JPH09205467A - Application program execution system in data communication terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To alternatively execute plural application programs by one IC memory card in a data communication terminal equipment for providing an additional function by the execution of the application program stored in the IC memory card. SOLUTION: The CPU 100 of a main control part 1 retrieves the job titles of all the application programs stored in the IC memory card 12 and displays them at a display panel 71 by the execution of a program stored in a ROM 102. When a user selects one job title, the CPU 100 allocates the memory space of the IC memory card 12 after the leading address of the application program provided with the selected job title to an application program execution area after a prescribed address in the real address memory space of the CPU 100 and executes the application program.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data communication terminal device such as a multifunctional facsimile device, and more particularly to a data communication terminal device that provides various additional functions by executing an application program stored in an IC memory card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art IC memory cards include RAM and EEPR.
It is a card-type memory equipped with a semiconductor memory such as OM, and unlike external storage media such as floppy disks, it has the excellent features that it requires no mechanical drive device, is highly reliable, and has a short access time. ing. Therefore, in recent years, it has been adopted in various devices such as a facsimile device.

The IC memory card can be used, for example, in a memory for storing communication image information such as a facsimile machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-32573, or in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 1-183957. It is found in a form used as an external storage device for storing data, such as a memory for storing destination document data like a facsimile device, and in a wireless data communication terminal disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-24826. As described above, there is a form of using it as a memory for storing a program. The present invention relates to the latter use form, and more particularly to a data communication terminal device that provides various additional functions (data communication and business processing for different purposes) by executing an application program stored in an IC memory card.

When an application program is stored in an IC memory card and executed by the CPU of the device,
It is common to allocate the address area of the IC memory card to a part of the real address memory space of the CPU. For example, a CP whose actual address memory space size is 1 Mbyte
In the case of U, for example, when the area of 0.5 Mbytes after the address 80000 (hexadecimal notation; the same applies below) is used as the area for executing the application program of the IC memory card, as shown in FIG. The head address of the application program stored in the memory is set to the address 80000 of the real address memory space. As a result, the area of 0.5 Mbytes from the start address of the IC memory card can be directly accessed from the CPU,
The application program stored there can be executed.

However, 0.5 from the beginning of the IC memory card
The area after M bytes cannot be directly accessed from the CPU because it is outside the real address memory space of the CPU. Therefore, one IC memory card stores an application program of a size that does not exceed 0.5 Mbytes, and when different types of application programs are used, another IC memory card storing the application program is prepared. As described above, the IC memory card is exchanged for each application program.

[0006]

As described above, conventionally, the I
A different application program is stored for each C memory card, and the application program is selected by replacing the IC memory card. Therefore, it is not always easy for the user to use. Also, when the size of the application program is small, there are many unused areas in the IC memory card,
There was much waste.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to enable a plurality of application programs to be selectively executed by one IC memory card.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an apparatus for use by connecting to a communication line, the data providing additional functions by executing an application program stored in an IC memory card loaded in the apparatus. In a communication terminal device, a CPU, a memory, and an address conversion that allocates an area after an address designated by the CPU in the memory space of an IC memory card to an application program execution area after a predetermined address in the real address memory space of the CPU And a main control unit including a storage device, the main control unit executing the programs stored in the memory to display the business names of all the application programs stored in the IC memory card loaded in the apparatus. By searching and displaying it on the display device and selecting one of the business names, The-option has been business name IC memory card memory space since the starting address of the application program with, and allocated to the application program execution area of the predetermined address later, it has a configuration for executing the application program.

Further, each application program stored in the IC memory card records the business name of its own application program at a predetermined position, and
It has a structure in which a pointer indicating the head address of another application program immediately following is recorded at a predetermined position.

Further, the address translator is the CPU.
From the rewritable address register, the address value output from the CPU and the address value held in the address register are added, and the loaded I
C adder for generating address information for the memory card.

For example, when the size of the real address memory space of the CPU is 1 Mbytes and the application program execution area is the address 80000 and thereafter, for example, the head address of the IC memory card having the size of 1 Mbyte is the real address memory space. Set at address 80000. In this case, 0.5M bytes from the beginning of the IC memory card can be accessed as they are. On the other hand, for the area after 0.5 MB of the IC memory card, set the start address to be accessed when the CPU outputs address 80000 in the address register of the address converter, and 0.5 MB from that address. Minutes can be mapped to addresses 80000 and beyond in the real address memory space. CP
Using the function of such an address converter, U accesses the IC memory card loaded in the device, retrieves the business names of all the application programs stored therein, and displays them on the display device. And either one
When one business name is selected, the memory space of the IC memory card after the first address of the application program having the selected business name is allocated to the application program execution area after the predetermined address and the application program is executed. .

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a data communication terminal device to which the present invention is applied. The data communication terminal device of this example is a multifunctional facsimile device, which has a basic function as a facsimile and, when an IC memory card is loaded, various additions such as a personal computer communication function, an order management function, and a time and attendance management function. It is possible to build an intelligent function.

In FIG. 1, the main control section 1 is a section that controls the main control of the present apparatus, and comprises a CPU 100, a ROM 102, a RAM 103 and an address converter 104 connected to a bus 101 thereof. Bus 101
Is composed of a data line, an address line, and a control line. CP
The U100 is, for example, a 16-bit CPU and has a real address memory space of 1 Mbyte. Therefore, in this case, the address line in the bus 101 is 20 bits wide. ROM
Reference numeral 102 stores a control program necessary for causing the apparatus to function as a facsimile apparatus, a program for the processing in FIG. 6 described later, and the like. RAM10
3 is used for temporarily storing data and the like.

Through the bus 101 of the CPU 100, the scanner unit 2, the printer unit 3, the reading / recording memory 4, the coding / decoding unit (CODEC) 5, the line corresponding unit 6,
The operation unit 7 and the card interface unit 8 are connected. The line interface 6 includes a data modem, a FAX modem and an NCU, and is a communication line 11 which is a general subscriber telephone line.
And is connected to the handset 10.
A line buffer memory 9 is provided between the line interface 6 and the encoding / decoding unit 5.

The operation unit 7 is provided with a display device such as a display panel 71 and an input device such as a keyboard 72 such as a numeric keyboard, and displays information to be presented to the user from the device and inputs data to be received from the user. And do.

The card interface section 8 is a section for physically connecting the IC memory card 12 to the main body device in a detachable manner and electrically connecting it to the main control section 1. The card interface unit 8 electrically connects the data lines and control lines of the loaded IC memory card 12 to the data lines and control lines of the bus 101, and also connects the address lines of the IC memory card 12 to the main control unit. 1 to the output line of the address converter 104.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the address converter 104. Address translator 104 is bus 1
The address register 1041 which can set an arbitrary address value from the CPU 100 through 01, the address value held in the address register 1041 and the address value on the address line in the bus 101 are added, and the addition result is added to the card interface unit 8 And an adder 1042 for outputting as address information to the. For example, the size of the address register 1041 is 24 bits. Therefore, the adder 1042 uses the address line 2 of the bus 101.
The 0-bit address value and the 24-bit address value held in the address register 1041 are added, and the lower 24 bits thereof are output to the card interface unit 8 as address information. The card interface section 8 is
Each bit of the 4-bit address information is connected to the corresponding bit of the address line of the IC memory card 12. For example, if the number of address bits of the IC memory card 12 is 24, all the bits output from the address converter 104 are connected to the address bit lines of the IC memory card 12. If the IC memory card 12 has 22 address bits, the lower 22 bits output from the address converter 104 are connected.

FIG. 3 shows an example of contents stored in the IC memory card 12. Assuming that the start address of the memory space of the IC memory card is address 0, in this example, from address 0 to α-
Application program AP1 in the area up to address 1
However, the application program AP2 is stored in the area from the address α to the address β-1 and the application program AP3 is stored in the area after the address β.
In the case of this embodiment, each application program AP
The sizes of 1, AP2 and AP3 are equal to or smaller than the size of the application program execution area in the real address memory space of the CPU 100. In addition, 80,000-FFF
Specific area of FF (for example, area of 64 KB or less)
Is used as the allocation area of the subroutine program, and when the individual subroutine programs constituting the application program are executed, the address register 1041 of the address converter 104 is set so that the beginning of the subroutine program executed this time coincides with the beginning of the specific area. By setting a value and executing the subroutine program, the specific area can be shared by a plurality of subroutine programs, and it is also possible to execute an application program having a total size of more than 0.5 M bytes.

Each application program AP1, A
The first 256 bytes of P2 and AP3 are management information fields holding the management information of the application program, and the rest are the application program and the body field of the data area. Then, in the case of the present embodiment, the business name of the application program and the start address of the application program immediately after that are set to relative addresses (the start address of the memory space of the IC memory card 12 is 0 The next AP address pointer indicated by the address) is set. In the example of FIG. 3, the management information field of the application program AP1 contains A
P1 business name and application program A immediately after
A next AP address pointer indicating α, which is the head address of P2, is set, and the AP2 business name and the next AP address pointer indicating β, which is the head address of the application program AP3 immediately after, are set in the management information field of the application program AP2. Are set, and AP is set in the management information field of the application program AP3.
Three business names and a next AP address pointer having a NULL value indicating that there is no application program immediately after are set.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the configuration of the memory space (real address memory space) of the CPU 100 and the address of each application program on the IC memory card 12. The real address memory space of the CPU 100 is 1
M bytes, of which 0 to 7ffff are used as a system area, and the remaining 80000 to fffff are used as an execution area of the application program of the IC memory card 12. The system area is the ROM 102, RA in FIG.
It is mapped to the address of a peripheral device such as M103.

The IC memory card 12 is addressed so that when the address 80000 is input from the card interface unit 8, the address of the relative address 0 is selected. Therefore, when the address 0104 is set in the address register 1041 in the address converter 104, when the CPU 100 outputs the address 80000, the address value as it is is used as it is.
Since it is input to the IC memory card 12 through
As indicated by the broken line (1), the head address of the application program AP1 is accessed. When the address register 1041 is set to address α, the CPU
When 100 outputs the address 80000, the address value (α + 80000) added by α by the adder 1042 of the address converter 104 is input to the IC memory card 12 through the card interface unit 8, so that the broken line in FIG. As shown in (2), the head address of the application program AP2 is accessed. Further, in the state where the address register 1041 is set to the β address, when the CPU 100 outputs the address 80000, the address value obtained by adding β by the adder 1042 of the address converter 104 (β + 80000 address)
Is input to the IC memory card 12 through the card interface unit 8, so that the head address of the application program AP3 is accessed as shown by the broken line (3) in FIG.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the function of the address converter 104 allows the CPU 100 to execute the individual application programs AP1, AP2, AP3 stored in the IC memory card 12 at the same address (book) in the real address memory space. In the embodiment, it is possible to access in the address range of address 80000) and thereafter.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing example of the CPU 100. The process shown in this flowchart is performed in the execution step S12 of the application program.
Except that the program is stored in the ROM 102 in advance. Hereinafter, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

When the power of the apparatus is turned on, the CPU 100 starts the processing shown in FIG. First, whether or not the IC memory card 12 is loaded is determined by, for example, a control signal from the card interface unit 8 which is turned on when the IC memory card 12 is loaded (S1). IC
If the memory card 12 is loaded, the process proceeds to step S4 and subsequent steps, and if not loaded, it is checked whether an event has occurred (S2). If the event has not occurred, the process returns to step S1. If the event has occurred, the corresponding process is executed (S3). here,
An event is an event related to a facsimile, which is a basic function of this device, and a representative event is a facsimile transmission / reception event. For example, in the case of facsimile transmission, the scanner unit 2 scans a transmission document (not shown) and stores it in the reading / recording memory 4, and the line corresponding unit 6
Also, after calling the other party through the communication line 11 and receiving a response from the other party, the information recorded in the reading / recording memory 4 is encoded by the encoding / decoding unit 5 and communicated through the line buffer memory 9 and the FAX modem. A signal is sent to the line 11. In the case of facsimile reception, the signal received by the FAX modem is given to the encoding / decoding unit 5 through the line buffer memory 9 to be decoded and stored in the reading / recording memory 4, and then printed out from the printer unit 3. To do. These operations are the same as those of a general facsimile machine.

When the IC memory card 12 is loaded, the CPU 100 sets the address value "0" in the address register 1041 of the address converter 104 (S
4), accessing the IC memory card 12 through the address converter 104 and the card interface unit 8,
The AP1 business name set in the management information field of the first application program AP1 is searched and displayed on the display panel 71 of the operation unit 7 (S5). Since the business name of the AP is located at a predetermined position in the management information field of the first 256 bytes of each application program, the search is easy. At this time, the current address register 1
A pair of the value "0" of 041 and the AP1 business name searched this time is held in the work area provided in the RAM 103 (S5). If old data is stored in the work area, it is deleted at this point.

Next, the CPU 100 retrieves the next AP address pointer set in the management information field of the first application program AP1 (S6).
Since the next AP address pointer is located at a predetermined position in the management information field, the search is easy. In the case of FIG. 3, the value is α. Next, the CPU 100 searches for the next AP
The value α of the address pointer is set in the address register 1041 of the address converter 104 (S8), and step S5
Then, the process described above is repeated. Thereby, the second and third application programs AP2, AP
The search and display of the business name of No. 3 and the storage of the AP2 business name and the address register value “α” and the set of the AP3 business name and the address register value “β” are performed.

In the CPU 100, the next AP address pointer of the third application program AP3 is NULL.
When it is determined to be L (S7), the process exits the loop and proceeds to step S9.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a state in which the business name is displayed on the display panel 71 by the above processing. In this state, the CPU 100 waits for the business name to be selected by the user. The user operates the operation unit 7
The keyboard 72 is operated to move the cursor to the business name to be selected, and the execute button is pressed to select one from a plurality of business names. Of course, you may make it select by input form, such as a touch panel. If the job name is not selected within a certain period of time, the CPU 1
00 returns to step S1 and repeats the above processing.
This is because the case where the IC memory card 12 has been exchanged during that time is taken into consideration.

Next, when one business name is selected by the user, the CPU 100 sets the address register value held in the work area of the RAM 103 corresponding to the selected business name in the address converter 104. The address register 1041 is set (S10). Then, the control right is transferred to the application program (S11).
This is because in the case of this embodiment, the first byte of the application program to be executed is 800 in the real address memory space.
It is located at address 00, and the 256 bytes from there are a management information field, and the byte immediately after that is the body field of the application program. Therefore, control is transferred to the first byte of the body field. This allows
Execution of the application program is started (S1)
2).

For example, as shown in the display example of FIG. 6, when the user selects the AP1 business name with the cursor, AP1
Since the address register value stored corresponding to the business name is “0”, the CPU 100
"41" is set to 41, and control is transferred to a predetermined address. As a result, the application program AP1 is executed. When the AP2 business name is selected, the address register value stored corresponding to the AP2 business name is “α”, so the CPU 100 causes the address register 104 to operate.
Set "α" to 1 and transfer control to a predetermined address. As a result, the application program AP2 is executed. Similarly, the application program AP3 can also be executed.

In this embodiment, the IC memory card 1
When the business name of each application program stored in 2 is searched, the next AP address pointer is also searched and the set of the business name and the address register value is saved in the work area, and the set is saved when the business name is selected. Although the address register value is used, the stored content of the IC memory card may be searched again when the business name is selected to find the corresponding next AP address pointer.

Each application program AP1, A
There are various conceivable processes to be executed by P2 and AP3, and an example thereof is as follows.

Application program AP1 A document creating function of creating a text or the like on the display panel 71 by operating the keyboard 72, a function of sending the created document to the other party through the communication line 11 by personal computer communication, and vice versa. It has a function of displaying on the display panel 71 a text or the like received from the other party through personal computer communication. The data modem of the line interface 6 is used for personal computer communication. If the keyboard 71 is a ten-key keyboard, the characters that form the document can be input by displaying a list of characters on the display panel 71 and selecting the characters from the list using keyboard or touch panel operations. is there.

Application program AP2 A function of displaying a screen for order management on the display panel 71, receiving various management information from the keyboard 72 and creating a purchase order, and the created purchase order, etc. through the communication line 11. It has functions such as sending to the center. The data modem of the line interface 6 is used for sending the purchase order or the like.

Application program AP3 A function of displaying a screen for attendance / leaving management on the display panel 71 and receiving various management information from the keyboard 72 to create an attendance table, and the created attendance table etc. through the communication line 11
It has a function to send to the center etc. through. The data modem of the line interface 6 is used for transmitting the attendance table and the like.

When the execution of the selected application programs AP1, AP2, AP3 is completed, control is returned to a predetermined place in the system area of the real address memory space (S13). Thereby, the CPU 100
Executes the processing from step S1 again. Therefore,
The screen as shown in FIG. 6 is again displayed on the display panel 71, and the user can select and execute another application program.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

Since individual application programs stored in the IC memory card are selectively mapped and executed in the application program execution area after a predetermined address in the real address memory space of the CPU, the total size of all application programs is reduced. Even when the size of the application program execution area is exceeded, each application program can be executed. Therefore, a single IC memory card can selectively execute a plurality of application programs, which improves the usability for the user. Moreover, since a plurality of application programs are recorded in one IC memory card, waste is reduced.

The head address of each application program is mapped at the same address (80000 address in the embodiment) of the real address memory space of the CPU when it is executed. Therefore, all application programs can be designed under the same condition (condition that the address of the start address at the time of execution is the same), which facilitates the design. As a tool (joint tool) for creating a plurality of application programs, the tool used for creating one application program can be used as it is.

According to another method, for example, an IC memory card is used as an external storage device, and an application program is appropriately loaded from the IC memory card to an actual memory allocated to an application program execution area of the CPU's actual address memory space and executed. , A real memory covering the application program execution area is required separately, but such a real memory is not necessary in the present invention,
The memory capacity of the main controller can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a data communication terminal device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an address converter.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of stored contents of an IC memory card.

FIG. 4 CPU memory space (real address memory space)
3 is a diagram showing the relationship between the configuration of FIG. 1 and the address of each application program on the IC memory card.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing example of a CPU.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which a work name is displayed on a display panel.

FIG. 7: CPU memory space (real address memory space)
3 is a diagram showing a general relationship between the configuration of FIG. 1 and the address of an application program of an IC memory card.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Main control part 100 ... CPU 101 ... Bus 102 ... ROM 103 ... RAM 104 ... Address converter 2 ... Scanner part 3 ... Printer part 4 ... Read / record memory 5 ... Encoding / decoding part (CODEC) 6 ... Line correspondence Part 7 ... Operation part 71 ... Display panel 72 ... Keyboard 8 ... Card interface part 9 ... Line buffer memory 10 ... Handset 11 ... Communication line 12 ... IC memory card

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A data communication terminal device, which is used by connecting to a communication line and which provides an additional function by executing an application program stored in an IC memory card loaded in the device, comprising: a CPU; The CP in the memory space of the IC memory card is stored in the memory and the application program execution area after a predetermined address in the real address memory space of the CPU.
A main control unit including an address converter for allocating an area after the address designated by U, the main control unit being an IC memory card loaded in the device by executing a program stored in the memory. The business names of all the application programs stored in are searched and displayed on the display device, and by selecting any one of the business names, the start address of the application program having the selected business name and the subsequent addresses are selected. An application program execution method in a data communication terminal device, characterized in that a memory space of an IC memory card is allocated to an application program execution area after the predetermined address and the application program is executed. 2. An individual application program stored in an IC memory card records a business name of its own application program at a predetermined position, and a pointer indicating the start address of another application program immediately after that is specified. 2. An application program execution method in a data communication terminal device according to claim 1, having a structure for recording at a position. 3. The address converter is loaded by adding an address register rewritable from the CPU, an address value output from the CPU and an address value held in the address register. 3. An application program execution method in a data communication terminal device according to claim 1, further comprising an adder that generates address information for an existing IC memory card.