JP6569247B2 - Fault verification apparatus, fault verification method, verification target apparatus, wireless communication system, computer program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for remotely monitoring the operation status of an apparatus and maintaining the apparatus.

  In recent years when mobile terminals such as mobile phones and smartphones that use wireless communication have become widespread as social infrastructures, the system as a whole including wireless base stations and a centralized management center that centrally monitors and manages them is always stable. Operation (ie, availability) is required. For this reason, carrier vendors providing such wireless communication services and equipment vendors supplying wireless base stations and the like are to check whether each wireless base station is operating normally in order to ensure availability. The self-diagnosis (health check function) that is periodically executed in each radio base station is used.

  In a system in which such a radio base station and a centralized management center are communicably connected, when the occurrence of a fault in the radio base station is confirmed by self-diagnosis, for example, the following operation is performed.

  In other words, the radio base station that has detected the occurrence of an abnormality (failure) by self-diagnosis in various functional modules such as an electronic circuit constituting the device itself has a predetermined alarm number (alarm code, alarm) (Identifier) is left in the non-volatile memory of its own device. The operator of the central management center is recorded in each radio base station in communication with a plurality of radio base stations to be managed by an inquiry from the central management center or notification from each radio base station. Check your history remotely.

  When the operator of the central management center obtains an alarm number that indicates an abnormality that has occurred in the radio base station, it notifies the maintenance operator who can perform maintenance and inspection, and performs complicated operations such as instructing repair details. At the same time, a maintenance inspection worker is dispatched promptly to the radio base station (site) where the abnormality occurred. At that time, if an alarm number indicating that a serious failure has occurred is reported, the operator can operate by switching the function of the redundant radio base station from the active system to the standby system by remote control. Either continue or take measures to stop the function of the radio base station.

  The dispatched maintenance and inspection worker confirms the status of the abnormality that has occurred (operations such as final identification of the location of the failure) and functional modules (for example, maintenance parts such as circuit boards and functional panels). ) To deal with such abnormalities.

  In any of the cases described above, it is necessary for a maintenance / inspection worker to visit the radio base station in which the failure is detected, and to perform verification or restoration work on the radio base station. Maintenance workers generally need to perform many tasks that are not directly related to the importance of failures at such sites. The functional module removed by replacement or the like is taken back by a maintenance / inspection operator and further transferred to the vendor or its service base for repair or the like.

  Here, as related technologies existing prior to the present application, there are, for example, the following patent documents.

  That is, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique in which a switch performs diagnosis on a radio base station via a communication line in order to match the state of the radio base station monitoring and the switch in the radio communication system. After an abnormality is detected by this diagnosis, the maintenance staff goes to the radio base station in which the abnormality is detected, performs a treatment for the abnormality, and provides the result of the treatment to the exchange side.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for confirming whether a radio base station is operating normally in a radio communication system. In this technique, an operator goes to a radio base station and sends a command for instructing execution of maintenance to a control station capable of controlling the radio base station using a maintenance panel. In response to this, the control station performs a maintenance operation on the radio base station. The worker transmits the result of the operation to the operator on the control station side using, for example, a telephone.

  Patent Document 3 discloses that a control program executed in a micro wireless base station test transceiver (simple TTR) is newly transmitted from a second mobile phone via the first mobile phone connected to the simple TTR. A technique for updating to a control program is disclosed.

JP 10-079692 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-108244 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-15760

  When an abnormality occurs in the radio base station, maintenance is generally performed according to a series of procedures as described above. However, the granularity of the abnormal part detected or notified by the self-diagnosis function of the radio base station has restrictions on the memory that constitutes various function modules and restrictions on the functions and costs on the system. For this reason, it is not possible to implement a test program that can verify in detail the various abnormalities that may occur to the extent required by the service base in the normal operation state in the self-diagnosis function executed by the radio base station. Unrealistic.

  Therefore, because there are such restrictions, information indicating the location of an abnormality detected by self-diagnosis is only reported in units of large functional blocks, so detailed verification to determine the nature of the abnormality that has occurred is performed by the vendor or its service location. In many cases, it is difficult to execute efficiently. In this case, since the maintenance / inspection worker goes to the site again and measures such as identifying the abnormality that has occurred may be necessary, man-hours and costs become a major problem.

  In particular, in recent years, there has been a tendency to reduce the size of radio base stations in accordance with changes in the design policy of radio areas, and the degree of freedom of the location of radio base stations has been improved in accordance with the miniaturization. For this reason, radio base stations are often installed in places where inspections are thought to be difficult when installed, and the above-mentioned operators and maintenance inspection operators cooperate to establish radio base stations. In the maintenance work, there is a strong demand for improving the efficiency of work even when going to the site while minimizing the opportunity to go to the site where the abnormality occurred.

  The technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 is not directed to self-diagnosis by a radio base station because a radio base station is diagnosed by an exchange. Further, in this technique, after an abnormality is detected by the exchange, the maintenance staff goes to the target radio base station. Therefore, in this technique, the exchange needs to perform a necessary and sufficient diagnosis operation for all the radio base stations to be monitored. Therefore, the communication capacity between the exchange and the radio base station is limited to the diagnosis operation. May be reduced. Furthermore, the processing capacity of the exchange must be designed to such an extent that the diagnostic operation can be performed, and there is a possibility that the cost may become a problem.

  The technique disclosed in Patent Document 2 requires that an operator visit each radio base station regardless of whether or not an abnormality has occurred. For this reason, the man-hour (cost) which an operator requires for a maintenance check work becomes a problem. In addition, in this technique, when the occurrence of an abnormality is detected at the site (installation location of the wireless base station), if the worker does not have a member or tool that can handle the abnormality on the spot, It becomes necessary to go to the site again.

  According to Patent Document 3, the control program for the simple TTR can be updated from an external device. However, the technique described in this document is directed to identifying the location where the simple TTR self-diagnosis and an abnormality have occurred. It is not done.

  Therefore, in any of the above-described techniques, when an abnormality is detected in the radio base station, it is necessary for the maintenance / inspection operator to take measures such as identifying the abnormality that has occurred on the site. .

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems. The main object of the present invention is to provide a failure verification device and the like that efficiently verify a failure (abnormality) that has occurred in a device having a self-diagnosis function.

In order to achieve the above object, one aspect of the present invention provides:
A reference in which at least one of the configuration and function of an external device having a self-diagnosis function is used as a unit, and at least one verification program capable of verifying the operation for each unit is associated with the identification information for each unit. Storage means for storing information;
In response to receiving the identification information representing the execution result of the self-diagnosis function from the external device, the received identification is selected from the one or more verification programs by referring to the reference information. Selecting a specific verification program associated with the information, transmitting the selected specific verification program to the external device, and obtaining a result of the external device executing the specific verification program; A failure verification unit capable of verifying at least one of the configuration and function in which a failure has occurred based on the obtained execution result;
Is a failure verification apparatus.

One embodiment of the present invention is
A fault verification apparatus having the above-described configuration;
A wireless communication system including the external device.

One embodiment of the present invention is
Receiving identification information representing an execution result of the self-diagnosis function from an external device having the self-diagnosis function;
Stored is reference information in which at least one of the configuration and function of the external device is used as a unit, and at least one verification program that can verify the operation for each unit and identification information for each unit are associated with each other. A specific verification program associated with the received identification information is selected from the one or more verification programs by referring to the storage means,
Sending the selected verification program to the external device;
In the failure verification method, the external device acquires a result of executing the specific verification program, and verifies at least one of the configuration and function in which the failure has occurred based on the acquired execution result.

One embodiment of the present invention is
Performs self-diagnosis of the device itself, transmits the identification information indicating the result of the self-diagnosis to the failure verification device having the above configuration, and executes the specific verification program received from the failure verification device The verification target device transmits an execution result to the failure verification device.

  This object is also achieved by a computer program for realizing the fault verification apparatus having the above-described configuration and the corresponding method by a computer, and a computer-readable recording medium storing the computer program. .

  According to the present invention described above, it is possible to provide a failure verification device and the like for efficiently verifying a failure (abnormality) occurring in a device having a self-diagnosis function.

It is a figure which illustrates notionally the structure of the radio | wireless communications system which can implement | achieve each embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which illustrates notionally the structure of the radio base stations 20a and 20b which can implement | achieve each embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the structure of the radio | wireless control apparatus 200 which can implement | achieve each embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which illustrates the composition of main panel 500a for function A among a plurality of panels which radio control equipment 200 has. In the 1st Embodiment of this invention, it is a figure which illustrates notionally the program for function verification prepared in the server. In the 1st Embodiment of this invention, it is a figure which illustrates notionally the reference table 400 prepared for the server 30. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed by the radio base stations 20a and 20b in the first embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed by a server 30 in the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a user interface that allows an operator to instruct the operation of the server 30 in the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the failure verification apparatus 100 in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a configuration of a wireless communication system capable of realizing each embodiment of the present invention. The wireless communication system has a configuration in which the central management center 10, the wireless base stations 20a and 20b, and the server 30 are connected to be communicable. These connections are wired by metal cable or optical cable.

  The centralized management center 10 can be monitored by an operator by operating the control terminal of the operation state of one or more radio base stations (in the case of FIG. 1, radio base stations 20a and 20b) to be monitored. It is a facility.

  The wireless base stations 20a and 20b are wireless base stations capable of wireless communication with various portable terminals (not shown) such as mobile phones (in FIG. 1, the number of wireless base stations is an example).

  The server 30 is an information processing apparatus that can control the operation state of the radio base stations 20 a and 20 b and perform processing according to an operation by an operator of the central management center 10. It is assumed that a function verification program (FIG. 5) described later is stored (prepared) in advance in a storage device (not shown) of the server 30. Furthermore, it is assumed that the server 30 stores (prepares) a reference table 400 (FIG. 6) that is information in which the function verification program is associated with an alarm number and the like. The server 30 may be installed in a building of the central management center 10.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram conceptually illustrating the configuration of the radio base stations 20a and 20b that can implement each embodiment of the present invention. The radio base stations 20a and 20b are roughly composed of a radio control apparatus 200 and a radio antenna 300. The connection between the wireless control device 200 and the wireless antenna 300 is connected to be communicable in a wired manner using a metal cable, an optical cable, or the like. Since the wireless base stations 20a and 20b having such a configuration can adopt a general technique for wireless communication with a mobile terminal located in the area, a detailed description in each embodiment of the present application is omitted. .

  FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of the radio network controller 200 that can implement each embodiment of the present invention. The radio network controller 200 can be mounted with a plurality of panels as illustrated in FIG. More specifically, each of the plurality of panels is a functional module (control unit) that realizes a predetermined function. For example, there are a main panel (active panel) and a sub panel (standby panel) for each function. To do. In the example shown in FIG. 3, a main panel 500a and a sub panel 500b for function A, a main panel 501a and a sub panel 501b for function B, a main panel 502a and a sub panel 502b for function C, and the like are arranged in a rack (not shown), for example. Indicates the implemented state. These panels include a panel for controlling call processing, a panel for controlling radio access, a panel for amplifying signals, a panel for maintenance monitoring, etc. For convenience of explanation, black circles (●) and white circles (◯) are shown in FIG. As illustrated, an indicator lamp capable of displaying an operation state, a diagnosis result, and the like is provided.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the main panel 500a for function A among a plurality of panels included in the wireless control device 200. Each of the plurality of panels illustrated in FIG. 3 has a configuration similar to the configuration illustrated in FIG.

  4, the main panel 500a includes a power supply circuit 710, a reset circuit 720, a ROM 730, a RAM 740, a CPU 750, a control circuit 760, a function implementation circuit 770, and an interface (I / F) circuit 780. Here, the ROM is Read_Only_Memory. The RAM is Random_Access_Memory. The CPU is Central_Processing_Unit.

  The power supply circuit 710 is a unit responsible for supplying power from the outside to each component included in the main panel 500a. The reset circuit 720 is a unit that can reset and restart the operation of the main panel 500a in accordance with, for example, the operation of the operator of the central management center 10.

  The ROM 730 is a read-only nonvolatile storage device in which a startup program and various parameters that are referred to when the main panel 500a is started are stored in advance. The RAM 740 is a volatile storage device for temporary storage that is used as a work area or the like when the CPU 750 executes a program (software program, computer program).

  The control circuit 760 is a unit that controls data transfer between the CPU 750 and a memory such as the RAM 740 and a circuit (function implementation circuit 770 or the like) that realizes various functions in accordance with instructions from the CPU 750.

  The function implementation circuit 770 is an electronic circuit that implements a function assigned to the panel (in the case of FIG. 7, the main panel 500a). The I / F circuit 780 is an electronic circuit that realizes a communication interface capable of realizing communication with other panels and the like.

  That is, a main panel 500a illustrated in FIG. 4 and a plurality of panels (500b, 501a, etc.) mounted on the wireless control device 200 illustrated in FIG. 3 realize various functions in accordance with programs, so-called information processing apparatuses (computers). ).

  That is, in the normal operation state of the radio base stations 20a and 20b, the various panels that share the functions to be executed by the radio network controller 200 are activated by the CPU 750 in accordance with the program stored in the ROM 730. Such activation is executed in response to the reset circuit 720 releasing the hardware reset of each circuit provided in the same panel in response to the power supply to the power supply circuit 170 being turned on. The radio base stations 20a and 20b as a whole are operated, for example, under the control of an operating system (OS, such as Linux or Vx-Works (both are registered trademarks)) and various application software running on the OS. Suppose that

  On the other hand, with respect to such a normal operation state (normal operation state), the operations of the radio base stations 20a and 20b at the time of failure (such as an operation flow after detecting an alarm number) are shown in FIG. Will be described below.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that the radio base stations 20a and 20b can perform self-diagnosis for each panel of its own device in each mounted panel. When the radio base stations 20a and 20b detect that a failure (abnormality) has occurred by the self-diagnosis, the radio base stations 20a and 20b transmit an alarm number corresponding to the failure to the central management center 1 (server 30). Since the self-diagnosis and the transmission of the alarm number according to the diagnosis result can adopt the same technology as that of the radio base station described in the background art, detailed description in each embodiment of the present application is omitted.

  When the central management center 10 (server 30) receives the alarm number, the central management center 10 (server 30) sends a test program corresponding to the alarm number (hereinafter, “function verification program”) to the radio base station where the failure has occurred. The function verification program can verify each panel and each function provided in the radio base stations 20a and 20b. That is, the radio base station incorporates the received function verification program into the panel corresponding to the alarm number transmitted by the own apparatus, and executes the function verification program in the CPU 750 to correspond to the alarm number. Verify the normality of each function (whether it operates normally).

  Incidentally, a technique itself that provides a control program executed by the target device by wireless communication from an external device, updates the provided control program in the target device, and executes the control program is generally common, for example, as in Patent Document 3 Therefore, detailed description in each embodiment of the present application is omitted.

  In this embodiment, the function verification program to be sent may be automatically selected by the server 30 according to the alarm number, or may be prepared in advance by the operator of the central management center 10 in relation to the alarm number. The selected function verification program may be selected and sent. In the case of the mode selected by the operator, the operator may select a function verification program that seems to be appropriate while monitoring the situation at the site. Such an example will be described later with reference to FIG.

  While the function verification is being performed, the radio base station in which the failure has occurred switches to the operation from the main panel to the sub panel (for example, the main panel 500a to the sub panel 500b) and continues to operate. Alternatively, while the function verification is being performed, the radio base station is switched to a single operation by safely disconnecting the radio base station from the entire operating system, and only when normality is confirmed. Return to the previous state and continue operation. As a result, the central management center 1 targets many radio base stations or many panels except when the panel cannot be completely turned on or when the function verification program cannot be normally installed. Functional verification is possible.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a function verification program prepared in the server 30 in the first embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, as described above, the server 30 stores various function verification programs in advance for each panel illustrated in FIG. 3, for example. However, the various function verification programs may not be stored for each panel as illustrated in FIG. 5 as long as the panel can be specified.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram conceptually illustrating the reference table 400 prepared in the server 30 according to the first embodiment of this invention. The reference table 400 is information in which a panel name, an alarm number, an alarm target function, and a function verification program are associated with each other. More specifically, in the reference table 400, the name for each panel illustrated in FIG. 3 is registered in the “panel name” column. In the “alarm number” column, an identifier for identifying the failure (abnormality) that has occurred is registered. Information indicating the function (part) specified by the alarm number is registered in the “alarm target function” column. Information indicating a predetermined function verification program for verifying the function registered in the “alarm target function” field is registered in the “function verification program” field. It is assumed that this information is associated with the function verification program for each panel described with reference to FIG. That is, in this embodiment, the function verification program group (FIG. 5) and the reference table 400 (FIG. 6) prepared for each control panel constitute reference information. The reference information includes, as a unit, at least one of the configurations and functions of the radio base stations 20a and 20b having a self-diagnosis function, and one or more verification programs that can verify the operation for each unit, Is associated with the identification information.

  In the present embodiment, each panel is made redundant into a main panel and a sub-panel as described above, and these panels have the same or substantially the same function. For this reason, in the reference table 400 illustrated in FIG. 6, one table is prepared for these two panels.

  As described above, the function verification program associated with the reference table 400 and prepared in advance in the server 30 is, for example, the following program.

-A test program that can run on the OS
-A test program that can be operated on the upper application of the OS,
-A test program that can be started by ignoring (skip) the location of failure in the hardware, rather than OS-dependent startup that operates after confirming the startup of the hardware that makes up the function panel,
A test program that can be activated with a minimum configuration of only ROM 730 and CPU 750,
A test program capable of verifying ROM 730,
A test program that can verify the CPU 750.

  Since any of the above test programs can employ a general technique at present, detailed description in each embodiment of the present application will be omitted.

  Next, the flow of operations of the centralized management center 10 (server 30) and the radio base stations 20a and 20b that realize the above-described series of operations will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing processing executed by the radio base stations 20a and 20b in the first embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart represents the processing procedure of the software program executed by the CPU 750 shown in FIG. In the following description referring to the flowchart, for convenience of explanation, the radio base stations 20a and 20b are not described, but the radio base stations 20a are described. On the other hand, FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing executed by the server 30 in the first embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart represents, for example, a processing procedure of a software program executed by the server 30 having a general information processing apparatus (computer) configuration similar to the hardware configuration illustrated in FIG. 4 in the CPU of the information processing apparatus. . In the following description referring to the flowchart, for convenience of description, the central management center 10 (server 30) is not described, but the wireless base station 20a is described.

  During operation, the radio base station 20a performs a self-diagnosis (self-diagnosis function) capable of diagnosing whether or not the device is operating normally, for example, at a predetermined time period (step A1 in FIG. 7). ). In the present embodiment, the self-diagnosis function performed by the radio base station 20a is diagnosed at least in units of components (ROM 730, RAM 740, control circuit 760, etc.) constituting each panel for each panel mounted on the own device. The result can be output.

  When it is determined that the self-diagnosis is normal in step A1, the radio base station 20a continues the operation of the own device and continues the self-diagnosis at the predetermined time period (step A1 and step A2 in FIG. 7). .

  When it is determined that there is an abnormality (failure) in the self-diagnosis in step A1, the radio base station 20a records the diagnosis result in the RAM 740, the nonvolatile memory (not shown) or the like, and displays the failure information corresponding to the diagnosis result. And transmitted to the central management center 10 (step A3 in FIG. 7). In the present embodiment, the failure information includes a base station number, identification information of the panel in which the failure has occurred, and an alarm number (a configuration in which each item includes the alarm number).

  The central management center 10 receives failure information from the radio base station 20a (step B1 in FIG. 8). The central management center 10 determines whether or not the received failure information represents an important (serious) failure (that is, a fatal abnormality for the radio base station 20a), and determines that the failure is an important failure. The result is transmitted to the radio base station 20a (YES in step B2 in FIG. 8, step B3). Then, after notifying that the failure is an important failure in step B3, the central management center 10 decides to dispatch a maintenance inspection worker to the site (step B10 in FIG. 8). In step B2, it is possible to determine whether or not a failure is important by, for example, preparing a list in the server 30 in advance and referring to the list. Alternatively, the operator of the central management center 10 may make a determination by referring to the received failure information.

  When the radio base station 20a is notified from the central control center 10 whether or not the failure that has occurred in its own device is abnormal, if the notification is an important failure, the radio base station 20a stops the operation of its own device and checks it. And it shifts to the state of waiting for repair (YES in step A4 in FIG. 7, step A9). On the other hand, if the failure is not an important failure but a general failure, the radio base station 20a continues operation by switching the corresponding function panel of its own device from the active system to the standby system (in step A4 in FIG. 7). NO, step A5).

  After notifying that the failure is an important failure in Step B3 described above, the central management center 10 decides to send a maintenance inspection worker to the site (Step B10 in FIG. 8). However, the present invention described using this embodiment as an example is not limited to such a processing flow. For example, although switching to the standby system at step A5 in FIG. 7 is assumed, switching to the active system later is also assumed, so an appropriate function verification program is provided for the function panel of the active system that has failed. Therefore, step B4 may be executed after step B3 as indicated by a broken line in FIG.

  When the received failure information is not an important failure, the central management center 10 determines whether or not there is a specific function verification program corresponding to the failure information notified from the radio base station 20a (FIG. 8). NO in step B2 of step B4). In this embodiment, this determination is made by referring to the reference table 400 (FIG. 6) registered in the server 30.

  When a specific function verification program can be selected in step B4, the central management center 10 sends the selected specific function verification program to the radio base station 20a (in step 4 of FIG. 8). YES, step B5). If at least an alarm number is notified from the radio base station 20a, the function verification program in step B5 can be selected by referring to the reference table 400 according to the alarm number.

  When the corresponding function verification program cannot be selected, the central management center 10 determines to send a maintenance inspection worker to the site (NO in step B4 in FIG. 8, step B10).

  When the radio base station 20a receives the specific function verification program from the central management center 10 in accordance with step B5 of FIG. 8, the radio function of the specific function verification program notified in step A3 is displayed. The data is expanded in a RAM 740 or a nonvolatile memory (not shown) of the function panel specified by the failure information included. Then, the radio base station 20a executes the developed specific function verification program (step A6 in FIG. 7). Then, the radio base station 20a notifies the centralized management center 10 of the execution result in step A6 (step A7 in FIG. 7). At this time, depending on the execution result of the specific function verification program, the radio base station 20a performs the execution result according to the lighting state of the indicator lamps exemplified by the black circle (●) and the white circle (◯) in FIG. May be represented. This is because when the maintenance / inspection worker is dispatched to the radio base station 20a, the efficiency of the maintenance / inspection worker is improved.

  When receiving the execution result of the specific function verification program received from the radio base station 20a, the central management center 10 diagnoses the state of the radio base station 20a based on the execution result (step B6 in FIG. 8). This determination may be made by the operator of the centralized management center 10 or automatically by the server 30 based on the execution result.

  The central management center 10 determines whether or not the cause of the failure has been identified as a result of the diagnosis in step B6. If the failure has been determined, is the failure causing a failure in the operation of the radio base station 20a? (YES in step B7 in FIG. 8, step B8). On the other hand, when the cause of the failure cannot be recognized yet (NO in step B7 in FIG. 8), the central management center 10 returns the process to step B4. As a result, on the central management center 10 side, the radio base station 20a is diagnosed by another function verification program different from the authorized function verification program, either automatically by the server 30 or at the operator's discretion. Try.

  If it is determined in step S8 that the failure occurring in the radio base station 20a is a failure that hinders operation, the central management center 10 determines whether it is necessary to dispatch a maintenance inspection worker to the site. If determined to be necessary, a maintenance inspection worker is dispatched to the site (YES in step B8 in FIG. 8, step B10). On the other hand, if it is determined in step B8 that the failure is not a failure that would hinder the operation, the central management center 10 determines that the function panel used in the radio base station 20a is a standby system, An instruction is given to switch the function panel from the standby system to the active system (NO in step B8 in FIG. 8, step B9), and the process returns to step B1.

  When the radio base station 20a is instructed to switch the function panel from the central management center 10, the radio base station 20a switches from the standby function panel used by the switching in step A5 to the active function panel, thereby The operation is continued (step A8 in FIG. 7). Then, the radio base station 20a returns the process to Step A1.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram (failure verification screen) illustrating a user interface (man machine interface) that allows the operator to instruct the operation of the server 30 in the first embodiment of the present invention. That is, when executing the processing described above with reference to FIG. 8, the server 30 does not automatically execute each step, but displays a display screen illustrated in FIG. 9 on the terminal of the central management center 10. By displaying, an environment where the failure can be verified may be provided to the operator of the central management center 10.

  In the example shown in FIG. 9, failure information including an alarm number “ALM-A006” is transmitted from the radio base station 20a, and it is displayed that the control panel in which the failure has occurred is the “function A panel”. . In this display example, the server 30 refers to (searches) the reference table 400 in accordance with the search instruction operation of the operator, so that “Logic_test_1” is used as a function verification program for verifying the operation of the control circuit 760 of the function A panel. "" Is shown. When the operator wants to transmit the selected function verification program to the radio base station 20a, the operator operates the “Yes” button. In response to this, the result of the radio base station 20a executing the program is displayed on the display screen (FIG. 9), for example.

  In the present embodiment, when a plurality of function verification programs are registered in the reference table 400 for one alarm number, the server 30 displays a button described as “Further search”. . In the example illustrated in FIG. 6, two function verification programs “Logic_test_1” and “Logic_test_2” are registered for the alarm number “ALM-A006”. In this case, when the operator desires verification using a different function verification program, when the button described as “Further search” is operated, the server 30 uses the function verification program “Logic_test_2” as the different function verification program. Is transmitted to the radio base station 20a. Thereafter, the operator can perform further verification by referring to the execution result of the different function verification program displayed on the display screen (FIG. 9).

  When the server 30 automatically switches the function verification program to be transmitted to the radio base station 20a, a plurality of function verification programs registered for one alarm number are displayed. It may be performed sequentially until the cause can be identified. Alternatively, in this case, the server 30 may stop the transmission and execution of the remaining programs when the cause can be identified.

  Furthermore, on the display screen illustrated in FIG. 9, the operator switches the redundant function panel operating at the radio base station (site) to the active system or the standby system, and dispatches maintenance inspection workers. It is possible to instruct the server 30 of necessity.

  According to the above-described wireless communication system according to the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce the man-hours and efficiency of maintenance and inspection workers, so that the wireless base stations 20a and 20b can be efficiently maintained. The reason is as follows.

  That is, in this embodiment, the radio base stations 20a and 20b perform self-diagnosis of their own devices, and when detecting that a failure (abnormality) has occurred by such self-diagnosis, the radio base stations 20a and 20b concentrate alarm numbers corresponding to the failure. It transmits to the management center 1 (server 30). The central management center 10 (server 30) appropriately selects and sends a function verification program capable of verifying the details of the radio base stations 20a and 20b. The radio base stations 20a and 20b can detect the presence / absence of abnormality (failure) accurately and in detail by executing the received function verification program. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to minimize the number of times that maintenance workers are dispatched to the radio base stations 20a and 20b, and even when dispatched, the cause of the abnormality that has occurred And the occurrence location can be easily determined.

  That is, according to the present embodiment, if the function verification program prepared in advance in the server 30 is subdivided, the maintenance / inspection worker dispatched to the radio base station can easily identify the location where the failure occurred on the site. In addition, an appropriate treatment (such as replacement of hardware such as the above-described function panel) can be easily performed.

  In general, the diagnostic capability of the function verification program and various tools used in equipment vendors and maintenance bases and the fineness (granularity) of the diagnosis are the capabilities of the self-diagnostic function executed at the radio base station installed at the site. Much better than Even in such a reality, according to the present embodiment, in response to the notification of the failure roughly identified by the alarm number from the site (wireless base stations 20a and 20b), the central management center 1 side It is possible to provide various function verification programs that are superior in diagnosis capability compared to general cases. The radio base station provided with the function verification program executes the function verification program and provides the execution result to the central management center 1 side. The central control center 1 side can repeat the acquisition of the execution results from the provision of the function verification program to the site until the location and cause of the failure can be accurately identified, without dispatching maintenance inspection workers to the site. It is possible to easily and reliably identify the location and cause of the failure occurring in

  In the present embodiment, the above-described series of operations and business flows are not started until the alarm number and the like are notified from the radio base station installed at the site to the central management center 1 side, and are always or periodically. Therefore, the processing capacity of the server 30 and the communication line are not limited. Also, in the wireless base station, it is not necessary to implement in advance many self-diagnostic functions whose diagnosis granularity is so fine that the processing resources of the own device are tight, and specific functions provided from the centralized management center 1 side It is only necessary to execute the verification program each time and return the execution result.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to minimize the opportunity to dispatch a maintenance / inspection worker to a radio base station in which a failure has occurred. According to the present embodiment, the cause of the failure is narrowed down by the operation on the central management center 1 side as compared with a general case. For this reason, the maintenance inspection worker dispatched to the radio base station where the failure has occurred should prepare the minimum necessary equipment (base materials such as replacement members and tools) before going to the site, and In the field, it is possible to easily cope with the failure that has occurred with the minimum work.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, efficient maintenance of the radio base stations 20a and 20b is realized. In particular, as described above in the section “Problems to be Solved by the Invention”, in recent years, the degree of freedom of installation location has been improved in accordance with the miniaturization of radio base stations, and maintenance inspection workers can physically There is a background that wireless base stations are installed even in difficult-to-access installation environments. According to the present embodiment, even if the maintenance inspection worker is forced to work in such an installation environment, it is easy and appropriate to determine the location where the failure has occurred with minimal effort at the site. Can be treated.

(Modification of the first embodiment)
In the first embodiment described above, a system configuration in which an operator of the central management center 10 monitors the radio base stations 20a and 20b by using the server 30 and can identify an abnormality (failure) location when necessary. explained. However, the present invention is not limited to the system configuration described above. For example, the operator does not use the terminal set in the centralized management center 10, but carries the terminal (tablet type or smart phone type information processing apparatus, etc.) that is portable and capable of wireless communication while carrying the server. Even in the system configuration in which the radio base stations 20a and 20b are accessed via the network 30, the same effects as those of the first embodiment described above can be obtained.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the failure verification apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. A failure verification apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 10 includes a storage unit 101 and a failure verification unit 102.

  The storage unit 101 stores reference information 101A in advance. The reference information 101A includes at least one of the configuration and function of the external device 103 having the self-diagnosis function 103A as a unit, one or more verification programs that can verify the operation for each unit, and identification for each unit. Information associated with information.

  The failure verification unit 102 refers to the reference information 101A stored in the storage unit 101 in response to receiving identification information representing the execution result of the self-diagnosis function 103A from the external device 103. As a result, the failure verification unit 102 selects a specific verification program associated with the received identification information from the one or more verification programs, and selects the specific verification program as the selected verification program. Send to external device. After that, the failure verification unit 102 acquires the result of the external device 103 executing the specific verification program, and verifies at least one of the configuration and function where the failure has occurred based on the acquired execution result.

  According to the failure verification apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, a failure (abnormality) occurring in the external device 103 having the self-diagnosis function 013A can be efficiently verified.

  The present invention is not limited to the configuration described by using the above-described embodiments and modifications. For example, the present invention is capable of comprehensively managing and monitoring the operation status from an external device, and various devices having a self-diagnostic function (various plants, transportation facilities, social infrastructure control devices such as telephone switches, etc. ) And mobile objects (mobile communication terminals, various vehicles, etc.). Even when the present invention is adopted in such an apparatus, according to the present invention, efficient maintenance of the apparatus can be realized.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Centralized management center 20a Radio base station 20b Radio base station 30 Server 100 Fault verification apparatus 101 Memory | storage part 101A Reference information 102 Fault verification part 103 External apparatus 103A Self-diagnosis function 200 Radio control apparatus 300 Radio antenna 400 Reference table 500a Function A Main panel 500b Sub-panel for function A 501a Main panel for function B 501b Sub-panel for function B 502a Main panel for function C 502b Sub-panel for function C 710 Power supply circuit 720 Reset circuit 730 ROM
740 RAM
750 CPU
760 Control circuit 770 Function realization circuit 780 Interface circuit

Claims (10)

A reference in which at least one of the configuration and function of an external device having a self-diagnosis function is used as a unit, and at least one verification program capable of verifying the operation for each unit is associated with the identification information for each unit. Storage means for storing information;
From said external device, said identification information received indicating the execution result of the self-diagnosis function,
If the received identification information indicates the occurrence of an important failure, control the external device to stop operation, and arrange to dispatch an operator to the location of the external device,
If the received identification information does not indicate the occurrence of an important failure, a specific verification associated with the received identification information is selected from the one or more verification programs by referring to the reference information. A program for selecting, transmitting the selected specific verification program to the external device, obtaining a result of the external device executing the specific verification program, and based on the acquired execution result, Fault verification means capable of verifying at least one of the configuration and function in which
A failure verification apparatus comprising: The failure verification means includes
When at least one of the configuration and the function in which the failure has occurred cannot be identified depending on the execution result of the specific verification program, the reference information is referred to and associated with the received identification information. 2. The verification of the external device can be continued by selecting another verification program different from the specific verification program and transmitting the selected other verification program to the external device. Failure verification device. The failure verification means includes
The instruction to the external device to switch the redundant function of the external device from the active system to the standby system when a failure occurring in the external device is an important failure as a result of the verification. The failure verification apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. Wherein the external device, fault verification apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is a radio base station that performs radio communication with the portable terminal. The failure verification apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 ,
A wireless communication system comprising the external device. A self-diagnosis of the self-device is performed, and the identification information representing the result of the self-diagnosis is transmitted to the failure verification device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , and the identification information indicates an important failure A verification target device that executes the specific verification program received from the failure verification device when no occurrence is indicated, and transmits the execution result to the failure verification device. When the identification information indicates the occurrence of an important failure, the operation of the own device is stopped by the control by the failure verification means.
The verification target device according to claim 6. A wireless base station that performs wireless communication with mobile terminals
The verification target device according to claim 6 or 7. Receiving identification information representing an execution result of the self-diagnosis function from an external device having the self-diagnosis function;
If the received identification information indicates the occurrence of an important failure, control the external device to stop operation, and arrange to dispatch an operator to the location of the external device,
If the received identification information does not indicate the occurrence of a significant failure,
Stored is reference information in which at least one of the configuration and function of the external device is used as a unit, and at least one verification program that can verify the operation for each unit and identification information for each unit are associated with each other. A specific verification program associated with the received identification information is selected from the one or more verification programs by referring to the storage means,
Sending the selected verification program to the external device;
A failure verification method for acquiring a result of executing the specific verification program by the external device and verifying at least one of the configuration and function in which the failure has occurred based on the acquired execution result. From an external device having a self-diagnosis function, and receiving identification information indicating an execution result of the self-diagnosis function,
If the received identification information indicates the occurrence of an important failure, control the external device to stop operation, and arrange to dispatch an operator to the location of the external device,
When the received identification information does not indicate the occurrence of an important failure, with at least one of the configuration and function of the external device as a unit, one or more verification programs that can verify the operation for each unit; By referring to the storage means storing the reference information associated with the identification information for each unit, the specific information associated with the received identification information is selected from the one or more verification programs. Select a verification program, send the selected specific verification program to the external device, obtain the result of the external device executing the specific verification program, based on the obtained execution result, A failure verification function capable of verifying at least one of the configuration and function in which a failure has occurred;
A computer program to be realized by a computer.

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