Bus monitor with time stamp means for independently capturing and correlating events

• US 5,226,153 A
• Filed: 09/14/1992
• Issued: 07/06/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/1989
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bull HN Information Systems Incorporated (Atos SE)
• Original Assignee: Bull HN Information Systems Incorporated (Atos SE)
• Inventors: DeAngelis, Douglas J., Peters, Arthur, Maddox, Henry W. J., Rathbun, Donald J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Eddie P.
• Application Number:
  US07/944,793
• Time in Patent Office: 295 Days
• Field of Search: 395/575, 371/29.1, 371/68.3, 364/550, 340/825.06
• US Class Current: 714/45
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/348 Circuit details, i.e. tracer hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/349 for interfaces, buses
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems

Abstract

A monitor for selectively detecting and recording conditions at selected points within a system during operation includes trigger logic connected from first selected points and responsive to selected conditions occurring at each of the first points for generating corresponding trigger outputs representing the occurrence of the selected conditions and a silo bank memory having a sub-silo for each second point. Each sub-silo has a first sub-silo segment with data inputs connected from the corresponding second point for recording data from the second point and a second sub-silo segment with data inputs connected from a time stamp generator. Silo write control logic is responsive to the trigger outputs to write the data representing the conditions present at each second point and the time stamp output of the time stamp generator into the corresponding sub-silo segments of the silo bank upon occurrence of a corresponding trigger output so that each condition recorded in the silo bank memory as the result of a trigger output has associated with it the time stamp count representing the relative time of occurrence of the trigger output.

Claims

1. In a monitoring means for use in a computer system for selectively detecting and recording conditions at selected points within the system during operation, including

means connected from a first plurality of selected points within the system and responsive to selected conditions occurring at each of the first points for generating corresponding trigger outputs representing the occurrence of the selected conditions at the first points,

silo bank means having a plurality of sub-silo means for storing data representing the conditions present at a different second plurality of selected points within the system, each sub-silo means corresponding to one of the second points and having a first sub-silo segment with data inputs connected from the corresponding second point and a write control input for controlling the writing of data from the corresponding second point into the first sub-silo segment of the sub-silo means, and

silo control means for providing write control signals to each sub-silo means of the plurality of sub-silo means, wherein

each of the second points is associated with corresponding ones of the trigger outputs, and

the silo control means is responsive to the trigger outputs for selectively controlling the recording of data conditions at selected second points within the system concurrently and in parallel by providing corresponding write control signals to the sub-silo means being responsive to a corresponding write control signal from the silo control means for writing the data from the corresponding second point connected to the data input of the first sub-silo segment into the first sub-silo segment of the sub-silo means,

means for correlating the data recorded in the silo segments, comprising:

time stamp means responsive to each of the trigger outputs for generating time stamp counts representing the relative times of occurrence of the trigger outputs causing the data to be recorded in the silo segments at a different time, and

in each sub-silo means of the silo bank means,

a second sub-silo segment having data inputs connected from the time stamp means and responsive to the corresponding write control signal from the silo control means for recording the time stamp count in association with the corresponding data recorded from the corresponding second point, each sub-silo means being responsive to the corresponding write control signal from the silo control means for writing the time stamp count from the time stamp means into the second sub-silo segment of the sub-silo means, wherein

each condition recorded in the silo bank means as the result of a trigger output has associated with it the time stamp count representing the relative time of occurrence of the trigger output.

2. The monitoring means of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of selected points comprise:

the line of a first bus of the system.

3. The monitoring means of claim 2, wherein the system further includes a plurality of buses for communication among a plurality of elements of the system and the first plurality of selected points further comprises:

the outputs of an external trigger means connected from points external to the plurality of buses of the system for providing trigger signals representing the occurrence of selected conditions at points external to the plurality of buses of the system.

4. The monitoring means of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of selected points comprise:

the outputs of a means for indicating the presence of an illegal condition on a bus of the system.

5. The monitoring means of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of selected points comprise:

the outputs of a means for indicating the presence of an error condition on a bus of the system.

6. The monitoring means of claim 1, wherein the system further includes a plurality of buses for communication among a plurality of elements of the system and the first plurality of selected points further comprise:

the outputs of a means for indicating the occurrence of selected conditions at point external to the plurality of buses of the system.

7. The monitoring means of claim 1, wherein the second plurality of selected points comprises:

the lines of a first bus of the system.

8. The monitoring means of claim 1, wherein the second plurality of selected points comprises:

the lines of a second bus of the system.

9. The monitoring means of claim 1, wherein the system includes a first bus and a second bus for communication among elements of the system and the second plurality of selected points comprises:

a set of points external to the first and second buses of the system.

10. The monitoring means of claim 1, wherein each of the sub-silo means comprises:

a static memory means having data inputs connected from a corresponding one of the second selected points, and

a dynamic memory means having data inputs connected from data outputs of the static memory means, wherein

each sub-silo means is responsive to the corresponding write control signal from the silo control means for capturing the conditions present at the selected second points into the static memory means and transferring the captured conditions into the dynamic memory means for recording of the captured conditions.

11. The monitor means of claim 1, wherein each sub-silo means further comprises:

a third segment means with data inputs connected from the corresponding trigger outputs and responsive to the corresponding write control signal from the silo control means for recording the trigger outputs representing the selected conditions present at the corresponding one of the first points upon occurrence of a corresponding trigger output, wherein

the trigger outputs are recorded in each third segment means in association with the associated time stamp count and data recorded from the corresponding second point.