CONTROL SEQUENCER WITH DUAL MICROPROGRAM COUNTERS FOR MICRODIAGNOSTICS

摘要

A microprogrammed control unit of an information processing system having a control sequencer with dual microprogram counters for performing microdiagnostics simultaneously with performing macroprograms. The microdiagnostics comprise background and operability tests, the background tests being interleaved with macroinstruction operations under the control of the two independent microprogram counters. The background tests are run during processor idle time and the operability tests are executed at processor or turn-on. The organization of the microdiagnostics into a hierarchical structure allows the use of the same microprogrammed test module for both the background and operability microdiagnostic tests. A prediction/residual coding technique provides fault detection for address and data information within the control sequencer.