JPH05143611A - Production controlling device and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect a virus mixed with information and to make it difficult for a malicious third party by ciphering information propagated on a network. CONSTITUTION:A person in charge of operation of a computer integrated production system in a master computer installation place 9 remote from a slave computer installation place 8 starts a master computer control part 4-1 and uses a line connector to connect an encoder 201 and a decoder 3-2 and connect an encoder 2-2 and a decoder 3-1 by lines. Thereafter, a message (command) for which a slave computer control part 1-1 can receive is transmitted to the part 1-1 from the master computer control part 4-1. Information of a key information storage device 5 is used to encode the transmitted command by encoder 202 and the encoded information is sent to a line 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a production management apparatus and a management method for controlling the production of a manufacturing system (CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) system) which is spread over a wide area.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The spread of digital information processing machines has been remarkable, and fortunately the effect of mass production has been great, and long-term progress has been made in terms of both high performance and high reliability. In particular, the failure rate per element part has been remarkably improved by the integration of parts (LSI). As a result, a large scale of integrated parts has become possible, and digital information processing machines have come to be used in all fields of society.

For example, in the manufacturing industry, ordering, inventory control, design, production planning, production, quality control, cost control,
Digital information processing machines have been used in all aspects of shipping, and construction of a CIM system integrating them has been promoted. With the advent of the CIM system, the operation of production plants has become more efficient.

For example, the delivery of parts and raw materials to a factory is
By carrying out the required amount at the required time, the accumulation of surplus parts was largely eliminated. This kind of procurement method for parts and raw materials is JI
It is called the T (Just In Time) method, and says "Katsumi Motohashi:
CIM and factory management, system / control / information [Journal of System Control Information Society], Vol. 34, No. 3, pp6-12, 1990 ”.

Certainly, the JIT method is rational when viewed from the factory. For example, if the factory brings in the parts and raw materials used by the factory to the factory just before daily operation hours, the parts inventory will be almost minimal. In particular, recently, a small amount of products produced in one factory have become a large variety, so the effect of reducing parts inventory is remarkable. However, in order to keep up with the production of each factory, suppliers of parts and raw materials have to queue a large number of trucks at the entrance of the factory just before the daily operating hours.

Therefore, in the vicinity of the factory, vehicles are actually congested before and after the carry-in time, resulting in traffic congestion. Moreover, the suppliers of parts and raw materials are often subcontractors of the factory, and even subcontracting bullying is pointed out. In addition, because it will accelerate labor shortage and hinder the securing of labor force, the Ministry of Labor will establish a “Labor Force Enquiry Round-table Conference” to end the review of the JIT system review within 1991 [September 1991]. Monday, 18th, Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun].

In order to eliminate such a situation, unlike the conventional case, concentrated delivery aiming at just before the operation time is not carried out,
It is desirable that the delivery be carried out in a distributed manner in a timely manner. This reduces supplier wait times,
Concentration of work by the person in charge of acceptance is avoided and labor shortage is alleviated.

The CIM system does not stop within the company in order to deliver the system as described above in a timely manner.
It must be a system that spans affiliated companies. Then, the method of exchanging information using the communication line was considered. One of them is "Special Report CIM-
Information from nine domestic factories integrated into one location-, Nikkei Mechanical,
April 2, 1990, pp64-66 ”. As described above, in the future wide area CIM system, since the installation location of the digital information processing machine is located in a remote place regardless of the company or between companies, a lot of important information is transmitted and received using the network.

[0009]

However, in a network, software called so-called'virus' that maliciously destroys programs and data of a digital information processing machine connected to the network is mixed, and information is externally transmitted. May be intercepted by. That is, there is a danger that secure communication is threatened. If communication is not performed properly, some parts and raw materials will not be supplied, which will spread to the entire CIM system and cause great confusion.

[0010] Such cases are relatively common. For example, although it is not a mess due to communication abnormalities, a subcontractor company that supplies spring parts to some major automobile manufacturing companies was inundated due to damage from a typhoon and product shipment was suspended for about a day, so we have inventory parts More than 10 companies, including no major automobile manufacturing companies, have been forced to suspend operations as reported by the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun on September 21, 1991. It is inevitable that this kind of confusion will occur if communication is abnormal.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and (1) makes the action of a virus mixed through a network meaningless, and (2) is intercepted via the network. By making the information itself meaningless to anyone other than a legitimate user, it is intended to perform highly secure communication and perform stable production by CIM.

[0012]

According to the present invention, information propagating on a network is encrypted, and a virus mixed through the network can be detected at the time of decryption of the encryption so that a third party other than an authorized user can detect it. On the other hand, the malicious third party makes it difficult to decipher.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. The slave computer 1 is installed in the slave computer installation place 8. The slave computer control unit 1-1 is connected to the slave computer database 6, the encoder 2-1, the decoder 3-1 and the key information storage device 5. The main computer installation location 9 which is the core of the CIM system is located in the main factory away from the secondary computer installation location 8.
And the main computer 4 is installed. The main computer controller 4-1 includes a main computer database 7 and an encoder 2-
2, the decryptor 3-2, and the key information storage device 5 are connected.

Normally, the slave computer control section 1-1 interlocks with the slave computer database 6 to perform the original processing at the slave computer installation location 8. The CIM system operation person at the main computer installation location 9 apart from the slave computer installation location 8 activates the main computer control unit 4-1 and uses the line connection device (not shown) to code the encoder 2-1 and the decoder. 3-2 and between the encoder 2-2 and the decoder 3-1 are line-connected. This connection may be two different lines having directionality or one line having no directionality (two-way communication is possible). After that, the main computer control unit 4-1 sends a message (command) that the sub computer control unit 1-1 can accept to the sub computer control unit 1-1. The transmitted command is encoded by the encoder 2-2 using the information of the key information storage device 5, and is sent to the line 10.

[0015]

[Operation] At this time, the encoding method (algorithm) is "Kazuo Takaragi, Tsutomu Nakamura: Cryptography and application, information processing,
Vol.32 No.6 pp714-723 ”, some of the encryption / decryption speed and reliability of
It can be implemented by selecting a method suitable for operation. Even if the encoded information is intercepted by a malicious third party at any point on the line 10, the information cannot be decrypted within a practical time unless the information is stored in the key information storage device 5. Guaranteed. Further, even if the same malicious third party sends a disturbing command from the line 10 to the slave computer control unit 1-1 for the purpose of disturbing the process of the slave computer control unit 1-1, the key information storage device Since the decoder 3-1 does not reproduce the significant command unless the information of 5 is known, the slave computer control unit can discard the disturbing command.

When communication is performed from the slave computer control unit 1-1 to the master computer control unit 4-1 as in the case of transferring the information in the slave computer database 6 to the master computer database 7, a code is used. Encoder 2 instead of Encoder 2-2
-1 may use the decoder 3-2 instead of the decoder 3-1.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 2 shows an example of the flow of processing for realizing the operation of FIG. In FIG. 2, the processing is executed in the order of (1) to (20).

Complete the line connection between (1) and (2),
At (3), the master computer control unit 4-1 transmits the command that the slave computer control unit 1-1 wants to execute. The command is encrypted in (4) and (5) and sent to the line. (1) to (5) are implemented mainly by the main computer 4.

(6) The command encrypted in (7) is received and the command is decrypted into the normal format command. At (8), the slave computer 1 accepts the command and executes the corresponding process. If the processing content includes information to be transmitted to the main computer 4, the information is packetized in (9) to (14), and the encrypted packet is repeatedly transmitted / received and decrypted again, and the main computer 4 Stores and displays the information. (6) to (11) are implemented mainly by the slave computer 1, and (12) to
(14) is implemented mainly by the main computer 4.

When the processing is completed, the slave computer 1 selects (15) to (1
Create a response message in packet format in 7), send the encrypted packet, and in (18) to (19), use the main computer 4
Receives the encrypted packet, decrypts it, and displays it on a display or the like.

At the end, if there is a command to be continuously processed, the process returns to (3) and continues processing. If not, the line connection is cut off and the process ends. In FIG. 2, encrypted packets flow on the line immediately after (5), (11), and (17), so that even if a malicious third party intercepts the information, the information cannot be restored. Also, even if malicious packet information such as a virus is injected immediately after (5), (11) and (17), it will be decrypted by the key in (7), (13) and (19) respectively. It is recognized as an abnormal packet without being restored to the regular (pre-encryption) packet format used in this system system, and is discarded after being registered in the log file.

FIG. 3 shows a different embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 3, there are a plurality of slave computer installation locations 8, and a slave computer 1 is installed in each of them. The computer installation locations 8 may be adjacent to each other or may be separated from each other. The main computer installation location 9 is located apart from the sub-computer installation location, and the main computer 4 is installed.

A plurality of slave computers 1 and one master computer 4 are connected to a line 10. The line 10 has a bus structure and can be connected to the systems 1 and 4 at a point near the system installation locations 8 and 9 that does not adversely affect signal propagation. In this configuration, the plurality of slave computers 1 and one master computer 4 include the key information storage device 5 inside, and
The contents are also standardized. With this configuration, the main computer 4 can exchange information with any slave computer 1.

FIG. 4 shows a further different embodiment of the present invention. The same numbers as those in FIGS. 1 and 3 represent the same items. Different from them, a public key 11 and a public key 12 are provided instead of the keys. The public key 11 is a public key for decrypting the cryptographic information of the main computer 4, the public key 1
Reference numeral 2 is a public key for decrypting the cryptographic information of the slave computer 1.

Regarding the effect of the public key cryptosystem, as described in "Koyama: Mathematical Mathematical and Recent Development of Cryptography [1] The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, Vol. 73, No. 5, pp 513-525". , When the information of the public key (encoding key) 12 is delivered from the sub-computer 1 to the main computer 4, even if a malicious third party intercepts it,
Since the decryption key of the slave computer 1 cannot be known, there is an advantage that the encrypted information itself cannot be decrypted.
By similarly using the public key 12, encrypted delivery can be carried out online.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, a malicious third party intercepts communication information via a communication line or mixes malicious information such as a virus into the communication line. You can fight off mischievous pranks.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of processing for explaining the operation of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a different embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a different embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Sub-computer 1-1 Sub-computer control unit 2 Encoder 3 Decoder 4 Main computer 4-1 Main computer control unit 5 Key information storage device (key information) 6 Sub-computer database 7 Main computer database 8 Sub-computer installation location 9 Main computer installation location 10 Line 11 Key information storage device (public key) 12 Key information storage device (public key)

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Office reference number FI Technical display location H04L 9/10 9/12 (72) Inventor Masahiro Yoshizawa 1-1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nihon Telegraph Phone Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. One or more slave computers and a master computer for communicating information with the slave computers are installed at a location distant from them, and a line is provided between the slave computers and the master computer. In the configuration for connection and production management, all slave computers are provided with encoders, decoders, and key information storage devices, and the main computer is also provided with encoders, decryption devices, and key information storage devices. A production management device characterized by accumulating common key information or public key information as contents of all the key information accumulating devices. 2. The production control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a signal transmitted from the slave computer and the master computer to the line is provided with an encoder and a decoder provided in all of the slave computer and the master computer, and a code. A production control method characterized in that encryption is performed using key information used for encryption / decryption, and information relating to production control is transmitted and received.