JP2005352942A - Usb equipment, host device, and usb connection system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the usability by providing USB equipment capable of executing a reset operation based on a reset from a host, a host device connected thereto, and a USB connection system to enable the reset operation such as restoration of internal communication fault. <P>SOLUTION: The USB equipment comprises a reset forcing means acquiring reset information by execution of software reset processing from a USB communication means, and making a reset object means forcingly execute the reset operation based on the reset information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a USB device, a host device, and a USB connection system in which, for example, a host device and a USB device are connected with a USB cable, and the USB device is reset and restored when a communication failure or runaway occurs.

  Conventionally, ATM internal communication failures due to line abnormalities, M / C (connection module) hang-ups, etc. have a certain frequency in the field and cannot be reduced.

  For this reason, the existing ATM is provided with a recovery means using a dedicated AC power supply OFF / ON function. Since this recovery means uses a dedicated line for recovery, the cost is inevitably increased.

  Further, since some modules are powered by DC supply, there is a problem that they cannot be restored by such restoration means.

  Furthermore, existing ATMs for convenience stores, overseas ATMs, and the like are provided with a recovery means using a hard reset function using an RS-232C (COM) signal.

  On the other hand, as a demand from the market, it is required to realize an energy saving function (sleep function) for ATM.

  When trying to realize the energy-saving function, the CPU cannot respond during the energy-saving mode, so to recover from the energy-saving mode, a dedicated signal / circuit for recovery is required, and the communication line must also have a circuit dedicated to energy-saving mode detection. It becomes.

  Under such circumstances, in recent years, it has been proposed to adopt USB (Universal Serial Bus), which is standardly installed in the main controller (personal computer), as ATM internal communication.

  And, as a method to recover by resetting the USB device in case of communication failure or runaway, a device control system that adds a dedicated line in addition to the USB line and resets the USB device via this dedicated line is proposed (See Patent Document 1).

  There has also been proposed a USB device that detects a reset on the USB line and automatically resets the USB device when a communication abnormality is found (see Patent Document 2).

JP 2003-131956 A JP 2002-373036 A

  However, the method of resetting via a dedicated line has a problem in that a general-purpose USB device must be modified along with a significant increase in cost due to the provision of a separate dedicated line.

  Further, in the method of detecting reset on the USB line and automatically resetting the USB device, the USB device always resets when the reset is entered on the USB line, which impairs the USB communication quality. .

  Further, in this case, since reset is forcibly entered by reset on the USB line, there is a problem that it is not possible to monitor the state and switch reset or energy saving.

  In view of the above-described problems, the present invention provides a USB device that can execute a forced operation based on a reset from a host, a host device connected to the USB device, and a USB connection system. The purpose is to improve availability by enabling forcible operations such as recovery.

  The present invention is a USB device provided with USB communication means for executing communication processing for data communication with a host via a USB cable and soft reset processing for resetting a communication function based on a reset signal received from the host. The USB device is provided with reset forcing means for obtaining reset information by execution of the soft reset processing from the USB communication means and forcing the reset target means to perform a reset operation based on the reset information. .

The USB communication means includes means for communicating using a USB standard, such as a USB device controller.
The reset target means includes a control device such as a CPU for controlling a USB device, another device, or a plurality of these devices.

  The reset forcing means includes a means for causing the reset target means to perform a reset operation based on reset information, such as a reset circuit or a state monitoring circuit and a reset circuit.

  With the above configuration, the USB device can execute the reset operation based on the reset information. Therefore, for example, a hard reset of the entire USB device can be performed and the availability can be increased.

As an aspect of the present invention, in the process executed by the reset forcing unit, a determination process for determining the state of the reset target unit, and whether or not to perform the reset operation based on the state determined in the determination process It is possible to set operation determination processing to be performed.
Thereby, the forced operation corresponding to the state of the reset target means can be executed.

  Further, as an aspect of the present invention, the energy saving state and the normal state of the reset target means are set in the state determined in the determination process, and the operation to be executed when the determined state is the energy saving state in the operation determination process As described above, it is possible to set a process for determining a state transition operation for causing a state transition from the energy saving state to the normal state instead of the reset operation.

  Thereby, the forced operation in the normal state and the forced operation in the energy saving state can be separated, and a reset operation such as a hard reset can be prevented in the energy saving state.

The present invention further includes a USB communication unit that performs data communication with a USB device via a USB cable, and a control unit that executes various control processes. The control unit resets the USB device when a communication error occurs. It is possible to provide a host device in which a reset signal transmission process for transmitting a signal and a retry process for transmitting a reset signal again when a communication error is not resolved even after a predetermined time has elapsed.
Thereby, the host device can reliably recover from the failure of the USB device.

In addition, the present invention can be a USB connection system in which the USB device and the host device are connected by a USB cable.
As a result, for example, the USB device can be forced to execute a connection operation using a USB connection such as communication between the host and the ATM (USB device), communication between the personal computer (host) and the scanner, printer, or the like (USB device). Reliable reset processing and state transition processing can be performed.

  According to the present invention, the USB device can be forcibly executed based on a reset from the host, and availability can be improved by recovery from an internal communication failure or the like.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
First, the USB connection system 1 configured by connecting the host 10 and the USB device 30 will be described with a block diagram of the overall configuration shown in FIG.

  In this embodiment, an ATM (cash deposit machine) is used as the USB device 30 and the USB connection system 1 is introduced into a cash deposit system using a host machine that is a host device of the ATM as the host 10.

  The USB connection system 1 is configured by connecting a host 10 composed of a personal computer (PC) and a USB device 30 with a USB cable 25.

  A USB hub 20 is interposed between the USB cable 25 connecting the host 10 and the USB device 30 so that a plurality of USB devices 30 can be connected to the USB hub 20. As a result, a plurality of USB devices 30 can be controlled by a single host 10.

  The host 10 includes a USB host controller 11 that transmits and receives signals to and from the USB device 30 via the USB cable 25. Since the host 10 is a personal computer, other components such as a control device (CPU), a storage device (hard disk), an input device (mouse, keyboard), and a display device (liquid crystal display or CRT display) not shown in the figure are also included. It is well-known that it is provided.

  The USB cable 25 is a cable for performing data transmission according to the USB standard, and is configured by four lines of VBUS, D +, D−, and GND (not shown). As is well known, VBUS supplies power and D + and D- transmit and receive signals.

  The USB device 30 includes a USB device controller 31, which includes a communication unit 31a and a detection unit 31b, a CPU 32, a reset circuit 33, and a state monitoring circuit 34.

  The USB device controller 31 includes a communication unit 31a that manages communication with the host 10 via the USB cable 25, and a detection unit 31b that detects and outputs a soft reset signal (SE0) transmitted from the host 10.

The communication unit 31a and the detection unit 31b may be divided and provided separately to connect the communication unit 31a and the detection unit 31b.
The soft reset signal (SE0) indicates a state in which the host 10 outputs 0 V to both D + and D− which are signal lines in the USB cable 25 for a predetermined time or more.

  The CPU 32 is a main control unit of the USB device 30 and executes various control operations of the entire USB device 30. The operation stops in the energy saving mode.

  When the reset circuit 33 receives the hard reset signal from the state monitoring circuit 34, the reset circuit 33 applies a hard reset to the entire USB device 30 including the CPU 32.

  The state monitoring circuit 34 receives the energy saving state signal and the energy saving clear signal from the CPU 32 and monitors the state of the CPU 32. When a soft reset detection signal is received from the detection unit 31 b of the USB device controller 31, either a hard reset signal is transmitted to the reset circuit 33 or an energy saving release signal is transmitted to the CPU 32 depending on the state of the CPU 32. .

  Since the USB device 30 is an ATM, in addition to the control device (CPU 32), a storage device (hard disk), an input device (touch panel), a display device (liquid crystal display or CRT display) and a cash processing device (not shown) are also shown. It is well known that it is equipped with (determination of authenticity and denomination of money).

  With the above configuration, the USB device 30 selects one process from a plurality of processes such as a hard reset process or an energy saving cancellation process, depending on the state of the CPU 32, for one type of signal called a soft reset signal received from the host 10. Can be executed.

  Next, the operation of the USB device 30 will be described with reference to the timing chart shown in FIG. 2 and the processing flowcharts shown in FIGS.

  First, when the host 10 outputs a soft reset signal (SE0) and the USB device controller 31 receives the soft reset signal as shown at timing A, the detection unit 31b outputs the soft reset detection signal as shown at timing B. To do.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the state monitoring circuit 34 stands by until the soft reset signal is received. When the soft reset signal is detected (step n1), the state of the energy saving instruction (FIG. 2) is confirmed to check the CPU status. It is confirmed whether (FIG. 2) is a normal mode (step n2).

  In the normal mode (step n2: YES), as a hard reset process, a hard reset signal is output to the reset circuit 33 at the timing C (FIG. 2), and an entire reset is output from the reset circuit 33 for a certain period of time. (Step n3), and the process ends.

  When a certain period of time has elapsed since the execution of the hard reset, the normal mode is restored as shown in timing D (FIG. 2).

  The transition to the energy saving mode is performed by receiving an energy saving command from the host 10 as shown in the timing E (FIG. 2).

  That is, as shown in the process flow diagram of FIG. 4, when a command for instructing transition to an energy saving state is received (step s1: YES), the CPU 32 transmits an energy saving state signal to the state monitoring circuit 34 at timing F (step s2). ).

At timing G, the watchdog timer is switched from Enable to Disable, and the system CLK is stopped at the same time.
In this way, the mode is changed to the energy saving mode (step s3), and the process is terminated.

  When a soft reset is received from the host 10 as shown at timing H during the energy saving mode, that is, when the CPU status is not the normal mode at step n2 in FIG. 3 (step n2: NO), the mode is changed to the normal mode. Execute transition processing.

  In this transition process, first, the system CLK is started with the watchdog timer set to Enable as shown in timing J (FIG. 2).

  As shown in timing K (FIG. 2), an energy saving cancellation signal is output (step n4), and as shown in timing L (FIG. 2), the energy saving instruction is cleared and a transition is made to the normal mode (step n5).

  With the above operation, when the host 10 cannot obtain a normal response from the USB device 30, the host 10 can recover the USB device 30 so that it can respond only by transmitting the soft reset signal (SE0).

  That is, according to the soft reset detection signal output from the detection unit 31b, the state monitoring circuit 34 performs a hard reset of the entire USB device 30 if the CPU 32 is in the normal mode, and transitions to the normal mode if the CPU 32 is in the energy saving mode. .

  As a result, even when the CPU 32 does not respond to the host 10 because it is in the energy saving mode, it is possible to prevent a hard reset from being applied, and to restore the USB device 30 to a state where it can respond to the host 10 with an optimal operation. Can do.

  Further, since the recovery is performed by the soft reset detection signal from the detection unit 31b, it is possible to recover from almost any failure state as shown in the table of FIG.

Specifically, if the USB host controller 11 is normal, recovery can be performed regardless of whether the CPU 32 is normal or runaway.
Even if the USB host controller 11 runs away or hangs up, recovery can be performed regardless of whether the CPU 32 is normal or runaway as long as a soft reset detection signal (for example, INI1) can be output.

Further, when the USB host controller 11 is normal but a power transmission abnormality or a line connection disconnection has occurred, the recovery can be performed if the CPU 32 is normal.
By dealing with such various cases, it is possible to recover in most cases and sufficiently increase availability.

  In addition, although the said Example demonstrated the type corresponding to the recovery from an energy saving mode, it can also be set as the structure which does not respond | correspond to an energy saving mode.

  In this case, in the block diagram shown in FIG. 1, the state monitoring circuit 34 is replaced with an interrupt detection circuit, the transmission of the energy saving state signal, the energy saving clear signal, and the energy saving release signal is deleted, and the reset circuit 33 is changed from the interrupt detection circuit. It is only necessary that the entire USB device 30 be reset.

  In this case, the timing chart shown in FIG. 2 may be the same from the beginning to the recovery to the normal mode shown at timing D.

  With this configuration, it is possible to provide a USB device 30 that can execute a hard reset in accordance with an instruction from the host 10 with a simple configuration that can eliminate the monitoring of whether or not it is in the energy saving mode.

In addition, the control device of the host 10 performs a retry process of transmitting a soft reset signal again if normal communication with the USB device 30 is not possible after a certain time has elapsed after the soft reset signal to the USB device 30. It is good to set.
This retry process may be set to a predetermined number of times, such as twice or three times.
As a result, it is possible to cope with a case where the hardware reset or the like of the USB device 30 cannot be performed due to the runaway of the CPU 32 of the USB device 30.

That is, if the runaway CPU 32 clears the interrupt immediately after the detection unit 31b outputs the soft reset detection signal, the state monitoring circuit 34 (or the interrupt detection circuit) cannot receive the soft reset detection signal. .
However, since this occurs due to an accident related to timing, if it is re-executed by retry, there is a high possibility that the USB device 30 can be normally reset hard, and the USB device 30 is reliably restored. be able to.
In this way, the USB device 30 can be reliably restored by retrying and repeating the same operation.

  Further, although the state monitoring circuit 34 is configured to receive the soft reset detection signal from the detection unit 31b, the state monitoring circuit 34 may be configured to acquire the presence or absence of a soft reset from the detection unit 31b.

  In addition, the USB device 30 may be another device used by connecting to a host, such as a ticket vending machine that sells a ticket or a station ticket gate that controls entrance / exit of a station.

In correspondence between the configuration of the present invention and the above-described embodiment,
The control means of the present invention corresponds to the control device of the host 10 of the embodiment,
Similarly,
The USB communication means of the host corresponds to the USB host controller 11,
The USB communication means of the USB device corresponds to the USB device controller 31,
The reset target means corresponds to the USB device controller 31 and the CPU 32,
The reset forcing means corresponds to the USB device controller 31 and the reset circuit 33,
The determination process and the operation determination process correspond to step n2,
The reset operation corresponds to the reset process (step n3).
The state transition operation corresponds to the transition process (steps n4 to n5).
The present invention is not limited only to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, and many embodiments can be obtained.

The block diagram which shows the whole structure of a USB connection system. The timing chart figure which shows the timing of operation | movement. The processing flowchart which shows operation | movement of the state monitoring circuit of USB apparatus. The processing flowchart which shows operation | movement of the state monitoring circuit of USB apparatus. The figure which shows the recovery possibility by a state of USB apparatus with a table | surface.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... USB connection system 10 ... Host 11 ... USB host controller 25 ... USB cable 30 ... USB apparatus 31 ... USB device controller 32 ... CPU
33 ... Reset circuit

Claims (5)

A USB device comprising USB communication means for executing communication processing for data communication with a host via a USB cable, and soft reset processing for resetting a communication function based on a reset signal received from the host,
A USB device provided with reset forcing means for acquiring reset information from execution of the soft reset process from the USB communication means and forcing the reset target means to perform a reset operation based on the reset information. In the processing executed by the reset forcing means,
A determination process for determining the state of the reset target means;
The USB device according to claim 1, further comprising: an operation determination process that determines whether or not to execute the reset operation based on the state determined in the determination process. Set the energy saving state and normal state of the reset target means in the state determined in the determination process
The operation determining process is configured to set a process for determining a state transition operation for performing a state transition from an energy saving state to a normal state, instead of the reset operation, as an operation to be executed when the determined state is an energy saving state. The USB device described. USB communication means for data communication with a USB device via a USB cable;
Control means for executing various control processes,
In the control means,
A reset signal transmission process for transmitting a reset signal to a USB device when a communication error occurs;
A host device that is set with retry processing for transmitting a reset signal again when a communication error is not resolved even after a predetermined time has elapsed. The USB device according to claim 1, 2, or 3,
A USB connection system in which the host device according to claim 4 is connected by a USB cable.

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