JP2005242805A - Event display system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To notify a manager or a user appropriately of an event such as a failure or abnormality when it happens with an inexpensive structure without providing any additional equipment such as a serial port interface or a dedicated power supply. <P>SOLUTION: The system comprises a first device for monitoring whether or not there is an event occurrence such as failure of equipment to be monitored and controlled or software to be monitored and sending to a second device of a preset address a message corresponding to contents of the detected event when the event is detected; and the second device for displaying the event contents by a combination of colors corresponding to the event by analyzing the message received from the first device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an event display system that uses a computer display screen to visually notify an event such as a failure or an abnormality when a failure or abnormality occurs inside the computer to be monitored or the computer being monitored. Is.

Conventionally, as means for visually informing various events, for example, the one described in Patent Document 1 below is known.
What is described in Patent Document 1 below relates to a signal indicator lamp (hereinafter referred to as “signal lamp”). This uses a plurality of light emitting devices (such as LEDs) stacked up and down, and displays a signal corresponding to the occurrence event each time.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-75005 (page 3, FIG. 1)

  However, although the technology described in Patent Document 1 can be visually communicated by loading a plurality of light emitting devices, such as lighting red or yellow depending on the event level. Some prerequisites for use include physical wiring, dedicated power supplies, and physical installation interfaces (such as a computer serial port) that must be equipped with a computer. It is necessary to provide additional equipment as a condition, and there is a problem that the cost of the additional equipment increases when displaying a failure or abnormality of the computer.

  The object of the present invention is to visually confirm this event to an administrator or user when an event such as a failure or abnormality occurs in an inexpensive configuration without providing additional equipment such as a serial port interface or a dedicated power source. It is an object to provide an event display system that can notify a user.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention monitors whether or not an event such as a failure of a monitoring target device or monitoring target software has occurred, and sets a second destination device at the time of detection of the event. On the other hand, the first device that transmits a message corresponding to the content of the detected event and the message received from the first device are analyzed, and the event content is displayed on the display screen by a combination of colors corresponding to the event. A second device for displaying is provided.
In addition, the second device displays the event content on a display screen by a combination of colors corresponding to the event based on the analysis result of the message, and displays characters indicating the event content. .
In addition, the second device stores the history of the analysis result of the message in association with the time when the event occurred and the name of the first device for the event that occurred in the past, and the time and the first device In accordance with the designation operation of the device name, the event content is displayed on the display screen by a combination of colors corresponding to the event.

  According to the present invention, when an event such as a failure or abnormality occurs in an inexpensive configuration without providing additional equipment such as a serial port interface or a dedicated power supply, this event is visually confirmed to the administrator or user. Can be notified.

Hereinafter, an embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
In the system shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1, when an event such as a failure or abnormality occurs, the occurrence of this event is notified, and the computer 1 that displays the occurrence event on the screen of the display 3 and the event such as an abnormality A computer 2 for notifying the computer 1 of the occurrence is provided.
The computer 2 monitors a hardware failure or a software failure in the monitored device that it monitors, and when an event such as a hardware failure is detected, sends a message of the failure content or abnormality content to the computer 1 To do.
Although FIG. 1 shows only one computer 2 that detects and notifies a failure or abnormality, there are specifically a plurality of computers 2.
On the other hand, the computer 1 is placed in a place where an administrator or a person in charge of trouble countermeasures is present, and is configured to be able to always receive a message from the computer 2 through the network 4.
When the computer 1 receives a message such as the occurrence of a failure from the computer 2, it analyzes it and displays the content of the failure in a corresponding color on the screen of the display 3 of the computer 1. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, an 8-color configuration screen is displayed.
Note that the computer 1 is not a dedicated computer that receives and displays the contents of the failure, and may itself have a function of monitoring various types of monitoring target devices in the same manner as the computer 2.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG. 1 in more detail.
In FIG. 2, 21 is a monitoring device such as various detectors and sensors, and 22 is a monitoring tool (program) for monitoring a software failure. Reference numeral 23 denotes a computer main body, and transmission software 24 is stored in an internal memory. The transmission software 24 includes a command analysis unit 241, an information acquisition unit 242, a program execution unit 243, a message output unit 244, and a result output unit 245. A database 249 is provided in the internal memory 24 of the computer main body 23, and destination information 246 for transmitting an event such as a failure, display content information 247, and schedule information 248 are stored.
A display 27 is connected to the computer main body 23. The computer main body 23 and the monitoring device 21 are connected via a contact input device 25. The computer main body 23 can be connected to the network 4 by a network connection device 26.
On the other hand, a computer 1 that receives a message that an event such as a failure has occurred includes a computer main body 11, and reception software 12 and a database 125 are stored in its internal memory.
The reception software 12 includes a message reception unit 121, a message analysis unit 122, a program execution unit 123, and a screen display unit 124, and stores information (operation information) received from the computer 1 in a database 125.
The computer main body 12 is connected to the network 4 via the network connection device 14. The computer main body 11 is connected to a display 3 that displays an event occurring at the message transmission source in a color combination corresponding to the event, based on the analysis result of the received message such as a failure.

The output contact of the monitoring device 21 is connected to the contact input device 25, and the contact input device 25 and the computer main body 23 are connected by an RS-232C interface. When the monitoring device 21 detects an abnormality of the device to be monitored, the contact output is taken into the computer main body 23 via the contact input device 25 and RS-232C, and the transmission software 24 executes the notification command in response to that.
For example, when a fuel tank remaining amount sensor is used for the monitoring device 21, a warning is issued from the sensor itself when the fuel falls below a certain amount, but the warning signal (contact output) of the sensor is input as a contact. There is a scene in which the transmission software 24 operating on the computer main body 23 executes the notification command after being taken into the computer main body 23 via the device 25.
Note that the monitoring tool 22 may operate on another computer connected to the computer main body 23 via the network 4 or may operate on the same computer 23 in which the transmission software 24 is stored. In the monitoring tool 22, an execution command for an abnormal event is defined in advance. When an abnormal event actually occurs, a notification command of the transmission software 24 is automatically executed according to the defined command. For example, when network monitoring software is used for the monitoring tool 22, the display content of the screen changes when an abnormal event occurs. A notification command for the transmission software 4 is defined in advance as an automatic action when the event occurs. There is a scene where a command is automatically executed when an event occurs.
In either case, by executing the command automatically, it is possible to transmit information with immediacy and less leakage. When a command of the transmission software 24 is executed, first, the command analysis unit 241 analyzes the command and arguments / options, and based on the analysis result, destination information 246 and display content information 247 defined in advance by the information acquisition unit 42. The schedule information 248 is acquired, the analyzed command is executed by the program execution unit 243, and the operation instruction message defined in the display content information 247 is output (transmitted) from the message output unit 244 to the destination indicated by the destination information 246. ) The execution result and history are output to a file by the result output unit 245.
The message transmitted by the transmission software 4 is received by the reception software 12 of the computer 1 connected to the network based on the destination information 246.
The reception software 12 first receives the message transmitted by the transmission software 24 at the message reception unit 121 and stores it in the database 125 as operation information. Next, the message analysis unit 122 analyzes the stored message of the operation information, executes the program execution unit 123 based on the analysis result, and the screen display unit 124 displays the color corresponding to the analysis result on the display device 3. Visualize and display events such as faults in combination.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram relating to cooperation with the monitoring device 21 (hardware). As a configuration, the ON / OFF output contact of each monitoring device (21 </ b> A to 21 </ b> C) is connected to each contact of the contact input device 25.
Each of the monitoring devices 21A to 21C closes the contact (ON operation) when an abnormality is detected. Numbers from 1 are assigned to the contacts of the contact input device 25. For example, the monitoring device A (21A) is connected to “contact 1” of the contact input device 25, and the monitoring device B (21B) is connected to “contact 2”. Connect, and so on. In addition, display contents corresponding to each contact are defined in advance in the database 249.
The contact input device 25 is connected to the computer 2 on which the transmission software 24 operates, and periodically checks the state (ON / OFF) of each contact of the contact input device 25 from the transmission software 24.
Here, for example, when an abnormality is detected in the monitoring device A (21A), the contact of the monitoring device A (21A) is closed (ON operation), and at the same time, “contact 1” of the contact input device 25 is closed. The state of the contact input device 25 is detected by the transmission software 24, and the transmission software 24 performs notification processing according to the transmission definition (destination, display content, schedule, etc.) for “contact 1”.
Similarly, when an abnormality is detected in the monitoring device B (21B), transmission processing is performed according to the transmission definition for “contact 2”, and when an abnormality is detected in the monitoring device C (21C), for “contact 3”. Transmission processing is performed according to the transmission definition.
In this way, by changing the contact point to which the monitoring device 21 is connected and defining the transmission contents corresponding to each in advance by the transmission software 24, it is possible to perform different transmission processing for each monitoring device 21. The definition of the transmission content will be described later with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram relating to cooperation with the monitoring tool 22 (software). In the monitoring tool 22, a transmission command provided by the transmission software 24 is defined as an automatic action for a failure to be detected. The contents of the transmission command can be changed according to the detected fault, such as a transmission definition for the fault A and a transmission definition for the fault B.
For example, when the monitoring tool 22 detects a failure A, an example of a command to be executed is as follows:
"Send command (Cmd) △ Destination (A) (△ is a space character)"
Is defined to be executed. Then, when a failure A occurs, this command is automatically executed and transmission to the destination (A) is performed. Similarly, for the failure B, by defining a command to be executed, a transmission process corresponding to the command can be performed. The definition of the transmission content will be described later with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of processing after the transmission command in the transmission software 4 is activated.
When the command is activated, “destination information” managed by the transmission software 24 is extracted based on information (argument / option) at the time of command designation (step 501).
When the destination information is extracted, the schedule information 71 (FIG. 7) of the destination is sequentially referred to (step 503), and the execution time for each notification medium (notification means such as a signal lamp, telephone, and mail) is the suppression time. Whether it is a belt is confirmed (step 504).
As shown in FIG. 7, when the time from 0 o'clock to 2 o'clock is the transmission inhibition time zone and the time at the time of command execution does not correspond to this, information to be transmitted as a message (for example, FIGS. 6-63, 64) It is acquired (step 505) and transmitted to the destination specified by the destination information 62 (step 506).
Finally, the transmission result is output to a file (step 507).
As the output contents to the file, as shown in FIG. 8, the execution date and the operation contents are output. In this way, it is possible to leave to which destination and when, and whether or not it is transmitted.
In FIG. 6, the group ID indicates the identification number of the group to which the group belongs when there are one or more destination computers.
Further, the definition content indicated by 63 in FIG. 6 indicates that the color in which the circle is described is displayed.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing processing of the reception software 12.
When a message is transmitted from the transmission software 24 to the computer 1, the reception software 12 of the computer 1 receives the message (step 901) and temporarily stores the received message (step 902). The reception software 12 extracts and analyzes the stored message (step 903), and extracts operation information managed by the reception software 12 (step 904). When the operation information is extracted, when the screen (window) for displaying the color is in a closed state, the screen is opened (step 905), and the color designated by the transmission software 24 and the message text are displayed (step 906). .
If a confirmation operation is performed on the screen displayed in color (step 907), the screen is closed (step 908).

FIG. 10 is an image diagram that the reception software 12 displays on the screen of the display 3.
When the monitoring software 22 detects a failure in the computer 2, for example, when the display content information 247 defined in the transmission software 24 is as shown in FIG. In this case, since it is defined that the destination: IP address 100.100.100.10 is displayed for all colors as shown in 63 of FIG. 6, it is displayed in the display area 131 as shown in FIG. Eight kinds of colors are displayed, and the message text “Failure....” Is displayed in the display area 132 as indicated by 64 in FIG.
When the destination is “host name host1”, it is defined that “color 1” and “color 2” are displayed as indicated by 63 in FIG. 6, so the portions (1) and (2) in FIG. Are displayed, and (3) to (8) are not displayed. Further, as shown by 64 in FIG. 6, the message text “Warning....” Is displayed.

In this way, using the computer screen, like the signal lights, the contents of the failure can be visually notified, the detailed contents can be displayed by text, and the received text can be notified by voice using software such as reading aloud. Is possible. The person who listened to the voice can immediately notice that something happened, and after seeing it, it can visually determine whether it is an important level, a warning level or a caution level from the display color, Furthermore, it is possible to know the detailed contents from the text.
Also, for example, when an event A occurs, a command is started by specifying a group ID = 1000, and when an event B occurs, a command is started by specifying a group ID = 2000. It is possible to change the combination of colors to be displayed and the sentence and voice to be notified.
Furthermore, in the screen display example of FIG. 10, it is possible to review messages received in the past, and the notification content does not disappear unlike hardware.
For example, by selecting the reception date and time of the portion 133 with the mouse, it is possible to reproduce the color display and the text display instructed at that time again. In addition, it is possible to search by date or source computer name, and easily find the notification contents to be reviewed.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, (1) wiring, a power source, and an interface for driving the light emitting device according to the event are not necessary, and the cost can be reduced. (2) Since an event such as a failure is displayed on the display screen in a color combination corresponding to the event, the administrator can accurately identify the event such as a failure without looking at small characters or icons. And so on.
Application examples of the present invention include the following.
(1) In a system that monitors networks and computer equipment, informs a person in charge at a remote location when an abnormality is detected.
(2) Immediately notify the person in charge when the job ends abnormally during nighttime batch operation.
(3) The remaining amount of the fuel tank is monitored by a sensor, and when the amount falls below the threshold value, it is notified to the administrator.
(4) If the factory production line stops, notify the person in charge in the remote building.
The above is an example, but the present invention can be applied in various situations that require notification.
Note that the computer to be used does not have to be a dedicated computer, and may be shared with, for example, OA business. Only when an event occurs, the screen changes, and if the notification is confirmed, the OA operation can be continued.
In the above embodiment, the computer 2 is used as a device that receives a signal from the monitoring device 21 and transmits the event content. However, a failure monitoring device having a similar function may be used.
The computer 1 may also be a dedicated device having the same function as the computer 1. In short, it is only necessary to be configured so that an event such as a failure can be displayed in a combination of colors according to the contents.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structure of FIG. It is a block diagram regarding cooperation with monitoring equipment (hardware). It is a block diagram regarding cooperation with monitoring equipment (software). It is a flowchart which shows the process after a command is started by transmission software. It is a figure which shows an example of the notification destination information and notification content in transmission software. It is a figure which shows an example of the schedule information in transmission software. It is a figure which shows the example of an execution result and historical information. It is a flowchart which shows the outline | summary of the process sequence of receiving software. It is a figure which shows the example of the display screen using this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Computer 2 ... Computer 3 ... Display 4 ... Network 12 ... Reception software 21 ... Monitoring equipment (hardware)
22 ... Monitoring tool (software)
24 ... Transmission software 26 ... Network connection device 25 ... Contact input device

Claims (3)

  Monitors the occurrence of an event such as a failure of the monitored device or monitored software, and when the event is detected, sends a message corresponding to the content of the detected event to the second device set in advance. A first apparatus for transmitting and a second apparatus for analyzing the message received from the first apparatus and displaying event contents on a display screen by a combination of colors corresponding to the events are provided. Event display system.   The second device displays an event content on a display screen by a combination of colors corresponding to the event based on an analysis result of the message, and displays a character indicating the event content. 2. The event display system according to 1.   The second device stores the history of the analysis result of the message in association with the time when the event occurred and the name of the first device with respect to the event that occurred in the past. 3. The event display system according to claim 1, wherein the event content is displayed on a display screen by a combination of colors corresponding to the event in accordance with a name specifying operation.

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