Hybrid system, or hybrid PC, is a technology in which a further system is embedded into/integrated with an original PC system. For example, a system of a mobile terminal device can be embedded into/integrated with an original system of a notebook computer. In this way, two systems can cooperate with each other such that their respective advantages can be fully exploited.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing cooperation in an existing hybrid system. The hybrid system comprises a master system (such as Vista, Windows XP, Linux, etc.) and a slave system (such as Win CE, Linux, etc., also referred to as subsystem). The master and the slave systems cooperatively communicate with each other to fulfill the task requirements of a user. Each of the master and the slave systems has its own hardware and software modules. Also, there are some devices (such as LCD display, keyboard, network adapter, audio device, etc.) shared by both systems. For such shared devices, the task requirement of a user can be triggered by a requirement generation module and the instructions of such task requirement can be transmitted by the Embedded Controller (EC) of the master system or the Multimedia Control Unit (MCU) of the slave system to the corresponding system for accomplishing the task required by the user.
In an existing hybrid system, when a user initiates a task requirement to be accomplished by a particular system, it is required to switch between the master system and the slave system. Such switching operation is an inter-system switching directly performed by the user.
In this case, the user has to face the problem of multi-system operation. The user may be confused on how and when to switch between these two systems. Additionally, it is difficult for the user to effectively take advantages of different slave systems having different strengths. Currently, state switching of a hybrid system is complicated since there are many states and a safe and convenient switching between different states has to be taken into consideration.
What a user really cares is how to accomplish a desired application in a simply, efficient and optimum manner, rather than the hardware platform and operation system for accomplishing the application as well as the underlying complicated, boring and abstract technical expertise. For a hybrid system, a number of advantages come along with complicated states, troublesome operations as well as difficulty in deployment/management and confusion on usage custom due to dual-system. Thus, it is the key for converting the innovative hybrid system technology into products to facilitate user operations while exploiting advantages of the hybrid system.
In implementing the present invention, the inventor has recognized the following problems in the prior art. The existing hybrid system cannot accomplish a task requirement of a user by using a corresponding system automatically without the user selecting and switching to the system fulfilling the task requirement. However, the user typically is not familiar with the slave system in the hybrid system, which causes difficulty in operating the hybrid system.