WO2001093032A1

WO2001093032A1 - Computer system, method of controlling computer, and medium storing control program

Info

Publication number: WO2001093032A1
Application number: PCT/JP2000/003500
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tsutomu Yamada; Teruyasu Nakahashi; Masanori Naitou; Junichi Kobayashi; Hiroki Ohishi; Tomoko Hirato
Original assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.; Hitachi Process Computer Engineering, Inc.
Priority date: 2000-05-31
Filing date: 2000-05-31
Publication date: 2001-12-06

Abstract

An environment for allowing flexible use of input/output devices on a plurality operating systems. Operating systems on their respective computers refer to a table indicating the correspondence between operating systems and input/output devices to confirm the existence of the input/output devices that their operating systems use.

Description

Specification

Computer system, computer control method, and storage medium storing control program

The present invention relates to a computer system that allows an input / output device to be used exclusively or shared among a plurality of computers. Background art

Computers are composed of a wide variety of hardware. On the other hand, application software should be as common as possible from the viewpoint of economy and reusability of technology. Therefore, in order to execute a common application software on various types of computer hardware, software called an operating system (OS) that absorbs differences between these hardware and abstracts functions is used in computers.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-85547 (hereinafter referred to as well-known example 1) discloses a technique in which a plurality of operating systems are mounted on a single processor.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-24943 (hereinafter referred to as “known example 2”) states that even during a period in which the OS is restarted, the non-stop module can continue to execute interrupt processing without stopping, and the It discloses that related hardware resources and reinitialization processing are registered in a non-stop module management data area, and reinitialization processing for the hardware is executed when the kernel is restarted.

On the other hand, when an I / O device is shared between multiple operating systems, Proceedings of the 9th Annual Conference of the Information Processing Society of Japan 4 B-0 3 Realization of sharing of input / output devices as discussed in "Development of DARMA, a Dual OS Execution System for Embedded Systems" (hereinafter referred to as Known Example 4) There is a way to do that. The technology described here is a technology for sharing input / output devices between different OSs operating on the same processor. A software layer called DAL captures an interrupt generated from a shared I / O device, refers to a table called a dynamic interrupt table, and finally determines the 〇S to process the interrupt. I can do it.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-1319562 (hereinafter referred to as well-known example 5), this implements a driver for an input / output device shared by the first OS and enters the first OS from the second OS. A technology for requesting a process to an output device and realizing a shared process is disclosed.

Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-100828 (hereinafter referred to as Known Example 6) discloses a method of connecting an installation medium to a computer system and installing a device driver.

However, in order to use the I / O device exclusively or in common by using multiple OSs, the following problems must be solved.

First, if a manufacturer's proprietary computer is equipped with a general-purpose OS (equipped with a technology called plug and play) that is distributed on the market, it is necessary to configure the computer system as intended by the manufacturer. There is. For example, among the input / output devices in the computer system, the input / output device A is dedicated to the first OS, the input / output device B is dedicated to the second OS, and the input / output device C is shared by the first and second OSs. It must be possible to make detailed settings.

Second, a computer system that runs multiple OSs on different processors. Systems need to share input / output devices.

Third, a restart must be performed to maintain any of the multiple OSs.

Fourth, it is necessary to share the device driver of the input / output device among multiple OSs.

Fifth, it is necessary to change 0 S that controls the input / output device between 0 S. However, Known Examples 1 to 6 do not disclose this point. Disclosure of the invention

An object of the present invention is to provide an environment in which an input / output device can be flexibly used between a plurality of operating systems.

According to one aspect of the present invention that achieves this object, an operating system executed on each computer refers to a table in which an operating system and an input / output device are associated with each other, and uses an input system used by its own operating system. Make sure that the output device is present. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a computer system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the interrupt distribution function.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the interrupt distribution function.

FIG. 4 is an example of the configuration of the configuration definition table.

FIG. 5 is a processing flow of the configuration definition reference function. Figure 6 is an example of one implementation of the configuration reference function.

FIG. 7 is a processing flow of the device information acquisition function.

FIG. 8 is a processing flow of the device information setting function.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a device driver built-in function.

FIG. 10 is a processing flow of the input / output device enumeration function.

FIG. 11 is a processing flow of the input / output device reference function.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a computer system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is an example of the configuration of the OS determination flag.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a computer system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a configuration example of the inter-processor communication function.

FIG. 16 shows a computer system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a configuration of a TCP packet.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a computer system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a processing flow of the remote device recognition in the computer device 3. FIG. 20 is a processing flow of remote device recognition in the computer device 2. FIG. 21 is a configuration example of a remote device list.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a configuration definition construction tool according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the configuration definition construction tool. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The computer system according to the present invention includes a processor A 10, a processor B 20, an input / output control device 30, memories 100, 120, and 140, and various input / output devices. Various input / output devices include a keyboard 40, a mouse 41, a display device 70, etc. used by operators, a communication device 71 for performing input / output processing with external devices, and an expansion slot 7 for expanding functions. 2-0 to m, a non-volatile memory 42 for storing the operating system and the like. The various input / output devices 70, 71, 72-0 to m are connected to the input / output control device 30 via an expansion bus 60 including a plurality of signal lines. In the following, these various input / output devices are collectively referred to as input / output devices. The I / O device collects the interrupt in the I / O controller via the interrupt signal included in the extension path. Any or all of these input / output devices may be omitted depending on the system configuration, and more various input / output devices may be connected.

In the following embodiments, a diagram in which two processors are connected to the input / output control device 30 is used. However, such a form is not necessarily required for mounting. For example, a so-called loosely-coupled multiprocessor configuration in which a processor, an input / output control device, and a memory constitute one computing unit (module) and a plurality of modules share and connect an expansion bus 60, the invention of the following inventions It is possible to apply Each of the modules may be provided on a separate board from the expansion bus 60, and all or some of the modules may be provided on the same board as the expansion bus 60.

The processors 10 and 20 are connected to the input / output controller 30 via the processor buses 80 and 82 composed of a plurality of signal lines and the interrupt signal lines 81 and 8'3, respectively. The memories 100, 120, and 140 are connected to the input / output control device 30 via a memory bus 50 including a plurality of signal lines. Processors 10 and 20 are processing devices for operating an operating system, respectively. The memories 100 and 120 store the operating system 101 and 121, the device information acquisition function 102 and 122 that receive the information acquisition request of the I / O device, and the information setting request to the I / O device. Receiving device information setting function 103, 123, configuration reference function 104, 124 referring to configuration table 141, device for controlling input / output devices Dryno 1 05—0 to η, .1 2 5-0 ~! ι, the program tasks that run on each operating system 106-0 to i, 1 26-0 to i. These programs are read and executed by the processors 10 and 20, respectively. The memory 140 is a memory that can be read and written by the processors 10 and 20. The memory 140 holds a configuration definition table 141 in which the various input / output devices are controlled by which operating system. The completion or change of the operation of the input / output device is notified to the ports 10 and 20 via the interrupt signal lines 81 and 83.

Here, the information acquisition request and the information setting request to the input / output device particularly mean reading and writing of the operation setting of the input / output device itself. For example, since the original purpose of the display device 70 is to display images and characters on the screen, the device driver of the display device 70 normally recognizes information about the images and characters to be displayed. It is necessary to set the buffer to be used. On the other hand, the display device 70 itself is connected to the extension path 60. In order for the display device 70 to be recognized by the extension bus 60, various resources (bus address, interrupt, display device) are required for the display device 70. It is necessary to set or obtain a code that recognizes 70, a manufacturer name, a revision, etc.). Information acquisition requests to I / O devices are used to set various resources required in addition to these normal operations. And an information setting request are required.

The configuration definition table 141 describes which operating system should be processed for each input / output device entry. Configuration Definition Table 14 1 is a table shared between multiple operating systems, and is stored in memory (area) that can be referenced by multiple operating systems.

Note that once the configuration table is set, it is not updated frequently, and it is necessary to maintain the settings before and after the power is turned on and off. Therefore, it is preferable to hold the configuration definition table 141 using a nonvolatile storage device.

However, the memory 140 need not necessarily be a nonvolatile memory. For example, the configuration definition table 14 1 is held in the configuration definition table storage area 44 in the non-volatile storage device 42, and a program for performing a system start-up process when the computer system starts up is read from the non-volatile storage device 42. The contents of the configuration table storage area 44 are transferred to the memory 140 and operated as the configuration table 144.

Here, the program for performing the system start-up processing is a program for performing necessary processing in the computer system before starting the operating system, and for example, initializes a nonvolatile storage device and initializes a memory. Here, the program for performing the system start-up processing may be executed by at least one processor in the computer system, but each processor may execute the program while matching each other. The program for performing the system start-up processing is stored in the nonvolatile storage device 42, and each processor executes the program by referring to the corresponding area of the nonvolatile storage device 42 immediately after the power is turned on. The communication device 71 receives or transmits data to or from an external computer or device via a wired or wireless intermediate medium. The expansion slots 72-0-m are used to extend the functions of the computer system. For example, it is used to extend the interface for connecting sensors, switches, and image input cameras for observing external conditions, and to extend relays and communication devices for controlling external devices.

In this embodiment, an example is described in which the memories 100, 120, and 140 are used separately from the memories. However, of these memories, any combination of these memories is physically stored on the same memory. It may be held. If the processor has a function to directly connect the memory, the memory 100, 120, 140 can be directly connected to the processor 10, 20 without using the I / O controller 30. It is possible. In this case, since the memory 140 must be shared between processors, a dual-port memory, for example, is adopted as the memory 140, and the two memory interfaces of the memory are connected to the respective processor buses to achieve sharing. I do. In this case, the input / output control device 30 does not connect these memories, but is necessary for providing various input / output devices to the processor and controlling interrupts. Generally, the interrupt signal lines 81 and 83 are a part of the processor buses 80 and 82.

In the present embodiment, when two operating systems 101 and 121 exist in a computer system, a method of operating each operating system exclusively or sharing an input / output device will be described. In the computer system according to the present invention, the number of operating systems and the number of processors are not limited to two, but may be increased or decreased according to the required functions. In any case, the present invention can be applied. Operating systems 101 and 121 are executed on processors 10 and 20, respectively. Hereinafter, the operation of the operating system 101 will be described, but the description is the same for the operating system 121 as well.

The operating system 101 executes tasks 106_0 to n using the allocated memory and the processor. When these tasks 106-i use input / output devices, direct control of input / output devices is not effective from the viewpoint of assignment of input / output devices and reuse of processing programs. Therefore, in general, the device driver is in charge of I / O device processing, and these tasks request the device driver for I / O device processing.

The processing request to the input / output device that the device driver receives from tasks 106-6-0 to i is classified into a case where information is obtained from the input / output device and a case where information is set in the input / output device. Accordingly, the device driver 105-0 to i requests the device information acquisition function 102 or the device information setting function 103 to perform processing according to these operations. The device information acquisition function 102 or the device information setting function 103 is an input / output device that should execute processing in the operating system when processing the received request for the input / output device. Check if there is. In order to check, the device information acquisition function 102 or the device information setting function 103 inquires the configuration definition reference function 104 of the resource information on the input / output device. The configuration definition reference function 104 refers to the configuration definition table 141, searches whether the operating system is in charge, and returns a response.The inquired device information acquisition function 102 or the device information setting Return to function 103. As a result, if the operating system 101 is an input / output device that is in charge of processing, the device information acquisition function 102 or the device information setting function 103 executes the processing requested by the device driver. Execute and return the desired request to the device driver. On the other hand, if the operating system 101 is not the input / output device that is in charge of processing, the information acquisition function 102 or the device information setting function 103 does not exist. Acts as if, and notifies the device driver that the device does not exist.

In general, it is necessary to confirm the existence of the I / O device when loading the driver of the I / O device, and it is not necessary to confirm the existence of the device during normal operation after loading the driver. The driver is loaded when the computer system is started or when there is a request from the user. Therefore, it is preferable from the viewpoint of performance to refer to the configuration reference function 104 only when the driver is loaded, and not to reference the configuration reference function 104 during normal operation. In the past, the “functions used to control the configuration of I / O devices” used when loading a driver, etc., were different from the access procedures that used normal I / O devices. Therefore, it is appropriate to implement the function that calls the configuration reference function 104 by “functions used when controlling the configuration of input / output devices”. In the present embodiment, a device information acquisition function 102 or a device information setting function 103 will be described as an example of a “function used when controlling the configuration of an input / output device”.

Here, regarding the contents of the configuration definition table 141, by setting the responsibility of each input / output device to be the only operating system, the input / output device can be used exclusively between the operating systems. Also, for the configuration control table 14 1, multiple assignments for each input / output device are set. By doing so, it can be shared and used between operating systems. On the other hand, in order to use I / O devices exclusively between operating systems for interrupts from I / O devices, interrupts reported from each I / O device must be reported to an appropriate operating system. No. ,

Therefore, the input / output controller 30 implements an interrupt distribution function 31 for distributing interrupts. The interrupt distribution function 31 reports an interrupt from each input / output device to the operating system in charge of each input / output device. The operating system can receive only an interrupt from the input / output device in charge of itself, call the device driver in charge of the input / output device, and control the input / output device. The interrupt distribution function 31 does not necessarily need to be mounted on the input / output control device 30, and may exist independently of the input / output control device 30.

Fig. 2 shows the configuration of the interrupt distribution function 31. Interrupt distribution function 3 1 A mechanism for reporting the interrupt reported from each I / O device to the appropriate operating system.

The interrupt from each input / output device is held in the interrupt factor register 200. In the interrupt processor mask registers 201 and 202, masks corresponding to interrupt factors to be reported to the processors 10 and 20, respectively, are set. When the mask bit is set to "1", the corresponding interrupt factor is reported to the processor.

The operation when an interrupt is reported from the input / output device will be described.

When an interrupt is reported from the input / output device, one of the factor bits in the interrupt factor register 200 corresponding to the input / output device is set to "1". The cause bits are the interrupt processor mask register 201, The corresponding bit of 202 is ANDed (204, 205).

Then, the logical sum of all the interrupt factors is calculated (206, 207) and becomes one interrupt signal line 81, 83, which is reported to the processors 10, 20 respectively.

Here, as the value set in the interrupt processor mask registers 201 and 202, the value set in the configuration definition table 141 corresponding to the correspondence between the input / output device and the operating system is used. For example, if the display device 70 is controlled by the operating system 101 in processor A10, the corresponding mask bit in the interrupt processor mask register 201 (for processor A) should be set to "1". Set the corresponding mask bit in interrupt processor mask register 202 (for processor B) to "0".

However, care must be taken when the input / output device is set to be shared. In this case, there may be no problem if both operating systems are set to interrupt. However, in the case where the communication device 71 described later is shared, it is generally easier to implement from the viewpoint of hardware resource management by setting one of the operating systems so that the interrupt is raised. For the setting of the embedded processor mask bit, it is necessary to make settings so that only the driver implemented in one operating system controls the configuration using the OS determination flag described later, and only one of the operating systems gives an interrupt. .

By doing the above, the I / O devices that can be controlled from each operating system and the I / O device that reports the interrupt match, and the consistency in the device driver is maintained.

Fig. 3 shows another configuration of the interrupt distribution function 31. In FIG. 3, interrupt signal lines 8 1 and 8 3 are composed of a plurality of signal lines, The interrupt distribution function 31 when the level is encoded will be described.

Fig. 3 (a) shows the configuration of the interrupt distribution function 31. It consists of an interrupt factor register 200, an interrupt level register 210, and an interrupt encoder 220.

Figure 3 (b) shows the configuration of the interrupt level register 210. The interrupt level register 210 is a register that is prepared in one-to-one correspondence with the interrupt source.The interrupt report level 211 and the processor flag 211 that indicates the processor that performs the interrupt processing are Become. Here, the interrupt report level 211 indicates an encoded level composed of a plurality of bits. Also, the larger the value of the interrupt report level, the higher the interrupt priority. The value 0 means that there is no interrupt. Regarding the processor flag 2.12, there are several ways to represent the processor that processes the interrupt.For example, each bit of the processor flag 2 12 is expressed to mean the processor that processes the interrupt. . That is, if bit 0 is set to 1, it means that the processor A 10 performs processing, and if bit 1 is set to 1, it means that the processor B 20 performs processing. At this time, if the value is 1 in decimal and the value is 1, the processor A 10 processes the data. If the value is 2, the processor B 20 and the value 3 means that the processors A 10 and B 20 process.

Fig. 3 (c) shows the configuration of the interrupt encoder 220. The interrupt encoder 220 includes an interrupt level output unit 221 for the processor A10, an interrupt level output unit 222 for the processor B20, and a priority encoder 225. The interrupt level output unit 222 for the processor B 20 outputs the interrupt level output signal except that the constant 2 13 (indicating the processor A) in the interrupt level output unit 2 21 is a constant indicating the processor B. Same as part 221. In the interrupt level output section 2 2 1, for each interrupt factor, the processor flags 2 1 2 is inspected by either comparator 2 1 4 illustrates a processor A 1 0 _(beep meaning processor A 1 0 When the bit is set, the comparator 2 14 outputs “1”, and the logical product of the factor bit from the interrupt factor register 200 and the logical product 2 15 is obtained. When an interrupt from the input / output device corresponding to A occurs, the output of logical product 2 15 is "1." For the interrupt reporting level 2 11, logical product 2 15 is "1" Is output as it is to the priority encoder 2 25. When the logical product 2 15 outputs "0", the priority of the interrupt report level = 0 is determined from the corresponding interrupt factor. Input to encoders 2 25.

The priority encoder 2 25 selects the highest interrupt report level among all input interrupt factors and outputs the selected interrupt factor to the interrupt signal line 81.

From the above, regarding the interrupts reported from the respective input / output devices, the interrupt with the highest interrupt report level among the interrupts from the input / output devices to be controlled is reported to each processor.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the configuration definition table 141 according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 (a) is a table example showing the concept of the configuration definition table 141. The configuration definition table 14 1 is composed of an input / output device name 14 2 and an operating system 'entry 14 3. The operating system corresponding to the input / output device can be determined by referring to the configuration definition table 14 1. For example, the operating system that controls the mouse is 〇S—A, the operating system that controls expansion slot 0 is 〇S—B, the keyboard has no operating system, and the communication device is 通信 S—A. You can see that it is shared between A and OS-B. FIG. 4 (b) is an example of a table showing the configuration of the configuration definition table 141 actually implemented. Implementing a table as shown in Fig. 4 (a) directly on a computer (for example, handling a character string "keyboard") is not suitable in terms of efficiency and usability. Therefore, it is appropriate to represent the information corresponding to the input / output device name with the position information and the operating system name with numerical values.

In an actual computer system, a device driver uses position information uniquely determined by an operating system to specify an input / output device. For example, in the case of a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus, the I / O device is specified by the bus number, device number, and function number. The bus number is a number that is uniquely assigned to each bus in the system, the device number is a number that is assigned uniquely to each input / output device in the same bus, and the function number is a unique number for each function in the same input / output device. This is the number assigned to To give an example of the function number, if the function to connect to the LAN (Local Area Network) and the modem function to connect to the telephone line exist in the same I / O device, generally, these functions are independent for each of these functions. The register space for setting the operation is secured. In this case, the I / O device is configured so that the bus number and the device number are the same and only the function number is different. Therefore, these functions are identified by function numbers to identify the register space, and configuration control and normal processing are performed.

In expressing the operating system to be processed, as described in FIG. 3 (b), the operating system to be processed bit by bit is represented. That is, if bit 0 is set to 1, the operating system 101 is processed, and if bit 1 is set to 1, the operating system 122 is processed. this If the value is a decimal number, the value 1 is processed by the operating system 101, the value 2 is processed by the operating system 121, and the value 3 is processed by the operating system 101 and the operating system 122. Means that. A value of 0 means that none of the operating systems performs processing.This function can be used when it is necessary not to process the input / output device for the purpose of, for example, checking a computer system. it can.

The configuration definition table 144 in this embodiment includes a bus number 144, a device number 144, a function number 144, and an OS entry 1 indicating an OS number uniquely assigned to each operating system. Consists of 4 3 In FIG. 4 (b), it is assumed that the input / output control device 30 is an input / output device having a bus number = 0, a device number = 0, and a function number = 0. The operating system can specify the input / output device itself from these pieces of position information and set operating conditions. The keyboard 40 and the mouse 41 connected to the input / output control device 30 are assigned different function numbers as different functions connected to the input / output control device 30. These devices can be identified by independent function numbers.

FIG. 4 (c) shows a configuration example of the path type search table 147. In FIG. 4 (b), one table is shown as the configuration table 141, but if there are multiple types of paths, the configuration table 141 is provided for each type of path. A path type search table 147 for searching the configuration definition table 147 is prepared. The bus type search table 147 includes a bus type 148 and a configuration table index 149. The configuration definition table index 149 indicates the head address of the memory where these tables are stored when a plurality of configuration definition tables 141 exist. An entry indicating a plurality of bus types may be added to the configuration table 141 so that a single configuration table is used.

As an example of multiple bus types: · When a PC drive bus specified by PCMCIA / JEIDA is prepared in the computer system, a table similar to the configuration definition table 141 shown in Fig. 4 (b) is used. Prepare for the card bus and add the PC card entry to the bus type table 147. With such a configuration, it is possible to set an operating system that performs processing for each PC card slot. For other bus types, an operating system that controls the input / output devices can be set for an arbitrary bus type by using the position information that uniquely determines the input / output devices in the path. In this case, the number and contents of the above-mentioned position information may increase or decrease.

Since the configuration table 14 1 is a table that is referred to when multiple operating systems are operating, when updating the table, all operating systems that refer to the configuration table 14 1 are required to update the table. It must be stopped or cannot be referenced. For example, in order to update the entry of the configuration table 141, it is appropriate to update it before all operating systems are started. Even while the operating system is running, the configuration table storage area 44 of the non-volatile storage device 42 that holds the configuration table 14 1 is updated, and the contents of the configuration table are updated the next time the operating system is restarted. You may do it. That is, in order to update the configuration table 141, the operator changes or partially updates the table, stores the table data in the configuration table storage area 44, and supplies power to the computer system. Cut and re-insert. After that, the system executed in any one processor The system start-up program obtains the table data from the configuration table storage area 44 changed previously, and restores the configuration table 141 in the memory 140.

FIG. 5 shows the processing flow of the configuration reference function 104.

The configuration reference function 104 determines whether there is an input / output device requested by the device information acquisition function 102 and the device information setting function 103. That is, from the device information acquisition function 102 and the device information setting function 103, the operating system 101 processes the bus type, bus number, device number, and function number for specifying the input / output device. You will be asked to confirm that the input / output device should be used.

First, the configuration definition reference function 104 refers to the bus type search table 144 based on the bus type received from the device information acquisition function 102 or the device information setting function 103, and refers to it from now on. The configuration table to be tried 1 4 1 or the area on the configuration table is specified (process 300). Subsequently, based on the bus number 144, the device number 144, and the function number 144, the corresponding entry is searched from the configuration definition table 141 (process 301). If there is no corresponding entry, the response is made to the request source, "No input / output device exists", and the processing is terminated (processing 305). If there is a corresponding entry, the value of the OS entry is referred to the Sentry 1 4 3 corresponding to the entry, and the device information acquisition function 1 0 2 or the device information setting function that called the configuration definition reference function Check whether the operating system of 103 is included (processing 303). For example, in a call from the operating system 101, 1S entry: bit 0 of Ϊ43 is set to “1”. If so, the operating system 101 is recognized as being included in the entry processing the input / output device. If not included, respond to the request source with “No corresponding input / output device” and end (processing 305). If it is included in the process 303, it responds to the request source with “the corresponding input / output device exists” and ends (process 304).

In FIG. 5, the processing flow of the configuration reference function 104, which is a software processing method, has been described. However, the configuration definition reference function 104 does not necessarily need to be implemented by a software method, and can be implemented by, for example, hardware.

FIG. 6 (a) shows another configuration example of the configuration definition table 141 when the configuration reference function 104 is implemented by hardware. Here, the values of bus number 144, device number 145, and function number 146 in Fig. 4 (b) are expressed in hexadecimal notation, the concatenated value is represented as address 160, and 〇S entry 143 is represented as The value to be stored at address 16 0 is 16 1. For example, since mouse 41 has a bus number = 0, a device number = 0, and a function number = 2, the address 16 0 is 0 x 00 2 and the value stored in the address 0 x 0 02 is 1 6 1 becomes 0 x 0 1.

FIG. 6B shows another embodiment of the configuration reference function 104. Configuration definition reference function 104 is bus type register 16 2, bus number register 16 3, device number 1 64, function number register 16 5, table index 16 6, offset register 16 6, OS It consists of an entry register 168.

The flow of using the configuration definition reference function 104 will be described below.

The device information acquisition function 102 or the device information setting function 103 specifies the bus type, bus number, device number, and function number corresponding to the I / O device to be inspected when using the configuration reference function 104. Bus type register 162, bus number register 163, device number 164, function Stored in number register 1 65. The configuration definition reference function 104 searches the bus type search table 147 based on the stored value of the bus type register 162 to find the value corresponding to the specified bus type (the top of the configuration table). Address). The obtained value is stored in table index 166. The values stored in the bus number register 163, device number 164, and function number register 165 are concatenated and stored in the offset register 167. After that, Table Index 1 6 6 and Offset Regis evening

167 is added, and the stored value 168 is obtained by referring to the address of the configuration reference function 104 shown in FIG. 6 (a). Configuration reference function

Device information acquisition function using device 104 or device information setting function Function 103 acquires the operating system corresponding to the original input / output device by referring to the OS entry register 168 after a certain period of time I do.

As described above, the configuration reference function 104 can be realized by hardware.

Figure 6 (c) shows an implementation example of the configuration reference function 104 implemented in hardware. By using the configuration reference function implemented in hardware, the configuration reference function 104 in FIG. 1 no longer exists in the memory 100 and the memory 120. By including it in 0, it can be used from any operating system.

FIG. 7 shows a processing flow of the device information acquisition function 102.

The device information acquisition function 102 is a device driver 105-0! ! It receives a data read request from the I / O device. At this time, the device information acquisition function 102 includes the bus type, bus number, device number, function number, address of the I / O device to be read, data size to be read, and data to be read. Receives the address of the buffer that stores overnight from the device driver 105-0-n.

First, the device information acquisition function 102 passes the bus type, bus number, device number, and function number to the configuration reference function 104, and issues a request to confirm whether the corresponding input / output device exists ( Processing 320). If it is determined from the response returned from the configuration reference function 104 that the I / O device does not exist, an abnormal termination response is returned to the requesting device driver and the process is terminated (process 32 4). If the input / output device is present, the data is read out from the requested input / output device address by the specified size and transferred to the specified buffer (process 3222). Thereafter, a response indicating normal termination is returned to the requesting device driver, and the process is terminated (process 3 2 3).

FIG. 8 shows a processing flow of the device information setting function 103.

The device information setting function 103 receives a data write request to the input / output device from the device drivers 105-0 to n. At this time, the device information setting function 103 sets the bus type, bus number, device number, function number, the address of the I / O device to be written, the data size to be written, and the address of the buffer that stores the data to be written. Driver 1 0 5 — Received from 0 to n.

First, the device information setting function 103 passes the bus type, bus number, device number, and function number to the configuration reference function 104, and issues a request to confirm whether the corresponding I / O device exists ( Processing 340). If it is determined from the response returned from the configuration reference function 104 that the input / output device does not exist, an abnormal termination response is returned to the requesting device driver and the process is terminated (process 344). If the I / O device is present, data of the specified size is transferred from the specified buffer to the address of the requested I / O device. Transfer the evening (processing 3 4 2). Thereafter, a response indicating normal termination is returned to the requesting device driver, and the processing is terminated (processing 343).

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of the device driver built-in function 150 relating to the configuration of the operating system 101.

FIG. 9 (a) is a block diagram of an example of the device driver built-in function 150. The device driver built-in function 150 includes a driver load function 108, an input / output device enumeration function 109, and an input / output device database 110. The driver load function 108 reads the designated driver from a predetermined non-volatile memory, expands the designated driver in the memory 100, calls a function defined by the driver, and lists the drivers managed by the operating system. Has a function of adding an entry for the driver. The I / O device database 110 is a database prepared for each type of I / O device, and describes the storage location of the driver corresponding to the I / O device and the parameters at the time of starting the driver. I have. The input / output device database 110 relates to a device driver that needs to be called by the operating system, and is included in advance when the operating system is introduced into the computer system.

FIG. 10 shows a processing flow of the input / output device enumeration function 109. First, the bus type, bus number, device number, and function number are initialized (processing 360) _c. Then, the bus type, path number, device number, and function number are instructed to the device information acquisition function 102, Receive the result (processing 3 6 1). Based on the response from the device information acquisition function 102, it is determined whether the corresponding input / output device is under the management of the operating system 101 (process 362). If it is notified that the I / O device does not exist, change the path type, path number, device number, and function number to indicate the next I / O device. Return (processing 3 6 8). Here, in order to specify the next input / output device, for example, the device number is incremented by one, or when the device number reaches a specified value, the device number is initialized and the bus number is incremented by one. In this way, all input / output devices in the computer system are scanned. If it is determined from the process 3 62 that the corresponding input / output device exists, a key corresponding to the input / output device is created, and the input / output device database 110 is searched (process 3 63) Then, it is determined whether the corresponding entry exists (processing 3654). If the corresponding entry does not exist, it means that an input / output device has been added since the last time the computer system was started. Therefore, a procedure for introducing a new driver into the computer system (described later) is executed (Process 3). 6 7). If the entry exists, the driver entry function 108 is instructed by the entry to incorporate a device driver corresponding to the input / output device into the operating system 101 (process 365). Then, it is determined whether the scanning of the input / output device has been completed to the last (process 3666). If all the input / output devices have not been scanned yet, the process 368 is executed, and the process 361 is repeated. When all the I / O devices have been scanned, the I / O device enumeration function 109 ends. The I / O device enumeration function 1109 and the I / O device database 110 searched all I / O devices existing in the computer system, and there was a change in the configuration of the I / O devices since the last boot. In such a case, it is possible to automatically incorporate the corresponding driver into the operating system.

Also, when an I / O device is added using the hot-swapping technology while the computer system is operating, for example, when a PC card is added, the I / O device enumeration function 109 is also a device driver built-in function. By using 50, it is possible to load the corresponding driver. That is, when a PC card or the like is newly added to the computer system, it is assigned to the processor. Occurs. Here, the interrupt is reported to the processor in charge of the processing by the interrupt distribution function 31 described above. After that, the interrupting processor conditionally calls the device driver built-in function 150 from the operating system function. Specifically, the device driver built-in function 150 is called with the specified bus type, bus number, device number, and function number. Thereafter, the device driver embedding function 150 processes a part of the flow shown in FIG. 10 and becomes capable of embedding the corresponding driver.

The above is the description of the device driver built-in function 150 that realizes automatic detection of input / output devices and automatic reading of drivers.The device driver built-in function that does not automatically detect input / output devices and automatically reads drivers There are also 150.

FIG. 9 (b) is a block diagram of another example of the device driver built-in function 150. Another example of the device driver built-in function 150 includes a driver load function 108, an input / output device reference function 111, and an input / output device list 112. The I / O device list 1 1 2 is a list of all I / O devices that perform processing in the operating system, and describes the storage location of the driver corresponding to the I / O device and the parameters at the time of starting the driver. . FIG. 11 shows the processing flow of the input / output device reference function 111. First, an input / output device entry is read from the input / output device list 1 1 2 (process 380). The device information acquisition information 102 is instructed based on the bus type, bus number, device number, and function number corresponding to the input / output device described in the entry, and the result is received (process 38 1). From the response of the device information acquisition function 102, it is determined whether the corresponding input / output device is under the management of the operating system 101 (process 3822). Notification that the I / O device does not exist If it is, the next I / O device entry is read from the I / O device list 112 (process 3885). If it is determined that the input / output device is present, the dry paring function 108 is instructed to incorporate the depth driver corresponding to the input / output device into the operating system 101 (process 383). Then, it is determined whether or not all the input / output devices have been acquired from the input / output device list 112 (processing 384). If there is an I / O device that has not been acquired yet, execute process 385 and repeat process 381. If all I / O devices have been scanned, the I / O device reference function 1 1 1 ends.

With the above configuration and method, the input / output device can be used exclusively or shared by a plurality of operating systems.

In the present invention, when the input / output device is used exclusively or shared, the operation of one operating system does not affect the operation of the other operating system. Therefore, according to the present invention, while one operating system is operating, it is possible to stop or restart the other operating system. At that time, the operating system in operation can continue to operate. In this embodiment, the case where the operating systems 101 and 121 are executed by the processors 10 and 20, respectively, has been described. However, two operating systems are executed by one processor, and the present invention is executed. It is also possible to apply. -In this case, the I / O controller 30 does not need to implement the function of dispatching interrupts, and all interrupts are reported to a single processor.

Here, the technology for executing two or more operating systems with one processor will be briefly described. In general, a processor (Register, There are a program counter, TLB (Translation at Look-a-side Buffer), etc.) and interrupts. Therefore, in order to switch between and execute multiple operating systems, it is necessary to make these resources appear to be controlled independently by each operating system. Therefore, operating systems independent of the multiple operating systems are required. . Provide a rating system switching function (program). The operating system switching function is triggered by a specific factor (such as an interrupt indicating that a certain amount of time has elapsed) and uses the above-mentioned hardware resources used by the first operating system that had been running up to that point. The hardware resources used by the second operating system, which is saved in the first specific area of the memory and switched from now on, are restored from the second specific area of the memory, and the second operating system is executed.

In the present embodiment, the case where the number of operating systems is two has been described, but the number is not limited to the number of operating systems. For example, even when only one operating system is implemented, it is possible to exclude the control of the corresponding input / output device by excluding any input / output device from the control target of the operating system in the configuration table 14 1 Becomes This is effective for inspection and debugging of computer systems.

A second embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 12 shows the configuration of a computer system for sharing a driver for the same type of input / output device among a plurality of operating systems. Elements having the same numbers as those in FIG. 1 are the same as those described in the first embodiment of the present invention. The newly added components in FIG. 12 include the 〇S determination flag register 32 in the input / output control device 30 and the Common driver object 43 in volatile memory 42, common dryino 107 and common dryino 127 in memory 100 and memory 120.

The following describes a method for sharing the same common driver object among multiple operating systems. In the following description, the operation is described only for the common driver 107 in the operating system 101, but the same operation is also applied to the common driver 127 in the operating system 121. Although only one common driver 107 and common driver object 43 are shown in the figure, a plurality of common driver objects may be prepared according to the required input / output devices.

When the operating system 101 starts up, it initializes the hardware resources (processor, memory, etc.) and input / output devices that it manages. When initializing an I / O device, the initialization process is generally performed by a device driver corresponding to the I / O device. Therefore, the operating system 101 reads the common driver object 43 corresponding to the device driver from the non-volatile memory 42, initializes the instruction codes, static data, and variable areas included in the object, and stores the memory 1 Load processing such as placing on 0 0 is performed. The loaded common driver object exists in the memory 100 as the common driver 107. Thereafter, the common driver 107 is called from the operating system 101 and performs a desired process.

The common driver 107 may refer to the OS determination flag register 32 when it is necessary to determine which operating system, that is, the processor, is executing itself. 〇 The S discrimination flag register 32 is read from both processor A10 and processor B20. Register. The value to be read changes according to one rule of reading. For example, when read from processor A10, it can be read as 0X55, and when read from processor B20, it can be read as 0XAA.

Here, the common driver object 43 is stored in the non-volatile memory 42 by a storage method that can be commonly recognized by both operating systems so as to be read out from both the operating systems 101 and 121. For example, it is stored by FAT (File Allocation Table) storage method. Here, the FAT storage method is a storage method widely used for storing files on a floppy disk or an eighty disk of a personal computer. For specific specifications, see JIS standard X0605—1992 “Volume and file structure of flexible disk cartridge for information exchange” or IS〇NO IEC standard 92933-1994 “Information technology” ―Volume and file structure of disk cartridges for information interchange ”. The operator stores the common driver object 43 immediately below a specific directory (for example, the common directory) in the non-volatile memory 42 initialized by the FAT storage method, and stores each operating system in the common directory at the time of startup. By setting the driver to be read as needed, it is possible to share the driver.

The common driver object 43 may be exclusively loaded by a plurality of operating systems or may be loaded simultaneously. When an I / O device is used exclusively, the corresponding common driver object 43 is generally exclusively loaded, but, for example, there are two I / O devices of the same type in the computer system. If one is used by the operating system 101 and the other is used by the operating system 121, the same Common driver objects 43 are loaded by each operating system.

At this time, the processing of the common driver may change depending on which operating system it is running from.

FIG. 13 shows the configuration of the input / output control device 30 including the OS determination flag register 32.

0 S discrimination flag register 3 2 is a processor A constant 2 49 indicating a value responding to processor A 10 and a processor B constant 2 50 indicating a value responding to processor B 20 .A selector for switching these values Consists of 2 4 8 The selector 248 outputs the processor A constant 249 when the value of the selected input signal 251 becomes "1", and outputs the processor when the value of the selected input signal 251 becomes "0". Outputs B constant 250.

The I / O controller 30 is a processor A address signal 24 0, a processor A data output signal 24 1, a processor A address decoder 24 4, a processor A data selector 24 5, a processor B address signal 24 42, It consists of a processor B data output signal 243, a processor B address decoder 246, and a processor B data selector 247. In this block diagram, the output part of the data signal is specifically extracted, and in a general input / output control device, the data communicates with the processor via an input / output signal line in which the input and output are multiplexed. .

The processor A address decoder 244 outputs a signal for selecting a resource inside the input / output device from the input processor A address signal 240. Here, in particular, the selection input signal 2 51 for selecting the OS determination flag register 3 2 is output to “1”, and the output data select signal 253 is output. Is output. The processor A data overnight selector 2 4 5 selects and outputs the output signal from the 判別 S discrimination flag register 32 to the processor A data output signal 241, based on the input selection signal 25 3 that is input. I do.

The processor B address decoder 246 and the processor B data selector 247 also have the same functions as the processor A address decoder 244 and the processor A data selector 245, respectively. However, the processor B address decoder 246 does not output a selection input signal to the 〇S determination flag register 32.

With the above configuration, for example, referring to the OS discrimination flag register 32 from the processor A 10, the value 0 X 55 indicated by the constant 249 can be obtained. The indicated value 0 XAA is obtained. Here, the values of the constants 249 and 250 have no particular meaning, and any value can be set. What is needed here is that if the same program is to be executed on each processor 10 and 20 and the operation needs to be switched for each processor, this register will be used to execute the program using this register. The purpose is to provide a means of knowing that the A method of using the interrupt distribution function 31 in this embodiment will be described below. Which operating system processes the common driver object 43 is generally set by the operator, and to which operating system an interrupt from the corresponding I / O device is reported, that is, It is appropriate to set how to set the transfer function 31 when the common driver object 43 is executed. Thus, during the initialization process of the common driver object 43, it is determined using the OS determination flag register 32 which processor is being executed by itself, and an interrupt is notified to the processor on which it is executing. Like an interrupt sorter It is desirable to set function 31.

With the above configuration, the common driver object 43 can be used in common by each operating system. Also, by referring to the OS determination flag register 32, it becomes possible to perform processing unique to each processor.

Here, according to the present invention, it is possible to share a driver when sharing an input / output device between operating systems. In general, it is desirable to initialize the device from a single operating system. Therefore, in order to control the configuration of the input / output device, it is only necessary to determine which operating system the driver is running on, and perform processing to control the configuration of only one of the operating systems. A third embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 14 shows a configuration for changing control of an input / output device in a plurality of operating systems. In a computer system that constitutes a multiprocessor with function distribution, control rights of input / output devices may be changed between processors in order to optimize the system. At that time, it was necessary to rebuild the operating system. In the present invention, a configuration for easily changing the control right of the input / output device will be described.

The elements newly added in the present invention are a DB buffer 260, an interprocessor communication function 261 for synchronizing between processors, a processor A communication interrupt 262, and a processor B communication interrupt 2663. It is. The DB buffer 260 is used to transfer data between the operating system 101 and the operating system 121, and exists in a memory readable and writable by each operating system. Present at 140.

Figure 15 shows the configuration of interprocessor communication. In order to synchronize between processors, it is necessary to have a function to send some notification from one processor to the other processor and reply to the sender that the notification has been received from the other processor. Figure 15 (a) shows one implementation example of the interprocessor communication function 2661. This section describes how to use the port output and interrupt of the processor. That is, the processor that wants to issue the notification drives its own port output. The issuing port output is connected to the other processor interrupt. Here, processor A port output 280 is connected to processor B interrupt input 283, and processor B port output 282 is connected to processor A interrupt input 281. For example, when the processor A10 notifies the processor B20 of the event, the processor A10 drives the processor A port output 280 and notifies the processor B interrupt input 283. When processor B recognizes the notification, it immediately drives processor B port output 282 and notifies processor A interrupt input 281 to notify that processor A 10 has recognized the notification.

FIG. 15 (b) shows another implementation example of the inter-processor communication function 261. In the configuration of Fig. 15 (a), it is not possible to notify the cause of inter-processor communication. This implementation example is characterized in that a register indicating the cause of processor communication is provided. The processor-to-processor communication function 26 1 consists of the A bus interface 2886, the processor A interrupt multiplexer 2887, the processor A interrupt factor 2992, the B bus interface 2888, and the processor B interrupt multiplexer 2 89, processor B interrupt setting 291, processor B interrupt factor 2 93. A bus interface 286 and B path interface — phase 288 communicates from each processor path Function 26 1 This is an interface for accessing the internal registry. The processor A interrupt multiplexer 287 and the processor B interrupt multiplexer 289 are configured to determine whether each interrupt source (including the processor A interrupt setting 290 or the processor B interrupt setting 291) has multiple interrupts. The signal is encoded into a signal suitable for the embedded signal line and output. Here, the interrupt signal line 81 and the interrupt signal line 83 may be composed of a plurality of signal lines to notify a plurality of factors. The processor A interrupt factor 292 and the processor B interrupt factor 293 indicate the interrupt factor notified by inter-processor communication. In addition, although these functions are included in the input / output control device 30 here, the input / output control device 30 is not necessarily required, and may be separately implemented as hardware for communication between individual processors.

An example in which an event is notified from the processor A 10 to the processor B 20 will be described below. First, the processor A10 sets the factor to be notified to the processor B20 as the processor B interrupt factor 293. Subsequently, the processor A 10 writes a predetermined code into the processor B interrupt setting 2 91. Then, the interrupt is encoded by the processor B interrupt multiplexer 289 and notified to the processor B 20 as an interrupt. Upon receiving the interrupt, the processor B 20 checks the processor B interrupt setting 291 1 and the processor B interrupt cause 2 93 in order to determine the cause of the interrupt. Know what the interrupt is and what the interrupt was. After that, to clear the interrupt, clear the processor B interrupt setting 291, and end the interprocessor communication. If necessary, the processor B 20 may notify the processor A 10 using the inter-processor communication function 26 1.

Referring again to FIG. 14, with the operating system 101 as an example A case will be described in which the control right of the input / output device performing the processing is transferred to the operating system 121. The control right of the input / output device is changed by the instruction of the operator. The following tasks are required to change the I / O device control right. The configuration control information is information required when the operating system initializes the input / output device, and specifically means information for allocating hardware resources such as a memory and an interrupt.

(B) Move device drivers corresponding to input / output devices between operating systems.

(Mouth) Moves configuration control information corresponding to input / output devices between operating systems.

(8) Change the configuration of input / output devices recognized between operating systems.

Here, as a countermeasure of the above (a), even if the object of the device driver is actually moved between the non-volatile storage devices recognized by the respective operating systems, it may be incorporated in each operating system in advance. Further, the common driver object shown in the second embodiment of the present invention may be used.

Regarding the above (Mouth), it is necessary for each operating system to change the input / output device databases 110 and 130 which are the configuration control information. The procedure for changing the configuration control information will be described below. The operating system 101 extracts an entry for the input / output device from the input / output device database based on the data in the input / output device and writes it to the DB buffer 260. The operating system 101 notifies the operating system 121 that the database entry has been written to the DB buffer 260 via the inter-processor communication function 261. The notified operator The operating system 12 21 refers to the DB buffer 260 and updates the input / output device database 130 managed by its own operating system. After the update, the operating system 121 notifies the operating system 101 of the end of the update by the inter-processor communication function 261. The operating system 101 that has received the update completion notification deletes the entry relating to the input / output device from the input / output device database 110 managed by the operating system.

If the operating system 121 cannot update the entry normally for any reason, the operating system 101 will be notified by the operating system 122 that the operation has terminated abnormally, or will be notified for a certain period of time. It does not delete the entry of the I / O device by itself detecting that it does not end within. To detect that the notification does not end within a certain period of time, it is advisable to use a timer function mounted on the processor or an input / output device outside the processor.

Here, the contents of the entry of the input / output device database in the operating system 101 may differ from the configuration of the operating system 121. For example, the level of an interrupt output from an input / output device may differ between operating systems. In such a case, when the operating system 122 updates the I / O device database 130, it changes the contents of the corresponding database entry. At the time of the change, the operating system 122 changes based on an instruction to change the value by the intervention of the user, the initial setting information of the input / output device held in advance, and the like.

In the unlikely event that the operating system '12 1 updates the I / O device database 130 and fails to notify the end of the change for some reason, the I / O device data managed by both operating systems There will be entries for the same input / output device during the overnight base. In the worst case, one entry is ignored as a meaningless entry (access to an I / O device that should not exist) by referring to the configuration definition table 141, but it is unnecessary for reliability. Leaving an entry is problematic. Therefore, to ensure that the input / output database is updated, it is advisable to use existing database update technology, for example, a two-phase commit method.

In the two-phase commit method, first, the server that manages the database related to the update is inquired about whether the transaction can be completed (committed) or not (phase 1). If so, it notifies all database servers to commit (phase 2). Here, the I / O device database 1 110,

A database server is provided for each of the 130, and the operating system at the source of the I / O device notifies each database server of the entry deletion and addition. Finally, if neither of these is a problem, the operating system at the source of the I / O device notifies the respective database server of the commit and instructs it to reflect it in the actual database. Database is updated at once. At this time, since each database server proceeds while processing the records, it is possible to recover even if an unexpected situation falls in the middle.

As described above, the input / output entry can be safely moved.

Regarding (8) above, it is necessary to change the configuration definition table 141 in order to change the configuration of the input / output devices recognized between operating systems. To change the configuration definition table 14 1, as described in the description of FIG. It is necessary to change the contents. The procedure for changing is as follows. The operating system that releases control of the input / output device (the operating system 101 in this example) stores the configuration definition table 141 in another memory area when the above (mouth) processing is completed normally. Copy and change the OS entry of the I / O device in the configuration table from "1" (indicating operating system 101) to "2" (indicating operating system 121). The operating system 101 writes the changed configuration definition table into the configuration table storage area 44 of the nonvolatile storage device 42. Thereafter, when the computer system is restarted, the computer start-up processing program restores the configuration definition table 14 1 to the memory 140 from the configuration table storage area 44.

With the above configuration and method, it is possible to transfer the control right of the input / output device between the operating systems.

A fourth embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 16 shows a configuration for sharing an input / output device with a plurality of operating systems, and particularly shows a configuration for sharing a communication device 71 as an input / output device. Elements denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 1, 12, and 14 are the same as those described in the previous embodiments of the present invention. The newly added components in Fig. 16 are the shared communication driver 105-A in the memory 100, the shared server driver 105 in the proxy server 105-P, and the memory 120. 5—B, communication buffer 2 6 4 Hereinafter, a method of sharing the communication device 71 with two operating systems 101 and 121 will be described.

The communication device 71 is connected to another computer device ゃ network device via a communication path. Communication device 71 Wired or wireless communication path to connect Transmission media. On these media, data is exchanged between communication devices based on communication protocols called protocols. Currently, protocols mainly used on the Internet include TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) and UDP / IP (User Datagram Protocol / Internet Protocol). Both TCP, UDP, and IP are protocols corresponding to the transport layer and the network layer, respectively, in the hierarchical model defined by the OSI (Open Systems Iniercoimecnon) reference protocol. IP is a protocol that specifies the assignment of addresses for connecting to other communication nodes and the routing up to the communication nodes. TCP supports the reliability of various communication services (TELNET, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc.), and is a protocol that specifies connection management, checksum, response confirmation, etc. It is. UDP, like TCP, is a protocol that supports the reliability of communication services. While TCP establishes a connection between communication devices, UDP is connectionless communication and is simpler than TCP. In the present embodiment, a description will be given based on an example in which the communication device 71 performs communication using TC PZ IP.

Fig. 17 shows the format of the data packet defined by the TCP. The TCP packet is composed of a source port number 500, a destination port number 501, other TCP headers 502, and a data header 503. Although the TCP header is not described in detail here, the other TCP header 502 is composed of a transmission sequence number, a response confirmation number, a header length, a code bit, a window, a checksum, and an emergency pointer. Generally, network applications higher than TCP specify the destination application for data transmission and reception based on the port number. For example, the well-known —Port numbers ”include 23 for TEL NET applications and 20 and 21 for FTP applications.

Hereinafter, a method of sharing a communication device between a plurality of operating systems will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, the interrupt distribution function 31 is set in advance so that the interrupt raised from the communication device 71 goes to the operating system 101.

In sharing the communication device 71, the following three types of data are generally received by the driver from the communication device 71.

(a) Data reception

(b) Status report of received data

(c) Status report of transmission data

Also, there is one of the following types of data passed from the driver to the communication device 71.

(d) Data transmission

Hereinafter, a method of exchanging these data with the communication device 71 will be described.

First, the receiving process will be described below. When receiving the data from the communication path, the communication device 71 transfers the received data and the reception status to the memory, and notifies the operating system 101 of the reception of the data by interruption. Upon receiving the interrupt, the operating system 101 detects that the cause of the interrupt is in the communication device 71, and requests the shared communication driver 105-A to process the received data. The communication shared dry line 105-A analyzes the destination port number 501 in the TCP header of the received data bucket ₍ and the communication shared driver 105-A determines the destination port of the received data). Notify the upper application corresponding to the number 501. If the destination of the received data is the proxy server 105-P, the data is received. The proxy server 105-P stores the received data in the communication buffer 264, and notifies the operating system 121 of the fact that the data has been received using the inter-processor communication 261. 'When the operating system 12 1 receiving the interrupt detects that the interrupt factor is data reception, the communication shared driver 125 _B transmits the data from the proxy server 10.5-P to the communication shared driver 125_B. Request processing. Communication driver 1 2 5 — B notifies upper-level application as necessary and completes the process. If the destination of the data received by the communication driver 105A is another higher-level application (for example, TELNET), the communication driver 105-A sends the data to the corresponding upper-level application. And the process is completed.

Next, the transmission process will be described below. When the communication sharing driver 105-A receives the data to be transmitted from the upper-level application, the communication sharing driver 105-A transmits the transmission data and transmission status (transmission-related) based on the received data. Prepared in memory). As a method of starting transmission, the communication shared driver 105-A notifies the communication device 71 of the fact that transmission preparation has been made in some way (via the register of the communication device 71), or the communication device 7 There is a method in which 1 checks the transmission status at regular intervals and determines that it is ready for transmission. In either case, the communication device 71 transmits the data to the communication path based on the transmission data and the transmission status, and transmits the success or failure of the transmission and the state of the communication channel as the transmission status to the communication common driver 105-A. Respond and complete the process. On the other hand, in the operating system 122, when the host application passes the data to be transmitted to the communication shared driver 1255-1B, the communication shared dryino 125-B performs the following processing. The communication shared driver 1 2 5 1 B uses the communication buffer as it is Stored in 264, and notified to the proxy server 105-P by the inter-processor communication function 261. The proxy server 105_P passes the data of the communication buffer 264 to the communication shared driver 105-A and completes the process.

Here, as the destination of the reception data and the reception status from the communication device 71, or the storage destination of the transmission data and the transmission status to the communication device 71, either the memory 100 or the memory 140 can be used. Considering the exchange of data with the other operating system 121, it is preferable to place it in the memory 140 accessible from both operating systems. In the present invention, for example, when a communication device 71 connected to TCPZIP is used, a destination operating system of a data bucket received by a destination port number 501 is determined. In addition, the port numbers must be the same, and the destination numbers specified by the higher-level application must be specified, and the destination operating system of the received data packet should be determined based on them. It is characterized by.

Although the present invention has been described using a communication device as an example, sharing of other input / output devices can be realized by a similar method. In other words, an application corresponding to the proxy server 105_P is implemented as an upper application of various device drivers, and the input / output device is controlled by the other operating system via the proxy server and the memory 140. Is what you do.

By sharing the communication device, the user of the computer system can reduce the hardware resources (such as cables and network addresses) required for communication, halve the setting work, and easily communicate efficiently. Communication costs can be reduced.

A fifth embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 18 shows an example of a configuration for sharing an input / output device when a plurality of operating systems are physically separated on different devices, particularly for sharing a communication device 71 as an input / output device. Is shown. Elements having the same numbers as in FIGS. 1, 12, 14 and 16 are the same as those described in the previous embodiments of the present invention. Newly added components in Fig. 18 are the cooperative communication device 73-A, B, protocol conversion function 74, cooperative transmission line 76, device information remote acquisition function 127, device information remote setting There are a function 128, a remote device list 122, a cooperative communication driver 400, 420, and a remote computer list 410. The operating systems 101 and 121 are separated into separate computer devices 2 and 3 respectively.

The cooperative communication devices 73-A and B are connected to each other via a cooperative transmission line 76 and are also connected to other computer devices. There is a wired or wireless transmission medium as the cooperative transmission path 76.

The protocol conversion function 74 may be implemented in the cooperative communication devices 73-A and B. However, in general, as the device drivers of the cooperative communication devices 73-A and B, the cooperative communication drivers 400 and Implement on 420. The functions of the protocol conversion function 74 are as follows. The first function receives a request from the device information remote acquisition function 127 or the device information remote setting function 128 and converts it into a configuration request message. The second function is to receive a configuration request message from the link transmission line 76, issue a request to the device information acquisition function 102 or the device information setting function 103, and return a response to the message issuer. The third function is to exchange data between the communication shared drivers 105-A and 125-B.

Computer devices other than those permitted by Computer device 2 are shared with Computer device 2. Since it is not desirable to obtain the relationship, the computer device 2 having a sharable input / output device needs to prepare a list of computers recognized by itself, and in the present invention, the remote computer list 4 10 is operated. System 1 0 1 manages. The computer device 2 describes in this list computers that permit sharing of its own input / output devices, and rejects requests from computers not described in this list.

To share an I / O device among multiple operating systems, the following two points need to be resolved.

(i) Recognize that both operating systems share the input / output device at startup

(π) Recognize which operating system the data is in during operation and deliver

As an example, a method of using the communication device 71 shared by the two operating systems 101 and 121, that is, the computer device 2 and the computer device 3, will be described below. Although the sharing of the input / output device will be described here, according to the present invention, it is possible to exclusively use the input / output device between these computer devices by performing the same procedure as in the first embodiment.

When the computer device 3 starts up or when instructed by a user, it needs to recognize an input / output device that can be used by the computer device. Although the configuration definition reference function 124 and the configuration definition table 141 are omitted in the computer 3 in FIG. 18, they are implemented if necessary, and the configuration control inside the computer 3 You may carry out similarly to an Example. In this embodiment, the input / output device list 112 shown in FIG. 9 (b) is mounted to control the configuration of the computer system.

FIG. 19 shows a processing flow relating to recognition of a remote device. FIG. 20 shows a processing flow of the input / output device confirmation processing in the computer device 2.

The operating system 1 2 1 starts up or receives an instruction from the user, and operates the remote device list 1 1 2 as well as controls the configuration of the I / O devices listed in the 1 2 29 Configure and control the I / O devices listed in 9. Hereinafter, the description will be made based on FIGS. 19 and 20.

The operating system 122 calls the device information remote acquisition function 127 together with necessary information in order to acquire the information of the input / output device described in the remote device list 122 (process 600). The device information remote acquisition function 127 passes the device information acquisition request to the cooperation communication function 73-B via the cooperation communication driver 420 (processing 610). The cooperative communication driver 420 converts the request into a configuration request message using the protocol conversion function 74 (processing 62 0), and notifies the cooperative communication device 73 -A via the cooperative transmission line 76. Yes (processing 6 2 1).

The cooperative communication driver 400, which is the device driver of the cooperative communication device 73-A, which has received the notification, recognizes that it is a configuration request message from the computer device 3 based on the received data (process 630). Check whether the remote computer list 410 contains the requesting computer device 3 (process 6 3 l If the remote computer list 410 does not contain the computer device 3, the cooperative communication driver 400 Notifies that there is no corresponding input / output device, and terminates the process (process 6 36) If computer device 3 is included in remote computer list 4 10, cooperative communication driver 400 0 is a device A request is issued to the information acquisition function 102 and the result is obtained (process 632) .If the OS entries do not match, the cooperative communication driver 400 executes the process 636. And ends the processing. If the OS entries match, the cooperative communication driver 400 determines that there is an authentication relationship between the computer device 2 and the computer device 3, and generates a key code for permitting access to the input / output device (process 6 3 4) . Thereafter, when the computer device 3 accesses the input / output device, the key code is attached to the access request message, or the message is encrypted using a key code, and the computer device 2 is accessed. The cooperative communication driver 400 stores this key code and authenticates subsequent access from the computer device 3. Now, the cooperative communication driver 400 generates the response result of the process 633 (process 6335), converts it into a message to the requesting cooperative communication function 733-B, and sends it back (process 6 3 7). At this time, send the key code together.

The cooperative communication function 7 3-B waiting for a response (process 6 2 2) determines whether or not it has been authenticated based on the received result (process 6 2 3), and if it is authenticated, stores the key code. Yes (processing 6 2 4). Thereafter, the cooperative communication driver 400 converts the message into a response to the device information remote acquisition function 127 by the protocol conversion function 74 and responds (processing 625).

The device information remote acquisition function 127 determines whether or not the authentication has been performed (processing 611). If the user is authenticated, it is determined whether or not there is an input / output device (processing 612). If the input / output device is present, a response “input / output device present” is returned (process 6 13), and if not, a response is returned to the requesting operating system as “no input / output device” (process 6 14).

Thereafter, as a result of the remote device recognition, the operating system 122 determines whether or not the corresponding input / output device exists (process 602). Further, if the input / output device is exclusively used by the computer device 3 (process 63), configuration control is executed on the input / output device (process 6 4). Then, when the inspection of the input / output devices in all the remote device lists 12 9 is completed, the operating system 12 1 terminates the process (process 6 05).

Here, it is assumed that the computer device 3 can be used by the communication device 71 (shared with the computer device 2). Here, for example, when the computer device 2 has an input / output device exclusively used by the computer device 3, the configuration control may be further performed using the device information remote setting function 129. In this case, the operation is the same as that of the device information remote acquisition function 128.

Since it is difficult to directly control the input / output device in order to use the input / output device in the computer device 2 from the computer device 3, it is necessary to start a proxy device driver or a proxy server in advance. is there. The proxy device driver or proxy server to be started may be dynamically started in response to a request from the computer device 3.However, from the viewpoint of performance, the driver or server should be started in advance by the operating system. Is good.

The method of using the communication device 71 from the computer device 3 will be described below. First, a case in which data received from the communication device 71 is transferred to the application of the computer device 3 will be described. It is the same as the fourth embodiment up to the point where the communication shared driver 105_A notifies the proxy server 105-P after the communication device 71 receives the data. The proxy server 1105-P that has received the data transfer the received data to the cooperative communication driver 400. The cooperative communication driver 400 performs the processing required for the communication processing and transmits the passed data to the cooperative communication device 73 -B via the cooperative transmission path 76. Linked communication device 7 3-B notifies operating system 1 2 1 of the data reception by interruption. The operating system 12 21 analyzes the cause of the interrupt, determines that the data is received from the cooperative communication device 73-B, and determines Request processing to bus 420. The cooperative communication driver determines the final destination application (for example, HTTP) from the received data, passes the data, and ends the processing.

Next, a case where the computer 3 transmits the data to the communication device 71 will be described. When the data to be transmitted is received from the higher-level application by the cooperative communication driver and driver 420, the cooperative communication driver 420 performs necessary communication processing on the received data and then cooperates via the cooperative transmission path 76. Communication device 7 3—Send to A. The cooperative communication device 73-A stores the data in the communication buffer 264 and notifies the operating system 101 of the data reception by interruption. Thereafter, the cooperative communication driver 400 to which the processing has been passed notifies the proxy server 105-P that the transmission request is an overnight transmission request. The proxy server 105-P passes the data of the communication buffer 264 to the communication common driver 105-A and completes the process.

According to the present invention, the computer device 3 does not necessarily have to be prepared when the shared input / output device (the communication device 71 in the present embodiment) is started. Therefore, the computer device 3 can be dynamically connected via the cooperative communication devices 73-A and B after the computer device 2 is started up, and can share and use the input / output device. Further, even if the computer device 3 dynamically leaves during the operation of the computer device 2, it does not affect the operation of the computer device 2. When the computer device 3 disconnects and then reconnects, the computer device 3 receives, for example, an instruction from a user to share the communication device 71 of the computer device 2, and can re-establish the sharing relationship. That is, according to the present invention, the computer device 3 can share and use the input / output device with the computer device 2 even when the computer device 3 is dynamically connected or disconnected via the cooperative communication device 73 -A, B. is there.

The present invention is also applicable when the computer device is started or when there is a user's instruction. It refers to the configuration definition table to see if a shared I / O device can be used in the system, and does not refer to the configuration definition table during normal operation.

FIG. 21 shows an example of the configuration of the remote device list 1229.

The remote device list 1 29 includes a computer identification ID 441, a bus number 442, a device number 443, a function number 444, and an OS entry 445. The computer identification ID 441 lists an ID number uniquely determined in the cooperative transmission path 76 to which the cooperative communication devices 73-A and B are connected. In this embodiment, since the input / output device of only the computer device 2 is specified, the computer ID is the same. As the computer identification ID 441, for example, an ID such as an IP address or a MAC (Media Access Control) address that is unique in the computer device environment may be adopted. The other bus number 442, device number 443, function number 444, and OS entry 445 are the same as bus number 144, device number 144, function number 146, and 〇S entry 147 in Fig. 4 (b), respectively. is there. Note that the remote device list 1 229 basically describes the I / O devices that the computer device 3 shares or uses exclusively with the computer device 2, so that generally only the operating system 101 is used. Does not include the entry used.

By using the computer identification ID 441, the cooperative communication device 73-B can specify the computer device having the shared input / output device by the computer device ID 441, so that a plurality of computers can be connected to the cooperative transmission path 76. Only one computer device can be specified, even if the device is connected.

By using the remote device list 12 9, the cooperative communication driver 420 specifies the computer device by the computer device ID 441, and inputs and outputs in the computer device by the bus number 442, device number 443, and function number 444. The device can be specified.

In the first to fifth embodiments described so far, in order to simplify the configuration of the configuration definition table 141, the following objects can be achieved in the following manner. In other words, a storage area is defined for each OS, and the address, address or bit position in each storage area is uniquely associated with the input / output device, and the value of the input / output device is determined by the value set for each address or bit position. Decide the responsible person S. Taking the example of associating the address with the input / output device, for example, when the offset address = 0, it indicates 0 S assigned to the display device 70, and when the offset address = 1, the OS assigned to the input / output control device 30, When the offset address = 2, the assigned address 40S of the keyboard 40 is represented. Each offset address holds, as data, a value indicating whether the OS associated with the storage area should take charge of the input / output device. For example, if the operating system 101 is in charge of the display device 70, the offset address of the storage area for the operating system 101 is 0, the value 1 is used, and the operating system 121 is used. The value 0 is set to the offset address-0 of the storage area of the storage area. Here, the value 1 means that the OS is in charge, and the value 0 means that the OS does not. The shared device may be represented by a specific value (for example, a value obtained by adding 128 to the above value) to be stored. The configuration definition reference function 104 and 124 must have a function to grasp in advance (for example, by using a conversion table) the relationship between an input / output device and an offset address required by a higher-level device driver. The configuration definition reference function 104 and 124 can specify the input / output device in charge of itself by referring to the storage area associated with each OS. With the above configuration, the configuration definition table 1 4 1 It is not always necessary to exist in the memory 140, that is, in the shared memory.For example, it is possible to allocate the storage area for each operating system in the memory 100, 120 which can be referred only from each operating system. Become.

A sixth embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 22 shows a program for constructing the configuration definition table 141. To prepare the configuration definition table 141 as shown in Fig. 4 (b), it is not desirable to describe the table directly from the viewpoint of management and usability. Therefore, a configuration definition construction tool 500 using GUI (Graphical User Interface) as shown in FIG. 22 (a) is prepared. The user uses the configuration definition construction tool 5 to specify which operating system is to control the input / output device.

The configuration definition construction tool 500 is composed of a decision button 501, a cancel button 502, a list of all input / output devices 501, an OS-A control list 51, a shared control list 51, and an OS-B It consists of a control list 5 13 and icons representing input / output devices. The configuration definition building tool 500 may be executed by a computer that stores the configuration definition table 141, or may be executed by another computer system and transferred to a target computer.

FIG. 22 (a) is an initial screen of the configuration definition construction tool 500. When the decision button 501 is pressed, the result is output as the construction information file 515 with the contents set in the current configuration definition construction tool 500, and the configuration definition construction tool 500 ends. When the cancel button 502 is pressed, the contents set in the current configuration definition tool 500 are canceled, and the configuration definition construction tool 500 ends. When the configuration building tool 500 starts, it loads the current configuration information file 514 and configures its state. This is reflected on the screen of the Justice Construction Tool 500.

The following describes a method in which the user uses the configuration definition tool 500 to specify which operating system controls the input / output device.

The user selects the icon corresponding to the input / output device and sets the target list 5 1 1, 5 1 in order to set which operating system or shared device processes the input / output device. Drag and drop the icon to one of 2, 5, 1 and 3. It can be operating system 101, operating system 121, or shared, depending on the list where the icons are placed. When the setting is completed as shown in FIG. 22 (b), the user presses the decision button 501. As a result, the configuration definition construction tool 500 outputs the current setting information as the construction information file 515. When the user wants to discard the current setting information, the user presses a cancel button 502 to terminate the configuration definition construction tool 500.

FIG. 22 (c) shows an example of the contents of the construction information initialization file 540. The configuration information initialization file 540 contains the I / O device name 520, device ID 521, bus type 522, path number 523, device number 524, function number 525, OS fixed flag 526, and shared flag 527. An array of structured structures. In addition, add the bitmap file name of the icon corresponding to the input / output device as needed. The input / output device name 520 is the name of the input / output device displayed together with the icon. The device ID 521 is a unique number corresponding to the icon on the GUI screen. The path type 52 2, bus number 52 3, device number 5 24, and function number 525 are the same as the bus type 148, bus number 144, device number 145, and function number 146 described in FIGS. 4 (b) and 4 (c). The same is true. OS fixed flag 52 6 It represents an operating system that can process the device. In this embodiment, 0 X 0 1 represents the operating system 101, 0 x 0 2 represents the operating system 121, and the logical sum of these 0 X 03 represents both operating systems. . That is, in FIG. 22 (c), only the "display device" can be processed only by the operating system 101, the "expansion slot 0" can be processed only by the operating system 121, and other input / output This means that the device can be processed by either operating system. The sharing flag 5 2 7 is a flag indicating whether the input / output device can be shared and controlled.The input / output device having a value of <0 x 0 1 can be shared, and 0 x 0 0 An input / output device with a value of cannot be shared. In this embodiment, only the communication device can be shared. In addition, an input / output device having a non-sharable flag is controlled so that it cannot be dropped on the sharing control list 5 12.

Next, a procedure for creating the configuration information file 515 from the configuration definition construction tool 500 using the device ID 521 will be described. When the user pulls out an icon from a list in the GUI screen, the device ID 521 corresponding to the input / output device is deleted from the array managing each list. After that, when the icon is placed in another list, the device ID 521 of the input / output device is added to the array managing the list. When the user presses the decision button 501, the device ID included in the array that manages the OS—A control list 5 1 1, the shared control list 5 1 2, and the OS_B control list 5 1 3 5 2 1 is determined. After that, in addition to the bus type 5 2 2, bus number 5 2 3, device number 5 2 4, and function number 5 2 5 corresponding to each device IB 5 2 1, a flag indicating the operating system controlling each device is added. Generated Output as construction information file 5 1 5 The configuration information file 5 15 is converted according to the format defined in the configuration table 14 1 when transferred to the target computer system, and is converted to the configuration table 14 1 or the non-volatile storage device 4 2 The above configuration definition table storage area 4 is stored in 4.

As described above, based on the construction information initialization file 540, the configuration definition construction tool 550 can control the movement of the icons on the GUI screen and output the construction information file 515.

FIG. 23 shows another embodiment of the configuration definition construction tool.

FIG. 23 shows the configuration of the GUI screen of another configuration definition construction tool 550. Some I / O devices can only be used fixedly for one operating system, and some I / O devices can be shared. In that case, the user interface shown in Fig. 22 (a) has a point that it is difficult to intuitively understand the limitations of the input / output device. In order to solve the problem, the configuration definition construction tool 550 is characterized in that a set of operating systems that can be used for each input / output device is provided in advance in a pull-down menu format.

The configuration definition construction tool 550 includes an input / output device name 551 and an OS selection download list 552. The set of possible operating systems for each input / output device name 551 is described in the OS selection pull-down list 552. For example, according to the initial settings shown in Fig. 22 (c), the communication device can be either the operating system 101, 121, or shared, so the 0S selection pull-down list 55 Has been described. There the user can select any configuration. On the other hand, since the extended slot 0 can be controlled only by the operating system 1 2 1 (OS-B), the OS selection pull-down list 55 2 has no choice. Only "Unused" or "OS-B only" items can be selected. The other buttons and the operations after pressing the buttons are the same as those in FIG.

According to the present invention, in a computer system in which a plurality of OSs are mounted while utilizing a general-purpose OS that is distributed on the market, an input / output device is flexibly set, and, for example, an input / output device is individually controlled. It is possible to set the OS exclusively or shared. Further, by setting the operating system that controls the input / output device to “none”, the input / output device can be temporarily disabled. In addition, since it is possible to safely access I / O devices that are unrelated to the operating system, a plug-and-bray operating system that searches and controls all I / O devices in the computer system will be adopted. It becomes possible.

Further, according to the present invention, in a computer system in which a plurality of OSs sharing an input / output device are mounted, the other OS continuously uses the shared input / output device regardless of the operating status of one OS. It is possible to do. That is, it is possible to prevent the malfunction of one OS, which is the object of the present invention, from affecting the operating status of the other OS sharing the input / output device.

Further, according to the present invention, an input / output device such as a communication device can be shared between computer devices in different housings. For example, while talking on a mobile phone, data can be transferred to a game device with a wireless device via a wireless device attached to the mobile phone. At this time, the present invention can also reject the input / output device access from a computer device that is not authenticated by the computer device.

Further, according to the present invention, a computer system implementing a plurality of OSs of the same type OS, it is possible to share device drivers of input / output devices between OSs.

Further, according to the present invention, in a computer system that exclusively controls an input / output device among a plurality of OSs, it is possible to easily switch the OS that controls or manages the input / output device. For this reason, when the load on one operating system increases, the workload of the user can be reduced when transferring the processing of the input / output device in the other operating system.

Further, according to the present invention, in order to set an operating system for controlling the plurality of input / output devices, it is possible to easily set the operating system using the GUI screen. Some input / output devices are controlled only by a specific operating system, and operating systems that can be used with pull-down lists so that users cannot be confused with such input / output devices. Can be set on the GUI screen. Industrial applicability

The present invention can be applied to a control device using a plurality of computers, a computer operating a plurality of operating systems, and the like.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. Multiple input / output devices,

A memory storing a plurality of operating systems, and a configuration definition table in which the correspondence between the input / output devices and the respective operating systems is defined;

A computer system having a plurality of processors connected to the plurality of input / output devices and executing the operating system,

A computer system in which the operating system executed by each of the processors refers to the configuration definition table and confirms the existence of the input / output device used by itself.

2. Multiple I / O devices and the '

A memory storing a plurality of operating systems, and a configuration definition table in which a correspondence between each of the input / output devices and each operating system is defined;

A computer system having a processor connected to the plurality of input / output devices and executing the plurality of operating systems,

Each of the operating systems refers to the configuration definition table and confirms the existence of the input / output device used by itself.

3. In the computer system of claim 1 or 2,

At least one of the input / output devices has an interrupt request issuing unit that issues an interrupt request,

The computer system includes an interrupt control unit that receives the interrupt request and notifies the operating system corresponding to the input / output device of the interrupt request.

4. In the computer system of claim 3,

The control unit selects an interrupt request to be notified preferentially from a plurality of interrupt requests based on a level set for each interrupt request of the input / output device, and sends the interrupt request to an operating system corresponding to the interrupt request. A computer system that notifies requests.

5. In the computer system of claim 1 or 2,

The computer system has a memory in which a plurality of device drivers for controlling input / output devices are stored,

The operating system refers to the configuration table, confirms the existence of the input / output device used by itself, and the operating system provides a device driver for controlling the input / output device confirmed to exist. A computer system for transferring the stored data to the memory.

6. In the computer system of claim 5,

The computer system, wherein the memory in which the device driver is stored is a memory accessible by a plurality of processors.

7. Multiple input / output devices,

A plurality of computers to which the input / output devices are connected and which execute an operation by operating an operating system;

A correspondence relationship between each of the input / output devices and an operating system of each computer is stored, and a shared memory shared among the plurality of computers;

A communication control unit for notifying an event between the plurality of computers, the computer system comprising:

The operating system of one of the computers writes information representing the input / output device entered in the computer into the shared memory, and Informing the other computer via the communication control unit that the writing has been completed,

The operating system of another computer that has received the notification reads out the information representing the input / output device written in the shared memory and stores the information in its own computer.

8. Multiple input / output devices,

A plurality of computers each connected to the input / output device and operating a plurality of operating systems to execute processing;

A computer system that stores a correspondence relationship between each of the input / output devices and an operating system of each computer, and has a shared memory shared by the plurality of computers;

At least one computer displays characters or diagrams representing the plurality of input / output devices and a plurality of operating systems on a display device that is one of the input / output devices, and is associated with the display device. A computer system for storing the characters or figures and the operating system in the shared memory.

9. Multiple input / output devices,

A computer to which each of the input / output devices is connected to execute a process by operating a plurality of operating systems;

A computer system that stores a correspondence relationship between each of the input / output devices and each of the operating systems, and has a shared memory shared by the plurality of operating systems;

The computer displays a plurality of characters or diagrams representing the input / output devices and a plurality of operating systems on a display device, which is one of the input / output devices, and displays the characters associated on the display device. Or the figure and the operator And a computer system for storing the operating system in the shared memory.

10. A computer system in which a plurality of processors executing an operating system and a plurality of input / output devices are connected via signal lines, wherein at least one of the processors receives data received from the input / output devices. A driver for executing an application to be processed based on the evening, and an application for notifying the other processor that data has been received from the input / output device, when processing is to be performed by the operating system of another processor. Computer system to run.

1 1. In the computer system of claim 10,

At least one said input / output device is a Ding. 1 or 11 0? / ^/ 1 by a communication apparatus for communicating,

A computer system for executing the application based on the received port number of the received data;

12. A computer system having a plurality of computers having a processor, a memory, and a plurality of input / output devices and performing communication between the computers, wherein at least one of the computers is capable of communication. A list indicating the computer is held in the memory, and it is determined whether or not communication is possible based on the list in response to a communication request from another computer, and the operating system of the other computer and the operation of the own computer are determined. It is determined whether the computer and the operating system match, and if communication is possible and the operating system matches, information indicating that access to the input / output device connected to the computer is possible is transmitted to the other computer. A computer system that notifies the computer.

13. Based on a request from the operating system, refer to a table in which the correspondence between the operating system and a plurality of input / output devices connected to the computer on which the operating system is executed is defined. An input / output device control method for notifying the operating system that the input / output device is defined, when the input / output device corresponding to the operating system that issued the request is defined in the table.

14. Based on a request from the operating system, refer to a table in which the correspondence between a plurality of input / output devices connected to the computer on which the operating system is executed and the operating system is defined, and refer to the table. When an input / output device corresponding to the operating system that has issued the request is defined, the operating system is notified that the input / output device is defined,

The operating system that has received the notification reads the device driver that controls the input / output device.

1 5. Multiple I / O devices are displayed in characters or figures

Displays an area for each of multiple operating systems,

When the character or figure is moved to an area displayed for each operating system, the operating system in the area is associated with an input / output device corresponding to the moved character or figure,

A method for controlling an input / output device for writing the associated information into a memory.

16. Based on a request from the operating system, refer to a table in which the correspondence between a plurality of input / output devices connected to the computer on which the operating system is executed and the operating system is defined. When an input / output device corresponding to the operating system that issued the request is defined, a control program for notifying the operating system every time the input / output device is defined is stored, and is computer-readable information. Storage medium.

1 7. Display multiple input / output devices in characters or diagrams, Displays the area for each of multiple operating systems,

A computer readable information storage medium storing a control program for writing the associated information into a memory.