JPH01228239A - Inter-network repeater - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform data relay between a local area network and plural wide area networks by one repeater by providing a means to discriminate a line connection number set in plural wide area networks in duplicate in an inter- network repeater. CONSTITUTION:The inter-network repeater 10 stores a pair of wide area network logic channel numbers in the wide area networks 30 and 40 and a local area network logic channel number at the local area network 20 side in a logic channel number registration table. After a call is set, a packet from the network 20 is decided to which wide area network 30 or 40 it is sent based on the table. When the wide area network logic channel numbers are duplicated between the wide area networks 30 and 40, the repeater 10 identifies both numbers by using a temporary logic channel number, and decides to which wide area network 30 or 40 the packet should be relayed setting the temporary logic channel number as a key.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to inter-network relay technology, and in particular to a technology that is effective when applied to information relay processing between a local area network and multiple wide area networks. Regarding.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, so-called local area networks, which are shared communication networks within a limited area such as within a single office, factory, or research institute, are rapidly becoming popular.

Conventionally, in an inter-network relay device that performs relay processing between such a local area network and a wide area network such as a public line, for example, "Nikkei Daypro Datacom" published by Nikkei McGraw-Hill, July 1985, etc. As described in , it was common to connect a local area network and a wide area network such as a public line using a single line.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned conventional technology, the inter-network relay device is configured to process only a single wide area network. In the case of information communication with a center via a network, it is necessary to provide an inter-network relay device for each wide area network, which inevitably leads to high costs when constructing the system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an inter-network relay technique that allows a single device to relay information communications between a local area network and a plurality of different wide area networks.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Means to solve the problem]

A brief overview of typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows.

In other words, it is an inter-network relay device that is responsible for relaying information communication between multiple wide area networks and local area networks, and includes multiple line control means connected to each of the multiple wide area networks, and connected to the local area network. local area network control means,
A first means for making it possible to distinguish line connection numbers duplicately set between multiple wide area networks within an inter-network relay device; and a method for relaying information from a local area network to a wide area network based on line connection numbers and a second means for distributing the information to a plurality of line control means.

[Effect]

According to the above means, even if line connection numbers overlap in multiple wide area networks, each wide area network can be easily distinguished, so there is no need to place an inter-network relay device for each wide area field. Instead, it is possible to relay information communications between a local area network and a plurality of different wide area networks.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of an inter-network relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a protocol in the inter-network relay device.

The inter-network relay device 10 of this embodiment is a local area network 20.
A local area network control circuit 11 (local area network control means) connected to a plurality of wide area networks 30 and a line control circuit 12 (line control means) and a line control circuit 13 (line control means) individually connected to a plurality of wide area networks 30 and wide area networks 40. Each of these circuits is configured to be centrally controlled by a microprocessor 15 that operates based on a predetermined program stored in a memory 14.

The protocols 50 and 60 in the wide area network 30, 40 and local area 1820 connected to the inter-network relay device IO in this embodiment are as shown in FIG. 2, for example.

That is, the wide-area protocol 50 on 1530.40 complies with the O8 standard established by 150 (International Organization for Standardization), and the physical layer 51. Data link layer 52.
It is composed of a network layer 53 and upper layers 54 such as a transport layer, and the network layer 53 includes V.

24/V, 28 are adopted.

Similarly, the protocol 60 in the local area network 20 includes physical layers 61 . It is composed of a data link layer 62, a network layer 63, and an upper layer 64 such as a transport layer.
TE (Data Terminal εquipmen
t) 1s8208, which specifies operation at m boundaries, is adopted.

Note that these protocols 50 and 60 in the wide area network and local area network are common, and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

In the relay 70 in the inter-network relay device 10, relay processing is performed by mapping the logical channel of the network layer on the wide area network side and the logical channel of the network layer on the local area network side, and the upper layer including the transport layer is It will be transmitted as is.

Here, an initial information table 14a as shown in FIG. 3 is set in a part of the memory 14 in the inter-network relay device IO.

This initial information table 14a specifies individual access points (terminal devices) in the wide area network 30, 40, local area network 20, etc., corresponding to each of the plurality of line control circuits 12 and 13 of the inter-network relay device 10. Multiple destination NSAPs (Network 5eavice A
access port) address 1, 2゜3...,
and destination N5AP address I,n.

■,... are registered.

Note that the contents of the initial information table 14a may be set, for example, by hardware or software, or may be set from another system when the inter-network relay device 10 is started up.

In addition, the destination N S A P address is determined by the line control circuit 12.
A plurality of values may be set for each of 13 and 13.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. multiple local area network logical channel numbers on the side of 1. Logical channel number registration table 14b in which each of n, III, . . . is stored in pairs.
(Second means) is provided.

In this case, a part of the memory 14 further includes a wide area steel 30.
And for one of the wide area logical channel numbers 1, 2, 3, . , B, C, . . . is provided, and as shown in FIG. . . . and temporary logical channel numbers A, B, C, . . . are stored in the before change column and change infiltration, respectively.

The operation of this embodiment will be explained below.

First, the case where a call is made from the local area network 20 side to the wide area steel 30 and 40 side will be described.

When the inter-network relay device 10 receives a calling packet from the local area network 20 side, the inter-network relay device 10 selects the destination N in the calling packet.
5AP address 1, 2.3...

Initial information table 14a inside memory 14
, determines which side of the wide area networks 30 and 40 to call, and performs a calling operation to the wide area network 30 or 40.

At this time, the inter-network relay device 10 transmits the wide area logical channel number on the wide area network side and the local area network logical channel number on the local area network 20 side to which the address of the terminal device that made the call in the local area network 20 is added. The channel numbers are paired and stored in the logical channel number registration table 14b.

゛Then, after the call is set up, the local area network 20
The data packet from the
Based on the logical channel number registration table 14b, it is determined which wide area network 30 or 40 the signal will be sent to. Also, data packets from the wide area network are sent to the local area!
l! relayed to the 20 side.

If the call is disconnected, logical channel number registration table 1
4b, the registered wide area logical channel number and
The pair with the local area network logical channel number to which the address of the terminal device that made the call in the local area wi 20 is added is deleted.

The above is a case where the call is made from the local area network 20 side, but even when the call is made from the wide area networks 30 and 40 side, if the wide area logical channel numbers of both sides do not overlap, the above The relay operation is performed in the same way as in the case.

Here, since the plurality of wide area networks 30 and the wide area networks 40 generally operate independently, the set wide area logical channel numbers may overlap between the wide area networks 30 and the wide area networks 40. .

In that case, in this embodiment, the overlapping wide area network 30 or
The wide area logical channel number on the 0 side is registered in the pre-change setting of the logical channel number conversion table 14c, and correspondingly, a temporary logical channel number that is impossible in the plural wide area networks 30 and 40 is set for the change infiltration. .

Then, within the inter-network relay device 10, by using the set temporary logical channel number, multiple wide area networks 3
Duplicate logical channel numbers in 0 and 4a are the corresponding wIM
This can be identified inside the J relay device 10, and it is determined to which side of the wide area networks 30 and 40 a data packet from the local area network 20 is to be relayed using the temporary logical channel number as a key.

After the relay destination is determined, when actually relaying the data packet to the wide area network 30 or 40, the actual wide area network logical channel number stored in the before-change column of the logical channel number conversion table 14c is used.

Further, when the call is disconnected, the corresponding logical channel number and temporary logical channel number in the logical channel number conversion table 14c are deleted.

Furthermore, by monitoring the downtime of terminal devices connected to the plurality of wide area networks 30 and 40, the inter-network relay device W10 switches the relay destination to a wide area network in a normal state or a terminal device connected to the wide area network. Can be switched flexibly.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, regardless of whether or not the wide area network logical channel numbers in the plural wide area networks 30 and 40 overlap, the inter-network relay devices 10 40 and the local area network 20 can be relayed.

This allows for example multiple wide area wJ30 and 10
In comparison with the case where the inter-network relay device 10 is provided in each of the local area network 20 and the multiple wide area networks 30 and 40,
It is possible to more economically construct a system that relays between

In addition, by setting up so-called wide area networks for Banokwa and Tsubu among the plurality of wide area networks 30 and 40, it is possible to quickly switch relays from the active wide area network to the backup wide area network, and the system reliability is improved.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically explained above based on Examples, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the Examples and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist thereof. Nor.

The above explanation has mainly been about the case where the invention made by the present inventor is applied to relaying between a local area network and multiple wide area networks, which is the field of application behind the invention, but the invention is not limited to this. Rather, it can be widely applied to general information and communication technology.

〔Effect of the invention〕

A brief explanation of the effects obtained by typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows.

That is, an inter-network relay device responsible for relaying and processing information communication between a plurality of wide area networks and a local area network, and a plurality of line control means connected to each of the plurality of wide area networks;
a local area network control means connected to the local area network; a first means for making it possible to discriminate, within the steel amount relay device, line connection numbers that are set overlappingly among the plurality of wide area networks; and second means for distributing the information to the plurality of line control means based on the line connection number when relaying the information from the local area network to the wide area network. Even if there are overlaps, individual wide area networks can be easily distinguished, there is no need to place an inter-network relay device for each wide area field, and one unit can connect a local area network and multiple different wide area networks. It is possible to relay information and communication between the two.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main parts of an inter-network relay device that is an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a protocol in the inter-network relay device, and FIG. 3 is an example of an initial information table. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a logical channel number registration table as an example of the second means, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a logical channel number conversion table as an example of the second means. 10... Inter-network relay device, 11... Local area network control circuit (local area network control means), 12.13.
...Line control circuit (line control means), 14...Memory, 14a...Initial information table, 14b...Logical channel number registration table (second means), 14C...
Logical channel number conversion table (first means), 15.
...Microprocessor, 20...Local area network, 30.40...Wide area network, 50...Wide area network side protocol, 51...Physical layer, 52...Data link layer, 53...・Network layer, 54...
Upper layer, 60... Local area network side protocol, 61... Physical layer, 62... Data link layer, 63... Network layer, 64... Upper layer, 70... Relay. Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An inter-network relay device responsible for relaying information communication between a plurality of wide area networks and a local area network, comprising a plurality of line control means connected to each of the plurality of wide area networks, and the local area network. a local area network control means connected to the local area network; a first means for making it possible to distinguish, within the inter-network relay device, line connection numbers that are set redundantly among the plurality of wide area networks; An inter-network relay device comprising: second means for distributing the information to a plurality of the line control means based on the line connection number when relaying the information to the wide area network.