JP2001320397A - Network system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network system, in which restoring measures can be taken by another normal terminal with a comparatively simple constitution, even when there is occurrence of failure in one of a plurality of terminals connected to a network bus. SOLUTION: When a terminal connected to a 1394 bus 10 or a bus 11 for a LAN no longer performs a normal answering operation, a home router 1 transmits a reset signal to the terminal, which does not perform the normal answering operation through an auxiliary line by radio communications. The fact that the router 1 itself no longer performs a normal answering operation is detected by another terminal and the reset signal transmitted from the terminal is supplied to the router 1 via the auxiliary line to reset a microprocessor 28 for performing total control of the router 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network system in which a plurality of terminals are connected to a network bus, and more particularly to a network system in which a failure occurs in any of the terminals connected to the network bus. Regarding network systems.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a network system has been developed in which home electric appliances and information devices in a home are connected to a network bus to control the entire system, and an IE with a higher transfer speed has been developed.
As transmission lines such as a network bus (hereinafter simply referred to as "1394 bus") conforming to the EE1394 standard have been put into practical use, it has become possible to receive / transmit audio and video as well as to control devices in homes.

[0003] Such transmission standards include a LAN (Local Area Network) centered on a computer, a home bus, and the like.
(EIAJ ET-2102), 1394 bus, and the like. Generally, a plurality of types of network buses may be mixed and used in a house as shown in JP-A-10-178438.

[0004]

The above-mentioned network system is important for its reliability even though it is used in a home. However, since a heterogeneous bus is mixed and a large number of devices are connected, a network system is required. Ensuring overall reliability is not easy. For this reason, in addition to increasing the reliability of individual devices, there is known a method of performing distributed processing as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-88865 so that a failure in one location does not lead to an overall function stop. However, a network system that has been sufficiently considered in terms of recovery from a failure has not yet been proposed.

The present invention has been made in view of this point. Even when a failure occurs in any of a plurality of terminals connected to a network bus, the present invention can be performed by another normal terminal with a relatively simple configuration. An object of the present invention is to provide a network system capable of taking a recovery measure.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in a network system in which a plurality of terminals are connected to a network bus, the plurality of terminals are connected separately from the network bus. An auxiliary line for connecting the terminals to each other, wherein each of the plurality of terminals includes a control unit that performs overall control of the terminal, and a response monitor that monitors a response operation of another terminal connected to the network bus. A reset signal transmitting unit for transmitting a reset signal to the terminal via the auxiliary line when the response monitoring unit detects that there is another terminal that does not perform a normal response operation; A reset processing unit that resets the control unit when a reset signal is received via the auxiliary line.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the network system according to the first aspect, the network bus includes a plurality of types of buses having different standards, and one of the plurality of terminals is connected to the plurality of terminals. Routers connected to all of the buses of the same type, and even if the router transmits a reset signal by the reset signal transmitting unit, another terminal that does not perform the normal response operation still does not perform a normal response operation. The router may perform another normal operation that does not perform the normal response operation to another terminal connected to the bus via a different type of bus from a bus to which the other terminal that does not perform the normal response operation is connected. The terminal is instructed to transmit a reset signal.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a home network system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This system is a home router 1 connected to the Internet.
, A digital broadcasting receiver 2 to which a satellite broadcasting antenna 8, a terrestrial antenna 9 and a TV monitor 3 are connected, a telephone 4, and an audio device 5 are mutually connected by a 1394 bus 10, and a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer). A “personal computer” 6, a printer 7, and a home router 1 are connected to a LAN bus (for example, Ethernet (registered trademark)).
Bus 11). In other words, this system uses the 1394 bus 10 and LAN
A home router 1, a digital broadcast receiver 2, a personal computer 6, and the like are connected by two types of network buses, such as a business bus 11, and the home router 1, the digital broadcast receiver 2, and the personal computer 6 are connected to the bus. Terminal.

The in-home router 1 and the terminals 2 and 4 to 7 include many failure factors such as failure to start due to a power failure, runaway due to noise, and the like, and once these occur, even if other devices are normal. It is difficult to take effective recovery measures from other devices, and there is no other way but to recover by manual reset. Therefore, even if the entire network is not damaged, the operating rate of the network is reduced. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the home router 1 and the terminal on the network (the digital broadcast receiver 2, the telephone 4, the audio equipment 5, the personal computer 6, and the printer 7 in the present embodiment).
The home router 1 and the terminal (in this embodiment, the digital broadcast receiver 2, telephone 4, audio equipment 5, personal computer 6, printer 7) ), An auxiliary line by wireless communication different from the network buses 10 and 11 is provided.

FIG. 2 shows a digital broadcast receiver 2 connected to a 1394 bus and a LAN bus 1 as typical examples of a home router 1 and terminals connected to two types of buses.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a personal computer 6 connected to the PC 1. The in-home router 1 is connected to the interface unit 24 connected to the Internet, a 1394 controller 25 connected to the 1394 bus 10 for controlling data transmission via the 1394 bus 10, and connected to the LAN bus 11, Power to the LAN controller 26 for controlling data transmission via the LAN 11, the antenna 21, the wireless communication unit 22, and the wireless communication unit 22 for performing data communication via a wireless auxiliary line with another terminal. And a battery 23 to be supplied.

The digital broadcast receiver 2 includes an antenna 31 for performing data communication via an auxiliary line, a wireless communication unit 32, and a battery 33 for supplying power to the wireless communication unit 32.
And a 1394 controller 3 connected to the 1394 bus 10 and controlling data transmission through the 1394 bus 10
4 is provided. Similarly, the personal computer 6 is connected to the antenna 41 for performing data communication via the auxiliary line, the wireless communication unit 42, the battery 43 for supplying power to the wireless communication unit 42, and the LAN bus 11, and A LAN controller 44 for controlling data transmission via the bus 11.

Communication by the wireless communication unit of each terminal (here, router 1, digital broadcast receiver 2, personal computer 6)
It is capable of exchanging very simple data such as designation of a communication partner terminal and ON / OFF, and has a simple configuration, is inexpensive, and has low power consumption. The power of the wireless communication unit is supplied from the battery in order to avoid the influence of fluctuations in the power supply in the terminal.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the in-home router 1 in more detail. The router 1 includes a microprocessor 28 for performing overall control of the router 1, and a reset process for resetting the microprocessor 28. Part 27
And a power supply unit 29 for converting an AC 100 V to a DC voltage and supplying it to a microprocessor 28, a 1394 controller 26, and the like. The wireless communication unit 22 includes a wireless transceiver 5 for modulating and demodulating a carrier wave, transmitting and receiving a carrier wave, and the like.
1 and a wireless interface unit 52 that relays a transmission signal input from the microprocessor 28 to the wireless transceiver 51 and supplies a reception signal input from the wireless transceiver 51 to the reset processing unit 27.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the microprocessor 28.
Are a bus controller 64 connected to the 1394 controller 25, a bus controller 65 connected to the LAN controller 26, and a bus controller 6
A response for monitoring the communication response operation of other terminals connected to the 1394 bus 10 and the LAN bus 11 via the terminals 4, 65, and issuing a command to transmit a reset signal to the terminal that does not normally respond. A monitoring unit 61, a wireless reset interface unit 62 that outputs a wireless reset signal to the wireless communication unit 22 in response to a reset signal transmission command from the response monitoring unit 61, and a microprocessor reset signal input from the reset processing unit 27. Microprocessor 28
And a reset unit 63 for resetting the data.

Although not shown, the other terminals constituting the network system shown in FIG. 1, such as the digital broadcast receiver 2 and the personal computer 6, are also provided with blocks having the same functions. However, the terminal connected to the 1394 bus 10 has only a function of monitoring the response operation of another terminal connected to the 1394 bus 10, and monitors the response operation of the terminal connected to the LAN bus 11. It is not possible. Similarly, the terminal connected to the LAN bus 11 has only a function of monitoring the response operation of another terminal connected to the LAN bus 11, and the terminal connected to the LAN bus 11 Can not be monitored.
That is, only the home router 1 has a function of monitoring response operations of all terminals connected to the two buses.

The response monitoring unit 61 of the home router 1 instructs a terminal on each bus to send a reset signal to a terminal that does not perform a normal response operation when the terminal does not perform a normal response operation for some reason. Then, a reset signal is transmitted from the wireless communication unit 22 to the terminal via the auxiliary line. For example, assuming that the terminal is the digital broadcast receiver 2, the radio communication unit 32 of the digital broadcast receiver 2 receives the reset signal, and the reset signal received in this manner causes the digital broadcast receiver 2 to receive the reset signal. A microprocessor (control unit) that performs overall control is reset. This makes it possible to return the digital broadcast receiver 2 to normal operation in most cases.

On the other hand, the fact that the home router 1 itself does not normally respond is detected by the response monitoring unit of another terminal, and the reset signal transmitted from that terminal is reset via the wireless communication unit 22. The data is supplied to the processing unit 27, and the microprocessor 28 is reset. Thus, in most cases, the router 1 can be returned to the normal operation.

In FIG. 2, when a terminal on one of the buses fails and cannot respond, the router 1 transmits a reset signal from the wireless communication unit 22 to the terminal to perform recovery. It is carried out. Since each terminal has a function of monitoring each other, even if the router 1 does not respond, the terminal transmits a reset signal to the router 1 to recover the router 1. That is, the terminals on the same bus can reset each other via the auxiliary line by wireless communication, and are in an equal position.

FIG. 5 shows a case where the distance between the router 1 and the digital broadcast receiver 2 is large.
In this case, wireless communication cannot be performed between the digital broadcast receiver 2 and the digital broadcast receiver 2 via the auxiliary line, but wireless communication can be performed between the digital broadcast receiver 2 and the personal computer 6 via the auxiliary line. In this case, even if the router 1 detects that the digital broadcast receiver 2 does not respond normally and transmits a reset signal, the digital broadcast receiver 2 is not actually reset. If the operation of the destination terminal does not return to normal even after sending the reset signal,
The router 1 sends the digital broadcast receiver 2 to the personal computer 6 connected to the LAN bus 11 instead of the 1394 bus 10 to which the digital broadcast receiver 2 is connected.
To send a reset signal to the LAN bus 1
Command via 1. The personal computer 6 receives this and transmits a reset signal to the digital broadcast receiver 2 via the auxiliary line. Thus, the digital broadcast receiver 2 can be reset.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by adding an auxiliary line by wireless communication only for transmitting a very simple command, it is possible to reset the inside of the terminal which is impossible on the bus. The possibility of terminal failure recovery can be increased. The wireless communication units 22, 32, 42
For example, a simple device can be used, so a simple and inexpensive device can be used, and a device with low power consumption can be used. As a result, by adding an auxiliary device such as a battery and constantly operating the device, high reliability can be provided without receiving noise from the power supply environment inside the terminal or the bus.

Further, in the case of a router that controls different types of buses collectively, even if there is a failure in one of the buses, resetting can be simultaneously performed from the other bus through an auxiliary line. Therefore, control can be performed by effectively using different types of buses. As a result, it is possible to reduce the cost and power consumption of the entire terminal, increase the possibility of recovery of a terminal that has failed due to a highly reliable wireless device, and improve the operation rate of the entire network it can.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the reset signal is transmitted via the auxiliary line by wireless communication. However, an activation interrupt signal may be transmitted.

The operating rate of each terminal is usually low, and the terminal is in a standby state with low power consumption most of the time. However, only the bus controller is operating normally, and other devices are connected via the bus. In general, the bus controller activates the microprocessor in response to the transmitted activation signal. However, the controllers of each bus generally perform complicated operations and consume high power. Therefore, if an interrupt signal for starting is transmitted by an auxiliary line using simple and inexpensive wireless communication, the operation of the bus controller can be stopped, and the power consumption can be further reduced.

In the above-described embodiment, the auxiliary line is based on wireless communication, but may be based on wired communication. The types of buses used in the network system are not limited to two, but may be three or more.

[0025]

As described in detail above, the network system of the present invention includes an auxiliary line for connecting a plurality of terminals to each other separately from a network bus, and each of the plurality of terminals controls the overall control of the terminal. And a response monitoring unit that monitors the response operation of another terminal connected to the network bus, and when the response monitoring unit detects that there is another terminal that does not perform a normal response operation. A reset signal transmitting unit that transmits a reset signal to the terminal via the auxiliary line, and a reset processing unit that resets the control unit when a reset signal is received via the auxiliary line. . Therefore, a terminal that does not normally respond to communication via the network bus,
Since reset is performed by a reset signal transmitted from another normal terminal via the auxiliary line, a terminal that cannot respond normally can be restored without manual reset or the like. As a result, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the operating rate of the entire system is reduced from continuing for a long period of time due to the occurrence of a failure in one terminal constituting the network system, and to improve the operating rate of the entire system. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a home network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a part of the system of FIG. 1 in more detail;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the home router of FIG. 2 in more detail.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the microprocessor shown in FIG. 3 in more detail;

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a coping method when an auxiliary line does not function sufficiently;

[Description of Signs] 1 Home Router (Terminal) 2 Digital Broadcast Receiver (Terminal) 4 Telephone (Terminal) 5 Audio Equipment (Terminal) 6 Personal Computer (Terminal) 7 Printer (Terminal) 10 1394 Bus (Network Bus) 11 LAN Bus (network bus) 22, 32, 42 Wireless communication unit (auxiliary line, reset signal transmission unit) 27 Reset processing unit 28 Microprocessor (control unit, reset signal transmission unit) 61 Response monitoring unit

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Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A network system in which a plurality of terminals are connected to a network bus, comprising: an auxiliary line for connecting the plurality of terminals to each other separately from the network bus; There is a control unit that performs overall control of the terminal, a response monitoring unit that monitors a response operation of another terminal connected to the network bus, and another terminal that does not perform a normal response operation by the response monitoring unit. When it is detected, a reset signal transmitting unit for transmitting a reset signal to the terminal via the auxiliary line, and when receiving a reset signal via the auxiliary line, reset the control unit. A network system, comprising: a reset processing unit. 2. The network bus includes a plurality of types of buses having different standards, and one of the plurality of terminals is a router connected to all of the plurality of types of buses. Even if the reset signal is transmitted by the reset signal transmitting unit, if the other terminal that does not perform the normal response operation still does not perform the normal response operation, the router connects to the other terminal that does not perform the normal response operation. And instructing another terminal connected to the bus to transmit a reset signal to another terminal that does not perform the normal response operation via a bus of a different type from the bus being performed. The network system according to claim 1.