JPH02121047A - Input/output control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute time monitoring with high accuracy by adjusting monitoring time for a command to be executed according to the contents of the command. CONSTITUTION:An input/output controller 2 controls an input/output operation by an input/output device 3 according to the instruction of the command outputted from a CPU 1 and outputs completion notification to the CPU 1 when the processing completes. Here, while the generation of an attention interrupt signal is inhibited when input/output processing for one command by the input/output controller 2 completes by the time when the attention interrupt signal is generated, the monitoring time is extended by the attention interrupt signal when the input/output processing does not complete by the above- mentioned time. Consequently, the monitoring time can be adjusted according to the contents of the command. Thus, the time monitoring with high accuracy can be executed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] Input/output control method having output processing time monitoring function (prior art) In general, input/output control in a computer system is
It is executed by the input/output (I10) controller under the control of the CPU. That is, the I10 controller
It executes input/output control processing according to command instructions output from the PU, and when the processing is completed, notifies the CPU of the completion of the processing. The CPU waits for the completion notification of the process to be sent from the 110 controller, and upon receiving the completion notification, outputs the next command to the I10 controller.

However, in such an input/output control system, if some kind of failure occurs in the I10 controller, the termination notification will not be sent to the CPU.
U will no longer be able to issue the next command to the I10 controller.

Therefore, the CPU is usually provided with a time monitoring function for input/output processing. This time monitoring function is for performing error handling by stopping the processing of the I10 controller when the processing of one command by the I10 controller does not end even after the monitoring time has elapsed. In this way, even if a malfunction occurs in the I10 controller, the CPU will not have to wait for a long time for a termination notification from the I10 controller, and the efficiency of input/output processing can be improved.

However, the time required to process a command differs depending on the type of command, so in order to prevent command processing from being stopped during normal operation, the time monitoring function's monitoring time is set to the command with the longest processing time. are set accordingly. Therefore, even if a malfunction occurs in the I10 controller during execution of a command with a short processing time, the processing cannot be stopped until the predetermined monitoring time has elapsed.

As described above, in conventional systems, the monitoring time of the time monitoring function is constant, and the monitoring time must be adjusted to the command that requires the longest processing time. Therefore, it has been difficult to monitor input/output processing with high precision.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) This invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and improves the point that conventionally the monitoring time of the input/output processing time monitoring function was constant and highly accurate monitoring could not be performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an input/output control method that can perform highly accurate time monitoring by adjusting the monitoring time according to the contents of a command to be executed.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides an input/output control system having a CPU and an input/output control device that executes input/output control according to instructions of commands output from the CPU. In the CPU
is an input/output processing time monitor that monitors the time of input/output control processing by the input/output control device, and stops the processing of the input/output control device when processing for one command is not completed even after a predetermined monitoring time has elapsed. said input/output control device generates an attention interrupt signal at a time interval shorter than the monitoring time of said input/output processing time monitoring means to extend the monitoring time of said input/output processing time monitoring means; and an attention interrupt inhibiting means for inhibiting the generation of the attention interrupt signal when input/output processing for one command by the input/output control device is completed by the generation time of the attention interrupt signal, The present invention is characterized in that the monitoring time of the input/output processing time monitoring means can be changed depending on the content of the command output from the CPU.

(Function) In this input/output control method, when the input/output processing for one command by the input/output control device is completed by the generation time of the attention interrupt signal, its generation is prohibited, and the input/output processing does not end. In some cases, the monitoring time is extended by an attention interrupt signal. Therefore, the monitoring time can be adjusted according to the content of the command,
Highly accurate time monitoring becomes possible.

(Example) Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a system configuration of an input/output control method according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, ■ is a CPU that controls the entire system, and outputs various input/output commands to the input/output control device 2. The input/output control device 2 controls input/output operations by the input/output device 3 according to commands output from the CPUI, and outputs a completion notification to the CPU when the processing is completed.

Further, the CPUI is provided with an input/output processing time monitoring section 11. This time monitoring unit If has a monitoring timer, and uses the timer to monitor the time of input/output control processing of the input/output control device 2.

That is, when the input/output control device 2 does not send a processing end notification even after a predetermined monitoring time (for example, T seconds) or more has elapsed, the monitoring unit 11 stops the input/output control processing and restarts the CP.
Make the UI perform error handling.

Further, this monitoring unit 11 is configured so that when it receives an attention interrupt signal from the input/output control device 2, its monitoring timer is restarted, and thereby the monitoring time is further extended by T seconds.

The input/output control device 2 includes a control section 21 and an attention interrupt section 22. The control unit 21 includes an input/output control device 2
It is used to control the overall processing, and executes input/output control processing in response to commands from the CPUI.

The attention interrupt section 22 has an attention timer, and this timer generates an attention interrupt signal at an interval (seconds) shorter than the monitoring time (T seconds) of the monitoring section (1). This attention interrupt section 21
The operation of is controlled by the control section 21.

Next, the input/output control operation of this system will be explained with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 and 3. Figure 2 is C
This shows the operation of the PUI, and FIG. 3 shows the operation of the input/output control device 3.

As shown in FIG. 2(A), the CPU first starts with the monitoring unit 11.
In addition to starting the monitoring timer (step At),
Outputs input/output commands to the input/output control device 2. next,
A determination is made as to whether or not a processing end notification has been sent from the input/output control device 2 (step A3). If a termination notification is sent, the CPUI for that input/output command
The processing of I is completed, and new input/output commands can be issued. If a termination notification is not sent, it is determined whether or not more than the monitoring time (T seconds) has elapsed since the command was output (step A4), and if the time has exceeded, timeout error processing is executed. (Step A5).

Furthermore, if the time has not exceeded, the processes of step A3 and step A4 are continued.

Furthermore, when an attention interrupt signal is output from the input/output control device 2 to the CPUI, the monitoring timer of the monitoring unit 11 is restarted as shown in FIG. 2(B) (step B
l). By restarting this timer, the monitoring time of the monitoring unit 11 is extended by T seconds.

As shown in FIG. 3(A), the input/output control device 3 has a CP
When receiving an input/output command from the UI, it starts the attention timer of the attention interruption unit 22 (step C1), and executes input/output control according to the instruction of the command (step C2). When the processing for that command is completed, the activation of the attention timer is stopped (step C3), and a completion notification is generated to the CPUI (step C4).

Also, if the command processing does not finish within seconds after the attention timer is activated, the command processing shown in Figure 3 (B)
As shown in FIG. 3, an attention interrupt signal is generated from the attention interrupt unit 22 (step D5). As a result, the monitoring time of the monitoring unit 11 is extended by T seconds from the time when the attention interrupt signal is generated.

In this way, in this input/output control system, the monitoring time can be adjusted from the input/output control device 2 side according to the contents of the input/output command.

Although the input/output control method of the present invention can be applied to all computer systems, it is particularly effective in systems that use disk drives as input/output devices. This is because, in disk drive devices, the command processing time may be significantly exceeded due to error retry processing, etc., but with this invention, the monitoring time can be extended using attention interrupts, so even if the command processing time exceeds the This is because the monitoring time can be adjusted accordingly.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, since the monitoring time of input/output processing can be adjusted from the input/output control device side, it is possible to easily monitor the processing time with high accuracy.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an input/output control method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts explaining input/output control operations of the system shown in FIG. 1, respectively. be. 1... CPU, 2... Human output control device, 3... Input/output device, 11... Time monitoring section, 21... Control section,
22...Attention interrupt section. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue (A) (B) (B) (A) Figure

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In an input/output control system having a CPU and an input/output control device that executes input/output control according to instructions of commands output from the CPU, the CPU is configured to Monitor the time of input/output control processing 1
said input/output control device has an input/output processing time monitoring means for stopping processing of said input/output control device when processing for one command is not completed even after a predetermined monitoring time has elapsed; attention interrupt signal generating means for extending the monitoring time of the input/output processing time monitoring means by generating an attention interrupt signal at a time interval shorter than the monitoring time of the input/output processing means; and input/output processing for one command by the input/output control device. and attention interrupt disabling means for disabling the generation of the attention interrupt signal when the attention interrupt signal is completed by the generation time of the attention interrupt signal, and the input/output processing time monitoring means according to the content of the command output from the CPU. An input/output control method characterized by being able to change the monitoring time.