JPS60200353A - Control system of input and output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decrease the blank time for a waiting time for interruption to be fed from the hardware and to improve the throughput by executing another routine during an idle time of a routine for hardware control against an input/ output device. CONSTITUTION:The image information is expanded to buffers 5 and 6 from an interruption control part 1, and an editing end flag 4 is turned on when an editing action is through. Under such a condition, a pattern transfer part 2 is started at an I/O level I . Thus the part 2 starts to transfer a pattern to a serial printer 7 to wait for the time up to reception of an answer signal Ack and an interruption to a mechanical printing action time. Meanwhile, an image editing part 3 performs the image editing of an I/OII. When the pattern transfer is through with the buffer 5, the part 2 turns off a flag 4. In such a case, however, the image editing action is already through with the buffer 6 and the part 2 starts immediately the pattern transfer of the buffer 6 as long as the part 3 turns on the flag 4.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an input/output device control system, and in particular to a routine that directly controls the hardware of an input/output device by a microprocessor having multiple interrupt levels, and other methods. The present invention relates to an input/output device control method that takes the processing routines of the computer to a different level and enables parallel processing.

[Problems with conventional technology]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a conventional input/output device control method.

In a processing device using a microprocessor having multiple interrupt levels, there has conventionally been one control level for the input/output device (I10 device). Therefore, for example, when controlling image printing on a serial printer device, as shown in FIG. 1, image editing is first performed at the control level of the input/output device, and then pattern transfer is performed. Generally, when image information is expanded into a buffer by this image editing, pattern transfer
The dot data developed in the buffer is transferred one byte at a time to the serial printer device.

At this time, the serial printer device accumulates this data every time it receives one byte and sends a response signal Ack (Ac-know).
ledge) to the processing device, and when one line of data is accumulated, prints one line and sends a response signal Ack.
is returned to the processing device. Therefore, in pattern transfer, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 1, every time one byte is transferred, the process waits for a response signal Ack from the serial printer, that is, waits for an interrupt from the hardware. However, as mentioned above, since the input/output device has only one control level, image editing and other processing routines cannot be executed in this interrupt wait state.
Similarly, since interrupts from hardware cannot be received while other processing routines are being executed, blank time occurs in the control of input/output devices, resulting in a reduction in throughput.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention is based on the above considerations, and aims to improve throughput by reducing idle time such as interrupt wait time from hardware in controlling input/output devices.
The object of the present invention is to provide an input/output device control method that can perform real-time processing of hardware interrupts.

[Structure of the invention]

To this end, the input/output device control method of the present invention is an input/output device control method for a data processing device equipped with a plurality of interrupt levels, in which a hardware control routine for the input/output device is assigned to the input/output device control. The data processing and other routines other than the hardware control routines for the input/output device are executed at the interrupt level lower than the input/output control level. In contrast, the present invention is characterized in that the other routines can be executed during the idle time of the hardware-controlled routine.

[Embodiments of the invention]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a time chart explaining the operation of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram explaining the flow of image printing processing.

In FIG. 2, 1 is an interrupt control section, 2 is a pattern transfer section, 3 is an image editing section, 4 is an editing end flag, 5 and 6 are buffers, and 7 is a serial printer device. Here, the pattern transfer section 2 is a serial
It has a function of transferring a dot pattern to the printer device 7, and is executed at an interrupt level of I10 level (■).

On the other hand, the image editing section 3 has a function of developing image information into a dot pattern, and is executed at an interrupt level of I10 level H. Further, the two buffers 5 and 6 are buffers for several lines used as editing areas, and the editing end flag 4 is a shared flag between the pattern transfer section 2 and the image editing section 3.

Next, the operation when image printing is executed on the serial printer device 7 will be described.

First, at the I10 level ■, the image editing section 3 is activated to develop image information in the buffer 5. When the editing to the buffer 5 is completed, the image editing section 3 is activated again to expand the next image information to the buffer 6 before pattern transfer, and then the pattern transfer section 2 is also activated. Activate at I10 level I. The image editing section 3 develops the image information in the buffer 5 or 6, and when the editing is completed, turns on the editing end flag 4. When the pattern transfer unit 2 is activated with I10 level I while the editing end flag 4 is on, the pattern transfer unit 2 starts transferring the pattern to the serial printer device 7 and sends a response signal to the pattern transfer. The time until reception of Ack and the mechanical printing operation time are set to an interrupt wait state. During this interrupt wait state, the image editing section 3 executes image editing at level I10. When the pattern transfer of the buffer 5 is completed, the pattern transfer unit 2 turns off the editing completion flag 4 corresponding to the buffer 5, but at this time, the image editing of the buffer 6 has already been completed, and the image editing unit 3
If the corresponding editing end flag 4 is turned on, the pattern transfer unit 2 immediately starts transferring the pattern from the buffer 6.

FIG. 3 shows a time chart of these operations.

In Figure 3, I10 level I is at a relatively higher level than I10 level ■, and the next image information can be edited during idle time (dotted line time in the figure) when I10 level I is controlling the hardware. conduct. In this way I10
At level H, patterns are transferred to two buffers 5 and 6 while being edited alternately at level I10.

FIG. 4 shows the flow of processing by a system to which the present invention is applied, taking the above-mentioned image printing as an example, and will be described below.

■ Perform image editing and expand image information into a buffer. Next, perform the process (■).

■ Transfer one byte of data (pattern transfer) to a serial printer device. Next, perform the process (■).

■ Check whether the response signal Ack has been received.

If the answer is YES, the process ``■'' is performed, and if the answer is NO, the process ``■'' is performed.

■ Transfer one byte of data (pattern transfer) to a serial printer device. Next, perform the process (■).

■ Check whether the transfer is completed or not.

If Yes, the process ends, and if No, the process returns to (2).

■ Check to see if it is from the Image Editorial Department.

In the case of YES, the process ``■'' is performed, and in the case of NO, the process returns to the process ``■''.

■ Perform image editing. Next, return to the process of ■.

Note that during execution of the above-described processing, if there is an interrupt from a higher level, the interrupt is accepted and executed in the same manner as in the prior art.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform the next image editing in the free time of the hardware tDIJ, such as image printing control for a serial printer device, thereby increasing the speed of image printing. can be achieved. In other words, blank time can be reduced in input/output device control, and throughput can be improved. In addition, real-time processing of hardware interrupts can be performed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a diagram explaining the conventional input/output device control method, Figure 2
3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a time chart illustrating the operation of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the flow of image printing processing. 1... Interrupt control unit, 2... Pattern transfer unit, 3
. . . Image editing section, 4 . . . Edit end flag, 5 and 6 . . . Buffer, 7 . . . Serial printer device. Patent applicant: Uzafuku Electronics Industry Co., Ltd. Representative patent attorney: Fumihiro Hase (2 others) Figure 1 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] An input/output device control method for a data processing device equipped with multiple interrupt levels, in which the hardware control routine for the input/output device is executed at the human output control level assigned to the input/output device control, and the above input/output By executing other routines such as data processing other than the hardware control routine for the device at an interrupt level lower than the input/output control level, the hardware control routine for the input/output device can be executed. An input/output device control method characterized in that the other routines mentioned above can be executed during free time.