US5737520A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Method and apparatus for correlating logic analyzer state capture data with associated application data structures
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1996-09-03
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Granted: 1998-04-07
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Expires: 2016-09-03
Abstract
Abstract Methods and associated apparatus for analyzing and presenting captured state logic data including memory accesses by an intelligent I/O interface device and an attached computer system. The data analysis and display of the present invention aids an engineer in locating data corruption failures in a system. The heuristic analysis of the methods of the present invention locate and identify buffers accessed within the captured state logic data and buffer descriptors accessed within the captured state logic data despite the time dispersion thereof. The buffers and buffer descriptors located and identified within the captured state logic data are displayed on a computer display screen in a manner to more effectively assist an engineer in locating a root cause of data corruption than was possible with prior methods devoid of the analysis of the present invention. In particular, the display visually identifies buffers regardless of the state/time dispersion in the original captured state logic data and distinguishes read access from write access thereto. The display includes indicia used to associate a located and identified buffer descriptor with the identified buffer to which it refers. In response to user requests, the data contained in a selected buffer or selected buffers may be textually displayed either in a raw form or in accordance with the protocol specifications of the underlying data exchange application being debugged. The identified buffers may also be easily searched for a user specified string without concern for the time dispersion of the buffers in the captured state logic data.
Inventors
- 👤 Robert D. Gronlund
- 👤 Brian A. Willette
- 👤 William M. Zevin
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-04 01:27
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F11/00; G06F11/30; G06F11/32; G06F11/321; G06F11/322
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 34
Claim 1
Independent Claim
67 words
A computer operable method for displaying state logic data acquired by a logic analyzer regarding memory accesses on an electronic interconnect bus connected to said logic analyzer, said method comprising the steps of: correlating a plurality of data structures with said memory accesses in said state logic data acquired by said logic analyzer; and displaying said plurality of data structures in bands on a computer display screen.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
67 words
A computer operable method for displaying state logic data acquired by a logic analyzer regarding memory accesses on an electronic interconnect bus connected to said logic analyzer, said method comprising the steps of: correlating a plurality of data structures with said memory accesses in said state logic data acquired by said logic analyzer; and displaying said plurality of data structures in bands on a computer display screen.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
51 words
The method of claim 1 wherein each of said memory accesses includes an address value and wherein the correlating step comprises: identifying contiguous ones of said memory accesses in said state logic data wherein ones of said memory accesses are contiguous when their respective address values are in a predetermined sequence.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 2 wherein each datum of said state logic data possesses a read/write attribute value and wherein the correlating step further comprises: identifying contiguous ones of said memory accesses in said state logic data having an identical read/write attribute value.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
54 words
The method of claim 3 wherein the displaying step further comprises: displaying ones of said plurality of data structures having a read/write attribute value indicative of a read operation in a manner distinguishable from the display of ones of said plurality of data structures having a read/write attribute value indicative of a write operation.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
68 words
The method of claim 3 wherein the displaying step further comprises: displaying ones of said plurality of data structures having a read/write attribute value indicative of a read operation using a first display color on said computer display screen; and displaying ones of said plurality of data structures having a read/write attribute value indicative of a write operation using a second display color on said computer display screen.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
72 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the correlating step comprises: identifying buffers in said memory accesses in said state logic data as a number of contiguous ones of said memory accesses in said state logic data; and identifying buffer descriptors in said memory accesses in said state logic data as a number of said memory accesses in said state logic data including a pointer to one of said plurality of data structures.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 6 wherein the displaying step further comprises: graphically displaying the identified buffers on said computer display screen; and graphically displaying the identified buffer descriptors on said computer display screen in a manner distinguishable from the display of the identified buffers.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method of claim 7 wherein the displaying step further comprises: determining which one of the identified buffers is referenced by each of the identified buffer descriptors; and displaying indicia of a reference by said each of the identified buffer descriptors to a corresponding said one of the identified buffers.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of: detecting probable data corruption errors in the time dispersion characteristics of references to identified buffers and identified buffer descriptors.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
46 words
The method of claim 9 wherein the displaying step further comprises the step of: displaying identified buffers and identified buffer descriptors corresponding to the detected probable data corruption errors in a manner distinguishable from others of said identified buffers and others of said identified buffer descriptors.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of: textually displaying data contained in at least one selected data structure of said plurality of data structures in response to a user request.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of: textually displaying communication protocol data contained in at least one selected data structure of said plurality of data structures in response to a user request.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of: searching data contained in said plurality of data structures for a specified data sequence in response to a user request.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
84 words
A computer operable method for displaying state logic data acquired by a logic analyzer regarding memory accesses on an electronic interconnect bus connected to said logic analyzer, said method comprising the steps of: correlating at least one buffer with said state logic data acquired by said logic analyzer wherein said at least one buffer comprises states dispersed in said state logic data representing a sequence of memory accesses to contiguous memory addresses; and displaying said at least one buffer on a computer display screen.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
84 words
A computer operable method for displaying state logic data acquired by a logic analyzer regarding memory accesses on an electronic interconnect bus connected to said logic analyzer, said method comprising the steps of: correlating at least one buffer with said state logic data acquired by said logic analyzer wherein said at least one buffer comprises states dispersed in said state logic data representing a sequence of memory accesses to contiguous memory addresses; and displaying said at least one buffer on a computer display screen.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 14 wherein each datum of said state logic data possesses a read/write attribute value and wherein the correlating step further comprises: identifying contiguous ones of said memory accesses in said state logic data having an identical read/write attribute value.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method of claim 15 wherein the displaying step further comprises: displaying said at least one buffer having a read/write attribute value indicative of a read operation in a manner distinguishable from the display of said at least one buffer having a read/write attribute value indicative of a write operation.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
64 words
The method of claim 15 wherein the displaying step further comprises: displaying said at least one buffer having a read/write attribute value indicative of a read operation using a first display color on said computer display screen; and displaying said at least one buffer having a read/write attribute value indicative of a write operation using a second display color on said computer display screen.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
80 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the correlating step comprises: identifying said least one buffer in said memory accesses in said state logic data as a number of contiguous ones of said memory accesses in said state logic; and identifying at least one buffer descriptor in said memory accesses in said state logic data as a number of contiguous ones of said memory accesses in said state logic data including a pointer to one of said at least one buffer.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method of claim 18 wherein the displaying step further comprises: graphically displaying said at least one buffer on said computer display screen; and graphically displaying said at least one buffer descriptor on said computer display screen in a manner distinguishable from the display of the identified buffers.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
57 words
The method of claim 19 wherein the displaying step further comprises: determining which one of said at least one buffer is referenced by each of said at least one buffer descriptor; and displaying indicia of a reference by said each of said at least one buffer descriptor to a corresponding one of said at least one buffer.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of: detecting probable data corruption errors in the time dispersion characteristics of references to said at least one buffer and said at least one buffer descriptor.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
56 words
The method of claim 21 wherein the displaying step further comprises the step of: displaying said at least one buffer and said at least one buffer descriptor corresponding to the detected probable data corruption errors in a manner distinguishable from others of said at least one buffer and others of said at least one buffer descriptor.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of: textually displaying data contained in a selected one of said at least one buffer in response to a user request.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of: textually displaying communication protocol data contained at least one selected one of said at least one buffer in response to a user request.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of: searching data contained in at least one selected one of said at least one buffer for a specified data sequence in response to a user request.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
84 words
A program storage device readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program or instructions executable by the computer to perform the method steps for displaying state logic data acquired by a logic analyzer regarding memory accesses on an electronic interconnect bus connected to said logic analyzer, said method steps comprising: correlating a plurality of data structures with said memory accesses in said state logic data acquired by said logic analyzer; and displaying said plurality of data structures in bands on a computer display screen.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
84 words
A program storage device readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program or instructions executable by the computer to perform the method steps for displaying state logic data acquired by a logic analyzer regarding memory accesses on an electronic interconnect bus connected to said logic analyzer, said method steps comprising: correlating a plurality of data structures with said memory accesses in said state logic data acquired by said logic analyzer; and displaying said plurality of data structures in bands on a computer display screen.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
75 words
The program storage device of claim 26 wherein the correlating method step comprises: identifying buffers in said memory accesses in said state logic data as a number of contiguous ones of said memory accesses in said state logic data; and identifying buffer descriptors in said memory accesses in said state logic data as a number of said memory accesses in said state logic data including a pointer to one of said plurality of data structures.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
47 words
The program storage device of claim 27 wherein the displaying method step further comprises: graphically displaying the identified buffers on said computer display screen; and graphically displaying the identified buffer descriptors on said computer display screen in a manner distinguishable from the display of the identified buffers.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
53 words
The program storage device of claim 28 wherein the displaying method step further comprises: determining which one of the identified buffers is referenced by each of the identified buffer descriptors; and displaying indicia of a reference by said each of the identified buffer descriptors to a corresponding said one of the identified buffers.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
35 words
The program storage device of claim 29 wherein the method steps further comprise the step of: detecting probable data corruption errors in the time dispersion characteristics of references to identified buffers and identified buffer descriptors.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
49 words
The program storage device of claim 30 wherein the displaying method step further comprises the step of: displaying identified buffers and identified buffer descriptors corresponding to the detected probable data corruption errors in a manner distinguishable from others of said identified buffers and others of said identified buffer descriptors.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2001-04-06 | 2001-10-06 | 2002-04-07 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2005-04-06 | 2005-10-06 | 2006-04-07 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2009-04-06 | 2009-10-06 | 2010-04-07 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |