JPS60243743A - Multiplex microprogram control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the necessary capacity of a control memory without reducing the processing efficiency of a multiplex microprogram by forming a control memory to be used by respective microprograms in common. CONSTITUTION:Microprogram control means 2-5 are constituted of control memories 10-13 and control parts 20-23 respectively. In addition to these control memories 10-13, a control memory 14 is independently formed in a device 1 and a microprogram in the control memory 14 can be read out by respective microprogram control means 2-5 through a line 34. For instance, the control memories 10-13 are constituted by rapid IC memories having small capacity to store programs having high using frequency. On the other hand, the memory 14 is constituted of a slow memory having large capacity to store a program having low using frequency.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a multiple microprogram control system that performs parallel control using a plurality of microprograms.

[Background of the invention]

One of the methods for improving the performance of microprogram control devices is to provide multiple sets of microprogram control mechanisms each consisting of a control memory and a control unit, and to operate each microprogram control mechanism simultaneously for parallel control. There is. Figure 1 shows the conventional method for this.
In the case of a rower, the device 1 consists of four microprogram control mechanisms 2.
．． 3.4.5. The microprogram control mechanisms 2.3.4.5 each consist of a control memory 10 and a control section 20, also 11, 21.12, 22.13, and 23. For example, microprogram control mechanism 2
Then, the control section 20 reads out the microprogram stored in the control memory 10 via the line 30 and executes the processing required by the device 1. The same applies to other microprogram control mechanisms 3.4.5. At this time, each microprogram control mechanism 2, 3, 4, 5 independently executes a microprogram and installs! The contents processed in step 1 are processed in parallel.

By the way, in the past, in order to maximize performance improvement through parallel processing, the same microprograms were uniformly stored in the control memory of each microprogram control mechanism. If the number of microprogram control mechanisms is large, the required capacity of the control memory for each microprogram control mechanism becomes uniformly large; this has the disadvantage that the entire device cannot be made smaller or more economical.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to reduce the required capacity of a control memory in a multiple microprogram control system without reducing processing performance, thereby making the device more compact and economical.

[Summary of the invention]

The key point of the present invention is that each microprogram control mechanism is provided with a control memory that is shared by each microprogram control mechanism in addition to a dedicated control memory. Microprograms such as error handling, which are stored in the control memory exclusive to the mechanism, but do not significantly affect performance, are stored in the control memory shared by each microprogram control mechanism. This reduces the capacity and, in turn, reduces the total capacity of control memory required for the entire device.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which, like FIG. 1, the device 1 includes four microprogram control mechanisms 2.3.4.
An example with 5 is shown. Microprogram control mechanism 2.
3.4.5 is composed of a control memory 10 and a control section 20, respectively 11, 21.12, 22.13, and 23. The difference from FIG. 1 is in addition to the control memories 10 to 13 exclusively occupied by each microprogram control mechanism 2 to 5.

A control memory 14 is independently provided in the device 1, and the microprograms in the control memory 14 can be read out by each of the microprogram control mechanisms 2 to 5 via a line 34. In this case, the control memories 10 to 13 use, for example, small-capacity, high-speed IC memories, and frequently used microprograms that affect the processing performance of the device 1 are stored in common to each microprogram control mechanism 2 to 5. Even if it is, it is stored individually in each control memory 10-13. On the other hand, the control memory 14 uses, for example, a large-capacity, low-speed, and inexpensive memory, is used infrequently, and handles error processing, exception processing, etc. common to each of the microprogram control mechanisms 2 to 5.
A microprogram that does not significantly affect the processing performance of the device 1 is stored.

Each of the microprogram control mechanisms 2 to 5 independently reads and executes the microprograms in the control memories 10 to 13 via separate lines 30 to 33 of the control units 20 to 23, and also reads out and executes the microprograms in the control memories 10 to 13 as necessary. Reads and executes the microprogram stored in the . Different addresses are assigned to the control memories 10 to 13 and the control memory 14, and each control unit 20 to 23 is assigned a different address to the control memories 10 to 13 depending on the execution address of the microprogram.
and control memory 14.

Control units 20 to 2 of each microprogram control mechanism 2 to 5
3 reads microprograms from the control memories 10 to 13, no time wait occurs and parallel processing is performed; however, when reading microprograms from the control memory 14, multiple When an access request is made, a wait occurs. However, since the microprograms stored in the control memory 14 are used infrequently, multiple access requests rarely conflict with each other, and the processing performance of the device 1 is not affected much. Note that in response to an access request to the control memory 14, one of the access requests from the control units 20 to 23 may be selected by, for example, a time division control method or a priority control method.

According to this embodiment, compared to the conventional example shown in FIG. 1 in which the microprogram of the control memory 14 is individually stored in each of the control memories 10 to 13, the storage capacity required by each control memory 10 to 13 is of course reduced. This results in a reduction in the total storage capacity of control memories 10-13 and control memory 14.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention,
In a multiple microprogram control method that performs parallel control using multiple microprograms, the required capacity of the control memory to store each microprogram can be reduced compared to conventional methods without degrading parallel control performance. This results in miniaturization and economicalization of devices using microprogram control methods.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional multiple microprogram control system, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Device, 2-5... Microprogram control mechanism, 10-14... Control memory, 20-23... Control unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Multiple microcontrollers equipped with multiple sets of microprogram control mechanisms each consisting of a control memory that stores a microprogram and a control unit that reads and executes the microprogram from the control memory, and that allows each microprogram control mechanism to operate independently and in parallel. In the program control method, a control memory shared by each microprogram control mechanism (hereinafter referred to as shared control memory) is provided in addition to a control memory exclusive to each microprogram control mechanism (hereinafter referred to as exclusive control memory). This multiple microprogram control method is characterized in that highly used microprograms are stored individually in each dedicated control memory, and less frequently used microprograms are stored in a shared control memory.