JP5257384B2 - Physical device control system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a physical device control system. In particular, the present invention relates to a physical device control system that controls a plurality of physical devices connected to a network.

  In a system composed of a logical device corresponding to each device and a representative logical device that groups the logical devices, when a failure (including a failure) occurs in one device, the corresponding device device is disconnected. In this case, the influence range of the failure is closed to one device apparatus, and there is no influence on the entire system.

JP 2000-357130 A

  However, when a failure (including a failure) occurs in the representative device device that bundles the device devices, the influence affects all the device devices under control.

  From the viewpoint of the host, the representative device apparatus is also one device. When command access is performed, it is necessary to assign the representative device apparatus to a physical apparatus.

  However, if a device is assigned to one physical device, when a failure (including a network failure) occurs in the physical device, a device assigned to a physically different device is also disconnected.

  In communication using TCP / IP or the like, anomaly detection is delayed due to a network failure or the like, so there is a possibility that commands may be transferred to a destination that is in a network or a physically failed state, which may degrade the quality of the entire device. It was.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a physical device control system for controlling a plurality of physical devices connected on a network, the host controlling each physical device, A peripheral control processing device that relays data transmitted to and received from each physical device. The peripheral control processing device detects a state transition of each physical device, and a state transition detection unit detects A weighting determination unit that performs weighting management for state transition, a weighting update unit that manages the weighted result of the weighting determination unit as a priority, and a physical management unit when transferring commands / data to the representative device device A priority check unit that selects a communication path by referring to the priorities.

  The above summary of the invention does not enumerate all the necessary features of the present invention, and sub-combinations of these feature groups can also be the invention.

  As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the representative logical unit that collects all the logical units can continuously manage the status of the subordinate physical devices, and one physical unit failure ( (Including faults) can reduce the number of cases of complete disconnection.

  In addition, since the status of each physical device can be notified to the host device in the form of weighting, it is possible to objectively recognize the quality of the system, and the efficiency of preventive maintenance can be expected. .

It is a figure which shows an example of the utilization environment of the physical apparatus control system 100 which concerns on one Embodiment. It is a figure which shows another example of the utilization environment of the physical apparatus control system 100 which concerns on one Embodiment. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a block configuration of a peripheral control processing device 130. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the operation | movement sequence of the host 110, the periphery control processing apparatus 130, and peripheral device 150a-c. It is a figure which shows an example of the data which the physical device management table 141 stores in a table format. It is a figure which shows an example of the data which the physical device management table 141 stores in the initial state in a table format. It is a figure which shows an example of the data which the weighting factor table 144 stores in a table format.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the invention. However, the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the scope of claims, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are included. It is not necessarily essential for the solution of the invention.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a usage environment of a physical device control system 100 according to an embodiment. The physical device control system 100 includes a host 110, a peripheral control processing device 130, a plurality of peripheral devices 150a, b, c,... (Hereinafter collectively referred to as peripheral devices 150), and a network 170.

  When viewed from the host 110, there are a plurality of representative devices 151a, b, c,... (Hereinafter collectively referred to as representative devices 151), and a plurality of devices 152a1, a2, b1, c1, c2,. It can be seen that (hereinafter collectively referred to as the device 152) is connected. Therefore, in order to communicate with each device 152, the representative device 151 needs to be connected, and when the representative device 151 is disconnected, all the devices 152 are disconnected.

  FIG. 2 shows another example of the usage environment of the physical device control system 100 according to an embodiment. In this example, a case where a plurality of configurations in FIG. 1 coexist is described. Each host 110a, b, c,... (Hereinafter collectively referred to as host 110) is a peripheral control processing device 130a, b, c,... (Hereinafter collectively referred to as peripheral control processing device 130). Command / data is exchanged with the device 152 arranged in the peripheral device 150 connected via the network 170 via the network. The peripheral device 150 is composed of a plurality of devices 152. Also, different host 110 / peripheral control processing device devices can coexist.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a block configuration of the peripheral control processing device 130. The peripheral control processing device 130 transfers the command / data to the subordinate device 152 in accordance with various commands from the host 110, waits for a response frame from the device 152, and sends the command end business to the host 110. Notice. The device 152 is assigned to one of the peripheral devices 150 according to the configuration information. The explanation and setting method regarding the configuration information is omitted here. The device (console, floppy drive, serial printer, CD drive, etc.) 152 controlled by the peripheral control processing device 130 can be controlled instead of one. In addition, all devices 152 managed by the peripheral control processing device 130 do not have to be gathered in one peripheral device 150, and may be configured across a plurality of peripheral devices 150. One device 152 is always assigned to one peripheral device 150, and is not assigned to a plurality of peripheral devices 150. The device 152 seen from the host 110 is physically assigned to one peripheral device 150, and a one-to-one relationship is established. However, the physical peripheral device 150 is not fixed only for the representative device 151 that collects the entire device 152, and is transferred to the communicable peripheral device 150 when a command / data is issued from the host 110. A plurality of peripheral devices 150 are virtually shown as one device.

  The peripheral control processing device 130 includes a device control (firmware) unit 131 that controls the entire device, an upper I / F unit 132 that receives commands / data from the host, and a lower I / F that performs data transfer and data reception on the network 170. F unit 133, state transition detection unit 134 that detects the state change of the peripheral device, weight determination unit 135 that checks the factor of the state transition and determines weight, priority check unit 136 that checks the priority when selecting a communication path, weight The weight updating unit 137 and the memory unit 140 are used to update. In the memory 140, there are a physical device management table 141, a logical device management table 142, a logical device management data buffer 143 for storing transmission / reception data, and a weighting factor table 144.

  The state transition detection unit 134 detects the connection state with the peripheral device 150, the number of devices, and the number of failure detections via the lower I / F unit 133 and notifies the weight determination unit 135 to that effect.

  Based on the factor notification from the state transition detection unit 134, the weighting determination unit 135 determines the weighting by comparing with the weighting factor table 144 managed by itself. The determined weight is notified to the weight update unit 137 together with the peripheral device name.

  The weight update unit 137 updates the physical device management table 141 in the memory 140 based on the peripheral device name and weight information from the weight determination unit 135.

  When a command / data is issued from the host 110 to the representative device 151, the priority check unit 136 refers to the physical device management table 141 in the memory 140 and selects a communication path.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of data stored in the physical device management table 141 in a table format. FIG. 6 shows an example of data stored in the initial state in the physical device management table 141 in a table format. FIG. 7 shows an example of data stored in the weighting factor table 144 in a table format.

  The initial settings of the physical device management table 141 are all the same (see FIG. 6). That is, it is an unconnected setting. When a command / data is issued from the host 110, it is received by the higher-level I / F unit 132 via the dedicated I / F. The device control unit 131 determines the command type and executes necessary processing. The command / data is transferred in a packet format to the peripheral devices 150a to 150c connected to the network 170 via the I / F unit 133.

  Next, a basic communication procedure (sequence) will be described. In the peripheral devices 150a to 150c, after executing processing according to the command (writing to the screen table, floppy disk, etc.), the result is returned in a packet format as an end event report. The returned packet is received by the lower I / F unit 133 via the network 170, the validity of the packet format is checked, and stored in the logical device management data buffer 143. The data processing stored in the buffer is performed based on the state of the logical device management table 142, and after updating the logical device management table 142, the data is reported to the host 110 from the upper I / F unit 132. At this time, the state transition detection unit 134 simultaneously performs the received packet abnormality presence / absence, delay on the network 170, and the like. This operation sequence is basically the same for both the device 152 and the representative device 151. One difference is whether or not the peripheral device 150 that is the command / data transfer destination is fixed. In the case of the representative device 151, when the packet is transferred to the peripheral device 150 via the lower I / F unit 133, the physical device management table 141 is referred to and transferred to the peripheral device 150 having a high priority.

    FIG. 4 shows an example of an operation sequence of the host 110, the peripheral control processing device 130, and the peripheral devices 150a to 150c. Next, priority change and the communication path selection procedure of the representative device 151 will be described based on the sequence diagram of FIG.

  When the command for the peripheral device 150a is delayed for some reason (S101), the state transition detection unit 134 detects the command, the weight determination unit 135 weights the factor (S102), and the weight update unit 137 stores the memory 140. Is reflected in the physical device management table 141 (S103). The weighting of the factor is performed with reference to the weighting factor table 144 in the memory 140.

  Next, when the command to the peripheral device 150b becomes no response for some reason, the peripheral control processing device 130 performs retransmission if it is within a predetermined time (S104). The state transition detection unit 134 detects this retransmission, the weight determination unit 135 weights the factor (S105), and the weight update unit 137 reflects it in the physical device management table 141 in the memory 140 (S106).

  In this state, when a command for the representative device is issued (S107), the priority is checked by the priority check unit 136 to determine the peripheral device 150 to be transferred (S108). Looking at the physical device management table 141 in the memory 140, it can be seen that the peripheral device 150c has the highest priority in the connected state (LinkUp). Therefore, the priority checking unit 136 selects the peripheral device 150c as the communication path of the representative device, and transfers the packet after the link is established.

  Next, when the peripheral device 150c is down, the peripheral control processing device 130 detects an abnormality of the peripheral device 150c by LinkDown, KeepAlive, etc. on the network 170, and the weight determination unit 135 determines (S109) The physical device management table 141 is updated by the weight update unit 137 (S110). At this time, the connection state of the peripheral device 150c is updated to the LinkDown state.

  In this state, when a command for the representative logical device is issued (S111), the priority is checked by the priority check unit 136 to determine the peripheral device 150 to be transferred (S112). Looking at the physical device management table 141 in the memory 140, it can be seen that the peripheral device 150a has the highest priority in the connected state (LinkUp). Therefore, the priority checking unit 136 establishes a link with the peripheral device 150a as a communication path of the representative device, and transfers the packet.

  Even if the connection state with the peripheral device 150 once changes to the LinkDown state, when the transition is made again to the connection state, the state transition detection unit 134 detects the state, the weight determination unit 135 determines, and the weight update unit In step 137, the physical device management table 141 is updated. At this time, the connection state of the peripheral device 150 is updated to the LinkUp state. Also, the weighting update by response delay, retransmission, etc. is restored when the state is resolved. If peripheral devices 150 with the same priority exist, it is preferable to take measures such as determining the priority order based on the number of devices 152 connected.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications or improvements can be added to the above embodiment. It is apparent from the scope of the claims that the embodiments added with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

100 Physical Device Control System 110 Host 130 Peripheral Control Processing Device 131 Device Control Unit 132 Upper I / F Unit 133 Lower I / F Unit 134 State Transition Detection Unit 135 Weight Determination Unit 136 Priority Check Unit 137 Weight Update Unit 140 Memory Unit 141 Physical device management table 142 Logical device management table 143 Logical device management data buffer 144 Weighting factor table 150 Peripheral device 151 Representative device 152 Device 170 Network

Claims (3)

A physical device control system for controlling a plurality of physical devices connected on a network,
A plurality of physical devices having a hierarchical structure in which a plurality of devices are individually logically connected under the representative device, and
A host that controls connection / disconnection to all subordinate devices by controlling the representative device that is higher in the hierarchy of each physical device;
A peripheral control processing device that relays data transmitted and received between the host and each physical device;
The peripheral control processing device includes:
A state transition detection unit that monitors a state of each physical device device to detect a state transition , and constantly updates information on disconnection / reconnection of the device and a network state ;
A weight determination unit that performs weight management for the state transition detected by the state transition detection unit;
In the physical device units results the weighting determining section is weighted as a priority, the result of monitoring the state of the device, a weight update section for managing a management table for priority check during communication path selection of the physical device ,
If the command / data transfer to the representative device, wherein when it is issued command, as a communication path by referring to the priority of the management table of the physical unit that is physically managed with respect to the representative device A physical device control system having a priority check unit that selects a command issue destination for a representative device . The physical device control system according to claim 1 , wherein the host manages one device as one logical device. The physical device defined in the apparatus, the physical device control system according to claim 1 or 2, obtained by exchanging apparatus configuration information by the representative device.

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