JP2841388B2 - Remote monitoring method - Google Patents

Description

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for performing remote monitoring between a monitoring station and a plurality of monitored stations via a branching communication network, and in particular, a polling procedure. The present invention relates to a remote monitoring method characterized by the following.

[Prior Art] FIG. 8 shows an example of a conventional remote monitoring method. Monitoring station 12
0 indicates a number of monitored stations 131 and 13 via the public telephone network.
2, 133 and 134 are being monitored. For convenience of explanation, the number of monitored stations is four. The monitoring station 120 first transmits a polling signal 150 to the first monitored station 131 as shown in FIG. 8A, and the response signal 160 is transmitted from the monitored station 131.
To receive. Next, as shown in FIG.
Transmits a polling signal 150 to the second monitored station 132, and similarly receives a response signal 160. Similarly, as shown in FIGS. 8C and D, the third and fourth
Polling is also performed on the second monitored stations 133 and 134.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-described conventional remote monitoring method, all the stations are polled from the monitoring station to the monitored station one by one in order. Therefore, a large burden is imposed on the monitoring station, and a large amount of time and communication charges are required to monitor all of the monitored stations spread over a wide range.

An object of the present invention is to provide a remote monitoring method that does not require a monitoring station to individually monitor a monitored station.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, a remote monitoring method according to the present invention provides remote monitoring between a monitoring station and a plurality of monitored stations via a branching communication network. A first step of transmitting, from the monitoring station, a route setting signal in which each monitored station stores in advance a monitored station to be polled next; and a monitored station receiving a polling signal from the monitoring station. A second step of adding the information of the own station to the polling signal and transmitting the same to another monitored station storing the information of the own station, and a polling to which information of the other monitored station is added. A third step in which the monitored station that has received the signal adds information of the own station to the polling signal and transmits this to another monitored station that stores information of the own station, and the third step Repeat the last From viewing station the monitoring station, and a fourth step of returning a polling signal including the information of the monitored station.

The predetermined route can be set by various methods. For example, the polling signal from the monitoring station can include data on the order of polling of the monitored station. Alternatively, the code of the monitored station to be polled next may be stored in advance in each monitored station.

[Operation] According to the present invention, the monitoring station may transmit the polling signal only once to the first monitored station. Therefore, it is not necessary to individually perform polling for other monitored stations. While the polling signal passes through each monitored station, the information of these monitored stations is added to the polling signal. As a result, the polling signal returning from the last monitored station to the monitoring station includes information on all monitored stations.

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

The monitoring method of the present invention monitors a station to be monitored according to a predetermined polling route, and various methods for setting a polling route are conceivable. In the following description, the following two embodiments will be described.

(1) A method in which a code of a monitored station to be polled next (hereinafter, referred to as a next polling station) is stored in each monitored station in advance (first embodiment).

(2) A method in which data indicating the order of polling is included in a polling signal transmitted from a monitoring station (second embodiment).

First Embodiment As shown in FIG. 2, a remote monitoring system used in this embodiment includes one monitoring station 20 and four monitored stations 31, 32,
33 and 3 are connected to the public telephone network 10. In this embodiment, first, when the system is started, the codes of the next polling station are stored in all the monitored stations. This pre-processing is performed by transmitting a route setting signal from the monitoring station to each monitored station and downloading the next polling station code. The last monitored station stores the monitoring station as the next polling station code.

FIG. 3 shows a format of a signal transmitted from the monitoring station to the monitored station. At the head of the signal, there is a control code storage unit 50 for storing a control code indicating the type of the signal.
After that, there are four information storage units 51, 52, 53, 54 assigned to the four monitored stations 31, 32, 33, 34. This signal format can be used as both a route setting signal and a polling signal.

To use as a route setting signal, the content of the signal is as follows. The first control code storage unit 50 stores a route setting code. When this code is stored, the signal from the monitoring station functions as a route setting signal. The information storage units 51 to 54 store the next polling station codes for the monitored stations. In this embodiment, the first information storage unit 51 is assigned to the first monitored station 31, and here, a code indicating the second monitored station 32 is stored as a next polling station code. ing. The next three polling station codes for the other three monitored stations 32-34 are also stored in the other three information storage units 52-54.
When such a route setting signal is transmitted from the monitoring station 20 to the first monitored station 31, the first monitored station 31 stores the next polling station code from the first information storage unit 51 assigned to the own station. Read and store this. Similarly, a route setting signal is transmitted to the other three monitored stations 32 to 34 to store the next polling station code.

On the other hand, to use a signal in the above format as a polling signal, the content of the signal is as follows. The first control code storage unit 50 stores a polling code. When this code is stored, the signal from the monitoring station functions as a polling signal. No information is initially stored in the four information storage units 51 to 54.

 Next, the monitoring operation of this embodiment will be described.

As described above, the next polling station codes are already stored in the four monitored stations 31 to 34. The polling route is determined by this content. FIG. 1 shows an example of a polling route. The monitoring station 20 transmits a polling signal 40 to the first monitored station 31. The monitored station 31 decodes the polling signal 40 and stores the status information of the monitored station in the information storage unit 51 assigned to the monitored station. Then, the monitored station 31 transmits the polling signal 41 to which the own station status information is added to the second monitored station 32 according to the next polling station code stored therein. Polling signal
The monitored station 32 that has received the 41 performs the same operation as the monitored station 31, and transmits to the monitored station 33 a polling signal 42 to which status information of the monitored station is further added. The same operation is repeated in the monitored station 33. The fourth monitored station 34, which is the last monitored station, receives the polling signal 43. Then, the polling signal 44 to which the status information of the own station is added is transmitted to the monitoring station 20 in accordance with the next polling station code stored therein. The monitoring station 20 can monitor the states of the monitored stations by decoding the polling signal 44 to which the state information of all the monitored stations is added.

FIG. 4 is an example in which another polling route is determined.
In this example, the polling signal is sent from the monitoring station 20 to the monitored station 3
1, 33, 32, and 34 in this order, and finally return to the monitoring station 20.

FIG. 5 is an example in which two polling routes are defined.
One polling route is used to send polling signals to monitoring stations 20.
This is a route to send to the monitored stations 31 and 32 in this order and return to the monitoring station 20. Another polling route is a route in which a polling signal is sent from the monitoring station 20 to the monitored stations 33 and 34 in this order and returned to the monitoring station 20. In this example, since there are two polling routes, the monitoring station 20 needs to transmit two polling signals.

In the first embodiment described above, if the polling signal is interrupted on the way due to any cause, the interrupted station calls the monitoring station, so that it is possible to know which station interrupted. Has become.

When changing the polling route, a route setting signal defining a new polling route may be transmitted from the monitoring station to each monitored station.

Second Embodiment In this embodiment, the polling signal transmitted from the monitoring station includes data indicating the order of polling. The configuration of the remote monitoring system is the same as that shown in FIG. FIG. 6 shows a signal format used in this embodiment. In this embodiment, since the route setting signal is not used, there is no need to distinguish between the route setting signal and the polling signal. Therefore, no control code storage is required. In this signal format, there are five information storage units 61, 62, 63, 64 and 65 for four monitored stations. When the polling signal is transmitted from the monitoring station, the next polling station code is stored in the information storage unit. In this example, a code A1 indicating the first monitored station is stored in the first information storage unit 61. Second, third, and fourth information storage units 62, 63,
64 includes a code A2 indicating the second, fourth, and third monitored stations,
A4 and A3 are stored. The code A0 indicating the monitoring station is stored in the fifth information storage unit 65.

Next, a monitoring operation using such a polling signal will be described with reference to FIG. The monitoring station 20 transmits the polling signal 70 having the contents shown in FIG. 6 to the monitored station 31 according to the code A1 stored in the first information storage unit 61. The monitored station 31 decodes the polling signal 70, and stores the status information of the own station in the information storage unit 61 in which the own station code A1 is stored.
Write B1. Then, the polling signal 71 to which the own station status information B1 is added is transmitted to the monitored station 32 according to the code A2 stored in the second information storage unit 62. The monitored station 32
Similarly to the monitored station 31, the polling signal 72 is transmitted to the monitored station 34 with the status information B2 of the own station added. Hereinafter, the same operation is performed, and the last monitored station 33 is stored in the fifth information storage unit.
The polling signal 73 is returned to the monitoring station 20 according to the code A0 stored in 65. In the polling signal 73, status information B1, B2, B4, and B3 of all monitored stations are written. The monitoring station 20 decodes the polling signal 73,
All monitored stations can be monitored.

In the second embodiment, since the polling route is written in the polling signal, there are the following advantages.

(1) There is no need to store the next polling station code in the monitored station in advance, and the polling route can be easily changed.

(2) By storing a plurality of codes of the same monitored station in the polling signal, the monitored station can be monitored intensively.

(3) Even if the number of stations to be monitored increases or decreases, it can be easily handled by increasing or decreasing the information storage section of the polling signal.

Also in the second embodiment, due to some cause,
If the polling signal is interrupted on the way, the interrupted station calls the monitoring station, so that it is possible to know which station interrupted.

In the two embodiments described above, the public telephone line network is used as the communication network, but other communication networks can also be used as long as the communication network is a branching communication network.

Further, in the above two embodiments, the number of monitored stations is four for convenience of explanation, but any number of monitored stations may be used.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a monitored station that has received a polling signal adds information of its own station to the polling signal and transmits the information to another monitored station. Has the following effects.

(1) It is not necessary to poll every monitored station from the monitoring station for each station, and at least one polling is required at a minimum, and the burden on the monitoring station is reduced.

(2) Compared with the prior art, the entire signal passage path is shorter, the monitoring time is shorter, and the communication fee is reduced.

(3) The monitored station can also monitor the status of the polled monitored station by decoding the received polling signal.

(4) If the next polling station code is used as the monitoring station code for each monitored station, it is possible to perform polling for each station as in the related art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a polling route according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a remote monitoring system used in the first embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are explanatory diagrams showing another polling route of the first embodiment, FIG. 6 is a signal format diagram of the second embodiment, FIG. FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of the monitoring operation of the second embodiment, and FIG. 20 Monitoring station 31, 32, 33, 34 Monitored station 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, Polling signal

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] In a method for remotely monitoring between a monitoring station and a plurality of monitored stations via a branching type communication network, the monitored stations to be polled next are stored in advance in each of the monitored stations. A first step of transmitting a route setting signal from the monitoring station, the monitored station receiving the polling signal from the monitoring station adds its own information to the polling signal, and then transmits this information to its own station. A second step of storing the transmitted information to another monitored station, and the monitored station receiving the polling signal with the information of the other monitored station adding its own information to the polling signal. Next, a third step of transmitting the information of the own station to another monitored station that stores the information of the own station, and the third step is repeated to include information of the monitored station from the last monitored station to the monitoring station. Fourth step to return the polling signal And a remote monitoring method.