component and a screen for setting the component.

  The dependency relationship management unit 201 derives the component dependency relationship, but since the user changes the setting via the GUI, it is necessary to present a screen for setting the component to the user. The screen transition management unit 202 stores the association between components and screens and controls the setting screen GUI 206.

  The component diagnosis unit 203 has a function of verifying whether there is an error in the component. It also has a function to identify the component that causes it from errors that occur during system execution. For example, when it is determined that the error code is in the main memory by looking at the error code, the main memory setting is changed to unset, and the VRAM setting depending on the main memory is also not set.

  The setting file input / output unit 204 has a function of perpetuating setting values (component settings) set by the environment setting application in the setting file 205. The setting file 205 may take a form such as a text file, XML, or a relational database. The dependency table in FIG. 9 is also managed by the setting file 205. That is, the storage control unit stores the component dependency and the component setting state.

  A setting screen GUI 206 has a function of presenting a component to the user, receiving an input of setting change, and controlling the setting file input / output unit 204 to update the setting file 205. The user performs setting operation interactively with the setting screen GUI 206 using the input device (109, 110) and the display 111.

  The setting screen GUI 206 displays a list of setting screens reflecting the optimal setting order received from the screen transition management unit 202 on the screen, and provides means for screen transition to the user. The appearance of the setting screen GUI 206 may be an application on a general operating system or a terminal service, or an application on a WEB browser.

Next, with reference to FIG. 3, the state of components (set and not set) and the dependency between components in the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing component states (set and unset) and dependency relationships between components in the present invention.
An arrow represents a dependency relationship, and in order to set a certain component, it is necessary to set a component at the tip of the arrow first.

  For example, a chip set that constitutes a computer operates in a virtual machine imitating an actual chip set. A chip set setting 301 that defines this behavior depends on the CPU setting 302 and main memory of the main memory. This affects the range of values that can be set in the main memory setting 303 for determining the capacity and the HDD setting 305 for determining the hard disk interface and procedure. In such a case, the CPU setting 302, the main memory setting 303, and the HDD1 setting 305 are defined to be dependent on the chipset setting 301.

  In this way, a data structure connected by arrows having directions between components is generally called a directed graph structure. Some components have no dependencies and can be set independently of other components. For example, there are a sound setting 307 and a network setting 308.

  Virtual machines have a variety of computer configurations. For example, hard disks and other storage devices are not limited to one, and multiple storage devices may be connected. Even when peripheral devices such as printers and serial ports are added, each peripheral device is required. Suppose that there is a dependency of a specific setting.

  As described above, the dependency relationship between components dynamically changes as components are added and deleted, and it is difficult for the user to always grasp the dependency relationship and determine the optimum setting order.

In the present invention, components whose setting states are not set are extracted from the dependency relationships having the graph structure described above, serialized in a line, and items to be set are presented to the user. The user can perform the setting work with minimum rework by setting the environment according to the order presented here.
Note that the dependency relationship of each component is managed in the dependency relationship table of FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of serializing the dependency graph. Each process is described as being executed by the CPU 101.

In step S400, the environment setting application is activated. The setting state of each component is read, and the process proceeds to step S401. The following description will be made with reference to FIG. 6 based on the example of FIG. Further, the processing after step S400 is executed when the setting is not set. For example, when the setting is changed by the user and the component is executed, an error occurs and the setting is initialized, or when the user initializes and sets the component to the unset state, or when the component is added, the process from step S401 is started. Needless to say, the processing is executed.
In step S401, an empty result list is created. This is a list that stores the order of components to be finally set.

In step S402, a list S of components that are in a component non-set state and have no unset components on which they depend is created. That is, the components stored in the list S are stored in the list S if they are not set yet and there is no dependency destination component, or the dependency destination component is already set. In other words, it is processing for determining whether or not the component setting state is an unset state (setting state determination).
In the example of FIG. 3, as shown in (1) of FIG. 4, the list S stores main memory, HDD1, sound, and network.

  In step S403, it is determined whether the list S is an empty list. If the list S is empty, the process proceeds to step S701 (FIG. 7). The content of the result list at this point is the final result.

  In step S404, an arbitrary component is extracted from the list S and added to the end of the result list. For example, the main memory of the list S in (2) of FIG. 6 is taken out, and the main memory is added to the result list. In other words, it is a process of identifying an unconfigured component that depends on the component according to the dependency relationship. In addition, according to the addition or setting change of a component, it is a process of identifying a component in an unset state that depends on the added or changed setting component.

  In step S405, components that depend on the added component are extracted and a list T is created. For example, the VRAM depending on the main memory is stored in the list T in (2) of FIG.

In step S406, it is determined whether the list T is an empty list. If the list T is empty, the process proceeds to step S403, and the next item in the list S is processed. In the example of (2) of FIG. 6, since there is VRAM in the list T, the process proceeds to step S407.
In step S407, an arbitrary component is extracted from the list T. In the case of (3) in FIG. 6, since the VRAM is taken out, the list T becomes empty here.

  In step S408, it is determined whether the extracted component depends on a component not in the result list. If the component depends on a component that is not in the result list, the process proceeds to step S406, and the processing of the component is postponed. If it depends on a component in the result list, the process proceeds to step S409. In the example of (3) of FIG. 6, since the result list includes only the main memory and the VRAM depends on the main memory, the process proceeds to step S409.

In step S409, the acquired component is added to the list S. Until the list S becomes empty, the processing from step S404 to step S409 is repeated. An example in which VRAM is added to the list S is the list S in (3) of FIG.
When the processing of step S404 to step S409 is repeated, it becomes as shown in (4) to (8) of FIG.

  For example, after (3), when a component (VRAM) is acquired from the list S in step S404 and added to the result list, the state (4) is obtained. In step S405, components that depend on the VRAM are extracted. However, since there are no dependent components, the list T becomes empty, and the process proceeds to step S403 again.

  Thereafter, after (4), the component (HDD1) is acquired from the list S in step S404 and added to the result list, and the component (starting order) dependent on the HDD1 is added to the list T in step S405. This state is (5).

By repeating this process, the activation order is added as in (6), the activation order is taken out and added to the result list in (7) (since there is no component depending on the activation order, the list T is empty) Becomes). Also, since there is no dependency between sound and network, it is added to the result list as shown in (8).
Based on this result list, an image of the result of serializing unconfigured components is shown in FIG.

Next, processing when the screen transition management unit 202 displays the screen transition button will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart in which the screen transition management unit determines a screen transition button display method. Each process is described as being executed by the CPU 101.
In step S701, a result list is acquired.
In step S702, the process ends if the result list is empty.

  In step S703, buttons corresponding to the components of the result list are acquired from the memory, and are displayed in series in the order of the result list so that the user can recognize the setting order. In other words, for example, by adding components, when setting an unconfigured additional component, the components that need to be set are displayed side by side so that the components that need to be set can be identified.

  In step S704, it is determined whether or not a component has been selected on the screen 800 or 803 in FIG. If a component has been selected, the process proceeds to step S705. If no component has been selected, the process proceeds to step S709. When there is no operation from the user, the operation instruction wait state is entered. If the VRAM button is pressed at 801 in FIG. 8 and the activation order button is pressed at 802, the process also proceeds to step S705. That is, it is a process of selecting a component.

  In step S705, it is determined whether the selected component is a component in the result list (a component of a button of components displayed in series). If it is a component in the result list, the process proceeds to step S706. If the component is not in the result list, the process proceeds to step S709. If the component is not in the result list, the setting information of the selected component is read from the memory and displayed in 802 or 805. If there is a change here, the process proceeds to step S710. FIG. 8 is a screen displayed by the process of displaying a list of components (800) and displaying the unset components side by side according to the dependency relationship among the displayed components (801).

  In step S706, the button corresponding to the selected component is enlarged and displayed. For example, when a VRAM is selected as in 801, a button corresponding to the VRAM is enlarged and displayed. In other words, when the selected component is a component that has not been set, this is a process of enlarging and displaying the selected component.

In step S707, the component on which the selected component depends is extracted. In step S708, the color of the extracted component button is changed. In the case of VRAM as in 801, the dependent component is a memory, and the memory is in an unset state, so the color of the button corresponding to the memory is changed. Also, as in 804, in the case of the activation order, the dependent component is HDD1, and HDD1 is in an unset state, so the color of the button corresponding to HDD1 is changed. That is, it is a process for identifying and displaying that it is necessary to set an unset component on which a selected component depends on an unset state component.
This makes it possible to recognize items that need to be set together when setting the currently selected component.

  In step 709, it is determined whether or not a new component has been added / a component setting value has been changed by a user operation. When the component is added, that is, when the HDD 2 (309) is added as shown in FIG. 10, since the HDD 2 is not set, the process proceeds to step S710. In the example of FIG. 10, since the HDD 2 is added, the activation order (306-1) is changed to an unset state (step S710). In this case, the process proceeds to step S401, and an example when the button is displayed again (when the activation order is selected) is 1101 in FIG. When the HDD 2 is added, the HDD 2 is selected. First, a button corresponding to the HDD 2 is displayed in an enlarged manner, so that the activation order is a small button. Since the activation order depending on the HDD 2 is not set, the color of the button corresponding to the activation order is changed. Since there is no dependency between the VRAM and the HDD 2, a color (identification) display that prompts a change in the setting according to the setting of the HDD 2 is not executed.

  In other words, step S710 is a process of setting the setting of a component dependent on the component to an unset state in accordance with the addition or setting change of the component (state change).

  If the setting value of a component is changed, the value of another component may cause a conflict, and initialization is necessary, so the process moves to step S710. In addition, as shown in FIG. 12, when an error occurs when the VRAM (304) is already set and executed, the main memory (303-2) and the VRAM (304-2) are displayed. In order to make the setting unset, the process may be moved to step S710.

  In step S710, it is necessary to reset a component on which the added / changed component depends, or a component that depends on the added / changed component, so the component is changed to an unset state. Thereafter, since the setting is in an unset state, the process proceeds to step S401 in FIG. 4 in order to display the button again.

  If a component that has not been set is selected, set by the user, and a dependent component is also set, the component is already set, skipping the processing in step S710, and again in step S401 in FIG. Move processing to. As a result, the button is displayed in a state where the button of the component already set is not displayed.

  Although the present embodiment has been described above, the main memory (303-1) remains set when the VRAM (304-1) is initialized as shown in FIG. 13 in addition to the form of FIG. Such a form is also envisaged in the present invention. That is, when the system is executed in the form of FIG. 13 and an error occurs, the state of FIG. 12 may be obtained. FIG. 14 shows a screen example of the environment setting application in the state of FIG. In the state of FIG. 13, the VRAM (304-1) depends on the main memory (303-1), but the main memory (303-1) has already been set. The button will not be displayed.

Although the present embodiment has been described above, according to the present embodiment, the components to be set by the user from the dependency relationship are displayed in order (aligned) on the setting screen according to the unset components, so that the setting can be performed. It becomes easy.
In addition, an optimum setting order can be presented to the user while ensuring the degree of freedom of setting by a skilled person, and setting efficiency can be increased without any mistakes.

Furthermore, in the case of a system having a large number of combinations of setting configurations, the order to be set can be easily determined and presented to the user without defining the setting order in all combinations by a manual or wizard.
It should be noted that the configuration and contents of the various data described above are not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the various data and configurations are configured according to the application and purpose.

  Although one embodiment has been described above, the present invention can take an embodiment as, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or recording medium, and specifically includes a plurality of devices. The present invention may be applied to a system including a single device.

  The program according to the present invention is a program that allows a computer to execute the processing methods of the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4 and 7. The storage medium according to the present invention is a program that allows the computer to execute the processing methods of FIGS. Is remembered. The program according to the present invention may be a program for each processing method of each apparatus shown in FIGS.

  As described above, a recording medium that records a program that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the program stored in the recording medium. It goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by executing the reading.

  In this case, the program itself read from the recording medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the recording medium storing the program constitutes the present invention.

  As a recording medium for supplying the program, for example, a flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, EEPROM, silicon A disk, solid state drive, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on an instruction of the program is actually It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the processing and the processing is included.

  Furthermore, after the program read from the recording medium is written to the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board is based on the instructions of the program code. It goes without saying that the case where the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Further, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or apparatus. In this case, by reading a recording medium storing a program for achieving the present invention into the system or apparatus, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.

Furthermore, by downloading and reading a program for achieving the present invention from a server, database, etc. on a network using a communication program, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.
In addition, all the structures which combined each embodiment mentioned above and its modification are also included in this invention.

100 Information processing apparatus 101 CPU
102 ROM
103 RAM
104 System Bus 105 Input Controller 106 Video Controller 107 Memory Controller 108 Network Controller 109 Keyboard 110 Mouse 111 Display 112 Auxiliary Storage Device 113 Network

Claims (5)

An information processing apparatus for setting components,
Storage means for storing the dependency relationship of the component and the setting state of the component;
Setting state determination means for determining whether the setting state of the component is an unset state;
If the setting state determination means determines that it is in an unset state, a specifying means for specifying a component in an unset state that depends on the component according to the dependency relationship;
In order to make it possible to identify a component that needs to be set according to the setting of a component that has not been set, a component that has been specified by the specifying unit and a component that has been determined by the setting state determination unit to be in an unset state An information processing apparatus comprising display means for displaying side by side. According to the addition or setting change of the component, state changing means for setting the setting of the component dependent on the component to an unset state;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specifying unit specifies an unset component that depends on the added or changed configuration according to the addition or setting change of the component. Further comprising selection means for selecting the component;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit enlarges and displays the selected component when the selected component is an unset component.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the display unit identifies and displays that it is necessary to set an unset component on which the selected component depends on an unset state component.   5. The display unit according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays a list of components, and among the components displayed in the list, displays unset components side by side in accordance with a dependency relationship. Information processing device.

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