JPH02190940A - Self-diagnostic system and constitution method for information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow a person having no expert knowledge to execute appropriate processing at the time of generating abnormality in a device and to execute self- diagnosis by temporarily interrupting the execution of an application program even in the execution by providing the information processor with shock detectors, an interface and a self-diagnostic program. CONSTITUTION:The information processor is provided with the shock detectors 5 to 8 for detecting 'tapping', the interface circuit 10 for connecting the outputs of the detectors 5 to 8 to the interruption input terminal of a CPU 11 and the self- diagnostic program to be started by an interruption input. Namely, the shock detectors 5 to 8 detect 'tapped states' and their outputs are directly or indirectly connected to the interruption input of the CPU 11 and the CPU 11 generates an interruption. Since the self-diagnostic program is directly or indirectly started by an interruption, 'tapping' action is finally restored to device reaction for self-diagnosis. Thereby, appropriate processing can be executed as a result even by a person having no knowledge of concept for self-diagnosis, and even during the execution of the application program by a personal computer or the like, the self-diagnosis can be executed by temporarily interrupting the execution.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a self-diagnosis method for an information processing device.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, with the rapid progress of semiconductor technology, high-performance microprocessors (hereinafter referred to as CPTR) and large-capacity memory devices have become available at low prices, and various information processing devices that are application products of these semiconductor devices have become available. Its functions and performance are improving year by year. Along with this, the configurations of these information processing devices, such as personal computers (hereinafter referred to as personal computers), word processors (hereinafter referred to as word processors), copying machines, and facsimile machines, have become more complex. In response to this, few of these information processing devices have a self-diagnosis function.The self-diagnosis function is when the CPU that controls the information processing device executes a self-diagnosis program. It refers to checking the individual functions of the.

Such a self-diagnosis function is normally activated by a person in charge of maintenance of the information processing device (or, in very rare cases, a user himself/herself who is familiar with the operation of the device).

The activation method differs depending on each information processing device. For example, the device is activated by pressing a switch that is not touched during normal operation, or by manually pressing a key on the device's keyboard according to a certain operating procedure. There are four other methods for starting self-diagnosis, but all of them have one thing in common: the operator (maintenance personnel, user) switches the switch with a clear intention of ``performing self-diagnosis.'' The key point is to be fully prepared and to use human power.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Generally, in an information processing device such as a personal computer, when an application program is started, system control is passed to the application program from an operating system (hereinafter referred to as O8), which is a system management program. Therefore, if a user detects an abnormality in operation while running an application program and wants to perform a self-diagnosis of the device, if the application program itself does not have a self-diagnosis function, the user must first exit the application program and then control the device. 'I had to revert to Io 8 and then run a self-diagnosis program. Furthermore, when focusing on application programs, it is common to create the application programs themselves so that they do not depend on the hardware of the device as much as possible. Therefore, there is almost no application program that performs self-diagnosis of the device. In other words, the first problem with starting self-diagnosis using the conventional method is that when a user senses an abnormality in the device while running an application program on a personal computer, etc., the user must first stop the application program. The inability to perform self-diagnosis. Furthermore, if the application program cannot be re-executed from the middle (many application programs meet this condition),
If the self-diagnosis reveals no abnormalities, that is, if the self-diagnosis is performed due to a misunderstanding by the user, the application program must be executed again from the beginning.

The above questions are aimed at users with a certain degree of specialized knowledge, such as those who run application programs on personal computers, etc.; For this reason, many ordinary users do not even know the concept of self-diagnosis.In the case of such users, even if they feel that the device is operating abnormally, they do not know what to do and are simply troubled. This is the second problem.

An object of the present invention is to provide a self-diagnosis method that allows even a person without specialized knowledge to take appropriate measures when an abnormality occurs in a device.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a self-diagnosis device that can perform self-diagnosis without stopping the application program even when an application program that does not support self-diagnosis is running on a personal computer or the like.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above objective, we first analyze how humans generally respond when mechanical equipment is not working properly.

It turns out that more than 90% of the 100 people hit the device. In other words, the act of knocking on mechanical devices when something is not working properly is extremely common and can be considered common sense that everyone knows.

Therefore, the gist of the present invention is to use this act of "tapping" as an opportunity to perform a self-diagnosis. That is, by providing a [& detector for detecting ``tat'', an interface circuit that connects the output of the collision detector to the interrupt input terminal of the CPU, and a self-diagnosis program activated by the interrupt input. , the above objectives can be achieved.

[Effect]

(The diiS detector detects when the device is tapped. 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 tapped. The diagnostic program is interrupted by
Since it is activated directly or indirectly, the act of tapping is ultimately reduced to a reaction of the device to perform self-diagnosis.

As a result, even a person who does not know the concept of ``self-diagnosing the device'' can make the device respond so that appropriate measures can be taken as a result.

In addition, even if an application program is running on a computer, etc.,
The application program can be temporarily interrupted by an interrupt, a self-diagnosis can be performed, and if there is no abnormality, the application program can be continued from the point where it was interrupted.

〔Example〕

A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows an example of a personal computer system using the present invention. 1 is a personal computer, 2 is a keyboard, 3 is a display, and 4 is a printer. Further, 5,6°7.8 indicates an impact detector. FIG. 2 is an example of the internal configuration of FIG. 1. 11 is cp
tr, 12 is a read-only memo! J (ROM), 13 is readable/writable memory (RAM), 14 is an interface with peripheral devices (engineering 10), 20.21 is cptrll
The data bus 10 is an interface for connecting the detection outputs of the impact detectors 5, 6, 7.8 to the interrupt input of the c p trll via the Ig line 22. In this embodiment, impact detectors 5, 6, 7 .
8 (Figure WJ1), and the outputs of each impact detector 5 to 8 are connected to the interface 10 through signal lines 25, 24, 25, and 26. For this reason, it has a special feature that allows users to know which function to focus on diagnosing depending on where the user taps. The operation will be explained below. First, when starting up the system, set up the program so that the self-diagnosis program starts when an interrupt occurs. The self-diagnosis program itself may exist in the ROM 12, the RAM 13, or an auxiliary storage device (not shown), but the self-diagnosis program is executed when the CPU 11 is interrupted via the interrupt line 22. Leave it to start. Next, suppose that the user makes a movement that feels ``unusual'' while the system is operating, for example, while an application program is being executed. The user unconsciously hits the device, for example, when the user hits the computer body 1, the impact detector 5 detects the impact and sends it to the interface 10 via the signal line 23.
Let them know that you have been hit by someone.

The interface 10 converts this detection output into an interrupt signal and interrupts the 0PU11 via the interrupt signal 1fs22.

Here, an example of the interface 10 is shown in FIG.

In the same figure, 101, 102, 103, 104 are signals 25, 24, 25.2 from impact detectors 5°6, 7.8.
6 as flip-flop (FF) 105,106,
107 and 108 are level converters that convert the signal level to a level that can be driven. FF105゜10i5,107,10
8 stores which impact detector has detected being struck. In this example, the Q outputs of the 1PFs 105 to 108 are normally at a logic level (level), and the level converter 1
When there is a signal input from 01 to 104, the level becomes 10''. 109 is a gate circuit, and when the Q output of any one or more of FFs 105 to 108 reaches the level 10''1, a level is sent to the interrupt signal line 22. 11"' is output. The 3-state bus inverter 110゜111.112, 113 converts the contents 55-38 of 77105-108 into c p tr
This is for outputting to the 11 data buses 21. The read signal $50 is generated in an unillustrated circuit, and is a signal that becomes level "0" when aptrll reads out F F 105 to 108.

Signal $50 is v hell'0'' Ninaruto, IF 1F 10
The q outputs 35 to 38 of 5 to 10B are output to the gator path 21 via the 3-state path inverters 110 to 113, and the CP [Jll can read the contents of the PIFs 105 to 108. When cptrll finishes reading, the signal line 30 returns to level 116, l, but at this time, the level 11'', which is given to the D input, is set to FFs 105 to 108, and the signal line 30 again indicates that it has been struck. You can now input "signals".

Now, when c p [Jll is interrupted in this way, the self-diagnosis program is activated as described above, and the operation flowchart at this time is shown in FIG. 4. 201.
202, 203, 204, and 205 indicate the processing flow of the application program. (This explanation assumes that the problem occurred while the application program was running.

Of course, it may also be said that the system program is being executed. ) If finger 200 is now "struck" by the user, a p Ull starts interrupt processing. 21
0 is a factor analysis process, which is a part that determines what caused the interrupt to occur. Specifically, for example, processing is performed such as reading and analyzing F F 1 (i1 to 104) in the interface 10.

Reference numeral 211 is a part that determines whether or not the impact detector was sensitive as a result of analysis. In general, such a judgment is necessary when the cause of the interrupt is also a problem, that is, when there is another cause of the interrupt other than being "hit". 2
12 is a process for performing actual self-diagnosis. Step 213 determines the result of the self-diagnosis process 212. If a failure is detected, failure processing 214 is executed, and if not, the interrupt processing is terminated. If no failure is detected in this interrupt processing, the original processing i 203, 204
...and continue the application program.

Now, in order to perform such self-diagnosis processing, there are roughly two methods that can be considered. One method is to clearly inform the user that self-diagnosis is currently being executed, and the other method is to notify the user only when a failure is detected. The former is suitable when the system is relatively large and has many diagnosis points. That is, since it takes time to complete the self-diagnosis, the method is to declare to the user in advance that the self-diagnosis will be carried out, or to obtain the user's consent. For example, a system that asks the user if something has gone wrong, asks them in an interactive manner what is wrong, and diagnoses possible areas intensively is a method that allows for targeted diagnosis. It has the effect of allowing you to

At this time, as shown in FIG. 1, when impact detectors are mounted at a plurality of locations, there is an effect that the adjustment items can be set in accordance with the actual situation from the beginning. In other words, when you tap the computer main unit 1, it diagnoses things related to the main unit, such as whether the application program is stuck in an infinite loop or whether there are any abnormalities in the floppy disk or hard disk.
Alternatively, you can ask questions in an interactive manner, and if you tap keyboard 2, it will prioritize the keyboard-related problems, if you tap the display 3, it will prioritize the display-related problems, and if you tap the printer 4, it will prioritize the printer-related problems. I'll make it in time.

The latter method, in which the user is notified only when a fault is detected, is suitable for systems that are relatively small-scale and self-diagnostics that can be completed quickly. In this case, since the time required for self-diagnosis is short, the user himself/herself will not be aware that the self-diagnosis has been performed, so if there is no problem, the user will not feel unnecessary worry or anxiety. It has the effect of reducing 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, you should clearly perform a self-diagnosis to find out that there is no abnormality, that is, there is nothing to worry about.
Notifying K has the effect of giving the user a sense of security.

Next, consider the processing when a fault is detected, that is, the fault processing 214 in FIG. 4. First of all, if it is determined that the application program is clearly in an infinite loop, there is a method of determining whether or not to return control to the system program. Generally, in information processing devices such as personal computers, application programs can be created by anyone. In the process of creating such application programs, these programs often contain defects. At this time,
Manufacturers of the main unit must take measures to minimize the damage to users caused by malfunctions in application programs.For this reason, no matter what state the application program is in, A method of interrupting the system program and returning control to the system program is very effective in increasing reliability.

Second, if a failure is detected in the hardware of the device,
It is necessary to inform the maintenance company of the situation.

This method can be thought of as follows.

First, floppy disks, memory cards, magnetic tape,
Information processing device I that can handle portable recording media such as magnetic cards
At t, if there is no failure in those media control parts, the user is notified that the failure information will be written to the portable storage medium, and a message is sent to the user to record the failure information and hand over the medium to the maintenance company just in case. It is a method. The next method is to use the communication line to notify a maintenance person or a maintenance company of failure information if there is no failure in the part that controls the communication line in an information processing device that can handle a communication line.

Generally, in the case of a line that charges a fee, such as a public line, it is necessary to ask the user for permission. This method has the effect of allowing countermeasures to be taken most quickly. The next method is to print out fault information when there is no fault in the part that controls the printing device in an information processing device that can handle a printing device such as a printer. This method uses printed media or is inexpensive;
When printed in a maintenance format, it has the effect of reducing the effort required by maintenance personnel or maintenance contractors to prepare reports. Next is the L method, in which fault information is displayed and output when there is no fault in the part that controls the display in an information processing apparatus having a display such as an ORT display, a liquid crystal display, or a plasma display. This method has the effect that when the user contacts the maintenance company, the user can accurately communicate the details of the problem by looking at the displayed content or by taking a note of the content.

The following is a case of an information processing apparatus having a nonvolatile memory 15 as shown in FIG. The non-volatile memo 915 is #! of the information processing device. This is read/write memory that does not change the written contents even if the power source is disconnected.
Either use a memory whose contents do not change, or use a backup battery 16 to power the normal memory.
This can be achieved in various ways, such as by supplying from If such a nonvolatile memo 915 is provided, failure information is stored in the nonvolatile memo 915. Ho9
The person in charge is this non-volatile memo! From the contents of 115, it is possible to know the situation of 1lii damage. Please note that with this method, trouble information can be accumulated and recorded as necessary, so it is possible to analyze the cause of oil troubles even if they are minor and do not impair the functionality of the equipment (therefore, even if the user does not know, there will be no real enmity). This has the effect of informing maintenance personnel of fault information (which may be useful).

In the above description of the first embodiment of the present invention, various self-diagnosis methods have been mentioned, but these methods are not exhaustive.

Since the essence of the present invention is to perform self-diagnosis based on the impact detected by the impact detector, the personal computer song shown in Figure 1 also applies to various control devices such as word processors, facsimile machines, copying machines, etc. , equipment that performs various controls using a CPU (including air conditioners, electronic jars, etc.) can all be applied. In the block configuration shown in FIG. 2, four sets of impact detectors 5 to 8 are provided, but the essence of the present invention can be fulfilled with one or more sets of impact detectors. That is, it does not matter how many sets of impact detectors are provided. In addition, the output of the interface 10 is a P
Although it is connected to the interrupt input terminal of Ull, it may not be connected to the interrupt input depending on the case. Hardware (3PH interrupts generally include maskable interrupts (noted as IRQ) and non-maskable interrupts (NM'l).
') However, the one that best meets the purpose of the present invention is to connect to the NM engineering. This is because self-diagnosis can be started regardless of the state of the device, but depending on the device, it may be better to connect to IRQ and use the second son. For example, when a certain process must be completed in a short time, time may not be available for other processes until the process is completed. Furthermore, when interrupts are not used, the status of the interface 10 is generally checked at regular intervals (this is referred to as polling), but this is possible under real-time 08, which has good time management. In either case, self-diagnosis can be performed upon detection of an impact.

Furthermore, the configuration of the interface 10 shown in FIG. 3 is merely an example and does not limit the scope of the present invention. A wide variety of interfaces can be constructed by those skilled in the art. These configurations also vary depending on the impact detector used. For example, FIG. 6 shows an example of the level converter 101 when a pressure sensor is used in the impact detector 5. The shock detector 5 generates a pulse voltage proportional to the magnitude of the shock.

The conductor fCj superimposes this pulse component on the voltage E1 divided by the resistors R1 and 12. Eii is voltage comparator 30
Nine terminals of 0 are input and compared with voltage E2 divided by resistors R5 and R4. If we calculate the values of R1-R4 so that [1, > 12 when the desired pulse '-pressure is superimposed, the output of the voltage comparator 600 will produce a positive pulse and one pulse will be generated. drive the cut multi 501. If you use a re-triggerable one for the multi-3o1 and select an appropriate time constant for the one-shot multi, the level converter 101
The desired pulse can be obtained at the output 31 of. R1-
By selecting the resistance value of R4, the sensitivity of the shock detector can be adjusted, so that the self-diagnosis will not be activated even by slight vibrations.

Conversely, it is also possible to increase the sensitivity of this portion to detect vibrations around the device and protect the portions within the information processing device that are susceptible to vibrations. For example, fixed magnetic disk drives such as personal computers are susceptible to vibrations, so a shock detector is installed near the disk drive, and if a certain level of vibration is detected, the head is restored (moved to a position where the recording surface will not be damaged). do.

2. Issue a warning to the user.

5. Prohibit the use of discs.

etc. can be protected. Since these functions have the same concept as failure processing as a result of self-diagnosis, they do not deviate from the essence of the present invention.

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

Looking at the present invention from another aspect, for example, in FIG. 1, the keyboard 2 and printer 4 are
Although the control system has a PU and the display 3 does not have an OPU, the shock detectors 6, 7, and 8 are connected to the OPH of the personal computer body 1, as shown in FIG.

In other words, if you consider the computer itself as an information processing device,
The keyboard 2, display 3, and printer 4 can also be considered as other devices. In this way, it is also possible for an information processing device equipped with an impact detector to diagnose the device in the tree. It is also possible to incorporate a CPU system for diagnosis into the main body of the counter pressure personal computer. None of these modifications depart from the essence of the invention.

C. Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, even if the user is not familiar with the handling of the device, appropriate measures can be taken by the human habit of ``hitting the child when he/she is bad''. This has the effect of providing an easy-to-use information processing device.

Furthermore, it is possible to protect the parts that are vulnerable to vibrations from the vibrations around the device, which has the effect of improving the reliability of the device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 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 section in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is an example of a processing flow. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a song in the block diagram of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the level converting section of the interface section, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of the configuration of the level converting section. It is. 1°°°PC body, 2...keyboard, 3...
Display, 4... Printer, 5-8... Impact detector, 10... Interface, 11... CPU,
22...Interrupt signal line. Collection j Figure 82 Figure 1. Collection + Figure collection 1- + -u

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An information processing device using a microprocessor (CPU), comprising means for detecting at least one impact and means for diagnosing a function of the information processing device, and diagnosing the function. A self-diagnosis method for an information processing apparatus, wherein the means for detecting an impact starts diagnosis based on impact information detected by the means for detecting an impact. 2. In an information processing device using a CPU, at least one
and means for diagnosing a function of a device other than the information processing device, the means for diagnosing the function starting diagnosis based on impact information detected by the impact detecting means. Features a self-diagnosis method. 3. The self-diagnosis method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the impact applied to the impact detecting means is an impact caused by a human action. 4. The self-diagnosis method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the impact applied to the impact detecting means is an impact generated from the surrounding environment in which the impact detecting means is installed. 5. The impact detecting means interrupts the CPU with the impact information detected, and the diagnosing means interrupts the CPU.
A self-diagnosis method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it is driven by interrupt processing. 6. The self-diagnosis method according to claim 5, wherein the interrupt is a non-maskable interrupt of the CPU. 7. The self-diagnosis method according to claim 5, wherein the interrupt is a maskable interrupt of the CPU. 8. The self-diagnosis system according to claim 3, wherein the CPU polls and recognizes the impact information detected by the impact detecting means and drives the diagnosing means. 9. The self-diagnosis system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the diagnosing means notifies the user that the diagnosis has started. 10. The self-diagnosis system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the diagnosing means does not notify the user that the diagnosis has started. 11. The self-diagnosis according to claim 9 or 10, comprising means for detecting two or more impacts, and when an impact is detected, diagnosis is performed from a function closely related to the part where the impact was detected. method. 12. Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that when a fault is detected as a result of diagnosis, the fault information is recorded on a recording medium.
Self-diagnosis method described. 13. Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that when a fault is detected as a result of diagnosis, the fault information is transmitted to a communication line.
Self-diagnosis method described. 14. The self-diagnosis method according to claim 1, wherein the means for detecting impact has two or more levels of sensitivity. 15. The self-diagnosis method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, when the impact detecting means detects an impact, a process is performed to protect a portion vulnerable to impact. 16. The part vulnerable to shock is a fixed magnetic disk device, and the protecting process includes (i) moving the head of the fixed magnetic disk device to a position where it will not damage the recording surface;
16. The self-diagnosis method according to claim 15, further comprising one or more of the following: i) issuing a warning to the user; and (iii) prohibiting use of the fixed magnetic disk device.