JP2728480B2 - Information processing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus having a diagnostic function.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, with the advancement of semiconductor technology, high-performance microprocessors (hereinafter referred to as CPUs) and large-capacity memory devices have been supplied at low prices. Performance is improving year by year. Along with this, the information processing apparatuses, for example, personal computers (hereinafter, referred to as personal computers), word processors (hereinafter, referred to as word processors), copying apparatuses, and facsimile machines have become more complicated. To cope with this, not many of these information processing apparatuses have a function of performing self-diagnosis. The function of the self-diagnosis means that the CPU controlling the information processing apparatus checks the individual functions of the apparatus by executing a self-diagnosis program.

Such a self-diagnosis function is usually activated by a person in charge of maintenance of the information processing apparatus (or, in rare cases, a user himself familiar with the operation of the apparatus). The activation method differs depending on each information processing device. For example, it is activated by pressing a switch in a place that is not touched during normal operation, or by inputting a key on a keyboard of the apparatus in accordance with a certain operation procedure. In addition to the above, there are various self-diagnosis activation methods, but the common method is that an operator (maintenance person or user) performs “self-diagnosis”.
This is the point of pressing a switch or key input with a clear awareness of this.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In general, in an information processing device such as a personal computer, when an application program is started, control of the system is passed to the application program from an operating system (hereinafter, referred to as an OS) which is a system management program. For this reason, when the user feels an abnormality in operation during execution of the application program and wants to perform self-diagnosis of the device, if the application program itself does not support the self-diagnosis function, the user temporarily terminates the application program and performs control. It was necessary to return to the OS, and then start the self-diagnosis program. In addition, when focusing on application programs, it is general that the application programs themselves are created so as not to depend on the hardware of the device as much as possible. Therefore, almost no application programs support the self-diagnosis of the device. In other words, the first problem of the self-diagnosis startup by the conventional method is
In other words, when a user feels an abnormality in a device while the application program is being executed on a personal computer or the like, self-diagnosis cannot be performed without stopping the application program. Furthermore, if the application program cannot be re-executed from the middle (many application programs meet this condition), if there is no abnormality in the self-diagnosis, that is, if the self-diagnosis has been performed by mistake of the user, the application program is started again. Must be rerun from

The above is a problem for a user who has a certain degree of expertise such as executing an application program on a personal computer or the like. In general, most of current information processing devices are designed to be easily operated by a person having no special knowledge. . For this reason, many ordinary users do not even know the concept of self-diagnosis. In the case of such a user, there is no knowing what to do if the operation of the apparatus is abnormal, and the user is merely in trouble. This is the second problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus having a diagnostic function that allows a person without specialized knowledge to perform an appropriate treatment when an abnormality occurs in the apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus having a diagnostic function capable of performing a self-diagnosis without stopping the application program even when an application program that does not support the self-diagnosis is executed on a personal computer or the like. is there.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, first, a method of responding to a human being when the mechanical devices are in poor condition is analyzed. Then 10
It can be seen that 90% or more of the 0 people hit the device. In other words, the act of hitting a mechanical device when it is in a bad condition is very common, and it can be considered as common sense that everyone knows.

Therefore, the gist of the present invention is to perform a self-diagnosis triggered by the act of "slapping". In other words, by providing a shock detector for detecting "hitting", an interface circuit for connecting the output of the shock detector to the interrupt input terminal of the CPU, and a self-diagnosis program started by the interrupt input, the above object is achieved. Can be achieved.

[Action]

The impact detector detects that the player has been hit. The output of the detector is directly or indirectly connected to the interrupt input of the CPU, and the CPU generates an interrupt when the device is hit. Since the self-diagnosis program is started directly or indirectly by interruption, the action of tapping is reduced to the reaction of the apparatus that finally performs self-diagnosis.

This allows the device to react so that even a person who does not know the concept of “self-diagnosing the device” can take appropriate measures as a result.

In addition, even if an application program is being executed on a personal computer, the application program is temporarily interrupted by an interrupt,
The self-diagnosis is performed, and if there is no abnormality, the application program can be continuously executed from the point of interruption.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is an example of a personal computer system using the present invention. 1 is a personal computer main body, 2 is a keyboard, 3 is a display, and 4 is a printer. Reference numerals 5, 6, 7, and 8 indicate shock detectors. FIG. 2 is an example of the internal configuration of FIG. 11 is a CPU, 12 is a read-only memory (ROM), 13 is a readable and writable memory (RAM), 14 is an interface with peripheral devices (I / O),
20 and 21 are data buses of the CPU 11, and 10 is an interface for connecting detection outputs of the shock detectors 5, 6, 7, and 8 to an interrupt input of the CPU 11 via a signal line 22. In this embodiment, a personal computer 1, a keyboard 2, a display 3,
The printer 4 is provided with shock detectors 5, 6, 7, and 8 respectively (first
The output of each of the shock detectors 5 to 8 is indicated by signal lines 23, 24, 25, and 26.
To the interface 10. For this reason, there is a feature that it is possible to know which function should be focused on depending on where the user hits. The operation will be described below. First, at the time of system startup, a program is set up so that a self-diagnosis program is started when an interrupt occurs. The self-diagnosis program itself is ROM12, R
Although it may exist in the AM 13 or an auxiliary storage device (not shown), a self-diagnosis program is started when an interrupt is issued to the CPU 11 via the interrupt signal line 22. Next, it is assumed that the user performs a motion that feels “the operation is strange” during operation of the system, for example, during execution of the application program. The user unconsciously hits the device, but if, for example, hits the personal computer 1, the shock detector 5 detects a shock and notifies the interface 10 via the signal line 23 that the user has hit the device. The interface 10 converts this detection output into an interrupt signal and sends it to the PCU1 via the interrupt signal line 22.
Interrupt 1

Here, an example of the interface 10 is shown in FIG. In the figure, reference numerals 101, 102, 103, 104 denote signals 23, 24, 25, 26 from shock detectors 5, 6, 7, 8 as flip-flops (FF) 105, 106, 10
7, 108 are level converters for converting to a driveable signal level. The FFs 105, 106, 107, and 108 store which of the shock detectors has been detected as being hit. In this example, the normal FF
The Q outputs of 105 to 108 are at a logic level (level) "1",
When there is a signal input from the level converters 101 to 104, the level is "0"
Becomes 109 is a gate circuit, one of FF105 to 108
When one or more Q outputs become level "0", the level "1" is output to the interrupt signal line 22. The three-state bus inverters 110, 111, 112, and 113 are for outputting the contents 35 to 38 of the FFs 105 to 108 to the data bus 21 of the CPU 11. The read signal line 30 is generated by a circuit (not shown).
1 is a signal that becomes level “0” when the FFs 105 to 108 are read. When the level of the signal line 30 becomes "0", the Q outputs 35 to 38 of the FFs 105 to 108 are output to the data bus 21 via the three-state bus inverters 110 to 113, and the CPU 11 can read the contents of the FFs 105 to 108. . When the CPU 11 finishes reading, the signal line 30 returns to the level “1” again.
The level "1" given to the D input is set in 105 to 108, and the "signal indicating that the player has hit" can be input again.

When the CPU 11 is interrupted in this way, the self-diagnosis program is started as described above. FIG. 4 shows an operation flowchart at this time. 201,202,203,204,
205 shows the flow of processing of the application program. (this is,
The explanation is based on the assumption that the application program was hit during execution. Of course, it may be said that the system program is being executed. If the user "hits" the finger 200 at the time of the finger mark 200, the CPU 11 starts interrupt processing. Two
Numeral 10 is a factor analysis process, which is a portion for determining what caused the interrupt. Specifically, for example, a process of reading and analyzing the FFs 101 to 104 in the interface 10 is performed. Reference numeral 211 denotes a part for determining whether or not the shock detector has responded as a result of the analysis. In general, when there is another interrupt cause, that is, when there is an interrupt cause other than "hit", such a determination is necessary. Reference numeral 212 denotes a process for performing an actual self-diagnosis. It is 213 that determines the result of the self-diagnosis processing 212. Then, if a fault is detected, the fault process 214 is executed; otherwise, the interrupt process is terminated. If no failure is detected in this interrupt processing, the processing returns to the original processing 203, 204,... And the application program is continued.

Now, in order to perform such a self-diagnosis process, roughly two methods can be considered. One is a method for clearly indicating to the user that the self-diagnosis is currently being performed, and the other is a method for notifying the user only when a failure is detected. The former is suitable when the system is relatively large and there are many diagnostic points. That is, since it takes time to complete the self-diagnosis, it is a method of declaring the self-diagnosis to the user in advance or obtaining an understanding. For example, the system asks the user "whether or not something went wrong", listens to the user in an interactive manner about what is wrong and how to concentrate on possible parts, and provides a targeted diagnosis. effective. At this time, as shown in FIG. 1, when the impact detector is mounted at a plurality of locations, there is an effect that the inquiry item can be made to match the actual situation from the beginning. That is, when the user hits the personal computer 1, the application program is diagnosed from an infinite loop, whether the floppy disk or the hard disk is abnormal, etc. Diagnosis or inquiry is given preferentially to keyboard-related when the keyboard 2 is hit, display-related when the display 3 is hit, and printer-related when the printer 4 is hit.

The latter, that is, the method of notifying the user only when a failure is detected, is suitable when the system is relatively small, or when the self-diagnosis or quick termination is performed. In this case, since the time required for the self-diagnosis is short, the user himself / herself does not need to be aware that the self-diagnosis has been performed. Therefore, if there is no obstacle, the user does not needlessly worry and feel uneasy. It has the effect of ending. There is also a method of clearly indicating to the user that there is no failure as a result of the diagnosis. In this case, there is an effect of giving the user a sense of security by clearly performing a self-diagnosis to inform the user that there is no abnormality, that is, there is no worry.

Next, consider the processing when a failure is detected, that is, the failure processing 214 in FIG. First, there is a method of inquiring whether to return control to the system program when it is determined that the application program is clearly in an infinite loop. Generally, in an information processing device such as a personal computer, an application program can be created by anyone. In the process of creating such application programs, those programs often include defects. At this time,
It is necessary for the manufacturer of the main body to take measures to minimize the damage to the user that causes the failure of the application program. Therefore, no matter what the state of the application program is, the means of interrupting the processing and returning control to the system program is very effective in improving reliability.

Second, when a failure is detected in the hardware of the device, it is necessary to inform the maintenance company of the situation. The following are conceivable in this method.

First, in an information processing apparatus capable of handling portable recording media such as a floppy disk, a memory card, a magnetic tape, and a magnetic card, if there is no failure in those medium control parts, the failure information is written to the portable storage medium. Is notified to the user, and after recording the failure information, a message is sent to give the medium to the maintenance company. Next, in an information processing apparatus that can handle a communication line, when there is no failure in a part that controls the communication line, a method of using the communication line to notify failure information to a maintenance person or a maintenance company.
Generally, in the case of a line to be charged, such as a public line, it is necessary to ask the user for permission. This method has the effect that the countermeasures can be taken most quickly. Next, in an information processing apparatus capable of handling a printing device such as a printer, a method of printing out failure information when there is no failure in a portion that controls the printing device. In this method, the printed medium is inexpensive,
When printed in a maintenance format, there is an effect that the trouble of preparing a report by a maintenance person or a maintenance company can be reduced. Next, in an information processing apparatus having a display such as a CRT display, a liquid crystal display, and a plasma display, a method for displaying and outputting failure information when there is no failure in a portion that controls the display. This method has an effect that when a user contacts a maintenance company, the user can view the displayed contents or write down the contents so that the contents of the failure can be accurately transmitted.

The following is a case of an information processing device having a nonvolatile memory 15 as shown in FIG. The non-volatile memory 15 is a readable and writable memory in which the written contents do not change even when the power of the information processing apparatus is turned off. Power of normal memory using battery 16 for
It can be realized by various methods, such as supplying power from the battery 16 when the power of the apparatus of the main body is turned off. When such a nonvolatile memory 15 is provided, the failure information is stored in the nonvolatile memory 15. The maintenance person can know the status of the failure from the contents of the nonvolatile memory 15. Further, in this method, since the fault information can be accumulated and recorded as appropriate, it is possible to cause minor damage that does not impair the function of the apparatus (thus causing no actual harm even if the user does not know it, but may be useful for analyzing the cause of other faults). There is an effect that fault information can be notified to a maintenance person.

In the description of the first embodiment of the present invention, various self-diagnosis methods have been described, but these methods are not all. Since the essence of the present invention is to perform a self-diagnosis based on the shock detected by the shock detector, in addition to the personal computer shown in FIG. 1, various control devices including a word processor, a facsimile, a copying machine, that is, a CPU, A device that performs various types of control using an air conditioner (including air conditioners and electronic jars)
Are all applicable. In the block configuration shown in FIG. 2, four sets of impact detectors 5 to 8 are provided.
With one or more sets of shock detectors, the essence of the invention can be met. That is, any number of shock detectors may be provided. Although the output of the interface 10 is connected to the interrupt input terminal of the CPU 11, it may not be connected to the interrupt input in some cases. Generally, maskable interrupts (referred to as IRQs) are used for CPU interrupts caused by hardware.
There is a non-maskable interrupt (referred to as NMT), but the one that best meets the purpose of the present invention is to connect to the NMI. This is because the self-diagnosis can be started regardless of the state of the device, but it may be better to connect to the IRQ depending on the device. For example, there is a case where a certain process needs to be completed in a short time, and a case where the other process does not take time until the process is completed. When the interrupt is not used, generally, the state of the interface 10 is checked at regular intervals (this is referred to as polling). This is a method that can be performed under a real-time OS that has a firm time management. In either case, the self-diagnosis can be performed upon detection of the impact.

Also, the configuration of the interface 10 shown in FIG. 3 is an example, and does not limit the scope of the present invention. Those skilled in the art can configure various interfaces. These configurations also differ depending on the shock detector used. For example, FIG. 6 shows an example of the level converter 101 when a piezoelectric element is used for the shock detector 5. The shock detector 5 generates a pulse voltage proportional to the magnitude of the shock. Capacitor C is added to the voltage E ₁ obtained by dividing the pulse component by the resistors R1 and R2. E1 is input to the + terminal of the voltage comparator 300, and is compared with the voltage E2 divided by the resistors R3 and R3. If the values of R1 to R4 are calculated and E1> E2 when the target pulse voltage is superimposed, the voltage comparator
The output of 300 produces a positive pulse and the one-shot multi 301
Drive. If a retriggerable one is used for the one-shot multi 301 and the time constant of the one-shot is appropriately selected, a desired pulse can be obtained at the output 31 of the level converter 101. Since the sensitivity of the shock detector can be adjusted by selecting the resistance values of R1 to R4, it is possible to prevent the self-diagnosis from being activated by a slight vibration.

Conversely, it is also possible to increase the sensitivity of this portion to detect the vibration around the device and protect the portion of the information processing device that is vulnerable to vibration. For example, fixed magnetic disk devices such as personal computers are vulnerable to vibration, so set up an impact detector near the disk device and detect a certain level of vibration. 1. Restore the head (moving to a position that does not damage the recording surface)
I do.

2. Warn the user.

3. Prohibit use of the disc.

Etc. can be protected. Since these functions have the same concept as the fault handling based on the result of the self-diagnosis, they do not depart from the essence of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment in which a level converter 101 for detecting "hit" and a level converter 101 'having high sensitivity for detecting "vibration" are provided at the same time. By providing two or more interfaces with different sensitivities to one shock detector 5, a wider range of self-diagnosis can be performed. This is an effect unique to this embodiment.

From another aspect of the present invention, for example, in FIG. 1, the keyboard 2 and the printer 4 are control systems having their own CPUs, and the display 3 is a device having no CPU. As shown in the figure, the shock detectors 6, 7, 8 are connected to the CPU of the personal computer 1. That is, when the personal computer is regarded as one information processing device, the keyboard 2,
The display 3 and the printer 4 can be regarded as other devices. As described above, in the present invention, the information processing apparatus provided with the shock detector can diagnose another device. Conversely, it is also possible to incorporate a CPU system for performing diagnosis in the personal computer body. None of these variations depart from the essence of the invention.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, even if the user is not familiar with the handling of the device, an appropriate action can be taken by the action of "hitting when the condition is bad" which is a human habit. There are effects that can be provided.

In addition, since it is possible to protect a portion that is vulnerable to vibrations from vibrations around the device and the like, the reliability of the device can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an interface unit in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is an example of a processing flow. FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of the block diagram of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a level converter of the interface unit, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of the configuration of the level converter. It is. 1 PC main unit 2 Keyboard 3 Display 4 Printer 5 to 8 Shock detector 10
... Interface, 11 ... CPU, 22 ... Interrupt signal lines.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yoshihiro Fujigami 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Microelectronics Device Development Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (56) References JP-A-63-313241 (JP, A) JP-A-58-180338 (JP, A) JP-A-60-147251 (JP, A)

Claims (15)

(57) [Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus using a CPU, comprising: means for detecting at least one or more impacts; and means for diagnosing a function of a device other than the information processing apparatus. An information processing apparatus characterized in that the diagnosis is started based on the shock information detected by the means for detecting the information. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shock applied to said shock detecting means is a shock generated by a human action. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shock applied to said shock detecting means is a shock generated from a surrounding environment in which said shock detecting means is installed. 4. The CPU according to claim 1, wherein said CPU detects an interruption based on shock information detected by said shock detecting means,
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the processing is started by an interrupt processing of the PU.
An information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said interrupt is a non-maskable interrupt of said CPU. 6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said interrupt is an interrupt that can be masked by said CPU. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the CPU polls and recognizes shock information detected by the shock detecting means, and drives the diagnosis means. 8. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said diagnosis means notifies the user that the diagnosis has started. 9. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said diagnosis means does not notify the user of the start of the diagnosis. 10. A system for detecting two or more impacts,
9. When a shock is detected, diagnosis is performed from a function deeply related to a part where the shock is detected.
Or the information processing device of 9. 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein when a failure is detected as a result of the diagnosis, the failure information is stored in a storage medium.
An information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 12. When a failure is detected as a result of the diagnosis, the failure information is transmitted to a communication line.
An information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 13. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensitivity of the means for detecting the impact has two or more levels. 14. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the impact detecting means detects the impact, a process for protecting a portion vulnerable to the impact is performed. 15. The fixed magnetic disk device is a portion which is vulnerable to the impact, and the processing for protecting includes: (1) moving the head of the fixed magnetic disk device to a position where the storage surface is not damaged; and (2) warning the user. (3) prohibit the use of the fixed magnetic disk device, or
15. The information processing apparatus according to claim 14, comprising at least one.