JP2002244890A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the execution times and numbers of calls of a plurality of specific program modules simultaneously measurable with the use of an extended interface, and make the measurements controllable and receivable from an external terminal. SOLUTION: An extended interface board 300 has thereon counters 306, 309, 312,... comprising counters 307, 310, 313,... for measuring execution times of the program modules stored in a program ROM and counters 308, 311, 314,... for measuring numbers of execution. The counters are started with a timing when the program modules are started for execution. Measured data on the numbers of execution and the execution times are transferred to an external debugging computer 400 via a serial interface 315, and the suspension of the measurement and the clearing of the measured data can be effected from the computer 400.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program ROM storing a program module for comprehensively controlling various devices connected to a system bus and performing recording output based on input recording data. And a recording apparatus having the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a page printer such as a laser printer, in-circuit emulation (ICE) is used to optimize a system of a program ROM in image formation.
The mainstream was to use a debugging tool like. However, with the recent increase in CPU speed, in-circuit emulation is no longer provided.

Therefore, in order to optimize the system, of various program modules in the program ROM, a program module which takes a long time to execute is found, and the time required to execute the program module is reduced. So-called profiling.

For this purpose, the execution time of each program module and the number of calls of the program module must be measured. However, since in-circuit emulation is no longer provided as described above, a logic analyzer is now used. The only way to measure the execution time of a particular program module was to analyze the performance and optimize the system.

[0005]

As described above, in the conventional example, in order to measure the execution time of a program module to be measured, data is written to an empty I / O port, and the data is written to a pin to be measured on a board. The measurement had to be performed by directly applying a probe of a logic analyzer, and physically very complicated work was required. Also, since a logic analyzer cannot measure signals over a wide range and can trigger only one signal, it is necessary to measure only the execution time of one program module in one operation. Could not.

Therefore, according to the conventional method, a complicated operation such as recreating a program ROM every time the execution time of one program module is measured and measuring it again has to be repeated. Further, there is a problem that the number of calls of the program module cannot be measured. As mentioned above, IC
At present, when E has been lost, the efficiency of performance analysis has been extremely low with the conventional method using a logic analyzer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and measure the execution time of a plurality of specific program modules and the number of calls thereof simultaneously using an extended interface of a recording device without using a logic analyzer. It is another object of the present invention to control the measurement and receive the measurement data from an external terminal.

[0008]

According to the present invention, to solve the above-mentioned problems, based on input recording data,
In a recording apparatus having a program ROM storing a program module for performing recording output by comprehensively controlling various devices connected to a system bus, the number of times the program module stored in the program ROM is executed or A configuration is adopted in which an extension interface board has counter means for measuring the execution time and control means for activating the counter means at the timing when the execution of the program module is started.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a host computer, which is connected to a printer 200 via a predetermined interface 201.

The printer 200 has a CPU (printer CP).
U) 202, and the CPU 202 executes the system bus 21 based on the program ROM 206 in the ROM 208.
The printer engine 205 controls the access to various devices connected to the printer engine 205 and outputs an image signal as output information to the printer engine 205. The ROM 208 stores font data (scalable font data or dot font data) 207 used when generating the output image.
Are also stored.

A program ROM in the ROM 208
The control program 206 stores a control program of the CPU 202, an image processing program for generating a bitmap image to be transferred to the printer engine 205, and the like as program modules. This program module is configured as a subroutine, and in the present embodiment, a nested call (a certain program module calls another program module) is also measured.

Reference numeral 209 denotes an extension interface. By mounting various optional extension interface boards in this slot, it can be used for various purposes as a network printer. Here, the extension interface board 300 equipped with counter means for measuring the execution time and the number of calls (the number of executions or the number of calls) of a specific program module stored in the program ROM 206 which is a feature of the present invention is mounted. I have.

The registers of the extension interface board 300 physically exist on the extension interface, but the I / O address is
It is mapped to the I / O space on the board. Therefore, this I / O port can be controlled by the program ROM 206 on the printer controller board. An external debugging computer 400 can be connected to the extension interface board 300, and the computer 400
Can be used to control the measurement described below and monitor the measurement result.

FIG. 2 shows an extension interface board 300.
3 is a functional block diagram of FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the CPU 301 of the extension interface board 300
The system bus 31 based on the control program of M305
6 and is connected via a serial interface 315 (or a network interface such as Ethernet (registered trademark), the interface method of which is arbitrary). Bidirectional communication with the debugging computer 400.

In FIG. 2, reference numerals 306, 309,
Reference numeral 312 denotes counter means including a counter for measuring the execution time and the number of calls of a specific program module stored in the program ROM 206, and a plurality of the counter means are connected in parallel. Reference numerals 307, 310, and 313 are counters for counting the time of the program module,
308, 311 and 314 are counters for measuring the number of calls of the program module. The measurement by these counters 306, 309, 312,... Starts by writing "1" to a specific bit at a predetermined address corresponding to the I / O space of the extension interface board 300, and by writing "0". Can be stopped.

Here, in order to precisely measure the execution time of the program module, a series of controls for measuring the execution time of the program module and the number of calls are taken over by the CPU 301 on the extension interface board 300, and an extra load is applied. It is not provided to the CPU 202 on the printer control board.

Hereinafter, a recording apparatus and a data transfer method thereof according to the present invention will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a data processing procedure of the recording apparatus according to the present invention. The program according to this flowchart is executed by hardware by the extension interface board 300.

When measuring a program module stored in the program ROM 206, "1" is written into a specific bit at a predetermined address corresponding to the I / O space of the extension interface board 300 at the beginning of the program module to be measured. So that "0" is written to the same bit at the same address in the extended interface area at the end of the program module to be measured,
The program is programmed in the program ROM 206. here,
“1” indicates counter enable, “0” indicates counter disable, and a plurality of counters are designated by bits. This program is used not only for one program module, but also for counter 306, at most.
. 309, 312...

The program code for controlling the counter is used for debugging, and may be removed from an actual product version program. When the software stored in the program ROM 206 is clearly separated into an OS (operating system) and a user program, the number of executions and the execution time of a specific system call of the OS are measured. Configurations are also possible. For example, a code for outputting a counter enable "1" at the beginning of a kernel routine for realizing the OS system call and a code for outputting a counter disable "0" at the end may be provided. A configuration is also conceivable in which a dedicated system call for controlling whether to output such counter control data is prepared.

After the above-described setup, the host computer 100 outputs data to be output to the printer 200. The code data transmitted through the interface 201 is stored in the program ROM by the CPU 202.
The program is converted into an intermediate code by executing the program in 206. After that, the data on which the image is formed in accordance with the intermediate code is subjected to band processing to develop a bitmap, and is sent to the printer engine 205. In such a series of flows, the program to be measured in the program ROM 206
Assume that the module has been executed.

As a result, at step S1, "1" is written by the program ROM 206 into a certain bit at a predetermined address in the extended interface area.
An enable signal is sent to the time measurement counter. Here, it is assumed that an enable signal has been sent to the time measurement counter 307. Then, in step S2, the time measurement counter 307 specified in step S1 starts counting,
At the same time, the count of the number-of-calls counter 308 is incremented by one and held. In step S3,
If another program module to be measured is not executed, that is, if the program module is not nested, the time measurement counter 307 continues counting up until the program module currently being clocked ends (step S4).

When the program module being timed is completed, "0" is written to a bit at a predetermined address in the extended interface area by the program ROM 206 in the same manner as when the program module was executed, and A disable signal is sent to the measurement counter 307. The time measurement counter 307 to which the disable signal has been sent stops counting up in step S5, and the count value, that is, the execution time of the program module is held in the counter (or in the memory 303 of the extension interface board 300). May be transferred to the RAM).

If another program module to be measured is executed while the time counter 307 is counting in step S3, that is, if the program module is nested (from one program module to another program module). When a module is called), a time counter (here, the time counter 310) that counts the execution time of the newly executed program module starts counting, and at the same time, the call counter 311 counts. Is added and saved. A configuration for controlling the switching of the program module will be described later with reference to FIG.

A time measurement counter 3 for measuring the execution time of the previously executed program module
07 is stopped, and the count value is held (step S8).

Further, similarly to step S3, step S9
In step, when another program module to be measured is not executed, the time measurement counter 310 keeps measuring the time until the program module currently being timed ends (step S10).

In step S9, while the time measurement counter 310 is counting time, if another program module to be measured is executed thereafter, the flow returns to step S8 to repeat the same processing. The program that is currently timing
When the module ends, the time measurement counter 310 is stopped, and the count value is held. At the same time, the stop of the time measurement counter 307 stopped in step S8 is released, and the timer starts counting again from the interrupted count value (step S11). The hardware configuration of this processing will be described later.

The process returns to step S9 and repeats the above processing until there is no longer any counter that is counting time (step S12).

When there is no more time counter, the debug computer 400 accesses a predetermined address in the extended interface area via the serial interface 315 and sends a read instruction to the time measurement counter and the number of calls counter. It is possible to monitor the value of each counter on the debugging computer 400 (step S6).

Thereafter, if it is desired to clear the count value, the debug computer 400 similarly accesses a predetermined address in the extended interface area and sends a clear command to a desired counter to clear the counter value. Can be performed (step S7).

As described above, the execution time and the number of calls of the program module can be measured in parallel up to the number of time measurement counters at the maximum. The measurement result can be taken out from the debugging computer 400 via the serial interface 315.

It is also conceivable to provide an appropriate program interface for temporarily stopping or resuming the measurement operation of each counter from the computer 400 via the serial interface 315 or clearing the measured value.

Here, a configuration for handling a case where a program module is nested (a case where a certain program module calls another program module) will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the counter enable signal sent from the printer 200 is transmitted to the counter ENABLE control unit 50 via the extension interface 317.
Sent to 1. Here, the rise and fall of the enable signal indicating the start and end of the program module are detected. When the rise of the enable signal indicating the start of the program module is detected, a rise detection signal is sent to the LIFO memory 505, the enable signal at that time is written, and the order in which the program modules are called is stored. When the rising detection signal or the falling detection signal is sent, the D flip-flop 5
02 and 503 are written with enable signals. In this way, when the program modules are nested, the timing of the previously executed program module can be stopped.

When the falling edge of the enable signal indicating the end of the program module is detected, a falling edge detection signal is sent to the LIFO memory 505 to read out the stored enable state of the program module and stop the program that has been stopped. -The interruption of the time measurement of the module is released and sent to the time measurement counter 307, and the time measurement counter 307 is counted again. That is, the program executed earlier at the rise of enable
The module is stopped, the stop is released at the falling edge of the enable, and the module is counted again. Restart control of this counter is performed via the selector 504.

FIG. 5 specifically shows a state of measurement when two program modules are nested and executed.

In FIG. 5, first, when the program module 1 to be measured at t1 is executed and an enable signal is sent to the measurement time counter 307, the time measurement counter 307 starts counting, and at the same time, the call number counter 308 is set to 1 become. Thereafter, at t2, another program module 2 to be measured is executed, and an enable signal is sent to the time measurement counter 310. Then, the time measurement counter 310 starts counting, and at the same time, the call number counter 311 becomes 1 Become. At the same time, a stop signal is sent to the time counter 307, which has been counting the time, and the counting is interrupted.

Thereafter, at time t3, the program module 2
Is completed, and a disable signal is sent to the measurement time counter 310. The time measurement counter 310 stops counting at the moment of being disabled, and holds the count value. At the same time, the stop of the time measurement counter 307, which has been interrupted until now, is released, and the timer starts counting again from the value at the time of interruption.

Then, when the program module 2 is executed again at t4, an enable signal is sent to the measurement time counter 310 as before, and the time measurement is started again from the previous value. At the same time, the number-of-calls counter 311 is incremented by one to two. At this time, a stop signal is sent to the time measurement counter 307 again to interrupt the time measurement. Then, at t5, the program module 2
Is completed and the disable signal is sent to the time measurement counter 310, the time measurement counter 310 which has started counting again stops counting and holds the value. At the same time, the stop of the time measurement counter 307 interrupted at t4 is released, and the time measurement is started again.

Finally, when the execution of the program module 1 is completed and a disable signal is sent to the time measurement counter 307, the time measurement counter 307 stops counting and holds the value.

As described above, the measurement of the execution time and the number of calls of two program modules can be performed simultaneously and in parallel. Even if the number of program modules to be measured increases, the same processing can be naturally performed if the number of counters is sufficient.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the number of executions and the execution times of a plurality of specific program modules can be measured simultaneously using an extension interface without using a logic analyzer as in the past. It can control the measurement and receive the measurement data from the external terminal, greatly improve the efficiency of the system optimization work, and realize a comfortable debugging environment.

[0044]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a program for controlling various devices connected to a system bus and performing recording output based on input recording data. In a recording apparatus having a program ROM storing modules, a counter means for measuring the number of times or execution time of a program module stored in the program ROM, and the counter means at a timing when the execution of the program module is started Has a control means for activating the program on the extension interface board.
It can measure the number of times and execution time of the module, control the measurement from an external terminal and receive the measurement data, greatly improve the efficiency of system optimization work, and realize a comfortable debugging environment. Has an excellent effect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a recording apparatus employing the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal structure of the extension interface board of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a counter control unit of FIG. 2 in detail;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a data processing procedure according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing an example of processing when two program modules are nested and executed in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 100 host computer 200 printer 201 interface 202 CPU 203 ASIC 204 RAM 205 printer engine 206 program ROM 207 font ROM 208 ROM 209 extension interface 210 system bus 300 extension interface board 301 CPU 302 counter control unit 303 memory 304 RAM 305 ROM 306 counter means 307 Time measurement counter 308 Call number counter 309 Counter means 310 Time measurement counter 311 Call number counter 312 Counter means 313 Time measurement counter 314 Call number counter 315 Serial interface 316 System bus

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus having a program ROM storing a program module for performing general output control by controlling various devices connected to a system bus based on input recording data, Counter means for measuring the number of times or execution time of a program module stored in a program ROM, and control means for activating the counter means at the timing when the execution of the program module is started, are provided on an extension interface board. A recording device characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising stop means for temporarily stopping the measurement by said counter means, and clear means for erasing the measurement data. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of said counter means, wherein the number of executions and the execution time of a plurality of program modules are counted at the same time. 4. It has a judging means for judging whether or not another program module is called from a certain program module, and according to the judgment result of this judging means, from one program module to another program module. Is called, the measurement of the program module previously executed by the first counter means is temporarily stopped, and the measurement of the called program module is executed by the second counter means. The recording device according to claim 1. 5. When the execution of the called program module is completed, the measurement of the second counter means is stopped, and the measurement of the program module by the first counter which has been temporarily stopped is restarted. The recording device according to claim 4, wherein the recording device is activated. 6. A storage means for storing the measurement data of said counter means is provided on an extension interface board, and said predetermined means for transferring the measurement data relating to the number of executions or execution time of the program module stored in said storage means to an external device. A recording apparatus comprising: 7. The method according to claim 7, wherein the measurement of the program module by the counter means is temporarily stopped by an external device via the interface means, and the measurement data relating to the number of executions or the execution time of the program module stored in the storage means is transmitted. 7. The recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein clearing is performed.