JPH09114747A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically perform restoration and to continuously use an optional board without an operator. SOLUTION: The contents of a memory 7 inside the optional board 5 holding a control software and a mirror memory 3 inside the memory 3 storing the same contents as the memory 7 are compared. When the contents are different, the control software is reloaded to the memory 7 inside the optional board 5. That is, an original control program is reloaded and automatic restoration is performed. Also, when polling to the control program is abnormal, the original control program is reloaded similarly and the automatic restoration is performed.

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, and more particularly to automatic recovery when an abnormality occurs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a computer system, a CPU (Central Processing) is used.
By mounting an option board in addition to the main body board on which Unit) is mounted, it is possible to interface with various peripheral devices. In such a computer system, the functions of clearing the local memory of the option board and loading the control software are usually performed in the initialization process immediately after power-on as part of the startup process. A method of checking whether the option board is operating normally is performed by a polling signal sent from the driver to the option board.

Conventionally, in the polling process, the originating side and the receiving side respectively respond to the originating call to judge an abnormality,
When there is any abnormality, the driver notifies the upper application program (hereinafter, AP) or systematically displays a message or the like to notify the operator of the abnormality.

If the error is a non-recoverable error, the driver cannot perform further processing, so the option board is systematically disconnected and the corresponding function is disabled. If you want to use the corresponding function, there is no way to recover it except by restarting the power of the system or reloading the main board by hardware reset.

Incidentally, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-122334 also describes an automatic recovery method by resetting.

[0006]

In recent years, the demand for the reliability of computer systems has been increasing year by year. In cases such as bank teller terminals and server machines, downtime is a major problem, and it also operates 24 hours a day. Computer systems are increasing. Therefore, only the option board cannot be used, and nighttime batch processing cannot be performed, which may hinder the work of the next day.

[0007] In order to recover from such a state, manual means such as turning on the power of the main body or restarting the system by hardware reset has a problem in reliability and operation. In this way, the control program for the option board loaded during system initialization has a memory error due to a momentary interruption, a memory error sudden accident due to the influence of static electricity noise in the winter, or the control program itself has some trouble or cannot recover. It was expected that a device that would not hinder the user's work would be realized even if an abnormality occurred due to such a software failure.

Such a problem cannot be solved by the technique disclosed in the above-mentioned patent publication.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and an object thereof is to provide an information processing apparatus capable of automatically recovering.

[0010]

An information processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a first storage means, a holding means for holding a control program loaded in the first storage means and performing a predetermined control, An information processing apparatus comprising: a loading means for loading the control program held in the holding means into the first storage means, the information processing apparatus storing the same content as the content loaded into the first storage means. When the storage contents of the second storage unit and the storage contents of the first and second storage units are not matched, the same control program stored in the storage unit is stored in the first storage unit. And reloading means for reloading.

Another information processing apparatus according to the present invention is
The first storage means, the holding means for holding a control program for performing a predetermined control by being loaded in the first storage means, and the control program held in the holding means are stored in the first storage means. An information processing apparatus including: a loading unit that loads the first control unit and a polling unit that polls a control program that is being loaded and is being executed in the first storage unit; and a holding unit that responds to the polling result. Reloading means for reloading the same control program as that held in the first storage means.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The operation of the present invention is as follows.

The contents of the memory in the option board holding the control software and the contents of the mirror memory storing the same contents are compared. If the contents are different, reload the control software to the memory in the option board. That is, the original control program is reloaded, and automatic recovery is attempted.

Similarly, when the polling for the control program is abnormal, the original control program is reloaded for automatic recovery.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the hardware construction of an embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, a main board 1 has a CPU 2 and an OS to be described later.
(Operating System), AP (App
a license program), and a memory 3 for operating a driver and a monitor program. Further, it is assumed that the memory 3 includes a mirror memory area for holding the same contents as the contents of control software described later. From the main body board 1, files in the external storage device 4 can be accessed.

The option board 5 includes a CPU 6, a local memory 7 for operating control software,
A reset circuit 8 for stopping the operation of the CPU 6 and a control circuit 21 for controlling each part are included. A peripheral device 9 is connected to the option board 5 by a connection cable 10. A specific example of the peripheral device 9 is a CD-ROM drive device or an optical disc device, but it may be another terminal device or a computer.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a software configuration of an embodiment of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, and the same portions as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

AP11, driver 1 under the control of OS14
2. The control software 16 on which the monitor program 15 operates controls hardware such as a control circuit for controlling peripheral devices of the option board 5 and memory management, and may be a single program or a plurality of programs. May be hierarchical. In this example, for convenience of explanation,
It shall be a single program. The above is normally loaded by the loader 17 immediately after the power is turned on.

The mirror memory 13 is the control software 16
This is an area for storing the same contents as. Driver 1
2 sends a poll to the control software 16 at regular intervals.

Next, the processing in this apparatus will be described.

The operation and processing flow of the monitor program 15 will be described with reference to FIG. Monitor program 1
5 may be any system as long as it can access the local memory 7 of the option board 5.

The monitor program 15 is designed to be loaded by the loader 17 immediately after the power is turned on together with other drivers, and operates at the lowest level so as not to interfere with the operations of the AP and other drivers.

The monitor program 15 is the first CP
When the U usage right comes around, the file storing the control software is accessed from the external storage device 4 and the contents are expanded in the mirror memory 13. Then, when the right to use the CPU comes from the next time, the local memory 7 of the option board 5 is accessed to compare the data content of the control software 16 itself with the content developed in the mirror memory 13 (step S31). ).

The area of the program code or the fixed data content where the data content does not change is to be compared.
Generally, the control software 16 is easy to be compared if the program code (the code part of the program) is not replaced during operation. However, even in a system where the program code is replaced, the monitor program 15 It is sufficient to interface with the replacement loader so that the program code replacement can be understood.

That is, although it depends on the construction of the system, normally, the program of the control software 16 becomes resident when loaded, and controls the peripheral devices. In this case, since it is resident, the monitor program can always compare with the mirror memory. On the other hand, when the control software is non-resident (that is, when the programs are replaced), if the comparison with the mirror memory is performed during the replacement, there is a possibility that the contents are different and it is judged as abnormal. In such a case, the loader and the monitor program may interface with each other and the comparison may be performed after the replacement is completed.

As a result of the comparison, if the data are different from each other, the monitor program 15 notifies the driver 12 that an abnormality has occurred (steps S32 → S3).
3) Instruct the driver 12 to temporarily stop the processing. Further, a reset signal is transmitted to the option board 5 to stop the operation of the option board 5 (step S34).

Next, the monitor program 15 reloads the control software 16 in the option board 5 and starts the activation (step S35). At the same time, a restart instruction is issued to the driver 12 (step S36).

Here, in the reloading process by the monitor program 15, the file of the external storage device 4 may be accessed and loaded, or the contents of the mirror memory 13 may be loaded. In short, it suffices to load the same contents as the original control software held in the external storage device 4.

FIG. 4 shows the processing of the driver 12. In the figure, first, when an error notification is received from the monitor program 15 (step S41), the control of the option board 5 is stopped, and it is impossible to recover all commands currently being executed or commands issued to the option board. (Step S42).

Further, the next command issued from the AP is temporarily rejected or only accepted, the process is temporarily held (step S43), and the control software 16 is restarted (step S44). Then, if there is a restart instruction from the monitor program, the process is restarted (steps S44 → S45).

By the way, just by checking the memory as described above, it is not sufficient to detect the abnormality of the option board 5, and the control software 16 cannot detect an error that cannot be recovered. That is, according to the method of comparing the contents of the memory, it is possible to confirm whether or not the memory is damaged. However, if the contents of the memory match but there is no response from the option board, or it is recovered in the option board. When an impossible fatal error occurs and further control is impossible, it cannot be recognized only by checking the memory. Therefore, by monitoring the polling process, which is a function originally possessed by the driver 12, the abnormality can be detected and the abnormality detection rate can be increased.

When the control software 16 detects an unrecoverable fatal peripheral device error in the option board, the response of the polling signal may be added with information indicating an abnormality and returned. The monitor program regards this as an abnormality of the polling signal, and the control software is reloaded accordingly.

Also, when the polling signal itself is not returned due to an error of the control software 16 itself, it is regarded as an abnormality and the control software is reloaded.

The simplest method for reloading due to this polling abnormality is the method shown in FIG. That is, the driver 12 monitors polling (step S51), and when an abnormality is detected, notifies the monitor program 15 of that (step S51 → S52),
The monitor program 15 executes the reload process.

As described above, particularly when the control software on the option board cannot be executed any more in the computer system, the control software is reloaded to automatically restore the option board, so that operator intervention is possible. Without it, the option board can be used continuously.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the contents of the memory do not match or when an abnormality is detected by the polling process, the control program is reloaded and automatically restored so that operator intervention is possible. There is an effect that the option board can be continuously used without any need.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a software configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation and processing flow of a monitor program.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing of a driver.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing of a driver and a monitor program when an abnormality is detected.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Main Board 2, 6 CPU 3 Memory 4 External Storage Device 5 Option Board 7 Local Memory 8 Reset Circuit 9 Peripheral Device 12 Driver 13 Mirror Memory 14 Monitor Program 16 Control Software

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first storage means, a holding means for holding a control program that performs a predetermined control by being loaded in the first storage means, and a control program held in the holding means. An information processing apparatus including a loading unit that loads the first storage unit,
Storing the same content as the content loaded into the storage means of the second
When the storage means of the first storage means and the storage contents of the first storage means and the second storage means do not match each other, the same control program stored in the storage means is stored in the first storage medium.
And a reloading means for reloading to the storage means of the information processing apparatus. 2. A first storage means, a holding means for holding a control program that performs a predetermined control by being loaded in the first storage means, and a control program held in the holding means. An information processing apparatus including a loading unit that loads the first storage unit,
Polling means for polling the control program being loaded and being executed in the storage means, and the same control program held in the holding means according to the polling result in the first storage means. An information processing apparatus comprising: reloading means for reloading. 3. The reloading means reloads when the control program does not respond to polling by the polling means.
The information processing device described. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the reloading unit reloads when a response indicating that the control program detects an error is returned to the polling by the polling unit. .