JP4256086B2 - Remote monitoring device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a remote monitoring apparatus that transmits data between a master station and a slave station using a communication line and monitors a remote facility.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A remote monitoring device is provided with a slave station in various machines and facilities, and the operation status of each machine and facility is transmitted from this slave station to the master station using a telephone line, so that various devices and It is used to monitor equipment.
[0003]
For example, in the water and sewage field, there are many pumping stations necessary for the operation of the facility. These pump stations are generally unmanned aircraft stations, and their maintenance is centrally monitored at a manned aircraft station where operators are stationed using telephone lines.
[0004]
FIG. 6 is a drawing showing an example of a remote monitoring device used in such a facility.
[0005]
The remote monitoring device includes a single master station 101 where an operator is present, and slave stations 201, 202, 203, and 204 installed in each of the scattered pump stations (first to fourth pump stations). Connected via a public telephone line 110.
[0006]
The master station 101 is provided with a personal computer 103 for collecting data from the slave stations 201 to 204 and analyzing the collected data, and a modem 105 for connecting to the public telephone line 110. A display 107 and a printer 109 are connected to display collected data and analysis results.
[0007]
On the other hand, each slave station 201, 202, 203, 204 is provided with a microcomputer 211, a modem 213, and a hard disk (HDD) 215, and various measuring instruments (not shown) for measuring various data at the pump station. Is temporarily stored in the HDD 215, and then transmitted to the master station 101 via the modem 213 under the control of the microcomputer 211.
[0008]
Conventionally, in such a remote monitoring device, when performing normal data collection, first, the master station 101 calls and connects the slave station 201 of the first pump station via the public telephone line 110 by the modem 105, The data stored in the HDD 215 is transmitted from the slave station 201 and received. When the data from the slave station 201 is received, the slave station 202 of the second pump station is called and connected, and the data is transmitted from the slave station 202 and received. Thereafter, in the same manner, all the slave stations are sequentially called from the master station 101 and connected to each slave station, and data is transmitted from each slave station.
[0009]
In addition, when an abnormality occurs, the microcomputer 211 in the slave stations 201, 202, 203, 204 finds a predetermined abnormal value in the data measured by various measuring instruments, or an alarm device in the pump station is issued. When the information is reported, the master station 101 is called from the slave stations 201, 202, 203, and 204 via the public telephone line 110 by the modem 213, and the equipment data is transmitted to the master station 101.
[0010]
As shown in FIG. 7, the transmission of data from the slave station is performed in a predetermined order for each facility to be monitored in the pump station.
[0011]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, since the conventional remote monitoring device calls the master station from the slave station where the error occurred when reporting an error, the master station is communicating with other slave stations when the master station is called from the slave station. In this case, the slave station trying to report an abnormality cannot connect to the master station. For this reason, the master station has a problem that even if information having a higher priority than that of normal data collection, which is an abnormality occurrence in the pumping station, is issued, it cannot be obtained immediately.
[0012]
In addition, even when the slave station and the master station that report the error are connected, the data sent from the slave station has an error because the order of the data to be transmitted is determined in advance regardless of whether there is an error. There is also a problem that the facility data cannot be transmitted with priority. For example, in the data format of FIG. 7, even when a failure occurs in the facilities B, C, and E and this is reported as an abnormality, the order in which the data is transmitted is only the facilities A, B, The order of C, D, and E is that the data of the equipment B, C, and E in which the failure has occurred is postponed to the equipment A and equipment D in which no failure has occurred.
[0013]
The present invention has been made in view of the above. For the purpose, in addition to normal data collection, when high priority information is issued from a slave station, the master station immediately obtains the information. It is an object of the present invention to provide a remote monitoring device that makes it possible.
[0014]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problem, the invention according to claim 1 is a remote monitoring device that collects data from a slave station by connecting the master station and a plurality of slave stations via a communication line, and the communication is included in the master station. If there is a call from another slave station while connected to one of the slave stations through the line, the line with the connected slave station is put on hold and connected to the called slave station. In addition, a line connection means for arbitrarily switching the held slave station to restore the connection, a priority table storage means for storing a priority table in which priority is given to collected data in advance, and a slave station that has been called On the other hand, command means for instructing rearrangement of data to be transmitted according to the priority order stored in the priority order table storage means, and data rearranged in the called slave station And summarized in that and a control means for controlling the line connection unit to sequentially switch the connection with the slave station in order to collect follow priorities stored in the priority table.
[0015]
The present invention makes it possible to receive a call from another slave station even if it is connected to one of the slave stations by the line connection means, and the data to be collected By assigning priorities in advance, the control means controls the slave stations connected by the line connection means so that data can be collected at the priorities, so that a plurality of slave stations can be selected according to the priorities. It is intended to collect data.
[0016]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the remote monitoring device according to the first aspect, each slave station has transmission order arranging means for rearranging data to be transmitted so that the data is transmitted in accordance with a preset priority order. Is the gist.
[0017]
The present invention is intended to enable data to be collected in the order determined by the priority table even when there are a plurality of data transmitted from each slave station.
[0018]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0019]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a remote monitoring device to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram for explaining functions of a personal computer provided in the master station. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected about the same member as the conventional remote monitoring apparatus shown in FIG. 6, and those description is abbreviate | omitted.
[0020]
This remote monitoring apparatus is a system including one master station 1 and four slave stations 11, 12, 13, and 14.
[0021]
The master station 1 is provided with a personal computer 3 for collecting and analyzing data and a modem 5 for connecting to the public telephone line 110. The personal computer 3 displays the collected data and analysis results. A display 107 and a printer 109 are connected.
[0022]
The basic function of the personal computer 3 is the same as in the past, and it collects data from the slave stations during normal data collection, analyzes the collected data, and outputs the results to the display 107 and the printer 109. is doing. On the other hand, when an abnormality occurs, data is collected according to the priority order of data, as will be described later.
[0023]
The functions of the personal computer 3 for this purpose are as shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. 2. The priority table storage unit 31 stores the priority order of data to be collected in the event of an abnormality in advance as table data, and the connection destination for the modem 5. A connection switching control unit 33 that outputs a switching command is provided.
[0024]
The priority table is given priority according to the importance of the data sent from the slave station. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the pump station where the slave station is installed and the failure occurring there Prioritized and recorded for equipment data. Note that “1-A facility” in the data type means the data of facility A at the first pumping station.
[0025]
In the personal computer 3, the slave station that has reported the abnormality is instructed to send data according to the priority order table, and the modem 5 is instructed to switch the connection to the slave station so that the priority order is obtained.
[0026]
Such a priority table is stored in a storage device such as a semiconductor memory in the personal computer 3 or a hard disk drive, and the connection switching control unit 33 that performs switching of slave stations according to the priority is provided with this function. Is installed in the personal computer 3 and the program is executed.
[0027]
The modem 5 has a call waiting function. Even if the call waiting function is connected to a certain slave station through the public telephone line 110, when a call is received from another slave station, the connected line can be placed on hold to receive the call. At the same time, it is a function that can arbitrarily switch the connection to restore the connection state for the line in the hold state.
[0028]
On the other hand, each slave station has an HDD 215 that primarily stores data measured by various measuring instruments in the pump station as in the prior art, and a microcomputer 21 and a modem 213 for transmitting the data stored in the HDD 215 to the master station 1. Is provided.
[0029]
Here, during normal data collection, the microcomputer 21 transmits data in a predetermined order as in the prior art, but when an abnormality occurs, the microcomputer 21 rearranges the data to be transmitted according to a preset priority. Transmission order arranging means for transmitting is provided.
[0030]
The modem 213 in the slave station may be the same as the conventional one.
[0031]
Hereinafter, the operation in the present embodiment will be described.
[0032]
Normal data collection is the same as in the prior art. From the master station 1, each slave station 11, 12, 13, 14 is sequentially called and connected, and data is transmitted from the connected slave station. Receive.
[0033]
On the other hand, when one of the slave stations reports an abnormality, the modem 5 of the master station 1 uses the call waiting function to call the child that has made a call for the abnormality report even if it is currently connected to any of the slave stations. Establish a connection with the station. In the meantime, a standby signal is sent to the slave station that has been connected to make it stand by, and the line with the slave station is put on hold.
[0034]
The master station 1 confirms the slave station that the personal computer 3 has called for the abnormality report, and refers to the priority order table to transmit the data of the equipment having the abnormality in accordance with the priority order. Commands the station to rearrange the data to be transmitted. Then, the modem 5 is instructed to switch the connection with the suspended slave station so that data can be collected according to the priority order.
[0035]
Here, an example is given and it demonstrates more concretely.
[0036]
For example, when a failure signal is issued from three stations of the slave station 11, the slave station 12, and the slave station 13 while the master station 1 and the slave station 14 are connected for normal data collection, the slave station 11 , The slave station 12 and the slave station 13 call the master station 1 through the public telephone line 110, respectively. Here, it is assumed that the equipment B, C, and E have failed in the slave station 11, the equipment B has failed in the slave station 12, and the equipments A and B have failed in the slave station 13.
[0037]
By calling from the slave station 11, the slave station 12, and the slave station 13, the master station 1 uses the call waiting function of the modem 5 to sequentially establish connections with the slave stations 11, 12, and 13 that have made the call. At this time, the probability of connection with each slave station is in the order in which the calls were made. In addition, the line with the slave station 14 that has been connected is put on hold.
[0038]
Subsequently, the master station 1 instructs the connected slave stations to rearrange the data reporting the abnormality. For example, referring to the priority order table for the slave station 11, as shown in FIG. 4, "equipment A", "equipment E" for each equipment in the first pump station where the slave station 11 is provided. ”,“ Equipment B ”,“ Equipment C ”, and“ Equipment D ”are instructed in order of priority.
[0039]
In the slave station 11 that has received this command, as shown in FIG. 5, the transmission data is “equipment E” → “ Rearrange in the order of “equipment B” → “failure C”.
[0040]
The master station 1 instructs each slave station to transmit the facility data in accordance with the priority order table in the same manner to the slave stations 12 and 13 that have made other abnormality reports. Every time the slave station to be commanded is changed, the modem 5 is commanded to change the connection destination.
[0041]
Subsequently, since the data of the equipment having an abnormality is transmitted from each slave station, the personal computer 3 can receive data from the modem 5 according to the priority table so that the modem 5 can receive the data. To switch between. For example, according to the priority order shown in FIG. 3, first, the data of the equipment E is transmitted from the slave station 11, and then the data of the equipment B is transmitted from the slave station 11. Is switched, the data of the equipment B is transmitted from the slave station 13, the connection destination is switched to the slave station 12 by the modem 5, the data of the equipment B is transmitted from the slave station 12, and the connection destination is again transmitted by the modem 5. The data of the equipment C is transmitted by switching to the slave station 11, and finally, the connection destination is switched to the slave station 13 by the modem 5, and the data of the equipment A is transmitted from the slave station 13.
[0042]
Thereby, even when there is an abnormality report, it is possible to reliably obtain information from the slave station according to a predetermined priority order.
[0043]
In the embodiment described above, the slave station reorders the transmission order according to a command from the master station at the time of reporting an abnormality. However, if each slave station has a priority table, each slave station has its own order. Can be rearranged. In addition, data is collected by assigning priorities to each facility in which an abnormality has occurred only when an abnormality is reported, but the present invention is not limited to the occurrence of such an abnormality, and various data are collected. Priorities may be assigned and data may be collected by calls from slave stations.
[0044]
In this embodiment, a public telephone line is used as a communication line. However, the communication line is not limited to a public telephone line and may be a wired or wireless dedicated line. Further, a line for connecting computers such as WAN and LAN other than the telephone line may be used. However, even in this case, the modem installed on the master station (cable modem, digital modem, terminal adapter, etc.) or router is connected to a slave station when it is connected to a slave station. In this state, a connection is established with the called slave station, and the suspended slave station has a function that can be switched arbitrarily to restore the connection.
[0045]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when high priority data is transmitted from a slave station, the master station can receive the high priority data preferentially. The slave station can be reliably monitored.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a remote monitoring device to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram for explaining functions of a personal computer provided in a master station in the remote monitoring device.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a priority table used in the remote monitoring apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of instructing the priority order of data to be transmitted to a slave station.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of data transmitted by a slave station.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional remote monitoring apparatus.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of data transmitted by a conventional slave station.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Master station 3 Personal computer 5 Modem 11, 12, 13, 14 with call waiting function Slave station 21 Microcomputer 31 Priority order table memory | storage part 33 Connection switching control part 110 Public telephone line

Claims (2)

In a remote monitoring device that collects data from a slave station by connecting the master station and multiple slave stations via a communication line,
In the master station,
When there is a call from another slave station while connected to any of the slave stations through the communication line, the connection with the slave station that has been called is made while the line with the connected slave station is put on hold. And a line connection means for arbitrarily switching the held slave station and returning the connection,
A priority table storage means for storing a priority table in which priorities are given in advance to data to be collected;
Command means for instructing the slave station that has been called to rearrange data to be transmitted in accordance with the priority order stored in the priority order table storage means;
Control for controlling the line connection unit to sequentially switch the connection with the slave station in order to collect follow the sorted data to the priority stored in the priority table in the call of a child station Means,
A remote monitoring device characterized by comprising:   2. The remote monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the slave stations has a transmission order organizing unit that rearranges the data to be transmitted so that the data is transmitted according to a preset priority.

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