JP2000013286A - Communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication system that distinguishes a fault to be a device fault or a communication fault and manages a terminal in a house from a remote place. SOLUTION: The communication system is provided with an in-house communication network 13 connecting to an ISDN 40, a network controller 20 and terminals 31-N connecting to the in-house communication network 13, and a host computer 50 connecting to the ISDN 40. The terminals 31-N transmits transmission information with ID information to the in-house communication network 13 together with re-transmission number information for each prescribed time till they receive a reply signal from the network controller 20, the network controller 20 sends the return signal to the terminals 31-N via the in-house communication network 13 when receiving the transmission information and stores the re-transmission number information, and the host computer 50 allows the network controller 20 to send the re-transmission number information stored therein and receives and stores the transmission information and the re- transmission number information that are sent from the network controller 20.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication system capable of confirming a communication state of a terminal connected to a network system in a house, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a method of monitoring a home communication system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-155996 is known.

In this monitoring method, the control device requests the terminal to check the status at regular intervals, and if there is no response, the control device installed in the house displays an error.

[0004] As described above, the conventional monitoring method detects an abnormality depending on whether communication is possible or not.

[0005]

When communication is not possible, communication failures and equipment failures can be roughly classified into two types, and the necessary countermeasures for each failure also differ.

[0006] As examples of communication failures, there are various cases such as a case where communication is difficult due to superimposition of noise on the communication path, a case where the communication path is long and the reachable distance is exceeded. The equipment failure may be a failure of the terminal, removal of the terminal, or the like.

However, in the conventional monitoring method, it is impossible to distinguish between a device failure and a communication failure, and it is only possible to go to the site of the failure and to perform management from a remote place.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a communication system capable of managing a terminal in a house from a remote place by distinguishing between a device failure and a communication failure. It is in.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a home communication network provided in a home and connected to an external network outside the home, a network controller and a terminal connected to the home communication network, A communication system comprising: a host computer connected to the external network and capable of communicating with the network controller, and capable of confirming completion of transmission from the terminal to the network controller by a reply from the network controller. The terminal transmits transmission information having predetermined information and its own ID information together with retransmission number information indicating the number of retransmission transmissions at regular intervals until a return signal is received from the network controller. And the network controller sends the When receiving the communication information, the host computer transmits a return signal indicating that the transmission information has been received to the terminal via a communication network, and stores the transmission information and the retransmission count information. The transmission information and the retransmission number information stored in the network controller are transmitted to an external network, and the transmitted transmission information and retransmission number information are received and stored.

[0010] The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the host computer judges the communication state in the house from the stored transmission information and retransmission number information, and displays this judgment information.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a monitoring device connected to the external network, wherein the host computer sends a communication state confirmation request signal in response to a command from the monitoring device.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the network controller monitors the number of retransmissions, and when the number of retransmissions is equal to or more than a predetermined value within a predetermined time interval, or when the number of retransmissions is high for a terminal, When the number of retransmissions exceeds a predetermined value, the host computer is notified of retransmission number information.

The invention of claim 5 is characterized in that terminals connected to the home communication network are registered in the host computer so that retransmission information can be confirmed for each terminal.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication network provided in a home and connected to an external network outside the home, a network controller and a terminal connected to the communication network, and connected to the external network. A communication system comprising a host computer capable of communicating with the network controller, wherein the terminal transmits predetermined information and its own ID information at regular intervals until a return signal is received from the network controller. The network controller sends the transmission information to the home communication network together with the retransmission number information indicating the number of retransmission transmissions. When the network controller receives the communication state confirmation request signal transmitted from the host computer, the network controller and each terminal communicate with each other in a predetermined format. And the content, and the number of retransmissions for this communication is And transmitting to the computers.

[0015]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the terminal transmits transmission information having predetermined information and its own ID information together with retransmission count information at regular intervals until a return signal is sent from the network controller. When the network controller receives the transmission information, the network controller transmits a return signal to the terminal via the communication network, stores the transmission information and retransmission count information, and the host computer transmits a communication state confirmation request signal. Then, the transmission information and the retransmission number information stored in the network controller are transmitted to an external network, and the transmitted transmission information and the retransmission number information are received and stored. For this reason, the terminal in a house can be managed from a remote place, distinguishing between a device failure and a communication failure.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the host computer determines the communication status in the home from the stored transmission information and the retransmission count information and displays this determination information, so that the communication status in the home can be understood at a glance. become.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the communication status confirmation request signal is transmitted from the host computer in response to a command from the monitoring device, the terminal in the house can be managed from a remote place remote from the installation position of the host computer. can do.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the network controller monitors the number of retransmissions, and when the number of retransmissions becomes equal to or more than a predetermined value within a predetermined time interval, or the number of retransmissions of a terminal having a high importance as a terminal. Is notified to the host computer when the number of retransmissions becomes equal to or more than a predetermined value.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the terminal connected to the communication network is registered in the host computer so that retransmission information can be confirmed for each terminal. Retransmission information can be confirmed.

According to the invention of claim 6, the terminal transmits the transmission information having the predetermined information and its own ID information at regular intervals until a return signal is transmitted from the network controller. When the network controller receives the communication state confirmation request signal transmitted from the host computer,
It communicates with each terminal in a predetermined format and content, and transmits the number of retransmissions at the time of this communication to the host computer. Can be managed accordingly.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a communication system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a communication network provided in a home 11, and this communication network 10 includes a home communication network 13 using an indoor low-voltage line 12, which is a power line, and a home communication network 13. Network controller 20 and terminals 31 to 31 connected to home communication network 13
N, and constitutes a power carrier communication system.

Reference numeral 40 denotes an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) connected to the network controller 20, and reference numeral 50 denotes a host computer connected to the ISDN 40.

As shown in FIG. 2, the network controller 20 includes a power line carrier interface 21 connected to the home communication network 13, a main controller 22 for performing various controls for data transmission / reception, etc. Machines 31-N
And a volatile first storage unit 23A that stores information transmitted from the host computer 50 and information transmitted from the host computer 50, and a nonvolatile first storage unit that stores data and programs such as a communication method, functions and importance on a network, and the like. 2 storage unit 23B,
Clock section 2 that counts clock pulses and counts time
4, a D channel control unit 25, a basic interface 26, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 3, the terminals 31 to N are, for example, emergency call buttons, air conditioners, microwave ovens, human sensors, lighting devices, and the like. Also, each of the terminals 31 to N has a memory storing its own address and the like set in advance.
(Not shown), and a control unit (not shown) for sending the address stored in the memory and necessary transmission information to the network controller 20.

Next, the operation of the communication system of the above embodiment will be described.

For example, when the human sensor of the terminal 34 detects a human body, the terminal 34 sends out transmission data D 1 having the detected human body detection information to the network controller 20 via the home communication network 13. . As shown in FIG. 4A, the transmission data D1 includes a self address, a destination address indicating a transmission destination, human body detection information as transmission information, and retransmission number information indicating the number of retransmissions. In this case, since the number of retransmissions is 0 in the first transmission, the retransmission number information is “0”.

The network controller 20 is the terminal 3
When all of the transmission data 1 to N are received, FIG.
Data D2 in which the partner address is omitted as shown in FIG.
It may be.

When receiving the transmission data D1, the network controller 20 transmits ACK data DA for return to the home communication network 13 and stores the transmission data D1 as shown in FIG. 5A. In this case, the fact that the number of retransmissions indicating the number of normal receptions is “0” is stored as the number of retransmissions of the transmission data D1. Then, the terminal device 34
Upon receiving the ACK data DA, the transmission of the transmission data D1 ends.

The ACK data DA includes, as shown in FIG. 4C, a destination address of the transmission destination and a confirmation code indicating that the data has been received.

If the network controller 20 does not receive the transmission data D 1, it does not send the ACK data DA to the home communication network 13. For this reason, FIG.
As shown in (B), the terminal 34 retransmits the transmission data D1 at regular time intervals T until receiving the ACK data DA. Then, every time retransmission is repeated, transmission data D1 is rewritten and transmitted with transmission number information indicating the number of retransmissions.

When the network controller 20 receives the transmission data D1 of the second retransmission, for example, as shown in FIG. 5B, the network controller 20 stores the transmission data D1 in which the retransmission number information is "2" and ACKs it. The data DA is transmitted. Then, the terminal 34 receives the ACK data DA and ends the transmission of the transmission data D1.

In the case of bus communication, since the communication path is shared, communication of all the terminals 31 to N is performed by each of the terminals 31 to N.
The network controller 20 monitors the communication of the other terminals by using this, and as shown in FIG. 5C, fetches and stores the number of retransmissions before the ACK data is returned. In this case, in order for the network controller 20 to recognize which transmission the ACK data has been returned to, the ACK data DB of FIG. 4D including the self address information and the partner address information is required.

Next, how the network controller 20 holds the number of retransmissions will be described.

The network controller 20 stores the maximum number of retransmissions allowed from no retransmission in the storage means for each number of retransmissions. For example, no retransmission: 500, retransmission 1
.., 2 retransmissions: 5,..., N retransmissions: 10;

At this time, there is a method in which the storage is started by a command from the host computer 50, and at the same time, the network controller 20 starts measurement in response to designation of the measurement time or the number of times of communication with the terminals 31 to N. As another method, a method in which the network controller 20 performs measurement for a certain number of times or for a certain time may be used. In this case, when the communication is completed within a certain number of times or within a certain period of time when the network controller 20 has a timer function, the respective percentages such as no retransmission, one retransmission, two retransmissions,. May be calculated and this percentage may be stored.

It is desirable to always monitor the retransmission status of important terminals such as security sensors, fire sensors, emergency call buttons, and the like. In this case, the network controller 2 is controlled in a relatively short time, for example, once every 1 to 10 minutes.
From 0, a status request is issued to the important terminal, and the retransmission frequency (1 time, 2
,... Can be monitored, but the present invention is not limited to this. Any method may be used as long as the network controller 20 monitors the communication state by managing the history of the number of retransmissions. Good.

The start of the monitoring of the communication state is sent to the host computer 50 via the external network by the monitoring terminal 5.
1. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, there is a method realized by using the Internet 52 as an external network and using an Internet browser as the monitoring terminal 51. In this case, the host computer 50 displays each in-home communication system on the Web, and displays the monitoring terminal 5 on the Web.
A method may be used in which the home communication system, that is, the user's house is selected by the operation 1, and a message to start monitoring the communication state is sent to the host computer 50, and the host computer 50 sends a command to the network controller 20.

The monitored and stored communication state (the number of retransmissions / the ratio of the number of retransmissions) is determined by the communication system 10 requesting a communication state confirmation request from the host computer 50 having a scheduling function every predetermined number of days or at predetermined time intervals. And received by the network controller 20 of the communication system 10. At this time, the communication state of only important terminals or specific terminals may be confirmed. Also,
The communication state of the entire system and the communication state of each terminal may be requested.

A procedure according to a user network standard interface is used as a calling procedure. At this time, in the procedure for calling, the user-user information notification (U
According to the procedure of (UI), the host computer 50 sets a communication state confirmation request in the UUI and transmits the request. At this time, a telephone number for calling the network controller 20 of the communication network 10 is registered in the host.

At this time, if the ISDN is disconnected without responding to the incoming call according to the ISDN user network interface, a UUI message can be received and the connection can be disconnected without connection.

The number of retransmissions received by the host computer 50 and the ratio of each number of retransmissions are stored in a database in the hard disk of the host computer 50, and can be searched, displayed on a display, and printed out as necessary. Management becomes easier. Also, the ratio of the number of retransmissions / each retransmission at the same time as the reception
May be added to the information such as the user name and displayed on the display or printed out. If some of the received information cannot be communicated or has a large number of retransmissions, it may be output as a report or fax.

As described above, the data transmitted to the host computer 50 is used for the communication system 10.
Since the number of retransmissions and communication impossibility of the terminals 31 to N can be known, it can be distinguished from a device failure or a communication failure based on the number of retransmissions or communication impossibility. Therefore, the terminals 31 to N in the house can be managed from a remote place.

Further, by conducting a communication test of the communication system 10 from a remote place, the communication state can be grasped, and a specific terminal 31-N transmits a call by monitoring the retransmission state of each terminal 31-N. If the number of retransmissions at the time of reception is large, a problem on the communication line may be considered, and if the number of retransmissions of only a specific terminal or only transmission is large, an abnormality of the device may be considered. In addition, if the host computer 50 monitors the communication status as needed, when noise of a device that is not used constantly, such as a microwave oven, becomes a problem, a phenomenon such as a communication error at a specific time or an increase in the number of retransmissions may occur. Therefore, it is easy to distinguish between a device failure and a communication failure.

[0045]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a terminal retransmits transmission information having predetermined information and its own ID information until a return signal is transmitted from a network controller. When the transmission information is received at regular intervals, the network controller sends a return signal to the terminal via the communication network when the transmission information is received, and stores the transmission information and the retransmission number information. A transmission status confirmation request signal is transmitted to cause the transmission information and the retransmission count information stored in the network controller to be transmitted to an external network, and the transmitted transmission information and retransmission count information are received and stored. For this reason, the terminal in a house can be managed from a remote place, distinguishing between a device failure and a communication failure.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the host computer determines the home communication state from the stored transmission information and retransmission count information and displays this determination information, so that the home communication state can be understood at a glance. become.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the communication status confirmation request signal is transmitted from the host computer in accordance with a command from the monitoring device, so that the terminal in the house can be managed from a remote location remote from the installation location of the host computer. can do.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the network controller monitors the number of retransmissions, and when the number of retransmissions becomes equal to or more than a predetermined value within a predetermined time interval, or the number of retransmissions of a terminal having high importance as a terminal. Is notified to the host computer when the number of retransmissions becomes equal to or more than a predetermined value.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the terminal connected to the home communication system is registered in the host computer so that retransmission information can be confirmed for each terminal. The retransmission information can be confirmed at the same time.

According to the invention of claim 6, the terminal transmits the transmission information having the predetermined information and its own ID information at regular intervals until a return signal is transmitted from the network controller. When the network controller receives the communication status confirmation request signal sent from the host computer, the network controller communicates with each terminal in a predetermined format and content, and determines the number of retransmissions in this communication. Since the information is transmitted to the host computer, the terminal in the house can be managed as needed from a remote location by distinguishing between a device failure and a communication failure.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a communication system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a network controller of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a home communication network of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4A is an explanatory diagram showing data transmitted from a terminal. (B) is an explanatory view showing other data transmitted from the terminal. FIG. 3C is an explanatory diagram showing data transmitted from the network controller. FIG. 5D is an explanatory diagram showing other data transmitted from the network controller.

FIG. 5A is an explanatory diagram showing a sequence of operations of a network controller and a terminal. (B) It is explanatory drawing which showed the sequence of operation | movement of a network controller and a terminal. (C) It is explanatory drawing which showed the sequence of operation between each terminal and a network controller.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of another communication system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 13 Communication Network 20 Network Controller 31-N Terminal 50 Host Computer

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A home communication network provided in a home and connected to an external network outside the home, a network controller and a terminal connected to the home communication network,
A communication system comprising: a host computer connected to the external network and capable of communicating with the network controller, and capable of confirming completion of transmission from the terminal to the network controller by a reply from the network controller. The terminal transmits transmission information having predetermined information and its own ID information together with retransmission number information indicating the number of retransmission transmissions at regular intervals until a return signal is received from the network controller, When the network controller receives the transmission information, the network controller transmits a return signal indicating that the transmission information has been received to the terminal via a communication network, and stores the transmission information and retransmission count information. And the host computer checks the communication status. Transmitting a request signal to transmit the transmission information and retransmission count information stored in the network controller to an external network, and receiving and storing the transmitted transmission information and retransmission count information. system. 2. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the host computer judges the communication status in the house from the stored transmission information and retransmission count information and displays the judgment information. 3. The communication system according to claim 1, further comprising a monitoring device connected to said external network, wherein a communication state confirmation request signal is transmitted from said host computer in response to a command from said monitoring device. 4. The network controller monitors the number of retransmissions, and when the number of retransmissions becomes equal to or more than a predetermined value within a predetermined time interval, or when the number of retransmissions of a terminal having high importance is equal to or more than a predetermined number. 2. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein when the communication is completed, the host computer is notified of retransmission count information. 5. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein terminals connected to the home communication network are registered in said host computer so that retransmission information can be confirmed for each terminal. 6. A communication network provided in the home and connected to an external network outside the home, a network controller and a terminal connected to the communication network, and connected to the external network and communicating with the network controller. A communication system comprising a possible host computer, wherein the terminal device transmits transmission information having predetermined information and its own ID information at regular intervals until receiving a return signal from the network controller, When the network controller receives the communication state confirmation request signal transmitted from the host computer, the network controller transmits the signal to the home communication network together with retransmission number information indicating the number of retransmission transmissions.
A communication system for communicating with each terminal in a predetermined format and content and transmitting the number of retransmissions at the time of this communication to a host computer.