JP2011048577A - Failure monitoring system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide technology for avoiding collision between transmission information and transmission information even when the transmission information from a failure detection server is transmitted to an apparatus such as a camera controlled via a network in the same timing as the transmission information from a client of a management server. <P>SOLUTION: The failure detection server 102 transmits, to the management server 101, a state acquisition request to the camera device 301 as a pseudo client (S21). The management server 101 having received the state acquisition request recognizes the failure detection server 102 as a normal client, and transmits a state acquisition request to the camera device 301 similarly to a request from a first client 201 (S22). The camera device 301 having received the state acquisition request executes requested control, and transmits a response to the management server 101 (S23). The management server 101 transmits the response received from the camera device 301 to the failure detection server 102 (S24). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a failure monitoring system, for example, a failure monitoring system for detecting a failure of a device such as a camera connected to a network line.

  Surveillance systems that perform surveillance using a camera or the like connected to a network line have been realized and are used in various fields. Such a monitoring system includes a management server that manages and controls a camera, a network disk recorder (NDR), an encoding / decoding device, and the like. Further, the management server performs simple failure detection processing for the device.

  Several systems have been proposed for effectively performing such failure detection processing. For example, when a plurality of devices to be monitored are provided, a system having a function of transmitting a failure confirmation request message to all devices and a function of transmitting a failure confirmation request message to a specified device has been proposed. (See Patent Document 1). In this system, a failure confirmation request message is transmitted to all devices, and then a device in which an abnormality is confirmed is selected and a failure confirmation request message for confirmation of restoration is transmitted.

JP-A-2005-190422

  By the way, in general, when the management server that controls the device also detects the failure of the device, if a detailed failure detection process is to be implemented in the management server, the processing structure is very complicated due to the relationship with the existing device control process. There was a problem that it often ends up. On the other hand, in order to solve such a problem, when a failure detection server specialized for device failure detection is newly installed, it is directly from the failure detection server, just like the management server that controls the camera. Status acquisition control was performed for the camera. In that case, there is a possibility that the control from the management server and the control from the failure detection server collide, and one of them becomes an error and is lost.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional situation, and transmits information from a client (operation terminal) of a management server to a device such as a camera controlled via a network, and from a failure detection server. An object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of avoiding a collision between transmission information (control information) even when transmission information is transmitted at the same timing.

  An apparatus according to the present invention includes a management server, a client of the management server, a device connected to a network and managed by the management server, and a failure detection server having a failure detection function of the device. The failure detection server performs an operation on the device via the management server, and the management server sets the failure detection server as a pseudo client of the management server when operating on the device. Recognize as

  According to the present invention, even when the transmission information from the client (operation terminal) of the management server and the transmission information from the failure detection server are transmitted at the same timing to a device such as a camera controlled via the network, It is possible to provide a technique capable of avoiding collision of transmission information with each other.

It is a figure showing an outline of a surveillance system concerning an embodiment of an invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the process with respect to a camera apparatus from the client based on embodiment of invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the process with respect to a camera apparatus from the failure detection server based on embodiment of invention. It is a flowchart explaining the camera exclusive process function in the failure detection server based on embodiment of invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a request | requirement queue when the camera exclusive processing function in the failure detection server based on embodiment of invention is performed.

  Next, modes for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter, simply referred to as “embodiments”) will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a monitoring system 100 according to the present embodiment. The outline of the present embodiment is that information transmitted from the first to third clients 201 to 203 to the camera device 301 via the management server 101 (control) by using a camera control exclusive processing function implemented in the management server 101. Information) and transmission information (status acquisition request) from the failure detection server 102 are transmitted at the same timing, so that collision of transmission information with each other is avoided. This will be described in detail below.

  As shown in the figure, in the monitoring system 100, a management server 101, first to third clients 201 to 203, a camera device 301, a device 302, and a failure detection server 102 are connected via a LAN line 190. The management server 101 has a function for comprehensively managing the entire system, and controls the camera device 301 and the device 302. The first to third clients 201 to 203 are terminals for operating the management server 101 using a screen application. The user uses the first to third clients 201 to 203 to operate the device 302 or make a control request to the camera device 301 or the device 302.

  The camera device 301 is a network-compatible device, for example, installed at a desired location as a surveillance camera (a disaster prevention camera, a security camera, etc.), and controlled by the management server 101 as described above. 3 clients 201-203. Further, the failure state of the camera device 301 is managed by the failure detection server 102. The device 302 is a device managed by the management server 101 like the camera device 301, and is, for example, an NDR.

  The failure detection server 102 monitors the state of the camera device 301, particularly the presence or absence of a failure. In the present embodiment, the failure detection server 102 does not directly make various control requests to the camera device 301, but via the management server 101 in a pseudo manner, similar to the first to third clients 201 to 203. The camera apparatus 301 is controlled with the status of This is because when the control requests of the first to third clients 201 to 203 and the control request from the camera device 301 are made at the same timing, those control requests collide, and one of the control requests becomes an error. This is to prevent the loss.

  A basic process of the monitoring system 100 having such a configuration will be described with reference to FIG. Here, it is assumed that the first client 201 among the first to third clients 201 to 203 is operated by the user. First, a control request from the first client 201 to a device such as the camera device 301 or the device 302 is transmitted as control information to the management server 101 (S11). Upon receiving the control request, the management server 101 transmits the control request to the target device, here the camera device 301 (S12). Upon receiving the control request from the management server 101, the camera device 301 executes the requested control and transmits a response to the management server 101 (S13). Then, the management server 101 transmits the response received from the camera device 301 to the first client 201 (S14).

  Next, processing when the state of the camera device 301 is acquired from the failure detection server 102 will be described with reference to FIG. As a pseudo client, the failure detection server 102 transmits a status acquisition request to the camera device 301 as control information to the management server 101 (S21). The management server 101 that has received the status acquisition request from the camera device 301 recognizes the failure detection server 102 as a normal client, like the first client 201 and the like. Therefore, the management server 101 transmits a status acquisition request to the camera device 301 in the same manner as the request from the first client 201 (S22). Upon receiving the status acquisition request, the camera device 301 executes the requested control and transmits a response to the management server 101 (S23). Then, the management server 101 transmits the response received from the camera device 301 to the failure detection server 102 (S24).

  Next, camera control exclusion processing of the management server 101 will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 4 and the request queue of the management server 101 shown in FIG. The request queue is a queue (data structure) for accumulating processing requests, for example, a FIFO (First In First Out) structure. Here, it is assumed that when a status acquisition request is transmitted from the failure detection server 102, control information has already been transmitted from the first client 201, and the control information has been transmitted from the management server 101 to the camera device 301. To do. In the request queue, “client name”, “IP address” of the client, “control information” type, and “request time” are described. It is assumed that control information from the second client 202 has already been stored.

  Upon receiving a status acquisition request for the camera device 301 from the failure detection server 102 (S110), the management server 101 checks whether a control request for the camera device 301 from another client (201 to 203) is being executed. (S112). When there is no control request for the camera device 301 (N in S112), the management server 101 transmits a status acquisition request from the failure detection server 102 to the camera device 301 (S114).

  When the control request from the first client 201 to the camera device 301 is being executed (Y in S112), the management server 101 stores the status acquisition request from the failure detection server 102 in the request queue (S116). As shown in the example of the request queue of FIG. 5A, two request requests from the second client 202 are already stored in the request queue. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5B, the status acquisition request from the management server 101 is stored as the third control request. Next, the management server 101 confirms the request queue and sequentially executes control requests stored in the request queue (S118). When the failure detection server 102 finishes executing the control request stored prior to the state acquisition request, the failure detection server 102 transmits the state acquisition request from the failure detection server 102 to the camera device 301 (S120). When receiving a response to the transmission of the status acquisition request (S114 or S120) from the camera device 301 (S122), the failure detection server 102 transmits the received response to the camera device 301 (S124).

  Contrary to the above conditions, if there is a control request from the first client 201 or the like while a status acquisition request from the failure detection server 102 is being transmitted to the camera device 301, the control request is sent to the request queue in the same manner as the above processing. And is executed after the previous status acquisition request or the like is completed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, by providing the failure detection server 102 specialized for device failure detection separately from the management server 101 that controls the camera device 301, an operation such as program update can be performed as an independent program. Also from the viewpoint, the influence on other systems can be reduced. In addition, since the failure detection server 102 becomes a pseudo client for the management server 101 in the process of acquiring the status of the camera device 301, the existing camera control exclusive processing function and the like implemented in the management server 101 can be used. . Therefore, a control collision or the like can be avoided. Furthermore, since the processing is specialized for device failure detection and has a relatively simple configuration, functions can be easily added or changed, and costs can be reduced.

  The present invention has been described based on the embodiments. This embodiment is an exemplification, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to combinations of these components, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. For example, if the management server 101 that has received a status acquisition request from the failure detection server 102 to the camera device 301 has a process (control information) being executed earlier as a process for the camera device 301, the status acquisition is performed at the end of the request queue. Stored the request. For example, the status acquisition request from the camera device 301 may be processed to be accumulated at the head of the request queue as control information having a high priority. Moreover, a priority level may be given to the control information transmitted from the failure detection server 102 according to the type. In the case of control information with a low priority level, for example, a status acquisition request for regular processing, the management server 101 stores the status acquisition request received at the end of the request queue. On the other hand, in the case of control information having a high priority level, for example, a status acquisition request by a user's specific operation, the management server 101 accumulates the status acquisition request received first in the request queue. By such processing, more flexible processing can be performed, and monitoring of the camera device 301 in an emergency can be performed more effectively.

Embodiments of the present invention are summarized as follows.
A failure monitoring system comprising: a management server; a client of the management server; a device connected to a network and managed by the management server; and a failure detection server having a failure detection function of the device. The detection server performs an operation on the device via the management server, and the management server recognizes the failure detection server as a pseudo client of the management server when performing an operation on the device.
In addition, when the management server receives control information from the failure detection server to the device, the failure detection is performed when the control information from the client has already been transmitted and the control operation is being performed on the device. The control information from the server may be stored in the request queue.
Further, the management server may store control information from failure detection at the end of the request queue.
The management server may store control information from the failure detection server at the head of the request queue.
In addition, the failure detection server assigns a priority level and transmits the control information, and the management server determines a storage location of the control information from the failure detection server in the request queue according to the priority level. May be.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Monitoring system 101 Management server 102 Failure detection server 201-203 1st-3rd client 301 Camera apparatus 190 LAN line

Claims (1)

A failure monitoring system comprising a management server, a client of the management server, a device connected to a network and managed by the management server, and a failure detection server having a failure detection function of the device,
The failure detection server performs an operation on the device via the management server,
The management server recognizes the fault detection server as a pseudo client of the management server when operating the device.

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