JP2771261B2 - Terminal device abnormality diagnosis method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for diagnosing an abnormality of a terminal device, and particularly relates to a building management system, a bank online system, a remote monitoring,
The present invention relates to a terminal device abnormality diagnosis method in a distributed system for a control system or the like.

[Prior Art] As a conventional technique related to a distributed system for remote monitoring, control, and the like, a method based on polling from a central device is known. The method for diagnosing terminal device anomalies in this method is to periodically check each terminal device from the central device to check for an error in the terminal device. If the communication time per terminal device is long, the time required for one round of polling for all the terminal devices increases, and the load on the central device due to the polling increases.

Further, as another conventional technique, a communication between a central device and a terminal device in a system in a contention system (communication by alerting from a terminal device) is known. In the case of this method, when there is no alert from the terminal device, the central device cannot identify whether “the terminal device is normal and there is no alert” or “the terminal device is abnormal and cannot issue the alert”.
In order to detect an abnormality of the terminal device, useless operations such as periodically checking the terminal device by polling are performed as in the case described above.

As a conventional technique relating to the above-described abnormality diagnosis of the terminal device, for example, a technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 60-91753 is known.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-described conventional technology, particularly, the conventional technology in which the communication system is a contention system, the normal or abnormal determination of a terminal device that does not issue an alert to a central device is performed during a normal operation. Therefore, the polling method of calling the terminal device from the central device and checking for an abnormality in the terminal device is used only for checking the abnormality of the terminal device, which increases the load on the central device. In addition, when the terminal device is normal, there is a problem that a useless operation is performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a terminal device abnormality diagnosis method that solves the above-mentioned problems of the related art and makes it possible to easily diagnose whether the terminal device is normal or abnormal without increasing the load on the central device. Is to do.

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the present invention, the object is to provide a distributed system in which a central device and a plurality of distributed terminal devices are connected by a communication line. Storage means for storing in advance the number of calls, traffic volume or call volume which can be predicted in advance, which is determined by the characteristics of each terminal device, for each time zone, and the actual number of calls, traffic for each terminal device Counting means for counting the volume or call volume; the number of calls, traffic volume or traffic volume counted by the counting device; and the number of calls, traffic volume or traffic volume corresponding to the time zone stored in the storage device. This is attained by providing a comparison unit for comparing the amount and a diagnosis unit for diagnosing normal / abnormal of each terminal device based on a comparison result of the comparison unit.

[Operation] The storage means stores in advance the predicted number of calls at each of a plurality of unit times for each terminal device. The counting means measures and counts the actual number of outgoing calls from the terminal device. The comparing means compares the number of calls stored in the storage means described above with the number of calls actually counted by the counting means for each time period. The diagnosis unit diagnoses whether the terminal device is normal or abnormal using the comparison result.

This diagnosis result is output by the output device and is displayed or printed, so that the maintenance person or the like can quickly grasp the status of the terminal device, and can take prompt action when an abnormality occurs.

Embodiment An embodiment of a terminal device abnormality diagnosis method according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a central unit, and FIGS. 3 to 6 explain the operation of one embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 7 to 11 show various tables necessary for the operation. 1 and 2, 1 is a central device, 2 is a communication network, 3 is a terminal device, 4 is a central device side communication line, 5 is a terminal device side communication line, 21 is output means, 22 is diagnostic means, 23 is a comparing means, 24 is a counting means, and 25 is a storage means.

The distributed system to which the present invention is applied is, for example, a building management system, a bank online system, a remote monitoring, a control system, and the like. As shown in FIG. 1, a central processing unit 1 and a plurality of terminal devices 3 are provided. , For example, phone line, LA
N and a communication network 2 such as a dedicated line and the lines 4 and 5 are connected to each other. Then, the central device 1 captures various information of the terminal device 3 and gives necessary information to the terminal device.

Various types of information transmitted and received between the central device 1 and the terminal device 3 differ depending on the system. For example, in the case of a building management system, the information includes measurement data and status change data of equipment in the building, and the bank online. In the case of the system, it is information such as the withdrawal amount of the savings and savings, name, personal identification number and the like.

In the system configured as described above, the functions provided in the central device 1 according to the present invention for the central device 1 to diagnose an abnormality of the terminal device 3 are shown in FIG.

When the central device 1 diagnoses the terminal device 3, it operates roughly as follows.

The storage unit 25 stores in advance the expected number of outgoing calls in a plurality of time zones for each terminal device. Counting means 24
Counts the number of outgoing calls for each of a plurality of time zones for each terminal device 3. The comparing means 23 calculates the number of calls for each terminal device 3 counted by the counting means 24 for each unit time and the number of calls for each terminal device 3 stored in the storage means 25 in advance for each unit time. Is compared with the predicted number of outgoing calls, and the comparison result is given to the diagnosis means 22. If there is a large difference between the two numbers of calls as a result of this comparison, the diagnosis means 22 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the terminal device, passes the determination result to the output means 21, and outputs the result to the display device or the printing device. Output.

The reason why the terminal device can be diagnosed by such a method will be described below.

In general, if the system described above is normally operated and each terminal device is operating normally, the number of calls from the terminal device to the central device is statistically calculated for each time period during the operation of the system. Is known to have a particular distribution. Therefore, the number of calls that can be predicted statistically and that can be predicted based on the characteristics of the terminal device for each time zone for each terminal device is stored in the storage means as the predicted number of calls, and the actual number of calls is stored. When the number of calls from the terminal device is significantly different from the predicted number of calls, it is possible to determine that some abnormality has occurred in the terminal device.

The present invention is based on the principle as described above,
Hereinafter, the detailed operation will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 3 is a processing flow for explaining the operation of the counting means 24, and performs the following processing.

(1) First, the timer is checked to determine whether the time has changed. This time is a start time or an end time of a time zone for counting the number of calls of each terminal device,
In this embodiment, it is each hour (step 31).

(2) If the time has changed in step 31, it is determined whether or not it is the preset stop time of the counting means, and if it is the stop time, the process is terminated (step 32).

(3) If it is not the stop time in step 32, the number of outgoing calls of each terminal device 3 that has been counted is stored in the actual outgoing call number table shown in FIG. (Step 33).

K (n, t) = CONT (n, t) (1) where K: actual number of calls n: terminal device number (n = 1, 2,..., N) t: time (t = 0) , 1,2,3,…, 23) CONT: Measured call count As described above, the number of outgoing calls of each terminal device in each time zone is registered in the actual outgoing call number table. Instead of the actual number of calls, the traffic volume and the traffic volume as shown in the equations (2) and (3) may be used, or these patterns may be used.

T (n, t) = CONT (n, t) × Th (2) where T: traffic amount Th: average holding time (second) A (n, t) = T (n, t) / 3600 ... (3) where A = traffic volume (4) CONT (n, t) (n = 1,2, ..., N, T = 0,1, ..., 23) is cleared to "0" and the counter is initialized. (Step 3)
Four).

(5) After step 34 or at step 31,
If the time has not changed, the line No. 1 of the central unit side line
It is determined whether there is a line on hold (used) for .about.M, and if not, the process from step 31 is repeatedly executed (step 35).

(6) In step 35, if the line in use, unit number n ₁ of all terminal devices 3 in communication with the central device 1, corresponding to the current time t _1, the counter (4) as shown in equation Is incremented by one, and then the process from step 31 is repeatedly executed (step
36).

The counting means 24 performs the above-described processing,
The actual number of outgoing calls for each of the terminal devices 3 is counted.

The comparison means 23 calculates the actual number of outgoing calls of each terminal device 3,
The comparison is made with the predicted number of calls for each time zone of each terminal device 3 stored in the storage means 25 in advance, and the result is output to the diagnosis means 22. The predicted number of calls for each time period of each terminal device 3 stored in the storage means 25 is obtained by collecting the number of actual calls in a normal state over a long period of time and performing statistical processing. The obtained value is stored in a predicted call number storage table as shown in FIG. FIG. 4 shows a processing flow of the comparing means 23 for comparing the predicted call number of each terminal device with the actual call number, which will be described below.

(1) First, the initial value of the device number n of the terminal device 3 is set to "1", and the number of calls K actually measured by the counting means 24 is set.
(N, t) (t = 1, 2,..., 23) is fetched from the actual number of calls table of FIG. 7, and furthermore, the predicted number of calls M (n, t) (t = 1, 2,..., 23) are fetched from the predicted call number table of FIG. 8 (steps 401 to 403).

(2) Next, using the data acquired in steps 402 and 403, the sum of squares of the deviations in a plurality of time zones is calculated by using (5), (6),
The calculation is performed by the equation (7).

Equations (5) to (7) are respectively the sum of squares of the deviation for 24 hours, the sum of squares of the deviation between 8:00 and 19:00, that is, the sum of squares of the deviation in the working hours, and Although the sum of squares of the deviation is obtained, the range of these sums is arbitrary, and may be set to, for example, daytime and nighttime, working hours and other time zones (step 404).

(3) Upper limit value ε _LMTU1 above ε ₁ stored in advance
Then, the lower limit value ε _LMTL1 is compared with ε ₁ obtained above by the equation (8).

ε _LMTU1 <ε ₁ , ε ₁ <ε _LMTL1 (8) As a result of this comparison, if equation (8) is satisfied, the ninth equation is obtained.
D (n, 1) in the comparison result table shown in the figure is set to "1", and if not satisfied, D (n, 1) is set to "0" (steps 405 to 407).

(4) Next, the upper limit value ε of ε ₂ stored in advance
And _LMTU2 and lower limit values ε _LMTL2, compared by the ₂ epsilon obtained in above (9).

ε _LMTU2 <ε ₂ , ε ₂ <ε _LMTL2 (9) As a result of this comparison, if Expression (9) is satisfied,
D (n, 2) in the comparison result table shown in the figure is set to "1", and if not satisfied, D (n, 2) is set to "0" (steps 408 to 410).

(5) The upper limit value ε of ε ₃ stored in advance
And _LMTU3 and lower limit values ε _LMTL3, compared by the epsilon ₃ obtained in above (9).

ε _LMTU3 <ε ₃ , ε ₃ <ε _LMTL3 (10) As a result of this comparison, if equation (10) is satisfied, the ninth equation is obtained.
D (n, 3) in the comparison result table shown in the figure is set to "1", and if not satisfied, D (n, 3) is set to "0" (steps 411 to 413).

(6) The terminal device number n and the total number of terminal devices N processed above
It is determined whether or not the processing has been completed for all the terminal devices. If the processing has been completed, the processing is terminated. If not, the terminal device number is updated by incrementing the terminal device number by one.
Repeat the processing from 402 (Steps 414, 41)
Five).

By the above-described processing, the result of comparison between the actual number of calls and the predicted number of calls of each terminal device is stored in the comparison result table shown in FIG.

The diagnosing means 22 uses the contents of the comparison result table to
Diagnose abnormalities of each terminal device. The processing flow of the diagnosis means 22 is shown in FIG. 5, and will be described below.

(1) First, the device number n of the terminal device 3 is set to "1", and D (n, 1), D (), which is the comparison result of the terminal device with the device number n from the comparison result table shown in FIG. n, 2), D (n,
Import 3) (Steps 51 and 52).

(2) Using the diagnostic table shown in FIG. 10, D (n, 1), D
The contents corresponding to the values of (n, 2) and D (n, 3) are stored in the output table shown in FIG. 11 as a diagnosis result (step 5).
3).

(3) The terminal device number n processed as described above and the total number of terminal devices N
It is determined whether or not the processing has been completed for all the terminal devices. If the processing has been completed, the processing is terminated. If not, the terminal device number is updated by incrementing the terminal device number by one.
The processing from step 52 is repeatedly executed (steps 54 and 55).

Through the above-described processing, the diagnosis unit 22 performs diagnosis for all terminal devices, and stores the result in the output table. This diagnosis result is output by the output means 21, displayed on the display device, or printed out by the printing device. The operation flow of this output means is shown in FIG. 6, and will be described below.

(1) First, the device number n of the terminal device 3 is set to "1", and the contents of the diagnosis result of the terminal device having the device number n are output to the output device from the diagnosis result table shown in FIG. 11 (step 61). , 62).

(2) The terminal device number n processed as described above and the total number of terminal devices N
It is determined whether or not the processing has been completed for all the terminal devices. If the processing has been completed, the processing is terminated. If not, the terminal device number is updated by incrementing the terminal device number by one.
The processing of 62 is repeatedly executed (steps 63 and 64).

According to the embodiment of the present invention described above, the number of calls from each terminal device is constantly monitored, so that the central device can know the abnormality of each terminal device without calling the terminal device by means such as polling. Can be.

The above-described embodiment of the present invention monitors only whether the number of calls from the terminal device is between the upper limit and the lower limit of the predicted number of calls, but "exceeds the upper limit". , "Not reaching the lower limit", and "being between the upper limit and the lower limit" can be monitored so that the terminal device can be diagnosed more accurately.

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention described above, the number of outgoing calls of each terminal device is monitored. However, in the present invention, the pattern of the number of outgoing calls of each terminal device, traffic volume, traffic volume, or
A similar effect can be achieved by monitoring these patterns and the like. In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the abnormality of each terminal device is diagnosed by using the sum of the number of calls of each terminal device per day. It is also possible to diagnose an abnormality of the terminal device by individually using the number of outgoing calls.

 Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a central unit,
FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining the communication control processing of the central unit, FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a format of data transmitted and received between the central unit and the processor, and FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the processor. FIG. 17 is a flowchart for explaining the communication control processing of the processor. FIG. 12,
13 and 16, reference numeral 6 is a processor, 7 is a communication line, 26 and 27 are communication control means, and other symbols are those in FIG.
It is the same as the case of FIG.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the central unit 1 counts the number of outgoing calls of each terminal device 3 and transmits the counted number to the processor 6 via the communication line 7. A diagnosis is made. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 13, the central unit 1 is provided with only the counting unit 24 and the communication control unit 26 as a unit for diagnosing the terminal device 3. Further, the processor 6 provided for this embodiment is provided with a means for diagnosing the terminal device 3 as well as a communication control means 27 for communication with the central device 1 as shown in FIG. In the embodiment described above, all means other than the counting means for diagnosing the terminal device 3 provided in the central device 1, namely, the output means 21, the diagnosis means 22, the comparison means 23 and the storage means
It is configured with 25.

This other embodiment of the present invention is different from the above-described embodiment in that the operation of transferring the number of calls of each terminal device 3 is added between the communication control means 26 of the central unit 1 and the communication control means 27 of the processor 6. Since it is possible to diagnose each terminal device in the same manner as in the embodiment, only the communication control means is
The operation will be described in detail.

First, the processing of the communication control means 26 in the central device 1 will be described with reference to the flow of FIG.

(1) The device number n of the terminal device 3 is initially set to “1”, and the number of outgoing calls K of the terminal device measured in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment.
(N, t) (t = 1, 2,..., 23) is fetched from the actual call count table shown in FIG. 7 (steps 141 and 142).

(2) The terminal device number n and the number of calls K (n, t) (t = 1,2, ‥‥, 23) of the terminal device taken into the transmission buffer,
For example, it is stored in a format as shown in FIG. 15 (step 143).

(3) After instructing the processor 6 to receive the data and confirming the completion of the reception state of the processor 6, the data stored in the transmission buffer is transmitted to the processor 6 (steps 144 and 145).

(4) The terminal device number n and the total number of terminal devices N processed above
It is determined whether or not the processing has been completed for all the terminal devices. If the processing has been completed, the processing is terminated. If not, the terminal device number is updated by incrementing the terminal device number by one.
Repeat the processing from 142 (Steps 146, 14)
7).

Corresponding to such processing of the communication control means 26 in the central device 1, the communication control means 27 in the processor 6 operates according to the processing flow shown in FIG.

(1) When a request for a reception instruction is received from the communication control means 25 of the central device 1, the reception system is prepared and the completion of the reception system is transmitted to the communication control unit 26 of the central device 1 (step 701).

(2) The data transmitted from the communication control means of the central unit 1 is received, and the received data is stored in a reception buffer configured similarly to the transmission buffer shown in FIG. 15 (step 702).

(3) Reception data stored in the reception buffer is
A line (step 70) stored in the same actual call number table as described with reference to FIG.
3).

Thereafter, the various means in the processor 6 use the data of the actual call count table as in the case of the above-described embodiment.
Diagnose each terminal device.

In such another embodiment of the present invention, as in the case of the above-described embodiment, it is possible to diagnose the terminal device by using the traffic volume, call volume, and the like of each terminal device. The burden on the central device for device diagnosis can be reduced.

In another embodiment of the present invention, how to distribute various means for diagnosing the terminal device to the central device and the processor is arbitrary, and the processing load of the central device and the processing load of the processor are arbitrary. May be determined in consideration of the above.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the operation state of a terminal device can be reliably changed without issuing a notification from the central device to each terminal device for checking and diagnosing the state of the terminal device. Diagnosis can be made, early detection of terminal device abnormalities and its response are possible, and furthermore, since the central device issues a notification for terminal device diagnosis, there is no need to suspend the communication line,
The communication line can be used effectively.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a central unit, and FIG.
6 are flow charts for explaining the operation of one embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 7 to 11 are diagrams showing various tables necessary for the operation, and FIG. 12 is a flowchart of another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the central unit, FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating communication control processing of the central unit, and FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating transmission and reception between the central unit and the processor. FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a processor, and FIG. 17 is a flowchart for explaining a communication control process of the processor. 1. Central device, 2. Communication network, 3. Terminal device, 4.
... Communication line on central unit side, 5 ... Communication line on terminal unit side, 6
...... Processor, 7 ... communication line, 21 ... output means, 22
…… Diagnostic means, 23… Comparison means, 24… Count means,
25 storage means, 26, 27 communication control means.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kiyoshi Nakamura 4026 Kuji-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside Hitachi, Ltd.Hitachi Research Laboratory Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiromi Inaba 4026 Kuji-machi, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Hitachi Research, Ltd. In-house (72) Inventor Takashi Kaneko 1070 Mo, Katsuta-shi, Ibaraki Pref., Mito Plant, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Shigeru Nishikai 1-6, Kandanishikicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Hitachi Elevator Service Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-2-120969 (JP, A) JP-A-2-270433 (JP, A) JP-A-61-125266 (JP, A) JP-A-61-13367 (JP, A) −61084 (JP, B2) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04L 29/14 H04L 12/24 H04L 12/26 H04Q 9/00 301 H04Q 9/00 311

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] In a distributed system in which a central unit and a plurality of distributed terminal units are connected by a communication line, a characteristic of each terminal unit in each time zone for each terminal unit. Storing means for storing the determined number of calls that can be predicted in advance; counting means for counting the actual number of calls for each terminal device; calling numbers counted by the counting means; A comparison means for comparing the number of calls corresponding to the time zone stored in the means, and a diagnosis means for diagnosing normal / abnormal of each terminal device based on a comparison result of the comparison means. For diagnosing terminal device failure. 2. The terminal device abnormality diagnosis method according to claim 1, further comprising output means for outputting a diagnosis result of said diagnosis means to an output device such as a display device or a printing device. . 3. The processor according to claim 1, further comprising a processor connected to said central device, wherein at least said counting means is provided in said central device and said other means are provided in said processor. 3. The method for diagnosing abnormality of a terminal device according to claim 2. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a traffic volume or a call volume is used instead of the number of calls.
Item 4. The abnormality diagnosis method for a terminal device according to any one of Items 2, 2 and 3. 5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the distributed system is a building management system, a bank online system, or a remote monitoring and control system. Terminal device abnormality diagnosis method.