Information processing apparatus having an initializing emulation program to provide compatibility between different models

• US 6,035,116 A
• Filed: 01/09/1997
• Issued: 03/07/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Takehara, Mitsuru, Terada, Hajime
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John A.
• Application Number:
  US08/909,431
• Time in Patent Office: 1,153 Days
• Field of Search: 395/527, 395/500, 395/705, 395/500.45, 395/500.48, 714/1, 714/25, 714/28, 714/29, 364/488-491, 364/578, 324/500, 711/4, 711/103, 704/2, 707/4
• US Class Current: 703/24
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45537 Provision of facilities of other operating environments, e.g. WINE I/O emulation G06F13/105

Abstract

An information processing system and apparatus and an information recording medium wherein the compatibility of a program between preceding and succeeding models is assured without requiring a high cost are disclosed. In such a case wherein different models such as first, second and third apparatus are developed successively in time, emulation programs for the different models are stored in advance in program ROMs of the respective models. A difference in processing between the different models is accommodated by one of the emulation programs to establish compatibility between the operations of them. Before an application program is executed on any one of the apparatus, the emulation program is first started up.

Claims

1. An information processing system which assures the compatibility of a particular application program between a first model information processing apparatus and a second model information processing apparatus, comprising:

processing means for executing the particular application program under control of an operating system; and

initializing means associated with said first model for causing said processing means, in response to said processing means executing the application program, to execute the initializing program associated with the first model for accommodating any differences between normal processing operations of said first and second models to establish compatibility between the processing operations of said first and second models, the initialization program establishing compatibility by causing predetermined normal operations of the first model to be substituted, if necessary, for those predetermined normal operations of the second model that the first model is not capable of performing such that when the application program requests the processing means to execute one of the predetermined normal operation of the second model, that the first model is not capable of performing, the processing means instead executes the predetermined normal operations of the first model caused to be substituted by the initializing program,

wherein the first model further comprises;

random access memory means for storing data;

color display means for displaying data using a first set of colors which are selectable from a plurality of colors of a color palette;

keyboard input means having a plurality of keys for enabling the inputting of commands by a user, the keyboard input means having a first set of function keys; and

a read only memory means for storing the functions to perform the predetermined operations of the first model to be substituted, if necessary during the processing of an application program, for the operations of the second model, including one or more of the following operations;

a) causing the color display means to display data using a predetermined set of colors which are not selectable from a larger group of colors by the information processing apparatus;

b) causing the keyboard input means to emulate a keyboard having a second set of function keys which are fewer in number than the function keys of the first set,

wherein the random access memory means is a hard disk drive, operation of which is caused by the initialization program to substitute for operation of an EEPROM.

2. An information processing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the color display means can display 256 colors arbitrarily selected from a color palette of 1,280,000 colors.

3. An information processing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the initialization program causes the keyboard input means to reassign a function allocated to a predetermined key to another key.

4. A recording medium for use with an information processing system, wherein the first information processing system includes a processing means that executes an operating system, the recording medium having recorded thereon:

a) an application program to be executed by the processing means, under the operating system;

b) an initialization program to be executed by the processing means in response to the processing means executing the application program, wherein the initialization program is associated with a first model information processing apparatus for accommodating any differences between normal operations of the first model with normal operations of a second model information processing apparatus to establish compatibility between the processing operations of the first model and the second model, the initializing program establishing compatibility by causing predetermined normal operations of the first model to be substituted, if necessary, for those predetermined normal operations of the second model that the first model is not capable of performing such that when the application program requests the processing means to execute one of the predetermined normal operation of the second model, that the first model is not capable of performing, the processing means instead executes the predetermined normal operation of the first model caused to be substituted by the initializing program,

wherein said first model further comprises;

random access memory means for storing data;

color display means for displaying data using a first set of colors which are selectable from a plurality of colors of a color palette;

keyboard input means having a plurality of keys for enabling the inputting of commands by a user, the keyboard input means having a first set of function keys; and

read only memory means for storing the functions to perform the predetermined operations of the first model to be substituted, if necessary during the processing of an application program, for the operations of the second model, including one or more of the following operations;

a) causing the color display means to display data using a predetermined set of colors which are not selectable from a larger group of colors by the information processing apparatus;

b) causing the keyboard input means to emulate a keyboard having a second set of function keys which are fewer in number than the function keys of the first set

wherein the random access memory means is a hard disk drive, operation of which is caused by the initialization program, when executed by the processing means of the first model, to substitute for operation of an EEPROM.

5. An information processing apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the color display means can display 256 colors arbitrarily selected from a color palette of 1,280,000 colors.

6. An information processing apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the initialization program, when executed by the processing means of the first model, causes the keyboard input means to reassign a function allocated to a predetermined key to another key.