Patent ID: 7600045
Filing Date: 2009-10-06
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. An information processing apparatus storing a plurality of format engines each for executing data described in a different format, the information processing apparatus comprising: format engine managing means for pre-defining common states which define operating states of each format engine in a representation common to all the format engines, and managing an operation of each format engine; individual state obtaining means, provided in correspondence with each format engine, for obtaining an individual state of each format engine and sending common state information indicating the common state corresponding to the obtained individual state to the format engine managing means; and operation control means, provided in correspondence with each format engine, for pre-defining a correspondence between the common states and individual states which define the operating states of each format engine in a representation different for each format engine, and controlling operations of the format engines such that each format engine is in an arbitrary individual state; wherein for changing a format engine to a predetermined common state, the format engine managing means sends a message including common state information indicating the predetermined common state to the operation control means provided in correspondence with the format engine, and when the message is sent from the format engine managing means, the operation control means controls the format engine such that the format engine is in the individual state corresponding to the common state indicated by the common state information included in the message; and wherein the format engine managing means manages an operation of each format engine based on the common state indicated by the common state information which is outputted from the individual state obtaining means; further comprising a minimum resource which is used by a format engine during execution and cannot be used simultaneously by a plurality of format engines; wherein: when the individual state obtained from a format engine shows an operating state using the minimum resource, the individual state obtaining means outputs common state information indicating a predetermined state to the format engine managing means as the common state information of the format engine; and when the individual state obtained from a format engine show an operating state not using the minimum resource, the individual state obtaining means outputs common state information indicating a state other than the predetermined state to the format engine managing means as the common state information of the format engine; and the format engine managing means manages the operation of each format engine such that the common state information of only one format engine indicates the predetermined state.