WO2007036175A1

WO2007036175A1 - Method for generating an error signal

Info

Publication number: WO2007036175A1
Application number: PCT/DE2005/001741
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jürgen BAUEREISS; Martina Zeilmann
Original assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 2005-09-27
Filing date: 2005-09-27
Publication date: 2007-04-05
Also published as: DE112005003774A5

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for generating an error signal which indicates an error during the execution of a sequential program (40') of an electronic data processing system (10) encompassing a plurality of individual processing steps. The aim of the invention is to create a method for generating an error signal which supplies error signals that are easier to process than in previous art in case an error occurs during normal operation of the execution of the program. Said aim is achieved by the fact that action data (A) which identifies a respective functional program module (M) composed of two or more individual processing steps of the sequential program (40') and contains hierarchy information indicating what hierarchical position the program module holds in the hierarchy of the sequential program or what relation said program module has with the top program hierarchy is stored for each functional program module (M) during each execution of the sequential program (40') before or when the same is activated, the stored action data (A) is read out and an output signal (SA) directly or indirectly indicating the action data (A) is generated as an error signal when an error occurs in the sequential program, and the associated action data is deleted once each functional program module has been successfully processed without an error.

Description

description

Method for generating an error signal

The invention relates to a method for generating an error signal indicating an error in the course of a process program comprising a plurality of individual processing steps of an electronic data processing system.

Such error signals are known, for example, from so-called debugger tools that are used in the development of execution programs for data processing systems. To test the functionality of the sequence program, the debugger tool runs parallel to the sequence program and, in the case of an error in the sequence program (eg in the case of a program termination), determines at which single processing step or in which program line the error has occurred. An error signal identifying the program line enables the program developer to find the cause of the program error and to make suitable program changes. Debugger tools of the type described are used in program development and do not allow error identification in later program operation.

In addition, it is known to generate error messages during the "normal operation" of an execution program, which indicate the type of an error that has occurred.For example, error messages that indicate divisions by zero or buffer overflows are disadvantageous Error messages, however, are that in the case of very extensive and complex sequence programs, these often do not permit an immediate assignment as to which program point the error has occurred, so that the user of the download program often has no indication of what is wrong.

The invention is therefore based on the object, a method for generating an error signal that delivers better usable error signals during normal operation of an AbIaufProgramms in case of error than before.

This object is achieved on the basis of a method of the type specified according to the invention by the characterizing features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are specified in subclaims.

According to the invention, it is provided according to the invention that during each program run of the sequence program for each functional program module which consists of two or more individual processing steps of the sequence program, a program module-specific action information is stored before or during its activation. Such action information identifies the respective program module and contains a hierarchy indication which indicates which hierarchical position the program module holds in the program hierarchy of the sequence program and / or which relation it has to the uppermost program hierarchy. If an error occurs

In the case of an abort program (eg in the case of a program abort), the stored action information is read out, and as the error signal an output signal is generated which directly or indirectly indicates the action information. After successful error-free execution of each functional

Program module, the associated action information is deleted.

A significant advantage of the invention is that it allows the generation of very detailed error signals, which are very understandable both to the programmers of the sequence program and to their users. Because, according to the invention, two or more individual processing steps are combined to form functional program modules and individual action information is stored for each program module before it is activated, error signals can be formed that accurately locate the error within the program hierarchy of the program As a result of the combination according to the invention of the "bundling" of individual processing steps into functional program modules or "function modules" on the one hand and the assignment of an indirect or immediate one Hierarchy of the respective function modules on the other hand can thus achieve that a very comprehensive and very understandable error indication can be generated.

In order to be able to recognize all possible errors and signal them with a suitable error signal, it is considered advantageous if the entire sequence program is subdivided into functional program modules and all program modules are monitored in the manner described for the occurrence of an error.

The deletion of the stored action information can be carried out particularly simply and thus advantageously, for example, in the course of saving the action information of the respectively next program module to be processed. Particularly preferably, the stored action information is deleted by overwriting with the action information of the respectively next program module to be processed.

In view of the greatest possible ease of use of the AbIaufprogramms and in terms of the best possible clarity of any error message, it is considered advantageous if in the memory area to each

Action information in each case an action-individual error text is stored and when the error text is emitted together with the output signal or as part of the output signal optically or acoustically to the outside.

The invention also relates to an error signal generating device for generating an error signal which causes an error in the execution of a plurality of processing signals. steps comprehensive flow program of an electronic data processing system displays.

Such error signal generating devices are - as already mentioned in connection with the inventive method - used for example for generating error signals indicating a division by zero or the like.

With regard to such an error signal generating device, the object of the invention is to achieve that, during normal operation of the readout program, fault signals which can be utilized in the event of a fault are supplied better than before.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that a monitoring module is connected to a memory area in which, for functional program modules which consist of two or more individual processing steps of the sequence program, an action information stores the respective program module before or during their activation the AbIaufprogramms identified and containing a hierarchical indication that indicates which hierarchical position the program module in the program hierarchy of the sequence program has or what relation it has to the top program hierarchy, and that a signal output device in the presence of the auxiliary signal reads the memory area and an error signal as an output signal generated, which indicates the action information directly or indirectly.

With regard to the advantages of the error signal generating device according to the invention, reference is made to the above statements in connection with the method according to the invention.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention Fehlerig- nalerzeugungseinrichtung are given in subclaims.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to embodiments. Show FIG. 1 shows an electronic data processing system which is equipped with an exemplary embodiment of an error signal generating device according to the invention,

FIG. 2 shows, by way of example, the storage of

Action information depending on which functional program module of a running on the electronic data processing system according to Figure 1 sequence program is just put into operation,

FIGS. 3, 4, 5, 6 show, by way of example, the optical output of error signals in the form of error windows, which can be displayed on a screen in the event of an error, and

Figure 7 shows an electronic data processing system, which is equipped with a second embodiment of an error signal generating device according to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows an electronic data processing system 10, which comprises a microprocessor device 20. The microprocessor device 20 is connected via a data bus 30 to a memory area 40 in which a run on the data processing system 10 running program 40 'is stored.

The data processing system 10 is also equipped with an internal error signal generator 100. The error signal generator 100, like the sequence program 40 ', makes use of the microprocessor device 20; In addition, it includes a memory area 110, in which a monitor the program execution of AbIaufProgramms 40 'monitoring monitoring module 110' is stored.

To output an error signal, the error signal generating device 100 is furthermore equipped with a signal output device 130, with which an output signal SA can be emitted optically or acoustically as an error signal. The signal output device 130 may be formed by a speaker, a monitor or the like, for example.

The various components of the error signal generation device 100 are connected to one another via the data bus 30 as well as to the memory area 40 of the exit program 40 '.

The data processing system 10 with the error signal generating device 100 is operated as follows:

During the normal program execution of the exit program 40 ', the error signal generating device 100 monitors the program flow continuously. For this purpose, the monitoring module 110 'controls the beginning of predefined functional program modules of the sequence program 40' stored in the monitoring module 110 '.

Such functional program modules include two or more individual processing steps of the run program 40 'and may define relatively complex portions of the run program 40'. The functional program modules are thus not formed by individual individual processing steps, but by a combination of several such individual processing steps. The combination of the individual processing steps to functional program modules is carried out during programming of the sequence program 40 'and the monitoring module 110' preferably such that each functional program module refers to a predetermined technical functionality of AbIaufProgramms 40 '. For example For example, one of the functional program modules can be formed by all those individual processing steps that relate to the reading of parameters into the sequence program 40 'of the data processing system 10. Another functional program module can be formed, for example, by a work package such as "Check parameterization" or "Query user action".

As soon as the monitoring module 110 'recognizes that a new functional program module of the download program 40' is being started, it preferably already stores in an action information memory area 140 before or immediately after activation of the respective program module, for example through a subarea of the memory area 110 of the monitoring module 110 ', an action information A relating to the program module to be started.

Specifically, the monitoring module 110 'stores, as action information A, identification information that identifies the program module of the sequence program 40' to be started; In addition, the monitoring module 110 'stores which hierarchical position the respective program module has within the program hierarchy of the exit program 40' or which relation it has to the uppermost program hierarchy of the execution program 40.

The identification information for the respective program module makes it possible for the user of the run program 40 'as well as in advance when programming the run program 40' the programmer to carry out a clear error assignment in the event of an error. In addition, the additional "hierarchy specification" makes it possible to ascertain in which program section the sequence program 40 'is currently or how far it has already progressed from the program sequence, namely, the progress of the sequence program 40' is a valuable indicator for a program correct assignment of an error occurred. Now that the associated action information for each new program module has been stored, the functional program module of the sequence program 40 'is started:

If an error (eg program termination) occurs during the execution of the functional program module, this is detected by the monitoring module 110 'of the error signal generation device 100. In this case, the monitoring module 110 generates an auxiliary signal H for the signal output device 130, which then reads the current action information A from the action information memory area 140 and displays to the program user an output signal SA indicating the action information A directly or indirectly as an error signal. The output signal SA thus also indicates the identification and hierarchy information contained in the action information A.

If, on the other hand, no error signal generation occurs because no error has occurred in the functional program module, then the procedure for the subsequent program module is the same. This means that before or during the activation of the respective new program module in the manner described first an action information is stored, which identifies the respective new program module of the sequence program 40 'and in the event of an error allows a corresponding error identification.

In order to occupy as little storage space as possible, the monitoring module 110 'is preferably configured such that, when a new action information is stored, it deletes the respectively old action information of the previously successfully executed functional program module. Such a deletion of the "obsolete" action information can be effected, for example, by the fact that the respective new "current" action information overwrites the previous "old" action information. In summary, it can thus be stated that due to the mode of operation of the error signal generating device 100, it is always possible to determine which action or which functional program module of the download program 40 'of the data processing system 10 is currently being executed. In addition, the hierarchy specification of the action information allows a very accurate assignment of the error to the work package currently being executed by the execution program 40 '.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment of a possible program sequence of the sequence program 40 'in the form of a table.

In the table, the leftmost column lists the respective action type of the runtime program 40 'over time. The respective action type indicates whether the respective program module is a main program part or a subprogram part of the execution program 40 '. The second column of the table, seen from the left, lists the respective functional program module M of the execution program 40 '. It can be seen that a total of three program modules are called within the scope of the program section "Read parameters", namely the program modules "read parameter", "read command line" and "read registry". In the column on the far right, the respectively associated action information A is listed, which stores the monitoring module 110 'when the respective program module M is activated.

It can be seen that for each functional program module in each case an action information is stored which identifies the respective program module very precisely, preferably unambiguously. In addition, the action information contains instructions that identify the respective position or the position of the program module within the hierarchy of the sequence program 40. For example, the action information A to the program module "Registry read" indicates that the respective program module hierarchy on the parent program section "reading the parameters" and also refers to the "main program" via the again higher-level program section "program start". Thus, in addition to the identification of the program module, its hierarchical position within the execution program 40 'can also be determined precisely.

As can be seen in FIG. 2, the action information A becomes more extensive the deeper the program module is located in the hierarchy of the sequence program 40 '.

In FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6, error signals are shown by way of example which are output by the signal output device 130 as output signals SA in the case of an error. As can be seen from FIGS. 3 to 6, the output signals SA have action-specific error texts T which, for example, together with the respective action information A are stored by the monitoring module 110 'in the action information memory area 140:

The output signal SA according to FIG. 3 indicates that an error has occurred at the program start and that the installation of the program should be repeated.

The output signal SA according to FIG. 4 indicates that an error has occurred during the reading of the parameters and that the installation of the program should be repeated.

The output signal SA according to FIG. 5 indicates that an error has occurred during the reading of the registry and the installation should be repeated.

Correspondingly, the output signal SA according to FIG. 6 indicates that an error has occurred when reading the "registry key start-up mask ^" (value does not exist) and that the installation should be repeated.

In the embodiment according to FIG. 1, the drain program 40 'and the monitoring module 110' are separate Software modules. Alternatively, the monitoring module 110 'may also be completely implemented in the sequence program 40' and form an integral part of the sequence program 40 '. Such a variant is shown in FIG. Otherwise, the alternative variant works like the variant according to FIG. 1, so that reference is made to the above statements with regard to the mode of operation.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10 data processing system

20 microprocessor device 30 data bus

40 expiration memory

100 error signal generating device

110 monitoring module

130 signal output device 140 action information storage area

F error signal

A ^" action information

H auxiliary signal

T error text

Claims

claims

1. A method of generating an error signal indicative of an error in the execution of an execution program (40 ') of an electronic data processing system (10) comprising a plurality of individual processing steps, the method of claim 1, wherein:

- That during each program run of the sequence program (40 ') for each functional program module (M), which consists of two or more individual processing steps of the sequence program (40'), stored before or during its activation an action information (A) identifying the respective program module (M) and containing a hierarchy indication indicating which hierarchical position the program module holds in the program hierarchy of the sequence program or which relates to the top program hierarchy,

- That when an error of AbIaufProgramms the stored action information (A) is read out and as an error signal, an output signal (SA) is generated, which indicates the action information (A) directly or indirectly, and

-that after successful error-free execution of each functional program module, the associated action information is deleted in each case.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the entire sequence program (40 ') is subdivided into functional program modules and all program modules are monitored in the manner described for an occurrence of an error.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the deletion of the stored action information (A) in the context of storing the action information of the respective next functional program module (M) to be processed follows.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the deletion of the stored action information (A) takes place by overwriting with the action information of the respectively next functional program module (M) to be processed.

5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that for each action information (A) each an action-individual error text (T) is stored and that the error text (T) optically or acoustically issued to the outside together with the output signal or as part of the output signal becomes.

6. error signal generating means (100) for generating an error signal which is an error in the execution of a sequence of a plurality of processing steps sequence program

(40 ') of an electronic data processing system (10), with a monitoring module (HO') serving each

Monitor program run of the AbIaufProgramms and generates an auxiliary signal (H) when an abortion of the sequence program is detected, and with a monitoring module (HO ') in communication signal output device (130), which in the presence of the auxiliary signal (H) Produces error signal and outputs visually and / or acoustically to the outside, characterized

in that the monitoring module (HO ') is in communication with a memory area (140) in which functional program modules (M), which consist of two or more individual processing steps of the sequence program (40'), are respectively before and the activation of which stores an action information (A) which identifies the respective program module (M) of the sequence program (40 ') and which has a hierarchy indicating which hierarchical position the program module (M) holds in the program hierarchy of the execution program or which relation it has to the uppermost program hierarchy, and - that the signal output device (130) is present in the presence of the

Auxiliary signal (H) reads out the memory area (140) and as

Error signal generates an output signal (SA), which is the

Action information (A) indicates directly or indirectly.

7. Error signal generating device according to claim 6, characterized in that the monitoring module is configured such that it deletes the associated action information after successful execution of the respective program module.

8. Error signal generating device according to claim 7, characterized in that the monitoring module is designed such that it deletes the stored action information in the course of storing the action information of the respective next program module to be processed.

9. Error signal generating device according to claim 8, characterized in that the monitoring module is configured such that it overwrites the stored action information with the action information of the respectively next program module to be processed.

10. error signal generating device according to one of the preceding claims 6 to 9, d a d u c h e c e n e c i n e t,

- That the monitoring module in the memory area for each action information also each an action-individual error text (T) stores and

- That the signal output device (130) the error text (T) together with the output signal (SA) or as part of the output signal optically or acoustically to the outside gives.

11. error signal generating device according to one of the preceding claims 6 to 10, d a d u r c h e c e n e z e c h e n e, the monitoring module (HO ') in the sequence program (40') is implemented and monitors each program run of the sequence program.