JP2519290Y2 - Communication controller with communication monitor - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to a communication controller with a communication monitor, and in particular, to monitor an abnormality between the controller and a communication line or a gas meter or other sensor. Regarding what you did.

(Prior art) Recently, for example, a center and a terminal are installed at an LPG dealer and an LPG consumer, respectively, and these are connected by a communication line such as a telephone line, and the terminal and the center are connected via the communication line. In addition, a meter reading system has been proposed in which gas meter reading data and warning information such as gas leaks are reported at any time based on a request from the center.

FIG. 3 shows a terminal provided at the gas consumption destination. The terminal network control device 1 installed at the gas consumption destination is connected to the center side (not shown) via the communication line 2.

The terminal network control device 1 is connected to the communication controller 3 via a signal line 4.

The communication controller 3 is a gas meter 5 with a built-in microcomputer.
Is connected via a signal line 6, and a gas leak alarm (not shown) and other sensors are connected, and as shown in the flow chart of FIG. Along with the work of calling and reporting the abnormality to the center side, the operation content is displayed by the combination blinking of the _four LEDs L _{1 to} L ₄ provided on the display unit 3a according to the operation mode.

Upon receiving the warning information, the center side executes the work such as promptly taking appropriate measures according to the contents.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) By the way, in the conventional system of this type, even if an abnormality occurs in any device or communication line even at the initial stage of system installation or during use, any of them In order to discriminate such an abnormality, an auxiliary device such as an oscilloscope and a voltmeter had to be used, which was troublesome.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks and provides a communication controller with a communication monitor capable of identifying an abnormal portion by using an LED of a display unit.

[Means for Solving the Problems] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is connected to a gas meter and other sensors via a signal line and responds to an abnormal signal from the gas meter and other sensors. It is a communication controller that calls this abnormality to the center side via a communication line and has a plurality of LEDs for abnormality display, and when abnormality occurs, the type of abnormality state can be displayed by combining the blinking parts of these LEDs In the communication controller configured as described above, as the operation mode of the communication controller, in addition to the abnormality detection mode for detecting the above-mentioned abnormality, the communication state between the communication controller and the communication line, and the communication controller and the gas meter In addition to providing a monitor mode to inspect the communication status with the sensor, the error detection mode and this monitor mode The switching controller is provided with a switching means, and when the switching mode is switched to the monitor mode, the communication controller communicates with the gas meter and other sensors via a signal line or the center via the communication line. During communication with, the voltage level of the signal line or communication line is monitored, and the LED is made to blink according to the high or low of this voltage level.

(Operation) In monitor mode, each LED is turned on or off depending on whether each signal line is at high level or low level,
As a result, it is possible to easily perform a communication check at the time of completion of installation work or a cause investigation when a communication error occurs.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the system configuration of a communication controller with a communication monitor to which the present invention is applied.

In the figure, 20 is a CPU with a built-in RAM, ROM, timer, and register, which is a control program stored in the ROM,
It operates based on the data stored in RAM and registers, and clocking by a timer.

ANR-NCU (center network control unit) is connected to the input / output port IO _{1 of the} CPU 20 via an NCU interface (I / F) 20b.
Can be connected.

The input / output port IO ₂ is connected to the input / output terminal of the gas meter via the gas meter interface (I / F) 20c.

Further, a gas alarm is connected to the input port I ₁ via the no-voltage / voltage presence discrimination circuit 20d, and an LPG cylinder exchange information switch, a rice sensor, etc. are respectively connected to the input port I ₂ via the contact input discrimination circuit 20e. It is supposed to be connected.

The output port O ₁ display circuit 20f is connected, the display circuit 20f is turned on or turns off in response four LEDL ₁ ~L ₄ to each state.

CPU20 is a control program and RAM stored in the ROM,
Based on the contents of data stored in a register or the like, an operation according to a signal from the input port is executed to obtain a predetermined output state, and the operation shown in the flowchart equivalent to that of the conventional FIG. 4 is performed. Run.

In addition, a switching means 21 for switching the operation mode of the CPU to the monitor side is built in the controller. The switching means 21 switches between the conventional abnormality detection mode and the monitor mode added in the present invention. Switching the switching means 21 to the monitor mode side, CPU 20 is level or high between the signal lines, discriminating whether wax, on or turns off the LEDL ₁ ~L ₃ according to the result, the communication line disconnection Or, monitor the connected equipment for abnormalities.

FIG. 2 shows an operating state during the monitoring. First, at step 1, it is judged whether or not the communication is being monitored. If NO in step 1, that is, if it is the normal abnormality detection mode, the same process as the conventional process is executed.

If the monitor mode has been entered, the process proceeds to step 2 where it is determined whether or not there is no ringing communication. If no ringing communication is being performed, the process proceeds to step 3 to determine whether or not the level between the controller and the ANR-NCU is high. If YES in step 3, that is, if the level is high, the process proceeds to step 4 and LEDL ₁ is turned on. On the contrary, if it is low level, NO is determined in step 3 and LEDL ₁ is turned off.

When no ringing communication is not performed in step 2 and after steps 4 and 5 are completed, it is determined in step 6 whether or not to make a terminal call. When a call is made from the terminal, the process proceeds to step 7 and it is determined whether or not the signal lines are at a high level. YES in step 7,
That is, if it is high level, proceed to step 8 and LE
Turn on DL ₂ . On the contrary, if it is at the low level, it is judged as NO and the process proceeds to step 9 to turn off the LEDL ₂ .

When there is no call from the terminal in step 6 and after steps 8 and 9 are completed, the process proceeds to step 10, where it is judged whether or not there is communication between the controller and the gas meter. When the controller and the gas meter are in communication with each other, it is determined in step 11 whether the communication line is at a high level. If YES in step 11, that is, if it is high level, the process proceeds to step 12, and LEDL ₃ is turned on. On the contrary, if it is low level, it is judged as NO and the process proceeds to step 13, where LEDL ₃
Turn off.

Further, in this embodiment, the connection state between the gas alarm and other sensors and the controller is not described, but the monitoring process can be executed in the same manner as described above.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail with reference to the embodiments above, in the communication controller with the communication monitor of the present invention, the abnormality between the controller and the gas meter or other sensor is controlled by the LED.
Can be displayed by blinking, and no ringing communication and call from the terminal or an abnormality in the communication status with the gas meter can be displayed.
Since it can be monitored by the blinking state of the LED, it is possible to easily check the cause of a communication check during system installation work, or in the event of a communication error, without using other auxiliary means.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a system configuration of a communication controller with a communication monitor according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing in the monitor mode of the controller, and FIG. 3 is a conventional communication controller with a communication monitor. Explanatory diagram showing a gas security system including
FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing general processing in the system. 20 …… CPU 20b …… NCU interface 20c …… Gas meter interface 20d …… No-voltage / voltage judgment circuit 20e …… Contact input judgment circuit 20f …… Display circuit 21 …… Monitor switching means L _{1 to} L ₄ … …LED

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A communication controller which is connected to a gas meter and other sensors through a signal line and calls the abnormality to the center side via a communication line in response to an abnormal signal from the gas meter and other sensors. Therefore, in a communication controller equipped with an LED for anomaly display and capable of displaying the type of anomalous state by the combination of blinking of these LEDs at the time of anomaly, the anomaly detecting the anomaly is set as the operation mode of the communication controller. In addition to the detection mode, a monitor mode for inspecting the communication state between the communication controller and the communication line, and the communication state between the communication controller and the gas meter and other sensors is provided.
Switching means for switching between the abnormality detection mode and the monitor mode is provided, and when switched to the monitor mode by the switching means, the communication controller communicates with the gas meter and other sensors via the signal line. ,
Alternatively, during communication with the center via the communication line, the voltage level of the signal line or the communication line is monitored, and the LED is blinked according to whether the voltage level is high or low. Communication controller with communication monitor.