JPH02239355A - Terminal control equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain the continuity of an output action even if a terminal cannot be used by designating terminals which can be substituted at every terminal and switching to the substitutive terminal when the terminal in the middle of control cannot be used. CONSTITUTION:Data transmitted from a central computer 1 via LAN 4 is received in a network control device 7 in a terminal controller 6a, and is registered in either one of terminal output cues 10a and 10b. When the terminal is normal at that time, data is outputted to a terminal 3a or 3b. When a fault occurs in the terminal or a terminal line while data is outputted, and the terminal in the middle of control cannot be used, the output destination of data is altered to the substitutive terminal. When the terminal which is substitution- designated is that connected to a device except for the controller 6a, data of either one of the terminal output cues 10a and 10b (terminal where fault has occurred) is transferred to a terminal output cue 10c in a terminal controller 6b concerned via the device 7. Then, data is outputted to a substitutive terminal 3c in the same procedure as that in the controller 6a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a terminal control device for controlling a plurality of human output terminals such as CRT printers in a computer system.

[Conventional technology]

Computer systems that centrally manage human output from multiple terminals are introduced in production control systems in the manufacturing industry and inquiry response systems in the service industry.

Figure 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of this conventional computer system, in which a group of terminals distributed to a central computer
Managing a group of terminal control devices connected by N.
An example is shown. That is, in the figure, 1 is the central computer, and 28 to 2Z are the terminals 3a to 2Z according to the instructions from the computer 1.
It is a plurality of terminal control devices that control input and output of 3i, 3j to 3Z, and is connected to the central computer 1 by LAN 4.
In addition, each terminal 38 to 3z and each line 5a to 515J to 5
Connected by z.

In the system with the above configuration, when data is output from the central computer 1 to, for example, the terminal 3a, the data is sent to the LA.
N4, terminal 3 via terminal suppression device 2a and line 5a
It is sent to a. Then, the terminal 3a performs necessary operations based on the data.

Also, external data input from the terminal 3a is transmitted via the line 5a.
, is transmitted to the central computer 1 via the terminal control device 2a and the LAN 4.

Similarly, for each terminal 3b to 3z, the terminal;
Data is input and output to and from the central computer 1 via the J control devices 2a to 2z.

Here, for example, while outputting data to the terminal 3a, the terminal 3a
Alternatively, if a failure occurs in the line 5a, the terminal control device 2
a determines that the terminal 3a is unusable and sends an error report to the central computer 1. As a result, the central computer 1
Output to terminal a is stopped, and thereafter data cannot be output to terminal 3a until terminal 3a is restored. At that time, it is possible to forcibly change the data destination to a normal terminal other than the disabled terminal 3a, but the data that was being output at the time of the failure will be lost. It is necessary to provide a storage area for output data.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Conventional terminal control devices are configured as described above, and if a failure occurs in the terminal or its line, the data being output is lost, and to prevent this, a storage area for output data is provided in the central computer. It is necessary to re-output the data manually after the failure has been recovered, making it impossible to maintain the continuity of the output operation, making the operation complicated, and reducing the operating rate and reliability of the computer system. There was a problem.

This invention was made to solve these problems, and even if a terminal becomes unusable, it can maintain continuity of output operation by switching to a substitute terminal, thereby increasing the operating rate of the computer system. The present invention aims to provide a terminal control device with improved reliability.

[Means to solve the problem]

The terminal control device for a computer system according to the present invention is configured to specify a terminal that can act as a substitute for each terminal, and to switch to the specified terminal when the terminal being controlled becomes unusable. be.

[Effect]

In the terminal control device of the present invention, when a terminal being controlled by a computer becomes unusable, control is automatically switched to a terminal designated in advance as a substitute for that terminal.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, a practical example of this invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a computer system, and the same reference numerals as in the conventional FIG. 2 indicate the same components. In the figure,
1 is the central computer, 3a, 3b, 3c, ---...
・ indicates a plurality of terminals controlled by the terminal control device 6a6b according to the present invention; 4 indicates the central computer 1 and each terminal control device 6;
LAN connecting a, 6b, 5a, 5b, ----
-- is the terminal control device 6a, 6b and each terminal 3a, 3b
,... is the line between.

The terminal control device 6a is configured to designate a terminal that can act as a substitute for each terminal, and automatically switch Ill control to the designated terminal when the terminal being controlled becomes unusable. ing. That is, 7 is a network management mechanism, and 8 is a network management mechanism 7 that distributes data received from the central computer 1 to each terminal, and also distributes data received from the central computer 1 to each terminal 3.
terminal input/output management mechanism 9a, 9b that sends external data input from a, 3b, etc. to the network management mechanism 7;
10a. is a terminal connection unit that connects each terminal 3a, 3b in terms of hardware. iob is a terminal output queue that temporarily stores output data to each terminal 3a, 3b, ll
a and flb are terminal queues that temporarily store the personal data from each terminal 3a and 3b, and l2 is a proxy terminal correspondence table sent from the central computer 1, which shows each terminal's own terminal number and the terminal used. The table shows the corresponding terminal numbers in case of failure.

Note that two systems each of the terminals 3a, 3b, lines 5a, 5b, terminal connection units 9a, 9b, etc. are provided, but the total number of these is variable. Furthermore, the terminal control device 6b has a similar configuration.

Next, the operation will be explained.

The data sent from the central computer 1 via the LAN 4 is received by the network management machine vI7 in the terminal control device 6a, and is sent to a terminal prepared for each terminal according to the destination terminal number added to the data. Output queue 10a
, rob. On the other hand, the terminal input/output management mechanism 8 constantly monitors the terminal output queue 10a and Job, and if there is data, it moves to the output operation to the terminals 3a and 3b. If the terminal to which data should be output is normal at this point, the data is output to the corresponding terminal 3a or 3b via either terminal connection unit 9a or 9b. but,
During data output, if a failure occurs in the terminal or the line to the terminal and the terminal being controlled becomes unusable, the substitute terminal correspondence table 1
Change the data output destination to the terminal that can be substituted as specified in 2. At this time, if the designated terminal is connected to a device other than the terminal control device 6a, the data from the terminal output queue 10a or 10b (whichever is the terminal where the failure occurred) will be sent via the network management mechanism 7. and transfers it to the terminal output queue 10c in the corresponding terminal control device 6b. After this, the data is output to the proxy terminal 3C through the same procedure as performed within the terminal control device 6a. at the same time,
The failure signal of the terminal is sent to the network management mechanism7. It is sent to the central computer 1 via the LAN 4. As a result, the central computer 1 either stops outputting data to the failed terminal 3a or 3b, or the output destination is changed by human intervention.

Here, the terminal to which the output data is changed is the designated terminal registered in the proxy terminal correspondence table 12, but the above-mentioned proxy terminal numbers may be stored in the proxy terminal correspondence table 12. , you can also specify its priority. Further, the proxy terminal correspondence table 12 is received from the central computer 1 when the terminal control device 6a is powered on or at a timing instructed by the central computer 1, and is kept in the latest state.

In this way, when a failure occurs in the terminal under control or its line and the terminal is used, the output data of the central computer 1 is automatically sent to the terminal that can act as a substitute and is registered in the substitute terminal correspondence table 12. The output data is then processed by this proxy terminal. Therefore, the continuity of the output operation of the central computer 1 can be maintained, and the operating rate of the computer system is improved, as is the reliability.

【Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, a terminal that can be substituted is specified, and when the terminal becomes unusable, the switch is made to the substitute terminal, so that if a failure occurs in the terminal or its line, the Even if the terminal becomes unusable, control is automatically switched to a pre-specified substitute terminal,
Continuity of output operation can be maintained, which has the effect of improving the operating rate and reliability of the computer system.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a conventional example. 1...Central computers 3a to 3C...Terminal 4---LAN 5a, 5b---Line 6a. 6b-
---One terminal control device 7 ------Network management mechanism 8 ---
- Terminal input/output management mechanism 12 - one-acting terminal correspondence table Note that the same reference numerals in the figures indicate the same or equivalent parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A terminal control device for a computer system, characterized in that a terminal that can act as a substitute is specified for each terminal, and when the terminal being controlled becomes unusable, switching to the specified terminal is performed.