JPH0310268B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a terminal monitoring system, and particularly to a terminal monitoring system suitable for sequentially controlling a plurality of terminals via a telephone switching network.

[Background of the invention]

In currently available terminal monitoring systems that utilize telephone switching networks, when issuing commands to multiple terminals in sequence, line connection is held and monitoring continues until a series of terminal processing is completed. It took a considerable amount of time from the first terminal processing start to the last terminal processing start. To explain in more detail, in FIG. 1, terminals 400 of terminal installations l to n are each connected to a HOST 500 of an online center to construct a terminal online system. Furthermore, each terminal 400' is connected to a monitoring terminal connection device (hereinafter abbreviated as MCE) 300', and is connected to a monitoring terminal (hereinafter abbreviated as MTL) 100' of the monitoring center via a telephone switching network 200'. A monitoring system is being built.

Next, the operation will be explained. When a power-on command is input in Figure 2, the MTL is activated by the MCE of the first terminal.
At the same time, a command is printed on the journal. When the line is connected via the telephone exchange network and an incoming call from the MCE is detected, an ID is issued and the other party is verified. MCE
When the correct ID is responded from, it issues a power-on command. When the MCE receives the power-on command, it turns on the power signal to the terminal. The terminal turns on its own power by turning on the power signal, and starts initialization processing such as program loading and mechanism reset, and also performs MTL via MCE.
Send a processing response to. When the MTL receives a processing response, it repeatedly issues a monitoring command and continues to monitor the terminal for a completed response. When the terminal receives the monitoring command, it continues to send processing responses until the series of processing is completed. Here, the power-on command defines the command that performs a series of processes up to the start of the station, so
When the terminal completes initialization, it sends an opening request message to the HOST. When the necessary online processing such as opening the HOST terminal file is completed and the opening permission message is received, the opening of the station is printed and the series of power-on processing is completed.
Send a termination response to MTL. When the MTL receives the termination response, it prints termination on the journal and terminates the line connection. When the power-on command processing for the first terminal is completed, the command processing for the second and subsequent terminals is similarly executed sequentially for all connected terminals. In the figure, the thick line portions of MTL and MCE indicate that the line is connected. Furthermore, when performing scheduled control on multiple terminals at the same time, it is executed in the same manner.

As described above, in the above method, line connection is suspended and monitoring is continued until a series of terminal processing is completed, so it takes a considerable amount of time from the start of terminal processing on the first terminal to the start of terminal processing on the last terminal. . For example, in Figure 2, the time required from line connection to command issuance is set to 0.5 minutes, and the time required for completion monitoring, that is, the time required from terminal power-on and initialization to opening printing, is set to 2 minutes, and 16 terminals are simultaneously Assuming that control is achieved, by the time the 16th terminal starts processing, the number of
It will take several minutes.

In addition, the commands include information collection commands, terminal failure reports, customer call reports, etc., and there are cases where it is desired to promptly obtain a response from the terminal side in response to the command. In this case, if the circuit is blocked for command transmission, prompt responses cannot be obtained from the terminal side, resulting in a decline in service.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to improve the above-mentioned system and provide a terminal monitoring system that can shorten the time required to issue commands to all terminals and receive responses from the terminal devices.

[Summary of the invention]

When controlling multiple terminal devices sequentially from a monitoring terminal, the present invention terminates the line connection just by confirming that the terminal device has received the command, and then starts the next terminal without waiting for the end of a series of terminal processing. In addition, by providing a line control section that can connect to the switching network connected to the monitoring terminal by at least two lines, and a processing control section that controls line connection/disconnection of this line control section. , it is possible to simultaneously process commands from the monitoring terminal to the terminal device and processing completion reports from the terminal device to the monitoring terminal.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 8.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example of the connection configuration of the terminal monitoring system. Parts equivalent to those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. In FIG. 3, terminal devices l to n
Terminals 400 such as ATMs are each connected to an online center.
A terminal online system is constructed by connecting with HOST500. Each terminal 400 has an MCE
300 and is connected to the MTL 100 of the monitoring center via the telephone switching network 200 to constitute a terminal monitoring system.

The MTL 100 monitors the operational status of the terminal 400,
Control is performed centrally from a remote location, and it has the function of issuing status control commands such as terminal power on/off, opening/closing station, etc., and information collection commands such as terminal aggregate information and central management information, as well as terminal failure report and customer call report. It has an incoming call function. In addition to manual transmission of each command by an attendant, pre-registered commands, scheduled control that is automatically performed based on transmission time data, and simultaneous control that sequentially issues the same command to all terminals.

The MCE300 performs connection conversion between the MTL100 and the terminal 400, and has functions for receiving MTL commands and outputting them to the terminal, inputting terminal reports, and
It has a calling function.

Next, the configuration and functions of each part are shown in Figures 4 to 6.
This will be explained using figures.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the MTL 100. The operation display section 110 consists of a keyboard and a display, and is used to input commands and display input commands and terminal output results. The printing unit 120 is a journal printer that divides the display contents into input and output and prints them in a journal, thereby recording the history of the terminal operation status. The outgoing/incoming call control unit 130 is a line control unit for both outgoing and incoming calls.
, and transmits and receives data using the modulation/demodulation section 132. The incoming call control unit 140 is a line control unit exclusively for incoming calls, and is controlled by the network connection unit 141 and the modem unit 142.
NO, 2 Connects the telephone line and sends and receives data. Here, a representative telephone number system is adopted for the NO, 1 and NO, 2 lines, and if the NO, 1 line is busy, the call is automatically received on the NO, 2 line. The processing control unit 150 controls the overall MTL processing, and the clock unit 151 measures the year, month, day, hour and minute, and the station data registration unit 152 records the machine numbers, IDs, and telephone numbers of all MCEs to be connected. Regular control commands, transmission time data, etc. are stored and registered in advance. Here, jD is an authentication code to confirm the authenticity of the other party before data is sent or received, and is used for crime prevention purposes. telephone 16
0 is used by an attendant to talk to a customer when a customer call is reported.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the MCE 300. A terminal connection section 310 is constantly connected to the terminal 400 via a data input/output signal line, and outputs MTL commands to the terminal and inputs report signals from the terminal. It also controls power on/off of the terminal 400 by turning on/off the power signal line. Call control unit 320
is a line control unit for both outgoing and incoming calls, and is connected to the network connection unit 32.
1, the telephone line is routed through the telephone switching network 200.
It is connected to the MTL 100 and transmits and receives data via the modulation/demodulation section 322. The processing control unit 330 is an MCE
It controls the overall processing, and the station data registration section 3
31, the iD and telephone number of the MTL to be connected are registered in advance. The telephone 340 is the MTL mentioned above.
It is connected to a telephone 160 and used by the customer to talk to the staff.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a terminal 400 such as an ATM, and an input/output section 410 performs input processing and output processing specific to the terminal. HOST connection section 420
connects to HOST500 and performs online data transmission and reception. The power supply control unit 430 and the MCE connection unit 440 are the terminal connection unit 310 of the MCE described above.
It connects to the MTL, turns itself on/off and processes commands according to commands from the MTL, and reports the processing results. It also reports information in the event of terminal failure or customer calls. Processing control unit 45
0 controls overall terminal processing.

Next, as an example of the MTL command operation, the case of simultaneous control of all machines by a terminal power-on command will be described with reference to FIG.

When a power ON command is input from the operation display unit 110, the call control unit 130 in the MTL 100 switches to 1.
A call is started by dialing to the third terminal 1, and the printing unit 120 prints a command on the journal. When a line is connected via the telephone switching network 200 and an incoming call from the call control unit 320 in the MCE 300 is detected, the MTL 110 issues an iD registered in the station data registration unit 152 and confirms the other party. I do.

Stored in the station data registration section on the MCE side
When responding to the iDMTL side, the MTL transmits the power-on command that was previously input on the operation display unit 110. This command is from MTL, 150 → 130 → 1
32 → 131 → 200 → 321 → 322 → 320
→It is transmitted to the MCE through each part of 330.
When this power ON command signal is received by the MCE,
MCE connects power signal line PW via 330 → 310
Outputs a power signal to. This signal is transmitted to the power control section 430 of the terminal, and the terminal 400 turns on its own power.

Recognizing this, the terminal l starts the initialization process, and at the same time sends a processing response signal from the processing control unit 450 via the MCE connection unit 440. The response signal is conveyed to MTL via MCE,
When the MTL receives the response signal, the processing control unit 150
The line connection is terminated from the call control unit 130 in accordance with the command.

After the line is connected, the call control unit 130 starts dialing a call to the second terminal according to a command from the processing control unit 150, and the printing unit 12
0 prints the command on the journal. After this, the operation is the same as that of the first terminal described above.

At the same time as the termination, the MCE whose connection has been terminated as described above issues a monitoring command from the processing control unit 330 to monitor the presence or absence of a termination response signal from the first terminal. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, after transmitting the supervisory signal, the MTL continues to transmit the supervisory signal while receiving the processing signal back from the first terminal.

Processing means that the terminal sends an opening request message to the HOST to request opening, and the HOST accepts this request and opens the terminal file.
Other operations necessary for online operation are performed, and when this is completed, a start permission message is sent from the HOST side,
When the terminal receives this message, it prints out the opening of the station using a printing section (not shown).

When this process is completed, a termination signal is sent from the terminal to the MCE 300. When the MCE 300 receives this signal, it makes a call to the MTL 100 by dialing.

In the case of the above dialing, since the MTL 100 is connected to NO via the network connection unit 131 and the second and subsequent terminals (connected to the third terminal in FIG. 7) on one line, the MCE is connected to the line NO. , through 2
It is connected to the network connection section 141 of the MTL. After connecting
An incoming call is issued from the MTL, and after mutual ID exchange and confirmation, a termination signal is issued from the MCE to the MTL. When the MTL receives this termination signal, the print section prints termination on the journal and terminates the line connection with the MCE.

By discontinuing this line, the first terminal
The opening order from MTL ends. As mentioned above, the line No. 1 is switched and connected to the terminals one after another to transmit commands, and the line No. 2 is used exclusively for receiving termination responses from the terminals.

As shown in FIG. 7, in the embodiment, when the MCE 300 sends an end signal to the MTL through the NO, 2 line, the MTL is simultaneously communicating with the third terminal through the NO, 1 line. In this way, the MTL can communicate with two MCEs at the same time using its processing control unit 150.

In the above example, if the time required from line connection to command issuance is 0.5 minutes, it will take only 7.5 minutes from the start of terminal processing on the first terminal to the start of processing on the 16th terminal, and the example shown in Fig. 2 This will save you 30 minutes. In addition, in order to obtain the same processing time as in the above embodiment using the method shown in Figure 2, it is necessary to provide a line control unit for both incoming and outgoing calls for five lines in the MTL configuration and to process the five terminals in parallel. Yes, the MTL configuration becomes complicated.

FIG. 8 shows a second embodiment. This example is
At the same time that a power signal is generated (ON) from the MCE to the terminal, the MCE sends a processing response to the MTL, thereby disconnecting the line from the MTL side. This method is effective in shortening the startup time when the terminal is powered on and the startup time for memory initialization processing is relatively long compared to the example shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 shows a third embodiment. In the first and second embodiments, after the power of the terminal is turned on, the MCE issues a monitoring command and performs monitoring using a polling method, but in the third embodiment, the monitoring command is not issued from anywhere, and the terminal After the power is turned on, a contention method is used in which a termination response signal is directly generated from the terminal and transmitted to the MTL via the MCE. In this case, the MCE functionality can be reduced, so
The configuration is simplified accordingly.

FIG. 10 shows a fourth embodiment. In this embodiment, the line connection between the MCE and the MTL is terminated from the MCE side. Specifically, when a power-on command signal is generated from MTL,
The MCE receives this and sends a power signal ON signal to the terminal. The terminal generates a processing response signal as soon as it is powered on. When the MCE receives this response signal, it terminates the line connection with the MTL.

FIG. 11 shows a fifth embodiment. In this example,
When receiving a power-on command signal from MTL, MCE
sends a power signal ON to the terminal and at the same time terminates the line connection with the MTL side.

In both the fourth and fifth examples above, the line connection is terminated.
Since it is performed from the MCE side, the time required to terminate the connection can be shorter than when it is performed from the MTL side.In the fifth embodiment, when a command is issued from the MTL, the line connection is terminated in response, so the MTL diagram The processing time from ring to line connection termination is the least.

In each of the embodiments, the same command to turn on the power is issued from the MTL to each terminal, but different commands may be issued. In this case, the instructions will differ depending on the operating state of each terminal.

〔Effect of the invention〕

When a command is issued to multiple terminals in sequence, the present invention terminates the line connection between the command issuing side and the terminal and connects the line to the next terminal by simply confirming that the command has been received by the terminal. In addition, when the terminal device that received the command finishes the command, the terminal device can connect the line and send the result, so the time required for mutual signal command transmission can be significantly shortened. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a connection configuration diagram of the terminal monitoring system, Figure 2
The figure is the operation command time chart, Figure 3 is the connection configuration diagram of the embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 4 is also the MTL
Figure 5 is the configuration diagram of MCE, Figure 6 is also the configuration diagram of MCE.
FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of the terminal, FIG. 7 is an operation instruction time chart of the first embodiment, FIG. 8 is an operation instruction time chart of the second embodiment, and FIG. 9 is an operation instruction time chart of the third embodiment. FIG. 10 is an operation instruction time chart of the fourth embodiment, and FIG. 11 is an operation instruction time chart of the fifth embodiment. 100: Monitoring terminal, 200: Exchange network, 3
00,400: Terminal device, 150,330,45
0: Processing control unit, 130, 140, 320: Call origination/reception control means, 130, 320: Call origination/reception control unit, 1
40: Incoming call control unit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A monitoring terminal that transmits a command signal, a plurality of terminal devices that execute the received command and transmit its completion signal to the monitoring terminal, and an exchange that switches and connects the two. In a terminal monitoring system equipped with a network, the monitoring terminal has a first line control unit that has a calling/receiving function and can be connected to the switching network through at least two lines, and a first line control unit that controls line connection/disconnection of the first line control unit. The terminal device has a second line control unit that has a call origination/reception function and is connectable to the switching network, and a second process control unit that controls line connection/disconnection of the second line control unit. and when transmitting the command signal, the first processing control section selectively calls the terminal device from the monitoring terminal, so that the first line control section is connected to the second line control section of the specific terminal device to connect the two lines. one of the first and second processing control units prepares for line connection with the next terminal device based on the reception response of the command signal from the terminal device side. When the termination signal is sent from the terminal device, the second processing control section disconnects the line connection between the first and second line control sections by calling the monitoring terminal from the terminal device side. A control unit is connected to a first line control unit via an empty line of the two lines, and either one of the first and second processing control units is connected to the first line control unit based on generation of a termination signal from the terminal device side. A terminal monitoring system configured to disconnect line connections between the first and second line control units in preparation for line connection with the next monitoring terminal. 2. The first processing control unit of the monitoring terminal causes the corresponding call origination/reception control means to connect the line with the switching network based on the reception of the processing response signal transmitted from the terminal device after the command is received by the terminal device. The terminal monitoring system according to claim 1, configured to issue a disconnection command.