JP4821627B2 - Relay device and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a relay device including a plurality of transmission / reception units that are connected to different networks, and a data relay unit that relays data communication between networks via the transmission / reception unit.

  In recent years, various techniques have been proposed for returning from such an error state to a normal state when the relay device as described above cannot normally transmit data to the network. Yes.

For example, the elapsed time from the start of data transmission by the data relay unit to the end of the transmission is monitored, and if the time exceeds a predetermined time, it is stored in a transmission buffer (RAM). There is a technique of deleting (discarding) data that has been used (see Patent Document 1).
JP-A-2005-79888

  However, in the above-described technique, only the data stored in the buffer is deleted when an error state occurs, so depending on the type of error that has occurred in the relay device, the error state is not normal. There is a possibility that it cannot be returned to the state.

  For example, if the transmitter / receiver is in a state where it can malfunction, such as when the register in the transmitter / receiver is rewritten for some reason, the data transmission / reception itself by the transmitter / receiver will not be performed normally. There is a possibility.

  Even if the data stored in the buffer is deleted in such a state, the transmission / reception unit may malfunction even after that. It will not be restored from.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and the purpose of the present invention is to correct the state from such an error state even when the transmission / reception unit is in a state where it can malfunction. It is to provide a technique for enabling the user to return to the original state.

  In order to solve the above problem, the relay device according to claim 1 includes a plurality of transmission / reception units each connected to a different network, and a data relay unit that relays data communication between the networks via the transmission / reception unit. Is a relay device.

  Among these, the transmission / reception unit receives data from the network to which the transmission / reception unit is connected, and receives and forwards the received data to the data relay unit, and is transferred from the data relay unit. Transmitting means for transmitting incoming data to a network to which the transceiver is connected.

  The data relay unit acquires the data transferred from any of the transmission / reception units, and acquires and transfers the acquired data to the transmission / reception unit connected to the network that is the destination of the data And a progress monitor that monitors the elapsed time from the start of data transfer to the transmission / reception unit by the acquisition / transfer unit until the transmission of data by the transmission / reception unit ends. And an initialization unit that initializes at least a transmission / reception unit corresponding to the elapsed time when the elapsed time monitored by the progress monitoring unit exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

  According to the relay device configured as described above, the elapsed time from the start of data transfer from the data relay unit to the transmission / reception unit until the transmission of data by the transmission / reception unit ends exceeds the threshold value. In this case, at least the transmission / reception unit is initialized.

  Therefore, assuming that the threshold value for the elapsed time is set to a value assumed as the elapsed time required for data transmission in a normal state, it is assumed that data transmission / reception by the transmission / reception unit is not performed normally. In this case, the transmission / reception unit can be initialized.

  Thus, for example, even if the transmitter / receiver is unable to transmit / receive data normally due to a malfunction, such as when the register in the transmitter / receiver is rewritten for some reason, the contents of the register are changed. Including the transmission / reception unit is returned to the initial state. In this way, the transmission / reception unit can be restored to a normal state without malfunction.

  The acquisition / transfer means of the data relay unit in this configuration is means for acquiring data transferred from the transmission / reception unit and transferring it to the corresponding transmission / reception unit, and is a specific for determining the transmission / reception unit to be transferred. The configuration is not particularly limited.

  For example, referring to a data table indicating a correspondence relationship between header information of data transferred from a transmission / reception unit and a network or transmission / reception unit to which the data of the header information is transferred, the network is connected to the corresponding network or the network. It is conceivable to configure to determine the transmission / reception unit.

  The initialization unit of the data relay unit is configured to initialize only the transmission / reception unit corresponding to the elapsed time when the elapsed time monitored by the progress monitoring unit exceeds a predetermined threshold. Alternatively, two or more transmission / reception units including the transmission / reception unit may be initialized together.

  The initialization unit may be configured to immediately initialize the transmission / reception unit corresponding to the elapsed time when the elapsed time monitored by the progress monitoring unit exceeds a predetermined threshold value. Further, any of the transmission / reception units may be configured to initialize the transmission / reception unit when the elapsed time until the data transmission ends repeatedly exceeds a predetermined threshold.

  For this latter case, it is conceivable that the above configuration is configured like a relay device according to claim 2. The relay device according to claim 2, wherein in the data relay unit, a counting unit that counts the number of times that the elapsed time monitored by the progress monitoring unit exceeds the threshold for each of the transmission / reception units, , And the initialization unit initializes at least the transmission / reception unit in which the number of times counted by the counting unit exceeds a predetermined upper limit value.

  In this configuration, the number of times the elapsed time monitored by the progress monitoring unit exceeds a predetermined threshold is counted for each transmission / reception unit, and the transmission / reception unit whose number exceeds the upper limit is initialized. The number of times exceeding the upper limit in this way means that the elapsed time until the data transmission is completed has repeatedly exceeded a predetermined threshold. Can be initialized.

  Further, in the data relay unit of each relay device described above, as described in claim 3, the data transferred by the acquisition transfer unit to the transmission / reception unit initialized by the initialization unit is deleted. It is preferable to provide a data deleting means.

  According to this configuration, after the transmission / reception unit is initialized, data that has not been transmitted before initialization is not transmitted by the transmission / reception unit. It is possible to prevent malfunctions based on the delayed data.

  In this configuration, the data deletion unit of the data relay unit is a unit that deletes the data that the acquisition transfer unit has started to transfer. Specifically, from the storage unit in which the data transferred by the acquisition transfer unit is temporarily stored What is necessary is just to comprise so that applicable data may be deleted.

  In addition, the data relay unit of each relay device described above notifies that the transmission / reception unit has been initialized when the transmission / reception unit is initialized by the initialization unit. It is preferable to provide notification means for transferring data to the transmitting / receiving unit other than the initialized data.

  With this configuration, when the transmission / reception unit is initialized, the data for notifying the fact is transmitted via the transmission / reception unit other than the initialization unit, that is, the transmission / reception unit estimated to be functioning normally. Can be sent to the network. Thereby, it is possible to notify the device connected to this network that the transmission / reception unit has been initialized.

  A program according to claim 5 is a program for causing a computer system to execute various processing procedures for causing the data relay unit according to any of claims 1 to 4 to function as all means. , Hardware description code to be executed by dedicated hardware.

  The computer system or dedicated hardware controlled by this program or hardware description code can constitute a part of the relay device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

  Each program or hardware description code described above can also be provided to a relay device or a user who uses it via various recording media or communication lines.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(1) Overall Configuration As shown in FIG. 1, the relay device 1 includes a plurality of (two in the present embodiment) transmission / reception units 10 connected to different networks and a network between the transmission / reception units 10. And a data relay unit 20 that relays data communication. The data relay unit 20 is composed of a known microcomputer.

In addition, in this embodiment, it illustrates about the structure which interposed the relay apparatus 1 between the networks (CAN; Controller Area Network) in a vehicle.
The transmission / reception unit 10 includes a transceiver 12 that connects the network and the relay device 1 at a physical layer level, a communication control unit 14 that controls communication between the network and the relay device 1, and the like.

  The data relay unit 20 includes a plurality of reception buffers 22 that temporarily store data transferred from each transmission / reception unit 10, a relay control unit 24 that relays data communication between networks via the transmission / reception unit 10, and each transmission / reception unit 10. Are composed of a plurality of transmission buffers 26 for temporarily storing data to be transferred to each other, a state monitoring unit 32 for monitoring the state of the relay device 1, a monitoring timer 34 including a plurality of timers referred to by the state monitoring unit 32, and the like. .

  When the relay apparatus 1 having such a configuration receives data transmitted from a network device (in this embodiment, an ECU) connected to a certain network, the relay apparatus 1 specifies a destination network to which the data is to be transmitted, Data communication is relayed by transmitting data to the identified network.

  This will be described by paying attention to data transmitted from the network device. This data is first received by the transceiver 12 of the transmission / reception unit 10 connected to the network. The transmission / reception unit 10 outputs the data received by the transceiver 12 to the communication control unit 14, and transfers the data from the communication control unit 14 to the data relay unit 20.

  In the data relay unit 20 that has received the data transferred from the transmission / reception unit 10 in this way, the data is stored in the reception buffer 22, and the data stored therein is sequentially input from the reception buffer 22 to the relay control unit 24. Is done.

  The relay control unit 24 that has input this data identifies the network that is the destination of the data by relay processing described later, and corresponds to the transmission / reception unit 10 that reaches the network in order to transmit the data to the identified network. Data is output to the transmission buffer 26. As a result, the data is stored in the transmission buffer 26, and the data stored therein is sequentially transferred from the transmission buffer 26 to the transmission / reception unit 10.

  The transmission buffer 26 is configured to output an end notification for notifying that to the state monitoring unit 32 when the transfer of data to the transmission / reception unit 10 is completed. This end notification is information that can identify the identification unit of the data transferred to the transmission / reception unit 10 and the buffer number assigned to the transmission buffer 26 itself.

Then, in the transmission / reception unit 10 that has received the data transferred from the data relay unit 20 (the transmission buffer 26 thereof), the data is transmitted to the network via the communication control unit 14 and the transceiver 12.
(2) Relay processing by the relay control unit 24 of the data relay unit 20 Hereinafter, the processing procedure of the relay processing repeatedly executed by the relay control unit 24 of the data relay unit 20 after the relay device 1 is started is based on FIG. I will explain.

When this relay process is started, first, a standby state is entered until data is transferred from the transmission / reception unit 10 via any reception buffer 22 (s110: NO).
Thereafter, when the data is transferred (s110: YES), the destination network to which the data is to be transmitted is specified based on the transfer table (s120).

  Here, as shown in FIG. 3, an identification unit included in the header information of the data, and a route to which data having the identification unit as header information should be transferred (a transfer route that is “transfer required”), Based on the transfer table that is a data table indicating the correspondence, the network that is the destination of the data input in s110 is specified. As a specific example, when the data identification unit is “ID1”, “CAN1 → CAN2” is specified as the transfer path “transfer required”, and “CAN2” is based on this. Identified as the destination network.

  In the transfer table, each identification unit is also associated with a residence time limit referred to by the state monitoring unit 32 in a state monitoring process described later. This staying limit time is the maximum required after the transmission of data from the transmission buffer 26 to the transmission / reception unit 10 is completed (or after the transfer is started) until the transmission of data to the network by the transmission / reception unit 10 is completed. This time is assumed as time, and is set as a threshold value when the transmission / reception unit 10 is normal.

  Next, in s120, it is checked whether or not the destination network can be specified (s130). If it is determined that the destination network can be specified (s130: YES), in order to transmit data to the specified network, The data transferred in s110 is transferred via the transmission buffer 26 to the transmission / reception unit 10 reaching the network (s140).

  Here, among the plurality of transmission buffers 26, the data transferred in s110 is output to the transmission buffer 26 corresponding to the transmission / reception unit 10 reaching the network specified in s120, and this data is input. The stored data is sequentially transferred from the stored transmission buffer 26 to the transmission / reception unit 10.

  Next, a transfer notification for notifying that the data has been transferred in s140 is output to the state monitoring unit 32 (s150). This transfer notification is information that can specify at least the identification part of the data transferred in s140 and the buffer number of the transmission buffer 26 that has passed through the transfer. The state monitoring unit 32 that has received the transfer notification performs a process for monitoring an elapsed time after the data transfer is started in a state monitoring process described later.

Thus, after s150 is performed or when the destination network is not specified in s130 (s130: NO), the process returns to s110.
(3) Status Monitoring Processing by the Status Monitoring Unit 32 of the Data Relay Unit 20 Hereinafter, the processing procedure of the status monitoring processing repeatedly executed by the status monitoring unit 32 of the data relay unit 20 after the relay device 1 is started is shown in FIG. Based on

  When this state monitoring process is started, first, the stay counters T_CTR1 to Tn prepared as counters corresponding to the plurality of transmission buffers 26 are initialized (s210). Here, each counter is initialized by setting “0” which is an initial value to each of the stay counters T_CTR1 to n.

Next, it is checked whether a transfer notification is input from the relay control unit 24 (s220). This transfer notification is information output from the relay control unit 24 in s150 of FIG.
If it is determined in s220 that a transfer notification has been input (s220: YES), any unused timer in the monitoring timer 34 is activated (s230), and an identification unit identified by the transfer notification is displayed, and s230 And the count value of the timer started in step (b) is registered in the buffer monitoring map (s240).

  This buffer monitoring map is prepared for each transmission buffer 26, and as shown in FIG. 5, is a data table registered as a data record in which the identification unit and the count value of the timer are associated with each other. In s240, for the buffer number specified in the transfer notification, for the buffer monitoring map corresponding to the transmission buffer 26 to which this buffer number is assigned, the identification unit specified in the transfer notification, and in s230 The count value of the started timer is registered.

  Note that the count value of the timer in this buffer monitoring map is updated as the timer counts. Instead of this count value, information that can identify the timer started in s230 is used. It may be registered so that the count value of the corresponding timer can be specified from the information.

  Thus, after s240 is performed, or when it is determined that a transfer notification is not input in s220 (s220: NO), it is checked whether an end notification is input from the transmission buffer 26 (s250). ). This end notification is information output from the transmission buffer 26 in which data transfer to the transmission / reception unit 10 has been completed.

  If it is determined in s250 that an end notification has been input (s250: YES), the identification specified by the end notification from the buffer monitoring map corresponding to the transmission buffer 26 of the buffer number specified by the end notification. The data record having the same identification part as the part is deleted (s260).

  Next, for the data record deleted from the buffer monitoring map in s260, a timer corresponding to the count value of the timer in this data record is initialized (stopped and reset) (s270).

  Thus, after s270 is performed, or when it is determined that an end notification is not input in s250 (s250: NO), an unprocessed buffer that is not referred to in subsequent processing (s280 to s360) It is checked whether a monitoring map exists (s280).

  When it is determined in s280 that there is an unprocessed buffer monitoring map (s280: YES), each of the “timer count values” corresponding to the identification units registered in the buffer monitoring map is identified. This is compared with the “residence limit time” registered in the transfer table described above in association with each section (s290).

  Next, when there is a “timer count value” exceeding the “residence limit time” as a result of the comparison by s290 (s300: YES), the buffer monitoring map used for the comparison (hereinafter “use”) The number of “timer count values” exceeding the “stay limit time” is added to the stay counter T_CTRi (1 ≦ i ≦ n) corresponding to the same transmission buffer 26 as the “buffer monitoring map” (s310). .

  Thus, after s310 is performed, or when there is no “timer count value” exceeding the “residence limit time” in s300 (s300: NO), the same transmission buffer as the used buffer monitoring map For the stay counter T_CTRi corresponding to 26, it is checked whether or not the count value exceeds a predetermined upper limit value (for example, 10) (s320).

  When it is determined in s320 that the count value of the corresponding stay counter T_CTRi exceeds the predetermined upper limit value (s320: YES), the data stored in the transmission buffer 26 corresponding to the used buffer monitoring map is deleted. (S330).

  Next, the transmitting / receiving unit 10 (the transceiver 12 and the communication control unit 14) corresponding to the transmission buffer 26 from which data has been deleted in s330 is initialized by restarting (s340).

Next, the stay counter T_CTRi determined to exceed the predetermined upper limit value in s320 is initialized (s350).
Next, an initialization notification for notifying that the transmission / reception unit 10 has been initialized at s340 is transferred to the transmission / reception unit 10 other than the transmission / reception unit 10 via the transmission buffer 26 (s360). Here, an initialization notification is output to the transmission buffer 26 corresponding to each of the one or more transmission / reception units 10 not initialized in s340 among the plurality of transmission buffers 26, and the initialization notification is input and stored. The stored initialization notification is transferred from the transmission buffer 26 to the transmission / reception unit 10.

  Thus, after s360 is performed or when it is determined in s320 that the count value of the corresponding stay counter T_CTRi does not exceed the upper limit value (s320: NO), the process returns to s280.

Thereafter, if s280 to s360 are repeated until there is no unprocessed buffer monitoring map, it is determined that there is no unprocessed buffer monitoring map (s280: NO), and then the process returns to s220.
(4) Operation and Effect According to the relay device 1 configured as described above, after data transfer from the data relay unit 20 to the transmission / reception unit 10 is performed, data transmission by the transmission / reception unit 10 is completed. The elapsed time is registered as the timer count value in the buffer monitoring map, whereby the elapsed time is monitored (s240 and s290 in FIG. 2).

  The count value monitored in this manner is compared with a predetermined threshold value (residence limit time) at any time (s290 in the figure), and the number of times the threshold value is exceeded is counted by the residence counter (s310 in the figure). . Here, the increase in the count value of the stay counter means that the elapsed time until the data transmission is completed repeatedly exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

  When the count value of the stay counter, that is, the number of times that the count value of the timer exceeds the threshold value exceeds the predetermined upper limit value ("s320" in the figure), the same transmission buffer as that stay counter 26 is initialized (s320 → s340 in FIG. 2).

  The “retention limit time” defined as the threshold is the maximum required for the transmission and reception of data from the transmission / reception unit 10 to the network after the transmission of the data from the transmission buffer 26 to the transmission / reception unit 10 is completed. This time is assumed as time, and is set as a threshold value when the transmission / reception unit 10 is normal.

For this reason, in the above configuration, when it is assumed that data transmission by the transmission / reception unit 10 is not repeatedly performed normally, the transmission / reception unit 10 is initialized.
As a result, even if the transmitter / receiver 10 is unable to transmit / receive data normally due to malfunction, such as when the register in the transmitter / receiver 10 is rewritten for some reason, The transmission / reception unit 10 including the contents is returned to the initial state. Thus, the transmission / reception unit 10 can be returned to a normal state without malfunction.

  In the above configuration, when the transmission / reception unit 10 is initialized, the data stored in the transmission buffer 26 corresponding to the transmission / reception unit 10 is deleted (s330 in FIG. 4). Therefore, when the transmission / reception unit 10 is initialized, data that has not been transmitted before the initialization is not transmitted by the transmission / reception unit 10, so that the network device that has received this data has such delayed data. It is possible to prevent malfunctions based on the above.

In the above configuration, when the transmission / reception unit 10 is initialized, the initialization notification for notifying that the transmission / reception unit 10 has been initialized is sent to the transmission / reception units 10 other than the transmission / reception unit 10, that is, functions normally. It is possible to transmit to the network via the transmission / reception unit 10 that is estimated to be active (s360 in FIG. 4). Thereby, it is possible to notify the network device connected to this network that the transmission / reception unit 10 has been initialized.
(5) Modifications Embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can take various forms as long as they belong to the technical scope of the present invention. Needless to say.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the relay device 1 is interposed between the networks in the vehicle is illustrated, but it goes without saying that the relay device of the present invention can be interposed between networks other than the network in the vehicle. Absent.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the data relay part 20 illustrated what consists of a single microcomputer, as for this data relay part 20, each part (for example, the relay control part 24, the state monitoring part 32) each is a separate body. It may be constituted by a microcomputer, and each microcomputer may perform processing in cooperation, or may be constituted by dedicated hardware.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the destination to which the data is to be transferred is specified based on the transfer table in s120 of FIG. 2 is exemplified. You may implement | achieve by methods other than based on a table.

  Further, in the above embodiment, when the count value of the timer exceeds the threshold value exceeds a predetermined upper limit value, it is considered that data transmission by the transmission / reception unit 10 is not repeatedly performed normally, The transceiver 10 is configured to be initialized.

  However, the initialization of the transmitting / receiving unit 10 may be configured such that the corresponding transmitting / receiving unit 10 is immediately initialized when the count value of the timer exceeds the threshold value. For this purpose, the state monitoring process of FIG. 4 may be configured so as to start from s220 and to immediately shift to s330 when it is determined “YES” in s300.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, what was comprised so that the elapsed time might be monitored based on the count value of the monitoring timer 34 in the state monitoring process of FIG. However, this elapsed time monitoring may be realized by means other than a timer.

  As a specific example, it is conceivable to monitor elapsed time based on a time stamp indicating a time when a transfer notification is input. For this purpose, first, the s230 and s270 in the figure regarding the start and initialization of the timer are not performed, and a time stamp indicating the time at that time is displayed on the corresponding buffer monitoring map in the s240 in the figure. Register instead of the count value of the timer. In FIG. S290, the difference between the time indicated by the time stamp in the buffer monitoring map and the current time may be used as a value to be compared with the residence limit time.

Moreover, in the said embodiment, when it determines with "NO" by s220 of FIG. 4, and when finishing the figure s240, what was comprised so that a process may transfer to the figure s250 is illustrated. did. However, it may be configured to be in a standby state until it is determined “YES” in s220, and the process may be shifted to s250 only when s240 is completed.
(6) Correspondence with the Present Invention In the embodiment described above, the communication control unit 14 of the transmission / reception unit 10 is the reception transfer means and the transmission means in the present invention, and s120 to s140 in FIG. 4, s230 and s240 in FIG. 4 are progress monitoring means in the present invention, s340 in FIG. 4 is initialization means in the present invention, s310 in FIG. 4 is counting means in the present invention, and s330 in FIG. S260 in the figure is notification means in the present invention.

Block diagram showing the overall configuration of the relay device Flow chart showing relay processing Diagram showing data structure of forwarding table Flow chart showing status monitoring process Diagram showing the data structure of the buffer monitoring map

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Relay apparatus, 10 ... Transmission / reception part, 12 ... Transceiver, 14 ... Communication control part, 20 ... Data relay part, 22 ... Reception buffer, 24 ... Relay control part, 26 ... Transmission buffer, 32 ... State monitoring part, 34 ... Watch timer.

Claims (5)

A relay device comprising a plurality of transmission / reception units each connected to a different network, and a data relay unit that relays data communication between networks via the transmission / reception unit,
The transceiver unit is
Receiving and transferring means for receiving data from the network to which the transmitting / receiving unit is connected, and transferring the received data to the data relay unit;
Transmission means for transmitting data transferred from the data relay unit to a network to which the transmission / reception unit is connected, and
The data relay unit
An acquisition transfer unit that acquires data transferred from any of the transmission / reception units, and transfers the acquired data to the transmission / reception unit connected to a network that is a destination of the data;
Progress monitoring means for monitoring an elapsed time from the start of data transfer to the transmission / reception unit by the acquisition / transfer unit until data transmission by the transmission / reception unit is completed in a state associated with the transmission / reception unit; ,
Initializing means for initializing at least a transmission / reception unit corresponding to the elapsed time when the elapsed time monitored by the progress monitoring means exceeds a predetermined threshold value. Relay device. In the data relay unit,
Each transmitting / receiving unit is provided with a counting unit that counts the number of times that the elapsed time monitored by the progress monitoring unit exceeds the threshold,
2. The configuration according to claim 1, wherein the initialization unit is configured to initialize at least the transmission / reception unit in which the number of times counted by the counting unit exceeds a predetermined upper limit value. Relay device. In the data relay unit,
The data deletion means for deleting the data which the acquisition transfer means started transfer with respect to the transmission / reception part initialized by the initialization means, The data deletion means characterized by the above-mentioned. Relay device. In the data relay unit,
A notification means for transferring data for notifying that the transmission / reception unit has been initialized to a transmission / reception unit other than the initialization unit when the transmission / reception unit is initialized by the initialization unit; The relay device according to claim 1, wherein the relay device is a relay device.   5. A program for causing a computer system to execute various processing procedures for functioning as all means provided in the data relay unit according to claim 1 or a hardware for causing a dedicated hardware to execute the processing procedure. Hardware description code.

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