JP3707048B2 - Installation apparatus and recording medium - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an installation apparatus and a recording medium for investigating an operating environment on an installation side when installing software, automatically installing an environment necessary for the operation, and setting an application optimal for the operating environment. Is.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, the progress of 3DCG technology has been remarkable, and the number of functions realized at high speed by graphics hardware has increased. In addition, 3DCG images can be created relatively easily with the enhancement of graphics APIs such as DirectX and OpenGL, but it has been used by as many users as possible when creating and distributing 3DCG applications. I used textures and polygons with resolutions that would work on an average computer.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, a high-performance computer does not make full use of the computer's processing capacity, and a low-performance computer exceeds the computer's processing capacity, and the operation is not comfortable. In order to solve this, there is a method of having the highest resolution data and converting it to a resolution suitable for the operating environment when executing the 3DCG application, but there is a problem with the startup time and execution speed by using an extra HDD. There was a thing.
[0004]
In addition, common component software such as DirectX and OpenGL necessary for 3DCG application operation is useful for reducing the development load, but the 3DCG application does not operate unless it is installed in the user environment. There are many types of common component software, including differences in versions, and it may be confusing what to install for users who are not familiar with computers.
[0005]
Further, when a function specific to an acceleration device (video card) is used when executing a 3DCG application, the application can be used only by a computer equipped with the acceleration device.
In other words, the conventional technology has not been able to absorb the differences in the individual installation destination environments.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an installation apparatus capable of absorbing a difference in performance due to a difference in operating environment during installation and making full use of the performance of a hardware device in each environment. It is to provide a recording medium.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention is an apparatus for installing a 3DCG application including an information collection unit, a determination unit, and an installation unit, and the information collection unit is a hardware that acquires hardware environment information of an installation destination computer. Hardware environment information acquisition means, acceleration device information acquisition means for acquiring acceleration device information of the installation destination computer, and software environment information acquisition means for acquiring software environment information of the installation destination computer, The determination unit includes data selection means for selecting texture data and polygon data of the 3DCG application based on the hardware environment information and the acceleration device information acquired by the information collection unit, and the information collection unit. Software selection means for selecting a software component that is insufficient in the operating environment of the 3DCG application based on the software environment information acquired by the unit, and the installation unit includes the 3DCG application, the selected texture data, and the polygon An installation apparatus for installing data and the software component on the installation destination computer.
[0008]
The installation apparatus according to the present invention acquires hardware environment information and acceleration device information of an installation destination computer such as a CPU operation speed and a memory capacity, and selects optimal 3DCG application texture data and polygon data. Further, the installation apparatus of the present invention acquires software environment information of an installation destination computer such as presence / absence of software necessary for the operating environment of the 3DCG application, version information, OS information, etc., and detects software components that are insufficient in the operating environment. . The installation apparatus of the present invention installs a 3DCG application, selected texture data and polygon data, and software components that are insufficient in the operating environment in an installation destination computer.
[0009]
Preferably, the determination unit initializes a 3DCG application indicating a function executable by the installation destination computer based on the hardware environment information, the acceleration device information, and the software environment information acquired by the information collection unit. Create a file.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the installation apparatus 1. In this example, the installation apparatus 1 is an apparatus that installs the 3DCG application 3, the texture data 5, and the polygon data 7. The installation apparatus 1 includes an information collection unit 9, a content determination unit 11, an installer unit 13, and the like.
[0014]
The information collecting unit 9 is a part that collects information from the installation destination computer 15, and includes a hardware investigation unit 17 and a software investigation unit 19. The hardware investigation unit 17 investigates the hardware environment of the installation destination computer 15 and obtains information such as CPU computing capacity, memory capacity, free disk capacity, presence / absence of an acceleration device (video card), and functions unique to the acceleration device. collect.
[0015]
The software investigation unit 19 investigates the software environment of the installation destination computer 15 and collects the presence / absence of software components such as DirectX and OpenGL necessary for the operation of the 3DCG application 3, version, OS information, and the like. The content determination unit 11 is a part that performs determination based on the investigation result of the information collection unit 9, and includes an installation data determination unit 21, a determination table 23, and an initial setting file creation unit 25.
[0016]
The installation data determination unit 21 selects data suitable for the performance of the installation destination computer 15 from the texture data 5 and the polygon data 7 of the 3DCG application 3 based on the survey result of the hardware survey unit 17, and also performs a software survey. Based on the investigation result of the unit 19, software components that are insufficient in the operating environment of the 3DCG application 3 are determined.
[0017]
The determination table 23 is used to determine the texture data 5 and the polygon data 7. The determination table 23 is a table showing a correspondence relationship between the computer capability indicated by the CPU operation speed, the function of the acceleration device, and the like, and the texture data 5 and the polygon data 7 to be installed, according to the 3DCG application 3 in advance. Have it ready.
[0018]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the determination table 23. In the figure, “high”, “medium”, and “low” in the “texture” column represent high-resolution texture data 5a, medium-resolution texture data 5b, and low-resolution texture data 5c, respectively. “High”, “medium”, and “low” represent high-resolution polygon data 7a, medium-resolution polygon data 7b, and low-resolution polygon data 7c, respectively. “Warning” indicates that the operating environment of the installation destination computer 15 is not the recommended operating environment.
[0019]
The initial setting file creation unit 25 creates an initial setting file 27 of the 3DCG application 3 based on the investigation result of the hardware investigation unit 17. The initial setting file 27 stores information such as the screen resolution, the number of colors, the availability of the acceleration device, the presence / absence of functions specific to the acceleration device, and the 3DCG application 3 reads these information at the time of execution. Make optimal settings.
[0020]
The installer unit 13 is a part that installs a 3DCG application, data, and software components based on the determination of the content determination unit 11, and includes a 3DCG application installer 29 and a software component installer 31. The 3DCG application installer 29 is an installer for the 3DCG application 3 that renders 3DCG, and holds the 3DCG application 3, texture data 5, and polygon data 7.
[0021]
In this example, texture data 5 and polygon data 7 are prepared with three types of resolution (high resolution, medium resolution, and low resolution) having different levels. The software component installer 31 is an installer for installing the component software 33. In this example, the software component installer 31 holds a component 33a, a component 33b, and a component 33c as common software components necessary for the operation of the 3DCG application 3.
[0022]
In this example, data selection and creation of the initial setting file 27 are performed based on the survey result of the hardware survey unit 17, and the software component is determined based on the survey result of the software survey unit 19. Based on the investigation results of the hardware investigation unit 17 and the software investigation unit 19, data selection, creation of the initial setting file 27, and determination of the software component may be performed.
[0023]
Further, in the example of the 3DCG application 3 in FIG. 1, only a plurality of types of data (texture data 5 and polygon data 7) are prepared. However, a part depending on the hardware of the program of the 3DCG application 3 is modularized to provide a plurality of types. You can prepare it and select it at the same time as the data.
[0024]
A program used for the installation apparatus 1 is stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM. When the 3DCG application 3 or the like is installed in the installation destination computer 15, the information collection unit 9, content determination unit 11, installer unit 13 is installed. Works.
Note that the programs and data constituting the installation apparatus 1 may be distributed over the Internet or the like.
[0025]
Next, a processing procedure in the installation apparatus 1 will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG. When the installation apparatus 1 is activated, the hardware investigation unit 17 and the software investigation unit 19 of the information collection unit 9 investigate the hardware environment and the software environment of the installation destination computer 15, respectively, and acquire information (step 301). The installation data determination unit 21 of the content determination unit 11 compares the survey result of the hardware survey unit 17 with the content of the determination table 23 to determine whether the installation destination is the recommended operating environment of the 3DCG application 3 (step). 302).
[0026]
If it is an encouragement operation environment, the process proceeds to step 305. If it is not an encouragement operation environment, a warning screen 41 for notifying the user that the installation destination computer 15 is not the encouragement operation environment of the 3DCG application 3 as shown in FIG. Is displayed (step 303). Here, the user determines whether to continue the process and install (step 304). If the user selects “No”, the process ends. If “Yes” is selected, the process proceeds to the next step.
[0027]
The installation data determination unit 21 of the content determination unit 11 compares the survey result of the hardware survey unit 17 with the content of the determination table 23 to determine the most appropriate texture data 5 and polygon data 7 for the installation destination. The missing component 33 is determined based on the survey result of the software survey unit 19, and the initial setting file creation unit 25 is initialized based on the information on the acceleration device that is the survey result of the hardware survey unit 17. A setting file 27 is created (step 305).
[0028]
The installation data determination unit 21 displays an installer screen 51 as shown in FIG. 5 (step 306). A button is displayed on the installer screen 51, and when the button is pressed, the 3DCG application 3 and the component 33 are installed. According to the investigation result of the software investigation unit 19, if there is an already installed component or application, the corresponding button cannot be selected.
[0029]
In the example of FIG. 5, the component 33b has already been installed, and is highlighted to notify the user to that effect. In this example, when there is a component or application that has already been installed, the corresponding button cannot be selected. However, it is also possible to select it considering re-installation.
[0030]
When the “application installer” button is pressed, the 3DCG application installer 29 of the installer unit 13 installs the most appropriate 3DCG application 3, texture data 5, and polygon data 7 in the installation destination according to the determination of the installation data determination unit 21. When the “component installer” button is pressed, the software component installer 31 of the installer unit 13 installs the corresponding component 33 according to the determination of the installation data determination unit 21 (step 307).
[0031]
Until the installation of all the 3DCG applications 3 and the software components 33 is completed, the processing in steps 306 and 307 is repeated (step 308), and the processing ends. In this example, the installation of all the 3DCG applications 3 and the software components 33 is executed by the user pressing a button. However, all the installations can be automatically performed.
[0032]
With the above processing procedure, the 3DCG application 3 and data most suitable for the operating environment and the missing software component 33 can be determined and installed based on the information obtained by investigating the installation destination environment. . Also, the 3DCG application 3 most suitable for the operating environment can be set.
[0033]
Next, an actual operation using the installation apparatus 1 will be described with a specific example.
The 3DCG application 3 has “high”, “medium”, “low” as shown in FIG. 1 and texture data 5 and polygon data 7 of three levels of resolution. The determination table 23 as shown in FIG. Suppose you have it. In addition, software components 33 required for the operation of the 3DCG application are components 33a, 33b, and 33c, and effects realized using an acceleration device are effects P and Q.
[0034]
Assume that the computers A to D are the installation destination computers 15, and the information collection unit 9 collects information as shown in FIG. 6 for these computers. In this example, the hardware investigation unit 17 investigates the CPU operation speed, the presence / absence of the 3D function of the acceleration device, the memory capacity, and the presence / absence of support of the effects P and Q, and the software investigation unit 19 performs the operation of the 3DCG application 3. The presence or absence of installation of the components 33a, 33b, and 33c necessary for installation is investigated.
[0035]
When installing on the high-performance computer A, the information obtained by the hardware investigation unit 17 of the high-performance computer A shown in FIG. 6 is compared with the determination table 23 shown in FIG. The function is supported, and the high-resolution texture data 5a and the high-resolution polygon data 7a are selected and installed from the memory capacity 32 MB.
[0036]
The components 33a and 33c are already installed from the information by the software investigation unit 19, and only the button of the component 33b is active and can be installed. Further, since the acceleration device supports the 3D function and both the effects P and Q can be used, the fact is written in the initial setting file 27. Based on this information, the 3DCG application 3 performs 3D drawing on the acceleration device side at the time of execution, and executes the effects P and Q.
[0037]
When installing on the standard computer B, the information obtained by the hardware investigation unit 17 of the standard computer B shown in FIG. 6 is compared with the judgment table 23 in FIG. 2, and the CPU operating speed is 450 MHz and the memory capacity is 16 MB. There is a warning screen because the acceleration device does not support the 3D function. When the user selects “Yes”, the low resolution texture data 5c and the low resolution polygon data 7c are selected and installed.
[0038]
Since all the components 33a, 33b, and 33c are already installed from the information obtained by the software investigation unit 19, all the component installation buttons are inactive. Further, since the acceleration device does not support the 3D function and neither the effect P nor Q can be used, the fact is written in the initial setting file 27. Based on this information, the 3DCG application 3 performs 3D drawing on the CPU side at the time of execution, and does not execute the effects P and Q.
[0039]
When installing in the low-performance computer C, the information by the hardware investigation unit 17 of the low-performance computer C shown in FIG. 6 is compared with the determination table 23 in FIG. 2, and the CPU operating speed is 200 MHz, and the acceleration device is 3D. The medium resolution texture data 5b and the low resolution polygon data 7c are selected and installed from a memory capacity of 16 MB.
[0040]
The component 33c is already installed from the information obtained by the software investigation unit 19, and only the buttons of the components 33a and 33b are active and can be installed. Since the acceleration device supports the 3D function and the effect Q can be used, the fact is written in the initial setting file 27. Based on this information, the 3DCG application 3 performs 3D drawing on the acceleration device side and executes only the effect Q at the time of execution.
[0041]
When installing on the computer D that is not the recommended operating environment, the information by the hardware investigation unit 17 of the computer D that is not the recommended operating environment shown in FIG. 6 is compared with the judgment table 23 of FIG. Since the capacity is 4MB and the acceleration device does not support the 3D function, a warning screen appears. When the user selects “Yes”, the low resolution texture data 5c and the low resolution polygon data 7c are selected and installed.
[0042]
The components 33b and 33c are already installed from the information obtained by the software investigation unit 19, and only the button of the component 33a is active and can be installed. Further, since the acceleration device does not support the 3D function and neither the effect P nor Q can be used, the fact is written in the initial setting file 27. Based on this information, the 3DCG application 3 performs 3D drawing on the CPU side at the time of execution, and does not execute the effects P and Q.
[0043]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to stably draw a high-speed and high-quality image by selecting and installing the optimum software and data for the installation destination. It is also possible to automatically install software components that are lacking in the operating environment. Furthermore, since optimum settings are made for the 3DCG application, it is possible to cope with a case where a function specific to an acceleration device is used.
[0044]
Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and may be applied to, for example, a high-resolution still image display device. Not only 3DCG but also when displaying a high-resolution still image, the resolution and the number of colors depend on the performance of the acceleration device, and the drawing speed depends on the CPU performance. In addition, since there are components that require installation of component software such as FlashPix, the application of the present invention is possible.
[0045]
The present invention can also be applied to a moving image display device. Even in a moving image reproduction application, the resolution, the number of colors, and the reproduction quality (for example, the presence or absence of a motion compensation function in a DVD) depend on the performance of the acceleration device, and a problem such as frame dropping occurs depending on the CPU performance. Since some component software needs to be installed to set up the DVD environment, the present invention can be applied.
[0046]
Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to 3DCG and the like, and can be applied to the case where general software is installed in a computer or the like. That is, when installing certain software or data in a computer or the like, the computer's hardware environment or software environment is investigated, and necessary software or data is installed.
[0047]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, according to the present invention, an installation apparatus and a recording medium that can absorb a difference in performance due to a difference in operating environment during installation and can make full use of the performance of the hardware device in each environment. Can be provided.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of an installation apparatus 1;
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a determination table 23;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in the installation apparatus 1;
4 is a diagram showing an example of a warning screen 41. FIG.
5 is a diagram showing an example of an installer screen 51. FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of information collection results by a hardware investigation unit 17;
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Installation apparatus 3 ... 3DCG application 5 ... Texture data 7 ... Polygon data 9 ... Information collection part 11 ... Content judgment part 13 ... Installer part 15 ... Installation destination computer 17 ... Hardware investigation part 19 ... Software investigation part 21 ... Installation data Determination unit 23 ... determination table 25 ... initial setting file creation unit 27 ... initial setting file 29 ... 3DCG application installer 31 ... software component installer 33 ... component 41 ... warning screen 51 ... installer screen

Claims (3)

An apparatus for installing a 3DCG application comprising an information collection unit, a determination unit, and an installation unit,
The information collecting unit
Hardware environment information acquisition means for acquiring hardware environment information of the installation computer;
Acceleration device information acquisition means for acquiring acceleration device information of the installation destination computer;
Software environment information acquisition means for acquiring software environment information of the installation destination computer;
Comprising
The determination unit
Data selection means for selecting texture data and polygon data of a 3DCG application based on the hardware environment information and the acceleration device information acquired by the information collection unit;
Software selection means for selecting software components that are deficient in the operating environment of the 3DCG application based on the software environment information acquired by the information collection unit;
Comprising
The installation apparatus, wherein the installation unit installs the 3DCG application, the selected texture data and polygon data, and the software component on the installation destination computer. The determination unit creates an initial setting file of a 3DCG application indicating functions executable on the installation destination computer based on the hardware environment information, the acceleration device information, and the software environment information acquired by the information collection unit. Means to
The installation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: A computer- readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program that causes the computer to function as the installation apparatus according to claim 1.

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