JPH10307688A - Portable electronic equipment and control method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an electronic equipment excellent in operability by controlling a RAM and a ROM which were handled as different drives before virtually one drive by converting a logical position into a physical position according to stored information and performing read/write control. SOLUTION: This equipment has a disk merging information storage means which stores a logical position indicated by an operating system and a physical position corresponding to the logical position at a read/write request from the operating system and a disk merging control means which performs read/ write control by converting the logical position into the physical position according to the stored information. For example, this electronic equipment is equipped with a merging driver which stores files, etc., by handling a variable memory 12 and a fixed memory 13 as one successive virtual disk 16 and handles them as the virtual disk. A RAM, a ROM, etc., are usable as the variable memory 12 and a mask ROM, etc., is usable as the fixed memory 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a portable electronic device such as a handy terminal and, more particularly, to a portable electronic device having a built-in disk device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A handy terminal, which is one of portable electronic devices for business use, must store files (application programs, database files, environment files, operating system files, etc.) used on the device. . At this time, business application programs are upgraded by revisions and functions are added to deal with defects, database files are updated by seasonal master data changes, product additions and deletions, and environment files are system environment settings. Each time is changed, rewriting is frequently performed. On the other hand, an operating system is a very stable program, and is unlikely to be changed.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a block diagram showing a disk configuration of a conventional typical portable electronic device. In this conventional example, a business application program and a database file (hereinafter, referred to as a variable file) are stored in a RAM 12.
Then, an operating system file (hereinafter, referred to as a fixed file) is stored in the ROM 13, the disk containing the variable file group is read / written using the drive X51, and the disk containing the fixed file group is stored in the drive Y5.
2 can be read. This provides the simplicity of changing a variable file and the robustness of a fixed file.

The disk configuration is controlled by a disk operating system 15 called DOS. When the drive "X" 51 is accessed, the disk BI
For RAM access processing 21 in OS processing 14, access information (access address,
Read / write is instructed together with the read / write amount and write data). The RAM access processing 21 reads or writes data from or to the RAM 12 according to the access information. Similarly, when there is an access to the drive “Y” 52, the ROM access processing 22 in the disk BIOS processing 14 is instructed to read along with access information (access address, read amount) for reading. The ROM access processing 22 reads data from the ROM 13 according to the access information.

[0005] As described above, processing as a disk is performed for each physical device such as the RAM 12 and the ROM 13, and a readable / writable disk and a read-only disk cannot be handled as the same disk.

[0006]

In a recent operating system, an environment file for operating the operating system, for example, a file for designating an operation or a file for storing an environment of the operation, is included in the operating system. It is required that they be located on the same disk. However, in the prior art, the variable file and the fixed file are stored in different devices (for example, RAM).
And ROM), and each of them is treated as a separate drive. Therefore, in order to change the environment file, the ROM needs to be replaced, and the usability is very poor. In addition, in order to ensure portability, a handy terminal, which is one of the portable electronic devices for business use, may incorporate a large-capacity nonvolatile memory (for example, a hard disk drive) that a general-purpose personal computer has. It was difficult.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to handle different devices as one drive, thereby enabling operation without impairing the versatility of an operating system. Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable electronic device that realizes an environment similar to a general personal computer and is excellent in handling variable files.

[0008]

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic apparatus comprising: a rewritable variable memory; a variable memory access unit for reading and writing the variable memory;
In a portable electronic device having a non-rewritable fixed memory, a fixed memory access unit that reads the fixed memory, and an operating system that performs a disk process, the portable system instructs the operating system in response to a read / write request from the operating system. Disk continuity information storage means for storing a logical position and a physical position corresponding to the logical position, and disk continuity for converting a logical position into a physical position in accordance with information stored in the disk continuity information storage means and controlling read / write And control means.

The present invention is also suitable to be grasped as a control method of the electronic device, and in response to a read / write request from a disk operating system, a variable memory or a logical memory corresponding to a logical position indicated by the operating system. The method is characterized by including a step of converting the data into a physical position of the fixed memory and a step of reading and writing the physical position.

[0010]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of a portable electronic apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration, and FIG. 2 shows a processing configuration of a disk. FIG. 3 shows an example of a disk continuity information table, and FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of a disk integrated with a readable / writable part and a read-only part.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the electronic apparatus of this embodiment, the variable memory 12 and the fixed memory 13 are handled as one continuous virtual disk 16, and files are stored, and a serialization for handling as a virtual disk is performed. Driver 17
Is provided. A RAM or flash ROM is used as the variable memory 12, and a mask ROM is used as the fixed memory 13.
Or a CD-ROM. BIO is used to read and write the variable memory 12 and the fixed memory 13.
S14 and a DOS 15 using the BIOS 14 to make the variable memory 12 and the fixed memory 13 available as disks
It is composed of 11 is a C that controls the entire electronic device.
PU, 18 is a display for displaying data.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a disk configuration of the electronic apparatus shown in FIG. R in the BIOS 14
It has a RAM access process 21 for performing AM access and a ROM access process 22 for performing ROM access, each of which can read and write data from and to the variable memory 12 and the fixed memory 13. Drive "Z" from DOS15
When the drive 25 is used, the read / write of the disk data corresponding to the drive “Z” 25 is performed to the continuation driver 17. The continuation driver 17 converts the access information (access address, read / write amount, read / write data) requested by the DOS 15 into access information for actually physically accessing according to the table of the disk continuation information 24. Based on the converted information, it is determined which of the RAM access process 21 and the ROM access process 22 is to be accessed, and the RAM access process 21 or the ROM access process 22 in the disk BIOS process 14 is determined according to the converted access information. , Along with access information (access address, read / write amount, read / write data) for reading / writing.
RAM access processing 21 or ROM access processing 22
Is the RAM 12 or RO according to the access information.
Read or write to M13.

FIG. 3 shows the contents of the disc continuation information 24 for actually performing access information conversion. The logical position information 31 stores data position information Pos1 to Pos4 (head position, track position, sector position) corresponding to the drive “Z” 25, and the physical device information 32 stores a physical device (RAM) corresponding to the theoretical value position. , ROM), and corresponding physical position information Addr1 to Addr4 (head position, track position,
(Sector position), and the capacity information 34 includes continuous corresponding data size information Size 1 to Si on the physical device.
ze4 (the number of sectors) is stored, and the attribute information 35 stores the read / write attribute information (read only, read / write) of the physical device. Disk continuation processing 23
Refers to the table of the disk continuation information 24,
The designated access information can be converted into the access information on the actual physical device.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the virtual disk 16. As shown in the figure, the disk information storage area 41 (hereinafter referred to as DPB)
Area), disk use information storage area 42 (hereinafter referred to as FA area).
T), a file usage storage area 43 (hereinafter referred to as a directory area), and a file data storage area 44. Further, the file data storage area 44 includes a file block area 45 (hereinafter referred to as a subdirectory area) and a file data storage area 46. The file storage data areas 44 and 46 have the same configuration, and this can be further repeated as necessary, so that a hierarchical directory configuration can be obtained. In this example, the DPB area 4
1, directory area 43, and file data storage area 44
In the ROM 13, and a FAT area 42, a subdirectory area 45, and a file data storage area 46 in the RAM 12. The FAT area 42 needs to be provided in the RAM 12 because the information needs to be rewritten, but other areas are not limited to this example and can be configured according to the application.

The specific operation flow in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 is as follows. When reading of a system file (boot file data) of the drive "Z" 25 is instructed, the file data storage area Reading of data at the logical position Pos3 indicating FILE44 is instructed. The continuation driver 17 reads the physical position Ad of the physical device ROM 13 from the table of the disc continuation information 24 based on the information of Pos3.
dr3 is calculated, and the disk continuation processing 23 is executed in the BIOS 1
A ROM access process 22 is performed on the ROM 4, and the ROM access process 22 reads data from a designated position in the ROM 13. When a general file is added to the drive "Z" 25, the DOS 15 searches for a free area and writes the file data in the file data storage area FILE 46, so that the logical position Pos4 indicating the FILE 46 is executed. Is written. The continuation driver 17 reads the physical position Ad of the physical device RAM 12 from the table of the disc continuation information 24 based on the information of Pos4.
dr4 is calculated, and the disk continuation processing 23 is executed in the BIOS 1
Then, a RAM access process 21 is performed on the RAM 4, and the RAM access process 21 writes data to a designated position in the RAM 12.

In this embodiment, two different physical devices are used. However, by expanding the disk continuity information 24, a plurality of physical devices can be handled as one drive. In addition, although a RAM is used as the variable memory, a system having excellent data integrity can be provided by using a flash memory instead of the RAM.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, RO
Since the M and RAM can be virtually handled as one disk, the operating system stores them in ROM,
The environment setting file of the operation system is RAM
, It can be apparently located on the same disk. Therefore, the environment file can be easily rewritten according to the operating environment, and the same environment and usability as a general personal computer can be realized. Further, it is possible to provide a portable electronic device that is excellent in handling variable files.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a portable electronic device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram showing a processing configuration of a disk of the electronic apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a disk continuation information table of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of the configuration of the virtual disk shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a processing configuration of a disk of a conventional portable electronic device.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 CPU 12 RAM (rewritable variable memory) 13 ROM (non-rewritable fixed memory) 14 BIOS 15 DOS 16 virtual disk 17 continuity driver 18 display 21 RAM access processing (variable memory access processing
BIOS) 22 ROM access processing (fixed memory access processing)
BIOS) 23 Disk continuation processing 24 Disk continuity information 25 Drive Z (DOS) 31 Logical position (head number, track number, sector number) 32 Physical device (ROM, RAM) 33 Physical position (head number, track number, sector) Number) 34 capacity (number of sectors) 35 attribute (read / write, read / write) 41 DPB area 42 FAT area 43 directory area 44 file data area 1 45 subdirectory area 46 file data area 2 51 drive X (DOS) 52 drive Y (DOS) )

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A rewritable variable memory, a variable memory access means for reading and writing the variable memory, a non-rewritable fixed memory, a fixed memory access means for reading the fixed memory, and an operating system for performing disk processing A portable electronic device having disk continuation information storage means for storing a logical position designated by the operating system and a physical position corresponding to the logical position in response to a read / write request from the operating system; and A portable electronic device comprising: a disk continuation control unit that converts a logical position into a physical position in accordance with information stored in a storage information storage unit and controls reading and writing. 2. A rewritable variable memory, a variable memory access unit for reading and writing the variable memory, a non-rewritable fixed memory, a fixed memory access unit for reading the fixed memory, and an operating system for performing disk processing In the method of controlling a portable electronic device having a step of, in response to a read / write request from the disk operating system, converting the data into a physical position of the variable memory or the fixed memory corresponding to a logical position specified by the operating system; and And reading and writing from / to the physical position.