JPH04266242A - Communication control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow a terminal controller 2 which transfers information outputted from a terminal equipment T1 to a host controller 1 for its reference to realize quickly releasing the terminal equipment T1 from processing an information output and to realize the host controller 1 for its referencing the information. CONSTITUTION:A terminal controller 2 is provided with a reception buffer 22 storing information outputted from a terminal equipment T1 to release the terminal equipment when the storage of the information to the reception buffer 22 is finished. Moreover, the terminal controller 2 is devised so that the information stored in the reception buffer 22 is quickly referred by a host controller 1.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication control method when information is communicated using full-duplex communication that realizes bidirectional communication.

0002

[Background Art] There are various configurations of computer systems, but for example, when the operations of multiple terminals are managed by one host device and mutual information communication is involved, predetermined processing is executed. In addition to the device for controlling the communication, a communication control device is provided.

FIG. 2 shows a conceptual diagram of a conventional computer system. The computer system shown in the figure includes a host controller 1
, a terminal control device (communication control device) 2, and a plurality of terminals T controlled by the host control device 1 via the terminal control device 2.
1 to Tn are provided.

The host control device 1 is provided with a host control section 11 (host device), an input control section 12, and a temporary storage buffer 13. The terminal control device 2 has ports P1 to Pn.
and a reception control section 21 are provided. Port P1 has terminal T1, port P2 has terminal T2, and port P
A terminal Tn is connected to n.

[0005] The upper control unit 11 is composed of a processor and the like that controls and manages each unit constituting the computer system. The input control unit 12 controls information reading from the terminal control device 2 and information reading and writing from the temporary storage buffer 13. The temporary storage buffer 13 is a RAM that temporarily stores information referenced by the upper control unit 11.
etc. This temporary storage buffer 13 is
In order to individually store information output from terminals T1 to Tn,
Areas F1 to Fn are prepared.

[0006] Ports P1 to Pn are terminals T1 to T1, respectively.
It consists of a communication LSI etc. that controls communication with 1n. The reception control unit 21 controls the ports P1 to Pn and performs reception control of information output from the terminals T1 to Tn. The terminals T1 to Tn individually input and output information and perform predetermined processing.

Refer to FIGS. 3 and 4 for the operation of the terminal control device 2, that is, the communication control method when the upper control unit 11 receives information output from the terminals T1 to Tn in the computer system having the above configuration. I will explain while doing so.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the upper control section 11. First, when a request for information to be output from the terminal T1 (an input request for information to be output from the terminal T1) is generated from the upper control unit 11, for example, the input control unit 12 stores the information in the area F1 of the temporary storage buffer 13. It is determined whether or not (step S1). If the result is YES, the information is read from the area F1 and transferred to the upper control unit 11 (step S2), and the process ends. Note that if the result of step S1 is NO, the execution of step S1 is continued and the area F1 is
(a completion signal E indicating that information has been stored from the terminal control device 2 to the temporary storage buffer 13)
You will have to wait until you receive 1). Note that step S1
If the result is NO, step S1 is not simply executed repeatedly, but the process illustrated in FIG. 4 is executed.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the input control section 12. The input control section 12 is connected to the terminal T1 of the upper control section 11.
If the input request is received and the information is not stored in the area F1 of the temporary storage buffer 13, a read signal R1 is output to the terminal control device 2 requesting information from the terminal T1 (port P1). (Step S11).

When receiving the read signal R1, the reception control section 21 of the terminal control device 2 activates the port P1, waits for the terminal T1 to output information, and when the information is output, the reception control section 21 activates the port P1. The information is temporarily stored in a buffer (not shown), and it is determined whether the input of information is complete (step S12).
). If the result of step S12 is YES, reception control unit 21 transfers the information temporarily stored in port P1 to area F1 of temporary storage buffer 13 (step S13), and ends the process. Note that if the result of step S12 is NO, acceptance of information is continued (continuation of step S12).

[0011] When the host control unit 11 makes an input request for the terminals T2 to Tn, the processing explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 is similarly executed. Further, when it becomes necessary to simultaneously make input requests from a plurality of terminals to the upper control unit 11, the processes explained in FIGS. 3 and 4 are sequentially executed in a preset order for each request.

Furthermore, when the terminals T1 to Tn independently output data not based on an input request from the upper control unit 11, the reception control unit 21 performs steps S12 and S13 in FIG. will be executed. If this data is output from multiple terminals at the same time, each output will be sequentially output in the preset order as shown in Figure 4.
Steps S12 and S13 will be executed.

[0013]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] Conventionally, in the terminal control device 2, when a plurality of terminals output information at the same time, processing such as receiving the information and transferring it to the temporary storage buffer 13 must be executed individually. There wasn't. During this time,
Other terminals had to keep waiting for information to be received by the terminal control device 2, leading to a decrease in the operating efficiency of the terminals. Furthermore, when the higher-level control device 1 side attempts to acquire information on a plurality of terminals, it has to wait until the terminal control device 2 completes receiving the information, resulting in a decrease in operating efficiency.

The present invention has been made with attention to the above points, and has been made with the object of providing a communication control method that can avoid a decrease in operating efficiency on the terminal side and the upper control device side. be.

[0015]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A communication control method of the present invention includes a host device, a plurality of terminal devices that transmit information received by the host device, and a method for transmitting the information received from each terminal device to the host device. When using an information processing system equipped with a communication control device that controls communication to transmit data to a device, when the communication control device receives a plurality of pieces of information from each terminal device in parallel, Each piece of information is stored in a reception buffer shared by each of the terminal devices, and when the higher-level device requests any of the information, the information stored in the reception buffer is retrieved and transmitted to the higher-level device. do.

[0016]

[Operation] A reception buffer is provided to store information output by the terminal, and the terminal releases the information when the storage of information in the reception buffer is completed. Also, settings are made so that the information stored in the reception buffer can be quickly referenced by the higher-level control device. Therefore, the terminal can be freed from the processing of outputting information and the information in the upper control device can be referenced quickly.

[0017]

Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a conceptual diagram of a computer system according to the present invention. The computer system shown in the figure is provided with a host control device 1, a terminal control device (communication control device) 2, and a plurality of terminals T1 to Tn that are controlled by the host control device 1 via the terminal control device 2. There is.

The host control device 1 is provided with a host control section 11 (host device), an input control section 12, and a temporary storage buffer 13. The terminal control device 2 has ports P1 to Pn.
and a reception control section 21 are provided. Port P1 has terminal T1, port P2 has terminal T2, and port P
A terminal Tn is connected to n. Upper control unit 11, input control unit 12, temporary storage buffer 13, terminals T1 to Tn
is similar to that previously explained in FIG. Therefore, redundant explanation will be omitted and only the configuration of the terminal control device 2 will be explained here.

The terminal control device 2 includes ports P1 to Pn,
A reception control section 21, a reception buffer 22, and a reception buffer control section 23 are provided. Ports P1 to Pn are composed of communication LSIs and the like that control communication with terminals T1 to 1n, respectively. The reception control unit 21 controls ports P1 to
It controls reception of information output from the terminals T1 to Tn.

[0020] The reception buffer 22 is shared by the ports P1 to Pn and consists of a RAM or the like in which each port stores information received from the terminals T1 to Tn. The reception buffer control unit 23 controls the storage and reading of information into the reception buffer 22.

FIG. 5 shows a configuration diagram of the reception buffer 22. As shown in the figure, the reception buffer 22 includes a port number item 22a that stores a port number that specifies the port that received information, and an information item 22b that stores the received information.
is set up to store multiple pairs of port numbers and information. For example, the information item 22b has an area of 1.
It is set to byte. Therefore, if the information is several bytes long, a plurality of port number items 22a with the same contents will be stored.

Returning to FIG. 1, the communication control method of the present invention will now be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. Here, an example will be described in which the terminal control device 2 receives information about the terminal T1 (port P1).

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of the present invention. When information is output from the terminal control device 2, it is received at the port P1. At this time, the reception control section 21 notifies the reception buffer control section 23 in advance that the port P1 will receive information. Thereby, the reception buffer control unit 23 determines that an input request to the reception buffer 22 has occurred (step S21).

When the port P1 receives information, the reception buffer control unit 23 immediately stores the information in the reception buffer 22. At this time, the reception buffer control unit 23 stores the content "1" indicating port P1 in the port number item 22a of the reception buffer 22, and stores the received information in the information item 22b. If the information is 1 byte or more, the contents of the plurality of port number items 22a are set to "1" and the information is sequentially stored.

[0025] The reception control unit 21 determines whether or not the information reception of the port P1 is completed (step S22), and the result is YE.
In the case of S, an information transfer instruction is issued to the reception buffer control unit 23. Upon receiving the instruction from the reception control unit 21, the reception buffer control unit 23 inputs the port number item 2 of the reception buffer 22.
The contents of the information items 22b in which the contents of 2a indicate "1" are sequentially read out and transferred to the area F1 of the temporary storage buffer 13 (step S23), and the process ends.

If the result of step S22 is NO, the reception of information by the port P1 and the storage of information into the reception buffer 22 by the reception buffer control section 23 are continued.

In the present invention, when a plurality of terminals output information at the same time, the reception is executed sequentially and the information is stored in the reception buffer 22 under the control of the reception control section 21 and the reception buffer control section 23.

The input control unit 12 is not involved in storing information in the reception buffer 22, and performs processing related to, for example, acceptance of the read signal R1, completion signal E1 indicating completion of transfer to the temporary storage buffer 13, etc. There's no need to do it.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. In the embodiment, the case where the information to be stored in the reception buffer 22 is set in units of 1 byte has been explained as an example, but if a parameter indicating the information length to be stored in one item is prepared separately, the information length of one item can be changed. It can be of variable length instead of 1 byte.

[0030]

As explained above, according to the communication control method of the present invention, information output from a terminal is accumulated on the terminal control device side and then transferred to a temporary storage buffer.
A terminal that has not been released from processing related to outputting information until the transfer to the temporary storage buffer is completed can be quickly released, and a decrease in operating efficiency of the terminal can be avoided. In addition, since information is quickly transferred to the temporary storage buffer, it is possible to reduce the number of situations in which the upper control unit waits for information to be transferred to the temporary storage buffer.
Decrease in operating efficiency can be avoided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a computer system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a conventional computer system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a higher-level control unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the input control section.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a reception buffer.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Terminal control device 11 Upper control unit 12 Input control section 13 Temporary storage buffer 21 Reception control section 22 Receive buffer 23 Receive buffer control unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A higher-level device, a plurality of terminal devices that transmit information received by the higher-level device, and a communication control device that performs communication control to transmit the information received from each terminal device to the higher-level device. When using an information processing system equipped with the following, when the communication control device receives a plurality of pieces of information from each of the terminal devices in parallel, the communication control device stores each piece of information in a reception buffer prepared in advance and shared by each of the terminal devices. , and when the higher-level device requests any of the information, the information stored in the reception buffer is retrieved and transmitted to the higher-level device.