問15
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組込みソフトウェアに該当するものはどれか。
平成22年度 春期 ITパスポート試験 問15
This question's explanation and your answers so far.
解説
問 15
Incorrectア
“Software for designing industrial products, creating drawings, and modeling” is general-purpose application software, typified by CAD/CAE, that a person operates on a PC or a workstation. It is only the objects being designed that are industrial products; the software itself is not built into some device and controlling that device, so it is not embedded software.
- イ
正解 The correct answer is イ. Embedded software is not application software that runs on a general-purpose computer such as a PC. It is software built into a specific device from the start — a home appliance, a car, industrial equipment, communication equipment, and so on — and running only for the dedicated purpose of controlling that device. Most of it is written into ROM or flash memory as firmware, and users do not normally start it up or operate it consciously. Choice イ, “Software that controls the amount of fuel supplied to a car engine,” runs on the control computer (ECU) built into the car and, based on input from sensors, controls the amount of fuel injected — that is, the operation of the engine itself — in real time. This is exactly “dedicated software built into a device to control that device,” so it is a typical example of embedded software.
Incorrectウ
“Software that edits images taken with a digital camera on a PC” is, exactly as the choice itself states with the words “on a PC,” image-editing application software that runs on a PC. Even though the data it handles are images from a digital camera, it is a different thing from the software built into the camera body that controls shooting, recording, and so on (that one is embedded software), so this choice is wrong.
Incorrectエ
“Software that performs macro calculations as one of the functions of spreadsheet software” is nothing more than one function (a macro) provided by spreadsheet software, which is application software on a PC. The place where it runs is a general-purpose PC, and it is not built into a specific device for the purpose of controlling that device, so it is not embedded software.
ここがポイント
- Definition of embedded software: software built into a specific device such as a home appliance, a car, or industrial equipment, running for the dedicated purpose of controlling that device. It is stored in ROM or flash memory as firmware, and a key feature is that it must meet real-time requirements within limited memory and processing power (in recent years it is also at the core of IoT devices).
- There are two points for telling them apart: where it runs, and what it runs for. CAD, image-editing software, and spreadsheet software (and their functions), which a person operates on a PC, are general-purpose application software; only software that runs inside a device and controls the device itself counts as embedded software.
用語