JPH1124847A - Data processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase the interval of maintenance jobs by a multiple equivalent to the number of HDDs and also to decrease the maintenance times by selecting an HDD having the shortest cumulative working time, starting this HDD to start an OS and processing the work by means of the HDD. SOLUTION: When a power supply is switched on, the cumulative working times of HDD 16 and 17 stored in a nonvolatile memory 14M are compared with each other. Then the HDD 16 or 17 that has the shorter cumulative working time is selected. The selected HDD is started to start an OS and also to process the work. Meanwhile, the other HDD is kept in a halt state. When the processing of the work is over, the working time of the started HDD is accumulated and stored in the memory 14M. Thus, it's possible to increase the interval of maintenance jobs by a multiple equivalent to the number of HDDs and also to decrease the maintenance times down to 1 to the number of HDDs by repeating the start and stop of the selected HDD.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus having a plurality of HDDs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As one form of a data processing apparatus, for example, a personal computer is connected to an external input / output device such as a scanner, a printer, a drawer, etc. in addition to a standard input / output device (for example, a keyboard and a display). In a merchandise sales data processing apparatus formed to be able to process
) HDD (hard disk device) in many cases. The main purpose is to ensure business continuity in the event of HDD failure and to establish a backup measure for sales data and the like.

In general, in a personal computer having a plurality of HDDs, a special selection switching operation is required in order to switch master / slave between one HDD (for example, master) and the other HDD (for example, slave). It has been. Therefore, on a daily basis, the master and the slave are operated while being fixed.

That is, in the case of the above-mentioned merchandise sales data processing apparatus, when the power is turned on, the OS is started using the master HDD (eg, drive C), and the application software (application program) is subsequently started to execute the merchandise sales data processing. Execute. And at the right time (for example, when the store is closed)
The sales data of the day and the like are backed up to a slave HDD (for example, drive D).

[0005]

Generally, the life of an HDD is determined by the life of a bearing (for example, 25,000 hours) of a rotary drive motor of a hard disk (HD). Therefore,
While the master HDD (C) is operating, the slave HDD
In some cases, (E) is set to stop functioning as a sleep mode, for example, to extend its life.

However, in practice, there is a certain
There is not much point in extending the life of one HDD. For example, 24
In convenience stores and the like that are open for hours, there is a strong demand for reducing the intervals and the number of maintenance operations (replacement due to life, etc.) of HDDs as a whole.

That is, in the conventional apparatus, the first (n1) maintenance work is required when the life (time T) of the master HDD (C) shown in FIG. When the life (T) of (C) expires, the second (n2) maintenance work is performed. Or later,
After the maintenance work on the ith master HDD (C), the maintenance work on the slave HDD (D) is performed. In other words, even if a plurality of HDDs are provided, the interval and the number of maintenance operations are determined by the life of one HDD (C). The maintenance work of the slave HDD (D) is inserted into this in the form of an interrupt.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a data processing apparatus capable of extending a maintenance work interval by a number corresponding to the number of HDDs and reducing the number of maintenance operations to one-half the number of HDDs.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data processing apparatus having a plurality of HDDs.
D and each H
The cumulative operation time of the DD is formed so that it can be stored and held in the non-volatile memory, and the accumulated operation time stored and held in the non-volatile memory is compared after the power is turned on, and the HDD having the shortest cumulative operation time is selected. Possible and operational H
This is a data processing device that is configured to start a DD, start an OS, and perform business processing using the HDD.

In this invention, when the power is turned on, the respective cumulative operating times of the HDDs stored and held in the nonvolatile memory are compared, and the shortest cumulative operating time of the HDDs is compared.
D is selected for operation. Then, the HDD whose operation is selected is started, the OS is started, and business processing is performed after the start.
During this period, the other HDDs are stopped. When the job processing is completed, the operation time of the operation selection HDD that has been operating is accumulated and stored in the nonvolatile memory.

Therefore, by repeating the start and stop, it is possible to lengthen the maintenance work interval by an amount corresponding to the number of HDDs and reduce the number of maintenance operations to one-half the number of HDDs.

Further, according to the present invention, at the time of terminating the business process using the operation-selected HDD, another HDD which has been previously selected to be stopped can be started and the business process of the HDD selected to operate is completed. This is a data processing device formed so that data can be copied to another activated HDD.

In this invention, at the end of the business process, the business process data of the operation-selected HDD is copied to another HDD which has been selected to be stopped. Therefore, in addition to providing the same operation and effect as the case of the first aspect of the present invention, the backup can be performed while the operation time of the HDD during the stop selection is made short.

Further, the invention according to claim 3 provides a plurality of HDs.
D, each HDD is connected so that it can be started / stopped, and the cumulative operation time of each HDD stored in the non-volatile memory after power-on is compared with the shortest cumulative operation time. Discrimination / selection means for judging time and selecting operation of the HDD, selection / activation control means for activating the selected HDD and activating the OS, and a non-volatile memory at the end of business processing using the selected HDD Means for updating the cumulative operation time of the HDD stored in the HDD, and an operation selection H
At the end of the business process using the DD, another start control means for activating the other HDDs which have been selected to be stopped, and backup copy of the business process data of the HDD which has been operatively selected for the started other HDD. The data processing apparatus is provided with backup copy control means and is formed so that business process data can be backed up to another HDD and the accumulated operation time of each HDD can be made uniform.

In this invention, when the power is turned on, the discriminating and selecting means stores each of the HDs stored in the non-volatile memory.
D is compared with each other to determine the shortest cumulative operating time, and the HDD is selected to operate. The selective activation control means activates the operation-selected HDD, activates the OS, and executes a business process using the operation-selected HDD. During this period, other HDDs are selected to be stopped. The accumulated operating time updating means accumulates the accumulated operating time of the operation selected HDD by the operating time and updates the accumulated operating time stored in the nonvolatile memory at the end of the business process.

At the end of the business process, the other activation control means activates another HDD which has been selected to be stopped. Then, the backup copy control means makes a backup copy of the job processing data stored in the operation selection HDD to another started HDD. After a while
Each HDD is stopped. Therefore, since the accumulated operation time of each HDD can be made uniform, the maintenance work interval can be lengthened and reduced by a factor corresponding to the number of HDDs, and the number of maintenance operations can be reduced to one-half of the number of HDDs. You can make backups with little time.

Further, the invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the HD
A data processing device wherein two Ds are provided and the nonvolatile memory is a storage element in a clock circuit driven by a lithium battery.

In this invention, two HDDs are operated alternately, and while one HDD is operating, the other HDD is stopped and selected to perform business processing. On the other hand, at the end of the business process by the HDD, the one H
The DD operation time is cumulatively stored. Therefore, while the power is off, the accumulated operation time can be reliably stored and held.
The maintenance work interval can be doubled as compared with the conventional example, and the number of maintenance work within a certain period can be reduced by half.

Therefore, in addition to providing the same functions and effects as those of the first to third aspects of the present invention, the present invention can be realized at low cost and handling can be further facilitated.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the present data processing apparatus has a basic structure of an electronic cash register type product sales data processing apparatus,
2), selective activation control means (11, 13), cumulative operation time updating means (11, 13), and other activation control means (1).
, 13), and the respective HDDs 16, 17 are connected to each other so as to be able to start and stop, and
Are respectively formed in the non-volatile memory 14M so as to be able to be stored and held, and after the power is turned on, the accumulated operation times Tc and Te stored in the non-volatile memory 14M are stored.
By comparing c and Te, the HDD (1
6) Operation selectable and operation selected HDD (16)
Is started, the OS is started, and business processing can be performed using the HDD (16).

The backup copy control means (1)
1, 13) is provided so that the data relating to the business process using the operation-selection HDD (C) 16 can be back-up copied to another HDD (E) 17 which was previously selected to be stopped when the operation was stopped. It is.

In FIG. 1, a merchandise sales data processing apparatus 1
Numeral 0 denotes a CPU 11, a ROM 12, a RAM 13, a clock circuit (RTC) 14, an FDD 15, an HDD (C) 16, and an HDD driven by the drives 15A, 16C, and 17E.
(E) An input device 20 including a keyboard, a scanner, a card reader and the like and an output device 21 including a display, a printer, an automatic opening type drawer and the like are connected to a personal computer (control storage unit) including a 17 and a CD-ROM 18 or the like. Do it.

The clock circuit 14 includes a nonvolatile memory (for example, C-MOS) 14M and a lithium battery 14B.
, And generates a clock and stores each HDD 1 in a nonvolatile memory (RAM) 14M.
6, 17 operating times Tc and Te can be accumulated and stored, respectively.

Here, one HDD (C) 16 is connected to a drive (DRV... C) 16C and the other HDD (C)
(E) 17 is connected to a drive (DRV... E) 17E. In the case of this embodiment, each of the drives 16C and 17E is an E-IDE (Integrated Device).
ce Electronics) I / F.
That is, the HDDs 16 and 17 can be started and stopped individually.

The other HDD (E) 17 has a CD-RO
Although M18 is daisy-tuned to drive 17E, both HDDs 16 and 17 must not be daisy-tuned to the same drive.

The same OS and merchandise sales data processing (business processing) program are stored in each of the plural (two) HDDs 16 and 17. The same applies when three or more HDDs are provided.

When the power is turned on (ON), the system BI
Discrimination selection means composed of an OS (ROM 12, CPU 11)
Are the HDDs 1 stored in the nonvolatile memory 14M.
The accumulated (total) operation times Tc and Te are read out (ST10 in FIG. 2), the shortest accumulated operation time is determined by comparing them, and the operation of the HDD (for example, “16”) is selected. (ST11).

At this time, the other HDDs ("17") are stopped (sleep mode) and selected (ST12). The rotation drive motor of the hard disk (HD) is not rotated.

The effect of the operation selection for the HDD 16 and the HD
The fact that D17 is to be stopped is stored in the selection area 13C in the RAM 13. Further, the OS and the business processing program read from the HDD 16 are stored (developed) in a predetermined area of the RAM 13, and the OS is started up (S11) by the selective activation control means (CPU 11, RAM 13).
T13).

Further, based on the count control program included in a part of the business processing program, the operation time counting means (CPU 11, RAM 13) operates the selected HD.
The operation time Tc of D16 is counted (ST14). This count value is also stored in the selection area 13C. In addition,
The cumulative operation time Tc of the nonvolatile memory 14M may be updated at regular intervals.

Thus, various data associated with the execution of the business process (ST15) is stored in the operation selection HDD 16 by a command or automatically. Then, when the end of the business process is requested (YES in ST16), the operating time counting means (11, 13) stops (ST17), and the cumulative operating time updating means (CPU 11, RAM 12) stores the data in the nonvolatile memory 14M. The cumulative operation time Tc of the HDD 16 is updated (ST18). That is, the cumulative operation time Tc increases by the operation time.

Then, another activation control means (CPU 11, R
The AM 13) refers to the selection memory 13C and starts the other HDD 17 that has been selected to be stopped (ST19 in FIG. 3). After startup, the backup copy control means (CPU 1
1, RAM 13) makes a backup copy of the business process data stored in the operation selection HDD 16 to the activated HDD 17.

The backup copy includes the HDD 16
And copying (ST20), and directly storing the business process data stored in the RAM 13 in the HDD 17 before and after storing it in the HDD 16.

This backup copy is completed (ST21).
YES), the power is automatically shut off (off). Thus, at the time of the next power-on, the operation of the HDD 17 with the shorter cumulative operation time is selected. That is, both HDDs 1
6 and 17 are operated alternately at each start, not in a master-slave relationship, so that the cumulative operating times Tc and T
e is equalized.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
The life of D (C) 16 is twice (2T) the life (time T) of the conventional example shown in FIG. Other HDD (E) 1
The life of No. 7 is also doubled (2T). That is, compared with the conventional example, the number of HDDs having a maintenance work interval can be twice (2) times and the number of work can be reduced to one-half (2).

The maintenance work for the HDDs 16 and 17 is performed at the same time, but the difference between the time required to replace one HDD and the time required to replace two HDDs is small. From the intermittent operation of the merchandise sales business (business process), it can be said that this is the same as the case of replacing one HDD. That is, the effects of prolonging the interval and reducing the number of times are significantly greater.

[0037]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the respective HDDs are connected to each other so as to be able to be started and stopped, and the accumulated operation time of each HDD is formed so as to be able to be stored in the non-volatile memory. By comparing the cumulative operating times stored in the non-volatile memory, the HDD with the shortest cumulative operating time can be selected for operation, the selected HDD is started, the OS is started, and the operation is performed using the HDD. Since it is formed so as to be processable, the maintenance work interval can be lengthened by an amount corresponding to the number of HDDs, and the number of maintenance operations can be reduced to 1 / the number of HDDs.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, at the end of the business process using the operation-selected HDD, the operation of the HDD which has been selected to be stopped and which can be started and whose operation has been selected until then has been completed. Another HDD that has started processing data
In addition to the above, the same effect as that of the first aspect can be obtained, and the backup can be performed while the operation time of the HDD selected to be stopped is made short.

Further, according to the invention of claim 3, each HD
D are connected to each other so that they can be started / stopped, and a discriminating and selecting means, a selective starting control means, an accumulated operating time updating means, another starting control means, and a backup copy control means are provided, and business processing data is backed up to another HDD. Since it is formed so that copying can be performed and the cumulative operation time of each HDD can be made uniform, the maintenance work interval is lengthened by a number corresponding to the number of HDDs, and the number of times is reduced to a number equivalent to the number of HDDs.
HD during stop selection
Backup can be performed while keeping the operating time of D short.

Further, according to the invention of claim 4, H
Since the number of DDs is two and the non-volatile memory is a storage element in a clock circuit driven by a lithium battery, the same effects as in the inventions of claims 1 to 3 can be obtained. In addition, it can be realized at low cost, and handling is further facilitated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is also a flowchart (1) for explaining the operation.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart (2) for explaining the operation.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart for explaining an interval of the maintenance work and the number of the maintenance work in comparison with a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Electronic cash register (data processing device) 11 CPU (discrimination selection means, selective activation control means, cumulative operation time updating means, other activation control means, backup copy control means) 12 ROM (discrimination selection means) 13 RAM (select activation control) Means, cumulative operation time updating means, other activation control means, backup copy control means) 13C selection memory 14 clock circuit 14B lithium battery 14M nonvolatile memory 16 HDD (C) 17 HDD (E)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A data processing apparatus having a plurality of HDDs, wherein each of the HDDs is connected so as to be able to start and stop, and the cumulative operation time of each HDD is formed so as to be able to be stored and held in a nonvolatile memory. After the power is turned on, the respective cumulative operation times stored in the non-volatile memory are compared, the operation of the HDD with the shortest cumulative operation time can be selected, the selected HDD is activated, the OS is started, and the HDD is started. A data processing device that can be used for business processing. 2. An HDD which has been selected to be stopped at the time of terminating a business process using the HDD selected to operate.
2. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the HDD is configured to be able to start and to copy the business process data of the operation-selected HDD to another started HDD. 3. A data processing apparatus having a plurality of HDDs, wherein each of the HDDs is connected so as to be startable / stoppable, and the accumulated operation time of each HDD stored in a nonvolatile memory after power-on is determined. A discriminating and selecting means for discriminating the shortest cumulative operation time and selecting the operation of the HDD, a selection start control means for starting the operation selected HDD and starting the OS, and a business using the operation selected HDD Means for updating the cumulative operation time of the HDD stored in the non-volatile memory at the end of the processing, and means for stopping and selecting the operation at the end of the business process using the operation-selection HDD. And another activation control means for activating the HDD which has been selected for operation.
A data processing apparatus comprising backup copy control means for backing up and copying business process data of a DD, wherein the business process data can be backed up to another HDD and the cumulative operating time of each HDD can be made uniform. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the number of the HDDs is two, and the nonvolatile memory is a storage element in a clock circuit driven by a lithium battery. Data processing equipment.