JPH0113134B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an improvement in a device (debugger) that supports debugging work during the development of microprocessor application equipment.

(Prior Art) Microprocessor debuggers have conventionally been used as devices for debugging and elucidating the cause of failures at each stage of designing, testing, and maintaining devices and systems that utilize microprocessors. This debugger has an emulation function and can test or analyze the operation of microprocessors used in microprocessor application equipment using an in-circuit method. An example of its configuration is shown in Figure 2. show. In the figure, a dedicated personal module 2 corresponding to the type of microprocessor (target processor) is mounted on the microprocessor debugger main body 1 side, and a personal module 2 is connected to the microprocessor debugger via cables 20 and 21. A microprocessor probe 30 and an external probe 40 are connected to each other.

A target microprocessor (target processor) is attached to the microprocessor probe 30, and the socket connector 32 protruding from the probe 30 is inserted into the microprocessor socket 51 on the target board 50 for connection. However, the microprocessor 31 on the microprocessor probe 30 can access the target board's memory and I/O devices (not shown).

On the other hand, the external probe 40 is connected to the target board 50 via a clip or the like.
It is designed to accept signal input, output synchronous pulses, and accept clock input.

The Debugger main body 1 also includes a key input mechanism 3 for selecting functions and inputting information (setting conditions).
A display unit 4 is provided which is equipped with a display means such as a CRT and can display the execution progress and results of the target processor. Further, a control processing device (not shown) having a function of operating the target processor using an emulation method and analyzing the operation is disposed within the debugger main body.

In such a debugger, the operator can set conditions using the key input mechanism 3, run part or all of the target program, and observe the results and progress.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in order to perform sufficient debugging, there are many combinations of setting conditions and the work of setting the conditions is relatively complicated. The problem was that debugging work was often incomplete.

In view of these points, an object of the present invention is to provide a microprocessor debugger that can increase the allowable number of test condition items in debugging work and easily realize more sufficient debugging. There is a particular thing.

Another object of the present invention is to develop a microprocessor device capable of generating data on slight fluctuations in conditions as debugging data depending on the nature of received running condition data, and debugging based on this data. It is to provide hemlock.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a debugging device that has an emulation function and can monitor the operation sequence of a microprocessor, and a debugging device that can input running data. A means for generating minute variation data of the conditions according to the nature of the received running condition data, and controlling to find all combinations of conditions for each of the slight variation data and perform a running test under these conditions. It is characterized in that it is equipped with a control means having a function.

(Example) The present invention will be explained in detail below using the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a microprocessor debugger according to the present invention. The difference between the figure and FIG. 2 is the key input mechanism, minute fluctuation data generation device, and control processing device in the main body.

The slight variation data generation device 10 is configured to generate new data by varying the variation value by the amount of slight variation in accordance with the nature of the received data. This amount of slight fluctuation is the key input mechanism 1
It can be specified from 1. The slight fluctuation designation is, for example, the following designation.

No fluctuation (output only the reference pattern) +n fluctuation: K, K+1, K+2, ..., K+
n -n variation: K, K-1, K-2, ..., K-
n In addition to the conventional functions, the control processing device 12 stores the data obtained by the minute fluctuation data generation device 10 as test data, and also performs all combinations of each variable, executes them under each condition, and It has the ability to store results together with test data.

In addition, conventional functions include a function to sample and display addresses, data buses, flags, etc.
A function to display the timing of signal waveforms of each part of peripheral logic circuits on the target board, a function to measure real time and the number of loops, a function to create and execute commands such as writing or reading data to memory or input/output devices. etc.

The operation of the features of the present invention in such a configuration will be described as follows.

(i) Variables that are activation conditions from the key input mechanism 11;
Set the amount of slight fluctuation, etc. Multiple sets of variables can be specified, such as m-digit decimal values, byte bit patterns, and ASCII character strings.

(ii) Run the target processor after setting the trigger or trace conditions.

(iii) Generate new data by giving the data a slight variation amount set according to the nature of the received data (numeric data, character data, etc.).

(iv) Data processing is performed on all input variables by the process in (iii) above, and this is saved as test data.

(v) During testing, automatically combine variables for the data obtained in (iii) to (iv), perform tests on each combination, store the results together with the test data, and display them as necessary. Or save it to an external storage device, etc. Note that the test results can be output in an appropriate format. For example, it can be output in table format, in which case verification of test results becomes extremely easy.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, the present invention has the following effects.

Usually, as test data for debugging, a plurality of boundary condition data focusing on output messages of the part to be tested are selected, and tests are performed using this test data.

According to the debugger of the present invention, even for the above-mentioned boundary conditions and data before and after (nearby) them,
Test data can be automatically generated and tests can be performed.

In addition, since bugs occurring under such boundary conditions, their vicinity, and their combination conditions can be tested without exception in all combinations, omissions in tests can be prevented.

Furthermore, by outputting the test results in a table format, it becomes easy to verify the test results, and the number of debugging steps can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a microprocessor debugger of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional microprocessor debugger. 1, 1a...Microprocessor debugger main body,
2...Personal module, 4...Display section, 10...
Microfluctuation data generation device, 11...key input mechanism, 1
2... Control processing device, 20, 21... Cable, 30
...Microprocessor probe, 32...Socket connector, 40...External probe, 50
...Target board, 51...Microprocessor socket.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A debugging means that has an emulation function and can observe the operation of a target processor of a microprocessor application device using an in-circuit method, and a debugging means that is configured in advance according to the type of running condition data received from the target processor. a slight variation data generation device that generates new driving condition data by giving a slight variation amount, a key input mechanism including a function of inputting information for setting the slight variation amount, and a key input mechanism that generates new driving condition data by giving the slight variation amount. The vehicle is characterized by being equipped with a control processing device that stores new running condition data as test data, and has a function of determining all combinations of these running condition test data and causing the vehicle to run under each combination. Microprocessor debugger.