JPH05257701A - Program revision processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To revise a program at a terminal automatically at a prescribed time by starting a revision processing part with a revision process starting part and reading the program of a host computer into the terminal. CONSTITUTION:The host computer 201 is provided with a program 2 always with the latest version and the version of the program 2 is updated at the time of program revision. At a terminal 51, a revision process starting part 3 starts a revision processing part 4 in the prescribed case, that is, at the time of turning on the power source of the terminal 51, or in the case of turning on the power source and suiting revision conditions. The started revision processing part 4 reads the program 2 in and defines it as a new program 2' (the program 2' is revised) when the revision is required, that is, the version of the program 2 is later than the version of the program 2'. Thus, since the revise processing part 4 is started automatically in the prescribed cases, performing the process of starting or the like by operators at respective terminals can be unnecessitated. Also, the improvement of the program 2 not being reflected in the terminal 51 is eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program revision processing method, and more particularly to a program revision processing method in which a terminal automatically updates a program when the program is revised on the host side.

A program is occasionally revised in order to fix a bug (small bug) contained therein or to improve its function (for example, by changing the color of the screen to make it easier to see). Content is rewritten).

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Revision of a program is usually performed on the host computer (hereinafter, host) side. When the host revises the program, it retains it with the version number. Therefore, the host always holds the latest version (revised) program. On the other hand, the terminal holds a program that is a copy of the program of the host.

Here, the contents of the program revision relate to the correction of small bugs and the improvement of functions, as described above. Then, for example, a bug related to a serious failure is processed separately. Therefore, even if there is a program revision on the host side, it is not necessary to immediately perform a program revision on all terminals.

Therefore, conventionally, the process of reflecting the program revision on the host side on each terminal, that is, the program revision process on each terminal has been performed by activation from each terminal side.

That is, in each terminal, the operator activates the automatic revision program (DRMS) of the own terminal at an appropriate time, and regarding the program changed by the host side, the automatic revision program is revised by the own terminal. I do.

[0007]

According to the above-mentioned prior art, in order to revise the program at each terminal, the operator must perform processing such as activation from the menu screen at each terminal, It was troublesome. Further, depending on the terminal (operator), there is a case where the edition is not performed, and the improvement of the program may not be reflected on all terminals.

On the other hand, an automatic revision program may be activated simultaneously on a large number of terminals (for example, at the start of work on Monday morning). In such a case, data is transferred to each terminal. The burden on the host side will increase.
Further, at this time, even if there is a terminal that wants to perform data transfer with the host for actual work, this terminal cannot communicate with the host.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a program revision processing system in which a program revision in a terminal is automatically performed at a predetermined time.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the principle of the present invention, showing a data processing apparatus according to the present invention. The host computer 201 uses the host computer 201 and the terminal 51.
Various programs used in 2 and this program 2
Program management information 1 that manages the
Have and.

The terminal 51 is connected to the host computer 201 and has a program 2'that reads the program 2 of the host computer 201, a revision processing unit 4 that performs revision of the read program 2 ', and a predetermined predetermined number. It has a revision processing starting unit 3 that sometimes activates the revision processing unit 4, and a revision condition setting unit 5 in which revision conditions are preset.

The revision processing starting unit 3 starts the revision processing unit 4 when the power of the terminal 51 is turned on. Alternatively, the revision process activation unit 3 activates the revision process unit 4 when the terminal 51 is powered on and the revision conditions are met.

The activated revision processing section 4 reads the program 2 of the host computer 201 into the terminal 51, and thereby revisions the program 2'of the terminal 51.

[0014]

In the host computer 201, the program 2 is revised each time it is necessary. The host computer 201
Always have the latest version of Program 2. Program 2
The version number of will be updated when the program is revised.

In the terminal 51, the revision processing starter 3 is in a predetermined case, that is, when the terminal 51 is powered on, or when the terminal 51 is powered on and the revision conditions are met, the revision processing unit 4 is executed. To start. When the revision processing unit 4 that has been started requires revision, that is, when the version number of the program 2 is larger than the version number of the program 2 ', the program 2 is read and this is set as a new program 2' (program 2 ' To revise).

According to the above, since the revision processing unit 4 is automatically activated in a predetermined case, it is possible to eliminate the need for the operator to perform the activation processing at each terminal. Further, it is possible to prevent the improvement of the program 2 from being reflected in the terminal 51.

Further, since activation of the revision processing unit 4 depends on power-on of the terminals 51, it is possible to reduce the possibility that the revision processing unit 4 is activated simultaneously in a large number of terminals 51.
Furthermore, by appropriately setting the revision condition in addition to turning on the power, it is possible to limit the time when the revision processing unit 4 is activated for each terminal 51. For example, it is assumed that each terminal 51 is divided into five groups, and Monday to Friday are sequentially assigned to each group as revision conditions. In this case, in one terminal 51, the revision processing unit 4 is automatically activated when the power is turned on on Monday, and the other terminals 51 perform the same processing when the power is turned on on Tuesday. Based on the above, it is possible to prevent the revision processing unit 4 from being activated in a large number of terminals 51 at a specific date and time,
It is possible to prevent the work from being hindered.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Before describing FIG. 1 in detail, an outline of a technical information system to which the data processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. 2-4 together show one system. This system is a system for handling maintenance data of a data processing device, and is the system proposed by the applicant of the present application in Japanese Patent Application No. 2-225694.

The maintenance material of the data processing device has increased with the increase in scale of the data processing device, and for example, it has become a printed matter of several thousand pages or more. For this reason, even a maintenance worker who is an expert requires a long time to search for the relevant part, which causes a large maintenance time lag, makes it impossible to carry around the maintenance material, and increases the storage space. There has been a problem that manuscript management for revision and the like becomes extremely difficult because of increased labor.

Therefore, the applicant of the present application adopts a data structure (for example, a tree structure) suitable for retrieval and reference by the system shown in FIGS. The desired portion was easily referenced.

[0021] In this specification, materials referred to during maintenance of the data processing apparatus during its operation, as well as during its installation and system generation are referred to as maintenance materials. As shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4, an input device 111 such as a keyboard, a digitizer, a mouse, etc., a word processor 50, etc. are provided in a creation center 100 for creating a database of maintenance materials. The computer center 200 includes a host computer 201
A storage device 13 such as a magnetic disk device (not shown in FIG. 3) is provided to store the maintenance material in a database. The host computer 201, as shown in FIG.
It has a program 2 and program management information 1. The service station 300 includes a maintenance material database 5
A terminal 51 for referencing 2 is provided. This terminal 5
As shown in FIG. 1, the reference numeral 1 has a revision processing unit 4 and the like, as well as a program 2'in which the program 2 is read. User 40
Reference numeral 0 is (the user of) the data processing device that is the target of the maintenance. The public line 500 connects between these.

The creator of the maintenance material creates the maintenance material database 52 from the creation center 100 in the storage device 13 of the computer center 200. The maintenance staff accesses the storage device 13 from the service station 300, refers to and outputs necessary maintenance materials, and based on this, the user 400
To maintain.

The maintenance material database 52 is data having a tree structure and is created in the storage device 13.
It consists of various data such as "material drawing number data" to "maintenance procedure". Here, among these data, each of the “fault tracking procedure manual”, the “current adjustment procedure manual” and the “maintenance procedure manual” will be particularly referred to as a “book”. The contents of this "book" are the actual maintenance materials.

On the other hand, the "material management data" are data for managing the maintenance materials, and these are also used as the material creation management data when the "book" is created. Also,
Various (utility) programs 2 (not shown in FIG. 3) for checking, referencing (displaying), printing, etc. of the contents of the “book” are prepared.

The program 2 held by the host computer 201 or the computer center 200 is read (copied) into each of the terminal 51 or the service station 300 via the public line 500, and is stored as a (utility) program 2'of each. To be done. This program 2'is
As described below, a predetermined process is performed at each service station 300 according to the input made by the maintenance staff.

When a failure occurs in the user 400, the service station 300 is notified. This notification usually takes the form of notifying by telephone the error code detected and displayed on the system side of the user 400.

At the service station 300,
A maintenance person accesses the maintenance material database 52 from the terminal 51, selects an appropriate “book” from the above-mentioned three “books”, and calls it to the terminal 51. The number of "books" is a considerable number because the above-mentioned three "books" are required for each user and / or each model. This "book" is selected by a menu format or user name input. Therefore, the maintenance information database 52 stores the device information data,
Data such as a quality bill and TP is also stored.

At the service station 300,
The terminal 51 searches for and refers to a necessary page (maintenance information) of the called “book”. The maintenance information corresponds to, for example, an error code. Further, this maintenance information is printed, if necessary, sent to the user 400 by facsimile, and input to the portable personal computer. The maintenance staff uses the maintenance information thus output to maintain the user system.

As described above, the program 2'displays a menu format (screen), accepts an input to this, accesses the maintenance material database 52 according to the input, and calls (reads) the "book" to the terminal 51. I do. Further, the program 2'performs retrieval, reference, printing, and transmission to a facsimile of maintenance information.

Now, returning to FIG. 1, the program 2'is the source of the program 2'in the host computer (hereinafter, host) 201, regardless of the fact that the program 2'is performing processing in the terminal 51 as described above. Program 2 may be revised (changed). This revision is, for example, a change that makes the display of the menu screen easier to see, a change that makes the display on the terminal 51 easier to see when referring to the maintenance information, and the like.

In FIG. 1, various programs # 1 to #n are prepared as the program 2, and each of them executes a predetermined process. For example, the program # 1 performs the processing relating to the menu screen, and the program # 2 the maintenance material database 52.
Performs processing related to access.

As shown in the figure, each program 2 is provided with its version number. The newly created program 2 is
The version number is set to "0". Then, every time the program 2 is revised, the version number is incremented by +1.

The version number of the program 2 is reflected in the program management information 1 for each revision. Therefore, the program management information 1 manages the version number together with (the name of) the program 2. As a result, the host 201 has the latest revised program (hereinafter referred to as the new version) 2 and the latest program management information 1 including the version number. On the other hand, in the terminal 51, there is a program 2'in which the latest revision is not reflected (hereinafter referred to as the old edition).

In the terminal 51, the revision process starting unit 3 is started by turning on the power. When the host 201 and the terminal 51 are connected, the revision processing starting unit 3 reads information about the current time from the host 201. Needless to say, this information may be obtained from the terminal 51. Thereby, for example, the date and the day of the week at that time are known. The revision process starting unit 3 compares the current date and day of the week with a condition preset as a revision condition in the revision condition setting unit 5, for example, a day of the week, and if the current day matches the set day, The revision processing unit 4 is activated. The revision condition is not limited to the day of the week.

The revision processing unit (automatic revision program: DRMS) 4 that has been activated performs revision of the program 2'when revision is necessary. First, the revision information is obtained by referring to the program management information 1 of the host. Thereby, the latest version number of the program 2 is known. The revision processor 4 compares the latest version number with the version number of the program 2 ', and if the latest version number is larger than the version number of the program 2', the program 2 '
To revise. If the latest version number is equal to the version number of the program 2 ', the revision of the program 2'is unnecessary.

For example, the (old version) program # of the terminal 51
It is assumed that the version number of 1 is “0” and the version number of the program # 1 of the host 201 is “1”. In this case, the revision processing unit 4
Reads the program # 1 from the host 201, sets it as the (new version) program # 1, and deletes the old version of the program # 1. As a result, the program # 1 is revised. The version number of this new edition program # 1 is "1"
Is.

The revision processing unit 4 judges whether or not there is a need for revision for each of the various programs 2'of its own terminal 51, performs revision if necessary, and then returns control to the terminal 51. ..

FIG. 5 is a program revision processing flow. At the service stations 300 at various locations, the power of the terminal 51 is turned on. As a result, the revision process activation unit 3 is activated.

The terminal 51 is connected to the host 201 via the public line 500. The revision process starting unit 3 reads the revision conditions set in the revision condition setting unit 5, and also reads the current time from the terminal 51. It is assumed that the revision conditions include designation of a week (designation of what week of the current month) in addition to designation of a day of the week.

The revision process starting unit 3 checks whether the day of the week of the revision condition matches the current day of the week. If they do not match, it means that the date and time cannot be revised, and therefore the following processings are omitted.

If they coincide with each other, the revision process starting section 3 further checks whether the week of the revision condition and the current week coincide with each other. If they do not match, it means that the date and time cannot be revised, and therefore the following processing is omitted.

If they match, in order to perform the revision process,
The revision processing activation unit 3 activates the revision processing unit 4. By setting the revision condition in this way, when the number of terminals 51 is large, it is possible to equally assign a small number of days for each terminal 51 to perform the program revision to each date.

As described above, the revised edition processing unit 4 carries out the edition when the program 2'of the own terminal 51 is necessary. After that, the control is returned from the edition processing unit 4 to the terminal 51,
The terminal 51 starts up. Therefore, after this, the maintenance personnel can use the automatically revised program 2'without being aware of it.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the program revision process, by providing the revision process activation unit, the revision process unit can be automatically activated in a predetermined case, so that the operator's burden associated with the program revision can be eliminated, and the program revision process can be eliminated. Can be reflected in each terminal, and further, the program revision can be prevented from being simultaneously performed in each terminal so as not to burden the host computer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a program revision processing flow.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Program Management Information 2, 2'Program 3 Revision Processing Starter Section 4 Revision Processing Section 5 Revision Condition Setting Section 11 Input Device 13 Storage Device 50 Word Processor 51 Terminal 52 Maintenance Material Database 100 Creation Center 200 Computer Center 201 Host Computer (Host) 300 Service station 400 User 500 Public line

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A host computer (201) having a program (2), and a program (2 ') loaded with the program (2).
And a revision processing section (4) for revising the read program (2 ') and a revision processing starting section (3) for activating the revision processing section (4) at a predetermined time. , A terminal (5 connected to the host computer (201)
1), the revision process activation unit (3) activates the revision process unit (4) when the terminal (51) is powered on, and the activated revision process unit (4) activates the host. A program revision processing method, characterized in that the program (2) of the computer (201) is read into the terminal (51) to perform revision of the program (2 ') of the terminal (51). 2. A revision condition setting unit (5) in which revision conditions are set in advance is provided in the terminal (51), and the revision processing starting unit (3) is set when the power of the terminal (51) is turned on. The revision processing unit (4) is activated when the revision conditions are met.
The program revision processing method described in.