Patent ID: 7155550

Claim:
A program-executing apparatus configured such that mutually different program execution environments are individually set into two types of operation circuits as first and second systems that are connected together, comprising: a shared memory usable by the two types of operation circuits connected to a path connecting the individual operation circuits, wherein the shared memory comprises one or more memory fields, each memory field comprising: a command storage field for storing a command issued to the second system; and a data storage field for storing data associated with one or more commands; and a command-relaying means in each of the systems, wherein when a process requested from the first system to the second system has occurred, the command-relaying means executes: write control such that the first system writes a command indicative of the contents of the process into the shared memory and issues an interrupt request to the second system to cause an interrupt, wherein in the write control, after the first system performs a write of data into the data storage field of the second system, the command relaying means writes the command and a storage location of the data into the command storage field; and read control such that in response to the interrupt request, the second system performs a read of the command from the shared memory, wherein in the read control, after the second system performs a read of the command and the storage location of the data from the command storage field for the second system in response to the occurrence of the interrupt, the command-relaying means clears the command storage field and then reads the data.