Patent ID: 8423681

Claim:
A control apparatus, comprising: an input-output device configured to receive an input signal from a process configured to request a processing; a controller configured to carry out a control operation in accordance with the input signal, to output a result of the control operation to the process via the input-output device, and configured to have: a timer unit configured to be excited at a constant period, and a prediction timer configured to be excited before a constant period given by the timer unit; a hardware part connected between the input-output device and the controller, and including an I/O bus configured to function as a communication path of a control signal and data transmitted between the input-output device and the controller; and a software part configured to be executed in the controller, wherein the software part includes: an information process part configured to execute an information processing; a control process part configured to execute a control processing; and a switchover part configured to perform a switchover between: the information process part, and the control process part; wherein the information process part and switchover part are configured such that at every excitation of the prediction timer, the information process part is notified of a switchover, and the switchover part suspends an execution of the information process part in order to execute the control process part in priority; wherein the switchover part is configured such that at every excitation of the timer unit, the switchover part starts the execution of the control process part; and wherein the switchover part is configured such that after the execution of the control process part is terminated, and within a time period shorter than the constant period of the timer unit, the switchover part performs a switchover between the information process part and the control process part, such that the execution of the information process part is resumed.