JPH04195554A - Tracing device with time stamp function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the using efficiency of a storage area by adding a time stamp bit to each prescribed bit width of externally inputted trace information and editing writing data. CONSTITUTION:Externally inputted trace information(TR) is divided into each prescribed bit width by a writing data editing means 2 as writing data WD, which are successively stored in a storage means 2. A time stamp bit(TB) obtained by dividing time stamp data(TD) in each specified bit width is added to each TR divided as the WD by a time stamp bit output means 1 and the TB and the TR are unitedly stored. Plural TBs stored in the means 3 are successively connected so as to restored to the TD and utilized as time information. On the other hand, time stamp bit width of each writing is set up to a value sufficiently smaller than the bit width of the TR. Thus the storage area can be efficiently utilized.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a tracing device with a time stamp function that records digital signals from a digital information processing device, etc. together with time information, and relates to a tracing device with a time stamp function that records digital signals from a digital information processing device, etc. It can be used for process recording and analysis.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to analyze the real-time operation of a digital information processing device or the like, a trace device has been used that records processing steps executed by the device while it is in operation, with time information (time stamp) attached thereto.

In such a tracing device, a time stamp area is provided in parallel with the trace information area, and a time stamp is performed every time each piece of trace information is written to record the generation time of the trace information.

In FIG. 5, a conventional tracing device 41 is shown.

A digital signal from an external target device (not shown) is input to the trace device 41 as trace information TR, and this trace information TR is sent to the storage section 44 via the write register 43 and stored in sequence.

Here, the trace device 5f41 includes a time circuit 42 that outputs time information TI representing the current time, and this time information TI
is added to the trace information TR in the write register 43, and the write data 〇 written in the storage section 44 is composed of a pair of trace information TR and time information TI representing the current time.

Therefore, the generation time of each piece of trace information TR read out from the storage unit 44 via the read register 45 can be determined based on the time information TI attached to each piece of trace information TR, which is effective in real-time analysis of the target device. available for use.

[HN3 to be solved by the invention In the conventional tracing device 41 as described above, especially when there is an extremely large amount of information to be traced with respect to changes in the time information TI, the same time information TI is stored continuously. This has the drawback of increasing wasted storage space compared to the usefulness of timestamps.

In addition, since the memory elements often used in the storage unit 44 are generally of a type in which writing and reading are performed with a fixed focus width,
When the time information TI is written in parallel as in the conventional trace device 41, the time information TI occupies a large bit width, making it difficult to maintain a wide focus width for the trace information TR.

Furthermore, in order to secure the bit width of trace information, in addition to the original circuit for writing, storing, and reproducing trace information, the circuit for writing, storing, and reproducing time information consists of hardware such as registers and RAM. Although it is conceivable to provide a circuit for successive reading, in such a case, another problem arises in that the storage device 49 becomes larger.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a trace device with a time stamp function that uses storage area with high efficiency.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a timestamp bit output means for sequentially outputting timestamp data representing the current time as timestamp bits at predetermined bit intervals, and an external input of the outputted timestamp bits. write data editing means for editing the write data by adding each predetermined bit width to the trace information to be written;
A tracer device with a time stamp function is constructed by providing a storage means for sequentially storing edited write data.

Here, the bit width of the timestamp is preferably 1 bit or a value obtained by dividing the bit width of the timestamp data by an integer, and the bit width of the trace information is as follows:
For example, the bit width may be set to be the majority of the bit width of the write data minus the bit width of the timestamp, and the bit width of the write data may be set to match the access bit width of the storage means, etc. .

[Effect]

In the present invention, the trace information inputted from the outside is divided into write data by the write data editing means for each predetermined bit width, and is sequentially stored in the storage means. The time stamp bits obtained by dividing the time stamp data into specified bit widths are added to each piece of trace information by the time stamp pinto output means, and the time stamp bits and the trace information are stored integrally.

In this way, the time stamp bits stored in the storage means can be restored to time stamp data by sequentially concatenating them, and can be used as time information.

On the other hand, the timestamp bit width for each write can be made sufficiently smaller than the bit width of trace information, thereby realizing efficient use of the storage area and achieving the above object.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, a trace device 11 according to the present embodiment includes a memory circuit 19 for storing trace information, and includes a memory operation of the memory circuit 19.
1 is provided with a control circuit 16 that controls the entire system.

The storage circuit 19 includes a storage section 14 having a predetermined storage capacity, and stores the storage section 14 according to instructions from the control circuit 16.
It is equipped with a write register 13 for writing to the storage section 14 and a read register 15 for reading from the storage section 14, and the bit width of the write register 13 and the read register is equal to the access bit width of the memory element used in the storage section 14. is set accordingly.

A timestamp bit output circuit 18 is connected to the control circuit 16, and this output circuit 18 outputs timestamp data T.
It is provided with a timestamp bit register 18A that stores D.

The time stamp pit register 18A has a time circuit 12.
and marker circuit 17 are connected, and control circuit 16
Timestamp bit register 1
The first 4 bits of 8A store the marker signal 1'IP from the marker circuit 17, and the following 20 bits store the marker signal 1'IP from the marker circuit 17.
The time information TI from 2 is stored.

Here, the marker signal MP uses 4 bits that are easy to distinguish, such as "1111", and the time information TI uses 20 bits that represent the current time in a BCD code with a bit configuration as shown in FIG.

The timestamp bit output circuit 18 outputs the timestamp bit register 18 in response to instructions from the control circuit 16.
The time stamp data TD stored in A is configured to be sequentially outputted bit by bit from the beginning as time stamp bits TB, and these constitute a time stamp bit output means 1.

The output of the time stamp bit output circuit 18 is connected to the write register 13. Here, write register 1
3, according to instructions from the control circuit 16, the timestamp bits and nodes TB from the timestamp bit output circuit 18 are sequentially stored in the last bit, and each of the remaining bits from the beginning to the one before the bundle part is stored in the last bit. Trace information TR divided into lengths corresponding to the focus width of the portion is sequentially stored in the bits, and each bit is edited as write data 〇 and stored in the storage unit 14. Here, the write register 13 constitutes a write data editing means 2, and the storage section 14 constitutes a storage means 3.

The operation of this embodiment configured in this way will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 2, first, in the time stamp bit output means l, the time stamp bit register 18
In A, 24 pins of the marker signal MP and time information TI outputted by the marker circuit 17 and the time circuit 12 are stored as time stamp data TD. This time stamp data TD is output as time stamp bits TB one bit at a time from the beginning in each cycle in response to a request from the write data editing means 2.

On the other hand, in the write data editing means 2, when the trace information TR from the beginning to the bit before the end is input to the write register 13, the time stamp bit from the time stamp bit output means 1 is added to the end of this trace information TR. A stamp bit TB is added, thereby editing one cycle of write data D.

The write data D created here is passed to the storage means 3 and sequentially written into the storage section 14.

When such writing to the storage unit 14 is performed for 24 cycles, all of the time stamp data TD stored in the time stamp pit register 18A is output. Therefore, in the time stamp bit output means 1, the marker circuit 17. Prepare by inputting a new marker signal MP and time information ↑■ from the time circuit 12.

On the other hand, in the storage unit 14, as shown in FIG.
One cycle of time stamp bits TH means that one time stamp data TD has been written.

Such a series of write operations is repeated sequentially, and the trace information Tl? is stored together with a timestamp bit TB.

The trace information stored in this manner is read out as a series of data by successively reading out each write data WD from the beginning to the one before the end. At this time, the time stamp data TD is restored by sequentially concatenating the time stamp bits TB at the end of each write data 〇, and is recognized as one piece of time information TI following the marker signal MP, as shown in FIG. So, the time information TI
It can be read as

Therefore, this embodiment has the following effects.

That is, since the timestamp data TD can be stored using the timestamp bit TB added to the end of the write data 〇, the trace information Tl? At the same time, time information TI can be stored.

Also, from the beginning to the 1 bit before the end, the last 1 bit of trace information TR1 is a timestamp bit ↑B.
Since the storage area for timestamps is small, even if a large amount of trace information TR is written in a short period of time, it is possible to eliminate the waste of time information elements 1 with the same content continuing, and it is possible to save more trace information. TR can be recorded.

Therefore, the utilization efficiency of the storage area of the storage unit 14 can be increased, and the storage capacity of the trace device 11 can be expanded.

On the other hand, the timestamp data TO stored as timestamp bits TB is preliminarily marked with a marker based on an easy-to-identify bit array at the beginning, and since the time information TI is written in BCD code, the time information TI can be read easily and accurately.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but includes the following modifications.

That is, in the above embodiment, the timestamp data T
A marker signal MP with an easy-to-discern bit arrangement is attached to the beginning of the time information TI as D, but this marker signal MP
may be added to the end of the time information Tr. In short, it is sufficient that the two time information TI can be distinguished by adding this mark between the two pieces of time information TI.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, 1 is added to the end of the write data 〇.
I placed a time stamp focus TB for each bit, but
This can be the beginning or middle part of write data〇,
In other words, the configuration is such that the timestamp focus T8 is written for each predetermined bit width of the trace information.

Furthermore, the timestamp focus B attached to the trace information TR is not limited to 1 bit, but the bit width of the trace information TR stored in the storage unit 14 and the trace information TR corresponding to changes in the time information TI. amount of,
The number of bits may be set appropriately.

In addition, although the time information TI in the above-mentioned embodiment is composed of 20 bits using a BCD code, the code and the number of bits are not limited. The time information TI may be composed of numbers; however, if a BCD code is used, the time information TI can be easily read.

In addition, the specific circuit configuration etc. when implementing the present invention are not limited to the configurations of the above embodiments, and other circuit configurations etc. may be adopted as long as the object of the present invention can be achieved.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the utilization efficiency of the storage area of a tracing device with a time stamp function.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram explaining the operation of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the memory contents of the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the time information TI of the embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of a conventional trace device with a time stamp function. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Time stamp bit output means, 2... Write data editing means, 3... Storage means, 11... Trace device, 13... Write register, 14... Storage unit, 16. ...Control unit, 18A...Time stamp bit register, TI...Time information, TR...Trace information, TD...
“°Time stamp data, ↑B...Time stamp bit, HD...Write data.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a tracing device with a timestamp function that records an externally input digital signal as trace information in chronological order and also records time information together with the trace information, the timestamp data representing the current time is sequentially recorded in predetermined bits. timestamp bit output means for outputting timestamp bits for each width; write data editing means for editing written data by adding outputted timestamp bits to the trace information for each predetermined bit width; A trace device with a timestamp function, characterized in that it is equipped with a storage means for sequentially storing data.