CONTROLLING SIMULATION SYSTEMS

• US 20120101791A1
• Filed: 09/27/2011
• Published: 04/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Komatsu, Hideaki, Nagai, Shingo, Ohsawa, Fumitomo
• Application Number:
  US13/246,052
• Publication Number:
  US 20120101791A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/6
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 17/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/15 Vehicle, aircraft or watercraft design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30

Abstract

A method for controlling a simulation system includes storing first-stage and second stage tables in which a value of a predicted time until arrival of an I/O instruction and a type of the instruction are included as entries for each program counter of an instruction set simulator, and in which a value of an earliest time until an output event from a peripheral simulator is included as an entry for each type of instruction; looking up the first-stage table to obtain the type of the instruction and the value of the predicted time until arrival of the instruction, looking up the second-stage table with reference to the obtained type of the instruction to obtain the value of the earliest time until the output event from the peripheral simulator, and returning the predicted time until arrival of the instruction and the earliest time until the output event from the peripheral simulator.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a simulation system including a plant simulator, an instruction set simulator, a peripheral simulator, and a scheduler that run on a computer, wherein an interrupt signal is input to the instruction set simulator, the instruction set simulator inputs an I/O instruction to the peripheral simulator, the peripheral simulator inputs a pulse signal to the plant simulator, and the scheduler provides an instruction to advance operations of the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator, the method comprising:

storing, in a storage device of the computer, a first-stage table in which a value of a predicted time until arrival of an I/O instruction and a type of the I/O instruction are included as entries for each program counter of the instruction set simulator;

storing, in the storage device of the computer, a second-stage table in which a value of an earliest time until an output event from the peripheral simulator is included as an entry for each type of I/O instruction;

the scheduler querying the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator for a next event time;

the plant simulator returning a pre-calculated next event time in response to the query from the scheduler;

the peripheral simulator returning a pre-calculated next event time in response to the query from the scheduler;

the instruction set simulator, in response to the query from the scheduler, looking up the first-stage table with reference to a value of the program counter to obtain the type of the I/O instruction and the value of the predicted time until arrival of the I/O instruction, looking up the second-stage table with reference to the obtained type of the I/O instruction to obtain the value of the earliest time until the output event from the peripheral simulator, and returning a sum of the value of the predicted time until arrival of the I/O instruction and the value of the earliest time until the output event from the peripheral simulator as a next event time; and

the scheduler advancing a simulation to an earliest event time among the next event times returned from the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first-stage table is generated through static analysis of binary code executed by the instruction set simulator.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the entries of the first-stage table are generated for each instruction address at which the instruction set simulator may stop.

4. A non-transitory, computer readable medium containing computer readable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, implement a method for controlling a simulation system including a plant simulator, an instruction set simulator, a peripheral simulator, and a scheduler that run on a computer, wherein an interrupt signal is input to the instruction set simulator, the instruction set simulator inputs an I/O instruction to the peripheral simulator, the peripheral simulator inputs a pulse signal to the plant simulator, and the scheduler provides an instruction to advance operations of the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator, wherein the method comprises:

storing, in a storage device of the computer, a first-stage table in which a value of a predicted time until arrival of an I/O instruction and a type of the I/O instruction are included as entries for each program counter of the instruction set simulator;

storing, in the storage device of the computer, a second-stage table in which a value of an earliest time until an output event from the peripheral simulator is included as an entry for each type of I/O instruction;

the scheduler querying the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator for a next event time;

the plant simulator returning a pre-calculated next event time in response to the query from the scheduler;

the peripheral simulator returning a pre-calculated next event time in response to the query from the scheduler;

the set simulator, in response to the query from the scheduler, looking up the first-stage table with reference to a value of the program counter to obtain the type of the I/O instruction and the value of the predicted time until arrival of the I/O instruction, looking up the second-stage table with reference to the obtained type of the I/O instruction to obtain the value of the earliest time until the output event from the peripheral simulator, and returning a sum of the value of the predicted time until arrival of the I/O instruction and the value of the earliest time until the output event from the peripheral simulator as a next event time; and

the scheduler advancing a simulation to an earliest event time among the next event times returned from the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator.

5. The computer readable medium according to claim 4, wherein the first-stage table is generated through static analysis of binary code executed by the instruction set simulator.

6. The computer readable medium according to claim 5, wherein the entries of the first-stage table are generated for each instruction address at which the instruction set simulator may stop.

7. A simulation system, comprising:

a plant simulator, an instruction set simulator, a peripheral simulator, and a scheduler that run on a computer, wherein an interrupt signal is input to the instruction set simulator, the instruction set simulator inputs an I/O instruction to the peripheral simulator, the peripheral simulator inputs a pulse signal to the plant simulator, and the scheduler provides an instruction to advance operations of the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator;

a storage device;

a first-stage table stored in the storage device and including a value of a predicted time until arrival of an I/O instruction and a type of the I/O instruction as entries for each program counter of the instruction set simulator;

a second-stage table stored in the storage device of the computer and including a value of an earliest time until an output event from the peripheral simulator as an entry for each type of I/O instruction;

the scheduler having a function of querying the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator for a next event time;

the plant simulator having a function of returning a pre-calculated next event time in response to the query from the scheduler;

the peripheral simulator having a function of returning a pre-calculated next event time in response to the query from the scheduler; and

the instruction set simulator having a function of, in response to the query from the scheduler, looking up the first-stage table with reference to a value of the program counter to obtain the type of the I/O instruction and the value of the predicted time until arrival of the I/O instruction, looking up the second-stage table with reference to the obtained type of the I/O instruction to obtain the value of the earliest time until the output event from the peripheral simulator, and returning a sum of the value of the predicted time until arrival of the I/O instruction and the value of the earliest time until the output event from the peripheral simulator as next event time, wherein the scheduler further has a function of advancing a simulation to an earliest event time among the next event times returned from the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the first-stage table is generated through static analysis of binary code executed by the instruction set simulator.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the entries of the first-stage table are generated for each instruction address at which the instruction set simulator may stop.

10. A method for controlling a simulation system including a plant simulator, an instruction set simulator, a peripheral simulator, and a scheduler that run on a computer, wherein an interrupt signal is input to the instruction set simulator, the instruction set simulator inputs an I/O instruction to the peripheral simulator, the peripheral simulator inputs a pulse signal to the plant simulator, and the scheduler provides an instruction to advance operations of the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator, the method comprising:

storing, in a storage device of the computer, an event prediction table in which a value of a predicted time until arrival of an I/O instruction is included as an entry for each program counter of the instruction set simulator;

the scheduler querying the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator for a next event time;

the plant simulator returning a pre-calculated next event time in response to the query from the scheduler;

the peripheral simulator returning a pre-calculated next event time in response to the query from the scheduler;

the instruction set simulator, in response to the query from the scheduler, looking up the event prediction table with reference to a value of the program counter to obtain the value of the predicted time until arrival of the I/O instruction and returning the obtained value as a next event time; and

the scheduler advancing a simulation to an earliest event time among the next event times returned from the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the event prediction table is generated through static analysis of binary code executed by the instruction set simulator.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the entry of the event prediction table is generated for each instruction address at which the instruction set simulator may stop.

13. A non-transitory, computer readable medium containing computer readable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, implement a method for controlling a simulation system including a plant simulator, an instruction set simulator, a peripheral simulator, and a scheduler that run on a computer, wherein an interrupt signal is input to the instruction set simulator, the instruction set simulator inputs an I/O instruction to the peripheral simulator, the peripheral simulator inputs a pulse signal to the plant simulator, and the scheduler provides an instruction to advance operations of the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator, wherein the method comprises:

storing, in storage device of the computer, an event prediction table in which a value of a predicted time until arrival of an I/O instruction is included as an entry for each program counter of the instruction set simulator;

the scheduler querying the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator for a next event time;

the plant simulator returning a pre-calculated next event time in response to the query from the scheduler;

the peripheral simulator returning a pre-calculated next event time in response to the query from the scheduler;

the instruction set simulator, in response to the query from the scheduler, looking up the event prediction table with reference to a value of the program counter to obtain the value of the predicted time until arrival of the I/O instruction and returning the obtained value as a next event time; and

the scheduler advancing a simulation to an earliest event time among the next event times returned from the plant simulator, the instruction set simulator, and the peripheral simulator.

14. The program according to claim 13, wherein the event prediction table is generated through static analysis of binary code executed by the instruction set simulator.

15. The program according to claim 14, wherein the entry of the event prediction table is generated for each instruction address at which the instruction set simulator may stop.