JPH05257652A - Software management method in compound system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the cost and trouble for maintenance and management of software in the compound system consisting of plural devices which have the same hardware and different software. CONSTITUTION:External storage devices (2-A, 2-B, and 2-C) store all software and all kinds of initial setting information and generated information required for operations by the devices. Storage and holding device parts (3-A, 3-B, and 3-C) hold their storage contents even by a power source stage and store the initial setting information corresponding to the devices at the time of initialization. Device control parts (4-A, 4-B, and 4-C) read the generated information out of the external storage devices by referring to the respective pieces of initial setting information and reads the software that the generated information indicates out of the external storage device to operate.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a composite system composed of a plurality of types of devices, and more particularly to software of a system composed of a plurality of devices having the same hardware configuration of storage unit but different software operation. Regarding management method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a plurality of devices having separate brains, software that performs the function of each device is individually stored in a storage device of each device. It had to be managed individually.

[0003]

As described above, since the software stored in the storage device for each device is different, each device needs to be prepared for software creation and update, and software maintenance is required. There are drawbacks such as cost and labor for managing the number of devices.

[0004]

A software management system in a composite system according to the present invention is a software management system in a composite system composed of a plurality of devices that are identical in terms of hardware. An external storage device that stores all necessary software and all types of initial setting information and generation information necessary for individual operation of each device, and the initial setting information previously associated with the device correspondence at the time of initial setting of the device And a storage holding device unit that stores the stored data even in the power stage, and reads the generation information specified by the initial setting information in the storage holding device unit from the external storage device when the power is turned on from the generation information. The software required for the operation is read from the external storage device and the device control unit that operates according to the software is configured. Is the fact characterized.

[0005]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a system configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

This system is composed of a plurality of types of devices having different functions, and each device has an external storage device unit, a device control unit, and a storage holding device unit that are the same in terms of hardware. In this example, it is assumed that the device is composed of three types of devices A to C,
Device A (1-A) operates with software 1, 2, 3
Device B (1-B) operates with software 1, 4, 5
It is assumed that the device C (1-C) operates with software 1, 6, and 7.

FIG. 2 shows external storage devices (2-A, 2-B,
The contents stored in 2-C) are shown below.

The external storage device section includes software 1 to 7 necessary for the operation of the devices A to C, generation information in which software information necessary for the operation of each device is written, and classification of the devices A to C. And initial setting information used for. Software 1 to 7 are software 1, 2 and 3 required for the operation of the device A, software 1, 4, 5 required for the operation of the device B, and software 1 required for the operation of the device C. , 6, and 7 are included. The generation information A to C is a file in which information for selecting the software required for the operation of each device is written among many software existing in the external storage device unit. Device A
Exist in each of the devices C to C, and are described as software 1, 2, 3 in the generation information A. The same applies to the generation information B and C. The initial setting information A to C has information for each device and is information indicating which of the devices A to C is set at the time of introduction of the complex system.

Storage holding device section (3-A, 3-B, 3-
In C), the memory is retained even when the power is off. for that reason,
The information stored in the memory holding device section can be kept held regardless of whether the main power supply of the device is ON or OFF.

FIG. 3 shows the movement of data at the time of initial setting.

When the complex system 1 is introduced, initial setting information of each of the devices A to C is stored in the external storage device section (2-A, 2-B, 2-C). In the case of the device A (1-A), the initial setting information A for the device A is taken out from the external storage device unit 2-A and stored in the storage holding device unit 3-A. Similarly,
In the device B (1-B), the initial setting information B for the device B
The device C (1-C) stores the data for the device C. By this operation, the initial setting information that determines the operation of the device is stored in the storage holding device section of each device.

4 to 6 show the movement of data during normal use of the device A (1-A).

In normal use, when the power is turned on, the device control unit (4-A) refers to the initial setting information in the storage holding device unit (3-A), and the device determines which of the devices A to C according to the information. Whether or not it is determined that it is A in this case, and the generation information A for the device A is read (-). The device control unit (4-A) reads the software required for each device from the external storage device unit (2-A) based on the information written therein (-). As a result, the software 1, 2, 3 for the device A is stored in the device control unit 4-A of the device A (1-A), and the device control unit (4-A) uses the software for these devices. To move. The devices B and C can be operated by the software 1, 4, 5, software 1, 6, 7, respectively, in the same procedure.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The software stored in the external storage device for each device is unified, and as a result, software creation and update are unified, and there is no need to deal with each device differently.
This has the effect of saving cost, time, and space in maintenance management, including the storage location.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an external storage device unit according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a movement of data at the time of initial setting of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of the present embodiment when the power is turned on.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory diagram of the present embodiment when the power is turned on.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram of the present embodiment when the power is turned on.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Device 1-A Device A 1-B Device B 1-C Device C 2-A External Storage Device Unit of Device A 2-B External Storage Device Unit of Device B 2-C External Storage Device Unit of Device C 3-A Storage holding device unit of device A 3-B Storage holding device unit of device B 3-C Storage holding device unit of device C 4-A Device control unit of device A 4-B Device control unit of device B 4-C Device C Device control unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a software management system in a complex system consisting of a plurality of devices that are the same in terms of hardware, each device requires all software required for all devices and an initial stage required for individual operation of each device. An external storage device that stores all types of setting information and generation information, and a storage holding device unit that stores the initial setting information that has been previously associated with the device at the time of initial setting of the device and holds the memory even in the power stage. When the power is turned on, the generation information designated by the initial setting information in the storage holding unit is read from the external storage device, and the software required for the device is read from the generation information from the external storage device by the software. A software management method in a complex system, which is characterized by being configured with a device control unit that operates.