JP3057870B2 - Terminal network controller - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a terminal network control device used for a telemeter system for performing data communication between a center and a meter, and more particularly to a data communication means between a center and a meter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is a terminal network control device for connecting terminals such as a gas meter and a water meter and for connecting a center via a telephone line to perform data communication between the terminals. Some of such terminal network control devices include a means that allows the network control device to determine a communication speed for exchanging a message with the center, a bit length per character, and the like based on an instruction from the center. This means includes the following two examples.

As a first example, a terminal network controller transmits a TN control message for exchanging information such as which one to select from a center and a plurality of terminals prior to communication between the center and the terminal. As means for determining the speed, the bit length per character, and the like, there is an automatic data communication system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-114756. This means assigns a communication protocol control code consisting of a mark and a space before the TN control message transmitted from the center, and analyzes this on the terminal network control device side, so that the communication speed and character per character can be obtained. This is a means for determining a bit length and receiving a TN control message in accordance with the bit length. One form of the TN control message is shown in FIG.

[0004] A second example is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 3-65845.
There is a terminal transmission device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-163,036. This is a means for receiving and analyzing setting information for determining only the data communication speed before a message transmitted from the center to the terminal network control device as in the first conventional example.

Next, means for the case where the network control device relays a message exchanged between the center and the meter will be described. There are two ways to do this. (1) The network control device receives, stores, and transfers the message once. (2) A serial signal of a message received from one side is sampled according to the communication speed and the character length, and transferred while shaping the waveform with a 1/2 bit delay. FIG. 5 shows an example.

In either of the above two means, the terminal network control device determines the type of terminal for each connection terminal connecting a plurality of terminals, and sets the communication speed with the terminal and the bit per character for each connection terminal. Means for determining the length and relaying are taken. Usually, it is determined by a program code of a microcomputer in the terminal network control device.

As another example, there is a method in which a serial signal of a message received from one side is directly transferred to the other side. However, the distortion of the serial signal is transmitted as it is, so that it is not practically used.

[0008]

However, such a conventional technique has the following problems. (1) In the example of the automatic data communication system disclosed in JP-A-2-114756, the communication speed and the bit length per character for the terminal network controller to receive the TN control message transmitted from the center to the terminal network controller. The communication speed and character length of a message exchanged between the terminal network control device and the meter cannot be determined. (2) A type of terminal that can be connected is determined for each connection terminal that connects a plurality of terminals, and by selecting a terminal in a TN control message, the terminal network controller can determine the communication speed with the terminal,
Since the bit length per character and the form of communication with the terminal are determined, the center cannot determine it. Here, the form of communication with the terminal indicates an electrical interface for serial communication with the terminal and a control method thereof. It differs depending on the terminal such as the city gas meter and the LP gas meter. (3) Similarly, in the example of the terminal transmission device disclosed in JP-A-3-65845, the communication speed can be determined but the character length cannot be determined.

The present invention solves such a conventional problem. For each message transmitted from the center to the terminal, the center determines the individual communication conditions such as the connection terminal at the transfer destination, the communication speed, and the bit length per character. An object of the present invention is to provide a terminal network control device that can be explicitly specified.

[0010]

In order to solve the above problems, a terminal network control device according to the present invention comprises a connection terminal for connecting one or more terminals, and a network control means for connecting to a center via a communication line. And a transmission means for communicating with the center, and a communication control message added to the beginning of the through message transferred from the center to the terminal, and analyzing the transfer destination of the through message, communication speed, bit length per character, and communication mode with the terminal. And a message relay means for shaping the waveform from the center to the terminal based on the determination of the control means and transferring a through message.

[0011]

According to the present invention, by providing the above means, the control means receives the communication control message added to the head of the through message from the center to the terminal, and transmits the transfer destination, communication speed, bit length, Determine the form of communication with the terminal. Then, based on the determination, the message relay unit transfers the subsequent through message to the terminal while shaping the waveform.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG.
Shown in

Reference numeral 1 denotes a terminal network control device of the present invention, which is connected to the center 6 via a communication line such as a telephone network, has a terminal 7a connected to a connection terminal 8a, a terminal 7b connected to a connection terminal 8b, and a terminal 7c connected to a connection terminal 8c. Respectively.

The terminal network controller 1 analyzes network control means 2 for connecting to the center 6 via a communication line, transmission means 3 such as a modem, and a communication control message added to the head of a through message. , The transfer destination of the subsequent through message (terminal 7a,
7b, 7c), the communication speed, the bit length per character, and the control means 4 for determining the form of communication with the terminal
Message relay means 5 for performing waveform shaping from the center 6 to the transfer destination terminal based on the determination of the control means and transferring the through message.
And

It is assumed that the control means 4 includes an electric interface and a means for switching the control of the electric interface so that each terminal for connecting the terminals can connect various terminals having different electric interfaces. Therefore, the determination of the communication mode with the terminal by the control means 4 is to select the electrical interface and the control means.

Next, FIGS. 2 and 3 will be described. FIG.
From the center 6 to the terminal 7a, 7b or 7c
1 shows a configuration of a through message 10 to be transmitted to a communication control message 9 and a communication control message 9 added to the head of the through message. The communication control message 9 has a configuration in which a communication protocol control code 20 shown in FIG. 4 described in the related art is added to the head of the communication control message 9 in order to determine the communication speed of the communication control message 9. This is the same as the communication protocol control code 20 of FIG. 4 described in the related art. The communication control message 9 is a control text 11
STX (start of text) transmission control code 13
A transfer destination 14 for identifying a connection terminal to which a terminal for transferring a through message is connected, a communication speed 15 of the through message,
The bit length 16 of each character constituting the message text 12 of the through message, a terminal type 17 indicating an electric interface and its control means, an ETX (end of text) transmission control code 18, and a character BCC 19 for horizontal parity check It consists of. In this embodiment, the control text 11 is composed of a JIS 7-bit code and a vertical parity 1 bit. Also, the communication control protocol control code 20 has a control text 11 of 3
It is assumed that it indicates that data is transmitted at 00 bps.

FIG. 3 illustrates the state of signals at points A and B of the terminal network control device 1 when the communication control message 9 and the through message 10 are received.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, a case will be described in which a city gas meter is connected as the terminal 7a and a water meter is connected as the terminal 7b, and the through message 12 is transmitted to the city gas meter.

The network control means 2 connects to the center 6. The transfer terminal 14 has a connection terminal 8a, the communication speed 15 has 300 bps, the bit length 16 has 8 bits including the vertical parity, and the communication control message 9 in which the city gas meter is designated as the terminal type is the through message 10. It is added to the head and transmitted from the center 6 to the terminal network control device 1. It is transmitted to the control means 4 and the message relay means 5 via the transmission means 3. The control means 4 detects the communication protocol control code 20 and determines that the control text is transmitted at 300 bps, and receives the control text 11 accordingly. Then, the subsequent through message is decoded when the operation of transferring the 8-bit signal at 300 bps and the electrical interface of the city gas meter via the connection terminal 8a is performed. The control unit 4 issues an operation condition instruction to the equi-message relay unit 5 that connects the connection terminal 8a and the telegram relay unit 5 based on the decoding result, and activates the telegram relay unit 5. The message relay unit 5 samples the through message 10 at 8 bits per character at a communication speed of 300 bps and transfers it with a delay of 1/2 bit while shaping the waveform according to the instruction of the control unit 4. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, signals of the communication control message 9 and the through message 10 appear at the point A, but only the through message 10 is relayed and transferred at the point B.

Next, a case where the through message 10 is transmitted to the LP gas meter will be described. It is connected to the center 6 by the network control means 2. A connection terminal 8b is provided at the transfer destination 14,
200 bps for communication speed 15 and 5 for bit length 16
A communication control message 9 in which an LP gas meter is designated as a terminal type is added to the head of the through message 10 and transmitted from the center 6 to the terminal network control device 1. Transmission means 3
Is transmitted to the control means 4 and the message relay means 5 via The control means 4 detects the communication protocol control code 20 and determines that the control text is transmitted at 300 bps, and receives the control text 11 accordingly. The subsequent through message is 5 bits at 200 bps, and the connection terminal 8
When the transfer operation is performed at the electrical interface of the LP gas meter via b, the decoding is performed. The control means 4 issues an operation condition instruction to the iso-telegram relay means 5 for connecting the connection terminal 8b and the telegram relay means 5 based on the decoding result, and activates the telegram relay means 5. The message relay means 5 converts the through message 10 into 5 bits per character, communication speed 2 according to the instruction of the control means 4.
1/2 while sampling at 00 bps and shaping the waveform
Transfer with a bit delay. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, signals of the communication control message 9 and the through message 10 appear at the point A, but only the through message 10 is relayed and transferred at the point B.

In this way, the terminal network control device 1 can transmit a message having an arbitrary communication speed and an arbitrary bit length per character from the center 6 to an arbitrary terminal designated by an arbitrary electrical interface and its control means. Transfer while shaping the waveform with.

[0022]

As described above, according to the terminal network control apparatus of the present invention, each communication condition such as a connection terminal of a transfer destination, a communication speed, a bit length per character, and the like for each message transmitted from the center to the terminal. Can be explicitly specified by the center. Therefore,
There is an effect that it is possible to provide a general-purpose terminal network control device that has a plurality of connection terminals and can connect various terminals to each connection terminal and does not depend on the terminal.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a terminal network control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a message configuration diagram for explaining the operation of the apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining an operation of the apparatus for transmitting a through message;

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a format example of a TN control message in a conventional terminal network control device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state in which transfer is performed while shaping the waveform with a ビ ッ ト bit delay in the device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Terminal network control apparatus 2 Network control means 3 Transmission means 4 Control means 5 Message relay means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masaaki Sakata 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-63-296539 (JP, A) JP-A-2-2 114756 (JP, A) JP-A-3-65845 (JP, A) JP-A-3-113955 (JP, A) JP-A-3-133242 (JP, A) JP-A-3-145366 (JP, A) JP-A-4-172036 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04M 11/00-11/10

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A connection terminal for connecting a terminal, a network control means for connecting to a center via a communication line, a transmission means for communicating with the center, and a prefix added to a through message transmitted from the center to the terminal. Control means for analyzing a communication control message to be transmitted, and determining a transfer destination of the through message, a communication speed, a bit length per character, and a communication mode with the terminal, and the center from the center based on the determination of the control means. A terminal network control device comprising: a message relay unit configured to perform waveform shaping to a terminal and transfer the through message.