JPH06215209A - Management system for shared memory using ic memory card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a management system for a shared memory using an IC memory card which can effectively share data among plural processes and plural systems and prevent the contents of the memory from being erased due to battery clown by unitarily managing the shared memory. CONSTITUTION:The shared memory 3 is constituted of a header part 1 consisting of fixed length and a prescribed format and a data part 2 for storing a program and data, name information for identifying the data part 2 subject to the header part 1 and control information for controlling reading and writing from/in the data part 2 are set up in the header part 1 and date information indicating the replacing data of a buttery for driving an IC memory card is written in a prescribed area of the header area.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is applicable to, for example, POS and EC.
The present invention relates to a shared memory using an IC memory card used in an information processing apparatus such as an R, office computer, personal computer, word processor, electronic notebook, FAX, and copying machine, and a management system for the shared memory.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a shared memory of an IC card is used, the shared memory is managed by the position of a physical address. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, each program searches for the physical address of the shared memory and reads / writes to the shared memory.

Further, the time for replacing the battery of this IC card has been clearly indicated by attaching a sticker or the like to the IC memory card as shown in FIG.

[0004]

By the way, in the prior art, the memory management of the IC memory card can search a predetermined shared memory by designating a physical address, and the shared memory can be searched from a plurality of programs. It can read and write freely, but has no search information other than the physical address of the shared memory. In other words, since management is not performed in shared memory units, it is impossible to determine whether or not the data has been updated even if a process such as reading is attempted only when the data is updated, which is impossible. there were.

Further, when the shared memory is deleted or added, the program needs to be changed in accordance with the change of the physical address, and there is a problem that maintenance is complicated and troublesome.

Further, regarding the time to replace the battery, since the information is not stored in the IC memory card, the time to replace the battery has passed because the sticker attached to the IC memory card was not checked. , I
This often caused a problem that the contents of the C memory card were erased, which was a problem.

Furthermore, when the shared memory of the IC memory card in a plurality of systems is used, and when the IC memory card of the system B is mistakenly used in the system A as shown in FIG. 13, the error is checked. Since there is neither information nor a system, the judgment cannot be made, and there is a problem that correct data cannot be accessed. That is, for example, even if each system of A and B uses the shared memory # 1 shown in FIG. 13 with the same meaning, since the shared memory is managed by the physical address, the program of the system A changes to the system B. Cannot access the shared memory on the IC memory card. Therefore, if the system A writes the data in the IC memory card of the system B, there is a problem that the contents of the IC memory card are destroyed.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and by centrally managing a shared memory, data can be effectively shared between a plurality of processes and a plurality of systems. It is an object of the present invention to provide a shared memory management system using an IC memory card that can prevent the memory contents from being erased due to battery exhaustion.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a shared memory management system using an IC memory card of the present invention includes a data area composed of a plurality of shared memories, and a head of the data area. A shared memory management system for sharing an IC memory card having a fixed length and a header area of a predetermined format among a plurality of systems, wherein each shared memory has a fixed length and a predetermined format. It is composed of a header part and a data part for storing programs and data, and each header part controls name information for identifying the data part dependent on the header part and read / write of the data part. Control information for driving the IC memory card is set in a predetermined area of the header area. Characterized by writing the replacement date information.

[0010]

Since the date information of battery exchange is written in the header area, the date can be checked each time the IC memory card is accessed.

Further, since unique name information is set in each shared memory, a plurality of shared memories can be centrally managed by the name, and a plurality of systems and programs can use the shared memory.

Further, since the control information for controlling the reading and writing of the data part is set, it is possible to select, for example, the case where the data is written, and it is possible to perform the reading process only in this case. These processes can be used as communication means between programs.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of an IC memory card used in the system of the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the IC memory card comprises an IC memory header 1 and a data area 2. The fixed length IC memory header 1 is created at the head of this memory map, and the data area 2 is It is set in the area after the IC memory header 1. When the battery is replaced, a program 1 described later writes the system ID, the card ID, the replacement date, and the next replacement date shown in FIG. 1B into the IC memory header 1. Further, the determination of the replacement time based on this replacement date is automatically made by the program 2 described later.

FIG. 7 shows a processing flowchart of the program 1, and the processing procedure will be described below. As mentioned above, this program is for IC when the battery is replaced.
This is executed to input and set header information in the memory header 1.

First, the system ID is input, and the system I
Write D to the IC memory card. Next, the card ID is input and the card ID is written in the IC memory card. After that, the current date is written in the IC memory card. Furthermore, the next replacement date of the battery is input based on this current date. And this next exchange date is I
Write to C memory card and finish.

Further, FIG. 8 shows a processing flow chart of the program 2 for automatically judging the replacement time of the battery, and the processing procedure will be described below. This program drives the IC memory card and automatically flows each time it is accessed.

That is, if there is an IC memory card,
First, the current date is read from the RTC and this current date is set as'A '(STEP.81). On the other hand, the next exchange date is read from the IC memory card, and this next exchange date is set as'B '(STEP.82). Here, it is compared whether or not A = B (STEP.83). When A = B, the contents such as "It is a replacement date" are displayed on the display device (STEP.8
Five) . On the other hand, it is compared whether or not A> B (STEP.84)
. When A> B, the contents such as “There are n days left until the exchange date” are displayed on the display device (STEP.86). Also, A
If it is not> B, the contents such as "The exchange date has passed n days" are displayed on the display device (STEP.87). With these series of displays, it is possible to clearly show the user what to check when the battery is replaced.

On the other hand, the data area 2 is composed of a plurality of shared memories 3, each shared memory 3 shown in FIG.
As shown in (c), it is divided into a shared memory header 21 and shared memory data 22. Here, as shown in FIG. 1D, the shared memory header 21 is a fixed-length area in which a unique name, shared memory size, mode, and read / write flag are defined for each shared memory. Is. Therefore, a program using this shared memory accesses the shared memory by searching for this name. There are two modes, mode 0 and mode 1, mode 0 can be freely read / written, and mode 1 is set as a mode in which another program can read only once. The control in the mode 1 is performed by the read / write flag.

When the IC memory card having the above structure is used for the first time, all the data areas are first cleared to 0 and then used. That is, after being cleared to 0, the shared memory is created in a predetermined area of the IC memory card by the program 3 described later. FIG. 9 is a processing flowchart of this program 3. Hereinafter, description will be given with reference to the drawings.

If there is an IC memory card, first, I
Check whether the header is '0' in order from the beginning of the data area of the C memory card (STEP.91). When the area with that name is '0', whether the length is over or not. Check (STEP.92), and if it is not over, set a new name, length, and mode (STEP.93).
. . On the other hand, if the specified length cannot be secured, it is ended without creating.

In (STEP.91), the name area is "0".
If not, it is not shown in this flowchart, but waits until the name area is cleared to "0" by another program.

In this way, the free area of the IC memory card is searched to sequentially create the shared memory. FIG. 2 shows a diagram for explaining a method for creating a shared memory, which will be described below. For example, if the name of the data area head of the header is not '0', the address D ₁ following shared memory M ₁
Is (data area start + header length + header length). Similarly, the address D of the next shared memory M _2
2 is (address D ₁ + header length + header length). In this way, the shared memory is sequentially created, and the shared memory can be added as long as the capacity of the IC memory card permits.

Next, a method for deleting a certain shared memory will be described below with reference to FIG. In the prior art, since the physical address of the shared memory is used for management, for example, when the shared memory B shown in FIG. 3A is no longer used, the shared memory C cannot be accessed unless this area is left free. However, according to the system of the embodiment of the present invention, since the shared memory is managed by the name, the IC memory card can be efficiently used by moving the shared memory after C to the physical address of B. After the movement, the area for the header length at the beginning of the empty area is cleared to 0, so that the area for the header length at the beginning of the empty area is cleared to 0, and the empty area starts from there. You can specify that.

Next, FIG. 10 shows a processing flowchart of the read / write program of the shared memory. This program performs processing only when there is an IC memory card, and ends when there is no IC memory card.

In the processing, first, the specified shared memory name is searched for by the same method as the creation, and if there is no read / write processing, the processing proceeds to STEP.02 (STEP.01).
In STEP.02, if the mode is "0", the data is read / written (STEP.03), and if it is not in the mode "0", read or write is selected (STEP.04). If it is read, the read / write flag is "1".
It is selected whether or not (STEP.05), and if it is "1", data read is performed (STEP.07). If it is write, it is selected whether the read / write flag is '0' (STEP.06), and if it is '0', data write is performed (STEP.08). In this way, after reading or writing the data, the process ends.

When the read / write flag is "0" at the time of reading and the read / write flag is "1" at the time of writing, "1" and "0" are set by another program, respectively.
Wait until.

FIG. 4 shows a hardware configuration diagram used for implementing the system of the embodiment of the present invention described above. A description will be given below with reference to this drawing. A keyboard 43 is provided as input means, a printer 44 is provided as output means, and a display device 42 such as an LCD or CRT is provided.
The processing and control of the management system described above are performed by the CPU 41, and the HDD 45, the FDD are used as external storage means.
46 and the IC memory card 40 used in the present invention. In addition, of ROM47, RAM48,
An RTC 49 is provided. The RTC 49 is battery backed up and is configured to correctly count the date and time even when the system is stopped. This RTC49
Based on the date information from the above, it is possible to accurately check the time for replacing the battery of the IC memory card described above.

Next, FIG. 5 shows a diagram for explaining another embodiment using the present invention, which will be described below. This example is an example of using the present invention in inter-program communication.

The program A is a print-only program. This program A creates a shared memory in mode 1 for printing data on the printer in response to a request from another program, and waits for reading. Then, the data to be printed is written in the shared memory by the program B, and the printing is realized.

Further, when there are a plurality of programs B requesting printing, the conventional technique allows free writing to the shared memory, and therefore, when printing has not yet been performed (program A has not read), another program can be written. Although there is a drawback that the print data of the program is erased, in the embodiment of the present invention, the print data can be printed correctly because the next write cannot be performed unless the program A reads.

Further, FIG. 6 shows a diagram for explaining another embodiment of the present invention, which will be described below. This example is an example of using different IC memory cards in a plurality of systems.

FIG. 6A shows the I used in the system X.
6B shows the shared memory of the C memory card, and FIG. 6B shows the shared memory of the IC memory card used in the system Y. In the embodiment of the present invention, by managing the shared memory by name, as shown in the figure, the common memory A can be used in both X and Y systems even if the contents are different. It becomes possible to share data between them.

[0034]

As described above, according to the shared memory management system using the IC memory card of the present invention,
The shared memory is composed of a header part having a fixed length and a predetermined format and a data part for storing programs and data, and each header part has name information for identifying a data part subordinate to the header part. , And control information for controlling reading and writing of the data portion thereof, and at the same time, an IC is set in a predetermined area of the header area.
Since the date information when the battery for driving the memory card is replaced is written, it becomes possible to perform unified management when the IC memory card is used as a shared memory. As a result, effective data sharing can be performed between multiple processes and multiple systems. Further, unlike the conventional case, the reliability of the memory contents can be secured without erasing the contents of the memory due to the battery exhaustion.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an IC memory card used in a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a method of creating a shared memory according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a method of deleting a shared memory according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a hardware configuration diagram used in the system of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a program 1 used in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a program 2 used in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a program 3 used in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a program 4 used in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a memory map of an IC memory card used in a conventional example.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of the battery replacement timing of the IC memory card used in the conventional example.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a conventional system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... IC memory card header 2 ... data area 21 ... shared memory header 22 ... shared memory data 3 ... shared memory

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Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An IC memory card having a data area composed of a plurality of shared memories and a header area having a fixed length and a predetermined format at the head of the data area, which is shared for use by a plurality of systems. In the memory management system, each shared memory is composed of a header section having a fixed length and a predetermined format, and a data section for storing programs and data, and each header section is subordinate to the header section. The name information for identifying the data section and the control information for controlling reading and writing of the data section are set, and the date when the battery for driving the IC memory card is replaced in the predetermined area of the header area. A shared memory management system using an IC memory card, which is characterized by writing information.