JP2005031828A - Monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate the trouble that a monitoring device is ordinarily kept in a conducting state over a long time to monitor a communication terminal and hence the lifetime of a storage device used in the monitoring device should be prolonged. <P>SOLUTION: A place for storing a content of information in a storage device is changed according to the type of information. The storage device requiring extended life is controlled with respect to the state in which the unit is electrified and the state in which the unit is not electrified, shortening the time of electrification. This control achieves the extension of lifetime of the storage unit. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a technique for monitoring water supply and sewage water supply and distribution facilities, industrial production facilities, sales data collection facilities, and the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, a system in which a communication terminal and a monitoring device communicate to monitor equipment is known.
[0003]
In the conventional monitoring system, a monitoring device is provided in the central monitoring center. This monitoring device communicates information periodically (for example, once a day) from communication terminals provided in a plurality of locations. Acquiring via and storing is done.
[0004]
At this time, in consideration of storing information of a plurality of communication terminals, a storage device having a large capacity may be provided in the monitoring device. As the storage device, for example, there is one using a magnetic storage medium. Specifically, it is a so-called hard disk.
[0005]
Incidentally, since the monitoring device is for monitoring the communication terminal, it is required to be always energized. In extreme cases, after the monitoring device is introduced, it may be used by continuously energizing day and night.
[0006]
In the operation of the monitoring device, there is a concern about the life of the storage device. As described above, if the storage device continues to be energized, a malfunction may occur due to deterioration of the component parts due to aging due to operation, and information may not be stored normally. Is expected to disappear. For example, when a magnetic storage medium is used as a storage device and a mechanism portion such as a rotation is provided, the occurrence thereof is sufficiently anticipated, which is a problem.
[0007]
There exists patent document 1 etc. as invention with respect to these. Patent Document 1 is an invention relating to a method of automatic power control of a computer, which saves power during communication standby with an external device, and realizes reduction of running cost and prevention of deterioration of durability.
[0008]
For this reason, in Patent Document 1, when there is no externally received data, the power source is not connected to the information processing unit. In this way, the above problem is to be solved.
[0009]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-327259
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the above-described method is configured to temporarily stop the information processing unit when unnecessary. With this configuration, since the information processing unit stops even if it is temporary, a considerable time is required for the next activation. For this reason, when the information processing unit is started after an event such as an alarm occurs, the delay is large, and it is considered unsuitable for the monitoring device because abnormal processing cannot be performed if the start fails for some reason.
[0011]
Therefore, the present invention aims to extend the life of the storage device used in the monitoring device, but in that case, unlike the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, for example, to report an abnormality from a communication terminal. Even with respect to this, it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to suitably cope with abnormality processing as a monitoring device.
[0012]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In light of the above problems, the present invention intends to respond as follows.
[0013]
The storage device of the monitoring device is made to operate only when it is required when processing for reading or storing information is performed.
[0014]
That is, it is known that the failure of the storage device to operate normally, for example, because it is known to be affected by the length of time of the energized state, so that the time of the energized state is controlled to be smaller than before. To do.
[0015]
However, since the monitoring device is used, for example, continuously energized regardless of day or night, the time for which the storage device is energized in a state where the monitoring device is energized is made smaller than before. is there.
[0016]
For this purpose, the storage destination of the information stored in the storage device is changed according to the type of the information.
[0017]
And about the memory | storage device of the memory | storage destination for which lifetime extension is desired, control regarding electricity supply with the state which supplies with electricity and the state which does not supply electricity is performed, and it makes it shorten electricity supply time. With this control, the life of the storage device is extended.
[0018]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below.
[0019]
FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of a manhole pump monitoring system as an example of a system in which the present monitoring system is used. The monitoring device 120 installed in the central monitoring room 100 communicates with the communication terminal 140 installed at each machine station via the NTT telephone line 130 and acquires the operation information of the manhole pump 150 stored in the communication terminal 140. To do. Further, when an abnormality occurs in the manhole pump 150, the communication terminal 140 issues an alarm to the monitoring device 120 through the NTT telephone line 130, and the monitoring device 120 that has received the alarm displays it on the screen, etc. Inform the user of the alarm.
[0020]
FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the monitoring device 120. CPU 210 for executing monitoring program, memory 220, magnetic recording device 270 for recording acquired information, switch 260 for turning on / off power of magnetic storage device 270, nonvolatile memory 250 for recording non-acquired information, The communication device 280 is configured to communicate with the communication terminal 290.
[0021]
FIG. 3 shows the information recorded in the storage device and the configuration of the recording destination. The acquisition information 330 such as the operation history, alarm history, and management report information to be monitored is stored in the magnetic storage device 310 that can be turned on only when reference / writing is necessary. On the other hand, non-acquisition information 320 such as basic software 230 for operating the monitoring device, monitoring application software 240, and various settings is recorded in the nonvolatile memory 300 that can be referred to at any time.
[0022]
The monitoring application software 240 controls the operation of the entire monitoring device, and periodically acquires operation information from a communication terminal, receives an alarm, displays acquired information according to a request from a user, and the like. In response, the magnetic storage device 270 is turned on / off.
[0023]
Since the magnetic storage device requires several seconds from when the power is turned on until it can actually be read / written, the application software 240 does not perform magnetic reading in advance before actually reading / writing is required. It is necessary to power on the storage device 270 in advance.
[0024]
In the above configuration, the types of information are divided into acquisition information and non-acquisition information, and each will be described.
[0025]
First, the acquired information is information such as driving information acquired from the communication terminal 290 as described above, and is information that is periodically acquired and accumulated in the monitoring of the communication terminal 290, for example. In order to accumulate the acquired information of a large number of communication terminals for a long period of time, a large-capacity storage device such as the magnetic storage device 270 is required. Therefore, the energized time is made shorter than in the prior art by energizing the magnetic storage device 270 only when the information needs to be read or written.
[0026]
The monitoring device 200 reads / writes information from / to the magnetic storage device 270 when the operation information, operation information, etc. are periodically acquired from the communication terminal 290 to be monitored, and at the communication terminal 290 side. For example, when alarm information is reported due to occurrence of an abnormality or the like, the user operates the monitoring device 200 when the user wants to monitor the communication terminal 290 according to the situation.
[0027]
When the communication terminal 290 reports alarm information or when the user wants to monitor the communication terminal 290 according to the situation, the monitoring device 200 is operated frequently, but not frequently. Is low.
[0028]
On the other hand, when driving information, operation information, and the like are periodically acquired, it is performed with the communication terminal 290 at a predetermined time. In any case, since the monitoring device 200 can detect this before the reading / writing to the magnetic storage device 270 becomes necessary, the magnetic storage device 270 is turned on in advance to be in a readable / writable state. Then, the power source of the magnetic storage device 270 is turned off. Therefore, in this process, it is assumed that the time for the monitoring device 200 to operate the magnetic storage device 270 is shorter than the conventional time.
[0029]
On the other hand, the non-acquisition information is information other than the acquisition information, for example, information required for controlling the monitoring device 200, and information that is referred to when the monitoring device 200 itself is read out. Is included.
[0030]
Accordingly, if the information cannot be referred to, the monitoring device 200 may not be activated or may not operate normally. The monitoring device 200 is in a state where it can be referred to at all times. It is necessary. For this reason, the non-acquisition information is stored in a nonvolatile memory 250 as a new second storage device provided separately from the magnetic storage device 270.
[0031]
However, the second storage device is not limited to a non-volatile memory, and may be a storage device that is less deteriorated with the passage of time than a storage device having the magnetic storage medium. The non-acquisition information has a relatively small capacity, and the capacity fluctuation is relatively small over time, so that it is suitable for recording in the second storage device as described above.
[0032]
The operations that require reading / writing of the magnetic storage device 270 are as follows.
(1) Periodic (such as once a day) data acquisition from a communication terminal (2) When receiving an alarm report from a communication terminal (3) Communication with a communication terminal by manual operation of the user (4) Request from the user The operation of the monitoring device in each case of referring to the acquired information or printing is shown below.
(1) Periodic Data Acquisition from Communication Terminal FIG. 4 shows a flowchart for periodically acquiring data from the communication terminal 290.
[0033]
In the case of periodic data acquisition, the monitoring apparatus 200 acquires the current time from an internal clock provided therein (for example, a clock function included in the basic software 230) (step 400), and is set in advance. It is determined whether the acquisition time has been reached (step 410). If the acquisition time has not been reached, the process returns to step 400 and the process is repeated.
[0034]
On the other hand, if the current time has reached the acquisition time, the magnetic storage device 270 is powered on (step 420). Then, communication with a communication terminal is performed and operation information of a machine place is acquired (step 430). At this time, since the communication takes a time from several tens of seconds to several minutes, the magnetic storage device 270 that is turned on in step 420 performs a start-up process during this time and becomes in a writable state. When the acquisition of the operation information is completed, the acquired operation information is recorded in the magnetic storage device 270 (step 440), and when the recording is completed, the magnetic storage device 270 is turned off (step 450).
(2) When Alarm Notification is Received from Communication Terminal FIG. 5 shows a flowchart when the monitoring device 200 receives an alarm notification from the communication terminal 290.
[0035]
In the case of receiving an alarm from the communication terminal, the monitoring device 200 acquires the state of the telephone line (step 500) and determines whether there is a call signal (Ring) from the communication terminal 290 (step 510).
[0036]
If there is no call signal from the communication terminal 290, the process returns to step 500 and the process is repeated.
[0037]
On the other hand, when there is a calling signal from the communication terminal 290, the magnetic storage device 270 is turned on (step 520). Thereafter, communication with the communication terminal is performed, and an alarm is received (step 530). At this time, since the communication takes a time from several tens of seconds to several minutes, the magnetic storage device 270 that is turned on in step 520 performs a start-up process during this time and becomes in a writable state. When the reception of the alarm is completed, the received alarm information is recorded in the magnetic storage device 270 (step 540), and when the recording is completed, the power source of the magnetic storage device 270 is turned off (step 550).
(3) Communication with Communication Terminal by User's Manual Operation FIG. 6 shows a flowchart when the user manually operates the monitoring apparatus 200 to communicate with the communication terminal 290.
[0038]
When the user manually communicates with the communication terminal 290, the user first operates the monitoring device 200 in order to select the target communication terminal 290 from the plurality of communication terminals 290 registered in the monitoring device 200. The terminal selection screen is displayed (operation 600). By this operation, the monitoring device 200 reads the data of the terminal selection screen from the non-volatile memory 250 and displays it on the screen (step 600), and then powers on the magnetic storage device 270 (step 610). The user selects a terminal to perform communication on the displayed terminal selection screen (operation 610) and makes a terminal call request (operation 620). Receiving the terminal call request, the monitoring device 200 communicates with the selected communication terminal and acquires operation information and the like (step 620). Terminal selection on the terminal selection screen requires about 10 seconds or more, and it takes 10 seconds to several minutes to obtain operation information from a communication terminal through communication. The magnetic storage device 270 thus performed is activated and becomes writable. When acquisition of operation information and the like by communication is completed, the acquired information is recorded in the magnetic storage device 270 (step 630). When recording is completed, the power supply of the magnetic storage device 270 is turned off (step 640).
(4) When referencing or printing data according to a request from the user FIG. 7 shows a flowchart in the case where the user manually operates the monitoring apparatus 200 to refer to or print data recorded in the magnetic storage device 270.
[0039]
When the user refers to or prints data by manual operation, the user first operates the monitoring device 200 in order to select data to be referenced or printed from the data recorded in the magnetic storage device 270. The data selection screen is displayed (operation 700). By this operation, the monitoring device 200 reads the data selection screen from the nonvolatile memory 250 and displays it on the screen (step 700), and then turns on the power of the time storage device 270 (step 710). The user operates the displayed data selection screen to select data to be referred to or printed (operation 710). At this time, it takes about several tens of seconds. The magnetic storage device 270 that has been subjected to the startup process is in a writable state. When the data selection is complete, the user makes a data call request (operation 720). By this operation, the monitoring device 200 reads the corresponding information from the magnetic storage device 270 and displays or prints it on the screen. When the user finishes referring to the data and closes the data display screen (operation 730), or in the case of printing, when the printing is completed, the magnetic storage device 270 is turned off.
[0040]
As described above, the embodiment according to the present invention has been described. However, as a function of temporarily turning off the power of the operating storage device, it is called a hard disk frequently used as a storage device of a personal computer as shown in FIG. A power saving function of a magnetic storage device is known. This function is realized by a corresponding magnetic storage device and basic software and BIOS for controlling the magnetic storage device. The power saving function monitors input / output to the magnetic storage device and stops the rotation of the drive motor in the magnetic storage device if there is no input / output for a set period of time. However, the power saving function cannot individually control a plurality of storage devices. Therefore, when there are two types of information, that is, acquisition information with a low input / output frequency and non-acquisition information that is frequently input / output as in a monitoring device, the operating state of the storage device is determined by the information with a high input / output frequency. Therefore, the effect is small. Further, in the power saving function, only the drive motor is stopped, whereas in the embodiment based on the present invention, the power supply of the entire storage device is turned off, so that the effect is higher. In the power saving function, the hard disk drive motor is started after the input / output command for the magnetic storage device is issued, so the processing stops until the actual input / output becomes possible. In the embodiment based on the invention, this problem does not occur because the magnetic storage device can be activated in advance when input / output is required.
[0041]
In addition, a system that temporarily stops the entire system when not needed can be considered, but since a considerable time (several tens of seconds to several minutes) is required to start the system, an event such as an alarm occurs. The system is not suitable for the monitoring device because the delay is large when the system is started and abnormal processing cannot be performed when the start fails due to some cause.
[0042]
Therefore, it can be said that the configuration according to the above-described embodiment is a preferable configuration in the monitoring apparatus.
[0043]
FIG. 8 shows another embodiment.
[0044]
FIG. 8 shows an input / output device (PCS) that is controlled by communication from the CPU and can turn on / off the magnetic storage device in place of the switch for turning on / off the magnetic storage device in the monitoring device. The monitoring apparatus provided with is shown.
[0045]
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the communication is performed via the NTT telephone line. However, the communication is not limited to this, and the communication is performed using a communication line such as Ethernet (registered trademark) or wirelessly. It may be.
[0046]
In the above monitoring device, information to be written in the magnetic storage device is temporarily recorded in the semiconductor memory, and the information on the semiconductor memory has a constant capacity periodically (once a day, once a week, etc.) By writing to the magnetic storage device when it reaches, the operation time of the storage device may be further reduced.
[0047]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, it is possible to extend the life of the storage device of the monitoring device as compared with the conventional one.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 shows an overall system configuration including a monitoring apparatus according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 shows an overall configuration of a monitoring apparatus according to an embodiment.
FIG. 3 schematically shows that acquired information and essential information are stored separately.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart when data is periodically acquired from a communication terminal.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart when an alarm report is received from a communication terminal.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart in a case where communication with a communication terminal is performed by a user's manual operation.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart when data is referred or printed by a user's manual operation.
FIG. 8 shows a monitoring device that controls the power supply of the storage device by the input / output device.
[Fig. 9] Hard disk power saving function (existing technology)
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Central monitoring room, 110 ... Operation terminal, 120 ... Monitoring device, 130 ... NTT telephone network, 140 ... Communication terminal, 150 ... Manhole pump, 200 ... Monitoring device, 210 ... CPU, 220 ... Memory, 230 ... Basic software , 240 ... application software, 250 ... non-volatile memory, 260 ... power supply SW for magnetic storage device, 270 ... magnetic storage device, 300 ... non-volatile memory, 310 ... magnetic storage device, 320 ... non-acquisition information, 330 ... acquisition information, 800 ... monitoring device, 810 ... CPU, 820 ... memory, 830 ... basic software, 840 ... application software, 850 ... nonvolatile memory, 860 ... input / output device, 870 ... magnetic storage device, 880 ... communication device, 890 ... communication terminal

Claims (12)

A communication device for communicating with a communication terminal to be monitored;
A first storage device for storing information, a second storage device;
A power switch for controlling power supply or shut-off for driving the first storage device;
At least the communication device, and a control device for controlling the power switch,
When storing information acquired by the communication device,
A monitoring apparatus that controls the power switch to supply power to the first storage device. 2. The monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein power is continuously supplied to at least the control device and the second storage device during operation of the monitoring device. The first storage device stores acquired information acquired by the communication device through communication,
The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein non-acquisition information that is information other than the acquisition information is stored in the second storage device. The monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein the non-acquisition information stored in the second storage device is information that is referred to when the control device controls the monitoring device. The first storage device is a magnetic storage device;
The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second storage device is a semiconductor memory. Before the communication device starts communication processing with the communication terminal, the power switch is controlled to supply power to the first storage device,
After storing the acquired information in the first storage device,
The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power supply switch is controlled to cut off power to the first storage device. A communication device that monitors a sewer pump that processes sewer water, and a communication device that transmits and receives information via a telephone line;
A first storage device for storing information, a second storage device;
A power switch for controlling power supply or shut-off for driving the first storage device;
And at least the first and second storage devices, the communication device, and a control device for controlling the power switch,
When storing information acquired by the communication device,
A monitoring apparatus that controls the power switch to supply power to the first storage device. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 7, wherein power is continuously supplied to at least the control apparatus and the second storage device while the monitoring apparatus is in operation. The first storage device stores acquired information acquired by the communication device through communication,
The monitoring device according to claim 7, wherein non-acquisition information that is information other than the acquisition information is stored in the second storage device. 8. The monitoring device according to claim 7, wherein the non-acquisition information stored in the second storage device is information that is referred to when the control device controls the monitoring device. The first storage device is a magnetic storage device;
The monitoring apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the second storage device is a semiconductor memory. Before the communication device starts communication processing with the communication terminal, the power switch is controlled to supply power to the first storage device,
After storing the acquired information in the first storage device,
The monitoring apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the power switch is controlled to cut off power to the first storage device.

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