JP2914858B2 - Exchange switch failure detection system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an exchange switch failure detection system for detecting a failure occurring in an exchange switch for interconnecting a plurality of information processing modules.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in a communication control processing device of a data communication system, a design change and an easy maintenance are required.
In many cases, the communication control process is distributed among a plurality of modules by modularizing the device for each predetermined component and interconnecting them through an exchange switch.

In such a distributed processing type communication control processor, if a failure occurs in the exchange switch, normal communication control processing cannot be performed. Therefore,
When configuring a distributed processing type communication control processing device, a failure detection system for detecting a failure that has occurred in an exchange switch is required.

[0004] The conventional switching switch failure detection system utilizes a normal data transmission operation of each module.
A failure of the exchange switch is detected. Hereinafter, this will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a distributed processing type communication control processing device having a failure detection function of an exchange switch.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 11 denotes a communication control processing module obtained by dividing the communication control processing device into predetermined components. The figure shows a case where the communication control processing device is divided into six modules 11. Each module 11 has an identification number #n (n = 1, 2,...,
6) is given.

Here, for example, the module 11 with the identification number # 1 is a terminal control module, and the module 11 with the identification number # 2
Is a packet switching module,
The module 11 with the identification number # 3 is a circuit switching module, and the module 11 with the identification number # 4 is a network control module.

Reference numeral 12 denotes an exchange switch for connecting the modules 11 to each other. 13 is the exchange switch 12
Is a central processing unit that determines whether or not a failure has occurred.

FIG. 2 shows a case where six modules 11 are connected to the exchange switch 12 in a star configuration.
This connection form is not limited to a star shape, but may be a bus shape or the like.
Various forms are adopted.

Each time the module 11 sends data to a communication partner, it determines whether or not the data has been sent normally. This determination is made by determining whether a response signal has been returned from the exchange switch 12. This response signal is returned from the exchange switch 12 to the transmission source module 11 when the data is received by the destination module 11.

For example, the module 11 having the identification number # 1
When transmitting data to the module 11 having the identification number # 4 from the module 11, the data having the destination of the module 11 having the identification number # 4 is output from the module 11 having the identification number # 1. This data is supplied to the module 12 with the identification number # 4 via the exchange switch 12.

At this time, when the data is received by the module 11 having the identification number # 4, a response signal is returned from the exchange switch 12 to the module 11 having the identification number # 1. On the other hand, if no data is received, no response signal is returned. Therefore, the module 11 with the identification number # 1 is
By determining whether or not the response signal has been returned, it can be determined whether or not the data has been transmitted normally.

When it is determined that the data is not transmitted normally, the fact is notified to the central processing unit 13. When the central processing unit 13 receives the notification of the transmission abnormality from all the modules 11, it recognizes that a failure has occurred in the exchange switch 12.

That is, as a cause of the occurrence of the transmission error,
A failure of the source module 11, a failure of the exchange switch 12, and a failure of the destination module 11 are considered. If the number of modules 11 that sent the transmission error notification is small,
It is difficult to determine which of these causes a transmission error.

However, when the number of modules that have transmitted the transmission abnormality notification is large, the possibility that a transmission abnormality has occurred due to a failure of the exchange switch 12 increases. This tendency increases as the number of modules that have transmitted the transmission abnormality notification increases.

The central processing unit 13 recognizes that a failure has occurred in the exchange switch 12 when the transmission abnormality notification is received from all the modules 11.

[0017]

As described above, the conventional exchange switch failure detection system determines the presence or absence of a transmission error at the time of data transmission for each module 11 and determines whether or not any module 11 has a transmission error. Is detected, it is recognized that the exchange switch 12 has failed.

However, in such a configuration, if a data transmission request does not occur in all modules 11,
Even if a failure has occurred in the exchange switch 12, there is a problem that this failure cannot be detected.

Even if data transmission requests occur in all the modules 11, if they do not occur at the same time, the time from the occurrence of a failure in the exchange switch 12 to the detection of this failure is assumed. There was a problem of becoming long.

Therefore, the present invention always and irrespective of whether a data transmission request is generated in each module or not.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an exchange switch failure detection system that can quickly detect an exchange switch failure.

[0021]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a failure detection system for an exchange switch, in which each of the information processing modules is provided with data addressed to its own module at a predetermined cycle. Data transmitting means for transmitting, transmission state determining means provided for each information processing module for determining whether or not data transmitted from the data transmitting means has been normally transmitted, and a predetermined number of transmission state determinations A failure recognizing means for recognizing that a failure has occurred in the exchange switch when a result of the determination that the data is not transmitted normally is obtained from the means.

[0022]

In the above configuration, data addressed to the own module is transmitted at a fixed cycle from the data transmission means of each module. At the same time, the transmission state determining means of each module determines whether or not the transmission data has been transmitted normally. According to this determination, when the number of modules for which the determination result that transmission is not normal is obtained reaches a predetermined number, the failure recognition unit recognizes that a failure has occurred in the exchange switch.

According to such a configuration, it is possible to detect the presence or absence of a transmission error regardless of whether or not a data transmission request has occurred in each module. Can be detected.

[0024]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows, as a typical example, a case where the present invention is applied to the failure detection of the exchange switch 12 of the distributed processing type communication control processing device of FIG.

The present invention is characterized by the configuration of each module 11. In FIG. 1, this feature is identified by an identification number #
One module 11 is shown as a representative.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 111 denotes an exchange switch 1
2 is a data transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives data to / from another module 11 via the communication module 2. Reference numeral 112 denotes a transmission state test unit for testing whether data is transmitted normally. Reference numeral 113 denotes a control unit that controls operations of the data transmission / reception unit 111 and the transmission state test unit 112.

When a data transmission request is generated, the data transmission / reception unit 111 generates data addressed to another module 11 and supplies the data to the exchange switch 12. When data addressed to the module 11 is sent from the exchange switch 12, the data transmission / reception unit 111 receives the data and performs a predetermined reception process.

The transmission state test unit 112 is configured to
Test data addressed to 1 is generated and sent to the exchange switch 12. The transmission state test unit 112
Determines whether or not the test data has been transmitted normally by determining whether or not a response signal has been returned from the exchange switch 12 after the transmission processing of the test data has been completed. As a result of this determination, when a determination result indicating that transmission is not performed normally is obtained, the transmission state test unit 112 notifies the central processing unit 13 that a transmission abnormality has occurred.

The control unit 113 normally sets the data transmission / reception unit 111 to the operation state and the transmission state test unit 112 to the stop state, and sets the transmission state test unit 112 to the operation state intermittently at a predetermined cycle.

A fault detecting operation for detecting a fault occurring in the exchange switch 12 in the above configuration will be described.

First, an operation for determining whether the test data has been transmitted normally will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating this determination operation performed by the transmission state test unit 112 of each module 11.

This determination operation is started by the control unit 113 at predetermined intervals. In this determination operation, first,
A process of reading the identification number #n of the own module registered in a table or the like (not shown) is performed (step S).
1). Next, processing for generating test data in which the identification number n is inserted into the destination address portion is performed (step S).
2).

The test data is significant in that its destination is its own module, and its content is not significant. Therefore, this content may be anything.

When the generation of the test data is completed, a process of transmitting the test data to the exchange switch 12 is performed (step S3). Thereafter, by determining whether or not a response signal has been sent from the exchange switch 12, a process of determining whether or not the test data has been normally transmitted is performed (step S4).

When a response signal is sent, it is determined that the test data has been transmitted normally. This allows
In this case, the determination operation in this activation cycle ends. On the other hand, if no response signal is sent, it is determined that the test data has not been transmitted normally.
Thereby, in this case, a process of notifying the central processing unit 13 of the transmission abnormality is performed (step S5).

When the test data is sent from the exchange switch 12, the transmission state test section 112 discards the test data.

Next, an operation for determining whether or not a failure has occurred in the exchange switch 12 based on the transmission abnormality notification from each module 11 will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing this determination operation executed by the central processing unit 13.

The determination operation shown in FIG. 2 is executed each time a transmission abnormality notification is sent from each module. In this determination operation, first, processing for registering the identification number #n of the module 11 that has notified the transmission abnormality in the table is performed (step S11). Thereafter, a process of searching for the identification number #n of the module 11 registered in the table is performed (step S12).

When the search process is completed, a process for determining whether or not the identification numbers #n of all the modules 11 are registered based on the search result is performed (step S13). Thus, it is determined whether a failure has occurred in the exchange switch 12.

If the identification numbers #n of all the modules 11 have been registered, it is recognized that a failure has occurred in the exchange switch 12 (step S14). As a result, a maintenance person or the like is notified that a failure has occurred in the exchange switch 12. As a result,
The replacement switch 12 is inspected and repaired. On the other hand, when only the identification number #n of some modules 11 is registered, the determination operation ends, and the next notification is waited.

Hereinafter, similarly, each time a transmission abnormality notification is sent, the above-described determination operation is repeated.

According to this embodiment described in detail above, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) First, the presence or absence of a transmission abnormality is determined by transmitting test data at a predetermined cycle, so that the presence or absence of a transmission abnormality can be determined regardless of the presence or absence of a data transmission request. . This makes it possible to always and immediately determine whether or not a failure has occurred in the exchange switch 12, regardless of the presence or absence of a data transmission request.

(2) Since the presence or absence of a transmission abnormality is determined intermittently at a predetermined cycle, the presence / absence of a transmission abnormality can be determined without substantially affecting the data transmission / reception operation with another module 11. Can be.

(3) Further, since the destination of the test data is the own module 11, it is possible to determine the presence or absence of a transmission abnormality without substantially affecting the data transmission / reception operation of the other module 11.

As described above, one embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

(1) For example, in the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which it is determined whether or not a transmission error has occurred by determining whether or not a response signal has been returned from the exchange switch 12. However, the present invention may determine whether there is a transmission abnormality by determining whether test data has been received.

(2) In the above embodiment, the case where the presence or absence of the transmission abnormality is determined only when the test data is transmitted has been described. However, according to the present invention, the presence / absence of a transmission abnormality may be determined also when normal data is transmitted. According to such a configuration, the presence or absence of a transmission abnormality can be determined at an early stage.

(3) Further, in the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which the presence or absence of a failure in the exchange switch 12 is determined each time there is a transmission abnormality notification. However, in the present invention, the presence or absence of a failure may be determined at a predetermined cycle.

(4) In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which when a transmission error notification is received from all the modules 11, a failure has occurred in the exchange switch 12. However, the present invention may recognize that a failure has occurred when a transmission abnormality notification is received from some modules 11 as long as desired failure detection accuracy can be ensured.

(5) Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to failure detection of the exchange switch 12 of the distributed processing type communication control processing device has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to failure detection of a general exchange switch of a distributed processing type information processing apparatus.

(6) In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0054]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide an exchange switch failure detection system capable of always and immediately detecting an exchange switch failure regardless of whether or not a data transmission request has occurred in each module.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a distributed processing type communication control processing device having a failure detection function of an exchange switch.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a transmission state determination operation according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a failure determination operation according to one embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

11: communication control processing module, 12: exchange switch,
13 central processing unit, 111 data transmission / reception unit, 112
Transmission state test unit, 113 ... control unit.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] In a fault detection system for an exchange switch for detecting a failure occurring in an exchange switch interconnecting a plurality of information processing modules, the system is provided for each information processing module, and at a predetermined cycle,
Data transmission means for transmitting data addressed to the own module; transmission state determination means provided for each information processing module to determine whether the data transmitted from the data transmission means has been normally transmitted; A failure recognition unit for recognizing that a failure has occurred in the exchange switch when a determination result that data is not transmitted normally is obtained from a predetermined number of transmission state determination units. Switch failure detection system.