Fault information gathering system for peripheral controllers in a computer system

Claim 2

A fault information gathering system for a computer system to gather information on fault at peripheral controllers of Claim 1 wherein said notification means (106) for area information reports the area information and said transfer means (107) for fault information sends the fault information both according to the instructions from the central processing unit (10).

Claim 3

A fault information gathering system for a computer system to gather information on fault at peripheral controllers of Claim 1 or 2 wherein the program of the peripheral controller (20) comprises a plurality of modules (A,B,C,...), each of which having the first and the second work areas.

Claim 4

A fault information gathering system for a computer system to gather information on fault at peripheral controllers of any of Claims 1 to 3 wherein said writing means (104) to write area information is characterized by that it writes the starting address and size of the work area (A1,B1,C1,...) and the starting address and size of said tracing area (203) as the area information.

Claim 5

A fault information gathering system for a computer system to gather information on fault at peripheral controllers, comprising: a central processing unit (10) for data processing and peripheral controllers (20) to control various peripherals for data transfer to and from said central processing unit (10), said peripheral controller (20), comprising: memory means (30A,40A,50A) having a first work area (A1,B1,C1,...) for use in normal status and a second work area (A2,B2,C2,...) for use when a fault occurs as a work areas (201) for the program controlling said peripherals, and also having a tracing area (203) to store history data of operation by said program and a data area (202) to keep the area information in the tracing area (203) and the first work area (A1,B1,C1,...) used at the time of fault detection; means (101) for detecting a fault and for notifying said central processing unit (10) of occurrence of fault; tracing means (102) for tracing the operation of said program and write the history data to the tracing area (203) of said memory means (30A,40A,50A); switching means (103) for switching the work area to the second work area (A2,B2,C2,...) when a fault occurs; means (105) for stopping the tracing operation by said tracing means (102) when a fault occurs; writing means (104) for writing the data indicating the area of the first work area (A1,B1,C1,...) and said tracing area (203) to said data area (202) when a fault occurs; notification means (106) for reporting the area information written in said data area (202) to said central processing unit (10) according to the instruction from said central processing unit (10); and transfer means (107) for transferring the data in said first work area (A1,B1,C1,...) and tracing area (203) to said central processing unit (10) according to the instruction from said central processing unit (10).

Claim 6

A fault information gathering system for a computer system to gather information on fault at peripheral controllers of Claim 5 wherein the program of the peripheral controller (20) comprises a plurality of modules (A,B,C), each of which having the first and the second work areas.

Claim 7

A fault information gathering system for a computer system to gather information on fault at peripheral controllers of Claim 5 or 6 wherein said writing means (103) to write area information is characterized by that it writes the starting address and size of the work area (A1,B1,C1,...) and the starting address and size of said tracing area (203) as the area information.

Claim 8

A fault information gathering system for a computer system to gather information on fault at peripheral controllers, comprising: a central processing unit (10) for data processing and peripheral controllers (20) to control various peripherals for data transfer to and from said central processing unit (10), said peripheral controller (20), comprising: memory means (30A,40A,50A) having a first work area (A1,B1,C1,...) for use in normal status and a second work area (A2,B2,C2,...) used when a fault is detected as a work areas (201) for the program controlling said peripherals, and a switching means (103) for switching the work area from the first work area (A1,B1,C1,...) to the second work area (A2,B2,C2,...) when a fault occurs.

Claim 9

A fault information gathering system for a computer system to gather information on fault at peripheral controllers, comprising: a central processing unit (10) for data processing and peripheral controllers (20) to control various peripherals for data transfer to and from said central processing unit (10), said peripheral controller (20), comprising: memory means (30A,40A,50A) having a program to control said peripherals consisting of a plurality of modules (A,B,C,...), each of which is provided with a first work area (A1,B1,C1,...) for use in normal status and a second work area (A2,B2,C2,...) used when a fault is detected as a work areas (201), and also having a tracing area (203) to store history data of operation by said program and a data area (202) to keep the area information in the tracing area (203) and the first work area (A1,B1,C1,...) used at the time of fault detection; means for detecting a fault and for notifying said central processing unit of occurrence of fault; tracing means (102) for tracing the operation of said control program and write the history data to the tracing area (203) of said memory means; switching means (103) for switching the work area to the second work area (A2,B2,C2,...) when a fault occurs; means (105) for stopping the tracing operation by said tracing means (102) when a fault occurs; writing means (104) for writing the data indicating the area of the first work area (A1,B1,C1,...) and said tracing area (203) to said data area (202) when a fault occurs; notification means (106) for reporting the area information written in said data area (202) to said central processing unit (10) according to the instruction from said central processing unit (10); and transfer means (107) for transferring the data in said first work area (A1,B1,C1,...) and tracing area (203) to said central processing unit (10) according to the instruction from said central processing unit (10).

Claim 10

A fault information gathering system for a computer system to gather information on fault at peripheral controllers of Claim 9 wherein said writing means (104) to write area information writes the starting address and size of the work area and the starting address and the size of said tracing area (203) as area information.