JP2020127116A - Error rate measurement device and error rate measurement method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an error rate measurement device capable of flexible state transition.SOLUTION: An error rate measurement device 1 is configured to input a test signal of a known pattern and to measure a bit error rate of the input data received from a to-be-measured object W in conjunction with the input of the test signal in a state where a specific pattern specified by a high-speed serial bus standard is input to the to-be-measured object W and the to-be-measured object W is shifted to a state of pattern signal turnover, and includes: a display unit 5 for displaying a pattern setting screen 5a for setting a specific pattern; and a control unit 6 for controlling the display unit 5 to switch to a pattern editing screen 5b capable of editing in blocks a specific pattern of the pattern setting screen 5a for display.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention transmits a test signal of a known pattern to a device under test in a state in which the device under test is transited to a signal pattern folding state, and input data received by folding back from the device under test with the transmission of the test signal. Bit error rate measuring apparatus and error rate measuring method.

For example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1 below, an error rate measurement device transmits a test signal of a known pattern including fixed data to an object to be measured, and folds back from the object to be measured in response to the transmission of this test signal. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally known is a device for measuring a bit error rate (BER) by comparing the measured signal with a reference signal that serves as a reference in bit units.

By the way, in a standard test of a high speed serial bus (hereinafter, also referred to as HSB) such as USB and PCIe using the above-described error rate measurement device, (1) stress is applied based on the standard. A procedure of generating a pattern signal→(2) transitioning an object to be measured to a pattern signal folding state (loopback) defined by the standard→(3) performing an error rate measurement is required.

Then, in order to realize the above (2), a plurality of specific patterns defined by the standard are output from the signal generation module to the device under test while being switched in units of several microseconds, and are output as expected in the standard test. It is necessary to make a state transition.

Therefore, in the conventional error rate measurement device, the specific pattern defined by the standard is transmitted in a fixed order to the device under test for a time set in advance by the user to cause the device under test to transit to the state described above. The state transition was realized.

Therefore, the conventional error rate measuring apparatus has a fixed transmission order of patterns for causing the DUT to transit to a state, and can perfectly follow the transition procedure to the state (loopback) of pattern signal folding defined by each standard. The error rate can be measured only for the object to be measured.

JP, 2007-274474, A

However, in many cases, the device under test in the initial stage of actual development cannot complete a complete state transition. However, in the conventional error rate measuring device, since it is not possible to flexibly set the pattern order, it is not possible to measure the error rate of the device under test that is not capable of complete state transition, and there is a demand for improvement thereof. ..

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an error rate measurement device and an error rate measurement method capable of flexible state transition.

In order to achieve the above object, the error rate measuring apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention inputs a specific pattern defined by the standard of a high-speed serial bus to a device under test W and outputs the device under test a pattern signal. An error rate measuring device 1 for inputting a test signal of a known pattern in a state of transiting to a folding state and measuring a bit error rate of input data received from the device under test according to the input of the test signal. ,
A display unit 5 for displaying a pattern setting screen 5a for setting the specific pattern,
The control unit 6 controls the display unit so that the specific pattern on the pattern setting screen is switched to the block-editable pattern edit screen 5b and displayed.

The error rate measuring device according to claim 2 is the error rate measuring device according to claim 1,
The control unit 6 controls the display unit 5 so as to identify and display the currently transmitting block of the specific pattern on the pattern setting screen 5a.

The error rate measuring method according to claim 3 is a known pattern in a state in which a specific pattern defined by the high-speed serial bus standard is input to the device under test W and the device under test is transited to a pattern signal folding state. An error rate measuring method of inputting a test signal of, and measuring a bit error rate of input data received from the device under test according to the input of the test signal,
A step of displaying a pattern setting screen 5a for setting the specific pattern,
Switching the specific pattern of the pattern setting screen to a pattern edit screen 5b that can be edited in block units and displaying the pattern edit screen 5b.

The error rate measuring method according to claim 4 is the error rate measuring method according to claim 3,
The present invention is characterized by including the step of identifying and displaying the block currently being transmitted of the specific pattern on the pattern setting screen 5a.

According to the present invention, flexible state transitions are possible, and it is possible to measure the error rate of a wide variety of devices under test, including devices under test in the early stages of development.

It is a block diagram showing a schematic structure of an error rate measuring device concerning the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the pattern setting screen of a specific pattern. It is a figure which shows an example of the pattern edit screen of a specific pattern. It is a figure which shows an example of the pattern setting screen which identifies and displays the block which is transmitting the specific pattern. 7 is a flowchart of a method for editing a specific pattern by the error rate measuring device according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An error rate measuring device and an error rate measuring method according to the present invention, for example, in a standard test of a high speed serial bus (HSB) such as USB, PCIe, etc., put an object to be measured into a signal pattern folding state (loopback) by a specific pattern. The test signal of a known pattern is transmitted to the device under test in the transition state, and the bit error rate of the input data received back from the device under test in response to the transmission of the test signal is measured. It should be noted that the specific pattern is a sequence pattern defined by the HSB standard necessary for causing the device under test to transit to the signal pattern folding state (loopback).

As shown in FIG. 1, the error rate measurement device 1 of the present embodiment is roughly configured to include a setting operation unit 2, a storage unit 3, a measurement unit 4, a display unit 5, and a control unit 6.

The setting operation unit 2 is operated by the user, and for example, various soft keys, cursor keys, arrow keys on the display screen of the display unit 5 (the pattern setting screen 5a in FIG. 2 and the pattern editing screen 5b in FIG. 3). Besides, it is composed of keys, switches, buttons, etc. provided on the main body of the apparatus.

The setting operation unit 2 performs an instruction to start or stop transmission of a specific pattern or a test signal to the device under test W, an instruction to start or stop measurement of an error rate of the device under test W, or set or edit a specific pattern. To be operated.

For example, the soft keys of the “Sequence Edit”, “Transmit”, and “Manual” soft keys 2a displayed on the pattern setting screen 5a of FIG. 2 are used as soft keys of the setting operation unit 2 that are operated when setting a specific pattern. There are 2b and 2c. In the pattern setting screen 5a of FIG. 2, when the “Sequence Edit” soft key 2a is pressed, the display screen is switched to the pattern editing screen 5b of FIG. 3, for example. Further, when the "Transmit" soft key 2b on the pattern setting screen 5a in FIG. 2 is pressed, the transmission of the specific pattern based on the setting information is started. Further, when the "Manual" soft key 5c on the pattern setting screen 5a of FIG. 2 is pressed, output of the pattern of the block next to the block for which the pattern hold is set to "Manual" is started.

Further, as the soft keys of the setting operation unit 2 that are operated when editing the specific pattern, “Save”, “Load”, “Add”, “Delete”, which are displayed on the pattern editing screen 5b of FIG. There are soft keys 2d, 2e, 2f, 2g, 2h, 2i, 2j, 2k, 2l and 2m for "Copy", "Cut", "Paste", "Clear All", "OK" and "Cancel". Then, by operating these soft keys 2d to 2m, the HSB standard (PCIe Gen1, 2, 3, 4, USB 3.1 Gen1, 2) is selected, and blocks (#0 to #6) of a specific pattern defined by the selected standard are selected. ) It is possible to edit the unit, save the setting information of the specific pattern in the storage unit 3, read out the setting information of the specific pattern stored in the storage unit 3, and the like.

In the illustrated example, the soft key on the display screen of the display unit 5 is configured as a part of the setting operation unit 2, but an external input device provided separately from the error rate measurement device 1 is set and operated. It can also be used as the part 2.

The storage unit 3 stores various information of a specific pattern based on the setting information of the pattern setting screen 5a and the editing information of the pattern editing screen 5b (information such as the type of the specific pattern defined by the HSB standard, transmission order, transmission time, and the number of transmissions). , Information on known test signals, various conditions regarding error rate measurement conditions and measurement results of the device under test W are stored.

The measurement unit 4 includes a pattern generation unit 4a and an error detection unit 4b, and includes a HSB standard test of the object to be measured W under the control of the control unit 6 based on the operation information of the setting operation unit 2 and the storage information of the storage unit 3. Perform various measurements.

The pattern generation unit 4a uses a test signal of a specific pattern based on the setting information set on the pattern setting screen 5a (information reflecting the edit on the pattern edit screen 5b) and a known pattern for performing various measurements of the DUT W. To occur.

The error detection unit 4b causes the device under test W to transit to the signal pattern folding state (loopback) by the specific pattern generated by the pattern generation unit 4a, and then transmits the test signal from the pattern generation unit 4a. An error in the input data returned from the object to be measured W is detected, and various measurements including an HSB standard test of the object to be measured W are performed.

The display unit 5 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display mounted on the apparatus body. Under the control of the control unit 6, the display unit 5 sets a specific pattern for setting the specific pattern for changing the state (loopback) of the pattern signal folding back of the object to be measured W or a pattern edit for editing the specific pattern. The screen 5b is displayed on the display screen, and the results of various measurements based on the detection of an error in the input data that is returned from the device under test W when the test signal is transmitted to the device under test W are displayed.

Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the pattern setting screen 5a blocks a specific pattern defined by a standard selected from a plurality of HSB standards (PCIe Gen1, 2, 3, 4, USB3.1 Gen1, 2). Display separately. More specifically, on the pattern setting screen 5a of FIG. 2, seven specific patterns by the USB Gen1 are #0, #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 (Block No.) in the transmission order. It is divided into blocks, and a list of valid/invalid (Pattern Hold) of pattern hold, signal format (Type), pattern name (Pattern), set time or set number of times (Time/Num, Unit) is displayed for each block.

At the initial stage, preset data of a specific pattern defined by a predetermined HSB standard (for example, USB Gen1) is displayed on the pattern setting screen 5a. The preset data of the specific pattern is sequence data for state transition that causes the device under test W to transit to the signal pattern folding state (loopback) in accordance with the standard. After the second time, the data of the specific pattern at the end of the previous time is displayed on the pattern setting screen 5a.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the pattern editing screen 5b displays a list of the specific patterns displayed on the pattern setting screen 5a of FIG.

In the pattern edit screen 5b of FIG. 3, when a block is validated, a check box is clicked to input a check mark. Further, the pattern hold (Pattern Hold) of the pattern edit screen 5b of FIG. 3 is effective when "Manual" is selected, and the switching of the specific pattern is once stopped in the block.

The control unit 6 controls the measuring unit 4 on the basis of the operation information of the setting operation unit 2 and the storage information of the storage unit 3 to perform overall control of each unit in order to perform various measurements of the object W to be measured. Display control means 6a for controlling the display unit 5 when setting or editing is included.

More specifically, the display control means 6a displays the pattern setting screen 5a of FIG. 2 when setting the specific pattern for causing the measured object W to transit to the pattern signal folding state (loopback). The display unit 5 is controlled.

Further, the display control means 6a controls the display unit 5 to display the pattern edit screen 5b of FIG. 3 when the “Sequence Edit” soft key 2a of the pattern setting screen 5a of FIG. 2 is pressed.

Further, the display control means 6a controls the display unit 5 so as to identify and display the currently transmitting block of the specific pattern on the pattern setting screen 5a of FIG. 4 during the transmission of the specific pattern. Specifically, the setting area of the block currently being transmitted is highlighted with a backlight. In FIG. 4, the setting area of the block #2 indicated by diagonal lines is highlighted by the backlight, and the block #2 is highlighted that the block is currently being transmitted. As a result, it is possible to confirm at a glance which block is currently transmitting the specific pattern.

The identification display of the block currently being transmitted is not limited to highlighting the entire setting area of the block by the backlight as shown in FIG. 4, and a part of the setting area of the block (for example, Block No. Only) may be emphasized or the color of the characters may be changed so that it can be distinguished from other blocks.

Further, although not particularly shown, the display control means 6a, when the soft key for displaying the measurement result of the object to be measured W is pressed, the measurement result of the object to be measured W based on the detection result of the error detection unit 4b. The display unit 5 is controlled to display the screen.

Next, a method of editing a specific pattern by the error rate measuring device 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.

When editing the specific pattern, the pattern setting screen 5a of FIG. 2 is displayed (ST1). At the initial stage, preset data of a specific pattern defined by a predetermined HSB standard (for example, USB Gen1) is displayed on the pattern setting screen 5a. If it is the second time or later, the data of the specific pattern at the end of the previous time is displayed on the pattern setting screen 5a.

Then, when the "Sequence Edit" soft key 2a of the pattern setting screen 5a is pressed, the pattern editing screen 5b of FIG. 3 is switched based on the preset data of the pattern setting screen 5a of FIG. 2 or the data of the specific pattern at the end of the previous time. (ST2).

Next, when one standard is selected from a plurality of HSB standards (PCIe Gen1, 2, 3, 4, USB 3.1 Gen1, 2,) displayed as a pull-down menu on the pattern edit screen 5b (ST3), The pattern edit screen 5b based on the selected standard is displayed (ST4). For example, when “USB Gen1” is selected from the pull-down menu, the pattern edit screen 5b of FIG. 3 is displayed.

Then, on the pattern edit screen 5b, soft keys 2f, 2g, 2h, 2i of "Add", "Delete", "Copy", "Cut", "Paste", "Clear All", "OK", and "Cancel". , 2j, 2k, 2l, 2m are appropriately manipulated to freely edit in units of blocks (#0 to #6) of a specific pattern defined by the selected standard (for example, USB Gen1) (ST5).

When the "Save" soft key 2d is pressed after the above-described block-by-block editing of the specific pattern, the data of the specific pattern edited on the pattern edit screen 5b is stored in the storage unit 3.

Further, in the above-described editing of the specific pattern, by pressing the “Load” soft key 2e, a data list (not shown) of the specific pattern stored in the storage unit 3 is displayed, and the specific pattern to be edited can be edited from this data list. Data can also be selected and read.

When performing the HSB standard test, when the "Transmit" soft key 2b on the pattern setting screen 5a in FIG. 2 is pressed, the pattern generation unit 4a is set to the pattern setting screen 5a by the control of the control unit 6. The specific patterns (#0 to #6) are transmitted to the device under test W. During transmission of this specific pattern, the block currently being transmitted of the specific pattern is identified and displayed, as indicated by the diagonal lines in FIG. When the device under test W transitions to the signal pattern folding state by the specific pattern, the control unit 6 controls the pattern generation unit 4a to transmit a test signal of a known pattern to the device under test W, and the error detector 4b. Detects an error in the input data returned from the object to be measured W and performs various measurements including an HSB standard test of the object to be measured W.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the user can freely set the type of the specific pattern defined by the HSB standard, the transmission order, the transmission time, the number of times of transmission, etc., and transmit. This makes it possible to measure the error rate even for a device under test that is incapable of a complete state transition, and to perform error rate measurement for a wide variety of devices under test, including devices under test in the early stages of development. You can

Although the best mode of the error rate measuring device and the error rate measuring method according to the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited by the description and drawings according to this mode. That is, it goes without saying that all other forms, examples, operation techniques, and the like made by those skilled in the art based on this form are included in the scope of the present invention.

1 Error Rate Measuring Device 2 Setting Operation Section 2a to 2m Soft Key 3 Storage Section 4 Measuring Section 4a Pattern Generation Section 4b Error Detection Section 5 Display Section 6 Control Section W Measured Object (DUT)

Claims (4)

A specific pattern defined by the high-speed serial bus standard is input to the device under test (W), and a test signal of a known pattern is input while the device under test is transited to the pattern signal folding state. An error rate measuring device (1) for measuring a bit error rate of input data received from the device under test according to input, comprising:
A display section (5) for displaying a pattern setting screen (5a) for setting the specific pattern;
An error rate, comprising: a control unit (6) for controlling the display unit so that the specific pattern on the pattern setting screen is switched to a pattern edit screen (5b) that can be edited in block units and displayed. measuring device. The said control part (6) controls the said display part (5) so that the block currently transmitted of the said specific pattern in the said pattern setting screen (5a) may be displayed. Error rate measuring device. A specific pattern defined by the high-speed serial bus standard is input to the device under test (W), and a test signal of a known pattern is input while the device under test is transited to the pattern signal folding state. An error rate measuring method for measuring a bit error rate of input data received from the device under test according to an input,
A step of displaying a pattern setting screen (5a) for setting the specific pattern,
And a step of displaying the specific pattern on the pattern setting screen by switching to a pattern edit screen (5b) that can be edited in block units, and displaying the error rate. The error rate measuring method according to claim 3, further comprising a step of identifying and displaying a block of the specific pattern, which is currently being transmitted, on the pattern setting screen (5a).

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