JP2019066913A - Software verification apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a software verification apparatus for comparing and verifying an operation of verification target software and an operation of comparison target.SOLUTION: A verification target CPU simulator 101 simulates an operation of software of control target apparatus. Comparison target control simulation means 102 simulates an operation of software that is comparison target. A control target simulator 107 and 108 simulate an operation of the control target apparatus of the software. HUB 103 connects a plurality of simulation applications, and synchronization means 104 sets a verification target CPU simulator and the control target simulator 107 as a first group, sets the comparison target control simulation means and the control target simulator 108 as a second group, synchronizes in each of the groups before reaching an operation origin, and synchronizes between the groups after reaching the operation origin. Result display means 109 overlaps and displays operations of control target controlled by the verification target CPU simulator and the comparison target control simulation means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a software verification apparatus that verifies control software.

  The software is tested for improper behavior and released after debugging. Patent Document 1 discloses a verification method for comparing and verifying two programs. In Patent Document 1, a user sets a synchronization point in a comparison target program and a verification target program, generates a verification program in which a synchronization command is inserted in the synchronization point, and performs program verification. Further, Patent Document 2 proposes a method of debugging software while seeing the motion of a mechanism controlled by software in animation. As described above, device control simulation may be used for debugging and verification of software that controls mechanical devices.

JP, 2010-165121, A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-327956

When some change is made to the software, operation verification is performed to see if the software operation other than the change is the same as the software operation before the change. Here, for example, when a change is made to the image forming operation of the control software of the image forming apparatus, it is necessary to confirm whether the sheet conveying operation, which is an operation other than the image forming operation, is not adversely affected. In the control software before the change, although the sheet was conveyed normally, when the sheet becomes abnormal (for example, jam) at the time of confirmation of the sheet conveyance operation of the control software after the change, the adverse effect due to the software change is recognized it can. However, even if the sheet is not in an abnormal state, if the transition of the sheet conveyance state by the two software before and after the change does not coincide, the problem is that the software change actually causes an adverse effect. In order to detect the adverse effect that the abnormal operation does not occur as described above, it is necessary to compare the transition of the sheet conveyance state by the two software before and after the change and to easily recognize the mismatch of the sheet operation.
In order to compare the transition of the sheet conveyance state, which is the operation to be verified, it is necessary to match the verification start points of the two software with respect to the sheet operation which is the control object of the software.
However, Patent Document 1 does not disclose that the start points of the controlled object operation of the two software are matched, and comparison of the controlled object operation can not be performed.
In addition, as in Patent Document 2, after simulating the two software before and after the change, combining the starting point of the verification operation and storing the simulation result log, a method of reproducing and comparing the verification operation from the simulation result log is considered. Be However, since verification and debugging of software can not be performed simultaneously in one simulation execution, verification requires much time.

  The present invention provides a verification apparatus and program for verifying the operation of control software by comparing the control object operation of the control software to be verified and the operation to be compared.

In order to achieve the above object, a software verification device according to the present invention is:
A CPU simulator that simulates the operation of a target CPU on which the software to be verified is executed;
A first controlled object simulator that analyzes a change in the movement of the controlled object controlled by the verification target software and generates first visualization data that visualizes the movement of the controlled object;
A comparison control simulator that simulates the control function of the comparison object to be compared with the control by the verification object software;
A second controlled object simulator that analyzes a change in the movement of the controlled object based on a control function simulated by the comparison control simulator and generates second visualization data that visualizes the movement of the controlled object When,
Based on the first visualization data and the second visualization data, the operation of the controlled object controlled by the verification target software and the control function simulated by the comparison control simulator Result display means for displaying the operation of the control object in an overlapping manner;
When the CPU simulator and the first controlled object simulator are set as a first simulation group, and the comparison control simulator and the second controlled object simulator are set as a second simulation group, the simulation of each simulation group is performed. Arrival determination means for determining whether or not the simulation execution in the simulation group has reached an operation starting point which is a starting point in the operation of the controlled object from the result;
Synchronization means for performing time synchronization among a plurality of the simulators;
Equipped with
The synchronization means is configured to perform time synchronization between the first and second simulation groups when it is determined that both the first and second simulation groups have reached the operation start point. It is characterized in that it has synchronization changing means for changing the method of synchronization.

  A program according to the present invention causes a computer to function as the software verification device.

  As described above, according to the present invention, since the verification target operation and the comparison target operation can be synchronized and the operation of the verification target software and the comparison target operation can be compared by visual information, the verifier finds an abnormal operation. It becomes easy to do. In addition, operation comparison and debugging can be performed by one simulation execution. As a result, the number of verification steps of the verifier can be reduced.

Functional configuration diagram of software verification device according to the present invention Hardware configuration diagram of software verification device according to the present invention Sectional view of an electrophotographic apparatus that is a control target device of verification target software Conceptual diagram of the implementation process of the software to be verified and compared, which is given in the embodiment FIG. 6 shows an example of operation start point arrival information according to the first embodiment. Flowchart of the process of the movement start arrival determination function according to the first embodiment Illustration of output image of image forming device simulator Diagram showing an example of simulation group information Flow chart of processing by synchronization means Explanatory drawing of the output image of the result display means which concerns on this invention Functional configuration diagram of software verification device according to the second embodiment FIG. 6 shows an example of operation start point arrival information according to the second embodiment. Flow chart of processing of operation difference detection function according to the second embodiment Functional configuration diagram of software verification device according to the third embodiment Flowchart of the process of the determination execution state determination unit according to the third embodiment

Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings, modes for carrying out the present invention will be exemplarily described in detail based on examples. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, etc. of the components described in this embodiment should be changed as appropriate depending on the configuration of the apparatus to which the invention is applied and various conditions. That is, the scope of the present invention is not intended to be limited to the following embodiments.
In the following drawings, components not necessary for the description of the embodiment will be omitted from the drawings.

The software verification apparatus according to the present embodiment can be realized by executing a program on a computer system, the hardware configuration of which is shown in FIG. The hard disk 202c of the main unit 202 in FIG. 2 stores a program for realizing each function of the verification device, various data including information on the control target device, and control software to be verified. The central processing unit 202a loads the program and various data into the main storage unit 202b and executes it, whereby the computer system 201 operates as a verification device. The display device 203 performs screen display according to an instruction from the main body unit 202. A keyboard 204 is for inputting user's instructions and character information into the computer system 201. Furthermore, the mouse 205 is for designating an arbitrary position on the display device 203 to input an instruction according to an icon or the like displayed at that position.
The basic operations of the computer system 201 are executed via an operating system (hereinafter referred to as an OS) which is a basic program.

  In this embodiment, although the control target device (control target object) of the control software is the image forming device and the verification target operation is the sheet conveyance operation, the control target device is other than the image forming device. It may be an apparatus. Furthermore, the operation to be verified may be other than the sheet conveyance operation, as long as the operation to be controlled by the control software generates visualization data on a control object simulator to be described later.

  Here, a control target device of software will be described. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the image forming apparatus 301 which is a software control target apparatus. The image forming apparatus 301 has a cassette 302 for storing the sheet S as shown in FIG. On the cassette 302, a pickup roller 303 for picking up a sheet, and a sheet feeding roller 304 for drawing out the picked up sheet are provided. A conveying roller 305 is disposed downstream of the sheet feeding roller 304 for conveying the fed sheet S to a registration roller described later. A registration roller 307 is provided downstream of the conveyance roller 305 for conveying the sheet S in synchronization with the sub-scanning synchronization signal of the image, and immediately before the registration roller 307, a pre-registration sensor 306 which is a sheet sensor. Is provided. An image forming unit 308 for forming an image by the laser beam from the laser scanner unit 309 is disposed downstream of the registration roller 307. Further, a fixing unit 310 is disposed downstream of the image forming unit 308, a fixing discharge roller 311 is disposed downstream of the fixing unit 310, and a fixing discharge sensor 312 is disposed downstream thereof. . A conveyance path to the discharge tray 315 is provided downstream of the fixing discharge sensor 312. At the downstream of the conveyance path to the sheet discharge tray 315, sheet discharge conveyance rollers 313 and 314 are disposed, and the sheet S is conveyed to the sheet discharge tray 315.

The image forming apparatus 301 has the following functions in addition to the functions described above, and the control software of the image forming apparatus controls the following functions. The pickup roller 303, the sheet feeding roller 304, and the conveying roller 305 use a sheet feeding motor (not shown) as a driving source. The sheet conveyance rollers (including the photosensitive drum of the image forming unit 308, the transfer roller, and the fixing roller of the fixing unit 310) downstream of the registration roller 307 all use a main motor (not shown) as a driving source. The pickup roller 303 is configured to move up and down by a cam mechanism (not shown), and controls the trigger of the cam mechanism drive by a pickup solenoid (not shown). The registration roller 307 receives a driving force from the main motor via a registration roller clutch (not shown), and the drive / stop is controlled by the control of the registration roller clutch. The optical mechanism of the image forming unit 308 includes a semiconductor laser and a scanner motor that rotates a polygon mirror that reflects laser light from the semiconductor laser and irradiates the laser light onto the photosensitive drum. Further, the fixing device has a fixing heater for heating the fixing device, a thermistor for measuring the temperature of the fixing device, and a relay for controlling energization connection or interruption to the heater.

  The control software of the image forming apparatus 301 having the above-described configuration and functions performs the following control. That is, when an instruction for image formation is received from an external device of the image forming apparatus, whether or not the sheet S is present in the cassette 302 is checked, heat treatment of the fixing device 310 is performed, and when the fixing device 310 reaches a predetermined temperature, Execute image formation processing. In the image forming process, first, the sheet S is picked up from the cassette 302, the sheet S is fed following the pickup, and the photosensitive drum of the image forming unit 308 is irradiated with laser light, and the laser irradiation portion is charged. Toner is applied to form a toner image. Then, the toner image placed on the photosensitive drum is transferred onto the conveyed sheet S, the sheet S is conveyed to the fixing device 310, the transferred toner image is fixed on the sheet S by heat, and the sheet S is ejected The sheet is discharged to a printed matter to be processed.

Subsequently, a system configuration of the software verification device according to the present embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 301 performs printing for one page between the verification target software and the comparison target software, and performs verification to confirm that there is no difference in the conveyance operation of the sheet S. It shall be.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control software verification device (hereinafter simply referred to as a verification device) according to the present embodiment. The verification apparatus of this embodiment includes a verification target CPU simulator 101, a comparison target control simulation unit 102, a first control target simulator 107, a second control target simulator 108, and a simulator hub (hereinafter referred to as HUB) 103. A result display means 109 is provided. Here, the comparison target simulation unit 102 corresponds to a comparison control simulator. The verification target CPU simulator 101, the comparison target control simulation means 102, the control object simulators 107 and 108, and the result display means 109 synchronize time.
Here, simulation time will be described. Each application which constitutes a verification device has a concept of simulated time. The simulation time is a time that proceeds with a change in the simulation state of the simulation object. For example, when simulating the movement of an object whose movement speed is 10 kilometers per hour, if the amount of movement of the object is simulated for 10 kilometers, the simulation time advances by one hour regardless of the actual time required for the simulation. In the verification device according to the present embodiment, a plurality of simulators respectively corresponding to different simulation targets are linked. In this case, the actual time required for the analysis processing for the same simulation time differs from one simulator to another. In other words, the progress of the simulation time with the passage of real time differs depending on the simulator. Therefore, in the verification device, the simulation time synchronization processing is performed between the simulators to make the progress of the simulation time coincide with each other, thereby enabling cooperative simulation. In the following description, “time” indicates “simulated time” unless otherwise specified.

The verification target CPU simulator 101 simulates the movement of the software program of the control target device. That is, the verification target CPU simulator 101 executes control software executed by the control unit (target CPU) of the control target device on the host PC. Then, the verification target CPU simulator 101 receives a signal indicating an operation state of the control target device output by a sensor or the like of the control target device, and outputs a control signal to each component of the control target device. The control software corresponds to the verification target software 111.
The comparison target control simulation unit 102 simulates the operation of software to be compared with the verification target software (hereinafter, simply referred to as comparison target software), that is, the control function of the comparison target. The comparison target control simulation unit 102 may be a CPU simulator (comparison target CPU simulator) that executes a program of software to be compared on the host PC. Further, the comparison target control simulation unit 102 may be a unit that simulates the function of the comparison target software. In this example, the comparison target control simulation unit 102 is described as a CPU simulator that executes comparison target software.

In the control software of the image forming apparatus 301, when an unrelated change is added to the sheet conveyance control, the sheet conveyance operation as a control result should not have a difference before and after the change. If there is a difference in the sheet transport operation before and after the software change, it can be said that the software change is a bad effect. In order to confirm such an adverse effect, it may be said that the clearest method is to execute software before and after the change, superimpose and display the movement of the sheet, and directly visually check it. Therefore, in the software verification apparatus, processing for comparing the operation of two pieces of software with the sheet conveyance operation as a verification target will be described.
A process to be performed until the verification target software and the comparison target software perform the sheet conveyance which is the operation to be verified will be described. FIG. 4 is a conceptual view of an implementation process of two software. When both of the software receives an image formation instruction from an external device of the image forming apparatus, it checks whether the sheet S is present in the cassette 302, heats the fixing unit 310, and the fixing unit 310 reaches a predetermined temperature. Then, the sheet conveyance process is started. However, the processing content of the heat processing of the fixing unit 310 is different between the verification target software and the comparison target software. In the software to be verified, a new function is added to the heat treatment of the fixing device 310, and the software to be compared has less real time required for the heat treatment of the fixing device. Due to the difference in processing content, after receiving the image formation instruction, the paper conveyance processing starts earlier in the comparison target software. The verification target software and the comparison target software start the sheet conveyance operation when the pickup solenoid drive signal becomes high.
The paper transport operation to be verified is superimposed even if image formation instructions are simply issued at the same timing and executed in parallel with software to be verified and software to be compared that have differences in control as described above. It is not possible. Therefore, in the software verification apparatus according to the present embodiment, the operation of the verification object can be displayed superimposed and compared by synchronizing the simulation of the software to be verified and the comparison object from the operation starting point of the verification object. It is like that.
In the present embodiment, the software to be verified is described as being modified except for the sheet conveyance process which is the operation to be verified. However, the software to be verified according to the present invention is an operation to be verified. Processing may be modified. For example, although a change is made to the sheet conveyance control of software, when the sheet conveyance operation of the control target is the same, the conveyance operation of the sheet which is the object to be verified can be compared using the present verification device.

It returns to the explanation of FIG. The verification target CPU simulator 101 and the comparison target control simulation means 102 have operation origin arrival determination functions 114 and 115 that determine whether the origin of the verification operation (hereinafter referred to as the operation origin) has been reached. Here, the movement start arrival determination functions 114 and 115 correspond to arrival determination means. As start point specification information (hereinafter referred to as operation start point specification information) for specifying an operation start point, control information handled by software is used. The control information is, for example, a variable in software, a register of a CPU (hereinafter referred to as a target CPU) mounted on a software control target device, or a software program counter. FIG. 5 shows an example of defining the verification operation start point using the register signal of the target CPU. As described above, as shown in FIG. 5A, when the pickup solenoid drive signal of the component of the image forming apparatus whose verification operation start point is the control target device of software is at the high level,
In the control information of software, the pickup solenoid drive signal and the verification operation starting point reaching condition are set such that the control information is at the high level. FIG. 5B is a setting example of operation start point information handled in the operation start point arrival judging functions 114 and 115, which is set by control information used as a verification operation start point and information of a verification operation start point attainment condition of the control information. . The control information used for the verification operation start point is designated by the address on the target CPU and the bit length and bit position of the control information, and the verification operation start point reaching condition specifies the condition of the control information. When the pickup solenoid signal is control information of the 1 bit length of the 2nd bit of the address 0x0001, it is set as shown in FIG. 5B, and this information is stored in the operation start point information 116 and 117. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the processing of the movement start arrival determination functions 114 and 115. After the simulation is started by the verification target CPU simulator 101 and the comparison target control simulation means 102, the change of the operation start point specification information is monitored (S601). If it is a change in the operation start point specification information, it is checked whether the operation start point satisfaction condition is satisfied (S602). If it is determined that the condition is satisfied in S602, the HUB 103 is notified of arrival of the verification operation starting point (hereinafter referred to as operation starting point arrival notification) (S603). The operation start point information and the operation start point establishment condition are stored in the operation start point information 116 and 117. The control information for determining the arrival at the verification operation start point may be a variable in software or a program counter of the target CPU, instead of control signals handled by the software, which are drive signals of mechanical parts constituting the image forming apparatus.

The control object simulators 107 and 108 simulate the operation of each component of the software control target device, in this example, the image forming apparatus. The control object simulators 107 and 108 continuously analyze the change in operation of each part and generate visualization data from the analysis result. The visualization data generated by the controlled object simulator 107 corresponds to first visualization data, and the visualization data generated by the controlled object simulator 108 corresponds to second visualization data. Then, the operation state of each component is displayed on the display device 203. The parts of the image forming apparatus are, in addition to mechanical parts such as a motor, a roller, and a clutch that constitute the image forming apparatus, objects handled by the image forming apparatus other than mechanical parts such as paper of image transfer material, and fixing Physical properties such as temperature are also included.
FIG. 7 shows an example of an output image on the display device 203 of the computer system 201 of the control object simulators 107 and 108. Reference numeral 701 denotes a sheet cassette, 702 denotes a sheet waiting for sheet feeding on the sheet cassette, 704 denotes a sheet feeding clutch, 705 denotes a sheet feeding sensor, 706 denotes a sheet feeding motor, 707 denotes a pickup solenoid, 708 denotes a pickup roller, and 709 denotes sheet feeding. Shows a roller. Further, 710 indicates a conveyance path, 711 indicates a conveyance roller, 712 indicates a registration roller, 713 indicates a registration sensor, 714 indicates a registration roller clutch, 715 indicates a photosensitive drum, 716 indicates a transfer roller, 717 indicates a laser light display, and 718 indicates a main motor. There is. Further, 719 is a fixing roller, 720 is a fixing discharge roller, 721, 722, and 723 are discharge conveyance rollers, 728 is a sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus, and 729 is a discharge tray. A thick solid line indicates a sheet, and a thick broken line indicates a toner image forming area. The toner image formation area is displayed by obtaining a range in which the toner image can be normally formed from the output timing of the image data, the image mask release setting, the set values of various high voltage control signals and the setting timing. Then, after the transfer position, the toner image forming area on the sheet is displayed by oblique lines.

The control object simulators 107 and 108 notify the result display means 109 of the generated visualization data. The control object simulators 107 and 108 notify the result display means 109 of visualization data of the control object to be compared at least at the time of verification. Here, a method of generating and managing visualization data of the control object simulators 107 and 108 will be described. The controlled object simulators 107 and 108 manage the visualization data of each part by coordinates from a reference point in the controlled object drawing area of the controlled object simulators 107 and 108. The coordinates are indicated by an X coordinate and a Y coordinate, and hereinafter, the value of the X coordinate and the value of the Y coordinate are referred to as (X coordinate value, Y coordinate value). The transport path 710 is defined by connecting a plurality of straight lines, and the straight line is configured by two coordinates of a start point and an end point. The start point is upstream on the sheet conveyance path, and the end point is downstream on the sheet conveyance path. Further, the visualization data of the sheet is constituted by the coordinates of the sheet front end and the sheet rear end. The control object simulators 107 and 108 calculate the sheet movement amount for the unit time, and calculate the coordinate values of the leading and trailing ends of the sheet after movement from the current sheet position (at the time before the processing for the unit time). , Determine the sheet position on the sheet conveyance path. In addition, the above-mentioned visualization data generation and data management method are an example, and the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned visualization data generation method.

The control target simulator 107 simulates the operation of the control target of the verification target software, and the control target simulator 108 simulates the operation of the control target of the comparison target software. Specifically, the control target simulator 107 simulates the operation of the control target of the verification target software 111 with the control information of the control target device output from the verification target CPU simulator 101. Then, the control object simulator 108 simulates the operation of the control object of the comparison target software with the control information of the control target device output from the comparison target control simulation means 102.
The verification target CPU simulator 101 and the control target simulator 107 are simulation groups for simulating the operation of the verification target software. Therefore, the verification target CPU simulator 101 and the control target simulator 107 are defined as a verification target simulation group. Similarly, the comparison target control simulation unit 102 and the control target simulator 108 are defined as a comparison target simulation group for simulating the operation of the comparison target software.

  The HUB 103 connects a plurality of simulator applications operating as independent processes to operate in cooperation with each other. The HUB 103 comprises synchronization means 104 and wiring data management means 105. Each simulator application outputs data to the HUB 103 when data connected to another application changes. The wiring data management unit 105 manages, as wiring information, the connection of data among the simulators, and exchanges data between the simulators.

  The synchronization means 104 is a function to synchronize the applications constituting the verification device. The synchronization means 104 has two synchronization modes. One is the pre-arrival synchronization mode before reaching the starting point of the verification operation, and the other simulation group is after the starting point after the starting point of the verification operation. It is a synchronous mode. During simulation, time synchronization is always required in each of the verification target and comparison target simulation groups, and time synchronization between the groups is necessary only after reaching the operation start point. Because, in order to compare and verify the operation of the control object of the software over time, it is necessary to synchronize the verification operation starting points of the two simulation groups. However, it is sufficient that time synchronization is achieved within each group until the verification operation start point, and synchronization between the groups is unnecessary. On the other hand, after reaching the operation start point, it is necessary to synchronize time between the groups in order to compare two verification operations. Therefore, the simulation is performed by changing the synchronization mode before and after reaching the verification operation start point. That is, the synchronization means 104 includes synchronization change means for changing the synchronization method. In this example, an intra-group synchronization synchronized with only the simulators in the simulation group is described as the pre-start point synchronization mode, and an inter-group synchronization synchronized with all the simulators among the simulation groups as the inter-group synchronization synchronized with only the simulators in the simulation group. In addition, since the time synchronization method in one simulation group is known, the detail is avoided.

The synchronization means 104 has an operation origin synchronization function 106. The operation start synchronization function 106 is a function to synchronize the start of the verification target operation of the verification target software and the comparison target software. The movement start synchronization function 106 has simulation group information 112 and movement start arrival information 113. The simulation group information 112 is information indicating the simulator configuration of the verification target simulation group and the comparison target simulation group. Specifically, simulation group information 112 is information in which a simulation group is associated with a simulator application that configures the group. The operation starting point arrival information 113 is information indicating the operation starting point reaching state of each simulation group, and is information in which the simulation group and the operation starting point reaching state are associated. FIG. 8A shows a specific example of the simulation group information 112, and FIG. 8B shows a specific example of the operation start point arrival information 113. As shown in FIG. When the operation start point arrival notices are received from the operation start point arrival judging functions 114 and 115 possessed by the verification target CPU simulator 101 and the comparison target control simulation means 102, it is checked to which simulation group the notification source application of the operation start point arrival notice belongs. Then, in the movement start point arrival information 113, the movement start point arrival state of the simulation group that has reached the movement start point is updated.

  FIG. 9 is a process flowchart of the synchronization means 104 for synchronizing the verification operation starting point of the verification target simulation group and the comparison target simulation group. The synchronization unit 104 synchronizes within each simulation group (S901). Whether all simulation groups have reached the operation start point is checked (S902), and if both simulation groups have reached the operation start point, synchronization is performed in all applications (S903). In addition, the simulation time of the whole verification apparatus manages the operation starting point arrival of two simulation groups as a starting point.

Here, the synchronization method of S901 and S903 will be described by taking a specific example. The synchronization means 104 has a plurality of synchronization modules for performing time synchronization between the simulators constituting one simulation group. In S901, the first synchronization module synchronizes time in the verification target simulation group, and the second synchronization module synchronizes time in the comparison target simulation group, so that each simulation group proceeds with the simulation in parallel. After the simulation group reaches the operation start point, all the applications are synchronized in time after waiting for the operation start points of the two simulation groups.
After reaching the operation start point, there are two methods for time synchronization in all applications.
One is a method in which the first synchronization module or the second synchronization module changes the application to be synchronized to all applications and achieves time synchronization among all the applications constituting the verification device after reaching the operation start point. The first and second synchronization modules have synchronization application information as to which applications to perform time synchronization. Therefore, when the simulation group reaches the operation start point, the synchronization module waits for the operation start point of the other simulation group to arrive. When the other simulation group reaches the operation start point, the synchronization module of one simulation group updates synchronous application information to all applications. At this time, the synchronization module of the other simulation group updates the synchronization application information without the synchronization application. After the two simulation groups have reached the operation start point, one of the first and second synchronization modules whose synchronization application information has been updated for all applications synchronizes time among all the applications constituting the verification device. It is a method.
The other is a method having a third synchronization module (general synchronization module) for synchronizing the first synchronization module and the second synchronization module, and time synchronization among all the applications constituting the verification device. When the synchronization target simulation groups of the first and second synchronization modules reach the operation start point, the third synchronization module synchronizes the time synchronization processing of the first and second synchronization modules. Note that one of the first and second synchronization modules adds result display means 109 to the application to be subjected to synchronization processing when the operation start point is reached.
Here, an example of the synchronization method is given. In the case of the synchronization method of notifying the HUB 103 of the end of execution when the synchronization means 104 instructs the configuration application of the verification apparatus to execute the predetermined time, and each application finishes the processing for the predetermined time instructed from the synchronization means 104 It is.
The method of time synchronization shown in the present embodiment is an example, and is not limited to the synchronization method of the present invention, and the synchronization method of the present invention is a method of synchronizing simulated time between related applications. It does not matter.

The wiring data management unit 105 performs data transmission between the simulators based on various setting information (not shown) regarding data connecting the simulators.
The result display means 109 is a result display means which superimposes and displays the visualization data which the control object simulator 107 and the control object simulator 108 produce | generate. In addition, since it is a well-known technique regarding the method of superimposing and displaying visualization data, detailed description is abbreviate | omitted. An example of an output image on the display device 203 of the computer system 201 of the result display means 109 is shown in FIG. The conveyance sheets of the control object simulators 107 and 108 are superimposed and displayed. Of the two sheets, one sheet 7021 is indicated by a thick line, and the other sheet 7022 is indicated by a combination of a broken line and a dotted line.

The simulation synchronization operation of the present embodiment will be described below with reference to a specific example of the present embodiment.
In step S901, the synchronization unit 104 synchronizes time with the simulator of the software to be verified and the image forming apparatus simulator operated by the control signal output from the software to be verified and executes the simulation. Similarly, in step S901, the synchronization unit 104 synchronizes time with the simulator of the software to be compared and the image forming apparatus simulator operated by the control signal output from the software to be compared and executes simulation. The simulation execution of the verification target simulation group proceeds, and the verification target software 111 outputs a high level signal to the pickup solenoid drive signal. Then, the operation start point determination function 114 of the simulator of the software to be verified determines that the operation start point is reached, and notifies the HUB 103 of the operation start point arrival. From the simulation group information 112 of the operation start synchronization function 106, the HUB 103 that has received the operation start arrival notification determines that the application (verification target software simulator) notified of the operation start arrival is the verification target simulation group. Then, the verification target simulation group determines that the operation start point is reached, and changes the operation start point arrival information 113. The synchronization module of the verification target simulation group changes all the applications including the verification target simulation group, the comparison target simulation group, and the result display means to the synchronous processing target. Here, the simulation time of the verification target simulation group is suspended. When the comparison target software outputs a high level signal to the pick-up solenoid drive signal, the operation start attainment determination function 115 of the simulator of the comparison target software determines that the operation start has arrived and notifies the HUB 103 of the operation start attainment. . The HUB 103 that has received the operation start point arrival notification determines from the simulation group information 112 of the operation start point synchronization function 106 that the application notified of the operation start point arrival (comparison target software simulator) is a comparison target simulation group. Then, the comparison target simulation group determines that the operation start point is reached, and changes the operation start point arrival information 113. The synchronization module of the comparison target simulation group changes the synchronization application information to no synchronization application. In step S902, the operation start synchronization function 106 checks the operation start arrival information 113, and since both the verification target simulation group and the comparison target simulation group have reached the operation start, the processing proceeds to step S903. Then, in step S903, synchronization is established for all the applications, and the simulation time is advanced.

In the present embodiment, the operation start point arrival judging functions 114 and 115 are described as having the verification target CPU simulator 101 and the comparison object control simulation means 102, but the HUB 103 has the operation start point arrival judgment function 114 and It may have 115. In that case, the verification target CPU simulator 101 and the comparison target control simulation unit 102 have a function of transmitting control information of software necessary for the operation start point arrival determination to the HUB 103.
Although the software to be verified and the software to be compared are different from each other, the software to be verified and the software to be compared may be the same software. For example, the control object simulators 107 and 108 may be operated with simulation models in which the temperature rise rates of the fixing unit 310 of the image forming apparatus 301 are different. This is a case where it is confirmed that there is no difference in the sheet conveyance operation even under the condition that the process other than the sheet conveyance in the control software is different in the heating process of the fixing device 310.

  As described above, whenever there is a change in the control information of software, it is determined whether the operation start point is reached based on the information of the operation start point determined in advance, and the verification operation start point of the verification target simulation group and the comparison target simulation group is synchronized. Let Then, in the verification operation, the movement of the control object of the two softwares is superimposed to display the visualization data. According to this configuration, it is possible to verify the difference in the movement of the controlled object which is the control result of the two control software. Therefore, at the time of software operation verification, it becomes easy to recognize the difference between the operation of the two software, and the working efficiency of software verification is improved. In addition, since the difference between the two software operations can be easily recognized, the detection rate of the unexpected operation is improved, which leads to the prevention of the outflow of the unexpected operation to the post process in the software development process.

  In the first embodiment, the starting point of the verification operation is determined using control information of software. However, there are cases where the verification operation start point can not be defined using software control information. For example, in the case of the verification operation starting point, the control object of software is brought into a predetermined state. Therefore, in the second embodiment, the verification apparatus determines the start point of the verification operation using information that determines the operation of the control object of the software, not the control information of the software, and triggers a change in the information that determines the operation of the control object. The judgment of the verification operation starting point arrival is performed. Further, the verification device automatically detects the occurrence of the difference in the verification operation, and temporarily suspends the simulation execution after the detection of the difference. Hereinafter, differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described.

  FIG. 11 is a functional configuration diagram of the verification device in the second embodiment. The difference from the functional configuration of the verification device of the first embodiment is that the action start arrival determination function detects the action start from the change in state of the control object as the control result of the software, not the control information of the software. It is. Therefore, the operation start point arrival determination functions 1114 and 1115 are configured to be included in the control object simulators 1107 and 1108, respectively.

Hereinafter, the details of the difference in functional configuration will be described.
The action start point arrival determination functions 1114 and 1115 are functions for determining that the action of the control object of software is in a predetermined state as the action start point, and notifying the HUB 103 of the action start point arrival. In the second embodiment, the processing of the control object simulators 1107 and 1108 will be described by taking, as an example, the case where the leading end of the sheet at the registration roller 307 on the sheet conveyance path of the image forming apparatus 301 is the starting point of the verification operation.
FIG. 12 is a setting example of starting point information of verification operation in the case where the arrival of the leading end of the sheet 702, which is a control object of software, reaches the registration roller 712 is the operation starting point. The information indicating the operation start point is composed of two pieces of information indicating the part and information indicating the state of the part at the time of reaching the operation start point. A part ID and a part part are set as information indicating a part, and a part and a condition in contact with the part are set as information indicating a part state. FIG. 12 shows that the part ID “PAP” indicating the sheet to be verified, “LEAD” indicating the leading end of the sheet, and “ROL 4” indicating the registration roller are set. In the controlled object simulators 1107 and 1108, the registration roller 712 has the part ID “ROL4”. Further, it indicates that the condition “==” indicating that the sheet front end position is equal to the outer peripheral position of the registration roller, that is, the sheet front end reaches the outer peripheral position of the registration roller. “==” indicates that the two pieces of information are equal.
The control object simulators 1107 and 1108 manage the arrangement position of each component and the contact position with other components using coordinate information. For example, the registration roller 712 defines the disposition position of the roller in the roller center point coordinates, and defines the contact point between the roller and the sheet in the coordinates of a contact point (not shown) disposed on the sheet conveyance path. If the operation start point information 1116 and 1117 is the information shown in FIG. 12, the operation start point arrival judging functions 1114 and 1115 detect that the coordinates of the leading end of the sheet have reached the coordinates of the contact point of the registration roller 712, It is determined that the movement starting point is reached.

The processing of the movement start arrival judgment functions 1114 and 1115 will be described using the processing flowchart of the movement start arrival judgment function of FIG. In step S601, it is checked whether there is a change in the information that determines the movement of the component used to specify the operation start point. In this embodiment, since the operation start point is designated using the sheet, it is checked whether there is a change in the information for determining the movement of the sheet. As described above, the control object simulators 1107 and 1108 calculate the sheet movement amount for the unit time, and use the sheet movement amount as the information for determining the movement of the sheet. If the paper movement amount is zero, it is determined that the information for determining the movement of the paper is not changed, and if the paper movement amount is other than zero, it is determined that the information for determining the movement of the paper is changed. If it is determined in S601 that there is a change in the information that determines the movement of the sheet, it is determined in S602 whether the coordinates of the leading end of the sheet on the sheet conveyance path have reached the coordinates of the contact point of the registration roller 712.
When the coordinates of the leading end of the sheet are located on the downstream of the conveyance path 710 from the contact point of the registration roller 712, it is determined that the registration roller is reached. If it is determined that the leading edge of the sheet is reached at the contact point of the registration roller 712 in S602, the HUB 103 is notified that the verification operation starting point is reached (S603). Whether the leading end of the sheet is positioned on the conveyance path 710 downstream from the contact point of the registration roller 712 is determined by the following method. The transport path 710 is defined by connecting a plurality of straight lines as described above. Depending on which of the coordinates of the leading end of the sheet and the coordinates of the contact point of the registration roller 712 are closer to the end point of the straight line on one straight line constituting the conveyance path in which the contact point of the registration roller 712 exists, Determine if it is located further downstream. That is, it is determined whether the leading end of the sheet is located downstream of the registration roller 712 depending on which of the coordinates of the leading end of the sheet and the coordinates of the contact point of the registration roller 712 is shorter than the downstream coordinate of the sheet conveyance path.

The result display means 1109 has an operation difference detection function 1118. The operation difference detection function 1118 is a function to detect a difference between two operations to be compared. Verification operation Control unit receives visualization data from controlled object simulators 1107 and 1108 and detects a difference between the two verification operations from the visualization data.
FIG. 13 is a processing flowchart of the operation difference detection function 1118. The result display unit 1109 waits until visualization data is received from the control object simulators 1107 and 1108 (S1301). When visualization data is received from the control object simulators 1107 and 1108, it is checked whether visualization data is received from two of the control object simulators 1107 and 1108 (S1302). If it is determined in S1302 that two visualization data are received, the two visualization data are compared (S1303). As a result of the comparison processing of S1303, it is checked whether there is a difference between the two visualization data (S1304). If there is no difference in the comparison result in S1304, the process returns to S1301 and waits until new visualization data is received. If there is a difference in the comparison result in S1304, the operation difference occurrence is displayed on the display unit 203 (S1305).
When the operation difference detection function 1118 detects an operation difference, the result display unit 1109 stops the progress of the simulation time of the result display unit 1109. When the result display unit 1109 stops the simulation time, the synchronization unit 104 suspends time synchronization of the verification target simulation group and the comparison target simulation group. As a result, the simulation time of the entire verification apparatus is temporarily stopped, and the simulation can be temporarily stopped at the time when the difference of the operation to be verified occurs.

Hereinafter, the process of the operation difference detection function 1118 will be described by taking a specific example of the present embodiment. Coordinate information of the sheet front end and the sheet rear end is notified from the control object simulators 1107 and 1108 as visualization data. Therefore, in step S1303, the sheet leading end coordinates notified from the control target simulator 407, the sheet trailing end coordinates, and the sheet leading end coordinates notified from the control target simulator 408 are compared with the sheet trailing end coordinates. Specifically, the sheet front end coordinates notified from the control target simulator 407 are (Plx1, Ply1), and the sheet rear end coordinates are (Ptx1, Pty1). The sheet front end coordinates notified from the control object simulator 408 are (Plx2, Ply2), and the sheet rear end coordinates are (Ptx2, Pty2). If Plx1 == Plx2, Ply1 == Ply2, Ptx1 == Ptx2, Pty1 == Pty2 are all satisfied, the control object simulators 1107 and 1108 have the same sheet position, that is, the verification operation is performed in S1304. Judge as no difference. If any one of Plx1 == Plx2, Ply1 == Ply2, Ptx1 == Ptx2, Pty1 == Pty2 is not satisfied, it is determined in S1304 that there is a difference in the verification operation, and the occurrence of the operation difference is displayed on the display unit 203. It displays (S1305).
In this embodiment, although the operation target arrival simulators 1107 and 1108 have the operation origin arrival judgment functions 1114 and 1115 in the configuration, the HUB 103 has the operation origin arrival judgment functions 1114 and 1115. May be In that case, the control object simulators 1107 and 1108 have a function of transmitting to the HUB 103 information that determines the operation of the component that constitutes the control device necessary for the operation start point arrival determination.

  In the present embodiment, the description has been made on the assumption that the component for determining the operation start point is a sheet, but the component for determining the operation start point may be a component other than the sheet. The parts other than the sheet are, for example, rollers, and it may be defined that the pickup roller 303 contacts the sheet S in the cassette 302 before feeding, as the operation starting point. In this case, the operation start point is set with data indicating that the outer periphery of the pickup roller contacts the sheet. Further, the information indicating the state of the part at the time of arrival of the movement start point may be information indicating the movement state of the part itself, and for example, the movement of the sheet S from the stop state to the movement state is defined as the movement start point. In this case, the operation start point arrival judging functions 1114 and 1115 may check that the coordinates of the front end and the rear end of the sheet are different from the sheet arrangement position coordinates at the start of the simulation.

  As described above, since the verification device automatically detects the difference in the verification operation, the software verifier can discover unexpected operation of the software without completely checking the simulation result from start to finish of the simulation execution. It leads to the reduction of the verification time of the wear. In addition, by temporarily stopping simulation execution when detecting a difference in verification operation, it is possible to check the software execution status of the verification target software and the comparison target software at the time of occurrence of a difference in controlled object operation. The man-hours to find out can be reduced.

Consecutive printing of 10 pages is performed by the image forming apparatus, and the sheet conveying operation from the first page to the 10th page is a series of sheet conveying operations for 10 pages, not the transition comparison of the sheet conveyance state for each page. As a verification operation of (1), transition comparison of the sheet conveyance state may be performed. For example, when arrival at a predetermined position on the sheet conveyance path is the verification operation start point, the operation start point arrival determination function determines that the operation start point is reached for each sheet, so 10 pages are compared as a series of sheet conveyance operations. I can not do it.
Therefore, in the third embodiment, a mask is provided to execute the operation start point determination, and the operation start point determination is not performed under predetermined conditions. The following description will focus on the differences from the second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a functional configuration diagram of the verification device in the third embodiment. The difference from the functional configuration diagram of the verification device of the second embodiment is that the action start point arrival judging functions 1414 and 1415 have judgment execution availability state determination units 1416 and 1417.
Judgment enable / disable state determination units 1416 and 1417 determine a state (hereinafter referred to as a judgment execution availability state) as to whether or not to perform the operation start point arrival determination shown in FIG. 6. Judgment enable / disable state determination units 1416 and 1417 have mask information 1418 and 1419, and mask information 1418 and 1419 stores information for defining a condition for performing operation start arrival determination. Determination implementation status determination units 1416 and 1417 switch the determination implementation status according to mask information 1418 and 1419. Here, the judgment execution state determination units 1416 and 1417 correspond to the effect switching means.
The mask information 1418 and 1419 are defined by pairing two information of mask start condition and mask release condition. For example, after the leading edge of the sheet reaches the registration roller 712, the mask information 1418 and 1419 indicate that the operation start point arrival determination is not performed until the sheet does not exist in the conveyance path 710.
Mask start condition: The leading end of the sheet reaches the registration roller 712 Mask release condition: There are 0 sheets on the conveyance path.
The operation start arrival determination functions 1414 and 1415 change whether to execute the process flow of FIG. 6 according to the determination possibility state. If the judgment implementation possibility state is "judgement possible", the process of FIG. 6 is performed, and if the judgment is "impossible to perform", the process of FIG.

  FIG. 15 is a flow of processing of the determination execution state determination unit 1418 and 1419. After the simulation is started, the determination possibility state is set to be determination possible (S1501). Thereafter, it is checked whether the mask start condition is satisfied (S1502), and when the mask start condition is satisfied, the determination implementation possibility state is set to determination impossibility (S1503). After S1503, it is checked whether the mask release condition is satisfied (S1504), and when the mask release condition is satisfied, the process returns to S1501 to set the determination possibility state to determination possible, and subsequently the process of S1502 is continued. When checking the establishment of the mask start condition or the mask release condition in the processes of S1502 and S1504, the mask information 1418 and 1419 is referred to.

  When continuous printing of 10 pages is performed by the image forming apparatus, and the sheet conveyance operation from the first page to the 10th page is compared and verified as a series of verification operations, the verification apparatus operates as follows. Here, when making a transition comparison of the sheet conveyance state, it is assumed that the mask information 1418 and 1419 is the above-mentioned example, and the arrival at the operation start point is the arrival of the leading end of the sheet to the registration roller 712 like the mask start condition Do. As a result of the simulation, in the control object simulators 1407 and 1408, the first sheet is fed from the sheet feeding cassette and reaches the registration roller 712. Then, the operation start point arrival determination functions 1414 and 1415 determine that the operation start point is reached and the mask start condition is satisfied (S1502), and makes the determination possibility state impossible (S1503). Thereafter, simulation execution proceeds, and the second sheet is fed from the sheet feeding cassette in the control object simulators 1407 and 1408. However, even if the fed second sheet reaches the registration roller 712, the judgment implementation status can not be judged and execution of the operation start arrival judgment is invalid, so it is not judged to be the operation start arrival. . Therefore, since the synchronization means 104 does not synchronize the operation start point, it is possible to compare the sheet conveyance state transition of the first sheet and the second sheet as one sheet conveyance operation. Similar to the second sheet, the third to tenth sheets are also fed from the sheet feeding cassette, passed over the conveyance path 710, and discharged onto the sheet discharge tray 729. When the tenth sheet is discharged, the determination implementation status determination units 1416 and 1417 determine that the mask release condition is satisfied based on the absence of the sheets existing on the conveyance path 710 (S1504), and the determination implementation status Is determined to be executable (S1501). As described above, by making execution of the operation start point arrival determination valid again, software verification can be continuously performed.

As described above, by providing a mask for performing the determination of arrival of the operation start point of the verification operation of the control software, it is possible to compare a series of operations of the control objects of the software as described in this embodiment. This enables verification of various operations of the software control object, and as a result, the range of software verifiable operations can be expanded.

101 ... verification target CPU simulator, 102 ... comparison control simulation means, 104 ... synchronization means, 106 ... operation starting point synchronization function, 107 ... control object simulator, 108 ... control object simulator, 109 ... result display means, 111 ... verification Target software, 112: Simulator group information, 114: Operation start arrival determination function, 115: Operation start arrival determination function

Claims (17)

A CPU simulator that simulates the operation of a target CPU on which the software to be verified is executed;
A first controlled object simulator that analyzes a change in the movement of the controlled object controlled by the verification target software and generates first visualization data that visualizes the movement of the controlled object;
A comparison control simulator that simulates the control function of the comparison object to be compared with the control by the verification object software;
A second controlled object simulator that analyzes a change in the movement of the controlled object based on a control function simulated by the comparison control simulator and generates second visualization data that visualizes the movement of the controlled object When,
Based on the first visualization data and the second visualization data, the operation of the controlled object controlled by the verification target software and the control function simulated by the comparison control simulator Result display means for displaying the operation of the control object in an overlapping manner;
When the CPU simulator and the first controlled object simulator are set as a first simulation group, and the comparison control simulator and the second controlled object simulator are set as a second simulation group, the simulation of each simulation group is performed. Arrival determination means for determining whether or not the simulation execution in the simulation group has reached an operation starting point which is a starting point in the operation of the controlled object from the result;
Synchronization means for performing time synchronization among a plurality of the simulators;
Equipped with
The synchronization means is configured to perform time synchronization between the first and second simulation groups when it is determined that both the first and second simulation groups have reached the operation start point. A software verification apparatus characterized by comprising synchronization changing means for changing a method of synchronization.   The synchronization means performs time synchronization within each group until it is determined that the simulation in each simulation group has reached the operation start point, and both of the first and second simulation groups reach the operation start point 2. The software according to claim 1, wherein said synchronization changing means performs time synchronization with the simulators constituting said first and said second simulation group and said result display means when it is judged that Verification device.   The comparison control simulator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the comparison control simulator is a comparison target CPU simulator that simulates the operation of a target CPU on which comparison target software to be compared with the verification target software is executed. Software verification device.   The said arrival judging means defines the said operation | movement starting point by the control information which the said software for verification handles, or the control information which the control function of comparison object handles. Software verification device.   The software verification device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the arrival determination means determines the operation starting point according to an operation or a state of the control object.   The CPU simulator or the comparison control simulator has the reaching determination means, and the reaching determination means notifies the synchronization changing means of information indicating that the movement starting point has been reached. The software verification device according to any one of to 3.   The first controlled object simulator or the second controlled object simulator has the reach determining means, and the reach determining means notifies the synchronization changing means of information indicating that the movement starting point has been reached. The software verification device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:   The synchronization means has the arrival determination means, and determines whether or not the movement start point has been reached by a change in information defining the movement start point notified from the outside of the synchronization means. The software verification device according to any one of Items 1 to 5.   The software verification device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the arrival judging means has a validity switching means for switching between valid and invalid of judgment as to whether or not the movement starting point is reached. .   The effectiveness switching means determines whether the operation starting point has been reached valid or invalid according to whether the control information of the software to be verified or the control information handled by the control function to be compared satisfies a predetermined condition. The software verification device according to claim 9, characterized by switching.   The effectiveness switching means switches between valid and invalid of the determination as to whether or not the operation starting point has been reached based on whether the information for determining the operation or state of the control object satisfies a predetermined condition. The software verification device according to claim 9.   The said result display means detects the difference of the operation | movement of the said control object which is a result of simulation of the said, 1st and 2nd simulation group, It is characterized by the above-mentioned. Software verification device. The result display means notifies the synchronization means of information indicating that a difference in operation of the controlled object of the first and second simulation groups is detected.
After detecting the difference in the operation of the controlled object of the first and second simulation groups, the synchronization means synchronizes the time synchronization of each of the simulators constituting the first and second simulation groups. The software verification device according to claim 12, wherein the software verification is suspended. The synchronization means includes a plurality of synchronization modules for performing time synchronization among a plurality of simulators constituting one simulation group,
The synchronization changing means is
One of the synchronization modules performs time synchronization within one simulation group until it is determined that both the first and second simulation groups have reached the operation start point,
After it is determined that both the first and second simulation groups have reached the operation starting point, time synchronization is performed so that time synchronization of the first and second simulation groups is performed in any of the synchronization modules. The software verification device according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the method is switched. The synchronization means includes: a plurality of synchronization modules performing time synchronization among a plurality of simulators constituting one simulation group; and a general synchronization module performing time synchronization among the synchronization modules,
The synchronization changing means is
The synchronization module performs time synchronization in each group until it is determined that both the first and second simulation groups have reached the operation start point,
After it is determined that both the first and second simulation groups have reached the operation start point, time synchronization is performed so that time synchronization is performed between the first and second simulation groups in the general synchronization module. The software verification device according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the method is switched. The synchronization module has a function of instructing a simulator to be subjected to time synchronization to execute processing for a predetermined time period,
When the CPU simulator, the comparison control simulator, the first and second controlled object simulators, and the result display unit finish processing for a predetermined time received from the synchronization module, they execute the synchronization module. Has a function to notify the end,
The synchronization changing unit suspends an instruction to execute simulation of a group which has reached the operation start point, after one of the first and second simulation groups has reached the operation start point, and When any of the second simulation group reaches the operation starting point, the CPU simulator, the comparison control simulator, the first and second controlled object simulators, and the result display means execute simulation The software verification device according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the instruction is made.   A program causing a computer to function as the software verification device according to any one of claims 1 to 16.

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