JP2009140110A - Communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the time needed for updating programs of a plurality of road terminal equipment remotely from a traffic control center. <P>SOLUTION: As for each of a plurality of road terminal equipment whose program is to be updated, a communication section as a bottle neck is searched, and road terminal equipment including the same bottle neck communication sections are grouped. Then, one representative road terminal equipment is selected from each group, and a program for update is transmitted to the representative terminal equipment, and the representative road terminal equipment is instructed to transmit a program for update to other road terminal equipment in the same group. Thus, the number of times is reduced that the program for update passes through the bottle neck communication section, and a program update operation is completed in a short period of time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a system for remotely updating a program of a device connected to a network, and more particularly to a traffic control system capable of remotely updating a program of a road terminal device installed on a road from a traffic control center. .

In a traffic control system, a communication line between a central device installed in a traffic control center and a road terminal device such as a traffic signal controller or an optical beacon installed on a road is a digital line with a communication speed of 64 Kbps. One of the 9.6 Kbps analog lines is used.
There are cases where digital lines are laid, but in most cases analog lines are used. This is because the analog line has the advantage that the line cost is very low compared to the digital line.

In recent years, a network system using an Internet protocol (hereinafter referred to as IP) as a network layer (third layer) of a so-called OSI reference model has become widespread as a communication procedure between a central apparatus and a road terminal apparatus ( Patent Document 1).
When adopting a network using IP, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, a terminal router is installed on the road and a single communication line (aggregation line) is laid between the central device and a nearby traffic signal. By connecting road terminal devices such as controllers and optical beacons under the terminal router, it is possible to share one communication line for communication for a plurality of road terminal devices.

In other words, with the introduction of the IP network, the total number of communication lines can be reduced and the communication cost of the entire system can be reduced.
Note that since communication between the terminal router and the traffic signal controller is a short distance, it is common to use a 64 Kbps serial communication line. This serial communication line does not use a communication network operated by a telecommunications company, but the operation manager of the traffic control system is operated by connecting the devices directly with a communication cable. There is no need to pay for communication in this segment.

Japanese Patent No. 3456170

  In a traffic control system, when a program for a road terminal device is to be updated, a worker is generally dispatched to an intersection where the road terminal device is installed, and the program is downloaded via the maintenance interface of the road terminal device. If the number of road terminal devices is large or work on the road is difficult, such as in a snowy country in winter, the program is downloaded remotely from the traffic control center to the road terminal device. Often use functions.

When the program is downloaded from a remote location via a communication network in this way, if the size of the downloaded program is large, it takes a considerable time from the start of the download to the completion. In particular, in the traffic control system, an analog communication line with a low communication speed is often used between the central device and the road terminal device, so that a very long time is required for the download operation.
For example, if the program size is about 1 megabyte and an analog line (usually 9.6 Kbps) is used, even if the communication efficiency is close to 100%, it takes about 15 minutes at the minimum. .

That is, in the system configuration as shown in FIG. 1, if the program is downloaded in order for each of the two traffic signal controllers and the three optical beacons, the total work takes a long time of one hour or more. there were.
Also, the download time is limited because the communication data communication band exchanged between the central unit and the roadside terminal device during system operation is limited and a delay occurs in the communication data. Increasing the time has a considerable impact on system operation.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a system capable of efficiently updating a program of a road terminal device from a remote place such as a traffic control center.

  The communication system according to the first aspect of the present invention is a communication network in which a plurality of first road terminal devices that are programs to be updated and a second road terminal device of a different type from the first road terminal device are connected. It is comprised so that the program of several said 1st road terminal apparatus can be updated from the center apparatus connected to the said network, The said center apparatus is the program data for update, and said 1st road terminal apparatus And storage means for storing group information obtained by grouping the second road terminal devices, wherein the group information is identical to the road terminal devices having the same bottleneck communication section on the communication path to each road terminal device. Grouped to be distributed to groups, and selected group representative devices for each group And the center device transmits the update program to one or a plurality of the group representative devices, and the group representative device that has received the update program receives another update of the group to which the group representative device belongs. The update program is configured to be transmitted to a one-way terminal device (claim 1).

According to the first invention, a plurality of road terminal devices having the same bottleneck communication section are grouped, and the update program is transmitted only to one road terminal device in the group. The number of times that the program for use passes through the communication line that becomes a bottleneck can be made the necessary limit, and the influence on the system operation due to the transmission of the update program can be reduced.
In addition, the program update can be completed in a shorter time by setting the required number of times that the update program passes through the bottleneck communication line.

  Further, the communication system according to the second invention is a communication network in which a plurality of road terminal devices to be updated are connected, and a program for the plurality of road terminal devices is transmitted from a center device connected to the network. The center device includes storage means for storing update program data and group information obtained by grouping the road terminal devices, and the group information is stored on each road device. Grouping road terminal devices that share the same bottleneck communication section on the communication path to the terminal device so as to be arranged in the same group, and selecting a representative group representative road terminal device for each group, The center device uses the update program as one or a plurality of the group representatives. After transmitting to the upper terminal device, the group representative road terminal device that has received the update program transmits the update program to other road terminal devices in the group to which the group representative road terminal device belongs. (Claim 2).

According to the second invention, similarly to the first invention, the number of times the update program passes through the communication line that becomes a bottleneck can be set to the necessary limit. The influence can be reduced.
Further, by setting the number of times that the update program passes through the communication line as a bottleneck as a necessary limit, the program update can be completed in a shorter time.

  Further, a communication system according to a third aspect of the present invention is a communication network in which a plurality of road terminal devices to be updated are connected, and a program for the plurality of road terminal devices is transmitted from a center device connected to the network. The center device is configured to be able to be updated, and the center device stores storage program data for updating and a network configuration of the communication network, and each road terminal device based on the stored network configuration A bottleneck communication section specifying means for obtaining a bottleneck communication section on a communication path to the road terminal apparatus grouping means for grouping road terminal apparatuses having a common bottleneck communication section into one or a plurality of groups, and Representing the top of each road for one or more groups A group representative road terminal device selecting means for selecting a device, and the center device receives the update program after transmitting the update program to one or a plurality of the group representative road terminal devices. The group representative road terminal device is configured to transmit the update program to other road terminal devices of a group to which the group representative road terminal device belongs.

According to the third invention, similarly to the first or second invention, the number of times the update program passes through the communication line that becomes a bottleneck can be set to a necessary limit. It is possible to reduce the impact on operations.
Further, by setting the number of times that the update program passes through the communication line as a bottleneck as a necessary limit, the program update can be completed in a shorter time.

  Further, a communication system according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is a communication network in which a plurality of roadside terminal devices to be updated are connected to a plurality of roadside terminal device programs from a center device connected to the network. The communication system includes one or more terminal routers, and a plurality of road terminal devices are directly connected to the terminal routers. The center device communicates with the center device via a terminal router, the center device has storage means for storing update program data, and the center device stores the update program in one or more of the terminals. After transmitting to the router, the terminal router is connected to multiple roadside terminal devices directly connected to the terminal router. It is configured to transmit the update program (claim 4).

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a terminal router that aggregates and connects a plurality of road terminal devices is utilized, and once the update program is transmitted from the center device to the terminal router, the update program is Since the terminal router transmits to a plurality of road terminal devices, the number of times that the update program passes through the communication line (aggregated line) from the center device to the terminal router can be made a necessary limit.
By doing so, it is possible to shorten the program update work time required to complete the transmission of the update program to all road terminal devices, and to reduce the influence of the program update work on the operation of the system. Will be able to.
Since an aggregated line in a communication network of a general traffic control system has a communication speed lower than that of a communication section from a terminal router to a plurality of road terminal devices, the effect of shortening the program update work time according to the present invention is very large.

  Further, a communication system according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is a communication network in which a plurality of roadside terminal devices to be updated are connected to a plurality of roadside terminal device programs from a center device connected to the network. The communication system includes a plurality of terminal routers, and a plurality of road terminal devices are directly connected to the first terminal router among the terminal routers. A roadside terminal device communicates with the center device via the first terminal router, and a second terminal router is directly connected to the first terminal router. A plurality of road terminal devices are directly connected, and the road terminal device directly connected to the second terminal router includes the second terminal router and the first terminal router. Therefore, the center device has storage means for storing update program data, and the center device sends the update program to the first terminal router. The first terminal router transmits the update program to the second terminal router, and the first and second terminal routers send the received update program to the second terminal router. It is configured to transmit to a road terminal device directly connected to the terminal router.

In the communication system according to the fifth invention, a so-called cascade connection is made in which another terminal router is connected under the terminal router. In the case of such a communication system, as in the third invention, Utilizing a terminal router that aggregates and connects a plurality of road terminal devices, and once the update program is transmitted from the center device to the terminal router, the terminal router sends the update program to the plurality of road terminal devices. Since the transmission is performed, the number of times that the update program passes through the communication line (aggregated line) from the center device to the terminal router can be set as a necessary limit.
In the case of cascade connection, the first terminal router near the center device side first receives the update program, and transmits the update program to the second terminal router cascaded to the first terminal router. Thus, it is possible to reduce the program update work time required to complete the transmission of the update program to all road terminal devices, and the influence of the program update work on the system operation can be reduced.
The aggregated line in the communication network of a general traffic control system has a lower communication speed than the communication section from the first terminal router to the second terminal router and the communication section from each terminal router to a plurality of road terminal devices. The effect of shortening the program update work time according to the present invention is very large.

  As described above, according to the traffic system of the present invention, when updating a program of a plurality of road terminal devices from the central device, the number of times that the program data passes through a communication line that becomes a bottleneck may be a necessary limit. Therefore, the influence on the operation of the system can be reduced.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of the equipment arrangement of the traffic system according to the present invention. The signal control device 1, the information providing device 2, the central router 3, and the roadside installed in the traffic control center. Traffic light controllers 5A, 5B,..., Optical beacons 6A, 6B installed on the road, and terminal IP routers 4A, 4B, 4C.

[Overall system configuration]
A plurality of traffic signal controllers and optical beacons are installed at roadside intersections, etc., each of which has a unique IP address and is connected to the signal control device 1 installed at the traffic control center. Communication by IP is performed.

Signal control command information for instructing a control method in one cycle is normally transmitted for each cycle from the signal control device 1 to the traffic signal controllers 5A, 5B,. A one-cycle signal control plan is created according to the signal control command information, and the signal lamp is controlled according to the signal control plan.
Each traffic signal controller transmits execution history information, operation state information, and the like to the signal control device 1 as needed. The signal control device 1 transmits each traffic based on the execution history information and operation state information. It monitors whether the signal controller is operating correctly.

Further, optical beacons 6A, 6B,... Are installed on the road, and have a function of performing road-to-vehicle communication with an in-vehicle device (not shown) mounted on a vehicle traveling on the road.
These optical beacons have a function of transmitting traffic information and travel time information according to uplink information transmitted from the in-vehicle device.
In the uplink information, a vehicle ID normally assigned to each individual vehicle is stored.

These optical beacons 6A, 6B,... Communicate with the information providing apparatus 2 installed in the traffic control center via the communication line, and immediately receive the uplink information including the received vehicle ID. Send to.
In addition, the latest information on traffic congestion and information on travel time can be periodically received from the information providing apparatus 2 and stored in a memory or the like. Then, the stored traffic information and the like are transmitted to the in-vehicle device.

When the road terminal devices such as traffic signal controllers and the traffic control center are connected by a communication line, a terminal router 4A or the like is installed on the road side to aggregate the adjacent road terminal devices, and one communication line The advantage of connecting to the traffic control center is that the communication cost can be reduced.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, a configuration is often adopted in which terminal routers 4A to 4C are installed and a plurality of traffic signal controllers and the like are aggregated and connected to a traffic control center.
Since the terminal router may be cascade-connected (a method of connecting another terminal router under the terminal router), it is possible to further connect the terminal router 4B under the terminal router 4A as shown in FIG. .

[Program update method until now]
First, a conventional program update method will be described.

  In general, when a road terminal device program is updated remotely via a network, a maintenance computer 7 is connected to the network on the traffic control center side, and the IP address of the road terminal device to be updated is designated from the maintenance computer 7. The program is transmitted using a communication procedure such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol). In this case, the maintenance computer 7 may be connected as an independent device only at the time of program update, or a program update function may be provided in a central device such as the signal control device 1 or the information providing device 2. .

  When the program is transmitted using FTP or the like, the program update process can be executed one by one, or the program update process of a plurality of road terminal devices can be executed simultaneously in parallel. However, even if the update process is executed simultaneously, the communication capacity of the communication line is not used for a plurality of road terminal devices (for example, traffic signal controllers 5A and 5B) connected to the traffic control center through the same communication line. Is shared by the plurality of program update processes, it takes almost the same time as when the program update process is executed one by one.

  Thus, in the method of transmitting a program from the traffic control center to each road terminal device, the program update could not be completed efficiently.

[Program Update Method in the Present Invention]
Therefore, in the present invention, the program update process is executed in the following procedure.
Here, it is assumed that the communication lines 1 to 3 are all analog lines (usually 9.6 Kbps), and the central router 3 and each device of the traffic control center are connected by a 100 Mbps LAN, and the communication time between them is as follows. It should be small enough to be ignored. Further, the communication speed between the terminal router 4A and the like and each road terminal device is assumed to be 64 Kbps.

[Program update method for optical beacons]
First, the case where the program update process of the optical beacons 6A to 6E is executed will be described.
The maintenance computer 7 stores information related to the network configuration in FIG. 2 in advance.
Here, the information on the network configuration means information such as the IP address of each interface of all terminal devices connected to the communication network and the communication speed in each communication section on the network, and the maintenance computer 7 is connected to the network. It is the information that can know the details of the connection configuration to each road terminal device.

When program data is transmitted to each optical beacon, it is determined where the most time-consuming section (bottleneck communication section) is required among the communication sections that pass at the time of transmission.
For example, in the case of the optical beacon 6A, the distance between the maintenance computer 7 and the central router 3 is 100 Mbps, the distance between the central router 3 and the terminal router 4A is 9.6 Kbps, and the distance between the terminal router 4A and the optical beacon 6A is 64 Kbps. It can be seen that the bottleneck communication section is between the central router 3 and the terminal router 4A.

Similarly, the bottleneck communication section is obtained for the other optical beacons 6B to 6E.
As a result, it is understood that the bottleneck communication section in the program update process of the optical beacons 6A to 6E is the section of the communication line 1 and the communication line 3.
In order to finish the program update process efficiently, the number of times that the program data passes through the bottleneck communication section may be reduced.
Therefore, road terminal devices sharing each bottleneck communication section are grouped. In this network configuration, the optical beacons 6A to 6C in which the communication line 1 is a bottleneck section can be grouped as a first group, and the optical beacons 6D and 6E in which the communication line 3 is a bottleneck section can be grouped as a second group. .

And about each group, program data is first transmitted from the traffic control center side only with respect to one optical beacon. In this case, the program data is simultaneously transmitted from the maintenance computer 7 only to the first group of optical beacons 6A and the second group of optical beacons 6D. The optical beacon selected here is called a group representative optical beacon.
When the transmission of the program data to these two optical beacons is completed, next, the instruction information for instructing the transmission of the program data to the other optical beacons of the same group is given to the two group representative optical beacons. Send.

  For the optical beacon 6A, it instructs the optical beacons 6B and 6C to transmit the program data received from the maintenance computer 7. This instruction information stores information (such as an IP address) for specifying a partner apparatus to which program data is to be transmitted. Similarly, the optical beacon 6D is instructed to transmit program data to the optical beacon 6E.

  The selection of the group representative road terminal device may be a method of simply selecting the road terminal device having the smallest number among the identification numbers assigned to the road terminal devices of each group, or the operation state and communication of the road terminal device. A method may be used in which after acquiring the status, a device with the most stable communication status or a device with the largest remaining memory capacity is selected.

  The group representative optical beacons 6A and 6D transmit the received program data to the optical beacons 6B, 6C, and 6E according to the instruction information. When the transmission of the program data is completed, update completion notification information including information that can identify the partner apparatus that has completed the transmission of the program data is transmitted to the maintenance computer 7.

  As described above, when the maintenance computer 7 executes the program update process for a plurality of road terminal devices to be updated, first, the road terminal device having a common bottleneck communication section by obtaining each bottleneck communication section. And the program data is transmitted to only one group representative road terminal device selected for each group, and then the program data is transmitted from the group representative road terminal device to other road terminal devices belonging to the same group. By instructing transmission, the total number of times that the program data passes through the bottleneck communication section can be reduced.

When the program data is 1 Mbps, the program update processing of the optical beacons 6A to 6C connected to the subordinate of the communication line 1 will pass through the communication line 1 per optical beacon with the conventional method. Takes about 17 minutes in total for about 2 minutes on the serial communication line (64 Kbps) between the terminal router 4A and the optical beacon, and this was repeated 3 times, so it took about 50 minutes in total.
In this method, first, it takes about 17 minutes to update the program of the optical beacon 6A. Then, in the program update process from the optical beacon 6A to the optical beacon 6B, the program data passes through two serial communication lines for a total of about 4 minutes. Furthermore, the program update process for the optical beacon 6C also takes about 4 minutes. Therefore, the total time required for updating the communication line 1 program is only about 25 minutes, which can be completed in about half of the conventional time.

[Program update method for traffic signal controller]
Next, the case where the program update process of the traffic signal controllers 5A to 5F is executed will be described.
The bottleneck communication section of each traffic signal controller is the communication line 1 for the traffic signal controllers 5A and 5B, the communication line 1 and the communication line 2 for the traffic signal controllers 5C and 5D, and the traffic signal controller 5E and 5F are communication lines 3.
In this case, as in the case of the optical beacon, the traffic signal controllers 5A and 5B having a common bottleneck communication section are the first group, the traffic signal controllers 5C and 5D are the second group, and the traffic signal controller 5E. And 5F is the third group.

First, first and third group program update methods having only one bottleneck communication section are determined.
In the first and third groups, as in the case of the optical beacon, after selecting the traffic signal controllers 5A and 5E as the group representative traffic signal controllers, After transmitting the program data and executing the program update process, the group representative traffic signal controllers 5A and 5C are instructed to transmit the received program data to the traffic signal controllers 5B and 5F.
In the network configuration of FIG. 2, the terminal router 4B is cascade-connected under the terminal router 4A, and the first and second groups have a common bottleneck communication section (communication line 1). For the group, a method of transmitting program data from the traffic signal controller 5A belonging to the first group to one of the second groups (for example, the traffic signal controller 5C) may be used.
That is, after completing the transmission of the program data to the traffic signal controller 5A, the maintenance computer 7 instructs the traffic signal controller 5A to transmit the program data to the traffic signal controller 5C. Then, when the program update process of the traffic signal controller 5C is completed, this time, the traffic signal controller 5C is instructed to transmit the received program data to the traffic signal controller 5D.

In the program transmission process from the traffic signal controller 5A to 5B and 5C, it is more efficient to first execute the transmission process for 5C and then the transmission to 5B.
Compared with the case of transmitting to 5C after transmitting from 5A to 5B, and then transmitting from 5C to 5D, it is better to transmit from 5A to 5B and 5C to 5D at the same time after transmitting from 5A to 5C for the first time. This is because the total time required for program transmission can be shortened.

Conventionally, when the program data is 1 Mbps, if the program data update process is executed simultaneously on the six traffic signal controllers 5A to 5F, the data of 4 Mbps simultaneously flows in the section of the communication line 1, It took about an hour for the program data to finish passing through the section. Thereafter, since the program data for the traffic signal controllers 5C and 5D that have passed through the communication line 1 takes about 30 minutes to pass through the communication section 2, the time required for program update is 1 hour 30 as a result. It was more than a minute.
According to the present invention, the time required for completing the program update of the traffic signal controller 5D lastly is about 17 minutes required for the program update of the traffic signal controller 5A, and the traffic signal controller 5C to be updated next. The total of about 19 minutes required for the program update and about 4 minutes required for the program update of the traffic signal controller 5D to be updated at the end is about 40 minutes, and the program update process is completed in less than half the time compared to the conventional method. It became possible to let you.

In this example, the traffic signal controllers are divided into three groups and the program update for the second group is performed by transmitting program data from the traffic signal controllers of other groups. For each group, first, the program update process for one traffic signal controller selected in each group is performed, and then the program is transmitted from the one traffic signal controller to other traffic signal controllers in the same group. You may do it.
In this case, since the communication line 1 is commonly used in the first group and the third group, first, the program update process for the traffic signal controller 5C of the third group is executed, and the update process is started. What is necessary is just to start the program update process of the traffic signal controller 5A when about minutes have passed. If about 15 minutes have passed, the program data sent to the traffic signal controller 5C should have passed through the communication line 1 and reach the communication line 2, and from this point, the traffic signal controller 5A This is because even if the program update is started, the communication line 1 is not used redundantly.

  Thus, when updating the program from a remote location, the program data is obtained between the roadside terminal devices in order to find the communication section that becomes the bottleneck and minimize the number of times the program data passes through the bottleneck communication section. By sending each other, the time required for program update can be reduced.

  In addition, although the program update method was shown here about the traffic signal controller and the optical beacon, the same method is applicable also when updating the program of terminal router 4A-4C.

(Second Embodiment)
[Program update method using terminal router]
Next, as another embodiment of the program update method, a method of using a terminal router will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the program update of the traffic signal controller will be described.

  First, the maintenance computer 7 selects a terminal router to which a traffic signal controller is connected for all terminal routers in the network configuration stored in advance. Here, since the traffic signal controller is connected to all the terminal routers 4A to 4C, all the terminal routers 4A to 4C are selected.

Next, the traffic signal controller program data is transmitted to each terminal router and temporarily stored. In this case, a method for transmitting the program data to each selected terminal router in the shortest time is determined.
Specifically, after obtaining the bottleneck communication section of each terminal router, the program data passes through the bottleneck communication section in the same manner as the program update method for the traffic signal controller shown in the first embodiment. It decides so that the frequency | count to do becomes the minimum.
In this case, first, after transmitting the program data to the terminal routers 4A and 4C, the terminal router 4A may be instructed to transmit the received program data to the terminal router 4B.

After sending the traffic signal controller program data to all the terminal routers to which the traffic signal controller is connected in such a procedure, the program to the traffic signal controller is transmitted to each terminal router. It is sufficient to instruct transmission.
According to this method, it takes about 15 minutes to transmit 1 Mbps program data to the terminal routers 4A and 4C, and then it takes about 15 minutes to transmit the program data from the terminal routers 4A to 4B. Finally, when each terminal router starts transmitting program data to the traffic signal controllers 5A to 5F all at once, the program update process can be completed in about 32 minutes.
According to this method, the program update process is completed in about 1/3 of the conventional time, which is convenient.

In the embodiment shown here, after the bottleneck communication section is obtained and grouped, the group representative road terminal device that transmits the update program is determined from the center side, but the network configuration is known. If so, a method may be used in which grouping and determination of a group representative road terminal device are performed in advance and the information is stored in the maintenance computer 7 as group information.
In this case, the group information only needs to be held as information in a table to which a group number is assigned for each road terminal device, and flag information indicating group representative is further assigned to the group representative road terminal device.
In addition, after grouping is performed in advance and the state of the roadside terminal device of each group is acquired at the stage of executing the program update, for example, there is room in the device and memory capacity in which the communication state is stable A method may be used in which devices are sequentially selected and the road terminal device is determined as a group representative road terminal device.

  In addition, the signal control device 1, the information providing device 2, the terminal routers 4A to 4C, the traffic signal controllers 5A to 5F, the optical beacons 6A to 6E, and the like in the present invention may be realized by one casing. You may implement | achieve by the combination of a some housing | casing. Each of these may be realized by one computer or may be realized by combining a plurality of computers.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the network structure of the communication system which concerns on this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the network structure of the communication system which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Signal control apparatus 2 Information provision apparatus 3 Central router 4A-4C Terminal router 5A-5F Traffic signal apparatus 6A-6E Optical beacon 7 Maintenance computer

Claims (5)

In a communication network in which a plurality of first road terminal devices to be updated and a second road terminal device of a different type from the first road terminal device are connected, a plurality of data are transmitted from the center device connected to the network. A communication system capable of updating the program of the first road terminal device of
The center device is
Storage means for storing update program data and group information obtained by grouping the first road terminal device and the second road terminal device,
The group information is divided into groups so that road terminal devices having a common bottleneck communication section on the communication route to each road terminal device are arranged in the same group, and group representative devices that are representative for each group are displayed. Selected
After the center device transmits the update program to one or a plurality of the group representative devices,
The group representative device that has received the update program is configured to transmit the update program to another first road terminal device of the group to which the group representative device belongs. . In a communication network in which a plurality of road terminal devices to be updated are connected, a communication system capable of updating a plurality of the road terminal device programs from a center device connected to the network,
The center device is
Storage means for storing update program data and group information obtained by grouping the road terminal devices;
The group information is divided into groups so that road terminal devices having a common bottleneck communication section on the communication path to each road terminal device are arranged in the same group, and the group representative road terminals that are representative for each group The equipment is selected,
After the center device transmits the update program to one or a plurality of the group representative road terminal devices,
The group representative road terminal device that has received the update program is configured to transmit the update program to other road terminal devices of the group to which the representative road terminal device belongs. system. In a communication network in which a plurality of road terminal devices to be updated are connected, a communication system capable of updating a plurality of the road terminal device programs from a center device connected to the network,
The center device is
Storage means for storing update program data and a network configuration of the communication network;
Based on the stored network configuration, a bottleneck communication section specifying means for obtaining a bottleneck communication section on a communication path to each road terminal device;
Road terminal device grouping means for grouping road terminal devices having a common bottleneck communication section into one or a plurality of groups;
A group representative road terminal device selection means for selecting a representative road terminal device for each of the one or a plurality of groups;
After the center device transmits the update program to one or a plurality of the group representative road terminal devices,
The group representative road terminal device that has received the update program is configured to transmit the update program to other road terminal devices of the group to which the representative road terminal device belongs. system. In a communication network in which a plurality of road terminal devices to be updated are connected, a communication system capable of updating a plurality of the road terminal device programs from a center device connected to the network,
The communication system includes one or more terminal routers,
A plurality of road terminal devices are directly connected to the terminal router, and the road terminal devices communicate with the center device via the terminal router,
The center device has storage means for storing program data for update,
After the center device transmits the update program to one or more terminal routers, the terminal router transmits the update program to a plurality of road terminal devices directly connected to the terminal router. It is comprised so that it may do. The communication system characterized by the above-mentioned. In a communication network in which a plurality of road terminal devices to be updated are connected, a communication system capable of updating a plurality of the road terminal device programs from a center device connected to the network,
The communication system includes a plurality of terminal routers,
Among the terminal routers, a plurality of road terminal devices are directly connected to the first terminal router, and these road terminal devices communicate with the center device via the first terminal router,
Further, a second terminal router is directly connected to the first terminal router, and a plurality of road terminal devices are also directly connected to the second terminal router, and are directly connected to the second terminal router. The road terminal device is configured to communicate with the center device via the second terminal router and the first terminal router,
The center device has storage means for storing program data for update,
After the center device transmits the update program to the first terminal router, the first terminal router transmits the update program to the second terminal router,
The first and second terminal routers are configured to transmit the received update program to a road terminal device directly connected to the terminal router.

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