JPH0443431A - Method for storing microprogram into control storage - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the loading time of a microprogram by defining a special command, fetching a command and data from a bus when the microprogram is developed in a main storage and developing the microprogram into the main storage and at the same time writing it in a control storage if the command is a special one. CONSTITUTION:The control storage 1, the bus 2, a command register 3, a data register 4, a write circuit 5, an address counter 6 and a control circuit 7 are given. In such a case, the special command for writing the microprogram stored in an external storage device into the main storage and the control storage is defined, and the command on the bus 2 from the external storage device to the main storage is discriminated. If the command is the special one, the microprogram being data following the command is fetched from the bus 2 and the microprogram is written into CD 1. Thus, the loading time of the microprogram can considerably be shortened since the microprogram is developed in the main storage and is written into CS.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an information processing device, and particularly to an information processing device in which software instructions, interface control with software, etc. are executed by a microprogram stored in a control memory. In particular, it relates to a method of storing microprograms in control memory.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, this divine control memory (hereinafter referred to as FC3) is constructed of memory that can be programmed and read out in consideration of the ease of designing and changing the microprogram. Storing the microprogram in C8 (hereinafter referred to as CS rotor) is as follows:
It is controlled by a diagnostic processor (hereinafter referred to as DGP) that controls the start-up of the entire system and monitors the operating status.
-There are two numerical methods:

The first method is to expand the data (microprogram) stored in the CS stored in the external storage device into the main memory,
Next, it is imported from the main memory to the memory circuit in the DGP, and then the D
This is a method of writing to the C8 from the GP via a write-only bus to the C5 or a diagnostic bus provided between each processor.

The second method is to provide a circuit (called a CS loader) in the CPU that controls a series of operations of reading stored data from main memory to C3 and writing the read data to C5.
In this method, after the data stored in C.8 is expanded to the main memory, the CS loader is started from the DGP, the stored data is read from the main memory, and written to the C5.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The conventional CS loading method described above is a method of storing the C58 microprogram from the DGP etc. to the CS via a write-only bus or a diagnostic bus between each processor, or a method of installing a CS loader in the CPU and loading it by starting from the DGP. This is achieved by a method in which the CPU itself reads data from the main memory and writes it to the C3, but in both cases, the data is written to the main memory once
It can only be executed after the data (microprogram) stored in 8 is expanded, and this has the disadvantage that CS loading is slow.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for storing a microprogram in a 5C8 in which the time required to store a microprogram in a C3 is shortened.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A method for storing a microprogram in a C8 according to the present invention defines a special command for writing a microprogram stored in an external storage device into both main memory and control memory. , determines the command on the bus from the external storage device to the main memory, and if the command is the special command, fetches the microprogram that is the data following the command from the bus, and writes the microprogram to the control memory. .

[Effect]

Since the microprogram is written to the C3 at the same time as the microprogram is expanded to the main memory, the loading time of the microprogram is significantly shortened.

(Example) Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the main parts of an embodiment of an information processing apparatus showing the microprogram storage method of the present invention.

A microprogram is stored in the C3I.

The bus 2 is connected to an external storage device (not shown) in which microprograms are stored and a main memory (not shown). Input commands (collectively referred to as main memory access commands) and data are sent and received.

Command register 3. Data register 4 takes in main memory access commands and data from bus 2-L. The write circuit 5 sends the data held in the data register 4 and a write signal to C3I at write timing No. 18 from the control circuit 7, and writes the data to C5I. Address counter 6 outputs the address of C3I. When a special command defined for writing a microprogram to both the main memory and the C5I is set in the command register 3 from the bus 2, the control circuit 7 outputs a write timing signal to the write circuit 5, and also outputs a write timing signal to the write circuit 5. The counter 6 is updated.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

To start the CS rotation, from the DGP (not shown)
The S load start information is sent to the control circuit 7, and the address counter 6 is initialized. From DGP to external storage device,
When instructed to open the data stored in the CSI to the main memory, the external storage device outputs a special command and data (microprogram) to the bus 2 and expands it to the main memory. At this time, simultaneously with the output of the special command and data to the storage, the command is set in the command register 3, and the data is set in the data register 4, respectively. The command set in the command register 3 is analyzed (decoded) by the control circuit 7, and the command is ? IF-included circuit 5
A write timing signal is output for. C3I 1
Due to the relationship between the number of bits of a word and the number of data bits of bus 2, if the number of bits of one word of C8l is larger than the number of data bits of bus 2, the write circuit 5 writes data to C5I for each number of bits of bus 2. The contents of register 4 are written, or a register with the number of bits equivalent to one word of C3I is provided, and the contents are written to C31 at the timing when the bits of one word of C81 are aligned. In either case, the control circuit 7 registers the address counter 6 after writing one word of C31.
is updated and becomes the write address for the next 1 word.

By performing the above processing continuously, the external storage device expands the microprogram to the C3I in the main memory and simultaneously executes the CS load.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, the present invention defines special commands,
When the data (microprogram) stored in the control memory is expanded to the main memory, the command and data are fetched from the bus, and if the command is a special command, the microprogram is written to C5 at the same time as the data (microprogram) stored in the control memory is expanded to the main memory. , has the effect of shortening the microprogram loading time to C8.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the main parts of an embodiment of an information processing apparatus showing the microprogram storage method of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Control memory, 2... Bus, 3... Command register, 4... Data register, 5... Write circuit, 6... Address counter, 7... Control circuit. Patent applicant: Ibaraki NEC Co., Ltd. Representative: Susumu Uchihara, patent attorney

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an information processing device that executes software instructions using microprograms stored in a control memory, a microprogram stored in an external storage device is written to both the main memory and the control memory. A special command is defined for the command, the command on the bus from the external storage device to the main memory is determined, and if the command is the special command, the microprogram that is the data on the bus following the command is transferred from the bus. A method for storing microprograms in control memory by importing and writing microprograms into control memory.