JP2806818B2 - Diagnostic information collection method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a diagnostic information collecting system, and more particularly to a diagnostic information collecting system for an information processing apparatus having a plurality of constituent units having a function of forming a scan path.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an information processing apparatus such as a large-scale computer, conventionally, in order to obtain and analyze the contents (data values) of main registers (flip-flops) in the apparatus for the purpose of failure diagnosis or the like, these registers are used. Are connected in series to form a scan path having a shift register configuration, and necessary information is read from this scan path as serial data.

Such an information processing apparatus generally comprises a plurality of different types of constituent units capable of forming a scan path, and a main body of the apparatus is provided with scan control means for controlling the collection of information from each constituent unit. ing.
When the diagnostic control apparatus attempts to acquire the scan path information of a specific constituent unit (referred to as constituent unit A), it first instructs a scan control unit to perform a scan commanding collection of scan path information. Upon receiving this instruction, the scan control means sets all the constituent units under the control to a state where scan processing is possible. Next, the scan control unit acquires scan path information from the component unit A by sending a scan clock signal only to the designated component unit A, and sends the scan path information to the diagnostic control device.

In a conventional information processing apparatus, registers in the apparatus are simply connected in series to this scan path, and are read out as scan path information in accordance with an instruction from a diagnosis control apparatus for performing fault diagnosis. Information is
It is only the contents of the registers that make up the scan path.

[0005]

As described above, the information obtained from the scan path of the conventional information processing apparatus is only the data value of the register in the apparatus. It is difficult to determine which constituent unit is the scan path information only from the recording of the acquired data. Therefore, it is necessary to make a judgment in comparison with the recording of the instruction content of the diagnostic control device at the time of acquisition, so that the analysis work is troublesome.

The information for designating a component unit from the diagnostic control device is generally an address (mounting position) and does not represent the type or unit name of the component unit. Therefore,
It is necessary to separately manage which type of component unit is located at that address.If a component unit with the same function but a different model name is implemented due to modification or improvement, an error may occur in the diagnosis. There is a disadvantage that the risk of occurrence increases.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to provide a diagnostic information collection method capable of eliminating the above-mentioned disadvantages and increasing the efficiency of failure analysis by adding at least information for identifying the type of a constituent unit to scan path information. Is to do.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems
The diagnostic information collection method according to the present invention includes a plurality of constituent units having a function of forming a scan path for reading out information of a plurality of registers in series for the purpose of failure diagnosis and the like, and scan path information from each of the constituent units. In the diagnostic information collection method for an information processing apparatus having a scan control unit that controls reading of the information, the constituent units may add unique information of a predetermined specific pattern unique to the constituent unit to information read from the scan path. A unique information adding means , wherein the unique information adding means is included.
Has at least N bits that can identify the type of constituent unit.
(N is a positive integer)
Unit and an N-bit connected to one end of the scan path.
A shift register and read-out from the scan path;
Immediately before starting, the unique information is stored in the shift
And a unique information writing unit for writing to the register.

[0009] Another diagnostic information collecting method of the present invention is as follows.
The shift register is connected to the output of the scan path
It is characterized by being.

Further, another diagnostic information collecting method according to the present invention.
Is that the shift register is on the input side of the scan path.
It is characterized by being connected.

Further , another diagnostic information collecting method of the present invention is as follows.
The unique information held by the unique information holding unit is a component unit.
It is characterized by unit type identification information indicating the type of
And

[0012]

[0013]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the diagnostic information collecting system of this embodiment includes a diagnostic control device 1 for performing a failure diagnosis, a scan control means 2 for collecting diagnostic information according to an instruction from the diagnostic control device 1, .. 3n, which constitute different types of processing units. Scan paths 4a, 4b... 4n for reading the contents of registers in each of the constituent units 3a, 3b.
And unique information adding means 5a, 5b... 5n for adding unique information including unit type identification information of each constituent unit to the read scan path information.

Scan control means 2 and each constituent unit 3
.., 3n, scan mode signal lines 11 for simultaneously transmitting scan instructions, and clock signal lines 12a, 12b for individually transmitting scan clock signals.
.. 12n, and scan-in data signal lines 13a, 13b.
.. 14n for reading data from the scan path.

Next, the operation of FIG. 1 will be described. When the diagnostic control apparatus 1 instructs the information processing apparatus to collect diagnostic information (scan path information), the scan control means 2 scans all the constituent units 3a, 3b,. Send the mode signal. The unique information adding means 5a, 5b... 5n of each component unit that has received the scan mode signal changes the connection of a predetermined register in each component unit and
a, 4b... 4n, and a state in which unique information composed of unique specific patterns is included in scan path information and can be output. Here, a specific constituent unit, for example, the constituent unit 3a is transmitted from the scan control unit 2.
When a scan clock signal is transmitted via the clock signal line 12a to only the scan data, scan-out data including unique information and scan path information is output via the scan-out data signal line 14a. Subsequently, when a scan clock signal is supplied to the constituent unit 3b from the clock signal line 12b, scan-out data including unique information of the constituent unit 3b is output via the scan-out data signal line 14b. Note that the supply of the scan clock signal causes the constituent units 3i
Scan-in data is read into the scan path 4i (i is a to n) via the scan-in data signal line 13i, but any data may be used for the purpose of collecting scan path information. For the purpose of writing data, predetermined data is supplied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of the unique information adding means shown in FIG. The unique information adding unit in FIG. 2 includes a unique information holding unit 52 that holds at least N bits (N is a positive integer) of unique information that can identify a type of a constituent unit, and a scan path 4i (i is a to n).
N-bit shift register 51 connected to the output side of
And a unique information writing unit 53 that writes the unique information of the unique information holding unit 52 into the shift register 51 immediately before the start of reading from the scan path 4i.

Upon receiving the scan mode signal from the scan control means 2, the unique information writing unit 53 sets the operation mode to the shift register 51 connected to the output side of the scan path 4i formed by the scan mode signal. The unique information is written as the parallel writing mode from the information holding unit 52, and after the writing is completed, the operation mode is changed to the shift mode. As a result, when a scan clock signal is sent from the scan control means 2, scan path information starting with unique information is read out as scan-out data from a circuit in which the scan path 4i and the shift register 51 are connected in series. In other words, it is possible to determine which component unit is the scan path information from the acquired data, which facilitates the analysis work and reduces the occurrence of diagnostic errors due to component component management errors.

The unique information holding unit 52 needs to always hold unique information unique to the constituent unit as non-volatile information, but can be easily constituted by a logic circuit element such as a flip-flop. When parallel writing is performed on the shift register 51 as shown in FIG. 2, a voltage distribution circuit that connects a predetermined voltage to the input of each logic element included in the shift register 51 may be used. Note that the writing of the unique information to the shift register can be performed in series instead of in parallel, and the write operation may be controlled so that the shift register is connected to the scan path after the writing.

As the unique information held in the unique information holding unit 52, at least unit type identification information capable of identifying the type (such as a product name or a model name) of a constituent unit is necessary. No problem. That is, not only the unit type identification information but also the product number information for identifying an individual product is used together. When a plurality of scan paths are created in one constituent unit, the scan path identification information for identifying the scan path is used. It is also conceivable that the corresponding scan path identification information is written into the shift register together with the unit type identification information in accordance with the designation of the scan path. Furthermore, it is also possible to use both the unit type identification information provided in the constituent unit and the mounting position identification information provided in the device body on which the constituent unit is mounted, and to write and output both to a shift register. is there.

FIG. 2 shows an example in which the shift register is connected to the output side of the scan path. However, even if the shift register is connected to the input side of the scan path, almost the same effect can be expected. it can. Although the hardware configuration and control become complicated, unique information can be added before or after the scan path information without using a shift register, and similar effects can be expected.

[0023]

As described above, the diagnostic information collection method of the present invention includes a unique information adding means for each constituent unit constituting the information processing apparatus, and converts the unique information which can identify at least the unit type into scan path information. Since it can be added and output, it is easy to determine which component unit is the scan path information from the acquired data, which facilitates the analysis of the collected diagnostic information and reduces the occurrence of diagnostic errors due to management errors. Be expected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of an internal configuration of a unique information adding unit shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 diagnostic control device 2 scan control means 3a, 3b... 3n component units 4a, 4b... 4n scan path 5a, 5b. 13b 13n scan-in data signal lines 14a, 14b ... 14n scan-out data signal lines 51 shift register 52 unique information holding unit 53 unique information writing unit

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of constituent units having a function of configuring a scan path for serially reading information of a plurality of registers for the purpose of, for example, failure diagnosis, and controlling reading of scan path information from each of the constituent units. A diagnostic information collection method for an information processing apparatus having a scan control unit, wherein each of the constituent units includes unique information of a predetermined specific pattern unique to the constituent unit in information read from the scan path. wherein the unique information adding means, for at least the structural unit species
N bits (N is a positive integer) of unique information
A unique information holding unit to hold, and one end of the scan path
A connected N-bit shift register and the scan
Immediately before starting reading from the path,
Information book for writing unique information to the shift register
Diagnostic information collection system which is characterized in that it comprises a can-inclusive part. 2. The diagnostic information collecting method according to claim 1, wherein the shift register is connected to an output side of the scan path. 3. The diagnostic information collection method according to claim 1, wherein said shift register is connected to an input side of said scan path. 4. The diagnostic information collection method according to claim 1, wherein the unique information held by the unique information holding unit is unit type identification information indicating a type of a constituent unit.