JPS61100850A - System for diagnosing intermediate device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize the wraparound test of devices which are different from each other in number and level of high-order/low-order interface signals, by supplying insufficient signals by adding inter-logical section interfaces and, at the same time, adding a signal level converting circuit. CONSTITUTION:An intermediate device A controls high-order/low-order interface signals while its microprocessor 12 handling registers 10 and 11. By adding a new register 14 which can be handled by the microprocessor 12 and operating the input/output of the register 14, the number of signals is adjusted. Moreover, since the levels of the high-order/low-order interface signals are different from each other, a level converting circuit 15 which performs level conversion and a logical interface 16 which supplies insufficient signals are provided.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention is a stand-alone diagnosis method in which an intermediate device that owns the interface section of upper and lower devices in a computer system can disconnect the interface connection and diagnose the device independently. Internal ramp-around test (connects the upper and lower interface sections, returns signals to be sent to the lower device to the upper interface section, and checks whether the interface including the driver/receiver circuit operates normally or whether the upper The present invention relates to a method for diagnosing an intermediate device in which the number and signal level of upper/lower interface signals differ in a test in which signals to be sent to a device are returned to a lower-level interface section.

As shown in Figure 3, a computer system has several input/output channels attached to the CPU.
Several input/output devices I10 are connected to. For example, several DISKs, MTs, etc. are connected to the CH via the control device 1.

Figure 4 shows the above control device. In the case of standalone diagnosis (independent testing) of the control device, disconnect the cables connected to the upper/lower device of the computer system, and connect connector 2 to the upper device. connection, connector 3 is connected to the lower device), connect connector 2 of the upper interface section and connector 3 of the lower interface section with cable 4,
The signal going to the lower-level device is returned to the connector 2 of the upper-level interface section and operated while appearing to be a higher-level signal to test whether the interface circuit section 5 including the driver/receiver circuit operates normally. A so-called wrap-around test is performed in which a signal to be sent to a higher-level device is returned to a lower-level interface section for testing.

This wrap-around test can be performed when the number and level of the upper and lower interface signals are the same, however, in recent control devices, many of the upper and lower interface signals have different numbers or levels. There is.

In order to perform a wrap-around test on a control device that has different numbers of upper/lower interface signals, remove the cables connected to the upper/lower equipment and connect cable 4 to connector 2 of the upper interface section as shown in Figure 5. When the connectors 3 of the lower interface section are connected together,
Due to the lack of number, for example, a signal going to a lower-level device is input to the upper-level interface section, and the interface circuit section 5 including the driver/receiver circuit does not operate, making it impossible to perform a wrap-around test.

Therefore, there is a need for a diagnostic method that can perform a wrap-around test even in such cases.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a ramp-around test for stand-alone diagnosis of a conventional intermediate device (control device).

In the figure, the control device has two upper connectors 2 and two lower connectors 3, and an upper interface section 6 and a lower interface section 7 connected to the connectors 2.3 and having DV/RV8.9.

Registers 1o and 1 connected to both interface sections 6.7
There is a microprocessor 12 that handles the 1 and 8 registers 1O111, and a data transfer unit 13 that transfers read/write data from a lower device such as a disk.
The microprocessor 12 controls upper/lower interface signals.

The above control device has the same number and level of lower interface signals, so in the case of a wrap-around test, disconnect the cables connected to the upper/lower device as shown in Figure 4. Connector 2 is connected to the upper device. (connector 3 is connected to the lower-level device), the connector 2 of the upper interface section 6 and the connector 3 of the lower-level interface section 7 are connected with the cable 4, and the signal going to the lower-level device is returned to the connector 2 of the upper interface section. It works by making it look like a higher level signal. At this time, the driver/receiver circuit (D
Upper and lower ink face circuit section 6 including V/RV)
．． 7 is working properly. Alternatively, the signal to be sent to the higher-level device is returned to the lower-level interface section for testing.

For example, the IN line signal input from the host connector 2 is
/RV 8, the upper interface unit 6 operates, and the microprocessor 12 handles the register 10. In addition, the IN line signal input from the lower side connector 3 is
/RV 9, the lower interface section 7 operates, and the microprocessor 12 handles the register 11.

As mentioned above, since the DV/RV element of the upper interface and the DV/RV element of the lower interface are exactly the same, matching can be achieved by simply returning them, and a ramp-around test can be performed.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In the ramp-around test of the conventional intermediate device (control device) shown in FIG. 6, the connector 2 of the upper interface section 6 and the connector 3 of the lower interface section
This is done depending on whether or not the upper and lower interface circuit sections 6 and 7 including the driver/receiver circuit operate normally by connecting the signal going to the lower device through a groot so that it appears to be an upper level signal and operating it.

This ramp-around test can be performed when the number and level of the upper and lower interface signals are the same, however, in recent control devices, there are many cases where the number or level of the upper and lower interface signals is different. There is.

When using a control device with a different number and level of upper/lower interface signals (see Figure 5), remove cable 4 connected to the upper/lower device to perform a wrap-around test, and connect cable 4 to the upper/lower interface signal. When the connectors 2 and 3 of the lower interface section are connected to each other, for example, signals from the lower device cannot be input to the upper interface section due to an insufficient number of connectors, so the interface circuit section 5 including the driver/receiver circuit does not operate. do not.

Therefore, if the number of signals on the lower interface and the number and level of signals on the upper interface are not the same, DV/RV
8.9 cannot be connected, so there is a problem that wrap-around tests cannot be performed.

[Means for solving problems]

The above problem is that when the number and signal level of the upper/lower interface signals of the intermediate device are different, the processing section needs a register to control the number of signals, and a logic section interface for replenishing the missing signals. , a level conversion circuit for converting different signal levels to the same level is added to the device, the number of signals is adjusted by manipulating the input/output of the register, and the above-mentioned upper/lower interface signals are converted to the above-mentioned level. This problem is solved by the intermediate device diagnostic method of the present invention, which enables diagnosis by matching signal levels via a conversion circuit.

[Effect]

That is, in the wrap-around test of the intermediate device,
If the number of signals and signal levels are different, the processing unit can add a register that can control the upper/lower interface signals, and change the number of upper/lower interface signals by manipulating the inputs/outputs of the registers and registers. The same number of logical division interfaces is used to enable DV/RV connections and to move the upper and lower interfaces.

Furthermore, a level conversion circuit is provided to match the levels of the upper/lower interface signals, and the signals from the lower interface section are returned to the upper interface section via the conversion circuit, thereby making it possible to match the signal levels and perform diagnosis.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of one embodiment of the invention.

Note that the same reference numerals throughout the figures indicate the same objects.

FIG. 1 shows an intermediate device A in which a microprocessor 12 controls upper/lower interface signals while handling registers 10 and 11, as in the prior art. This device A has different numbers and levels of upper/lower interface signals. (The number of signal bins of the connector 2 of the upper interface and the connector 3 of the lower interface are different.) This device A cannot perform a wrap-around test simply by connecting a cable as in the past. Therefore, a new register 14 that can be handled by the microprocessor 12 is added, and the number of signals is adjusted by manipulating the input/output of this register 14. In addition, since the levels of the upper and lower interface signals are different, a level conversion circuit 15 is used to convert the levels.
A logic interface 16 of registers is provided to compensate for the shortage. Note that 17 and 18 are connectors that connect the level conversion circuit 15 and the lower and upper interfaces.

For example, the connector 2 of the upper interface section 6 has 20 IN wires, 20 OUT wires, and the lower interface section 7 (7
) = 7 * In the case of 12 OUT lines and 12 INvA lines, add one 8-bit register 14 to compensate for the lack of 8 OUT lines, and set this to match the missing number of lines. Then, after passing through the level conversion circuit 15, it is connected to the connector of the upper interface 2. In addition, in order to absorb the protrusion of the I NvAB book, the data is input to the 8-bit register 14 via the logic interface 16 after passing through the level conversion circuit 15, and the microprocessor 12 checks this to enable testing. Become.

To briefly explain the flow of checking the upper/lower interface unit 6.7, the check in the direction of the arrow ■ of the upper interface unit 6 in FIG. It passes through the interface section 7 in the direction of the arrow {circle around (2)} and returns to the upper interface section 6 via the level conversion circuit 15.

Next, to check the direction of the arrow ■ of the upper interface unit 6, the microprocessor 12 sends data to the register IO, passes it in the direction of the arrow ■, and transfers the data to the lower interface unit 7 via the level conversion circuit 15 in the direction of the arrow ■. There are two types: one that enters the current register 11, and one that enters the register 14 from the level conversion circuit 15 via the logic interface 16.

In addition, if the device B has a separate processor (RAS processor) 19 as shown in FIG.
By manipulating the register 14 while synchronizing with the microprocessor 12 (while communicating), excess or deficiency in communication lines can be compensated for.Even in devices where the number and level of upper/lower interface signals are different, With this configuration, wrap-around tests can be performed simply by connecting a cable without connecting to the CPU. Therefore, since there is no need to connect to the CPU, testing man-hours can be saved.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, an inter-logical interface is added to supply missing signals, and at the same time a signal level conversion circuit is added, thereby converting the lamps of devices with different numbers and levels of upper/lower interface signals.・The effect of making around testing possible is significant.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a professional diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the invention, Fig. 3 is a diagram explaining a computer system, and Fig. 4 is a stand-alone control device. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining diagnosis; FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining devices with different numbers of signals; FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a ramp-around test of a conventional device. In the figure, 2 is the upper interface connector, 3 is the lower interface connector, 4 is the cable, 6 is the upper interface section, 7 is the lower interface section, 8.9 is the DV/RV, 10.11.14 is the register, 12 is a microprocessor, 13 is a data transfer circuit, 15 is a level conversion circuit, 16 is a logic interface, 17.18 is a connector, and 19 is a RAS processor. 1st Kumo 2 Oka 3rd Group 6 @

Claims (1)

[Claims] An intermediate device that has an interface section for the upper and lower devices in a computer system, and also has a data transfer section and a processing section that controls internal circuits, is disconnected from the upper and lower devices, and the upper interface By connecting the lower interface section and the lower-level interface section, signals to be sent to the lower-level device are returned to the upper-level interface section, or signals to be sent to the higher-level device are returned to the lower-level interface section and sent to the driver/lower-level interface section.
In a specific diagnosis method for an intermediate device that diagnoses whether or not an interface unit including a receiver circuit operates normally, when the number of signals and the signal level of the upper/lower interface signals of the intermediate device are different, the above-mentioned processing is performed. Adding to the device a register that allows the section to control the number of signals, a logic section interface for replenishing insufficient signals, and a level conversion circuit that converts different signal levels to the same level,
The number of signals is matched by manipulating the input/output of the register, and diagnosis is made possible by matching the signal levels of the upper/lower interface signals via the level conversion circuit. Diagnosis method for intermediate equipment.