JP2012208578A - Analyzer control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem in which: in an analyzer control system for operating an analyzer, when failure occurs in an analyzer control server, even if the analyzer is normally operating, it is necessary to intercept analysis under execution and to perform re-analysis again.SOLUTION: An analyzer control server transmits analysis condition information about analysis being controlled and analysis data to a system control server at a predetermined time interval. When the system control server detects failure in the analyzer control server, the system control server determines a new allocation destination from among other analyzer control servers operating normally, transmits the analysis condition information stored in an analysis information storage section and the analysis data to the analyzer control server that is the allocation destination, and transmits an instruction to continue and execute control of analysis of the analyzer to the analyzer control server.

Description

  The present invention relates to a network connection type analyzer control system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system capable of continuing the analysis even if a failure occurs in the analyzer control server in such a system.

  In the present invention, the analysis apparatus includes any form of apparatus that measures the physical quantity of a sample to be measured.

Analysis devices such as a chromatograph device, a spectrophotometer, and a mass spectrometer are usually connected to an analysis device control server for controlling the analysis device and collecting data.
Conventionally, the analyzer and the analyzer control server generally have a one-to-one connection using a cable such as RS-232C. However, this requires a separate analyzer control server for each analyzer, which is costly, and the analyst has to bother to operate and control where the analyzer is installed. This is accompanied by the inconvenience of having to.

  In view of such circumstances, in recent years, a system for monitoring and controlling an analysis apparatus from a remote terminal through a network by incorporating a network communication module into an analysis apparatus or an analysis apparatus control server has become common.

  In such a network-connected analyzer control system, in addition to (usually a plurality of) analyzers and analyzer control servers on a network, a terminal computer for analyzing instructions and analysis results, and the entire system System control servers for controlling the above are connected to each other, and various data are exchanged via the network.

  In a network-connected analyzer control system, various devices are connected to each other, so if a problem occurs in one part of the system, it may affect other analyzes and data processing. high. For this reason, not only is the system configured so that it does not easily cause problems, but in the unlikely event that a failure occurs, a system that can detect and restore the failure as quickly as possible. It is important to build it.

  An example of a system that can quickly recover from a failure is the system described in Patent Document 1. In this system, the analysis apparatus control server transmits analysis condition information relating to the setting of the analysis apparatus to the data management server at a certain timing, and the data management server stores the analysis condition information. With this configuration, even if a failure occurs in the analyzer control server and the analysis condition information is lost, the analysis condition information stored in the data management server can be analyzed By transmitting to the device control server, it is possible to quickly perform failure recovery of the entire system.

JP 2008-158934 A

  In the conventional analyzer control system including the invention described in Patent Document 1, the analysis data that is the result output from the analyzer when the analysis is executed is held in the analyzer control server. When the analysis of the number is completed, the data is transmitted from the analyzer control server to the data management server and stored.

  In such a system configuration, when a failure occurs in the analyzer control server during the execution of the analysis, updating of the information of the analysis data stored in the analyzer control server is terminated halfway, or the analysis data itself Disappears. In this case, even if the analyzer is operating normally, it is necessary to stop the operation of the analyzer, end the analysis, and re-execute the same analysis. This involves a problem of time and cost loss because it takes time and effort to set a sample again and instruct the execution of reanalysis. Further, when the amount of the sample is small or the sample is valuable, it may be difficult to re-execute the analysis under the same conditions.

  From the above points, even if a failure occurs in the analysis apparatus control server during the execution of analysis, a system that can continue the analysis without losing the analysis data is desired.

An analyzer control system according to the present invention, which has been made to solve the above-described problems, includes an analyzer and analysis condition information that is data relating to settings of the analyzer, and controls the analyzer In a network-connected analyzer control system, in which a plurality of analyzer control servers that perform data collection and a system control server that manages the entire system are connected via a network,
The analyzer control server is
An analysis information transmitting unit that transmits analysis condition information of the analysis device to be controlled and analysis data received from the analysis device every moment as the analysis is performed to the system control server at a predetermined time interval;
The system control server is
An analysis information storage unit for storing analysis condition information and analysis data of the analyzer transmitted from the analyzer control server;
A failure detection unit that detects that a failure has occurred in the analyzer control server;
Based on the occurrence of a failure detected by the failure detection unit, the allocation device is determined from other analysis device control servers operating normally, and the analysis device stored in the analysis information storage unit The analysis control for transmitting the analysis condition information and the analysis data of the analysis apparatus to the allocation-destination analyzer control server and transmitting an instruction to take over the analysis control of the analysis apparatus to the allocation-destination analysis apparatus control server An allocator;
It is characterized by having.

  In the analysis apparatus control system according to the present invention, the analysis apparatus control server outputs analysis condition information and analysis data output from the analysis apparatus to the analysis apparatus control server every predetermined time interval with respect to the system control server. Then send it. These analysis condition information and analysis data are stored in an analysis information storage unit provided in the system control server. When detecting that a failure has occurred in the analyzer control server, the system control server determines a new allocation destination from other analyzer control servers that are operating normally, and the analyzer control server in which the failure has occurred The analysis condition information and analysis data of the analysis device controlled by the control device are transmitted to the analysis device control server of the allocation destination, and a command for taking over control of the analysis of the analysis device is transmitted.

  As a result, even if a failure occurs in the analyzer control server, the analysis under execution by the analyzer controlled by the analyzer control server is not interrupted and under the control of another analyzer control server. The analysis can be continued. Therefore, it is possible to save labor and time for performing the analysis again, and there is an advantage that the analysis target sample is not wasted due to the interruption of the analysis. As a result, a more reliable system can be constructed.

The figure which shows schematic structure of one Embodiment of the analyzer control system which concerns on this invention. The conceptual diagram which shows the allocation process at the time of a failure generation in the analyzer control system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of an analyzer control system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of an analyzer control system according to the present invention. The analyzer control system 1 of this embodiment (hereinafter abbreviated as “this system” where appropriate) has a configuration as described below.

  The analysis device according to the present invention is a variety of network connection type analysis devices or measurement / measurement devices, and the types thereof are not limited. Further, the types and the number of various devices such as devices, devices, servers, and computers connected to the system network NW1 are not limited to those shown in the present embodiment.

  Connected to a system network NW1 such as a LAN are client computers T1 and T2 for inputting various instructions and confirming various information by a user operation. Further, a system control server SS that performs overall control of the entire system 1 is connected to the system network NW1. Although not shown, a data management server for managing and storing analysis completion data output as a result of completion of analysis is also connected to the system network NW1. The data management server may be integrated with the system control server SS.

Also connected to the system network NW1 are analyzer control servers AS1, AS2, AS3 and analyzers A1, A2, A3, A4. That is, the client computers T1 and T2, the system control server SS, the analysis device control servers AS1, AS2, AS3, and the analysis devices A1, A2, A3, A4 are all connected to each other via the system network NW1. .
Note that the network configuration in the present invention is not limited to this, and even if an analysis apparatus control server, an analysis apparatus, and a system control server fail in a certain analysis apparatus control server, the rest can communicate with each other. As long as it is connected in such a way, it does not matter.

  Each of the client computers T1 and T2, the system control server SS, and the analyzer control servers AS1 to AS3 is a computer including a storage unit including a CPU, a memory, a hard disk, a flash memory, and the like.

  Among these, a program for the system control server SS is installed in advance in the storage unit of the system control server SS, and when the CPU executes this program, the failure detection unit 3 and the analysis control allocation unit 4 are software-like. It is embodied in. An analysis information storage unit 2 is provided in a part of the storage unit of the system control server SS.

  A program for the analysis device control server is installed in advance in the storage unit of the analysis device control server AS1, AS2, AS3, and the analysis information transmission unit 5 is implemented in software by the CPU executing this program. Embodied.

Analysis condition information F1, F2, F3, and F4 relating to analysis executed in each of the analysis devices A1 to A4 is further stored in the storage units of the analysis device control servers AS1 to AS3. The analysis condition information is various data relating to the setting of the analyzer, and includes, for example, the following.
-Batch file for instructing the contents of batch analysis-Method file for instructing each analysis condition (analyzer setting conditions, calculation method of acquired data, etc.)-Progress file showing analysis progress・ Environment setting file indicating the status of the connected analyzer ・ Result file used to record the availability of each analysis used for batch analysis etc.

  These analysis condition information F1 to F4 stored in the analyzer control server can be rewritten by various commands given through the client computers T1 and T2 by the operation of the user, or can be automatically rewritten by commands from the analyzer. By doing so, a part or the whole is updated.

  Further, the analysis device control servers AS1 to AS3 respectively transmit data transmitted from each analysis device as a result of the analysis being executed in the analysis devices A1 to A4 (that is, at predetermined time intervals, etc.). The accumulated analysis data R1, R2, R3, R4 are stored.

  Hereinafter, a process when a new analysis is started in the system 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing processing when analysis is started in the analyzer control system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  First, the analysis device A1 currently performs analysis under the control of the analysis device control server AS1, the analysis device A2 performs analysis under the control of the analysis device control server AS2, and the analysis device A3 and Assume that A4 is executing analysis under the control of the analyzer control server AS3.

  At this time, the analysis information transmitting unit 5 of the analyzer control server AS1 transmits the analysis condition information F1 and the analysis data R1 to the system control server SS at predetermined time intervals. Similarly, the analysis apparatus control servers AS2 and AS3 also transmit analysis condition information F2, F3, and F4 and analysis data R2, R3, and R4 to the system control server SS at predetermined time intervals.

  The system control server SS stores the analysis condition information F1 to F3 and the analysis data R1 to R3 transmitted from the analysis device control servers AS1 to AS3 in the analysis information storage unit 2 for each analysis. Thereby, the analysis condition information F1 to F4 and the analysis data R1 to R4 related to each of the analysis devices A1 to A4 are not only stored in the analysis information storage unit 2 of the system control server SS but also in each of the analysis device control servers AS1 to AS3. Saved.

  Note that the time interval at which the analysis information transmission unit 5 of the analysis device control servers AS1 to AS3 transmits the analysis condition information and the analysis data can be set, for example, about several milliseconds to every second. If the load on the system is not so great, a shorter time interval can be used. From the viewpoint of increasing the identity between the analysis condition information and analysis data of each analysis device control server AS1 to AS3 and the analysis condition information and analysis data stored in the analysis information storage unit 2 of the system control server SS, The shorter the time interval, the better. Note that this time interval does not always have to be the same value, and may be changed according to the type of analysis, the performance of each apparatus, and the like.

  The failure detection unit 3 of the system control server SS monitors whether the analysis device control servers AS1, AS2, and AS3 are operating normally while the analysis device control servers AS1, AS2, and AS3 are executing analysis. Detect the occurrence of a fault. Any method may be used to detect the occurrence of a failure. For example, while analysis is being executed, analysis condition information and analysis data are transmitted at predetermined time intervals from each analyzer control server as described above. When the detection unit 3 cannot receive the analysis condition information from the analyzer control server for a predetermined number of times (for example, three times) or for a predetermined period (for example, two seconds), a failure has occurred. It can be judged.

  Now, as shown in FIG. 2, it is assumed that a failure has occurred in the analyzer control server AS3 (or communication with the analyzer control server S3) that has controlled the analysis of the analyzers A3 and A4. The failure detection unit 3 of the system control server SS detects that a failure has occurred in the analyzer control server AS3.

  When the failure detection unit 3 detects the occurrence of a failure, the analysis control allocating unit 4 first analyzes the analysis device controlled by the analysis device control server AS3 from other analysis device control servers that are operating normally. An operation of determining new allocation destinations of A3 and A4 is performed. The analysis device control allocation unit 4 holds information such as the analysis schedule of each analysis device and which analysis device is controlled by each analysis device control server. By this allocation processing, analysis of the system 1 and the allocation destination is performed. The analysis apparatus control server of the allocation destination is selected and determined so that an excessive load is not applied to the apparatus control server. In this embodiment, the analyzer control allocation unit 4 allocates the control of the analyzer A3 to the analyzer control server AS1 and the control of the analyzer A4 to the analyzer control server AS2.

  The analysis device allocation unit 4 further transmits analysis condition information F3 and analysis data R3 relating to the analysis being performed by the analysis device A3 stored in the analysis information storage unit 2 to the analysis device control server AS1 and performs analysis. A command to take over control of the analysis of the device A3 is transmitted. At the same time, the analysis condition information F4 and the analysis data R4 relating to the analysis being executed by the analysis device A4 stored in the analysis information storage unit 2 are transmitted to the analysis device control server AS2, and the analysis control of the analysis device A4 is controlled. An instruction to take over is sent.

  On the other hand, the analysis apparatus control server AS1 receives the analysis condition information F3 and analysis data R3 related to the analysis being executed by the analysis apparatus A3, and the instruction to take over the analysis control of the analysis apparatus A3. The control of the analysis being executed in the device A3 is taken over and executed. Thereafter, the analysis information transmission unit 5 of the analysis device control server AS2 transmits analysis condition information F3 and analysis data R3 related to the analysis being executed by the analysis device A3 to the system control server SS. The analysis control device AS2 also performs the same processing on the newly assigned analysis device A4. In this way, even if a failure occurs in the analyzer control server S1, the analysis being executed in the analyzers A3 and A4 is continuously controlled without stopping.

  As mentioned above, although the analyzer control system according to the present invention has been described using the embodiments, it is clear that the above is only an example, and changes, modifications, or additions are made as appropriate within the scope of the present invention. It doesn't matter.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Analysis apparatus control system 2 ... Analysis information storage part 3 ... Failure detection part 4 ... Analysis control allocation part 5 ... Analysis information transmission part NW1 ... System network A1-A4 ... Analysis apparatus AS1-AS3 ... Analysis apparatus control server SS ... System Control server

Claims (2)

Analyzing apparatus, a plurality of analyzing apparatus control servers having analysis condition information which is data relating to the setting of the analyzing apparatus, and controlling the analyzing apparatus and collecting data, and a system control server for managing the entire system In a network connection type analyzer control system, which is connected via a network,
The analyzer control server is
An analysis information transmitting unit that transmits analysis condition information of the analysis device to be controlled and analysis data received from the analysis device every moment as the analysis is performed to the system control server at a predetermined time interval;
The system control server is
An analysis information storage unit for storing analysis condition information and analysis data of the analyzer transmitted from the analyzer control server;
A failure detection unit that detects that a failure has occurred in the analyzer control server;
Based on the occurrence of a failure detected by the failure detection unit, the allocation device is determined from other analysis device control servers operating normally, and the analysis device stored in the analysis information storage unit The analysis control for transmitting the analysis condition information and the analysis data of the analysis apparatus to the allocation-destination analyzer control server and transmitting an instruction to take over the analysis control of the analysis apparatus to the allocation-destination analysis apparatus control server An allocator;
An analyzer control system characterized by comprising:   The failure detection unit determines that a failure has occurred when the analysis condition information cannot be received from the analysis apparatus control server for a predetermined number of times or for a predetermined period. The analyzer control system according to claim 1.

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