Patent ID: 8555110

Claim:
An information processing apparatus for processing information by executing a system operation, comprising: an active unit that is activated for executing the system operation, and includes first processing units each having a first storing device and a first processor performing a computation, and a first diagnosing unit that is provided commonly for the first processing units and diagnoses the first processing units; a standby unit that stands by for executing the system operation, and includes second processing units each having a second storing device and a second processor performing a computation, and a second diagnosing unit that is provided commonly for the second processing units and diagnoses the second processing units; and a system controlling device that is connected to the active unit and the standby unit, and includes a switching unit configured to embed the standby unit in the information processing apparatus by switching between the first processing units and the second processing units, a state monitoring unit configured to monitor the diagnosis of the active unit by the first diagnosing unit, and a controlling unit controlling the switching unit to switch a first processing unit in which an abnormality is detected to a second processing unit which is not being diagnosed when the state monitoring unit detects the abnormality in any of the first processing units, wherein the controlling unit controls a schedule of diagnoses performed by the second diagnosing unit, wherein the controlling unit controls the switching unit to switch the first processing unit in which the abnormality is detected to the second processing unit which is not being diagnosed based on the schedule of diagnoses by the second diagnosing unit, wherein the standby unit further comprises a power supply unit that supplies power to the second processing units, and wherein said information processing apparatus further comprises a scheduling unit configured to control a schedule of a power supply by the power supply unit to the second processing units based on the schedule of the diagnoses performed by the second diagnosing unit, and the scheduling unit further comprises a diagnosis item holding unit configured to hold, as diagnosis items used to diagnose the active unit and the standby unit by the first and the second diagnosing units, first diagnosis items which are contents of instructions used for diagnosing the active unit and the standby unit before the standby unit is embedded in the information processing apparatus, and second diagnosis items which are contents of instructions used for diagnosing the active unit and the standby unit after the standby unit is embedded in the information processing apparatus, and the number of the second diagnosis items is smaller than the number of the first diagnosis items.