JP2022121337A - Failure detection system and cable connector - Google Patents

Abstract

To detect communication failure using a cable connector.SOLUTION: A cable connector connected to a cable provided between a transmission source apparatus that transmits a predetermined signal and a transmission destination apparatus that receives the signal includes a control device that detects a predetermined communication failure based on predetermined failure-related information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

The present invention relates to fault detection systems and cable connectors.

There is a technique described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-100038 regarding data collection and potential communication failure detection in a cable connector. Patent Document 1 states, "A temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, configured to collect system performance data such as voltage, current, light pressure, etc. carried by a wire or fiber in a cable connected to the connector unit from the signal. Alternatively, data on environmental conditions may be collected from sensors installed in or on the connector unit, such as seawater salinity sensors."

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2017-535019

In Patent Literature 1, the cable connector does not have a function of comparing the contents of communications flowing through the cable. Therefore, a cable connector alone can detect a physical cable failure, but cannot detect a communication failure.

An object of the present invention is to detect a communication failure at a cable connector.

A fault detection system according to one aspect of the present invention is a fault detection system including a cable connector and a communication system connected to the cable connector via wireless communication, wherein the cable connector transmits a predetermined signal. a first control device connected to a cable provided between a transmission source device that receives the signal and a transmission destination device that receives the signal, the first control device generating predetermined failure-related information; a second control device for receiving the failure-related information from and detecting a predetermined communication failure based on the failure-related information.

A cable connector according to one aspect of the present invention is a cable connector connected to a cable provided between a transmission source device that transmits a predetermined signal and a transmission destination device that receives the signal. It is characterized by having a control device that detects a predetermined communication failure based on the information.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a communication failure can be detected at a cable connector.

5 is a flow chart showing a procedure for data collection of transmission/reception signals in Example 1. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the cable connector of Example 1. FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a procedure for detecting a communication failure according to the first embodiment; 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a communication system of Example 1; FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a screen configuration when a communication failure is displayed; FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a cable connector of Example 2; 10 is a flow chart showing a procedure for detecting a communication failure according to the second embodiment;

An embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.

A configuration of the cable connector 10 of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the cable connector 10 has a connector 11, a signal detection device 12, a communication device 13, a control device 20 and a storage device 30. FIG.

Connector 11 transmits signals to a cable (cable 40 shown in FIG. 4). The signal detection device 12 detects signals received by the connector 11 . The communication device 13 transmits and receives information in the storage device 30 to and from the communication system 60 shown in FIG. The control device 20 is in charge of retrieving, recording, and checking data from these devices and controlling the operations of these devices, and controls the operations of each of the above devices according to programs stored therein. The storage device 40 is provided with storage areas for a cable connector identifier 31, a counter cable connector identifier 32, a transmission signal 33, a reception signal 34, and a retry count 35 as failure-related information.

A procedure for collecting data of transmitted and received signals will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The flow chart operates at regular intervals or triggered by an instruction from step 220 of FIG.

At step 100 , the controller 20 inputs “0” to the retry count 35 in the storage device 30 . At step 101, the controller 20 creates a transmission signal for failure detection. The transmission signal shall include the time (6-digit number including hours, minutes, and seconds) at the time of creation and randomly generated character string information (4-digit alphanumeric characters). At step 102 , the controller 20 inputs the transmission signal generated at step 101 to the transmission signal 33 in the storage device 30 .

At step 103, the controller 20 transmits the transmission signal generated at step 101 and the cable connector identifier 31 in the storage device 30 from the connector 11 to the opposite cable connector. At step 104, controller 20 waits one second.

At step 105, the control device 20 checks whether the signal detection device 12 has received the fault detection signal transmitted by the process of step 103 at the opposite cable connector. If YES, go to step 106; if NO, go to step 107;

At step 106, controller 20 inputs the received signal into received signal 34 in storage device 30 and the mating cable connector identifier into mating cable connector identifier 32 in storage device 30, and terminates the process.

At step 107 , the controller 20 adds 1 to the value of the retry count 35 in the storage device 30 . At step 108, the controller 20 checks whether the retry count 35 in the storage device 30 is less than "5". If YES, go back to step 104; if NO, go to step 109;

At step 109, the controller 20 inputs "TIMEOUT" to the received signal 34 in the storage device 30, and terminates the process.

In this way, the control device 20 checks the signal received by the signal detection device 12 and the information in the storage area of the storage device 30, and transmits and receives signal information of the cable (cable 40 shown in FIG. 4) to the communication system shown in FIG. 60 and can be transmitted and received.

It should be noted that the numerical values of the waiting time of "1 second" and the number of retries of "5" are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these.

Next, a communication system according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, cable connector 10 is connected to communication system 60 via wireless communication 50 . A communication system 60 is connected to the management terminal 300 .

Cable 40 transmits a signal received from cable connector 10 (see FIG. 2) to opposite cable connector 10 . The wireless communication 50 transmits signals received from the cable connector 10 to the communication system 60 and transmits signals received from the communication system 60 to the cable connector 10 . The cable connector 10 is provided between the server device 90 and the network device 92 , between the storage device 91 and the network device 92 , or between the network device 92 and the network device 92 .

The communication system 60 has a communication device 61 , a control device 70 and a storage device 80 . The communication device 61 transmits and receives information of the storage device 80 to and from the cable connector 10 and the management terminal 300 . The control device 70 takes charge of data retrieval from these devices, recording, checking, and operation control of these devices, and controls the operations of each of the above devices according to programs stored therein.

The storage device 80 is provided with a cable connector identifier 81, a counter cable connector identifier 82, a transmission signal 83, a reception signal 84, the number of mismatches 85, and a monitoring interval 86 as fault-related information.

A monitoring interval 86 indicates an execution interval when the flowchart of FIG. 3 is periodically executed. Also, the cable connector identifier 81 and the device information 87 to which the cable connector identifier 81 is connected are registered in the DB provided in the storage device 80 of the system at the time of initial construction of the system or addition of equipment. Here, the server device 90 refers to a blade chassis, a personal computer, or the like connected and used by the cable 40 and the cable connector 10 in system construction.

The storage device 91 refers to a disk, storage device, or the like that is connected and used by the cable 40 and the cable connector 10 in system construction. The network device 92 refers to a switch, firewall, or the like connected and used by the cable 40 and the cable connector 10 in system construction.

The management terminal 300 has a communication device 301 , a control device 310 and a storage device 320 . Communication device 301 receives information from communication system 60 . The control device 310 takes charge of data recording and checking from these devices and operation control of these devices, and controls the operation of each device. The storage device 320 is provided with time information 321 , transmission source device information 322 , transmission destination device information 323 , failure information 324 and countermeasure status 325 .

FIG. 5 shows a screen configuration when a communication failure detected by the communication system 60 is displayed on the management terminal 300. As shown in FIG.

The time information 321 displays the time when the management terminal 300 receives the information transmitted in steps 210, 213, and 223, which will be described later. Also, the device information 81 retrieved and transmitted in steps 208 , 211 and 221 is displayed in the source device information 322 . Also, the device information 81 retrieved and transmitted in steps 209 , 212 and 222 is displayed in the transmission destination device information 323 . Further, the character string information indicating the content of the failure transmitted in steps 210, 213, and 223 is displayed in the failure information 324. FIG. In addition, it is possible to input and display the status of coping with the communication failure that has occurred in the coping status 325 .

Next, with reference to FIG. 3, a procedure for communication failure detection using the transmission/reception signal information collected in FIG. 1 will be described. The flow chart operates at regular intervals or triggered by occasional instructions due to fault investigation of the entire system.

At step 200, the control device 70 stores the information received from the cable connector 10 (the cable connector identifier 31, the opposed cable connector identifier 32, the transmission signal 33, and the reception signal 34 shown in FIG. 2) in the storage device 80 (cable connector identifier 81, Input to the counter cable connector identifier 82, the transmission signal 83, and the reception signal 84).

At step 201, controller 70 checks if received signal 84 in memory 80 is "TIMEOUT". If YES, go to step 208; if NO, go to step 202;

At step 202, the control device 70 searches for a record containing the cable connector identifier 81 in which the same value as the opposed cable connector identifier 82 in the storage device 80 is entered.

At step 203, the control device 70 compares the time information included in the transmitted signal 83 in the storage device 80 in the search result record of step 202 with the time information included in the received signal 84 in the storage device 80 received at step 200. .

At step 204, controller 70 checks to see if the results of the comparison at step 203 match. If YES, go to step 214; if NO, go to step 205;

At step 205 , controller 70 adds one to the value of mismatch count 85 in storage device 80 . At step 206, controller 70 checks if mismatch count 85 in memory 80 is less than "2". If YES, go to step 207; if NO, go to step 211;

At step 207, the controller 70 waits 5 seconds. At step 208 , controller 70 retrieves cable connector identifier 81 and corresponding equipment information 87 in storage device 80 . At step 209 , the control device 70 retrieves the opposing cable connector identifier 82 and the corresponding equipment information 87 in the storage device 80 .

At step 210 , the control device 70 transmits to the management terminal 300 the device information 87 that is the result of the search at steps 207 and 208 and the character string “failure detection by TIMEOUT”.

At step 211 , controller 70 retrieves cable connector identifier 81 and corresponding equipment information 87 in storage device 80 . At step 212 , the controller 70 retrieves the opposing cable connector identifier 82 and the corresponding equipment information 87 in the storage device 80 .

At step 213 , the control device 70 transmits to the management terminal 300 the device information 87 , which is the search result of steps 211 and 212 , and a character string “failure detection due to update error of cable connector reception information”.

At step 214 , controller 70 compares transmitted signal 83 in storage device 80 in the search result record of step 202 with received signal 84 in storage device 80 received in step 200 .

At step 215, controller 70 checks to see if the results of the comparison at step 212 match. If YES, go to step 224; if NO, go to step 216; At step 216 , controller 70 adds one to the value of mismatch count 85 in storage device 80 .

At step 217, the control device 70 checks whether the mismatch count 85 in the storage device 80 is less than "3". If YES, go to step 218; if NO, go to step 221; At step 218 , controller 70 subtracts one from the value of monitor interval 86 in storage device 80 .

At step 219, the control device 70 instructs the control device (the control device 20 shown in FIG. 2) in the cable connector 10 to restart the data collection flow of the transmission/reception signals shown in FIG. At step 220 , controller 70 waits for monitor interval 86 in storage device 80 .

At step 221 , controller 70 retrieves cable connector identifier 81 and corresponding equipment information 87 in storage device 80 . At step 222 , the controller 70 retrieves the opposing cable connector identifier 82 and the corresponding equipment information 87 in the storage device 80 .

At step 223 , the control device 70 transmits to the management terminal 300 the device information 87 , which is the search result at steps 221 and 222 , and the character string “detection of failure due to mismatch of transmission/reception data”. At step 224 , controller 70 inputs “0” to mismatch count 85 in storage device 80 .

At step 225, controller 70 enters "5" into monitor interval 86 in storage device 80. FIG. Note that the numerical values such as the waiting time of "5 seconds" and the number of mismatches of "2" and "3" are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these.

In the first embodiment, the cable connector collects and compares the data of the transmitted and received signals passing through the cable, and when a mismatch between the transmitted and received signals is detected, the mismatch information is accumulated in the communication system, and the number of consecutive mismatches exceeds a certain value. Report it as a fault.

In the first embodiment, an example of detecting a failure using the cable connector 10 and the communication system 60 has been described. In the second embodiment, an example of detecting a failure using the cable connector 10 alone will be described.

A configuration of the cable connector 10 of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the same reference numerals are given to the same blocks as in the first embodiment, and the description of the configuration of the blocks to which the same reference numerals are given is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 6, the cable connector 10 has a connector 11 , a signal detection device 12 , a communication device 13 , a control device 20 and a storage device 400 .

The storage device 400 is provided with a cable connector identifier 81, a counter cable connector identifier 82, a transmission signal 83, a reception signal 84, the number of mismatches 85, and a monitoring interval 86 as fault-related information. The cable connector identifier 81 and the device information 87 connecting the cable connector identifier 81 are registered in the DB provided in the storage device 400 .

Further, the storage device 400 is provided with time information 321 , transmission source device information 322 , transmission destination device information 323 , failure information 324 and countermeasure status 325 .

Next, referring to FIG. 7, a procedure for communication failure detection will be described. The flow chart operates at regular intervals or triggered by occasional instructions due to fault investigation of the entire system.

At step 100 , the control device 20 inputs “0” to the mismatch count 85 in the storage device 30 . At step 101, the controller 20 creates a transmission signal for failure detection. The transmission signal shall include the time (6-digit number including hours, minutes, and seconds) at the time of creation and randomly generated character string information (4-digit alphanumeric characters).

At step 102 , the control device 20 inputs the transmission signal generated at step 101 to the transmission signal 33 in the storage device 400 .

At step 103 , the controller 20 transmits the transmission signal created at step 101 and the cable connector identifier 31 in the storage device 30 from the connector 11 to the opposite cable connector 10 .

At step 104, controller 20 waits one second. At step 105, the control device 20 checks whether the signal detection device 12 has received the fault detection signal transmitted by the process of step 103 at the opposite cable connector. If YES, go to step 106; if NO, go to step 500;

At step 106 , controller 20 inputs the received signal into received signal 84 in memory 400 and the mating cable connector identifier into mating cable connector identifier 82 in memory 400 .

At step 202 , the control device 20 searches for a record containing the cable connector identifier 81 in which the same value as the opposed cable connector identifier 82 in the storage device 400 is entered.

At step 203, the control device 20 converts the time information included in the transmission signal 83 in the storage device 400 in the search result record in step 202 and the time information included in the reception signal 84 in the storage device 400 received from the cable connector 10. compare.

At step 204, controller 20 checks whether the results of the comparison at step 203 match. If YES, go to step 214; if NO, go to step 205; At step 205 , controller 20 adds one to the value of mismatch count 85 in storage device 400 .

At step 206, the controller 20 checks whether the mismatch count 85 in the storage device 400 is less than "2". If YES, go to step 207; if NO, go to step 211;

At step 207, controller 20 waits 5 seconds. At step 211 , the control device 20 searches the device information 87 corresponding to the cable connector identifier 81 in the storage device 400 . At step 212 , the control device 20 retrieves the opposing cable connector identifier 82 and the corresponding device information 87 in the storage device 400 .

At step 213 , the control device 20 transmits to the management terminal 300 the device information 87 , which is the search result of steps 211 and 212 , and a character string “failure detection due to update error of cable connector reception information”.

At step 214 , the controller 20 compares the transmitted signal 83 in the storage device 400 in the search result record of step 202 with the received signal 84 in the storage device 400 .

At step 215, controller 20 checks to see if the results of the comparison at step 214 match. If YES, go to step 224; if NO, go to step 216;

At step 216 , controller 20 adds one to the value of mismatch count 85 in storage device 400 . At step 217, the controller 20 checks whether the mismatch count 85 in the storage device 400 is less than "3". If YES, go to step 218; if NO, go to step 221;

At step 218 , controller 20 subtracts one from the value of monitor interval 86 in storage device 400 . At step 219 , controller 20 waits for monitor interval 86 in storage device 400 .

At step 220, the controller 20 instructs to reactivate the data collection flow of the transmitted and received signals. At step 221 , the controller 20 retrieves the device information 87 corresponding to the cable connector identifier 81 in the storage device 400 .

At step 222 , the control device 20 searches the opposing cable connector identifier 82 and the corresponding device information 87 in the storage device 400 . At step 223 , the control device 20 transmits to the management terminal 300 the device information 87 , which is the search result at steps 221 and 222 , and the character string “failure detection due to mismatch of transmission/reception data”.

At step 224 , the control device 20 inputs “0” to the mismatch count 85 in the storage device 400 . At step 225 , controller 20 enters "5" into monitor interval 86 in storage device 400 . Note that the numerical values such as the waiting time of "5 seconds" and the number of mismatches of "2" and "3" are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these.

According to the second embodiment, it is possible to detect a communication failure with a cable connector.

According to the above embodiment, it is possible to detect a communication failure without depending on the device configuration and model. In addition, although the case of using a metal cable has been taken as an example, the present invention can be used in the same way not only with an optical cable but also with a medium in which a cable capable of propagating communication and a connector standardized in common can be used.

Furthermore, in the above description, the device configuration in the cloud system was taken as an example, but it can be applied to various systems. For example, it can also be applied to on-premise information systems.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the described configurations. Also, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with another embodiment, or to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. It is possible to add/delete/replace other configurations for a part of the configuration. Further, each of the above configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, and the like may be realized by hardware, for example, by designing them in an integrated circuit. Moreover, each of the above configurations, functions, etc. may be realized by software by a processor interpreting and executing a program for realizing each function. Information such as programs, tables, and files that implement each function can be stored in recording devices such as memories, hard disks, SSDs (Solid State Drives), or recording media such as IC cards, SD cards, and DVDs.

10 cable connector 11 connector 12 signal detection device 13 communication device 20 control device 30 storage device 40 cable 50 wireless communication 60 communication system 61 communication device 70 control device 80 storage device 90 server device 91 storage device 92 network device 300 management terminal 301 communication device 310 control device 320 storage device 400 storage device

Claims (12)

A failure detection system having a cable connector and a communication system connected to the cable connector via wireless communication,
The cable connector is
a first control device connected to a cable provided between a transmission source device that transmits a predetermined signal and a transmission destination device that receives the signal, and which generates predetermined fault-related information;
The communication system is
receiving the fault-related information from the cable connector;
A failure detection system, comprising: a second control device that detects a predetermined communication failure based on the failure-related information. The second controller of the communication system,
2. The failure detection system according to claim 1, wherein said communication failure is detected based on said signal flowing through said cable. The first controller of the cable connector comprises:
create a transmission signal for fault detection,
transmitting the transmission signal to the opposing cable connector via the cable;
2. The fault detection system according to claim 1, wherein the fault-related information is generated when the transmission signal is not received from the opposing cable connector. The cable connector is
a connector that transmits the signal to the cable;
a signal detection device for detecting the signal received by the connector; a storage device for storing the fault-related information;
a communication device that is stored in the storage device and transmits the failure-related information to the communication system;
2. The failure detection system of claim 1, further comprising: The source device and the destination device,
2. The failure detection system according to claim 1, wherein the fault detection system is a server device, a storage device, or a network device. further comprising a management terminal connected to the communication system;
The management terminal
2. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein information about said communication failure is displayed. The management terminal
7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein as the information on the communication failure, time information, information on the transmission source device, information on the transmission destination device, information indicating the content of the failure, and information on the status of coping with the communication failure are displayed. Communication system as described. A cable connector connected to a cable provided between a transmission source device that transmits a predetermined signal and a transmission destination device that receives the signal,
A cable connector, comprising a control device for detecting a predetermined communication failure based on predetermined failure-related information. The control device is
9. The cable connector according to claim 8, wherein said communication failure is detected based on said signal flowing through said cable. The control device is
create a transmission signal for fault detection,
transmitting the transmission signal to the opposing cable connector via the cable;
9. The cable connector according to claim 8, wherein said communication failure is detected when said transmission signal is not received from said opposing cable connector. a connector that transmits a signal to the cable;
a signal detection device that detects a signal received by the connector;
a storage device that stores the failure-related information;
The control device is
9. The cable connector according to claim 8, wherein said communication failure is detected based on said failure-related information stored in said storage device. The source device and the destination device,
9. The cable connector of claim 8, wherein the cable connector is a server device, a storage device or a network device.

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