JP2020162101A - Slave connection switching device and slave connection switching method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a slave connection switching device that disconnects a connected slave with low slave connection priority and establishes connection with a new slave if it is determined that the number of connected slaves is an upper limit value when a connection request from the new slave is received.SOLUTION: A slave connection switching device 500 includes: a management unit 12 that manages a state of being able to connect to slaves 200 within an upper limit number range based on slave connection priority; and a slave connection control unit 11 that, when receiving a connection request from a new slave 200, disconnects a connected slave 200 with low slave connection priority and establishes connection with the new slave 200.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a slave connection switching device and a slave connection switching method.

At the factory, biometric information is acquired via a wearable device and data is collected from the measuring equipment installed in the factory via a network for labor management of factory workers.
Furthermore, in response to the desire to know the maintenance status of automobiles, the acquisition of position information from inspection vehicles with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags attached and the acquisition of data from digital tools developed in recent years to confirm maintenance quality. Is also being done.
Bluetooth (registered trademark) is widely used as a network standard for data collection from each of these devices (hereinafter referred to as slaves). Bluetooth (registered trademark) enables short-distance communication, and transmits data collected via a mobile information terminal (hereinafter referred to as a master) or the like located around a slave to a server.

The Bluetooth® standard requires two procedures, pairing and connection, between the slave and the master in preparation for data transmission. Once this procedure is complete, it will be possible to communicate with each other, but this procedure must be done manually.
Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for automatically connecting by manually pairing in advance. With this technology, the paired slave can automatically connect to the master and transmit data.

JP-A-2009-71664

However, in Bluetooth (registered trademark), there is a restriction that the number of slaves that can be connected to the master at one time is up to 7, and in order to connect 8 or more slaves to the master, it is necessary to prepare a plurality of masters.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and when the master receives a connection request from a new slave, if it is determined that the number of already connected slaves is the upper limit, the slaves The purpose is to obtain a slave connection switching device that disconnects from a connected slave having a low connection priority and establishes a connection with a new slave.

The slave connection switching device has a management unit that manages the state of being able to connect to slaves within the upper limit number range based on the slave connection priority, and when a connection request from a new slave is received, the number of slaves already connected is increased. When it is determined that the number is the upper limit, the slave connection priority of the connected slave managed by the management unit is acquired, the connection with the connected slave with the lower slave connection priority is disconnected, and the connection with the new slave is established. It is provided with a slave connection control unit.

Even when the maximum number of slaves are already connected to the master, new slaves can be connected by automatically replacing the slaves.

The block diagram of the slave connection switching device 500. The block diagram which shows the slave connection switching apparatus 500. The H / W block diagram which shows the slave connection switching apparatus 500. Flow diagram showing operation (manual connection of slave 200). Flow diagram showing operation (manual connection of slave 200). Flow diagram (pairing) showing the operation. Flow diagram showing operation (setting of slave connection priority 116a). Flow diagram showing operation (automatic connection of slave 200). Flow diagram showing operation (automatic connection of slave 200). Flow diagram showing operation (connection of slave 200 by scheduling). Flow diagram showing operation (connection of slave 200 by scheduling). An example of paired slave list information 113. Example of slave connection priority list information 116. Example of connected slave list information 114. Example of schedule management list information 118. The block diagram of the slave connection switching device 500 (the second embodiment). The block diagram which shows the slave connection switching device 500 (the second embodiment). FIG. 6 is an H / W configuration diagram showing a slave connection switching device 500 (Embodiment 2).

In embodiments and drawings, the same elements and corresponding elements are designated by the same reference numerals. The description of the elements with the same reference numerals will be omitted or simplified as appropriate. The main data flow or processing flow is indicated by arrows.

Embodiment 1.
In the first embodiment, an inspection of an automobile in an automobile maintenance shop will be described as an example.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a system to which the slave connection switching device 500 according to the present embodiment is applied.

The slave connection switching device 500 is composed of a master 100, and when a connection request is received from the slave 200 via the network 400, the connection is switched with the connected slave 200.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a detailed configuration of the slave connection switching device 500, and in FIG. 2, the network 400 shown in FIG. 1 is omitted.
In the slave connection switching device 500 of FIG. 2, the slave connection control unit 11, the management unit 12, the paired slave list storage unit 13, the connected slave list storage unit 14, the slave connection priority determination unit 15, and the slave connection priority list. The storage unit 16, the schedule management unit 17, the schedule management list storage unit 18, the data transmission / reception unit 19, the acquisition data storage unit 20, and the log storage unit 21 are provided in the master 100.

When the slave connection control unit 11 provided in the master 100 receives the connection request from the new slave 200 and determines that the number of already connected slaves 200 is the upper limit, the slave connection control unit 11 is managed by the management unit 12. It has a function of acquiring the slave connection priority 116a (described later) of the slave 200, disconnecting the connected slave 200 having a lower slave connection priority 116a, and establishing a connection with a new slave 200.

Further, the slave connection control unit 11 has a function of disconnecting the connection with the connected slave 200 having a low slave connection priority 116a and establishing a connection with a new slave 200 according to a preset schedule.
The slave connection control unit 11 further disconnects the connected slave 200 based on the disconnection instruction from the user, and establishes a connection with a new slave 200.

The management unit 12 has a function of displaying the slave attribute information 116b indicating the connection status of the connected slave 200 and the slave connection priority 116a on the screen and receiving a disconnection instruction of the connection of any of the connected slaves 200 from the user. ..

The slave connection priority determination unit 15 has a function of calculating the slave connection priority 116a from the slave attribute information 116b of all the slaves 200 managed by the management unit 12.

The schedule management unit 17 has a function of receiving input of a slave connection switching schedule from the user and storing the received slave connection switching schedule in the schedule management list storage unit 18.

The data transmission / reception unit 19 has a function of receiving data from the slave 200, storing the received data in the acquisition data storage unit 20, and storing information such as acquisition success / failure and acquisition time in the log storage unit 21 as a log.
Further, the data transmission / reception unit 19 has a function of transmitting the acquired received data and the log to the server 300 as needed.

Each function of the slave connection switching device 500 having the above configuration is realized by the hardware as shown in FIG. This hardware includes a processing device 110 such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage device 120 such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a hard disk device, and communication devices 130 and 140 connected to other hardware by a network 400. An input device 150 such as a keyboard and a mouse and an output device 160 such as a speaker and a display are connected by a bus. The CPU may have its own memory.
Although two communication devices, a communication device 130 and a communication device 140, are described as the communication device in FIG. 3, one communication device may be used. Further, in the first and second embodiments, the communication standard for communicating with the slave 200 will be described with Bluetooth (registered trademark), but a communication method other than Bluetooth (registered trademark) may be used.

The paired slave list storage unit 13, the connected slave list storage unit 14, the slave connection priority list storage unit 16, the schedule management list storage unit 18, the acquisition data storage unit 20, and the log storage unit 21 are realized by the storage device 120. Will be done.
The slave connection control unit 11, the management unit 12, the slave connection priority determination unit 15, the schedule management unit 17, and the data transmission / reception unit 19 are realized by executing the program stored in the storage device 120 in the processing device 110. ..

The method for realizing each function of the slave connection switching device 500 is not limited to the combination of the processing device and the program as described above, and the hardware such as a system LSI (Large Scale Integrated Circuit) that implements the processing device and the program is used. It may be realized by itself, or some functions may be realized by dedicated hardware and some may be realized by a combination of a processing device and a program.

The operation of the slave connection switching device 500 having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. 4 to 11. First, the manual connection of the slave 200 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. Next, the automatic connection of the slave 200 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. Finally, the connection of the slave 200 by scheduling will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.

In order for the slave 200 to transmit data to the master 100, two procedures, pairing and connection, are required between the slave 200 and the master 100. Once this procedure is complete, they will be able to communicate with each other.

In pairing, in order for the slave 200 and the master 100 to communicate with each other, the MAC addresses that are the destinations of the communication partners are registered with each other, and the encryption key for encrypting the data to be communicated is exchanged, and the subsequent connection is performed. Refers to the procedure for permitting. The encryption key to be exchanged may be a common key or a private key method.

The connection means that the master 100 considers the paired slave 200 as a data transmission / reception target. In Bluetooth (registered trademark), since the slave 200 cannot transmit / receive data unless instructed by the master 100, data cannot be transmitted / received to / from the slave 200 which is not regarded as a transmission / reception target on the master 100 side.

In order to manually connect the slave 200 to the master 100, first, the slave 200 is brought into a connectable state within an area where Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication is possible (step S11).
The operation of making the connectable state is performed by the procedure normally provided in the slave 200 capable of communicating with Bluetooth (registered trademark).

When the slave 200 is in a connectable state, the slave 200 requests the master 100 to connect (step S12). The connection request from the slave 200 is made using the MAC address of the slave 200 as a key. The MAC address is an identifier that is uniquely assigned to each communication interface of the communication device.

The slave connection control unit 11 of the master 100 receives the connection request from the slave 200 (step S13). The slave 200 that is the source of the connection request is identified from the MAC address included in the connection request from the slave 200.

The slave connection control unit 11 acquires the paired slave list information 113 from the paired slave list storage unit 13 (step S14). The paired slave list information 113 is acquired from the paired slave list storage unit 13 using the MAC address received from the slave 200 as a key.
An example of the paired slave list information 113 stored in the paired slave list storage unit 13 will be described with reference to FIG.

The paired slave list information 113 has information on a device number, a device name, a MAC address, and an encryption key. You may have other information.
The device No. is an identifier given to identify the slave 200 in the slave connection switching device 500. The device name displays the name of the slave 200. For example, the device names of slaves such as slave 200 and digital tools that acquire information on the factory environment such as thermometers and hygrometers are displayed.

The MAC address is the MAC address of the slave 200. The encryption key is a key that encrypts communication with the slave 200. The device name, MAC address, and encryption key information are generated from the information acquired from the slave during pairing.

If it is determined that the target slave 200 has been paired, the process proceeds to step S16 (Yes in step S15). If it is determined that the target slave 200 has not been paired, the process proceeds to B (No in step S15).
Whether or not the target slave 200 has been paired is determined by searching the MAC address of the paired slave list information 113 using the MAC address received from the slave 200 as a key.
The searched slave 200 is determined to be a slave 200 that has already been paired, and the unregistered slave 200 is determined to be a slave 200 that has not been paired.

A case where the target slave 200 has not been paired will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.
If the target slave 200 has not been paired, the slave connection control unit 11 requests the slave 200 for information necessary for pairing (step S31). The information required for pairing is specifically a request such as a key and a device name for encrypting communication between the master 100 and the slave 200.

The slave 200 receives the request from the master 100 (step S32). The slave 200 prepares the key and responds to the request of the master 100 (step S33).

The slave connection control unit 11 of the master 100 receives an answer from the slave 200 (step S34).
The management unit 12 registers the MAC address, the device name, and the key information received by the slave connection control unit 11 in the paired slave list information 113 (step S35).
The pairing information is registered by instructing the paired slave list storage unit 13 to register the MAC address, device name, and key information received from the slave 200 using the new device number as a key.

When the registration to the paired slave list storage unit 13 is completed, the management unit 12 displays the registration screen of the slave connection priority list information 116 (step S41).
The user confirms the registration screen of the slave connection priority list information 116 displayed on the screen, and sets the slave importance 116c of the target slave 200.
An example of the slave connection priority list information 116 stored in the slave connection priority list storage unit 16 will be described with reference to FIG.

The slave connection priority list information 116 is composed of the device No., the slave connection priority 116a, and the slave attribute information 116b. The slave attribute information 116b includes the slave importance 116c, the remaining power supply, the communication state, the elapsed time, and the like.
The device No. is an identifier given to identify the slave 200 in the slave connection switching device 500. The device No is associated with the paired slave list information 113.

The slave connection priority 116a represents the connection priority of the paired slave 200. The higher the number, the higher the priority, and the lower the number, the lower the priority.
The slave connection priority 116a is referred to as a criterion for selecting the slave 200 to be disconnected when a connection request from the new slave 200 is received.

The slave importance 116c is a priority of the slave 200 set by the user.
A high value is set for the slave 200 having a high importance, and a low value is set for the slave 200 having a low importance.
For example, a slave 200 having a low priority is set to 10, a slave 200 having a high priority is set to 30, and a slave 200 having a normal priority is set to 20.
In the case of the slave 200, which is difficult to be disconnected regardless of the priority, it is possible to set a special value, for example, 0, and configure the slave connection switching device 500 so as to determine that it is not subject to replacement. ..

The power remaining amount is a value representing the power remaining amount of the slave 200.
The slave 200 having a low power remaining amount can be configured to have a low slave importance 116c from the viewpoint of power saving.
If the remaining power can be obtained from the slave 200, the value is displayed as a percentage from the maximum capacity. Depending on the slave 200, there is also a slave 200 that cannot acquire the power supply capacity. In this case, it is also possible to set − (hyphen) and calculate as 50%.

The communication status displays the rate of successful communication with the slave 200.
When the slave 200 moves and is far away, the slave importance 116c can be configured to be low.
For example, if communication is attempted 10 times and communication is successful 8 times, 80% is displayed.

The elapsed time represents the elapsed time since the slave 200 was connected. The slave 200 having a long connection time can be configured so that the slave importance 116c is low.

The management unit 12 receives the registration instruction of the slave connection priority list information 116 from the user (step S42).

The slave connection priority determination unit 15 calculates the slave connection priority 116a from the slave attribute information 116b according to the instruction from the management unit 12 (step S43).

The slave connection priority 116a is calculated as, for example, slave importance 116c × remaining power supply × communication state / elapsed time. The method of calculating the slave connection priority 116a will be described with reference to FIG.
The slave importance 116c, the remaining power supply, the communication state, and the elapsed time of the slave 200 having the device No. 3 in FIG. 13 are 30, 80%, 100%, and 24h, respectively. Therefore, when the slave importance 116c × power remaining amount × communication state / elapsed time is obtained, 30 × 0.8 × 1/24 = 1, and the slave connection priority 116a is 1.
The slave connection priority 116a may be calculated by any other method. In addition, it is not necessary to use the remaining power, the communication status, and the elapsed time.
Items other than the remaining power supply, communication status, and elapsed time may be stored as the slave attribute information 116b and used for calculating the slave connection priority 116a.

The management unit 12 registers the slave connection priority 116a in the slave connection priority list information 116 (step S44).
The slave connection priority list information 116 is registered by instructing the slave connection priority list storage unit 16.

Returning to FIG. 4, the description continues from step S15.
If it is determined in step S15 that the target slave 200 has been paired, the management unit 12 acquires the number of connected slaves (step S16). The number of connected slaves is acquired by acquiring the number of connected slave list information 114 currently registered from the connected slave list storage unit 14.
An example of the connected slave list information 114 stored in the connected slave list storage unit 14 will be described with reference to FIG.

The connected slave list information 114 has information on the device number, the start time, and the scheduled end time. The device number is associated with the paired slave list information 113 and the slave connection priority list information 116.
The slave 200 registered in the connected slave list information 114 is a slave 200 that is in a communicable state with the master 100.
The start time is the time when the connection becomes possible. The scheduled end time is the scheduled disconnection time. The scheduled disconnection time is appropriately set by the user.

If it is determined that the number of connected slaves is the upper limit, the process proceeds to A (Yes in step S17). If it is determined that the number of connected slaves is less than the upper limit, the process proceeds to step S21 (No in step S17).
In the network 400 using Bluetooth (registered trademark), there is a restriction that the maximum number of slaves that can be connected to one master 100 is seven. Therefore, in an environment where Bluetooth (registered trademark) is used as the network 400, it is assumed that a fixed number of, for example, 7 is set.
In the example of FIG. 14, seven slaves 200 are registered and are in a communicable connection state with the master 100.

The management unit 12 displays the connected slave list information 114 on the screen (step S18).

Further, the management unit 12 displays the slave connection priority list information 116 associated with the device No. displayed in the connected slave list information 114 on the screen (step S19).
The user confirms the screens of the connected slave list information 114 and the slave connection priority list information 116 displayed on the screen, and selects the slave 200 to be disconnected from the screen instead of the newly connected slave 200.
The user can select the slave 200 to be disconnected based on the slave connection priority 116a and the slave attribute information 116b of the slave 200 displayed on the screen.

The management unit 12 receives the instruction of the slave 200 to be disconnected by the user selecting the slave 200 to be disconnected (step S20).
The management unit 12 disconnects from the disconnection target slave 200 selected by the user (step S21).
Specifically, this is performed by instructing the slave connection priority list storage unit 16 to delete the slave 200 having the target device number.

In addition to disconnecting the connection with the slave 200, it is also possible to configure the slave connection switching device 500 so as to disconnect the pairing at the disconnection of the connection with the slave 200 in step S21.
The pairing is disconnected by instructing the paired slave list storage unit 13 to delete the slave 200 having the target device number.
In order to connect the slave 200 to which the pairing has been disconnected to the master 100, it is necessary to perform the pairing again.

The slave connection control unit 11 receives an instruction from the management unit 12 for the connection target slave 200, and instructs the connection target slave 200 to connect (step S22).

The newly connected slave 200 receives a connection instruction from the master 100 (step S23). The slave 200 that has received the connection instruction from the master 100 is in a state of waiting for an instruction to send / receive data from the master 100.

The management unit 12 receives a notification of connection completion from the slave connection control unit 11 and updates the connected slave list information 114 (step S24). Specifically, the connected slave list storage unit 14 is instructed to register the slave 200 for which the connection instruction was given in step 22, and the connected slave list information 114 is updated.

Although the operation of manually connecting the paired slave 200 has been described, it is also possible to automatically connect the paired slave 200 depending on the environment. From here, the automatic connection of the slave 200 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.
In order for the slave 200 to transmit data to the master 100, two procedures, pairing and connection, are required between the slave 200 and the master 100. When pairing is completed between the master 100 and the slave 200, automatic connection is possible.
The pairing between the master 100 and the slave 200 needs to be performed manually in advance.

In order to automatically connect the slave 200 to the master 100, first, the slave 200 is made connectable (step S51). Bluetooth (registered trademark) It may be performed within the communication area or outside the communication area.

When the slave 200 is in a connectable state, the slave 200 requests the master 100 to connect (step S52). The process of step S52 is the same as the process of step S12.

The slave connection control unit 11 of the master 100 receives the connection request from the slave 200 (step S53).
When steps S51 and S52 are performed outside the area where Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication is possible, step S53 is performed when the slave 200 enters the communication area.
Specifically, it is assumed that a person wearing a wearable device or an inspection vehicle with an RFID tag attached moves within the communication area.

The processes of steps S53 and S54 are the same as the processes of steps S13 and S14 in the manual connection of the slave 200, and are therefore omitted.

If the target slave 200 has already been paired, the process proceeds to step S56 (Yes in step S55). If the target slave 200 has not been paired, the error information is stored as a log and the process ends (No in step S55).

Since the process of step S57 is the same as the process of step S17 in manually connecting the slave 200, the description thereof will be omitted.

The slave connection control unit 11 acquires the slave 200 having a low slave connection priority 116a of the connected slave 200 managed by the management unit 12 from the slave connection priority list storage unit 16 (step S58).

The management unit 12 disconnects from the slave 200 having a low slave connection priority 116a acquired by the slave connection priority list storage unit 16 (step S59).
The slave 200 having the lowest acquired slave connection priority 116a may be the disconnection target. When a plurality of slaves 200 having the same value as the slave connection priority 116a are selected, the plurality of slaves 200 may be the disconnection targets, or any one of them may be the disconnection target.

Further, compared with the slave connection priority 116a of the new slave 200, the slave 200 registered in the connected slave list information 114 has a slave connection priority 116a lower than the slave connection priority 116a of the new slave 200. If there is no slave 200, it is possible that there is no replacement target.

Since the processes from step S60 to step S62 are the same as the processes from steps S21 to S23 in the manual connection of the slave 200, the description thereof will be omitted. In this way, the slave 200 can be automatically switched.

In addition, although the operation of automatically connecting the paired slave 200 has been described so far, it is possible to use either the connection method of manually connecting the slave 200 or the automatic connection at the time of pairing. It is also possible to connect the slave 200 by the specified connection method by the person specifying in advance.
For example, the connection method is displayed together with the slave importance 116c of the slave 200 in the connection priority list information 116 of the registration screen displayed to the user in step S41 of FIG. 7, and the user is made to specify the connection method.
Next, in step S17 or step S57, when the slave connection control unit 11 determines that the number of connected slaves is the upper limit, the connection method of the target slave 200 set in the connection priority list information 116 is determined. By referring to it, it is determined whether to connect manually or automatically, and the slave 200 is operated so as to be connected by the determined connection method.
By operating in this way, the slave 200 can be connected by the connection method specified by the user.

Since the slave 200 can be automatically connected, by setting the schedule in advance, the connection with the connected slave 200 having the lower slave connection priority 116a is disconnected according to the set schedule, and the connection with the new slave 200 is established. It is possible to establish a connection.
Switching of the slave 200 by scheduling will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.

The slave connection control unit 11 acquires the schedule management list information 118 (step S71). The schedule management list information 118 is acquired from the schedule management list storage unit 18.
An example of the schedule management list information 118 stored in the schedule management list storage unit 18 will be described with reference to FIG.

The schedule management list information 118 is composed of a list No., a device No., a start time, an end time, and the like.
The list No. is an identifier assigned to identify a plurality of slaves 200 when they are collectively set.
The device No. is an identifier given to identify the slave 200 in the slave connection switching device 500. The device number is associated with the paired slave list information 113, the connected slave list information 114, and the slave connection priority list information 116.
The start time represents the time to connect the target slave 200.
The end time represents the time to disconnect from the connected slave 200.

The schedule management list information 118 uses the start time and end time of the schedule management list information 118 as keys, and if there is a target device number, the slave connection control unit 11 acquires the device number from the schedule management list information 118.

If there is a target slave 200, the process proceeds to step S74 (Yes in step S72). If there is no target slave 200, the process proceeds to step S73 (No in step S72).

If there is no slave 200 to be connected / disconnected, the device waits for a certain period of time (step S73). After waiting for a certain period of time, the process returns to step S71.

Since the processes from step S74 to step S82 are the same as the processes from step S54 to step S62 in the automatic connection of the slave 200, the description thereof will be omitted.
In this way, the slave 200 can be switched by scheduling.

Finally, a method of generating the slave connection priority list information 116 will be described.
The slave 200 in Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication transmits data to the master 100 according to an instruction from the master 100.
The transmission / reception unit of the master 100 receives the data transmitted from the slave 200, and stores the received data in the acquisition data storage unit 20. Further, based on the instruction from the master 100, the remaining power remaining amount of the slave 200 is acquired and stored in the acquired data storage unit 20.

Further, the transmission / reception unit of the master 100 stores the data log with the slave 200 in the log storage unit 21 together with the data storage.
The log management information is composed of connection date and time, communication result, and the like.

The acquired data is transmitted to the server 300 by the data transmission / reception unit 19 as needed.
The values of the remaining power, the communication status, and the elapsed time of the slave connection priority list information 116 are generated by aggregating the remaining power and the communication result stored in the log management information.

In the slave connection switching device 500 according to the first embodiment, based on the slave connection priority 116a, the management unit 12 that manages the state in which a certain number of slaves 200 can be connected at all times and the connection request from the new slave 200 are received. If it is determined that the number of already connected slaves 200 exceeds a certain number, the slave connection priority 116a of the connected slaves 200 managed by the management unit 12 is acquired, and the connected slaves 200 having a low slave connection priority 116a are obtained. Can be disconnected and a new connection with the slave 200 can be established.

The slave connection priority 116a can be calculated from the slave attribute information 116b of the paired slave 200.

By displaying the connected slave list information 114 together with the slave connection priority list information 116 on the screen and accepting the disconnection instruction of the slave 200, it is possible to give the user a suggestion to select the slave 200 to be disconnected.

It is possible to schedule the connection and disconnection of the slave 200.

The slave connection priority 116a can be a value that takes into account the slave importance 116c set by the user, the remaining power remaining amount of the slave 200, the communication state of the slave 200, and the elapsed connection time of the slave 200.

The slave 200 in which the slave importance 116c cannot be disconnected can be excluded from the slave 200 disconnection target.

Embodiment 2.
The slave connection switching device 500 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The same reference numerals are given to the same components as those in the first embodiment, and duplicate description will be omitted.
FIG. 16 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a system to which the slave connection switching device 500 according to the second embodiment is applied.

The difference between the slave connection switching device 500 of the second embodiment and the slave connection switching device 500 of the first embodiment is that the slave connection switching device 500 of the first embodiment is composed of the master 100. The slave connection switching device 500 of the second embodiment is different in that it is composed of a master 100 and a server 300 connected via a network 400.

FIG. 17 is a configuration diagram showing a detailed configuration of the slave connection switching device 500 according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 17, the network 400 shown in FIG. 16 is omitted.
In FIG. 17, the slave connection switching device 500 differs from the slave connection switching device 500 of the first embodiment in that the paired slave list storage unit 13, the connected slave list storage unit 14, and the slave connection priority order in the master 100. The function of the list storage unit 16 and the schedule management list storage unit 18 is provided in the server 300.

Since the paired slave list storage unit 33, the connected slave list storage unit 34, the slave connection priority list storage unit 36, and the schedule management list storage unit 38 are provided in the server 300, each unit of the master 100 and the server 300 are provided. Data transmission / reception from the paired slave list storage unit 33, the connected slave list storage unit 34, the slave connection priority list storage unit 36, and the schedule management list storage unit 38 is performed from the data transmission / reception unit 19 of the master 100 to the network 400. This is performed via the data transmission / reception unit 39 provided in the server 300.
Other than that, it is the same as the slave connection switching device 500 of the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof will be omitted.

Each function of the master 100 of the slave connection switching device 500 having the above configuration is realized by the hardware as shown in FIG. Since the master 100 is the same as that in FIG. 3, the description thereof will be omitted.

Each function of the server 300 of the slave connection switching device 500 is realized by the hardware as shown in FIG. This hardware includes a processing device 310 such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage device 320 such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a hard disk device, a communication device 330 connected to other hardware by a network 400, a keyboard, and the like. An input device 350 such as a mouse and an output device 360 such as a speaker and a display are connected by a bus. The CPU may have its own memory.

The paired slave list storage unit 33, the connected slave list storage unit 34, the slave connection priority list storage unit 36, and the schedule management list storage unit 38 are realized by the storage device 320.
The data transmission / reception unit 39 is realized by executing the program stored in the storage device 320 in the processing device 310.

The method of realizing each function of the slave connection switching device 500 is not limited to the combination of the processing device and the program as described above, and is a single piece of hardware such as a system LSI (Large Scale Integrated Circuit) that implements the processing device program. Alternatively, some functions may be realized by dedicated hardware and some may be realized by a combination of a processing device and a program.

Since the operation of the slave connection switching device 500 having the above configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted.

According to the second embodiment as described above, the paired slave list storage unit 33, the connected slave list storage unit 34, the slave connection priority list storage unit 36, and the schedule management list storage unit 38 are housed in the server 300. Since it is stored, in an environment in which a plurality of masters 100 are configured, the paired slave list storage unit 33, the connected slave list storage unit 34, the slave connection priority list storage unit 36, and the schedule management list storage unit 38 The stored information can be shared among a plurality of masters.

11 Slave connection control unit, 12 Management unit, 15 Slave connection priority determination unit, 116a Slave connection priority, 116b Slave attribute information, 116c Slave importance, 500 Slave connection switching device.

Claims (6)

A management unit that manages the status of being able to connect to slaves within the upper limit based on the slave connection priority,
When it is determined that the number of already connected slaves is the upper limit when receiving a connection request from a new slave,
A slave connection that acquires the slave connection priority of the connected slave managed by the management unit, disconnects the connection with the connected slave having a lower slave connection priority, and establishes a connection with the new slave. Control unit and
Slave connection switching device equipped with. When the slave connection control unit determines that the number of slaves already connected is the upper limit when establishing a connection with the new slave according to a preset schedule, the slave connection priority is low. The slave connection switching device according to claim 1, wherein the connection with the connected slave is disconnected and the connection with the new slave is established. The slave connection switching device according to claim 1, further comprising a slave connection priority determination unit that calculates the slave connection priority from slave attribute information representing the connection state of the connected slave managed by the management unit. The management unit displays the slave attribute information and the slave connection priority calculated by the slave connection priority determination unit on the screen, and receives a disconnection instruction of any of the connected slaves from the user.
The slave connection according to claim 3, wherein the slave connection control unit disconnects the connection with the connected slave and establishes a connection with the new slave based on the disconnection instruction from the user. Switching device. The slave connection switching device according to any one of claims 3 or 4, wherein the slave attribute information includes a slave importance set by a user, a remaining power supply, a communication state, and an elapsed time. .. A management process that manages the status of being able to connect to slaves within the upper limit based on the slave connection priority, and
When it is determined that the number of already connected slaves is the upper limit when receiving a connection request from a new slave,
A slave connection that acquires the slave connection priority of the connected slave managed by the management process, disconnects the connection with the connected slave having a lower slave connection priority, and establishes a connection with the new slave. Control process and
Slave connection switching method including.

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