Information processing device, information processing method, program, and information storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10133604-B2
Application number	US-201214360973-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 10, 2012
Priority date	Dec 13, 2011
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

In response to a selection of a program, a board image display control section sets program related information associated with the selected program in a displayable state. An execution start managing section starts the program in response to reception of a request to start the program, the program related information associated with the program being set in the displayable state. A stop and end managing section ends an already started program when a given condition is satisfied at a time of starting the program by the execution start managing section. A setting of program related information associated with the ended program is maintained in a displayable state even after the program is ended by the stop and end managing section.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An information processing device comprising:
a menu image display control unit configured to display a menu of user selectable programs, wherein each of said programs has an associated priority parameter assigned to it;
a related information display control unit configured to set, in response to a selection of a program from said menu, program related information associated with the selected program in a displayable state;
a board image display control unit configured to generate and display a program-related image corresponding to each program in said menu, wherein said program-related image contains information related to said program,
wherein said program-related image is divided into two separate regions: a communication region comprising messages posted by users of said program and a program information region comprising provider information and an execution start button image for executing said program, wherein said provider information comprises: update information about said selected program, an event related to said program, information about a related product, released information about a patch, and a promotional video for said program;
a starting unit configured to start or resume a selected program in response to reception of a request to start the program, the program related information associated with the program being set in the displayable state;
a continuation priority unit configured to set and alter the associated priority parameter of said programs, wherein said continuation priority unit is configured to alter the priority parameter of one or more of said programs by way of a protection declaration, a determination that one or more of said programs is a foreground program, and a determination that one or more of said programs is a background program; and
an ending unit configured to end execution of an already started program, said end of execution causing all resources used by the already started program to be released, when a predetermined maximum amount of resources allocated to running programs will be exceeded as a result of starting the selected program, wherein said ending unit selects the already started program to end based, at least in part, on the priority parameter value of the already running program at a time of starting the selected program by the starting unit;
wherein a program-related image of an ended program is maintained in a displayable state, such that said program-related image of said ended program is displayed when said ended program is again selected;
wherein the ending unit makes the storing unit store execution condition data representing execution conditions of the ended program sufficient to reproduce a state at which the program was ended when the ended program is restarted, and
wherein, in the case where the storing unit stores the execution condition data of the program, the starting unit reproduces the execution conditions of the program on the basis of the execution condition data when the starting unit starts the program.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the ending unit ends a program different from a program that generates information being displayed more preferentially than the program that generates the information being displayed.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein
the ending unit makes the storing unit store the execution condition data representing the execution conditions when the program to be ended was ended sufficient to reproduce a state at which the program was ended when the ended program is restarted, and
at a time of starting the program, the starting unit reproduces the execution conditions when the program was ended last time.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the related information display control unit updates the program related information associated with the program ended by the ending unit on a basis of information obtained from an external device connected via a network after the program is ended by the ending unit.

5. The information processing device according to claim 1 , further comprising
an option display control unit configured to perform control such that a plurality of options each associated with a program are displayed by display unit;
in response to an operation of selecting an option, program related information associated with the program associated with the selected option being set in a displayable state.

6. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein said given condition is a lowest priority.

7. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein said programs comprise shell programs, large programs, and mini-programs.

8. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein said information processing device further comprises a button for requesting a suspend operation of a running program and a stop and end managing unit configured to execute the suspend operation.

9. The information processing device according to claim 8 , wherein when a suspend operation is executed, the information processing device stores an image of a screen shot of the program being suspended, stores execution condition data of the program being suspended, and changes the image displayed on the screen to the program-related image of the program being suspended.

10. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of said program-related images can be displayed sequentially in response to an image changing operation performed by said user.

11. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein when the starting unit starts or resumes a selected program in response to a request and other programs are already running on said information processing device, the priority parameter assigned to those other running programs is decremented by one.

12. An information processing method comprising:
displaying a menu of user selectable programs;
setting, in response to a selection of a program from said menu, program related information associated with the selected program in a displayable state;
generating and displaying a program-related image corresponding to each program in said menu, wherein said program-related image contains information related to said program,
wherein said program-related image is divided into two separate regions: a program information region comprising provider information for said program and an execution start button image for executing said program, and a communication region comprising messages posted by users of said program;
storing execution condition data representing execution conditions of the program when the program is ended, said ending causing all resources used by the program to be released, wherein said data is sufficient to reproduce a state at which the program was ended when the ended program is restarted;
reproducing the execution conditions of the program on the basis of the execution condition data when starting the program;
starting or resuming a selected program in response to reception of a request to start the program, the program related information associated with the program being set in the displayable state; and
ending execution of an already started program and releasing resources used by the already started program when a predetermined maximum amount of resources allocated to running programs will be exceeded as a result of starting the selected program, wherein said ending selects the already started program to end based at least in part on a priority parameter associated with the already started program, wherein the priority param

Assignees

• Sony Computer Entertainment Inc
• Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc

Inventors

• Nakagawa Takeshi
• Hatakeda Takashi
• Nagata Akihito
• Kataoka Yumi
• Morita Toru
• Kaneko Wataru
• Yamaguchi Kousuke

Classifications

• G06F9/485 Primary

  Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution (G06F9/4881 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F9/461

  Saving or restoring of program or task context · CPC title

• G06F9/5038 Primary

  considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration (scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups) · CPC title