JPH0863421A - Centralized management system for hardware constitution information - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To increase the compatibility and versatility of device drivers by performing the centralized management of hardware constitution information at an operating system kernel part. CONSTITUTION: A hardware constitution information registering means 14 generates a hardware constitution information management table 111 by compiling a hardware constitution information file 15, and links it with the operation system kernel part 11. Hardware constitution information request means 121 and 131 request hardware constitution information of the operating system kernel part 11 from device drivers 12 and 13. A hardware constitution information provisding means 112 executes a function for obtaining the hardware constitution information that the device drivers 12 and 13 require and the function retrieves the hardware constitution information management table 111 to obtain the corresponding hardware constitution information, which is provided as a return value of the function to the device drivers 12 and 13.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hardware configuration information centralized management system, and more particularly to a hardware configuration information centralized management system in an information processing system including a computer main body and a plurality of peripheral devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of information processing system,
The hardware configuration information about the computer main body was managed by the core of the operating system, and the hardware configuration information about each peripheral device was managed individually by each device driver controlling them. Also,
The device driver that controls the peripheral device must manage the hardware configuration information of the computer main body to which the peripheral device is connected, inside the device driver.

[0003]

In the above-described conventional information processing system, the device driver controlling the peripheral device must manage the hardware configuration information of the computer main body to which the peripheral device is connected inside the device driver. Therefore, there is a problem that each device driver manages the hardware configuration information of the computer main body redundantly among the device drivers that control different peripheral devices.

Further, since the device driver for controlling the peripheral device needs to be aware of the architecture of the computer main body, compatibility and portability of the device driver between information processing systems having computer main bodies of different architectures are deteriorated. There was a problem.

Further, when creating a device driver for connecting a certain peripheral device to a plurality of computer main bodies having different architectures and controlling it so that it can be used, all hardware configuration information of each computer main body is managed inside the device driver. However, there is a problem that the processing of the device driver is complicated and it is difficult to share the device driver.

In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to centrally manage hardware configuration information in the core of the operating system, and a device driver for controlling a peripheral device needs the hardware configuration information from the core of the operating system as needed. Is to provide a centralized management system for hardware configuration information.

It should be noted that, as a conventional technique, in the case where a user application program is provided with a device driver management area for managing device drivers of respective devices having the same virtual device driver interface, and a user application program controls access to a device, A data processing system that enables access control to individual devices and simultaneous access control to multiple devices by accessing a device driver management area by a common device driver interface is already known (special feature). See Kaihei 1-189751).

A peripheral device support system in which the device driver is divided into a device-dependent device driver and a device-independent device driver to enhance the versatility and expandability of the device driver is already known (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-121555). See the bulletin).

[0009]

The hardware configuration information centralized management system of the present invention is an information processing system composed of a computer main body and a plurality of peripheral devices, and stores hardware configuration information in the core of an operating system. Hardware configuration information management table for centralized management, hardware configuration information registration means for registering hardware configuration information in this hardware configuration information management table, and hardware configuration information in the operating system core provided in the device driver. The hardware configuration information requesting means for requesting, and the device driver for acquiring hardware configuration information from the hardware configuration information management table in response to a request from the hardware configuration information requesting means provided in the core part of the operating system. Hardware configuration provided to And a broadcast providing means.

[0010]

The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an information processing system to which a hardware configuration information centralized management system according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. This information processing system has a computer main body 1 and peripheral devices 2 and 3 connected to the computer main body 1 as its main components.

The computer main body 1 is equipped with an operating system 10, and the operating system 10
Is a core 11 of the operating system, a device driver 12 that controls the peripheral device 2, a device driver 13 that controls the peripheral device 3, and a hardware configuration information registration unit that registers hardware configuration information in the core 11 of the operating system. 14 and a hardware configuration information file 15 that stores hardware configuration information.

The operating system core 11 is
Hardware configuration information management table 111 for centrally managing hardware configuration information and hardware configuration information management table 11
Hardware configuration information providing means 112 for providing the hardware configuration information of No. 1 to the device drivers 12 and 13.
It is configured to include and.

The device drivers 12 and 13 are configured to include hardware configuration information requesting means 121 and 131 for requesting hardware configuration information from the hardware configuration information providing means 112 of the operating system core 11.

Referring to FIG. 2, the hardware configuration information regarding the computer main body 1 managed by the hardware configuration information management table 111 includes the name of the computer main body and the computer main body for connecting the computer main body and peripheral devices. It includes the number of buses prepared, the position and size of the input / output (I / O) space of the computer, and so on.

Referring to FIG. 3, the hardware configuration information regarding the peripheral devices 2 and 3 managed by the hardware configuration information management table 111 includes the name of the peripheral device and whether the peripheral device is a terminal device or a disk device. It includes the type indicating whether the device is a tape device or a tape device, the position of the control register necessary for controlling the peripheral device inside the peripheral device, and the like.

The hardware configuration information has hardware configuration information providing functions (hereinafter simply referred to as functions) provided by the core part 11 of the operating system as interfaces, and the hardware configuration information requesting means 121 and 13 are provided.
1 and the hardware configuration information providing means 112 provide the device drivers 12 and 13. In detail, the function is prepared individually for each hardware configuration information to be provided, and all these functions are given the name of the computer main unit or the peripheral device as an argument (input), and the return value of the function The hardware configuration information can be obtained as (output).
For example, as a function for obtaining the number of buses of the computer main body, g
There is etnbus (name of computer main body). As a function for obtaining the position of the control register inside the peripheral device allocated on the I / O space of the computer main body, getioaddr
(Name of peripheral device) As a function for obtaining the peripheral device type, there is getdevattr (name of peripheral device). As a function to know which bus number of the computer the peripheral device is connected to, getbusnum
There is a ber (name of peripheral device).

Referring to FIG. 4, the hardware configuration information registration processing by the hardware configuration information registration means 14 is as follows.
Hardware configuration information file creation step S101
And a hardware configuration information value conversion step S102,
Hardware configuration information file compilation step S1
03 and hardware configuration information management table link step S
And 104.

Referring to FIG. 5, the hardware configuration information acquisition processing by the hardware configuration information providing means 112 includes a function execution step S201, a hardware configuration information acquisition step S202, and a hardware configuration information provision step S203. .

Next, the operation of the hardware configuration information centralized management system of this embodiment having the above configuration will be described.

The designer of the operating system 10 uses the hardware configuration information registration means 14 to previously register the hardware configuration information regarding the computer main unit 1 in the hardware configuration information management table 111 of the operating system core 11. .

More specifically, the hardware configuration information registration means 14 stores the hardware configuration information on the computer main body 1 to store the hardware configuration information file 15
(Step S101), the value of the hardware configuration information is converted (step S102), the hardware configuration information file 15 is compiled (the hardware configuration information management table 111 is created) (step S103),
The hardware configuration information management table 111 is linked to the core part 11 of the operating system (step S10).
4).

On the other hand, the designer of the device driver 12 is
Using the hardware configuration information registration means 14, the hardware configuration information regarding the peripheral device 2 is stored in the hardware configuration information management table 111 of the operating system core 11.
Register with.

More specifically, the hardware configuration information registration means 14 recreates the hardware configuration information file 15 by adding the hardware configuration information regarding the peripheral device 2 (step S101), and the value of the hardware configuration information is set. The value is actually converted into a value required for controlling the peripheral device 2 (step S102). Specifically, when the device driver 12 controls the peripheral device 2, a control register (not shown) inside the peripheral device 2 is operated, and the position of this control register is from the device driver 12 to the computer main unit 1. Since it is recognized as the position of the I / O space + the position of the control register inside the peripheral device 2, it is converted into such a value.
Next, the hardware configuration information registration means 14 recompiles the hardware configuration information file 15 (recreates the hardware configuration information management table 111) (step S103), and the recreated hardware configuration information. The management table 111 is linked to the core part 11 of the operating system (step S104).

Similarly, the designer of the device driver 13 uses the hardware configuration information registration means 14 to obtain the hardware configuration information about the peripheral device 3 from the hardware configuration information management table 1 of the operating system core 11.
Register at 11.

More specifically, the hardware configuration information registration means 14 recreates the hardware configuration information file 15 by adding the hardware configuration information regarding the peripheral device 3 (step S101), and sets the value of the hardware configuration information. It is converted into a value actually required for controlling the peripheral device 3 (step S102). Specifically, when the device driver 13 controls the peripheral device 3, a control register (not shown) inside the peripheral device 3 is operated, and the position of this control register is from the device driver 13 to the computer main body 1 Since it is recognized as the position of the I / O space + the position of the control register inside the peripheral device 3, it is converted into such a value.
Next, the hardware configuration information registration means 14 recompiles the hardware configuration information file 15 (recreates the hardware configuration information management table 111) (step S103), and the recreated hardware configuration information. The management table 111 is linked to the core part 11 of the operating system (step S104).

Next, the peripheral device 2 is loaded into the device driver 12
At the stage of actually executing the control by the device driver 12, the device driver 12 receives the hardware configuration information requesting means 1 as necessary.
By using 21 to call a function for obtaining the necessary hardware configuration information, the hardware configuration information is requested to the operating system core 11.

Then, the hardware configuration information providing means 112 of the core part 11 of the operating system executes a function for obtaining the hardware configuration information required by the device driver 12 (step S201), and the function returns the hardware configuration information. The management table 111 is searched to obtain the corresponding hardware configuration information (step S202), and the obtained hardware configuration information is provided to the device driver 12 as a return value of the function (step S203).

Similarly, the peripheral device 3 is replaced by the device driver 1
When the device 3 actually executes the control, the device driver 13 calls the function for obtaining the necessary hardware configuration information by using the hardware configuration information requesting unit 131 as necessary, and To the operating system core 11.

Then, the hardware configuration information providing means 112 of the core part 11 of the operating system executes a function for obtaining the hardware configuration information required by the device driver 13 (step S201), and the function returns the hardware configuration information. The management table 111 is searched to obtain the corresponding hardware configuration information (step S202), and the obtained hardware configuration information is provided to the device driver 12 as a return value of the function (step S203).

The procedure required for the device drivers 12 and 13 to control the peripheral devices 2 and 3 is as follows: the computer main body 1 and the operating system 1 to which these devices are connected.
Peripherals 2 and 3 are generally independent of 0
It is determined by the specifications of. Therefore, the computer main body 1 and the operating system 10 having different architectures
The device driver operating above can be easily realized by designing the procedure for controlling the peripheral device based on the hardware configuration information provided by the hardware configuration information providing unit 112.

In the above embodiment, the case where two device drivers 12 and 13 are incorporated in the operating system 10 of the computer main body 1 has been described as an example, but the number of device drivers incorporated in the operating system 10 is one. However, it goes without saying that the present invention can be similarly applied to the case of three or more.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, the hardware configuration information is centrally managed by the core of the operating system, and the device driver for controlling the peripheral device sends the hardware configuration information from the core of the operating system as needed. By receiving the provision, it is not necessary for each device driver to duplicately manage the hardware configuration information, and there is an effect that the device driver can be created small and easily.

Further, since the interface for passing the hardware configuration information between the device driver for controlling the peripheral device and the core of the operating system is shared as a function, the device driver for controlling the peripheral device can be used as the computer driver. Since it is no longer necessary to be aware of the architecture, there is an effect that the compatibility and portability of device drivers between information processing systems having computer main bodies with different architectures are improved.

Further, there is an effect that it becomes easy to create a device driver for controlling a certain peripheral device by connecting it to a plurality of computer main bodies having different architectures so that it can be used, and it becomes easy to standardize the device driver.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an information processing system to which a hardware configuration information centralized management system according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

2 is a diagram exemplifying hardware configuration information regarding a computer main body managed by a hardware configuration information management table in FIG.

3 is a diagram exemplifying hardware configuration information regarding peripheral devices managed by a hardware configuration information management table in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a hardware configuration information registration process by the hardware configuration information registration means in FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing a hardware configuration information acquisition process by the hardware configuration information providing means in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Computer Main Body 2 and 3 Peripheral Devices 10 Operating System 11 Operating System Core 12 and 13 Device Driver 14 Hardware Configuration Information Registration Unit 15 Hardware Configuration Information File 111 Hardware Configuration Information Management Table 112 Hardware Configuration Information Providing Unit 121, 131 Hardware configuration information requesting means

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A hardware configuration information management table for centrally managing hardware configuration information, which is provided in a core part of an operating system in an information processing system including a computer main body and a plurality of peripheral devices, and the hardware configuration information. Hardware configuration information registration means for registering hardware configuration information in a management table, hardware configuration information request means provided in the device driver for requesting hardware configuration information to the operating system core, and operating system core And a hardware configuration information providing unit that acquires hardware configuration information from the hardware configuration information management table in response to a request from the hardware configuration information requesting unit and provides the device configuration driver with the hardware configuration information. Hardware configuration information Centralized management method. 2. The hardware configuration information registration means,
The centralized hardware configuration information management method according to claim 1, wherein the hardware configuration information management table is created by compiling a hardware configuration information file in which the value of the hardware configuration information is converted and linked to the core part of the operating system. . 3. The hardware configuration information providing means,
The function for executing the hardware configuration information required by the device driver is executed, the function searches the hardware configuration information management table to obtain the corresponding hardware configuration information, and the obtained hardware configuration information is acquired. 3. The function driver return value is provided to the device driver.
Centralized management method for hardware configuration information described. 4. In an information processing system including a computer main body and a plurality of peripheral devices, a device driver that centrally manages hardware configuration information in a core part of an operating system and controls the peripheral devices is used to operate the operating system as needed. Centralized management system for hardware configuration information, characterized by receiving the hardware configuration information from the core of the system. 5. Hardware configuration information between a device driver for controlling peripheral devices connected to a plurality of information processing systems having a computer main body and an operating system having different architectures and the core of the operating system. 5. The hardware configuration information centralized management method according to claim 4, wherein the interface for delivering and receiving is shared as a function to improve compatibility and portability of the device driver.