JP2000187512A - Equipment monitor device using electronic mail - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To acquire the operation state of equipment by using electronic mail and to flexibly cope with the acquisition of history information stored on a time base at this time and the informing function and information retrieval for coping with a time when an emergency takes places in its early stage. SOLUTION: An operation state from equipment is reported to an equipment monitor device 4 as necessary and stored in a DB 5. A user transmits a written request from terminals 1 and 2 having electronic mail to the device 4 to retrieve information stored in the DB 5. The device 4 receiving a request analyzes the content of the received request, inquires a DB engine to retrieve and extract the target results and returns the results to the user being a request source.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a monitoring apparatus, and more particularly to a facility management apparatus which uses an electronic mail and a database as operation management means for managing / monitoring the operation status of a production facility or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Electronic mail is rapidly spreading and is used for various purposes. A monitoring system using e-mail that enables the status of the system to be monitored by an e-mail terminal when a job job execution is requested to a host computer is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-222956, entitled "Monitoring System Using E-mail". It has been disclosed.

A conventional monitoring system using electronic mail will be described with reference to FIG. When the host computer system 101 is requested to execute a business job, the system status is changed to an electronic mail terminal 105 such as a personal computer (PC) or a word processor (word processor).
6 is a monitoring system using an electronic mail which enables monitoring.

An operation status notification request mail requesting notification of the operation status of the host computer system 101 and related equipment connected to the host computer system 101 from the electronic mail terminals 105 and 106 connected to the electronic mail system 102 is sent to the electronic mail system 102. The e-mail system 102 that has transmitted and received this transmits an operation status notification mail to the host computer system 101.

[0005] The operation status of the requested host computer system 101 and the related equipment connected to this system is transmitted to the mail terminal via e-mail as a status notification mail. In the figure, reference numeral 104 denotes a public network, 107 denotes user authority management information, 108 denotes a mailbox, and 109 denotes an OS.
(Operating system), 110 is a job, 11
1 is a mail processing, 112 is an e-mail engine, 113
Is a reception notification, and 114 is a file transfer.

This conventional monitoring system using electronic mail has processing means for operating notification mail and status notification mail in the host computer system, and has the following features. (1) It has processing means for operating status notification request mail and status notification mail. (2) Send a status notification e-mail via e-mail at regular intervals for the operation status of the connected related devices. (3) Each time a change occurs in the operating state of the connected related device, a status notification mail is transmitted via electronic mail. (4) An operation management terminal 103 for managing the operation state is connected to the host computer system 101, and a state notification mail is transmitted from the operation terminal via the electronic mail system 102. (5) Information on the operation status of the related devices connected to the host computer system 101, such as the operation schedule, the start time, the scheduled stop time, the stop time when an abnormal stop occurs due to a fault, other information when a fault occurs, and central processing Device usage rate and input / output device usage rate, execution wait for each job type, number of running jobs, important job information, other computer system 101
And monitor all or a part of information related to the operation of related devices.

[0007]

However, the above-described monitoring system using electronic mail has the following problems.

First, since there is no history management function for the host computer system and the equipment connected to the host computer system, it is not possible to retrieve operation history information of a required period or time axis. That is, the information to be obtained by this conventional technique is limited to the information at the time of issuing a request mail or at the time of occurrence of an abnormality.

Next, the e-mail notified to the user is:
It was not always decoded immediately, but was likely to be left undeciphered, and emergency response was insufficient.

Further, means for requesting and notifying the host computer system of predefined information (operation schedule, start time, scheduled stop time, abnormal stop time, utilization rate of the central processing unit and input / output device, etc.) is provided. Therefore, the acquisition of new information that has never been done requires a system rework,
Large systems increase cost and time and lack scalability

Further, if an e-mail is issued every time defined information, a failure occurs, or any other state occurs, the number of devices to be monitored increases, line access increases, and this may cause a line down. Line traffic increases.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to acquire the operation status of equipment using electronic mail, acquire history information accumulated on a time axis at this time, and provide a notification function for early response in the event of an emergency. Another object of the present invention is to provide a facility monitoring device using an electronic mail having a search function that enables flexible support for information search.

[0013]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a facility monitoring apparatus using electronic mail according to the present invention comprises:
The following characteristic configuration is adopted.

(1) In a facility monitoring apparatus using e-mail for acquiring and monitoring various state information of equipment using e-mail, the state information acquired from the equipment is stored in a database and stored in the database. Equipment monitoring device using electronic mail for searching / extracting history data using electronic mail.

(2) The facility monitoring apparatus using the electronic mail according to the above (1), in which a priority is given to a request form from a user terminal and the emergency mail is opened immediately when an emergency electronic mail arrives.

(3) The facility monitoring apparatus using electronic mail according to (2), wherein the request having the normal priority is processed at a predetermined period.

(4) The facility monitoring apparatus using the electronic mail according to (3), wherein when the priority exceeds a predetermined amount of the normal request, the exception processing is performed not depending on the fixed cycle.

(5) The request from the user terminal is returned with a serial number attached thereto, and processing is started when the request with the serial number arrives again (2), (3) or (3). 4) Equipment monitoring device using e-mail.

(6) It is connected between the database storage file and the monitored device, and comprises an e-mail engine, a request document analysis unit, a response document preparation unit, a database engine, a database record generation unit, and a facility status acquisition unit. A facility monitoring apparatus that uses electronic mail to store status information of monitoring measures in the database storage file, and retrieve and extract the information from a user terminal by electronic mail.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The construction and operation of a preferred embodiment of a facility monitoring apparatus using electronic mail according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, particularly FIGS.

First, FIG. 1 is an overall system configuration diagram of a system using a facility monitoring device using electronic mail according to the present invention. This system includes an operation terminal A1, an operation terminal B2, an e-mail server (hereinafter, referred to as a server) 3,
Equipment monitoring device 4, database (DB) storage file 5
And a plurality of facilities 6 to 9 monitored by the facility monitoring apparatus 4 according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the equipment monitoring apparatus 4 using electronic mail according to the present invention shown in FIG. The facility monitoring device 4 using the electronic mail is connected between the DB storage file 5 and the monitored facility 30, as can be seen from FIG. The facility monitoring device 4 using the e-mail includes an e-mail engine 23, a request form analysis unit 24, a response form creation unit 25, a DB engine 26,
It comprises a DB record generation unit 27 and a facility status acquisition unit 28. The monitored device 30 has an equipment status output unit 31.

The DB storage file 5 stores the equipment status output unit 3
The output from 1 is acquired by the facility monitoring apparatus 4 using e-mail according to the present invention, and after the necessary processing, the facility state is recorded and stored.

The e-mail engine 23 transmits necessary requests. The request document analysis unit 24 analyzes the requested document. The response form creation unit 25 edits the request result. DB
The engine 26 accesses the DB storage file 5 that records the equipment status. The DB record generation unit 27 converts the equipment status into a DB record. Equipment status capture unit 28
Captures the state of the equipment 30.

Next, the system operation of FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 3A and 3B. First, the operation corresponding to the request form will be described.

The request issued from the operation terminals 1 and 2 is stored in the server 3 (see FIG. 1). The facility monitoring device 4 using the electronic mail searches / determines whether or not there is an urgent request with a high priority to the server 3.
At this time, the cycle of searching for an urgent e-mail is registered in advance in the environmental parameters of the facility monitoring device 4 using the e-mail, and when the change is made, the change is made directly or by using a request form (No. 1 in FIG. 3A). reference).

Next, the facility monitoring device 4 searches the server 3 at regular intervals for a request with a normal priority (other than emergency). The period for searching for an email having a normal priority is also registered in advance in the environmental parameters of the equipment monitoring device 4. To change this, it can be modified directly or using a request form (N in FIG. 3A).
o. 2).

If the request has arrived at the server 3, it is received (see No. 3 in FIG. 3A). The use authority of the requester is confirmed, and unauthorized access by a person other than the registered user is prevented. In addition, it also recognizes the range of available functions, thereby realizing safe and comfortable operation (No. 3 in FIG. 3A).
4).

The request received via the engine 23 is
The contents are decrypted by the request form analysis unit 24 (No.
5). It is determined whether the format of the request form is correct. It is determined whether or not the request has been successfully decrypted by the request analysis unit 24 (see No. 6 in FIG. 3A).

If the request form is a DB search request, search / extraction of information stored in the DB storage file 5 via the DB engine 26 based on the request contents analyzed by the request form analysis section 24 is performed. (See No. 7 in FIG. 3A).

If the request form is an environmental parameter change request of the equipment monitoring apparatus 4, the environmental parameters are changed / updated based on the specified contents. The request for changing the environmental parameters of the equipment monitoring apparatus 4 includes a request document search cycle for each priority, an update of the requester's authority, and a change of the target equipment (N in FIG. 3A).
o. 8).

Next, the data searched / extracted via the DB engine 26 shown in FIG. 2 is changed and shaped into a reply answer format in the answer book creating section 25 (see No. 9 in FIG. 3A). FIG. 7 shows an example of the answer sheet. The example of the answer sheet includes search contents 51 such as priority, production process, apparatus name, search period, processing lot, and the like, and search results 52 in which lot numbers, dates, and error contents are described.

The reply answer book in a predetermined format formatted by the answer book creating section 25 is returned to the request source (the operation terminals 1 and 2) via the electronic mail engine 23. The returned reply sheet is temporarily stored in the server 3 in FIG. 1 (see No. 10 in FIG. 3A).

On the other hand, if the contents of the request form cannot be decoded by the request form analysis unit 24 or if the user authority is not appropriate, a reply reply with a message to that effect is provided by the request source. (See No. 11 in FIG. 3B).

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
The operation of registering the equipment status in the DB storage file 5 in the equipment monitoring device 4 using electronic mail according to the present invention will be described.

First, a status signal (I / O port or RS-232C) output from the equipment status output unit 31 of the equipment 30
When a change occurs in the equipment 30 by detecting the signal (signal received by the equipment monitoring device 4 via the interface), it is determined that the state acquisition is started (see No. 21 in FIG. 4).

Next, the equipment status capturing unit 28 of the equipment monitoring device 4 captures the status of the equipment 30 at regular intervals. The capture cycle at this time is registered in advance in the environmental parameters of the equipment monitoring device 4. In order to change this parameter, the parameter is corrected directly or by using a request form (see No. 22 in FIG. 4).

The equipment status acquisition unit 28 of the equipment monitoring device 4
Acquires a state signal output from the equipment state output unit 31 that is the equipment state (see No. 23 in FIG. 4). The DB record generation unit 27 shapes the acquired equipment state into a format (format) that can be registered in the DB storage file 5 (see No. 24 in FIG. 4).

Finally, the equipment status data converted and shaped by the DB record generation unit 27 is registered in the DB storage file 5 via the DB engine 26 (No. 2 in FIG. 4).
5).

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
A procedure for issuing a request form from the operation terminals 1 and 2 will be described.

A request form shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 10 is created by e-mail provided in the operation terminals 1 and 2 in FIG. At this time, the priority (normal, urgent) can be designated (see No. 31 in FIG. 5).

Here, the request form shown in FIG. 6 is a request content 41 described in the existing template, and includes a priority, a production process, an apparatus name, a search period, a processing lot, and a search content.
The request form in FIG. 10 is the request content 81 described in the SQL language, and includes the priority and the SQL.

Next, the created request form is issued to the equipment monitoring device 4 (see No. 32 in FIG. 5). It is confirmed whether the response of the issued request has arrived at the mail server 3 (FIG. 5).
No. 33). In order to confirm the priority of the answer sheet arriving at the server 3, automatic retrieval is performed to search the contents of the document. In this way, it is determined whether the document is an urgently designated document or an ordinary designated document (see No. 34 in FIG. 5).

Finally, as a result of the automatic retrieval and document content search, if it is determined that the document is an urgent document, the document is automatically opened and a browsing request state (blinking state) is set (see No. 35 in FIG. 5).

Further, a description of the equipment monitoring apparatus using electronic mail according to the present invention will be supplemented with reference to FIGS. The facility monitoring device 4 connected to the Internet using a personal computer stores the DB storage file 5 as, for example, 4G
Built-in byte hard disk drive. Further, C
It is configured with peripheral input / output devices such as a monitor, keyboard, and mouse by RT or flat display.
The control OS (operating system) includes, for example,
WindowsNT is adopted. DB storage file 5
Has constructed a database in ISAM (Indexed Access Method) format.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are diagrams showing an example of the record configuration and data contents of the DB file stored in the DB storage file 5. FIG. Search keys are: process name 61, 71, device number 62, 72, processing lot number 63, processing date 64,
73 can be designated individually or in combination, and the input / end state is indicated by 74 and the data content is indicated by 65.

The equipment groups 6 to 9 and the equipment monitoring device 4
/ O port or RS-232C interface. When the number of connected devices increases and the access frequency to the equipment monitoring device 4 increases, a plurality of the equipment monitoring devices 4 may be connected. In this case, the operation terminals 1, 2
Means that each facility monitoring device 4 is individually designated or simultaneously transmitted to issue a request form.

As described above, a request form as shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 10 is created by e-mail generated by the operation terminals 1 and 2 in FIG. Since the request form, which is created by the electronic mail and indicates the contents of the request described in the SQL language, is a text document, the use of the automatic opening function electronic mail is not limited. The request description items include priority (emergency /
Normal) can be specified, but if this specification is omitted, the priority will be normal.

When accessing the database 5 of the facility monitoring device 4 in the SQL language, it is only necessary to specify the SQL: keyword and then describe the grammar for the access. However, since the grammar check and the like are performed by the request form analysis unit 24 of the equipment monitoring device 4, it is determined whether or not the grammar is correct based on the reply result. One solution is to include a grammar check program in the e-mails of the operation terminals 1 and 2.

Further, the equipment monitoring device 4 judges that the processing code is invalid because the record (recording) deletion instruction of the database is prohibited. This is a function provided as a restriction for data protection. Actually, when it is desired to delete a record in the database, it is necessary to directly designate an input from a console (an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse) of the equipment monitoring apparatus 4.

The request created in the equipment monitoring device 4 is issued. At this time, since the issued request form does not have a security code such as a password, etc., when the e-mail address is illegally rewritten and transmitted, the facility monitoring device 4 normally judges the user authority. Can't work. Therefore, the request form arriving at the equipment monitoring device 4 is given a reference number and is returned to the requestor as it is. Then, when the request form with the reference number arrives again, the processing according to the request form is performed for the first time. This double request configuration prevents unauthorized access. Further, a valid time is provided for the serial number, and for example, when the valid time of one hour elapses, the number is invalidated. Further, this valid time can be changed.

As described above, since the request includes an instruction indicating whether the priority is urgent or normal, the priority is determined by retrieving the document from the server 3 as needed and searching the document. At this time, the urgent request form is executed immediately. However, the designated request form is normally held without being processed until a certain period (time) elapses. At this time, if the number of held request documents exceeds a certain amount, it is preferable to start the processing as an exceptional processing without a certain period. This is an effective measure for avoiding communication line concentration when a large amount of data is returned all at once.

The request analysis section 24 of the equipment monitoring device 4 includes:
A SQL language template program is stored. When a template is described in the document of the request form, the detailed code is analyzed and arranged here, and a code required for DB access is generated. A list of template functions can be obtained if requested from the request form. For this reason, it is possible to immediately obtain information (including a usage method) of the latest template, which helps the user.

The preferred embodiment of the equipment monitoring apparatus using electronic mail according to the present invention has been described above in detail. However, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention should not be limited to only such specific examples, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0055]

As will be understood from the above description, the equipment monitoring apparatus using electronic mail according to the present invention has various remarkable practical effects as described below.

First, by storing the equipment status in the DB storage file as needed, it becomes possible to search / browse from the DB storing the past equipment status, and to link with an electronic mail engine to manage the equipment history using electronic mail. Becomes possible.

Since the equipment status is registered in the DB as needed and an e-mail is issued only when data retrieval is specified, the frequency or operation status of the communication line equipment operation is not affected. Frequency can be reduced and traffic concentration can be avoided.

Further, a search template which is deemed necessary is prepared in advance, and it is considered that information search can be performed using this. Also, if you want to make advanced use,
DB access is also possible by specifying the SQL language, and the user can freely customize the database. This makes it possible to immediately respond to changes in the environment or operation, thereby facilitating database search and excellent scalability.

Further, in order to enable an emergency response, the user terminal is provided with an electronic mail engine having a dedicated automatic opening function so that the notification of the emergency electronic mail is immediately enclosed. This prevents a document handled by e-mail from being left unopened.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an entire system that uses a facility monitoring device using electronic mail according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a facility monitoring apparatus using electronic mail according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a request form processing operation of the facility monitoring device using the electronic mail of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an equipment state database registration processing operation of the equipment monitoring apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for issuing a request form from the operation terminal to the equipment monitoring apparatus of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a request form used in the equipment monitoring device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an answer sheet of the equipment monitoring device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a facility error database record according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of an equipment status database record according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of the request form shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of a conventional monitoring system using electronic mail.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2 User terminal 4 Equipment monitoring device 5 Database storage file (database) 6-9, 30 Monitored equipment 23 E-mail engine 24 Request form analysis unit 25 Reply form creation unit 26 Database engine 27 Database record generation unit 28 Equipment status Intake unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An equipment monitoring apparatus using electronic mail for acquiring and monitoring various state information of equipment using electronic mail, wherein the state information obtained from the equipment is stored in a database and held in the database. A facility monitoring device using electronic mail, wherein history data is searched / extracted using electronic mail. 2. A priority is set for a request form from a user terminal,
2. The facility monitoring device using electronic mail according to claim 1, wherein the emergency electronic mail is opened immediately upon receipt of the electronic mail. 3. The facility monitoring apparatus using electronic mail according to claim 2, wherein the request having the normal priority is processed at a predetermined period. 4. The facility using electronic mail according to claim 3, wherein, when the priority exceeds a predetermined amount of the normal request, exception processing is performed not according to the fixed cycle. Monitoring device. 5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the request form from the user terminal is returned with a serial number attached thereto, and processing is started when the request form with the serial number arrives again. 4. A facility monitoring device using the electronic mail according to 4. 6. The monitored device is connected between a database storage file and a monitored device, and includes an e-mail engine, a request analysis unit, a response document creating unit, a database engine, a database record generating unit, and a facility status capturing unit. A facility monitoring apparatus using an electronic mail, wherein state information of a measure is fetched by the fetching unit, held in the database storage file, and can be searched / extracted from a user terminal by an electronic mail.