JP2000148629A - Report to remote place and reset system of server crash in unmanned customer responding system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To recognize generation of the server crash in a remote place, and to reset the server from the remote place, when the crash of the server is generated in a server/client type system such as an unmanned rental system or an unmanned vending system. SOLUTION: An extended card 1 for operating the monitor of server crash, report through a telephone line, and the execution of the reset of the server is arranged between a telephone line and a server 6. The extended card 1 is provided with a microcomputer system 4, serial communication controller 2, voice modem 4, serial communication controller 2, voice modem 3, and communication channel changeover switch 5. In this case, the microcomputer system 4 monitors the operation state of the server 6 and controls the switching of the communication channel changeover switch 5 when detecting that the server 6 is turned into a crashed state, and calls a monitor place for resetting the server 6 based on a signal from the monitor place.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention reports a crash of a server of a store in which an unmanned rental device or an unmanned sales machine is installed to a remote reporting point or monitoring point and issues a command from the monitoring point. The present invention relates to a method for restoring a server, and a method for reporting a server crash to a remote location and resetting the server in an unattended customer response system. Hereinafter, the report point or the monitoring point is referred to as a remote place or a monitoring place.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an unmanned customer service system, an unmanned C
D-software rental, sales, unmanned video software sales, unmanned convenience stores or unmanned supermarkets, small-scale BBS, etc. Here, the most common video software unattended rental system is considered as an example. The prior art will be described by taking up.

One server having a database and a plurality of lending machines or lending robots (clients)
Is known. In a store where video software is rented unattended, it is common practice to provide a server having such a database and a plurality of lending machines, which are clients communicably connected to the server, and operate.

[0004] The server of such an unmanned rental system is usually equipped with an OS (operating system), typically Windows NT (trademark). A microcomputer system or CPU and a group of peripheral devices are used as a control device of each lending machine. The server and the control device of the lending machine (hereinafter, the control device of the lending machine is referred to as a client)
Communication is performed appropriately. Each client lends and returns rental products (here, video software) with reference to the database of the server.

[0005] In such a conventional general unmanned rental system, it is known that a server crashes (the OS does not work at all) sometimes occurs. The reason why the crash occurs is often unknown, but it may be due to an OS bug or the like. Of course, when a server crash occurs, each client stops lending. In an unmanned store where a rental system is installed, patrol (monitoring) staff members usually visit once a day to see if there are any abnormalities such as server crashes. Then, press the reset button to reset the server. Once a server crash occurs, the only option is to reset it, similar to a computer system with a normal OS. In particular, unless an abnormal condition occurs in the server, the unmanned rental system or server is usually restored by this. If the measures do not help, it will be left to the company that built the server and client.

[0006] As described above, in the conventional unmanned rental system, it is not known whether the server has crashed until the patrol member goes to the site (store). The server did not recover unless personnel reset the server. In other words, the operation of the unmanned rental system requires human resources,
It was troublesome. Also, while the server is crashing, rental goods (video software) cannot be rented out, resulting in a decrease in sales.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to detect a server crash at a remote location when the server crashes. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of notifying a server crash to a remote location and resetting the server in an unmanned customer service system capable of resetting the server from the remote location and restoring the server to an initial state.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In an unmanned customer response system according to the present invention, a system for reporting a server crash to a remote location and resetting the server is described in which an unattended customer in which one server and a plurality of clients are connected by a communication line. In the response system, the above-mentioned problem has been solved, and is as follows.

An expansion card for monitoring a server crash, reporting by a telephone line, and executing a server reset is provided between the telephone line and the server. The expansion card is a kind of communication interface device, and is a control board.

[0010] The expansion card is provided with a microcomputer system, a serial communication controller, and a voice modem. The expansion card also includes a communication path switch. The communication path changeover switch controls a communication path in the expansion card, in which a normal communication path is formed, from the serial communication controller to the external telephone line via the voice modem, by controlling the microcomputer system. Under the condition that the microcomputer system can be switched to an external telephone line via the voice modem.

The microcomputer system monitors the operating state of the server and, when detecting that the server has crashed, controls the communication path switch and makes a call to a remote place. The server can be reset based on a signal from a remote place. That is, it is programmed as such and wired as such to the server.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As an example of a client, a machine or robot control device that rents rental goods such as video software unattended is used as an example of a client. An embodiment of the present invention will be described.

A personal computer system or the like can be used as one server of the unmanned customer service system. It is important that the server has a large-capacity storage medium such as a hard disk.

Each client is an unattended customer service system, in this case, a control center for performing control according to an input / output mechanism (device) designed and manufactured so as to be suitable for lending and returning rental goods. It is realistic to use It is assumed that one server and a plurality of clients are connected by a communication network such as a LAN. However, it is only necessary that the server and each client can communicate with each other, and the clients may not necessarily be able to communicate with each other.

An expansion card for monitoring server crashes, reporting by telephone line, and executing server reset is installed between the telephone line (subscriber line terminal of the public telephone network, for example, a modular jack) and the server. The expansion card is a kind of communication interface device between the server and the telephone line, and is also a control board. That is,
The expansion card has terminals for connecting to a server, for example, a personal computer system, and includes a microcomputer system and a communication device. The communication devices included in the expansion card include a serial communication controller, a voice modem, and a communication path switch. Normally, when the server does not crash, communication between the server and a remote place is performed through a route of a server serial communication controller, a communication path switch, a voice modem, and a telephone line.

The microcomputer system provided in the expansion card monitors the operation state of the server by receiving a signal output from the server to the bus, and receives a predetermined signal that is normally received for a predetermined time. If no longer available, it is determined that the server has crashed, and the communication path switch is switched and controlled. Therefore, the microcomputer system-communication path changeover switch-
A communication path of a voice modem-telephone line is formed, and the microcomputer system makes a call to the monitoring location, and when the monitoring location side (either a machine or a human) answers the phone, the voice modem reports a server crash. It can be sent to the monitoring location by voice message. For example,
You can send a message such as "The server has crashed. Please send a reset signal".

When the microcomputer system receives a signal for instructing a reset from a remote place, it performs a hardware reset on the server. Therefore, the server is restored. When the server recovers, each client resumes the business. The microcomputer system should be designed and programmed to perform such operations.

[0018]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a system for reporting and resetting a server crash to a remote location in an unmanned customer service system according to the present invention. The present invention has a basic configuration in which the expansion card 1 is provided between the server 6 and a modular jack (telephone line) not shown. The serial communication controller 2 included in the expansion card 1 is a functional block for performing communication with a remote place via a telephone line in a normal state, and a conventionally known one is used.

As for the server 6, the conventional technique is sufficient, and a commercially available workstation or personal computer (system) can be used. Of course, the server may be constructed by designing a microcomputer system exclusively. If the server 6 is a personal computer, it has an expansion card connector 9. By inserting the expansion card 1 into the expansion card connector 9, the server 6 (substantially the MPU 7)
And the expansion card 1 (substantially, the serial communication controller 2 and the microcomputer system 4) can communicate with each other via the bus 10. The server 6 includes a storage medium such as a hard disk (not shown), and stores a database. For example, in the case of a rental item lending system, the inventory status of rental items, the lending and return history of each client, and the like are recorded. Each client (8a to 8n) communicates with the server 6 via a communication line (LA).
N) Performs business by communicating via 11 and referring to necessary data stored in a database.

On the other hand, each of the clients (8a to 8n) may use a personal computer by modifying it, or may design and build a microcomputer system. The present invention is not directly related to Kleinato,
That is, since the remote location and the client do not communicate directly, it is up to those skilled in the art how to design each of the clients (8a to 8n).

The expansion card 1 provided between the server 6 and the telephone line desirably has a terminal or a connector which can be connected or wired to the server 6 and the telephone line. When a personal computer is used for the server 6,
For example, it is convenient to apply the present invention to a standardized expansion card such as PCI or ISA. If the server 6 is a personal computer and the terminal (terminal) of the telephone line is a modular jack, the connection ports (connectors) are standardized. It is easy to provide corresponding predetermined connectors.

Therefore, the expansion card 1, that is, the server monitoring / communication control board can be easily installed between the server 6 and the telephone line. The expansion card 1 is a communication interface device having two communication paths, and has a microcomputer system 4 mounted thereon. The microcomputer system 4 performs monitoring of the operation state of the server 6, control of switching communication paths, control of sending a message to a remote place, and control of resetting the server 6 based on a command from the remote place. The microcomputer system is equipped with a CPU (not shown) as a control center, various memories (not shown), and an I / O (not shown) as in the prior art. It is easy for those skilled in the art to program such that various controls can be performed.

The monitoring of the operating state of the server 6 by the microcomputer system 4 of the expansion card 1 is performed, for example, as follows. The microcomputer system 4 is connected to the server 6 by the bus 10, and when the server 6 crashes, the output of a predetermined line of the bus 10 is fixed at the Low level or the High level. When the output of a predetermined line is fixed at a predetermined level, the microcomputer system 4
Considers that the server 6 has crashed.

When a crash of the server 6 is detected, the microcomputer system 4 switches the microcomputer system 4 to the communication path switch 5 to the voice modem 3.
Control the communication path switch 5 to form a communication path called a telephone line. When the communication path is formed, the microcomputer system 4 (substantially, the CP
U) makes a call to a remote location. If the remote site does not answer the call, it may be programmed to call again after a predetermined time has elapsed. When the remote area answers the phone,
The microcomputer system 4 instructs the voice modem 3 to send a pre-registered voice message to a remote location. The voice modem 3 is not different in function from an ordinary modem. The only difference is that a voice IC (not shown) is provided or a signal from the voice IC can be taken in. Audio (sound source) IC
Since it is widely marketed, the voice modem 3 can be easily configured by a conventional technique.

Note that when the server 6 is in a crash state, the microcomputer system 4
May be instructed to continue to output a voice message. The advantages are as follows. The observer of the server 6 may want to check the operation of the server 6 even from a place other than the monitoring point. Therefore, a call is made to the expansion card 1 from a telephone or a mobile telephone at a certain place. If the server 6 is working normally, the server 6 makes a predetermined response. If the server 6 has crashed, a predetermined message from the voice modem 3 should be heard. Therefore, it is possible to check whether or not the server 6 has crashed if there is a supervisor at a place where a call can be made.

When the voice modem 3 sends a voice message indicating that the server 6 has crashed to a remote location via a telephone line based on an instruction from the microcomputer system 4, the remote location wishes to reset the server 6. If it is not desired to reset the signal for instructing reset for some reason, a signal for instructing not to reset may be sent. Of course, instead of sending a signal indicating that the reset should not be performed, just as the remote side hangs up the phone and decides not to reset,
The microcomputer system 4 may be set.

The microcomputer system 4 can decode a command from a remote place and reset the server 6. That is, a predetermined control signal can be output to the reset terminal of the server 6. If the server 6 is a personal computer, its motherboard usually has a reset connector 12, so that
A reset control line may be connected to the reset connector 12 and the microcomputer system 4 of the expansion card 1, and a predetermined signal may be sent to the reset connector 12. For example, a signal that short-circuits two pins of the reset connector 12 may be sent. For example, as shown in FIG.
3, a hardware reset can be easily performed on the server 6. The server 6 recovers, and each of the clients (8a to 8n) can resume business.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing that the present invention is applied to the BBS. In a small-sized BBS, an observer is not always attached to the BBS server 6 and often goes somewhere. In the event of a server crash, the expansion card 1 may call the observer's mobile phone 14 to send a voice message. If the observer wants to send a signal instructing a reset, he / she may send it. The expansion card 1 can interpret the instruction from the supervisor and reset the BBS server 6.
Therefore, the server-client type system recovers in a short time.

When the BBS server 6 crashes,
When the client personal computer PC calls the BBS server 6, a voice message indicating that the BBS server 6 has crashed can be heard by the operation of the expansion card 1, so that the client does not make useless communication attempts. There is also an advantage that it can be completed. Note that B
The connection to the BS server 6 and the telephone network 15 is conveniently made via an expansion card equipped with a (voice) modem as shown in FIG.

[0030]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. When the server 6 crashes, the microcomputer system 4 of the expansion card 1 controls the switching of the communication path changeover switch 5 and instructs the voice modem 3 to notify the server 6 of the crash by a voice message to a remote place which is a monitoring point. Can be. Further, the server 6 can be reset by an instruction from a remote place, and the server 6 can be restored to the initial state. Therefore, there is no need for the patrol member to go to the store to know that the server 6 has crashed and to reset the server, and the unattended customer service system can minimize the downtime of each client. It is possible to provide a server crash notification and reset method.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a system for reporting and resetting a server crash to a remote location in an unmanned customer response system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing that the present invention is applied to the BBS.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Expansion card 2 Serial communication controller 3 Voice modem 4 Microcomputer system 5 Communication path changeover switch 6 Server, BBS server 7 MPU 8a, 8b-8n Client 9 Connector for expansion card 10 Bus 11 Communication line (LAN) 12 Connector for reset 13 Relay 14 Mobile phone 15 Telephone network PC Personal computer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An unmanned customer service system in which one server and a plurality of clients are connected by a communication line, wherein a server crash is monitored between a telephone line and the server, a report is made by a telephone line, and a server is reset. Installing an expansion card that performs the following, the expansion card has a microcomputer system,
A serial communication controller, a voice modem, and a communication path in the expansion card, in which a normal communication path is formed from the serial communication controller to an external telephone line via the voice modem, by the microcomputer system. Under control, a communication path switch is provided at a position where the microcomputer system can be switched to an external telephone line via the voice modem, and the microcomputer system monitors an operation state of the server, When the server detects that the server is in a crash state, the communication path switch is controlled to be switched, a telephone call is made to a monitoring place, and the server can be reset based on a signal from the monitoring place. Server in unmanned customer service system Rush of the report and reset method to remote locations.