JPH04259031A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain the execution of an application that performs the drawing processing with no reliance on a system call when an MS-DOS is emulated on a UNIX and the application of the MS-DOS is carried out. CONSTITUTION:A DOS window memory 7 can have a direct access to an application 6 of an MS-DOS that is carried out by an emulator 5 of a UNIX 2. A multiplexer 13 outputs selectively the display date which are stored in the memory 7 and a main frame memory 11 of the UNIX. In such a constitution, the application that performs the drawing processing with no reliance on a system call can be carried out. Then the display is shown on a window of the UNIX based on execution of the application 6.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus capable of multi-window display in which applications of different operating systems are assigned to respective windows and executed.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Information processing apparatuses such as computers are equipped with an operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS) as a basic system. Examples of this OS include UNIX (developed by AT&T Bell Laboratories and licensed by AT&T) and MS-DOS (registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States). An application program for a specific job is executed under the control of the OS.

[0003] UNIX applications are often run on a window system (typically X Window) that runs on the UNIX kernel of the OS. This window system performs display control and can display multiple applications in multi-windows and sequentially switch between them for execution. The window system displays display data in VR in response to display requests from applications.
Display data written to the AM and stored in the VRAM is read out and displayed on the display.

By the way, as a UNIX application, there is an MS-DOS emulator that emulates MS-DOS, and this MS-DOS emulator realizes UNIX and MS-DOS system environments simultaneously on the same hardware. That is, UNIX applications and M on an MS-DOS emulator.
S-DOS applications can be run on the same hardware.

[0005] Typically, MS-DOS emulators are
- Routines for the operation and management of the DOS system (
The operation of MS-DOS is emulated by emulating the part that calls (system call) in UNIX. Therefore, if a system call is made in an MS-DOS application, the MS-D
The OS emulator traps it and performs emulation, and if the system call is a display command, it issues a display request to the window system.

[0006]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] Now, the UNIX display screen is composed of 1240 x 1024 dots, and MS-D
The display screen of the OS consists of a maximum of 640 x 480 dots, and on the window system, the operation of the MS-DOS emulator is assigned to one window. Since window management is performed by the window system, MS-DOS applications cannot directly access VRAM and write display data.

However, MS-DOS applications do not use system calls; for example, when drawing a circle or a special figure, they directly access the VRAM corresponding to the display screen and write the display data, or write the display data to the VRAM. This is done by writing display data into the VRAM by accessing the display control unit that controls the display. For this reason, some MS-DOS applications may not run on the MS-DOS emulator.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems. When a single window is assigned to the operation of an OS emulator and multi-window display is performed, an application on the emulator directly accesses the VRAM. The present invention provides an information processing device that can execute an application that performs drawing processing without using system calls.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides an information processing device that is provided with two OS environments at the same time, in which a first
S, a window control means for managing window display on the first OS, a second OS emulation means operating on the first OS, an application means based on the second OS, and a window control means. a first display memory accessed by the application means; a second display memory accessible by the application means; and a selection means for selectively outputting display data read from the first display memory and the second display memory. , and display means for displaying according to the display data output by the selection means.

0010

[Operation] A display request from an application of the second OS is made directly to the second display memory, and display data is drawn. Further, a display request is made to the first display memory from the window display means or the first OS, and display data is drawn. The display data stored in the first display memory and the display data stored in the second display memory are selectively outputted by the selection means, so that the display data stored in the first display memory and the display data stored in the second display memory are is displayed in a window on the display means.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

1 is a CPU board composed of a CPU and memory, and on this CPU board 1 are installed UNIX2 as a first operating system and a window system 3 (as a window control means for managing window display on UNIX2). For example, X windows) and UNI
X application 4 is included. Furthermore, C
The PU board 1 incorporates an emulator 5 as an emulator that emulates MS-DOS, which is a second operating system, as a UNIX application, and an MS-DOS application 6.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a DOS window memory having a size of 640×480 dots and serving as a second display memory accessed by the MS-DOS application 6.
Access is made via the DOS display control circuit 8 that controls display control based on the OS.

9 is controlled by the window system 3 and is
The main display control circuit 9 is responsible for display control in the IX, and the main display control circuit 9 is composed of a window memory 10 that stores display data in each window in window display, and 1240 x 1024 dots corresponding to the display screen of the display. A main frame memory 11 as a first display memory that combines and stores display data of each window in the window memory 10, display data read from the main frame memory 11 and display data read from the DOS window memory 7. The data input/output of the enable frame memory 12 which stores control data for selection of the data is controlled.

13 is a multiplexer as a selection means for selecting display data read from the main frame memory 11 and display data read from the DOS window memory 7 according to control data from the enable frame memory 12, and 14 is a multiplexer. This is a display as a display means that displays according to the display data output from 13.

Now, in such a device, a display request from the UNIX application 4 is issued to the window system 3, and the window system 3 issues a command to the main display control circuit 9 in accordance with the display request.

In the case of window display, the main display control circuit 9
sets the position and size of the window on the display screen, simultaneously sets a window area in the window memory 10, and stores display data in the window area. When multiple windows are set, display data is stored in each window area in the window memory 10. The display data of each window stored in the window memory 10 is transferred to the main frame memory 11 and combined under the control of the main display control circuit 9. In this state, the main frame memory 11 has UNI
Display data corresponding to the display screen of the window display in X is stored.

On the other hand, MS-DOS application 6
When executed, the emulator 5 traps and emulates instructions that use MS-DOS system calls. In addition, when the display command is not based on a system call, application 6
The DOS window memory 7 is accessed via the S display control circuit 8. That is, the execution of the display command in the execution of the application 6 is based on the DOS command based on the command of the application 6, rather than accessing the window memory 10.
The display control circuit 8 accesses the DOS window memory 7 for writing. Since this DOS window memory 7 is composed of a storage area corresponding to 640×480 dots, it can be directly accessed by the MS-DOS application 6 (via the DOS display control circuit 8).

Therefore, an MS-DOS application that performs drawing processing that does not rely on system calls is executed on the emulator 5 together with a UNIX application.

Next, window display control on the display 14 will be explained. The display data stored in each window area of the window memory 10 is sent to the main display control circuit 9.
(and the window system 3), the images are transferred to the main frame memory 11 and synthesized.

The enable frame memory 12 has the same address space corresponding to the main frame memory 11, and is controlled by the main display control circuit 9 to write display data to the main frame memory 11 at the same time. The same address of the enable frame memory 12 is accessed by the address accessing the frame memory 11,
Control data for display data selection previously set in a register (not shown) (here, window memory 1
When display data is written from 0 to the main frame memory 11, "1") is written.

Furthermore, when displaying a display based on the MS-DOS application 6 on the display 14, the main display control circuit 9 (and window system 3) controls the main frame memory 11 to display a display for the MS-DOS application. window is set. At this time, display data indicating the window area to be set on the display 14 is written into the main frame memory 11. At the same time, under the control of the main display control circuit 9 (and window system 3), control data for display data selection (here, MS
- As a display of DOS applications”
0") is set, and the address for writing to the main frame memory 11 is accessed simultaneously to the enable frame memory 12, and this control data ("0") is written to the same address (location) as the main frame memory 11. .

The main display control circuit 9 reads stored data (display data) from the main frame memory 11 at a predetermined timing for display on the display 14.
Furthermore, the display position of the MS-DOS window that has been set in advance (the position of the MS-DOS window on the UNIX screen, i.e. 1240 x 102 on the UNIX system)
640x48 of MS-DOS window in 4
0 position, and MS- on the screen of display 14.
(set separately from the DOS window), stored data (display data) is also read from the DOS window memory 7.

The display data read from the main frame memory 11 is input to the multiplexer 13, and the display data read from the DOS window memory 7 is also input to the multiplexer 13. Furthermore, the control data stored in the enable frame memory 12 is stored in the main frame memory 1.
It is read out in synchronization with the data readout from 1 and is input to the multiplexer 13. The multiplexer 13 selects and outputs either the display data from the main frame memory 11 or the display data from the DOS window memory 7 according to the control data from the enable frame memory 12. That is, if the control data from the enable frame memory 12 is "1", the display data from the main frame memory 11 is changed to "0".
If so, display data from the DOS window memory 7 is selected and output to the display 14. Note that if the display data in the DOS window memory 7 is selected by the control data when the display data has not been read out from the DOS window memory 7 (when the MS-DOS window is not in the set position), the The multiplexer 13 outputs display data of the color or display data of a preset color.

In the display 14, the multiplexer 13
The screen is displayed according to the display data input from the computer, and an image (window) based on a UNIX application and an image (window) based on an MS-DOS application are combined and displayed on one screen.

It should be noted that the MS- on the screen of the display 14
When a window for display based on the DOS application 6 is not set, the control data "0" for selecting display data from the DOS window memory 7 is not stored in the enable frame memory 13.
The multiplexer 13 always selectively outputs the display data from the main frame memory 11, and the display 14 displays a window of an image based on a UNIX application.

In this embodiment, the display data from the DOS window memory 7 accessed by the MS-DOS application 6 is directly output to the multiplexer 13, but the DOS window memory 7 is compatible with the read speed for UNIX display. If this is not possible, as shown in FIG. 2, a DOS video memory 15 is provided which temporarily stores display data from the DOS window memory 7' with a memory that can handle the readout speed for UNIX display. Display data may be input from the memory 15 to the multiplexer 13.

In addition, when providing the DOS video memory 15 that can handle the read speed for UNIX display as described above, as an input to the DOS video memory 15,
When the DOS display control circuit 8 outputs a video signal such as the one shown in FIG.
In order to store only display data in the video memory 15, the video signal output from the DOS display control circuit 8 is
Display data stored in OS window memory 7'
It is necessary to remove information other than the data, that is, the clock during the retrace period. That is, the number of dots determined by the display method for each screen except for periods a and d in FIG.
For example, in the JEGA system, 640 x 480 dots, EG
Display data must be stored in the DOS video memory 15 for a period of 640 x 350 dots in the A format and 640 x 200 or 320 x 200 dots in the CGA compatible format. This is because, if the data is stored in the DOS video memory 15 with blanking periods a and d included, there will be a shift in the display data by the amount of the blanking period, and some parts of the display data that should be displayed will not be displayed. This is to put it away.

Therefore, in order to eliminate the clock during the retrace period, the main display control circuit 9 uses a vertical scanning period c preset for each display method in the video signal output from the DOS display control circuit 8. Line period a and horizontal scanning period f
After counting the retrace period d, the display data (exb) in the video signal is stored in the DOS video memory 15. Thus, the DOS video memory 15 stores b×e display data according to the display method at that time.

Furthermore, when a plurality of display methods are switched and used, a, b, c, d, e,
Since the value of f is set differently, b
In order to obtain the display data of ×e, the DOS display control circuit 8
By counting c (the number of horizontal synchronizing signals in one vertical scanning period) and f (the number of clocks in one horizontal scanning period) during the blanking period of the video signal output from The main display control circuit 9 determines whether the system is EGA or CGA compatible, and the main display control circuit 9 calculates the number of dots (
The display data of e x b) is taken out from the video signal output from the DOS display control circuit 8 and stored in the DOS video memory 15.
to be memorized.

The display data stored in the DOS video memory 15 is read out at the display timing to which the MS-DOS window is assigned, and the display data read out from the main frame memory 11 is read out by the multiplexer 13. It is selectively output and displayed as an image on the display 14.

Although not shown, the display color corresponding to the display data is arbitrarily colored with respect to the display data selectively outputted from the multiplexer 13 using a look-up table method.

[0033]

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description, the present invention provides an M
Since it has DOS window memory that is directly accessed by S-DOS applications, MS-DOS applications run by MS-DOS emulators on UNIX
As a DOS application, it becomes possible to execute an MS-DOS application that performs drawing processing without using system calls.

Furthermore, the display data of the DOS window memory thus provided is selectively outputted by the multiplexer in accordance with the control data stored in the enable frame memory, together with the windowed display data organized and stored in the main frame memory. , MS-DOS application windows can be displayed at appropriate positions.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information processing device according to another embodiment of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of display data and blanking period in a video signal.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 UNIX (first operating system) 3
Window system (window control means) 5
Emulator (emulation means) 6 MS-DOS
application (application means) 7 DOS window memory (second display memory) 8
DOS display control circuit 9 Main display control circuit 10 Window memory 11 Main frame memory (first display memory) 12
Enable frame memory 13 Multiplexer (selection means) 14 Display (display means)

Claims (2)

[Claims] Claim 1: A first operating system;
window control means for managing window display on a first operating system; means for emulating a second operating system running on the first operating system; application means based on the second operating system; a first display memory accessed by the control means, a second display memory accessible by the application means, and a selection means for selectively outputting display data read out from the first display memory and the second display memory. and display means for displaying according to the display data output by the selection means. 2. A window memory having a plurality of window areas corresponding to a first operating system; a first display memory that combines and stores display data stored in the window areas of the window memory; an enable frame memory having the same address space as the display memory and storing control data for display data selection; a second display memory corresponding to a second operating system; and control data stored in the enable frame memory. An information processing apparatus characterized by comprising a selection means for inputting display data stored in a first display memory and display data stored in a second display memory and selectively outputting either one.