JP6845127B2 - External monitoring system and monitoring terminal - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an external shape monitoring technique for externally monitoring a sensor system that collects sensor data obtained by a sensor terminal to a higher-level device via a relay terminal.

In the IoT (Internet of Things) society where all things are connected to communication networks such as the Internet, various sensor terminals are connected to the communication network via relay terminals, collect a large amount of data, and analyze the data. By doing so, it is expected that useful information for humans will be extracted (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1).
FIG. 8 is a configuration example of a general sensor system. This sensor system is a system in which sensor data is acquired from sensor terminals such as an acceleration sensor, a body temperature sensor, and a heart rate sensor by a relay terminal, and collected by a host device via an aggregation terminal, a gateway (GW), and a communication network.

In order to operate such a large number of devices as a system, technology related to monitoring and operation is extremely important. This is because as the number and types of sensor terminals increase, the number of failure points in the system increases, which increases the number of monitoring items, making it difficult to handle all cases manually.

Prior to the IoT society, a method called external monitoring was known as a method for constantly monitoring communication from users to servers in Internet systems, and monitoring tools such as Zabbix (registered trademark) that automate failure recovery by this method are also practical. It has been transformed. (See, for example, Non-Patent Document 2 and the like).
The system used for external shape monitoring has accumulated operational know-how, and it is expected that this mechanism will be applied to the IoT society in which the sensor terminal is connected to the communication network to automate the monitoring operation.

Kenichi Matsunaga et al., "Proposal of multi-sensor accommodation data collection technology suitable for IoT", Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, 2016 Society Conference Lecture Proceedings, Correspondence Lecture Proceedings 2, p420 (B-18-56), 2016-09-23 "Zabbix Product Catalog", Zabbix LLC, https://www.zabbix.com/files/Brochures/zabbix_brochure-201707.pdf, 2017 SPRING / SUMMER

However, if such conventional external shape monitoring technology is applied to the sensor system in the IoT society as it is, it is possible to partially monitor the external shape, but in the sense that external shape monitoring is expected, the sensor data is in the communication path including the relay terminal. There was a problem that it was not possible to accurately monitor that the data was collected normally.

FIG. 9 is a configuration example of an external shape monitoring system using a conventional monitoring tool. FIG. 10 is another configuration example of an external shape monitoring system using a conventional monitoring tool.
As shown in FIG. 9, when a pseudo relay terminal equipped with a conventional monitoring tool is connected to a communication network, the pseudo sensor data transmitted from the pseudo relay terminal is a relay terminal that relays and transfers the sensor data from the sensor terminal. It is relayed to a higher-level device via a communication network without passing through. This is the same even when the pseudo relay terminal is connected to the aggregation terminal as shown in FIG.

However, although such an external monitoring method can monitor the operating status of the communication network, it is not related to the operating status of the relay terminal and the pseudo relay terminal. Therefore, if the relay terminal breaks down, No matter how much the pseudo sensor data is transmitted from the pseudo relay terminal as scheduled, the operating status of the relay terminal cannot be accurately monitored.

As a method of solving such a problem, a method of mounting a dummy data generation process for generating dummy data, which is pseudo sensor data, on the relay terminal can be considered. FIG. 11 is a process configuration example of a relay terminal equipped with a dummy data generation process.
As a result, if the relay terminal fails, the dummy data generation process will stop. Therefore, it is possible to detect a failure of the relay terminal by monitoring whether the dummy data is transmitted as scheduled.

However, according to this method, if the sensor communication process is operating normally in the relay terminal but the dummy data generation process is stopped, the relay terminal is detected as a failure. Further, it is conceivable that the dummy data generation process is operating normally even though the sensor communication process is stopped. In such a situation, it is not possible to detect the failure of the relay terminal, and in fact, the sensor communication cannot be performed. Therefore, the method of mounting the dummy data generation process on the relay terminal cannot accurately monitor the operating status of the relay terminal.

The present invention is for solving such a problem, and provides a system monitoring technique capable of accurately monitoring the external shape of a sensor system in which sensor data is normally collected in a communication path including a relay terminal. The purpose is.

In order to achieve such an object, the external shape monitoring system according to the present invention includes a relay terminal that acquires sensor data obtained by the sensor terminal via a communication line, and the sensor data relayed and transferred from the relay terminal. It is an external shape monitoring system that is used in a sensor system including a higher-level device that collects data via a communication network, and externally monitors that the sensor data is normally collected in a communication path including the relay terminal. It operates as one of the sensor terminals connected to the relay terminal via the communication line, detects a request for acquisition of the sensor data from the relay terminal, and sensor data in the relay terminal in response to the acquisition request. When the normality of the acquisition operation is confirmed, the monitoring data relayed and transferred from the relay terminal to the higher-level device in the same manner as the sensor data is transmitted to the relay terminal via the communication line. A terminal and an external monitoring device for externally monitoring that the sensor data is normally collected in a communication path including the relay terminal based on the reception status of the monitoring data collected by the higher-level device are provided. ing.

Further, the outer shape monitoring system according to the present invention, the monitoring terminal, and a terminal storage section for previously storing the acquired process information indicating the acquisition processing of the normal on the acquisition operation of the sensor data in the relay terminal, said relay By verifying the normality of the acquisition request detection unit that detects the acquisition request from the terminal and the acquisition operation of the sensor data in the relay terminal in response to the detected acquisition request based on the acquisition processing information, the relay terminal When the acquisition operation confirmation unit for confirming whether or not the actual acquisition operation is normal and the acquisition operation confirmation unit confirm that the acquisition operation of the relay terminal is normal, the monitoring data is requested to be acquired. As pseudo-sensor data for the above, a monitoring data transmission unit for transmitting data to the relay terminal via the communication line is provided.

Further, in one configuration example of the external shape monitoring system according to the present invention, the terminal storage unit stores in advance acquisition processing information regarding a plurality of types of acquisition processing contents used in the relay terminal, and the acquisition operation confirmation unit is used. By verifying the acquisition request using the acquisition processing information corresponding to the acquisition request from the plurality of types of acquisition processing information, the normality of the acquisition operation in the relay terminal is confirmed. ..

Further, in one configuration example of the external shape monitoring system according to the present invention, when a plurality of the relay terminals to be monitored are set in advance, the acquisition request detection unit detects the acquisition request from among these relay terminals. The relay terminals to be targeted are sequentially switched and selected.

Further, in one configuration example of the external shape monitoring system according to the present invention, the terminal storage unit independently provides a processing area used for processing a monitoring operation related to the relay terminal for each relay terminal to be monitored. When switching the relay terminal, the acquisition request detection unit switches the processing area of the terminal storage unit used for processing the monitoring operation to the processing area of the terminal storage unit corresponding to the relay terminal. ..

Further, in one configuration example of the external shape monitoring system according to the present invention, the sensor data is based on the reception status of the monitoring data relayed and transferred from the relay terminal to the higher-level device by the external shape monitoring device. If the external monitoring confirmation unit that confirms that the data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal and the external monitoring confirmation unit cannot confirm the normal collection of the communication path, the notification destination is set in advance. It is provided with an abnormality notification unit for notifying an abnormality related to the relay terminal.

Further, in one configuration example of the external shape monitoring system according to the present invention, the external shape monitoring device transmits a control message to the monitoring terminal via the communication network, so that the terminal monitoring operation on the monitoring terminal is performed. The terminal control unit further includes a terminal control unit that remotely controls the above, and the terminal control unit sends an arbitrary processing information used in the monitoring terminal to the monitoring terminal at a timing before and after transmitting the control message to the monitoring terminal. After instructing to suspend and resume the terminal monitoring operation, the monitoring terminal suspends the terminal monitoring operation being executed based on the control message, receives the processing information from the external monitoring device, and then receives the processing information. It further includes an operation control unit that restarts the terminal monitoring operation based on the control message.

Further, the monitoring terminal according to the present invention is a monitoring terminal used in any of the above-mentioned external shape monitoring systems.

According to the present invention, the monitoring data transmitted from the monitoring terminal is always acquired by the sensor data acquisition operation at the relay terminal and relayed to the host device, so that the acquisition operation at the relay terminal is normal. Will be reflected in the reception status of the monitoring data. Therefore, in the sensor system, it is possible to accurately monitor the external shape that the sensor data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the external shape monitoring system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the terminal monitoring processing which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the external shape monitoring process which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is the schematic of the external shape monitoring system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is another schematic diagram of the external shape monitoring system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the external shape monitoring system which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows the remote control example of a terminal monitoring operation. This is a configuration example of a general sensor system. This is a configuration example of an external monitoring system that uses a conventional monitoring tool. This is another configuration example of an external shape monitoring system using a conventional monitoring tool. This is a process configuration example of a relay terminal equipped with a dummy data generation process.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[First Embodiment]
First, the external shape monitoring system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an external shape monitoring system according to the first embodiment.

The external shape monitoring system 1 is a relay terminal 31 that acquires the sensor data obtained by the sensor terminal 30 via the communication line L, and a higher-level device that collects the sensor data relayed and transferred from the relay terminal 31 via the communication network NW. It is a system used in the sensor system 3 provided with the device 50 to monitor the external shape that the sensor data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal 31.

[Sensor system]
The sensor system 3 mainly includes a sensor terminal 30, a relay terminal 31, and a host device 50.
The sensor terminal 30 is a device that detects an arbitrary physical quantity and transmits the obtained detection result as sensor data to the relay terminal 31.
The relay terminal 31 is a terminal device that relays and transfers the sensor data transmitted from the sensor terminal 30 to the host device 50 via the communication network NW.

Specific examples of the sensor terminal 30 include an acceleration sensor and a biological information sensor that detects body temperature, respiration, heartbeat, body movement, brain wave, and the like. Further, it may be an environmental sensor that detects indoor and outdoor environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, illuminance, and noise. In the present embodiment, a case where the sensor terminal 30 and the relay terminal 31 are connected by a wireless line using a short-range wireless communication method such as BLE (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy) will be described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the connection may be made by a wired line.

As a specific example of the relay terminal 31, there is an IoT gate terminal compatible with a multi-sensor system that supports more wireless communication standards as shown in Non-Patent Document 1. In the present embodiment, the relay terminal 31 and the wireless base station (not shown) of the communication network NW are wireless lines using a wireless system such as Wi-Fi, Zigbee (2.4 GHz), or 920 MHz band wireless. The case where the connection is made will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the connection may be made by a wired line.

The host device 50 is composed of an information processing device such as a server device or a PC as a whole, and has a function of collecting sensor data detected by each sensor terminal 30 via a relay terminal 31 and a communication network NW and temporarily storing the sensor data. It has a function to execute a preset application based on these sensor data.

[External monitoring system]
Next, with reference to FIG. 1, the external shape monitoring system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail.
As shown in FIG. 1, the external shape monitoring system 1 according to the present embodiment includes a monitoring terminal 10 and an external shape monitoring device 20 as a main configuration.

The monitoring terminal 10 is a terminal device that operates as one of the sensor terminals 30 connected to the relay terminal 31 via the communication line L, detects a sensor data acquisition request from the relay terminal 31, and responds to the acquisition request. When the normality of the sensor data acquisition operation in the corresponding relay terminal 31 is confirmed, the monitoring data relayed and transferred from the relay terminal 31 to the host device 50 in the same manner as the sensor data is relayed via the communication line L. It has a function of transmitting to the terminal 31.

The external shape monitoring device 20 is composed of an information processing device such as a server device or a PC as a whole, is connected to the host device 50, acquires monitoring data collected by the host device 50 in the same manner as sensor data, and is used for monitoring. Based on the data reception status, it has a function of externally monitoring that the sensor data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal 31.

[Monitoring terminal]
The monitoring terminal 10 is provided with a communication I / F unit 11, a terminal storage unit 12, and a terminal processing unit 13 as main functional units.

The communication I / F unit 11 has a function of performing data communication with the relay terminal 31 via the communication line L, and includes a plurality of communication modules 11A. Assuming that the relay terminal 31 is compatible with multi-sensors capable of acquiring sensor data from various sensor terminals 30, a plurality of types of communication modules 11A corresponding to various communication methods are provided in the communication I / F unit 11. Has been done.

The terminal storage unit 12 is composed of a storage device such as a semiconductor memory, and has a function of storing various processing data and programs used for the terminal monitoring operation in the terminal processing unit 13.
The acquisition processing information 12A is the main processing data stored in the terminal storage unit 12. The acquisition processing information 12A is information describing the regular acquisition processing contents used when the relay terminal 31 acquires the sensor data from the sensor terminal 30. Assuming that the relay terminal 31 is compatible with multi-sensors, a plurality of types of acquisition processing information 12A corresponding to various communication methods are set in the terminal storage unit 12 in advance.

At this time, when the terminal storage unit 12 performs a terminal monitoring operation on a plurality of relay terminals 31 with one monitoring terminal 10, a processing area used for processing the terminal monitoring operation is set in the terminal storage unit 12 for each relay terminal 31. It may be provided independently, and the acquisition processing information 12A used for the terminal monitoring operation and the processing information related to the acquisition operation received from the relay terminal 31 may be stored and used for each of these processing areas. As a result, even if different acquisition operations are performed depending on the relay terminal 31, the terminal monitoring operation can be easily executed simply by switching to the processing area corresponding to the relay terminal 31.

The terminal processing unit 13 has a CPU and its peripheral circuits, and by executing the program of the terminal storage unit 12, the hardware and software are made to cooperate with each other to perform various processes used for the terminal monitoring operation of the relay terminal 31. It has a function to realize the part.
The main processing units realized by the terminal processing unit 13 include an acquisition request detection unit 13A, an acquisition operation confirmation unit 13B, and a monitoring data transmission unit 13C.

The acquisition request detection unit 13A has a function of detecting an acquisition request transmitted during an acquisition operation of acquiring sensor data from the relay terminal 31 to be monitored via the communication line L.

The acquisition operation confirmation unit 13B has a function of verifying the normality of the sensor data acquisition operation of the relay terminal 31 in response to the acquisition request detected by the acquisition request detection unit 13A based on the acquisition processing information 12A of the terminal storage unit 12. Based on the obtained verification result, the relay terminal 31 has a function of confirming whether or not the actual acquisition operation is normal.

Specific examples of the acquisition processing information 12A include authentication information such as an encryption key and a terminal ID used for the sensor data acquisition operation. Generally, when the relay terminal 31 acquires sensor data from the sensor terminal 30, the validity of the communication partner is confirmed by exchanging authentication information such as a predetermined encryption key and terminal ID in the acquisition operation of the relay terminal 31. Authentication processing is performed. At this time, the sensor terminal 30 transmits the sensor data when the validity of the communication partner, that is, the relay terminal 31 is confirmed based on the authentication information notified from the relay terminal 31.

Therefore, the normality of the acquisition operation in the relay terminal 31 is confirmed by comparing the acquisition process content consisting of the authentication information actually notified from the relay terminal 31 with the acquisition process information 12A indicating the regular authentication information. Can be done. The acquisition processing information 12A for confirming the normality of the acquisition operation is not limited to the above-mentioned authentication information. For example, other acquisition processing information that characterizes the acquisition operation, such as the content of processing data other than the authentication information and the transmission / reception order of the processing data, which is exchanged between the relay terminal 31 and the sensor terminal 30 during the acquisition operation, may be used. Good.

When the acquisition operation confirmation unit 13B confirms that the acquisition operation of the relay terminal 31 to be monitored is normal, the monitoring data transmission unit 13C relays from the relay terminal 31 to the host device 50 in the same manner as the sensor data. It has a function of transmitting the transferred monitoring data as pseudo sensor data for the acquisition request to the relay terminal 31 to be monitored via the communication line L according to the acquisition processing content.

In the present embodiment, the monitoring data has the same data format as the sensor data. As a result, the relay terminal 31 moves from the relay terminal 31 to the host device 50 in the same manner as the sensor data without distinguishing between the monitoring data transmitted from the monitoring terminal 10 and the sensor data transmitted from the sensor terminal 30. It will be relayed and transferred. Therefore, when introducing the external shape monitoring system 1, it is not necessary to add or change the function for the relay terminal 31 on the sensor system 3 side.

[External monitoring device]
The external shape monitoring device 20 is provided with an input / output I / F unit 21, an operation input unit 22, a screen display unit 23, a storage unit 24, and an arithmetic processing unit 25 as main functional units.

The input / output I / F unit 21 has a function of exchanging various data such as monitoring data by performing data communication with the host device 50.
The operation input unit 22 is composed of an operation input device such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a touch panel, and has a function of detecting an operator's operation and outputting the operation to the arithmetic processing unit 25.
The screen display unit 23 is composed of a screen display device such as an LCD, and has a function of displaying various screen data such as an operation menu screen, a setting screen, and an external monitoring result screen.

The storage unit 24 is composed of a storage device such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory, and has a function of storing various processing data and programs used for the external shape monitoring operation in the arithmetic processing unit 25.
The main processing data stored in the storage unit 24 is monitoring data acquired from the host device 50 via the input / output I / F unit 21.

The arithmetic processing unit 25 has a CPU and its peripheral circuits, and by executing the program of the storage unit 24, the hardware and the software are made to cooperate, and the collected sensor data is collected in each relay terminal 31 in the sensor system 3. It has a function to realize various processing units used for the external shape monitoring operation for externally monitoring that the data is normally collected in the communication path including.
The main processing units realized by the arithmetic processing unit 25 include a monitoring data acquisition unit 25A, an external shape monitoring confirmation unit 25B, and an abnormality notification unit 25C.

The monitoring data acquisition unit 25A has a function of sequentially acquiring the monitoring data collected by the host device 50 via the input / output I / F unit 21 and storing the data in the storage unit 24.
Of the monitoring data stored in the storage unit 24, the external monitoring confirmation unit 25B generates sensor data based on the reception status of the monitoring data relayed and transferred from the relay terminal 31 to be monitored to the host device 50. It has a function of confirming that the data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal 31.

When the abnormality notification unit 25C cannot confirm the normal collection of the communication path including the relay terminal 31 to be monitored by the external monitoring confirmation unit 25B, the abnormality notification unit 25C sends an e-mail, a message, a voice guidance, to a preset notification destination. It has a function of notifying an abnormality of the relay terminal 31 to be monitored by using a notification medium such as a pop-up screen.

[Operation of the first embodiment]
Next, the operation of the monitoring terminal 10 and the external shape monitoring device 20 of the external shape monitoring system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.

[Terminal monitoring operation]
First, the terminal monitoring operation of the relay terminal 31 in the monitoring terminal 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a terminal monitoring process according to the first embodiment.
Here, it is assumed that the monitoring terminal 10 operates as one of the sensor terminals 30, and the relay terminal 31 transmits a sensor data acquisition request at a preset cycle.

First, the acquisition request detection unit 13A monitors the communication line L with the relay terminal 31 by an arbitrary communication module 11A of the communication I / F unit 11, and waits until the acquisition request transmitted from the relay terminal 31 is detected. (Step S100: NO).

When the acquisition request transmitted from the relay terminal 31 is detected (step S100: YES), the acquisition operation confirmation unit 13B determines the normality of the sensor data acquisition operation in the relay terminal 31 in response to the detected acquisition request. By verifying based on the acquisition processing information 12A of the terminal storage unit 12, it is monitored whether or not the actual acquisition operation of the relay terminal 31 is normal (step S101).

Here, when the normality regarding the actual acquisition operation of the relay terminal 31 is confirmed by the acquisition operation confirmation unit 13B (step S102: YES), the monitoring data transmission unit 13C uses the relay terminal 31 in the same manner as the sensor data. The monitoring data relayed and transferred from the device to the host device 50 is transmitted to the relay terminal 31 to be monitored via the communication line L as pseudo sensor data for the acquisition request (step S103), and the process returns to step S100.

On the other hand, when the normality regarding the actual acquisition operation on the relay terminal 31 cannot be confirmed (step S102: NO), the process returns to step S100 without transmitting the monitoring data.

[External monitoring operation]
Next, the external shape monitoring operation of the external shape monitoring device 20 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the external shape monitoring process according to the first embodiment.
The external shape monitoring device 20 executes the external shape monitoring process of FIG. 3 for each relay terminal 31 to be monitored at a preset cycle. It is assumed that the monitoring data collected by the higher-level device 50 is sequentially acquired from the higher-level device 50 by the monitoring data acquisition unit 25A via the input / output I / F unit 21 and stored in the storage unit 24.

First, among the monitoring data stored in the storage unit 24, the external monitoring confirmation unit 25B relays the monitoring data relayed and transferred from the relay terminal 31 to be monitored, for example, to the monitoring data. Selection is made based on the address information of the terminal 31 (step S110), and it is confirmed whether the sensor data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal 31 based on the reception status of the selected monitoring data (step S111). ..

Normally, in the sensor system 3, the sensor data acquired from each sensor terminal 30 is temporarily stored in the buffer of the relay terminal 31 for the purpose of mitigating communication traffic, and when the sensor data is accumulated to some extent, the plurality of sensor data are collectively stored in the relay terminal. It is relay-transferred from 31 to the higher-level device 50. Therefore, the monitoring data is also relay-transferred to the host device 50 at intervals of several seconds, for example, in a state of being mixed with the sensor data. Therefore, regarding the reception status of the monitoring data, the transmission time assigned to the monitoring data or the reception interval calculated from the reception time, the sequence number indicating the transmission order assigned to the monitoring data, etc. are general. It may be confirmed based on the same index as the reception status of various data.

When it cannot be confirmed that the sensor data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal 31 based on the reception status of the monitoring data relayed and transferred from the relay terminal 31 to be monitored (step S112: NO), the abnormality notification unit 25C notifies the notification destination preset in the storage unit 24 of the abnormality related to the relay terminal 31 or the communication path including the relay terminal 31 (step S113), and ends a series of external shape monitoring processes. To do.
Further, when it is confirmed that the sensor data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal 31 (step S112: YES), a series of external shape monitoring processes are terminated.

[Effect of the first embodiment]
As described above, in the present embodiment, when the monitoring terminal 10 detects the acquisition request from the relay terminal 31 and the normality regarding the acquisition operation in the relay terminal 31 in response to the acquisition request is confirmed, the sensor data is used. Similarly, the monitoring data relayed and transferred from the relay terminal 31 to the host device 50 is transmitted to the relay terminal 31 via the communication line L, and the external monitoring device 20 receives the monitoring data collected by the host device 50. Based on the reception status, the external monitoring is performed so that the sensor data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal 31.

As described above, the monitoring data has the same data format as the sensor data. Therefore, the relay terminal 31 does not distinguish the sensor data transmitted from the sensor terminal 30, and transfers the monitoring data transmitted from the monitoring terminal 10 from the relay terminal 31 to the host device 50 in the same manner as the sensor data. It will be relayed and transferred.
As a result, if the sensor data acquisition operation in the relay terminal 31 is normal, the monitoring data transmitted from the monitoring terminal 10 is relayed and transferred to the host device 50 together with the sensor data.

Therefore, when the relay terminal 31 fails and the acquisition request cannot be transmitted, the monitoring data is not transmitted from the monitoring terminal 10, so that the monitoring data is not relay-transferred to the host device 50, and as a result, the external monitoring device 20 does not transmit the monitoring data. It is determined that the relay terminal 31 is abnormal.
Further, even if the acquisition request is transmitted from the relay terminal 31, if the sensor data acquisition operation in the relay terminal 31 is not normal, the monitoring data is not transmitted from the monitoring terminal 10, so that the monitoring data is up to the host device 50. The relay transfer is stopped, and as a result, the external shape monitoring device 20 determines that the relay terminal 31 is abnormal.

Therefore, the monitoring data transmitted from the monitoring terminal 10 is always acquired by the sensor data acquisition operation of the relay terminal 31 and relayed to the host device 50, and is therefore shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 described above. Unlike the external monitoring method, the normality of the acquisition operation at the relay terminal 31 is reflected in the reception status of the monitoring data. Therefore, in the sensor system 3, it is possible to accurately monitor the external shape that the sensor data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal 31.

Further, since the monitoring data is transmitted from the monitoring terminal 10 which is a different device independent of the relay terminal 31, dummy data generation different from the sensor communication process mounted in the relay terminal as shown in FIG. 11 described above is generated. Unlike the process in which monitoring data is generated, the normality of the acquisition operation at the relay terminal 31 is reflected in the reception status of the monitoring data. Therefore, in the sensor system 3, it is possible to accurately monitor the external shape that the sensor data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal 31.

Further, in the present embodiment, the terminal storage unit 12 of the monitoring terminal 10 stores in advance the acquisition processing information 12A indicating the regular acquisition processing content regarding the acquisition operation of the sensor data in the relay terminal 31, and confirms the acquisition operation. Unit 13B verifies the normality of the sensor data acquisition operation of the relay terminal 31 in response to the detected acquisition request based on the acquisition processing information 12A, thereby determining whether or not the actual acquisition operation of the relay terminal 31 is normal. When the monitoring data transmission unit 13C confirms and confirms that the acquisition operation is normal, the monitoring data relayed and transferred from the relay terminal 31 to the host device 50 in the same manner as the sensor data is sent to the acquisition request. The pseudo sensor data may be transmitted to the relay terminal 31 via the communication line L.
As a result, the normality of the sensor data acquisition operation in the relay terminal 31 can be accurately confirmed.

Further, in the present embodiment, the terminal storage unit 12 stores in advance the acquisition processing information 12A regarding the plurality of types of acquisition processing contents used in the relay terminal 31, and the acquisition operation confirmation unit 13B stores the plurality of types of acquisition processing information 12A. The normality of the acquisition operation in the relay terminal 31 may be confirmed by verifying the acquisition request using the acquisition processing information 12A corresponding to the acquisition request.
As a result, even in the relay terminal 31 compatible with the multi-sensor, the normality of the sensor data acquisition operation in the relay terminal 31 can be accurately confirmed.

Further, in the present embodiment, the sensor data includes the relay terminal 31 based on the reception status of the monitoring data relay-transferred from the relay terminal 31 to the host device 50 by the external shape monitoring confirmation unit 25B of the external shape monitoring device 20. After confirming that the data has been collected normally on the communication path, the abnormality notification unit 25C notifies the preset notification destination of the abnormality related to the relay terminal 31 when the normal collection on the communication path cannot be confirmed. You may.
As a result, when the sensor data is not normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal 31, the administrator is automatically notified of the abnormality, so that a prompt response can be taken.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, with reference to FIG. 4, the external shape monitoring system according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the external shape monitoring system according to the second embodiment.

In FIG. 1 described above, in order to facilitate understanding, an example in which one relay terminal 31 is directly connected to the communication network NW is shown in the sensor system 3, but in general, the relay terminal 31 is used. Since there are a plurality of these relay terminals 31, these relay terminals 31 are relay-connected to the communication network NW via the aggregation terminal 32.

Even when the sensor system 3 is connected to the host device 50 in such a multi-stage tree structure, and even when it is connected to the host device 50 in a mesh structure, it is monitored by the relay terminal 31 to be monitored. If the terminal 10 is connected, it is possible to accurately monitor the external shape that the sensor data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal 31 in the same manner as in FIG.

FIG. 5 is another schematic view of the external shape monitoring system according to the second embodiment. When there are a plurality of relay terminals 31 to be monitored, one monitoring terminal 10 may be shared for monitoring these relay terminals 31. At this time, the acquisition request detection unit 13A of the monitoring terminal 10 may sequentially switch and select the relay terminal 31 for which the acquisition request is detected from among the relay terminals 31. Further, the relay terminal 31 to be monitored and the switching order may be set in the monitoring terminal 10 from the external monitoring device 20 via the communication network NW.

At this time, the terminal storage unit 12 independently provides a processing area used for processing the monitoring operation related to the relay terminal 31 for each relay terminal 31 to be monitored, and the acquisition request detection unit 13A switches the relay terminal 31. At this time, the processing area of the terminal storage unit 12 used for processing the monitoring operation may be switched to the processing area of the terminal storage unit 12 corresponding to the relay terminal 31.
As a result, even when different acquisition operations are performed depending on the relay terminal 31, the terminal monitoring operation can be easily executed only by switching to the storage area corresponding to the relay terminal 31.

In the above, a configuration example in the case where the number of relay terminals 31 and monitoring terminals 10 is one has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it depends on the number of relay terminals 31 and the wireless communication distance. , The number of monitoring terminals 10 may be increased.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, with reference to FIG. 6, the external shape monitoring system 1 according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an external shape monitoring system according to a third embodiment.

As the communication method used in the sensor terminal 30 and the relay terminal 31, a new communication method may be adopted depending on the acquired sensor data. In such a case, the communication process of the relay terminal 31 is updated in response to an instruction from, for example, the host device 50. Therefore, it is necessary to update the acquisition processing information 12A of the monitoring terminal 10 from the external monitoring device 20 accordingly.

Since the acquired processing information 12A has a larger data size than the monitoring data, it is necessary to temporarily stop the terminal monitoring operation for the relay terminal 31 when receiving the acquired processing information 12A from the external monitoring device 20.
In this embodiment, for example, when arbitrary processing information is transmitted from the external shape monitoring device 20 to the relay terminal 31 in response to an operator operation detected by the operation input unit 22, a monitoring terminal is sent by a control message at a timing before and after cleaning. It is intended to instruct the suspension and resumption of the terminal monitoring operation in 10.

That is, in the present embodiment, the arithmetic processing unit 25 of the external shape monitoring device 20 remotely controls the terminal monitoring operation on the monitoring terminal 10 by transmitting a control message to the monitoring terminal 10 via the communication network NW. The terminal control unit 25D is provided.
The terminal control unit 25D has a function of instructing the monitoring terminal 10 to suspend and resume the terminal monitoring operation by a control message at a timing before and after transmitting arbitrary processing information used by the monitoring terminal 10 to the monitoring terminal 10. have.

The terminal processing unit 13 of the monitoring terminal 10 suspends the terminal monitoring operation being executed based on the control message from the external shape monitoring device 20, and then saves the processing information received from the external shape monitoring device 20 in the terminal storage unit 12. The operation control unit 13D is provided to restart the terminal monitoring operation based on the subsequent control message.

[Operation of the third embodiment]
Next, the operation of the external shape monitoring system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 7. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing an example of remote control of the terminal monitoring operation.

When the monitoring terminal 10 is executing the terminal monitoring operation for monitoring the operation of the relay terminal 31, and the operation input unit 22 of the external shape monitoring device 20 detects a processing information transmission operation from the operator (step S300). ), The terminal control unit 25D transmits a stop instruction instructing the stop of the terminal monitoring operation on the monitoring terminal 10 to the monitoring terminal 10 by a control message (step S301).

The operation control unit 13D of the monitoring terminal 10 receives a control message from the external monitoring device 20 via the communication I / F unit 11, and if the control message includes a stop instruction, the operation control unit 13D is directed to the relay terminal 31. The terminal monitoring operation is temporarily stopped (step S302), and a control message indicating the completion of the stop is returned to the external monitoring device 20 (step S303).

At this time, on the external monitoring device 20 side, control messages may be transmitted / received from the input / output I / F unit 21 via the host device 50 and the communication network NW, and the communication network NW may be directly transmitted from the input / output I / F unit 21. Control messages may be sent and received via. Further, on the monitoring terminal 10 side, a control message may be transmitted / received via the communication I / F unit 11 and the relay terminal 31, and the control message may be transmitted / received directly from the communication I / F unit 11 via the communication network NW. You may.

The terminal control unit 25D transmits the instructed processing information to be transmitted to the relay terminal 31 by the control message or a predetermined data transfer protocol in response to the control message indicating the completion of the stop from the relay terminal 31 (step S304). ..
The operation control unit 13D receives the processing information from the external shape monitoring device 20 and stores it in the terminal storage unit 12 (step S305), and returns a control message indicating the completion of reception to the external shape monitoring device 20 (step S306).

The terminal control unit 25D transmits a restart instruction instructing the restart of the terminal monitoring operation on the monitoring terminal 10 to the monitoring terminal 10 by the control message in response to the control message indicating the completion of reception from the relay terminal 31 (step). S307).
The operation control unit 13D receives the control message from the external shape monitoring device 20, and if the control message includes a restart instruction, restarts the terminal monitoring operation for the relay terminal 31 (step S308), and completes the restart. The indicated control message is returned to the external shape monitoring device 20 (step S309).

[Effect of the third embodiment]
As described above, in the present embodiment, the terminal monitoring by the monitoring terminal 10 is performed by the control message at the timing before and after the terminal control unit 25D transmits arbitrary processing information used by the monitoring terminal 10 to the monitoring terminal 10. After instructing to suspend and resume the operation, the operation control unit 13D suspends the terminal monitoring operation being executed based on the control message from the external shape monitoring device 20, and then outputs the processing information received from the external shape monitoring device 20 to the terminal. It is stored in the storage unit 12, and the terminal monitoring operation is restarted based on the subsequent control message.

As a result, when the processing information is transmitted from the external shape monitoring device 20 to the monitoring terminal 10, the stop / restart related to the terminal monitoring operation on the monitoring terminal 10 is remote from the external shape monitoring device 20 at the timing before and after the transmission. It will be controlled. Therefore, even when the monitoring terminal 10 receives processing data such as acquisition processing information 12A whose data size is larger than that of the monitoring data, it can be smoothly received and saved without overlapping with the terminal monitoring operation. It will be possible.

Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the terminal control unit 25D of the external shape monitoring device 20 remotely controls the monitoring terminal 10 by using the control message has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, The relay terminal 31 may be remotely controlled instead of the monitoring terminal 10. As a result, it is possible to instruct the relay terminal 31 determined to be abnormal to start the process related to the sensor data acquisition operation and to restart the OS by a control message, and in response to the operator's instruction, further. It is possible to autonomously remotely control the restoration of the relay terminal 31 according to the abnormality determination.

[Extension of Embodiment]
Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the structure and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention. In addition, each embodiment can be implemented in any combination within a consistent range.

1 ... External monitoring system, 3 ... Sensor system, 10 ... Monitoring terminal, 11 ... Communication I / F unit, 11A ... Communication module, 12 ... Terminal storage unit, 12A ... Acquisition processing information, 13 ... Terminal processing unit, 13A ... Acquisition request detection unit, 13B ... Acquisition operation confirmation unit, 13C ... Monitoring data transmission unit, 13D ... Operation control unit, 20 ... External monitoring device, 21 ... Input / output I / F unit, 22 ... Operation input unit, 23 ... Screen Display unit, 24 ... Storage unit, 25 ... Arithmetic processing unit, 25A ... Monitoring data acquisition unit, 25B ... External monitoring confirmation unit, 25C ... Abnormality notification unit, 25D ... Terminal control unit, 30 ... Sensor terminal, 31 ... Relay terminal , 32 ... Aggregate terminal, L ... Communication line, NW ... Communication network.

Claims (7)

It is used in a sensor system including a relay terminal that acquires sensor data obtained by a sensor terminal via a communication line and a host device that collects the sensor data relayed and transferred from the relay terminal via a communication network. , An external monitoring system that monitors the external appearance that the sensor data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal.
It operates as one of the sensor terminals connected to the relay terminal via the communication line, detects a request for acquiring the sensor data from the relay terminal, and detects sensor data in the relay terminal in response to the acquisition request. When the normality of the acquisition operation is confirmed, the monitoring data relayed and transferred from the relay terminal to the higher-level device in the same manner as the sensor data is transmitted to the relay terminal via the communication line. With the terminal
An external monitoring device that externally monitors that the sensor data is normally collected in a communication path including the relay terminal based on the reception status of the monitoring data collected by the higher-level device.
With
The monitoring terminal is
A terminal storage unit that stores in advance acquisition processing information indicating the normal acquisition processing content related to the sensor data acquisition operation in the relay terminal, and
An acquisition request detection unit that detects an acquisition request from the relay terminal,
By verifying the normality of the sensor data acquisition operation of the relay terminal in response to the detected acquisition request based on the acquisition processing information, it is confirmed whether or not the actual acquisition operation of the relay terminal is normal. Operation check part and
When the acquisition operation confirmation unit confirms that the acquisition operation of the relay terminal is normal, the monitoring data is transmitted to the relay terminal via the communication line as pseudo sensor data for the acquisition request. An external monitoring system characterized by being equipped with a monitoring data transmitter. In the external monitoring system according to claim 1,
The terminal storage unit stores in advance acquisition processing information regarding a plurality of types of acquisition processing contents used in the relay terminal.
The acquisition operation confirmation unit confirms the normality of the acquisition operation in the relay terminal by verifying the acquisition request using the acquisition processing information corresponding to the acquisition request from the plurality of types of acquisition processing information. External monitoring system characterized by In the external monitoring system according to claim 1 or 2.
When a plurality of the relay terminals to be monitored are set in advance, the acquisition request detection unit is characterized in that the relay terminals to be detected for the acquisition request are sequentially switched and selected from among these relay terminals. External monitoring system. In the external monitoring system according to claim 3,
The terminal storage unit independently provides a processing area used for processing a monitoring operation related to the relay terminal for each relay terminal to be monitored.
When the relay terminal is switched, the acquisition request detection unit switches the processing area of the terminal storage unit used for processing the monitoring operation to the processing area of the terminal storage unit corresponding to the relay terminal. Monitoring system. In the external monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
The external shape monitoring device is
An external monitoring confirmation unit that confirms that the sensor data is normally collected in the communication path including the relay terminal based on the reception status of the monitoring data relayed and transferred from the relay terminal to the higher-level device. ,
An external shape monitoring system including an abnormality notification unit that notifies an abnormality related to the relay terminal to a preset notification destination when the normal collection of the communication path cannot be confirmed by the external shape monitoring confirmation unit. In the external monitoring system according to claim 5,
The external shape monitoring device further includes a terminal control unit that remotely controls the terminal monitoring operation on the monitoring terminal by transmitting a control message to the monitoring terminal via the communication network.
The terminal control unit instructs the monitoring terminal to suspend and resume the terminal monitoring operation by the control message at the timing before and after transmitting arbitrary processing information used by the monitoring terminal to the monitoring terminal. ,
The monitoring terminal suspends the terminal monitoring operation being executed based on the control message, receives the processing information from the external shape monitoring device, and then resumes the terminal monitoring operation based on the control message. An external shape monitoring system characterized by further including an operation control unit. A monitoring terminal used in the external shape monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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