JPH01109441A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a MTBF longer by providing a fault detecting circuit in an integrated circuit, switching an output driver and using other integrated circuit for backup when a fault is detected. CONSTITUTION:When the fault occurs in an operating integrated circuit 11, a fault detecting means provided in the circuit 11 detects the fault, and an output control means 20 prohibits the sending of an output data signal from the integrated circuit 11 based on the detecting signal. On the other hand, the fault detecting signal from a fault detecting means 17 is inputted to an integrated circuit 12 for the backup. When no fault exists in this integrated circuit 12 for backup, an output control means 38 provided to the integrated circuit 12 for backup switches the integrated circuit 12 for backup so that the circuit 12 can be replaced with the failed integrated circuit 11 during an operation and allows the circuit 12 to operate based on a signal without any fault from a trouble detecting means 40 provided in the integrated circuit 12 and an input signal from the trouble detecting means 17 of the failed integrated circuit 11 during the operation. Thus, it can be prevented that the whole action of the device becomes impossible.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to multiplexing of integrated circuits, and in particular, when one integrated circuit generates an internal fault, it is possible to The present invention relates to an information processing device that performs operations on behalf of the user.

[Conventional technology]

Methods of multiplexing integrated circuits are conventional. In this case, each integrated circuit has a fault detection means, but little effort has been made to maintain the package by replacing just that. That is, even if there is a fault detection means, the entire operation of the device in which the faulty integrated circuit is mounted is often disabled. Therefore, there is an inconvenience that the device cannot operate unless the entire package in which the faulty integrated circuit is mounted is replaced.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As described above, conventional integrated circuits have fault detection means, but if a fault occurs, the device will no longer function unless the package in which the fault occurs is replaced. Ta.

Therefore, there was a drawback that it took a long time until the failed device started operating again.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above drawbacks of conventional devices, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing device that can switch to another backup integrated circuit even if one of the installed integrated circuits fails. do.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, an information processing device according to the present invention includes a first fault detection means for detecting the occurrence of a fault in the first integrated circuit during operation, and a first fault detection means for detecting the occurrence of a fault in the first integrated circuit during operation; a first output control means for prohibiting the transmission of an output data signal as an operation result of the i-th integrated circuit based on an output signal indicating the presence of a failure from the first failure detection means; A second fault detection means detects the occurrence of a fault, and when the corresponding integrated circuit is normal, a fault is detected based on the output signal from the second fault detection means and the output signal from the first fault detection means. and a second output control means for switching control so that the function of the first integrated circuit is replaced by the normal backup integrated circuit, and when the k-th integrated circuit has a failure, Furthermore, the same procedure is performed on other backup integrated circuits so that the non-faulty backup integrated circuits can replace the function of the faulty active integrated circuit.

In the present invention configured as described above, when a fault occurs in the integrated circuit in operation, the fault detection means provided inside detects the fault, and the output control means controls the output data from the integrated circuit based on this detection signal. Prohibit sending of signals. On the other hand, the failure detection signal from the failure detection means is input to the backup integrated circuit, and if there is no failure in this backup integrated circuit, the failure detection signal from the failure detection means provided in this integrated circuit and the failure detection signal are input to the backup integrated circuit. Based on the input signal from the fault detection means of the integrated circuit in operation, the output control means sets this backup integrated circuit to replace the faulty integrated circuit in operation. A switching operation can be performed.

〔Example〕

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

As shown in FIG. 1, the integrated circuit 11 in operation is connected to the backup integrated circuit 12 by signal lines 13 and 14. Although only two integrated circuits are shown here for simplicity, it is assumed that a predetermined number of similar integrated circuits are actually connected in series.

When a fault occurs in the integrated circuit 11 currently in operation, a fault detection circuit 18 serving as a first fault detection circuit 17 provided in the integrated circuit 11 detects this and outputs a fault occurrence signal 19. This fault occurrence signal 19 is inputted to an inverter circuit 21 as a first output control circuit 20 and then outputted as an inverter output signal 22. First output control circuit 2
The AND circuit 24 of o receives this inverter output signal 22 and
An AND operation is performed between a signal line 26 from the external circuit 25 and an external signal 28 having a logic value "1" via a signal line 27 inside the integrated circuit 11 connected thereto. When a fault occurs, the inverter output signal 22, which is the output of the inverter circuit 21, has a logical value "
It becomes 0'. Therefore, the output signal 3o of the AND circuit 24
has the logical value '0''. This value is also sent to the 3-state output driver 31 of the first output control circuit 2o.

This 3-state output driver 31 outputs this logic value "O".
The signal is received on one side, and the output data signal and output control signal 34 are received from the output circuit 33 of the integrated circuit 11 on the other side. Since the logic value "0" signal is received, the signal line is in a disabled state. 35 to high impedance. As a result, sending the output data signal and output control signal 34 from the output circuit 33 to the outside is prohibited.

On the other hand, the fault occurrence signal 19 from the fault detection circuit 18 of the integrated circuit 11 in which the fault has occurred is used to select and operate another normal backup integrated circuit in place of this integrated circuit.

Here, the integrated circuit 12 is considered as such a backup integrated circuit.

Therefore, the above-mentioned fault occurrence signal 19 is input to the AND circuit 39 of the second output control circuit 38 via the signal line 13 connecting the integrated circuits 11 and 12 and through the internal signal line 37 of the backup integrated circuit 12. Since this backup integrated circuit 12 is now considered to be normal, the output of the fault detection circuit 41 as the second fault detection circuit 40 is the fault occurrence signal 4.
3, a logical value of "0" indicating no failure is output. Therefore, the inverter circuit 44 of the second output control circuit 38 outputs the logic value "1" as the output signal 45. When the above-mentioned second output control circuit 38 AND circuit 39 receives this logic value "0" signal together with the fault occurrence signal 19 from the integrated circuit 11 as described above, the logic product output signal 46 has a logic value "1".
The 3-state output driver 4 of the second output control circuit 38
Send on 8th. This 3-state output driver 48 is
Upon receiving this signal, the output circuit 49 of this integrated circuit 12
Output control signal from output data signal 50 to output signal 5
1, which is sent to the integrated circuit 1 via the signal line 14.
It is applied to a signal line 52 connected to the output of one 3-state output driver 31.

As described above, if a fault occurs in an integrated circuit in operation, its function can be replaced by a backup integrated circuit that is free of faults. In reality, backup integrated circuits are provided in multiple stages, and the above operation may be repeated to select and switch to the correct integrated circuit.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the information processing device according to the present invention includes a fault detection circuit in an integrated circuit, and when a fault is detected,
Switching the output driver and using another integrated circuit for backup has the effect of increasing the MTBF.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. lL12...Integrated circuit, 17...First failure detection circuit, 20...First output control circuit, 33.49...Output circuit, 38. ...Second output control circuit, 40...Second failure detection circuit. Applicant: NEC Corporation Representative

Claims (1)

[Claims] a first fault detection means for detecting the occurrence of a fault in the i-th integrated circuit during operation; a first output control means for prohibiting the transmission of an output data signal as a result of the operation of the k-th integrated circuit; a second failure detection means for detecting the occurrence of a failure in the k-th backup integrated circuit; is normal, based on the output signal from the second failure detection means and the output signal from the first failure detection means, the function of the faulty i-th integrated circuit is changed to the normal k-th backup function. and a second output control means for controlling switching so that the k-th integrated circuit is substituted for the integrated circuit, and if there is a failure in the k-th integrated circuit, the same procedure is carried out for the other backup integrated circuits to eliminate the failure. 1. An information processing device characterized in that a backup integrated circuit that does not have a fault is substituted for the function of a faulty integrated circuit that is in operation.