JPH07129395A - Information processor capable of extending/correcting its function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily extend/correct the functions of a program in each individual function without rewriting the existing program by controlling the execution of the program based upon outputs from a detecting means and an inquring means. CONSTITUTION:When an extended program 120 is not acknowledged, the program 120 is not executed and an existing program is executed. When the program 120 is acknowledged, the use of respective subroutines 124, 125 in the program 120 which are set up by a setting means is possible or not is detected by the detecting means, the start address of each subroutine is acquired by the acquiring means and a control means controls the execution of the existing program/extended program 120 based upon the outputs of the detecting means and the acquiring means. Thereby program functions can easily be extended/ corrected in each individual function without rewriting the existing program.

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 having a stored program type control means using a ROM and a RAM and capable of function expansion and modification.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a function expansion correction of an information processing apparatus such as an image processing apparatus is performed, an existing program is entirely rewritten or a program for executing a function for which expansion correction is to be performed is partially rewritten. .

Further, when modifying or deleting some or all of the functions of one or more extended functions of the existing program, the whole or part of the existing program is rewritten.

Further, it is known to register and execute a new function by registering a device driver or the like.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, it is necessary to grasp the existing program in order to perform the function expansion correction, and the existing program becomes complicated by the rewriting, so that a person other than the creator cannot It became difficult to get involved, and as a result, there were drawbacks such as reduced work efficiency and lack of confidentiality in the program contents.

These drawbacks become more remarkable as the number of functions to be expanded or modified increases.

Further, the method of adding a function such as registration of a device driver is limited to the case of adding each function unit in a relatively organized manner, and it corresponds to the case of individually changing a large number of subroutines related to the realization of the function in the existing program. could not. Moreover, when adding a new function, it was impossible to partially change the subroutine in the existing program.

The present invention has been made in order to solve these problems, and provides an information processing apparatus capable of easily expanding and modifying the function of each program without rewriting the existing program. The purpose is to provide.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a recognition means for recognizing an extension program having one or a plurality of subroutines, and the availability / use of each subroutine in the extension program. Setting means for setting the disabling, detection means for detecting the availability of each subroutine in the extension program,
There is provided an information processing apparatus having an acquisition unit that acquires a start address for each of the subroutines, and a control unit that controls execution of a program based on the outputs of the detection unit and the acquisition unit.

[0010]

According to the above configuration of the present invention, if the extension program is not recognized, the extension program is not executed and the function of the existing program is executed. On the other hand, if the extension program is recognized, the detection means detects the availability of each subroutine in the extension program set by the setting means, the start address of each subroutine is acquired by the acquisition means, and the control means Based on the outputs of the detection means and the acquisition means,
Alternatively, the execution of the extended program is controlled.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the image information processing apparatus 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 10 is a central processing unit (C
PU), 11 is a read-only memory (ROMa) in which an existing program for controlling the device 1 is stored, 12
Is a read-only memory (ROM) in which an extension program additionally provided for controlling the device 1 is stored.
Reference numerals b) and 13 are random access memories (RAM) used as work memories or the like. Reference numeral 51 is a keyboard for inputting data such as characters, 50 is a keyboard interface (I / F) for receiving the key input data by the operation of the keyboard 51 and supplying it to the CPU 10, and 14 is the key input data and the year / month / day / hour / minute / second. A timing unit that keeps time,
Reference numeral 15 is a communication interface (I / F) that supplies received data from the outside to the CPU 10 and sends transmission data to the outside, and 23 writes or reads data to or from the magnetic disk 24 that is a recording medium. The disk drive 22 is a disk drive interface (I / I) for transmitting data via the disk drive 23.
F) and 21 are disk data flow controllers for controlling the data written to the disk 24 or the data read from the disk 24. Also,
32 is a printing device, 31 is a printing device interface (I /
F), 34 is a display device including a liquid crystal display or a CRT (cathode ray tube), 33 is a display device interface (I / F), 30 is data displayed by the display device 34, and data printed by the printing device 32. It is an output data flow controller that controls each. 42 is an image reading device for reading image data, 41 is an image reading device interface (I / F), and 40 is an image data flow controller for controlling the image read by the reading device 42.

The above constituent elements 10 to 15, 21, 30, 4
0 and 50 are mutually connected via a CPU bus B.

1 and 2 are ROMa11 and ROM.
It is a figure which shows the structure of b12. FIG. 1 shows the structure of the ROMa 11 in which the existing program is stored, and 110 is R
It is an existing program stored in OMa11, and includes an extended program search process 111, a character conversion subroutine 112, an alphabet conversion subroutine 113,
The conversion character display subroutine 114 and the existing control program 115 of the apparatus 1 are included. Specifically, the character conversion subroutine 112 includes a function map reference process (1) 112a and an existing function hiragana / katakana conversion subroutine 112b, and the alphabet conversion subroutine 113 includes a function map reference process (2) 113a. And a lowercase alphabetic character conversion subroutine 113b which is an existing function.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of the ROMb 12, and 120 is an extended program stored in the ROMb 12, which is an identification code 121, a function map 122, a parameter table 123, and an extended character conversion subroutine 124. The extended alphabet conversion subroutine 125.

In FIG. 2, adrb1 is the start relative address of the identification code 121 in the extension program 120, adrb2 is the start relative address of the function map 122 in the extension program 120, and adrb3.
Is the parameter table 123 in the extension program 120.
Is the start relative address of the extended character conversion subroutine 124 in the extension program 120, and adrb5 is the start relative address of the extended alphabet conversion subroutine 125 in the extension program 120. Adrb out of these addresses
1, adrb2 and adrb3 are preset fixed addresses. On the other hand, ADRb1 is the absolute address of the identification code 121 in the program area memory, ADRb2 is the absolute address of the function map 122 in the program area memory, ADRb3 is the absolute address of the parameter table 123 in the program area memory, and ADRb4.
Is the absolute address of the extended character conversion subroutine 124 in the program area memory, and ADRb5 is the absolute address of the extended alphabet conversion subroutine 125 in the program area memory. P is an absolute start address in the program area memory of the extension program 120. Therefore, the start absolute address P is (ADRb1-adr
b1), ADRb2 is (P + adrb2), ADRb3
Is (P + adrb3), ADRb4 is (P + adrb)
4), ADRb5 becomes (P + adrb5), respectively, and A
If DRb1 is decided, start absolute address P is decided,
If the start absolute address P is determined, ADRb2, AD
Rb3, ADRb4, and ADRb5 are also determined respectively.

Further, the function map 122 is configured such that each 1 function is assigned to 1 bit in advance. Bit position 0 represents a character conversion bit, bit position 1 represents an alphabet conversion bit, and when the content of each bit position is 0, The configuration is such that the corresponding function is not executed by turning it off, and is turned on by executing the function when it is 1 (on / off may be reversed). The parameter table 123 is a table in which the start relative address in the extended program of the extended function subroutine of the bit position is written in the bit position order of the function map 122.
0th from the beginning of the parameter table 123 adrb
No. 4 is written first in adrb5. The extended character conversion subroutine 124 is a hiragana-kanji conversion subroutine, and the extended alphabet conversion subroutine 125 is an alphabet upper case conversion subroutine.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of the RAM 13, and in FIG.
Reference numeral 30 is a storage location.

The operations of the extended program search process 111, the function map reference process (1) 112a, and the function map reference process (2) 113a in the above configuration will be described.

The extended program search processing 111 executes the extended program 1 when executing the extended program 120.
If the former has the same code as the identification code 121, the code of the processing 111 and the program area memory of the extended program are compared and the former coincides with the identification code 121, the CPU 10 determines the address. AD
Rb1 can be recognized, and (ADRb1-adrb
The start absolute address P (hereinafter, also simply referred to as "P") of the extension program 120 is obtained from 1). And this P
CPU 10 performs function map reference processing (1) 1
12a, function map reference processing (2) 113a
It is stored in the storage area 130 of the work area of the RAM 13 so that it can be referred to by. On the other hand, if there is no match in the program area memory with the code of process 111,
A value not used as an address (for example, 0FFFFH) is stored in the storage location 130.

Function map reference processing (1) 11
In 2a, the CPU 10 first refers to the value stored in the storage location 130 obtained in the extended program search processing 111, and if (reference value = 0FFFFH), jumps to the hiragana / katakana conversion subroutine 112b. If (reference value ≠ 0FFFFH), P can be obtained, and (P + ad
In rb2), ADRb2 is obtained, the function map 122 in this ADRb2 is accessed, the on / off of the character conversion bit is checked, and if it is off, it jumps to the hiragana / katakana conversion subroutine 112b. If on (P +
Adrb3) is obtained in adrb3), and the head of the parameter table 123 in this ADRb3 is accessed. As described above, the character conversion bit of the function map 122 is the bit position of 0, and the parameter table 123
0th relative address adr in extended program 120 of extended character conversion subroutine 124 (Hiragana-Kanji conversion)
Since there is b4, it is possible to obtain the extended character conversion subroutine 124 (Hiragana-Kanji conversion) at the address obtained by adding P to the content of the address of ADRb3 + {0 * (number of bytes occupied for address retention)}. To jump.

Function map reference processing (2) 11
In 3a, the CPU 10 first refers to the value stored in the storage location 130 obtained in the extended program search processing 111, and if (reference value = 0FFFFH), jumps to the alphabet lower case conversion subroutine 113b.
If (reference value ≠ 0FFFFH), P can be obtained,
(P + adrb2) obtains ADRb2, and this ADRb
The function map 122 in 2 is accessed, the on / off of the alphabet conversion bit is checked, and if it is off, the routine jumps to the alphabet lower case conversion subroutine 113b. If it is ON, (P + adrb3) is used to obtain ADRb3, and the parameter table 123 in this ADRb3 is obtained.
Access the beginning of. As described above, the alphabet conversion bit of the function map 122 has a bit position of 1, and the relative address a in the expansion program 120 of the expansion alphabet conversion subroutine 125 (alphabet capitalization conversion) is the first in the parameter table 123.
Since there is drb5, it is possible to obtain the extended alphabet conversion subroutine 125 (alphabetical uppercase conversion) at the address obtained by adding P to the content of the address of ADRb3 + {1 * (number of bytes occupied by the address)}. To jump.

Next, a more specific operation will be described.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a specific operation of the present embodiment. The character data of "Henka AbC" input from the keyboard 51 is character-converted and then alphabetically converted and displayed on the display device 34. This shows the operation in the case of doing. The cases (a) to (e) will be described separately below. (B) ROMb storing the extended program 120
When 12 is not used in the device 1.

In this case, the extended program search process 1
The code 11 is the identification code 1 in the extension program 120.
It is preset so as not to match 21.

First, the CPU 10 previously executes the extended program search processing 111, and its code and the identification code 121.
Since there is no match (step S1), the value 0FFFFH is stored in the storage location 130 of the RAM 13 (step S3).

Then, the character conversion subroutine 112 is called in the existing program 110 (step S4).
Then, the storage location 130 is referred to as the function map reference process (1) 112a. In this case (reference value = 0
Since it is FFFFH) (step S5), the hiragana katakana conversion subroutine 112b is accessed to perform known hiragana katakana conversion on the input data "Henka AbC" and convert it to "Henka AbC" (step S8). Subsequently, when the alphabet conversion subroutine 113 is called in order to perform alphabet conversion of the character data "Henka AbC" which has been converted into hiragana and katakana (step S9), the function map reference process (2) 113 is executed.
The storage location 130 is referred to as a. (Reference value = 0F
Since it is FFFH) (step S10), the alphabet lower case conversion subroutine 113b is accessed and the input data "Henka AbC" is converted into "Henka abc" by known alphabet lower case conversion (step S1).
3). Then, the converted character display subroutine 114 is called (step S14), and "Henka abc" is displayed on the display device 34 (step S15). (B) When the device 1 uses the ROMb 12 storing the extended program 120 in which the character conversion bit of the function map 122 is off and the alphabet conversion bit is off.

In this case, the extended program search process 1
The code 11 is the identification code 1 in the extension program 120.
It is preset to the same code as 21. As will be described later (C),
The same applies to cases (d) and (e).

First, the CPU 10 previously executes the extended program search processing 111, and if there is a match with the identification code 121 (step S1), the extended program start absolute address P is stored in the storage location 130 (step S2).

When the character conversion subroutine 112 is called by the existing program 110 (step S4), the storage location 130 is referred to as the function map reference process (1) 112a. In this case (reference value ≠ 0FFF
FH) (step S5), and then referring to the character conversion bit of the function map 122, since it is off (step S6), the hiragana katakana conversion subroutine 112b is accessed and the known hiragana for the input data "Henka AbC". Convert katakana to “Henka Ab
C "(step S8). Subsequently, when the alphabet conversion subroutine 113 is called to convert the character data" Henka AbC "which has been converted into hiragana and katakana into alphabets (step S9), the function map reference process (2) ) 113a is referred to as the storage location 130. Since (reference value ≠ 0FFFFH) (step S10), the function map 12 is then entered.
Referring to the 2nd alphabet conversion bit, since it is off (step S11), the lowercase alphabet conversion subroutine 113b is accessed to input the input data "Henka Ab".
Well-known alphabetic lower case conversion is performed on C "to convert it into" Henka abc "(step S13).

Then, the converted character display subroutine 114 is called (step S14), and "Henka abc" is displayed on the display device 34 (step S15). (C) A case where the device 1 uses the ROMb 12 storing the extended program 120 in which the character conversion bit of the function map 122 is off and the alphabet conversion bit is on.

First, the CPU 10 previously executes the extended program search processing 111, and if there is a match with the identification code 121 (step S1), the extended program start absolute address P is stored in the storage location 130 (step S2).

When the character conversion subroutine 112 is called in the existing program 110 (step S4), the function map reference process (1) 112a is executed.
Referring to the storage location 130, since (reference value ≠ 0FFFFH) (step S5), next, the function map 1
Since the character conversion bit 22 is turned off by referring to the character conversion bit 22 (step S6), the hiragana katakana conversion subroutine 112b is accessed to perform the well-known hiragana katakana conversion on the input data "Henka AbC" to convert it to "henka AbC" ( Step S8). Subsequently, when the alphabet conversion subroutine 113 is called in order to perform alphabet conversion of the character data "Henka AbC" that has been converted into hiragana and katakana (step S9), the storage location 130 is referred to as function map reference processing (2) 113a. However, since (reference value ≠ 0FFFFH), (step S1
0) and then refer to the alphabet conversion bits of the function map 122. In this case, since it is ON (step S11), the alphabet upper case conversion subroutine 125, which is an extended function, is accessed and the input data "Henka AbC" is converted into "Henka ABC" by the well-known alphabet upper case conversion (step S12).
Then, the converted character display subroutine 114 is called (step S14), and "Henka ABC" is displayed on the display device 34.
Is displayed (step S15). (D) When the ROMb 12 storing the extended program 120 in which the character conversion bit of the function map 122 is on and the alphabet conversion bit is off is used in the device 1.

First, the CPU 10 previously executes the extended program search processing 111, and if there is a match with the identification code 121 (step S1), the extended program start absolute address P is stored in the storage location 130 (step S2).

Then, the character conversion subroutine 112 is called in the existing program 110 (step S4).
Then, as the function map reference processing (1) 112a, the storage location 130 is referenced, and (reference value ≠ 0FFFF
Since it is H) (step S5), the character conversion bit of the function map 122 is referred to next, and since it is on (step S6), the hiragana-kanji conversion subroutine 124 which is an extended function is accessed to input the data "Henka AbC".
Is converted into "change AbC" by performing the well-known Hiragana-Kanji conversion (step S7). Subsequently, when the alphabet conversion subroutine 113 is called in order to perform alphabet conversion of the character data "changed AbC" which has been converted into hiragana / kanji (step S9), the storage location 130 is referred to as the function map reference process (2) 113a. Then
Since (reference value ≠ 0FFFFH) (step S10),
Next, the alphabet conversion bit of the function map 122 is referred to. In this case, since it is off (step S11), the alphabet lower case conversion subroutine 11
3b is accessed and the input data "change AbC" is converted into "change abc" by performing well-known alphabetic lower case conversion (step S13). Then, the converted character display subroutine 114 is called (step S14), and "change abc" is displayed on the display device 34 (step S1).
5). (E) When the device 1 uses the ROMb 12 storing the extended program 120 in which the character conversion bit of the function map 122 is on and the alphabet conversion bit is on.

First, the CPU 10 previously executes the extended program search processing 111, and if there is a match with the identification code 121 (step S1), the extended program start absolute address P is stored in the storage location 130 (step S2).

Then, the character conversion subroutine 112 is called in the existing program 110 (step S4).
Then, as the function map reference processing (1) 112a, the storage location 130 is referenced, and (reference value ≠ 0FFFF
H) (step S5), the character conversion bit of the function map 122 is then referred to. In this case, since it is on (step S6), the hiragana-kanji conversion subroutine 124, which is an extended function, is accessed and the input data "Henka AbC" is accessed. Converts the known "Hiragana-Kanji" to "Change Ab"
Convert to C "(step S7). Then, in order to convert this character data" changed AbC "converted into hiragana-kanji into alphabet, alphabet conversion subroutine 1
13 is called (step S9), the storage location 13 is set as function map reference processing (2) 113a.
0 is referred to (reference value ≠ 0FFFFH) (step S10), and then the alphabet conversion bit of the function map 122 is referred to. In this case, since it is on (step S11), the alphabet upper case conversion subroutine 125, which is an extended function, is accessed and the input data "change AbC" is converted into "change ABC" by the well-known alphabet upper case conversion (step S12). Then, the converted character display subroutine 114 is called (step S14), and "change ABC" is displayed on the display device 34 (step S15).

According to this embodiment, since the existing program is configured as described above, it is not necessary to rewrite the existing program. Therefore, the function expansion program can be created and the function can be freely changed without being aware of the existing program. Can be accessed.

The existing program 110 and the same program as the extended program 120 are the same as the magnetic disk 24.
Stored in the disk drive 23 or the external disk drive 23b and loaded into the RAM 13 for use, the above operations (a) to (e) can be arbitrarily selected and switched, and the RAM area is used. Since rewriting is possible during execution of the program and ON / OFF of each of the character conversion bit and the alphabet conversion bit of the function map 122 can be freely rewritten, it is possible to select an extended function, a correction function, or an existing function during execution of the program.

[0040]

According to the present invention, a recognition means for recognizing an extension program having one or a plurality of subroutines, a setting means for setting enable / disable of each subroutine in the extension program, and the extension Detecting means for detecting whether or not each subroutine in the program can be used, acquiring means for acquiring the start address of each subroutine, and controlling execution of the program based on the outputs of the detecting means and the acquiring means. Since the control means is included, it is possible to easily perform the function expansion and modification of each function without rewriting the existing program, and it is difficult to expand the program due to the complexity of the existing program as in the conventional case. You can avoid wasting time.

Further, since there is no address dependency between the existing program and the extended program, even a person who does not know the existing program can request the function extension, and further, it is easy and has excellent confidentiality. Further, switching of the extended function can be easily performed by turning the bit on and off. Therefore, it is possible to significantly reduce the load associated with the function expansion correction.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the program can be switched at high speed, there is an effect that it can be applied even when high-speed processing is required such as an interrupt processing routine.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a ROMa that stores an existing program used in an embodiment of an information processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a ROMb storing an extension program used in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a RAM used in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the same embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a schematic configuration of an information processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Information Processing Device 10 CPU 11 ROMa 12 ROMb 13 RAM 110 Existing Program 120 Extended Program

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A recognition means for recognizing an extension program having one or a plurality of subroutines, a setting means for setting enable / disable of each subroutine in the extension program, and a recognizing means for each subroutine in the extension program. A detection means that detects whether it can be used or not,
An information processing apparatus comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires a start address of each of the subroutines; and a control unit that controls execution of a program based on the outputs of the detection unit and the acquisition unit.