JPS61156451A - Control device of input output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute the processing equal to a CPU and to execute the effective use by being provided with a microcomputer operated by a micro program and a control memory which can rewrite at least a part, and rewriting the contents of the control memory to the micro program equal to the CPU. CONSTITUTION:When the electric power source of a control device 10 is turned on, in accordance with stored at a ROM14a in a control store 14, the micro program for control sent from a CPU is stored at a RAM14b in the control store 14. When a printing instruction and printing data inputted from the CPU through a bus 2 to a control device 10 are given through an interface adapter 11 and an internal bus 12 to the microcomputer, a microcomputer 13 confirms that it is a printing instruction, etc., and stores it into a memory 15 as character data. When the character data reaches the part for one page, a microprocessor 7 reads character font image data corresponding to it from respective character data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a control device for an input/output device, and is particularly used for controlling a high-performance input/output device.

[Technical background of the invention]

As shown in FIG. 5, a conventional input/output device control device is connected to a central processing unit (CPU) 1 via a bus 2, and is connected to an input/output device [3] such as a printer.

This control device @10 receives commands and/or data issued from the CPU 1, and sends them to the input/output device 3.
It controls the circuits and mechanisms and transfers data to perform predetermined processing, such as printing if the input/output device is a printer. Further, the control device 10 determines whether or not an error has occurred in the input/output device 3', analyzes the error that has occurred, and reports the error status to the CPLJl. The operation of the control device 10 is similar to that of an input device such as a card reader; it receives a reading start command from the CPU, starts the operation of the input device 3, and transfers the data input by the input device to the CPU 1. It is normal practice to transfer the data to the host and report the status after the data transfer is complete.

(Problems with the Background Art) However, when the input/output device 3 is of high performance and high functionality, such as a laser beam printer, the control device 10 is required to perform extremely sophisticated control, so a microcomputer is required. Despite these high-performance, high-priced control devices equipped with such devices, there is a problem in that these expensive control devices are not always used effectively. In other words, the control device of the input/output device only performs predetermined processing such as command transfer, control of the operation of the input/output device, data processing, status processing, etc., and its processing speed is quite fast, so the percentage of idle state is extremely high. .

This leaves the expensive equipment idle, which is not a desirable state from the perspective of the system as a whole.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention was made to solve these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an input/output device control device that can perform the same functions as a CPU in addition to the original input/output device control. do.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, an input/output device control device according to the present invention includes a microprocessor that operates on a microprogram and a control store at least partially rewritable, and the control store includes a microprogram for controlling the input/output device. and a microprogram that performs the same processing as the central processing unit.
Processing is performed based on this, and it is possible to effectively utilize a control device having advanced processing functions.

[Embodiments of the invention]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an input/output device control device 10 according to the present invention, in which an interface adapter 11 connected to a CPU via a bus 2 has an internal bus 1.
2, a microcomputer 13, a memory 15, a magnetic disk/floppy disk adapter 16, a printer adapter 17, etc. are connected. This microcomputer 13 is, for example, a general-purpose MPU of 8 bits, 16 bits, 32 bits, etc., and is accompanied by a microprogram control store 14 as a constantly accessed memory. This microprogram control store 14 has a ROM section 14a and a rewritable RAM section 14b. The memory 15 also stores data sent from the CPU and can transfer it to the control store 14 as needed. The printer adapter 17 is connected to the laser beam printer 23 via the printer interface 18, and performs print data supply status reporting and the like with the microcomputer 13. A magnetic disk/floppy disk adapter 16 is provided as necessary to supply data and report status to a magnetic disk device 21 or floppy disk drive 22 serving as an auxiliary memo 1).

FIGS. 2 and 3 explain the concept of the structure of the microprograms 50 and 60 used in the present invention, and show how they are provided in the memory of the CPU. Such a microprogram is generally installed as firmware written in a ROM.

In FIG. 2, the microprogram 50 is divided into CPU firmware FW1 51 and controller 0 firmware FW2 52, and in FIG. 3, common firmware FW0 61, CPLJ firmware FWI 62, and controller firmware FW2 63. It is divided into three parts.

These microprograms are pulled out from the memory by a command from the CPU, loaded into the control device 10 via the bus 2, passed through the interface adapter 11 and the internal bus 18, and then stored in the RAM in the microprogram control store 14 by the microcomputer 13. The information is stored in the section 14b.

If the microprogram stored here is one exclusive to the controller shown in FIG. 2, or one that is common and unique to the controller shown in FIG. 3, the control device 10 functions as a normal control device. If it is dedicated to the CPU, or is common and unique to the CPU, it will perform the same function as the CPU.

In addition to the connection as shown in FIG. 1, a configuration using a local area network (LAN) 30 as shown in FIG. 4 is also possible. In the example in Figure 4, file server 3
1 and a print server 41, the file server 31 has a configuration in which a file device 34 such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk is connected to the network 30 via a LAN control adapter 32 and a file control unit 33. control adapter 4
2. It has a configuration in which a printer 44 such as a laser printer is connected via a printer control unit 43. A CPU is also connected to the network 30, and the microcomputer 13 shown in FIG. 1 is connected to the file control section and the printer control section.
, control store 14, and memory 15, these can function as a control device of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the control device of the present invention will be explained.

First, assume that the control device 10 is used as a printer control device.

When the control device 10 is powered on, a control microprogram sent from the CPU is stored in the RAM 14b in the control store 14 in accordance with the microprogram stored in the ROM 14a in the control store 14. Note that the control microprogram may be stored in an auxiliary memory such as a floppy disk or a disk, and in that case, the control microprogram is stored from the floppy disk device 22 via the floppy disk adapter 16, for example, according to the microprogram in the ROM 14a. It may also be stored in the RAM 14b.

When the print command and print data input from the CPU to the control device 10 via the bus 2 are given to the microcomputer via the interface adapter 11 and the internal bus 12, the microcomputer 13 confirms that they are print commands, etc. It is stored in the memory 15 as character data.

When this character data reaches one page, the microprocessor 7 reads out the corresponding character data from the character data 1 to 1, and prints the data in the bitmap memory area in the same memory. It writes it to the memory address corresponding to the position, and repeats this for one page of character data. Note that this character font image data is stored in advance from the CPU or the auxiliary memory 11.12 to another gA in the memory 15.
Bi! It is stored in . When the image data for one page has been created on the bitmap memory, the microcomputer 13 activates the laser beam printer 23 to the printer adapter 17, and when the laser beam printer 23 side completes activation, the print data is transferred to the printer adapter 17. When a request occurs, the printer adapter 17 sequentially reads out the bitmap memory in the memory 15 based on the commands from the microcomputer 13, transfers the data to the printer via the printer interface 19, and prints. After the data transfer is completed, the printer adapter 17 interrupts the microcomputer 13, whereby the microcomputer 13 reads status information indicating whether or not an error has occurred during printing and the error that has occurred, and reports it to the CPU.

Next, a case will be described in which this control device is used as a device having functions equivalent to a CPU.

If there is no print output from the CPU to the laser beam printer 23 and it is desired to use this control device as a CPU, the CPU issues a microprogram load command and then transfers the microprogram via the bus 2. The microcomputer 13 loads the transferred microprogram into the RAM 14b of the control store 14 based on the microprogram load instruction. When the program for the next job to be executed is transferred, the microcomputer 13 stores it in the memory 15. After this storage is completed, the microcomputer 13 interprets and executes the job instructions stored in the memory 15 one by one using the microinstructions stored in the RAM 14b. This allows the control device 10 to perform processing equivalent to that of the CPU. A print command may occur during such processing, but in this case, an interrupt is generated during the processing, the intermediate result is stored in the -H memory 15, and the contents of the RAM 14b of the control memory 14 are controlled. It is possible to rewrite it for the device and perform printing processing, etc., and after those processing is completed, to continue the same processing as the CPU again.

The results of microprogram execution based on processing equivalent to that of the CPU are sent back from the interface adapter 11 to the CPUI side via the bus 2. Note that it is also possible to store the data from the magnetic disk or floppy disk adapter 16 to the magnetic disk 21 or floppy disk 22.

Furthermore, by connecting CPUs of different types through a communication line or the like and storing a microprogram that can understand the instructions of the CPUs in the control memory, it is possible to perform the same processing as that of the different CPUs.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the input/output device control device according to the present invention includes a microcomputer operated by a microprogram and at least a rewritable control memory, and the contents of the control memory are transferred to the CPU.
By rewriting the microprogram equivalent to
The CPU takes advantage of the advanced hardware of the control device.
It is possible to perform the same processing as , and to aim for effective use.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control device for an input/output device according to the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing how a microprogram used in the present invention is stored in the memory of a CPU, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing nodes connected to a local area network to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing general connections of input/output control devices. 1...-CPU, 2... Bus, 10... Control device,
11... Interface adapter, 12... Internal bus, 13... Microcomputer, 14-... Control memory, 14a-ROM, 14 b-RAM1
15...Memory, 17-...Printer adapter, 23
...Printer, 51.62...Microprogram for CPU, 52.63...Microprogram for controller, 61...Common microprogram.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A device that is connected to a central processing unit and controls the operation of an input/output device based on instructions from the central processing unit;
In a control device for an input/output device that sends output data, status information, etc. from the input/output device to the central processing unit, the control device includes a microcomputer operated by a microprogram and a control at least partially rewritable. When the input/output device is controlled, a microprogram for controlling the input/output device is stored in the control store and its microinstructions are executed, and when the input/output device is not controlled, the microprogram is stored in the control store, and when the input/output device is not controlled, the A control device for an input/output device, wherein a microprogram for performing processing similar to that of a processing device is stored in the control store and the microinstructions thereof are executed. 2. The control device for an input/output device according to claim 1, wherein the microprogram is stored in the memory of the central processing unit, and is transferred and stored in a control store as necessary. 3. A control device for an input/output device according to claim 2, wherein the microprogram includes one that performs processing equivalent to that of a central processing unit and one that performs processing as a control device of the input/output device. 4. The input/output device according to claim 2, wherein the microprogram is one dedicated to processing equivalent to that of a central processing unit, one dedicated to processing as a control device for an input/output device, and one for performing common processing. Device control device.