US3748650A — Input/output hardware trace monitor

Claim 1

Independent Claim 87 words

A computer monitor capable of capturing information sent between a central processing unit and input/output (I/O) devices comprising: means for time stamping and formatting captured information with indicia such as command control, status, data transfer count and test information; and a format storage medium which is segmented into n storage partitions, each storage partition associated with one I/O device, to thereby reserve the nth partition exclusively for the nth I/O device; each partition having sufficient storage space to store said indicia relating to the nth I/O device.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 87 words

A computer monitor capable of capturing information sent between a central processing unit and input/output (I/O) devices comprising: means for time stamping and formatting captured information with indicia such as command control, status, data transfer count and test information; and a format storage medium which is segmented into n storage partitions, each storage partition associated with one I/O device, to thereby reserve the nth partition exclusively for the nth I/O device; each partition having sufficient storage space to store said indicia relating to the nth I/O device.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 98 words

For use with a computer system in which a central processing unit (CPU) and a data channel are connected to I/O devices over an input/output interface, a program monitor comprising: means for capturing data and commands passing over said interface; means for time stamping, formatting and transferring said captured information to a format storage; said format storage segmented on a one-for-one basis with each I/O device; and means for counting the captured data in each format storage segment, tagging said data for identification and recording said data on a storage medium whereby later performance analysis can be performed.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 98 words

For use with a computer system in which a central processing unit (CPU) and a data channel are connected to I/O devices over an input/output interface, a program monitor comprising: means for capturing data and commands passing over said interface; means for time stamping, formatting and transferring said captured information to a format storage; said format storage segmented on a one-for-one basis with each I/O device; and means for counting the captured data in each format storage segment, tagging said data for identification and recording said data on a storage medium whereby later performance analysis can be performed.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 20 words

The combination according to claim 2 including means for collecting data from both the CPU and the I/O interface simultaneously.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 74 words

An input/output monitor for monitoring an I/O interface comprising: a channel input data path connected to said I/O interface; and means in said channel input for interpreting tag signals and for capturing bus information in registers, including control logic responsive to said tag signals for interpreting said tag signals, selecting either an input or an output bus, and strobing into or out of appropriate ones of said registers for capturing information on said bus.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 74 words

An input/output monitor for monitoring an I/O interface comprising: a channel input data path connected to said I/O interface; and means in said channel input for interpreting tag signals and for capturing bus information in registers, including control logic responsive to said tag signals for interpreting said tag signals, selecting either an input or an output bus, and strobing into or out of appropriate ones of said registers for capturing information on said bus.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 118 words

An input/output monitor for monitoring an I/O interface comprising: a channel input data path connected to said I/O interface; a profile input data path connectable to monitor probes attachable to a CPU, control unit or device; means in said channel input for interpreting tag signals and for capturing bus information in registers, including control logic responsive to said tag signals for interpreting said tag signals, selecting either an input or an output bus, and strobing into or out of appropriate ones of said registers for capturing information on said bus; and means in said profile input for interpreting events to obtain profile information, including means for time-stamping said information for correlation with information captured by said channel input.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 118 words

An input/output monitor for monitoring an I/O interface comprising: a channel input data path connected to said I/O interface; a profile input data path connectable to monitor probes attachable to a CPU, control unit or device; means in said channel input for interpreting tag signals and for capturing bus information in registers, including control logic responsive to said tag signals for interpreting said tag signals, selecting either an input or an output bus, and strobing into or out of appropriate ones of said registers for capturing information on said bus; and means in said profile input for interpreting events to obtain profile information, including means for time-stamping said information for correlation with information captured by said channel input.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 126 words

For use with an input/output interface in which control sequences are signalled by use of tags said interface connected between a central processing unit (CPU) and input/output devices, a monitor comprising: a T box in series with the I/O interface connecting said control units; means in said T box for sensing tags and for transmitting said tags to said monitor; control logic means in said monitor for interpreting said tags as an initial selection mode; a bus out receiver; a unit address register; means responsive to said control logic for selecting said out bus receiver; and means for transferring the data from the bus out to the unit address register whereby the unit address or device address appearing on bus out is captured in said register.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 126 words

For use with an input/output interface in which control sequences are signalled by use of tags said interface connected between a central processing unit (CPU) and input/output devices, a monitor comprising: a T box in series with the I/O interface connecting said control units; means in said T box for sensing tags and for transmitting said tags to said monitor; control logic means in said monitor for interpreting said tags as an initial selection mode; a bus out receiver; a unit address register; means responsive to said control logic for selecting said out bus receiver; and means for transferring the data from the bus out to the unit address register whereby the unit address or device address appearing on bus out is captured in said register.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 34 words

The combination according to claim 6 including further means in said control logic for interpreting command out by strobing a command register and selecting the bus out receiVers whereby the channel command is captured.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 35 words

The combination according to claim 7 wherein said control logic contains means responsive to presentation of status in on the bus in receivers to transfer to a status register status information appearing on bus in.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 38 words

The combination according to claim 8 wherein said control logic includes means responsive to read or write data transfer tags and said command register for selecting bus in or bus out to thereby transfer data to word buffers.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 41 words

The combination according to claim 9 wherein means are provided for capturing a predetermined number of bytes and further means are provided for counting the total number of bytes transferred to a particular device in addition to the actual bytes recorded.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 32 words

The combination according to claim 10 wherein a time of day bus is sampled to thereby mark and time stamp the beginning of a transaction in response to the initial selection sequence.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 44 words

The combination according to claim 11 including means responsive to the end of a transaction as indicated by a non-zero status response to thereby mark and time stamp the end of a transaction by transferring the time of day bus into a word buffer.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 140 words

A monitor for use with and attachment to an I/O interface connecting a processor with I/O devices, said interface of the interlocked demand-response type wherein in-tags and out-tags specify the nature of an operation and data, address, command and status information relating to said tags is placed on in or out buses, comprising: a working storage, including a unique region for a particular I/O device wherein data and control information can be stored; means responsive to the selection of said particular I/O device by said interface for reading out the contents of said region, updating said contents, and returning said contents to storage; and means responsive to the termination of an I/O operation with respect to said particular device as signalled by status information over said interface for reading out the contents of said unique region to a storage media.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 140 words

A monitor for use with and attachment to an I/O interface connecting a processor with I/O devices, said interface of the interlocked demand-response type wherein in-tags and out-tags specify the nature of an operation and data, address, command and status information relating to said tags is placed on in or out buses, comprising: a working storage, including a unique region for a particular I/O device wherein data and control information can be stored; means responsive to the selection of said particular I/O device by said interface for reading out the contents of said region, updating said contents, and returning said contents to storage; and means responsive to the termination of an I/O operation with respect to said particular device as signalled by status information over said interface for reading out the contents of said unique region to a storage media.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 38 words

The combination according to claim 13 wherein said reading means includes means responsive to a device address appearing at said interface for capturing said address and using said address as the region address for addressing said working storage.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 60 words

The combination according to claim 2 wherein said capturing means includes means for registering n bytes of data, and said counting means includes means for selectively inhibiting or not inhibiting the collection of data after a count of n is reached, to thereby selectively capture either the first n bytes of data or the last n bytes of data, respectively.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1976-07-23	1977-01-22	1977-07-24	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1980-07-23	1981-01-22	1981-07-24	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1984-07-23	1985-01-22	1985-07-24	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Input/output hardware trace monitor

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