JPH04186457A - Continuous and automatic poling control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the structure of this continuous and automatic poling control system by instructing the start/stop of processing by the ON/OFF of a flag set up in an exclusive register or a 2-port memory and allowing a microprogram to periodically check a continue flag. CONSTITUTION:A memory control mechanism 2 is connected to a system bus 1, a local memory 3 and a CPU/line control mechanism 4, and at the time of outputting a request from a microprogram to a master control ware existing in a system bus side main storage and a program memory 7, the local memory 3 is controlled and a line 8 is controlled by the CPU/line controller 4. In this case, the continue flag 9 for commanding the start/stop of continuous and automatic poling operation is set up in the memory 3 and the flag 9 can be accessed from both of the master control ware and the microprogram through the mechanism 2. Thus the structure can be simplified.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a microprogram for a communication control system adapter and a continuous automatic polling control method in upper control software.

[Conventional technology]

In the conventional control method, instructions to start and stop continuous automatic polling operations were issued by commands issued from the upper control software side. Incidentally, related systems of this type include, for example, 135231/1982 and 212533/1983.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In transmission control using polling control, it is necessary to poll at regular intervals in order to eliminate attention such as transmission requests from lower-level devices.Generally, polling processing is performed by the communication control mechanism without being controlled by upper-level software. (abbreviated as adapter) continuously and automatically.

On the other hand, it is necessary to be able to stop polling and send data with a command from the higher-level device to the lower-level device in order to send a message to the lower-level device independently of the attention from the lower-level device. For this reason, adapters are generally designed so that the start and stop of the automatic polling function can be controlled from higher-level software.

The above conventional technology does not take into consideration the processing of the adapter's microprogram and the processing of the higher-level controlware, and in the method in which continuous automatic polling processing is controlled by commands from the higher-level controlware, the processing of the microprogram is multi-processed. The problem was that it became a task.

The present invention aims to reduce the amount of memory, reduce the number of bits of the microprocessor used, and downsize the adapter by making microprogram processing a single task and simplifying its structure. The purpose is to reduce the amount of noise and improve system performance.

[Means to solve the problem]

The above purpose is to instruct the start and stop of continuous automatic polling processing from the host control software by turning on or off a dedicated register in the adapter or a flag (hereinafter referred to as the continue flag) provided on the 2-port memory. This is accomplished by the microprogram periodically checking the continue flag.

[Effect]

By making continuous automatic polling processing flag-controlled using a continue flag, the microprogram can respond to a continuous automatic polling start instruction from the upper level control software while executing continuous automatic polling processing, and issue other instructions such as a continuous automatic polling stop instruction. Processing that used to be multitasking, such as processing commands in parallel, can now be done by simply checking the continue flag periodically, making microprogram processing a single task. In addition, the higher-level control software does not need to perform a series of command issuing processes and interrupt processing that were conventionally necessary, and the load on the higher-level control software can be reduced.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 shows a typical hardware configuration example for realizing the present invention.

In Figure 1, 1 is the system bus 2 is the memory control mechanism 3 is local memory 4 is CPU and line controller 5 is the driver and receiver 6 is an internal bus 7 is program memory 8 is the line 9 is a continue flag.

The memory control mechanism 2 is connected to the system bus 1, the local memory 3, the CPU, and the line control mechanism 4. The memory control mechanism 2 is connected to the system bus 1, the local memory 3, the CPU, and the line control mechanism 4. The local memory 3 is controlled in response to the request. still,
It is even better if the local memory 3 is a 2-port memory.

The CPU and the line controller 4 are connected to the driver and receiver 5, the internal bus 6, and the memory control mechanism 2, and are connected to the driver and receiver 5, and the memory control mechanism 2, and control the microprogram and the driver and receiver 5.
The line 8 is controlled via.

The program memory 7 stores a microprogram for the adapter.

In this hardware configuration example, by providing a continue flag 9 in the local memory 3 that instructs the start and stop of continuous automatic polling operation, the continue flag is transmitted from both the upper control software and the microprogram via the memory control mechanism 2. It is possible to access 9.

Further, in this embodiment, the continue flag 9 is provided on the local memory 3, but the same effect may be achieved by providing a dedicated register instead.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing conventional upper control software processing and microprogram processing related to continuous automatic polling processing.

In the conventional processing method, when the host control software issues a continuous automatic polling start command to the adapter (100), the microprogram confirms that the command received through interrupt processing is an instruction to start continuous automatic polling, and starts polling. Start operation (110.
111). At the same time, parallel processing begins so that a command to stop continuous automatic polling from the host controlware is accepted (112, 113).

Next, the higher-level controlware issues a continuous automatic polling stop command (102) when a factor for stopping polling occurs, such as causing the lower-level to execute another process (101). The microprogram uses interrupt processing to confirm that it is a continuous automatic polling stop command (114), and returns a response to the stop command to the upper control software (1, 16). At the same time, the polling operation should be stopped (115), and a response indicating that the polling operation has ended should be returned to the upper controlware (115).
117).

After receiving each response, the upper level controlware enters the next process (103, 104).

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the upper control software processing and microprogram processing according to the present invention in comparison with FIG. 2.

In the present invention, first, the host controlware turns on the continue flag so that the microprogram can continue polling operations, and issues a continuous automatic polling start command (200). After the microprogram analyzes the command in interrupt processing, it starts continuous automatic polling operation (210.211). During continuous automatic polling, the microprogram periodically checks the status of the continue flag without interrupt processing (
212). The upper controlware turns off the continue flag when a factor that stops the polling operation occurs (201). When the microprogram confirms that the continue flag is off regardless of interrupt processing (213), it stops the polling operation.21
4) Return a response indicating the end of continuous automatic polling operation to the upper controlware.

As described above, according to the present invention, microprogram processing that conventionally requires multitasking can be reduced to a single task, thereby simplifying microprogram processing. At the same time, the processing of the upper control software also changes the number of commands issued.
This has the effect of reducing the load, such as by reducing the number of interrupt processing.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the processing of the adapter's microprogram changes from multi-tasking to single-tasking, the structure of the microprogram is simplified, the amount of memory is reduced, the number of bits of the microprocessor used is reduced, and the adapter is made smaller. be.

In addition, the processing of the upper control software only requires turning on and off the continue flag instead of issuing commands, which has the effect of reducing the load on interrupt processing and improving system performance.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a typical hardware configuration diagram for realizing the present invention, Fig. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing method of continuous automatic polling operation in the prior art, and Fig. 3 is a processing method of continuous automatic polling operation in the present invention. It is a flow chart showing a method. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... System bus, 2... Memory control mechanism, 3... Local memory, 4... CPU and line controller, 5... Driver and receiver, 6... Internal bus, 7... Program memory, 8 lines, 901. Continue flag.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A continuous automatic polling control method characterized in that when a microprogram of an adapter continuously automatically issues a polling operation for a lower level, the continuous automatic issuance process is controlled by a flag instead of a command from a higher level.