JPS6029131B2 - Diagnostic method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a diagnostic method, and more particularly to a diagnostic function test for peripheral devices or processing devices that reduces the overhead of diagnostic processing by firmware.

Generally, in order to test the diagnostic function of peripheral devices, diagnostic instructions are defined separately from other instructions, and the firmware for executing the diagnostic instructions is fixed in read-only memory.

Therefore, when normal instructions are processed, the diagnostic instruction execution processing routine becomes unnecessary overhead and has the disadvantage that it is difficult to obtain a high diagnostic analysis ability.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and is to load diagnostic firmware from a main storage device to a peripheral device or other processing device, execute a diagnosis using the loaded firmware, and The purpose is to provide a diagnostic method to check whether or not the file has been loaded correctly.

Hereinafter, the diagnostic method of the present invention will be explained using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for understanding the structure of the present invention, and is a conceptual diagram of a basic electronic computer.

In the figure, 1 is a central processing unit CPU, 2 is a main memory device MMU, and 3 is a direct memory access controller D.
MAC, 4 is an input/output control device 1/oC, 5 is an input/output device 1/o, 6 is a CPU that connects the central processing unit CPUI and the direct memory access controller DMCA3.
7 is a memory bus connecting the central processing unit CPUI and the main memory device MMU2; 8 is a memory bus connecting the direct memory access controller DMAC3 and the main memory device MM;
A memory bus 9 connects U2 and a bus 9 connects the direct memory access controller DMAC3 and various input/output control devices 1/o4. The functional operations of each block are well known and will therefore be omitted. FIG. 2 shows the internal configuration of a peripheral device configured to embody the diagnostic method of the present invention.

In the figure, when an input/output command is issued from the outside, decoders DEC1 and 12 decode the command and separate it into a normal command and a load firmware command. When the command is a load firmware command, a predetermined value is set. The counter COUNT, 13 stores diagnostic firmware loaded from the main storage device MMU2.
- Cal memory LM, 14 is a read-only memory ROM in which firmware for controlling various peripheral devices is stored.
, 15 is an address register AR for instructing the fetch address of the firmware, and 16 is a decoder DEC2 for decoding the fetched firmware and instructing control of various registers and gates. Further, 17 and 18 are gates, and 19 indicates a normal instruction and a load firmware instruction. The operation shown in FIG. 2 will be explained below. First, an input/output instruction is generated from the outside, which is decoded by the instruction decoders DEC1 and DEC11 of the peripheral device and separated into a normal instruction and a load firmware instruction.

If the command is a load farm wuf command, Town YuC
An initial value is set in OUNT12.

The counter COUNT12 addresses the local memory LM13 in the peripheral device and loads data from the main memory device MMU2 to the local memory LM13 by a predetermined length. When loading for a predetermined length is completed, the counter COUNT12 sets a predetermined value in the address register AR15 and performs a firmware fetch operation.

Since the current operation of the firmware instruction fetched by the fetch operation is a load firmware instruction, the firmware in the local memory LM13 is fetched by the gate 17, and the firmware in the read-only memory ROM 14 is not fetched by the gate 18.

Since the diagnostic firmware fetched from the main storage device MMU2 is stored in the local memory LM13, all subsequent firmware will perform diagnostic operations.

The fetched diagnostic firmware instructions are decoded by decoders DEC2 and DEC16 in the same way as normal firmware, and control various registers and gates. Therefore, with such a mechanism, software can execute a wide variety of diagnoses by preparing diagnostic firmware in the main memory and issuing a load firmware command to a peripheral device or a processing device.

In the above-described embodiment, only the diagnosis of peripheral devices has been described, but it can also be applied to various remote terminals or a plurality of processing devices, and an example of this is shown in FIG.

The firmware check will be described below using the application between the processing devices shown in FIG.

In the figure, 2 1 and 22 are processing units PUA and PUB, 2
3 is a main memory device MMU, and firmware for the processing devices PUA21 and PUB22 is stored in a specific area within the main memory device MMU23. Moreover, the processing device P
The main storage device MMU23 is inside the UA21/PUB22.
There are RAMs (Random Access Memories IJ) 25 and 26 into which firmware is loaded.

Note that 27 is a bus that serves as a transfer path for the firmware.

In such a configuration, first, the processing device PUA21 is the processing device PUA21.
Assume that the above load firmware command is issued to the UB22.

Then, the processing device PUB22 will be transferred to the main storage device MMU23.
The firmware stored in the storage area A of is fetched and loaded into the RAM 26 in the processing device PUB22.

Subsequently, the processing device PLA21 issues a store firmware command to the processing device PUB22.

Then, the processing device PUB22 stores the firmware currently loaded into the RAM 26 in area B of the main storage device MMU23. Then, the processing device PUB22 compares the contents stored in area A and the contents stored in area B of the main storage device MMU23, and if they are different, it means that the firmware was not loaded correctly. In this way, when loading firmware, by checking whether the firmware has been correctly loaded, it is possible to prevent the risk of operating with incorrect firmware.

Further, according to the above-mentioned method for diagnosing information processing devices, another information processing device that can issue two instructions, a load firmware instruction and a store firmware instruction, to one information processing device is required. The information processing device must also have the ability to compare and diagnose loaded or stored data.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 4 allows the user to easily diagnose whether or not the firmware has been correctly loaded without relying on other information processing devices. In the figure, numerals 31 and 33 are information processing devices PUA and PUB, and inside the information processing device PUB33 there is a single processor unit PU34 that controls the operation within the system and its processor unit PU34.
ROM with built-in firmware to control
There are 35 and RAM36.

Further, 32 is a main storage device MMU. In such a configuration, in the initial state, the information processing device PUB33 uses the ROM3
It is running on firmware 5. First, the information processing device PUA31 issues a load firmware command to the information processing device PUBii.

Here, the information processing device PUB33 determines whether the command is a normal command or not depending on the firmware in the ROM35. If it is a load firmware command, the firmware data is transferred from a predetermined main storage device MMU 32 area A into the RAM 36 of the own device. When the transfer is completed, a vertical parity check is performed on the transferred firmware data, and an interrupt is sent to the information processing device PUA 31 to determine whether the transfer has been completed normally.

All of the above operations are performed by firmware in the ROM 35.

Next, if the command issued from the information processing device PUA31 is a normal command, the firmware is transferred from the ROM35 to the RAM36.
Then, the processor unit PU34 starts operating according to the loaded firmware in the RAM36.

Note that a vertical parity check character is added to the firmware data to be loaded.

In this way, it is possible to easily diagnose whether or not the firmware has been correctly loaded without relying on other information processing devices.

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily and efficiently check the loading of firmware, and also to load the diagnostic firmware from the main memory to the peripheral device or other processing device, and to use the loaded firmware. Since the configuration is configured to execute diagnosis, overhead can be reduced and diagnosis with high analysis ability can be performed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a conceptual diagram of a basic electronic computer for understanding the configuration of the present invention, Figure 2 is a configuration example for embodying the diagnostic method of the present invention, and Figures 3 and 4 are processing devices. This is an example of diagnosis between the two processing devices, and is a conceptual diagram of firmware check between the two processing devices. 11, 16...Decoder DEC, 12...Counter COUNT, 13...Local memory L
M, 14, 35….・．． ROM, 1 5... Address register AR, 1 7, 18""" gate, 2 1,
2 2, 31, 33... Processing device PUA/PU
B, 23, 32... Main storage unit MMU, 25,
26, 36...RAM, 2 7.../ゞSline. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A main memory device in which diagnostic firmware with a parity check character added to area A is prepared;
a first control device using the main memory; a control device using the main memory; a RAM for storing the diagnostic firmware; and a ROM for storing the control firmware; and an address register that specifies a read address for this ROM or the above-mentioned RAM, and a write address when loading the above-mentioned diagnostic firmware into the above-mentioned RAM,
A counter in which a start address for executing the diagnostic firmware loaded in the RAM is set, and a judgment as to whether an input/output command given from the first control device is a load firmware instruction. a switching means for switching the address register to either the ROM or the RAM according to the determination result of the instruction determining means; and a switching means for determining that the input/output instruction is a load firmware instruction. If determined by the means, the counter is controlled and the RAM is
The diagnostic firmware is loaded from area A of the main memory into a predetermined area starting from a predetermined address of and a second control device having means for setting a read address, and when the address register is switched to the RAM side, the read address is read from the address of the RAM specified by the address register. If the diagnosis is performed by the diagnostic firmware and the address register is switched to the ROM side, the control firmware read from the ROM address specified by the address register controls the device. A diagnostic method characterized by: