JPH0411434A - Serial communication line analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To measure a time difference between optionally designated data in data displayed simultaneously by providing a means displaying simultaneously data of each line acquired by a data acquisition means and measuring the time difference among plural data. CONSTITUTION:When a serial communication line analyzer 10 is connected to 5 serial communication lines, a signal is sent to communication lines 21-25 independently of each other. A data acquired from each communication line is stored in a RAM 33 in a form shown in the Figure. A channel number acquiring the data is stored in a byte M1, the received data is stored in a byte M2, and elapsed time from a 1st reception time and a 2nd reception time are stored in bytes M3, M4 respectively. A data of each communication line acquired and stored are displayed on a screen of an LCD display device 16. After the data acquisition is stopped, a cursor is moved and set to designate an optional data displayed on the display device 16, then the time difference between the data is calculated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a serial communication line analysis device used as a development support for a device having a serial communication line and as a troubleshooting device.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Various serial communication line analysis devices have been provided under the names of "protocol analyzers" and the like to support the development of devices having serial communication lines and to detect faults.

Although these conventional serial communication line analysis devices support high communication speeds, there are no devices that can analyze multiple lines at the same time, and only one line (two channels) can be analyzed. there were.

By the way, in recent years, for example, as shown in FIG. 10(a), an engine 19 reversing unit (FDS) 2. Mailbox 39 duplex machine 4. Job stacker 5° large quantity paper feed unit (LCIT) 6. A laser printer system including a system table 7 and the like has been developed.

In this laser printer system, as shown in FIG.
FDS)2. 3 mailboxes, 4 duplex machines. A serial communication line is provided between the job stacker 5 and the job stacker 5, so that commands and data can be sent and received through serial communication.

When developing firmware for such a laser printer system, it is necessary to monitor all communication lines for jam analysis, debugging, etc.
As shown in the figure, a protocol analyzer 9, which is a communication line analysis device, was connected to each of the interface cables of the five communication lines.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In this way, conventionally, when supporting the development of devices (systems) having multiple serial communication lines and investigating failures,
Since one analysis device was connected to each communication line,
Requires a large number of analysis devices.

Not only was the cost high, but the workability and analysis efficiency were also poor.

Furthermore, there was a problem in that the time relationship between data on multiple lines and the cause-and-effect relationship of failures could not be measured on the same time axis, and it was also impossible to measure time differences in data between multiple lines. .

This invention was made in view of the above problems,
The purpose of this invention is to monitor the communication status of a device having multiple serial communication lines with one analysis device, and to measure the time relationship of data on each line on the same time axis.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention includes: 1. a data capture means for capturing data on a plurality of serial communication lines; a display means for simultaneously displaying data on each line captured by the means on a display; The present invention provides a serial communication line analysis device including means for measuring a time difference between a plurality of displayed data.

[For production]

With the above-described configuration, the serial communication line analysis device according to the present invention can capture data on a plurality of serial communication lines and simultaneously display the captured data on each line on the display, and the display is naturally the same. Displayed on the time axis.

Furthermore, by specifying a plurality of pieces of data displayed on the display, it is possible to measure the time difference between the pieces of data.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the external appearance of a serial communication line analysis device which is an embodiment of the present invention.

This serial communication line analysis device (multi-protocol analyzer) 10 is for 5 lines (10 channels), and the analysis device main body 10a has 5 data reception connection connectors 1.
1 to 15, an LCD display 16, and a key operation section 17 are provided.

FIG. 3 is a schematic connection diagram in which the serial communication line analysis device 10 and the communication lines to be analyzed 21 to 25 are connected to perform various analyzes of each communication line.

Each communication line consists of two channels (CH): a transmission line (T x d ) and a reception line (Rx d ), so a total of 10 Channels (CHI to CHIO) are connected.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of this serial communication line analysis device 10. As shown in FIG.

31 is a central processing unit (CP) that centrally controls the entire device.
TJ), and its control program is stored in a single-only memory (ROM) 32.

A random access memory (RAM) 33 temporarily stores data captured from each communication line so that it can be referenced later.

34 is an interface Ilo between the LCD display 16 shown in FIG. 2 and a printer 35 connected as necessary; 36 is an interface Ilo between the key operation section 17 shown in FIG. /○.

37 and 38 are LSIs such as communication control circuits, and 41 to 50 are signal receiving elements corresponding to channels CHI to CHIO of each communication line.

51 is a CPU 31, a ROM 32. RAM33゜l10
34, 36. This is an address/data path line that connects the signal receiving elements 41 to 50, and uses a GPIB bus (a general-purpose interface system bus for digital equipment that can be connected to a personal computer, etc.).

The operation of the serial communication line analysis device 10 configured in this way when used by connecting it to five serial communication lines as shown in FIG. 3 will be described.

Signals are transmitted through the communication lines 21 to 25 independently of each other.

As shown in FIG. 4, at any time tQ-tg,
Txd signal of communication line 21 (I) AIIRxd signal “B”, communication line 22 Txd signal “c”, Rxd signal (ID”1) communication line 23 Txd signal “E”, R
"F" for xd signal, ""' for Txd signal of communication time @24
*“H” for Rxd signal, i for Txd signal of communication line 25
Assuming that each signal data of 41 J 71 is captured in the t I uRxd signal, each input channel and time axis tO ~
The relationship with t9 is shown.

The data captured from each communication line in this way is stored in the RAM 33 in the format shown in FIG.

Ml stores the channel number where the data was captured, M2 stores the received data, and M3 and M4 store the elapsed time from the time of first reception to the time of next reception.

FIG. 6 shows an example of storing each captured data of all channels CHI-CHIO in such a format.

Channel number 1 is the Txd signal of communication line 1, channel number 2 is the <Rxd signal of the same line, channel number 3 is the Txd signal of communication line 2, channel number 4 is the Rxd signal of the same line, channel number 5 is the communication line 3
Txd signal, channel number 6 is sameguchi I! 3 Rx
d. Channel number 7 indicates the Txd signal of communication line 4, channel number 8 indicates the Rxd signal of communication line 4, channel number 9 indicates the Txd signal of communication line 5, channel number 10 indicates the Rxd signal of communication line 5, and the received data The storage section stores data corresponding to each channel.

ΔtQ to Δt9 store the time difference values (see FIG. 4) between the previously received data and the next received data.

The data of each communication line captured and stored in this way is displayed on the screen of the LCD display 16 of FIG. 2 as shown in FIG. 7.

Further, after stopping this data capturing operation, if any data displayed on the LCD display 16 is specified, the time difference between the data can be calculated.

To explain this with reference to FIG. 8, for example, data tt
Position the cursor at position P1 where Bn is displayed, press the "TIMESTART" key on the key operation section 17, move the cursor to position P2 where data It HI+ is displayed, and press the key operation section 17. 17 “TI”
When the "MESTOP" key is pressed, the CPU 31 in Figure 1
The time difference between cursor position 1fP1 and cursor position P2 is Δt=Δt2+Δt3+Δt4+Δt5+Δt6+Δ
It is calculated by the calculation of t7.

As a result, the data captured on channel 2 “B I
The time difference between the data #Hl+ and the data #Hl+ captured by channel 8 can be analyzed.

Further, by specifying an arbitrary code or bit of captured received data in advance, the data capturing operation can be stopped.

Alternatively, any change in signal level can cause the data acquisition operation to stop.

Furthermore, this serial communication line analysis device 110 can also output the data captured from the communication line to the printer 35 for printing.

FIG. 9 shows a connection example when one serial communication line analysis device of this embodiment is used to monitor five serial communication lines of the laser printer system shown in FIG. 10.

In this way, the serial communication line analysis device W1 of this embodiment
0 can capture data from 5 lines (10 channels) at the same time, display the captured data on a display, and measure the time difference between specified data, greatly increasing analysis efficiency.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to a serial communication line analysis device for five lines (10 channels), but it goes without saying that one for n lines (n×2 channels) can be provided as required.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the serial communication line analysis device according to the present invention can simultaneously capture data on multiple communication lines, display the captured data on each line simultaneously on the display, and further specify any of the data on the display. It is possible to measure the time difference between the recorded data.

Therefore, by using this device, it is possible to shorten the development period of a device having a plurality of serial communication lines, and facilitate troubleshooting.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the device shown in Fig. 2, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of a serial communication line analysis device that is an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the device shown in Fig. 2. A schematic connection diagram for connecting the analysis device and the communication line to be analyzed to perform various analyzes of each communication line; Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of an example of data capture from each channel of each communication line; Figures 5 and 6 FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a storage format and storage example of data captured from each communication line. Figure 7 is an explanatory diagram of a display example of the captured data;
The figure is an explanatory diagram of a method for specifying two data whose time difference is to be measured, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of use of the serial communication line analysis device of FIG. 2. FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a device having multiple serial communication lines, and FIG. 11 is a connection of a conventional communication line analysis device W (protocol analyzer) for monitoring each communication line of the device in FIG. 10. It is a figure showing a state. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10...Serial communication line analysis device 10a...Analysis device main body 11-15 Data reception connection connector 16...LCD display 17...Key operation unit 21-25...Communication line to be analyzed 31...・Central processing unit (cpU) 32... Read only memory (ROM) 33...
Random access memory (RAM) 34.36...I
lo 35...Printer 41-50...Signal receiving element 51...Pass line (GPIB bus) Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. H1 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 (b) Fig. 10 (Visiting

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A data capture means that captures data on a plurality of serial communication lines, a display means that simultaneously displays data on each line captured by the means on a display, and a time difference between the plurality of data displayed on the means. A serial communication line analysis device characterized by comprising: means for measuring.