JP4644967B2 - Portable information terminal device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a portable information terminal device that operates using a detachable battery including a flash memory as a power source.
[0002]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Portable code scanners (handy terminals), mobile phone devices, PDAs and other portable information terminal devices that optically read barcodes, two-dimensional codes, etc. store the read code data, phone number data, PIM data, etc. A flash memory is provided as a storage means. A battery is stored in these portable information terminal devices, and the battery can be replaced by a user.
[0003]
When the data stored in the block of the flash memory is no longer necessary, the control means (microcomputer) of the portable information terminal device is a block including a used cluster when the data stored in the specific block is rewritten. When a block is made up of unused clusters (garbage collection), block erasure processing is executed when necessary data in the RAM is saved to the flash memory when the power is turned off. This erasure process takes about 700 msec for each block. During this erasing process, even if the user turns off the power switch of the portable information terminal device, the operation is not accepted.
[0004]
However, for example, if the user removes the battery during the erasing process, the power supply to the flash memory is cut off, and the erasing process is interrupted (stopped). As a result, the erase state managed by the control means for the flash memory is different from the actual erase state, and a write error occurs when the control means next writes to the erase interrupt block. Since this error cannot be dealt with by the user, for example, a warning such as "Overwriting to flash memory has occurred" is displayed on the display, and measures such as prompting the user to request repairs were taken. .
[0005]
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a portable information terminal device capable of successfully completing the erasure process even when the battery is removed during the erasure process of the flash memory. Is to provide.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the first aspect of the present invention, a part of the storage area of the flash memory is an erasure management area for storing information related to the erase state of the flash memory. Then, when executing the erasing process of the designated area of the flash memory, the erasing control means writes information indicating the erasure completion of the designated area in the erasure management area after the erasing operation of the flash memory is completed. As a result, information on whether or not the erasing operation of the designated area is completed, that is, information on the erasing state is stored in the erasing management area, so that the erasing control means interrupts the erasing operation by referring to this information Area can be specified.
[0007]
The erasure control means executes the process of specifying the erasure interruption area when the power is turned on, and re-executes the erasure operation of the erasure area when the erasure interruption area exists. Even if the erasing operation is interrupted due to removal, the erasing process can be completed normally.
[0008]
Erase control unit writes the area number for specifying the specified area of the unused area of the erased management area in an unused area of the search perilla before performing the erasing process of the designated area, after the erase operation has been completed Information indicating completion of erasure is written in correspondence with the area number. Thereby, the erasure control means can specify the erasure interruption area based on these area numbers and the information corresponding thereto. In addition, according to this means, only the writing process is generated in the erase management area until there is no unused area in the erase management area, so that it is suitable for a flash memory having a characteristic that a part of block data cannot be rewritten. It becomes a means. Furthermore, when there is no unused area in the erase management area, the erase management area can be used continuously by erasing the erase management area by means described in claim 2 .
[0009]
According to the means described in claim 3 , the consistency data area is provided in the erasure management area, and the erasure control means confirms that the erasure operation is being performed on the consistency data area prior to the erasure operation of the erasure management area. Inconsistent data is written, and after the erase operation is finished, matched data indicating that the erase operation is completed is written. However, the inconsistent data is data that is written after the matched data is once written, and is therefore rewritable data due to the characteristics of the flash memory such as bit clear or bit set. Thus, information on whether or not the erase operation in the erase management area is completed, that is, information on the erase state of the erase management area is stored in the consistency data area.
[0010]
The erase control means re-executes the erase operation in the erase management area when the consistency data is not stored in the consistency data area when the power is turned on, so that the battery is removed during the erase process in the erase management area and erased. Even when the operation is interrupted, the erasure process of the erasure management area can be normally completed.
[0011]
According to the means described in claim 4, when the erase operation in the erase interrupted area is re-executed, the fact is displayed on the display means, so that the user recognizes the cause of the waiting time when the power is turned on. Can do.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a barcode scanner will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 5 shows the appearance of the barcode scanner. The barcode scanner 1 (corresponding to a portable information terminal device) is called a handy terminal that is operated by a user with his / her hand. The barcode scanner 1 has a barcode reading function, a processing function for reading the barcode data, and a memory. It has a function and a data communication function with an external device (not shown) such as a personal computer.
[0013]
The case 2 of the barcode scanner 1 has a proximal end side as a grip portion, a distal end side that is slightly wider and is bent so as to be slightly inclined downward, and a distal end portion thereof is a reading portion. A plurality of key switches 3 a constituting the key input unit 3 are disposed on the upper surface portion of the base end side of the case 2. Symbols are displayed on the top surface of each key switch 3a, "PW" is a power key, "BS" is a backward key, "C" is a cancel key, "SF" is a shift key, "M1" and "M2" Is an assignment key, “ENT” is an enter key, “0” to “9” are numeric keys, “.” Is a period key, and “F1” to “F8” are function keys. The user can assign and use various functions (for example, frequently used functions) to the assignment keys “M1” and “M2”.
[0014]
A trigger switch 4 for reading is provided on the side surface of the case 2, and a display unit 5 (corresponding to a display unit) made of, for example, a liquid crystal display device is provided on the top surface of the case 2. The key switch 3 a and the display unit 5 are mounted on a printed board (not shown) disposed in the case 2. A removable battery 6 serving as a power source for the barcode scanner 1 is housed inside the base end side of the case 2.
[0015]
FIG. 4 shows the electrical configuration of the barcode scanner 1 by functional blocks. The control circuit 7 is connected to the key input unit 3, the trigger switch 4, and the display unit 5, and the RAM 8, the flash memory 9, the illumination LED 10, the line sensor 11, and the data communication unit 12. . These are operated by receiving power supply from the battery 6. When the battery 6 is removed from the barcode scanner 1, the operation is continued for several milliseconds by the charge of a smoothing capacitor (not shown). Stop. The RAM 8 is always backed up by another battery (not shown).
[0016]
The control circuit 7 is constituted by a microcomputer having a CPU as a main body, and corresponds to an erasure control means in the present invention. The control circuit 7 executes the above-described barcode reading processing, processing and storage of the read barcode data, and data communication processing with a personal computer in accordance with a processing program (application program) stored in the flash memory 9. It has become.
[0017]
The RAM 8 temporarily stores the read barcode data, work data, and the like. As is well known, the flash memory 9 is configured to be collectively erasable in units of blocks, and in addition to the above processing program, a user data file including an erasure control program, barcode data, product name data, and the like, which will be described later. Parameter data, work data, and the like are stored. Further, a part of the storage area of the flash memory 9 is used as an erase management area in which the erase state is stored in the erase process of the flash memory 9.
[0018]
The illumination LED 10 is an illumination light source for barcode reading composed of a plurality of LEDs, and the control circuit 7 causes the illumination LED 10 to blink when the trigger switch 4 is pressed. Yes. This illumination light is applied to a barcode to be read through an illumination lens (not shown).
[0019]
The line sensor 11 is a one-dimensional image sensor configured by arranging photodiodes (not shown) in a line, and images reflected light reflected from the barcode in a state where illumination light is irradiated through an imaging lens (not shown). The imaging signal is output to the control circuit 7.
[0020]
The data communication unit 12 performs data communication with the personal computer by optical communication using IrDA or the like, communication via a communication cable, or low-power wireless communication.
[0021]
Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
The flash memory 9 is configured to be erasable in units of blocks having a storage capacity of 64 kbytes, for example. A block number is assigned to each block, and blocks assigned with block numbers 0, 1, 2,... Are designated as block 0, block 1, block 2,. These blocks store the processing program, erase control program, user data, and the like, and are used as an erase management area to store the erase state of the block. The erasure management area is used to detect the erase interrupt block when the erase operation is interrupted due to the removal of the battery 6 during the block erase process.
[0022]
FIG. 3 specifically shows the contents stored in the erasure management area. In this embodiment, block 0 having an address from 000000H to 00FFFFH is used as an erase management area, and block 1 having an address from addresses 010000H to 01FFFFH and block 2 having an address from 020000H to 02FFFFH are used as user data areas. . Blocks 1 and 2 which are user data areas are erased when garbage collection is executed when the user inputs an erase command from the key input unit 3.
[0023]
Of the erasure management area, 16 bytes from addresses 000000H to 00000FH are used as a consistency data area. As will be described later, when there is no unused area in the erase management area, the block 0 itself may be erased. If the battery 6 is removed during this time, the erase operation is interrupted. The consistency data area is written with predetermined consistency data “F0E1... 1E0F” except during the erase process of block 0, and the control circuit 7 erases block 0 by referring to the consistency data area. An interruption state can be detected. In FIG. 3, addresses 000010H to 000047H are areas already used in the block erase process, and addresses 000048H to 00FFFFH are unused areas.
[0024]
FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a block erase process for the block 1 or 2 of the flash memory 9 in the erase control program, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a re-erase process of an erase interrupted block at power-on in the erase control program. It is. Although not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, when necessary data and unnecessary data are mixed in the erase block 2, the necessary data is temporarily saved in the RAM 8 and restored after erasing the block. Processing may be added. Further, the control circuit 7 does not accept the power-off operation by the power key “PW” during the execution of the erase control program.
[0025]
In FIG. 1, the control circuit 7 determines whether or not predetermined matching data “F0E1... 1E0F” is written in the consistency data area prior to block erasing (step S1). The process proceeds to step S2 according to “YES”. In step S2, the control circuit 7 searches for the start address of the unused area in the erase management area provided in the block 0 (hereinafter referred to as an unused start address). Since the flash memory 9 has all bits set to 1 in the erased state and the block number FFFFH does not exist, the lowest address where the data FFFFH is stored is the unused start address (000048H in FIG. 3). ).
[0026]
However, when the erasure management area is completely used up to the address 00FFFFH, the unused head address cannot be found. Therefore, the control circuit 7 determines whether or not there is an unused area in step S3. If there is an unused area, the process proceeds to step S4 according to “YES”, and the block number (2 bytes) to be erased is written to the unused head address. Thereafter, in step S5, the erase operation of the block is executed. This erasure takes about 700 msec. When the erase operation is completed, the control circuit 7 proceeds to step S6, writes the erase completion flag 0000H at the address indicated by (unused head address + 2), and ends the block erase process. When the block erase is normally completed, the written block number and the erase completion flag 0000H corresponding to the block number become unnecessary data.
[0027]
On the other hand, if there is no unused area in step S3, the process proceeds to step S7 according to “NO”, and the erase process of the erase management area (block 0) consisting of steps S7 to S9 is executed. That is, the control circuit 7 writes inconsistent data “0000... 0000” indicating that the erasing operation is being performed in the consistency data area in step S7, clears all the bits to 0, and then erases block 0 in step S8. Perform the action. When the erase operation is completed, all the bits of block 0 become 1. The control circuit 7 proceeds to step S9 and writes the matching data “F0E1... 1E0F” indicating that the erasure is completed in the consistency data area. As a result, the erasure management area becomes an unused area except for the consistency data area, so that the block erasure process can be continued by proceeding to step S4 described above.
[0028]
Further, in step S1, if the consistency data is not written in the consistency data area, the process proceeds to step S8 according to “NO”, and the erase process of the erase management area (block 0) is executed. In this case, since data different from the consistency data has already been written in the consistency data area, step S7 need not be executed (of course, it may be executed).
[0029]
Next, the erase process for the erase interrupt block shown in FIG. 2 will be described. When the power is turned on, the control circuit 7 determines whether or not the matching data is written in the consistency data area (step T1). If written, the process proceeds to step T2 according to “YES”. To do. In step T2, the control circuit 7 searches for the last address used for writing the block number in the erase management area (hereinafter referred to as the last used address). In step T3, it is determined whether or not the erase completion flag 0000H has been written to the address indicated by (last used address + 2). Exit.
[0030]
On the other hand, when the erasing operation is interrupted due to the removal of the battery 6 during the erasing process of the erasure management area (block 0), the consistency data is not written in the consistency data area. In this case, the control circuit 7 determines “NO” in the above step T1, executes the erasure process of the erasure management area (block 0) in steps T4 and T5, and ends the process. The processes in steps T4 and T5 are the same as the processes in steps S8 and S9 of the block erase process described above.
[0031]
Further, when the erasing operation is interrupted due to the removal of the battery 6 during the erasing process of the block 1 or 2, the erasure completion flag 0000H is not written at the address indicated by (last used address + 2). In this case, the control circuit 7 determines “NO” in step T3, and executes re-erasure processing of the block in step T6. When the erase operation is completed, the process proceeds to step T7, the erase completion flag 0000H is written, and the process is terminated. During this re-erasing operation, the control circuit 7 displays a message “Re-erasing processing of the flash memory is executed. Please wait for a while” on the display unit 5. Thereby, the user can recognize the cause of the waiting time when the power is turned on.
[0032]
As described above, the flash memory 9 built in the barcode scanner 1 is provided with an erasure management area, and the control circuit 7 sets the block number to be erased in the erasure management area prior to execution of the block erasure process. In addition to writing, an erase completion flag is written in correspondence with the block number after completion of the erase operation, so that a block erase state indicating whether the block is being erased or erased is stored in the erase management area. Therefore, the control circuit 7 can specify the presence / absence of the block in which the erase operation is interrupted and its number by referring to the erase management area.
[0033]
Then, the control circuit 7 refers to the erasure management area when the power is turned on, and executes the erasure process of the erasure block if there is an erasure interrupted block. Even if it is interrupted, the erasure process can be completed normally. As a result, for the flash memory 9, the erased state managed by the control circuit 7 is not different from the actual erased state, and an error occurs even if the user removes the battery 6 at an incorrect timing. Disappears.
[0034]
Further, according to the present embodiment, the block number and the erase completion flag are sequentially written in the unused area of the erase management area every time the erase process is executed, so that the erase is performed until there is no unused area. Only write processing occurs in the management area. This is a means suitable for a flash memory having a characteristic in which part of block data cannot be rewritten. When there is no unused area in the erase management area, the erase management area (block 0) is erased in blocks, so that the erase management area can be used continuously.
[0035]
Further, a consistency data area is provided in the erasure management area, and the control circuit 7 writes inconsistent data to the consistency data area prior to the erasure processing of the erasure management area, and outputs the consistency data after the erase operation is completed. Since data is written, the consistency data area stores the erase state of the erase management area indicating whether the erase management area is being erased or erased.
[0036]
The control circuit 7 re-executes the erasing operation in the erasure management area when the consistency data is not stored in the consistency data area when the power is turned on. Therefore, the battery 6 is removed during the erasure process in the erasure management area. Even when the erasing operation is interrupted, the erasing process in the erasure management area can be normally completed.
[0037]
Although it is conceivable that the battery 6 is removed during the writing process, as described above, even if the battery 6 is removed, the operation is maintained for several milliseconds and the writing process is completed during that time. There is no interruption.
[0038]
The present invention is not limited to a barcode scanner, and can be similarly applied to a portable information terminal device that includes a flash memory such as a mobile phone device and a PDA and operates using a detachable battery as a power source.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing block erase processing of a flash memory in a barcode scanner according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing re-erasing processing of an erase interrupted block at power-on. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the electrical configuration of a barcode scanner using functional blocks. Fig. 5 is an external perspective view of the barcode scanner.
1 is a barcode scanner (portable information terminal device), 5 is a display unit (display means), 6 is a battery, 7 is a control circuit (erase control means), and 9 is a flash memory.

Claims (4)

In a portable information terminal device operating with a detachable battery equipped with a flash memory as a power source,
An erasure management area for storing information on the erasure state of the flash memory is provided in a part of the storage area of the flash memory,
Wherein the erase management area when the prior to the erase operation of the designated area of the flash memory writes the area number for specifying the specified area in an unused area of the erase management area, the erase operation of the specified area is completed Writes information indicating the completion of erasure of the specified area corresponding to the area number, and identifies the area where the erasure operation was interrupted based on the information on the erasure state stored in the erasure management area when the power is turned on A portable information terminal device comprising an erasing control means for re-executing an erasing operation of an area. 2. The portable information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the erasure control means executes an erasure operation of the erasure management area when there is no unused area in the erasure management area . The erasure management area is provided with a consistency data area,
The erasure control means writes inconsistent data to the consistency data area prior to the erase operation in the erase management area and writes the consistency data after the erase operation is completed. 3. The portable information terminal device according to claim 2 , wherein the erasure operation of the erasure management area is re-executed when no is stored . A display means,
It said erasure control means, to re-execute the erasing operation of the erase suspend region, portable information terminal device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that a message to that effect on the display means.

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