JPH03159335A - Testing method for communication line in line housing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform the test of a faulty line at every line without stopping the operations of all the housing lines by providing two planes of RAM for table setting. CONSTITUTION:The operation of the real line is performed by reading out the operating information of the real line written on, for example, the RAM 52 out of the two planes of RAMs 52, 53 for table setting in an ordinary operation. Meanwhile, the plane switching of the RAM is performed in a test operation, and the operating information of the real line is written on the RAM 53 from a network monitoring device, and also, the information for test of a line targeted to be tested is written on the free area of the RAM. The operating information is read out from the RAM 53, and the operation of a normal line is continued as it is, and the information for test of the line targeted to be tested is read out, then, a line test is performed. Thereby, it is possible to perform the test of the faulty line without stopping the operations of all the housing lines.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding a communication line testing method in a line accommodating device for accommodating a plurality of communication lines, the operation of all accommodating lines is stopped when a failure occurs in the accommodating line. The purpose of this test is to enable testing of faulty lines for each line without causing problems, and is equipped with two tables of RAM for table setting and a test pattern generation circuit. Normally, one RAM stores operational information of the actual line. is written, this operation information is read out and the actual line is operated, and during testing, the plane is switched and the other R
The operation information of the actual line is written to the AM, and the test information of the test line is written to the free area of the other RAM, and the operation information is read from this other RAM to perform the test while operating the line. Test information of the target line is read out and a line test is performed, and during this line test, a test pattern is generated for each line to be tested by a test pattern generation circuit to perform the line test.

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method for testing communication lines in a line accommodation device for accommodating a plurality of communication lines in one device.

In recent years, the number of communication systems in which communication is performed by multiplexing lines between devices has been increasing. In such a communication system,
When a failure occurs in a communication line, it is necessary for system operation to be able to test the failed line individually without stopping the operation of all lines.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in a line accommodation device that accommodates a plurality of communication lines, in order to operate those accommodation lines, the line accommodation device is equipped with a RAM (Random Access Memory), and this R
Actual line operation information is written into the AM from a network monitoring device or the like, and then the processor of the line accommodation device reads out this operation information and operates the line.

In addition, if a fault occurs in any of the lines accommodated in this line accommodation equipment, the line related to the fault will be tested, but in that case, the contents of the RAM mentioned above will be checked by the network monitoring equipment. The test information is rewritten into line test information, and then the processor of the line accommodation device reads out the test information and performs a line test.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the conventional test method, even if a failure occurs in only one of the multiple lines accommodated in the line accommodation device, the entire system is used to rewrite the contents of the RAM. It is necessary to temporarily stop line operation and conduct tests for each line. Therefore, once a failure occurs, it takes time to conduct a test, and even if the failure occurs in only one line, the operation of all lines is temporarily stopped, which can have a large impact on other lines. be.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to enable a line accommodation device to test the faulty line for each line without stopping the operation of all the accommodated lines when a failure occurs in some of the accommodated lines. It's about doing.

[1,000 steps to solve problems FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 5l is a plurality of lines accommodated in the line accommodating device, and 55 is a switch section for these lines.

Reference numerals 52 and 53 are two-sided RAMs for storing operational information, etc. regarding these plurality of lines 5l, and the sides can be switched so that data can be written to only one side. 54 is a test pattern generation circuit for generating a test pattern used during testing.

A method for testing a communication line in a line accommodation device according to the present invention includes a test method for a communication line in a line accommodation device.
M52, 53 and a test pattern generation circuit 54 are provided. During normal operation, operation information of the actual line is written in one RAM, and this operation information is read out to operate the actual line. The actual line operation information is written to the other RAM, and the other RAM is
The test information of the test line is written into the free area of the other RAM, and the operation information is read from the other RAM to operate the line, while the test information of the line to be tested is read and a line test is performed. In this line test, the test pattern generation circuit 54 generates a test pattern for each line to be tested, and the line test is performed.

[Operation 1] During normal operation, the actual line operation information written in one of the two RAMs 52 and 53 is read out, and the actual line is operated based on this operation information.

On the other hand, if a failure occurs in these actual lines,
A line test will be conducted, and during this test, the RA
M plane switching is performed, and the other RA. For example, operation information of the actual line is written from a network monitoring device to M, and test information of the line to be tested is written to the free area of Ikekata's RAM.

Then, the operation information is read from this other RAM, and the normal line continues to operate as it is.
Test information is read out for the line to be tested, and a line test is performed.

In this line test, a test pattern generated by the test pattern generation circuit 54 is sent to the line to be tested, and then the line test is performed by, for example, returning this test pattern at the opposing station.

[Example 1 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of a communication network in which a communication line testing method in a line accommodation device according to an embodiment of the present invention is performed. In FIG. 2, reference numerals 11 and 12 are expansion adapters as line accommodation devices, each of which accommodates a plurality of lines l5 and l6 from terminals, etc., and also supports an optical LAN (low-power area network) 14. are interconnected through.

Further, a network monitoring device l3 is connected to this optical LAN 14, and this network monitoring device l3
monitors the status of the entire network, and LAN 1
4, the expansion adapters 1 and 12 are provided with operation setting information for the actual lines they accommodate, and test information for line testing in the event of a failure in those lines.

An example of the configuration of the expansion adapter 11 or 12 is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the expansion adapter 11 is L A N 1
an optical interface unit 1 that interfaces with 4;
The device includes a frame converter 2 having a line connection function and a multiplexing function, a terminal control unit 3, a terminal interface unit 4 that interfaces with the terminal line, a programmable controller 5 that controls the entire device, and the like.

The frame converter 2 has two communication line table settings R for writing actual line operation information and line test information.
It is equipped with AM21 and AM22. Figure 4 shows this RAM
An example of the configuration around 21 and 22 is shown. As shown in the figure, the operation setting information of the communication line is outputted to the RAMs 21 and 22 via bidirectional buffers 23 and 24, respectively. A switching command causes only one of them to be opened. Also RAM21, 22
The same address signal is used as the address input for both.

The terminal control section 3 includes a switch section 33 that switches the time division multiplexed signal from the terminal interface section 4, a PN pattern generation section 31 that generates a PN (LU-like) pattern signal as a test pattern, and data regarding the test line. It is configured to include a RAM 32 etc. for storing.

The operation of this example system will be described below.

Normally, in the frame converter 2 of the expansion adapters 11 and 12, the line setting RAM is, for example, RAM.
2 1 1! It has been switched to Ill.

The network monitoring device l3 is connected to the expansion adapter 11.12 through the optical LAN l4.
Setting information regarding the operation of the actual communication lines accommodated in these expansion adapters ii and 12 is written into AM21. For example, if the actual lines currently in use are from channel O to channel nA, the operation setting information regarding these channels will be stored from address O to nA in RAM21.
These are written in correspondence with each address.

After setting the operation setting information, the programmable controller 5 of each of the expansion adapters l1 and 12 reads the operation setting information from the RAM 21 and operates the actual line, such as connecting the accommodated line.

Assume that a failure has occurred in one of the actual lines accommodated in the expansion adapter 1l.

When the programmable controller of expansion adapter l1 detects the alarm caused by this fault, it
A test request regarding the faulty line is made to the network monitoring device l3 via l4.

At this time, the programmable controller 5 issues a plane switching command to change the RAM connected to the network side to
2. Switch from the 1 side to the RAM 22 side so that setting information from the network monitoring device 13 can be written to the RAM 22. Furthermore, even after this side switching, the programmable controller 5 can continue to read operation setting information from the RAM 21, so even after the side switching, normal actual line operation can be continued. It can be carried out.

When the network monitoring device 13 receives a test request from the expansion adapter 11, it sends test information for the faulty line along with operation information of the accommodated line to the expansion adapter 11 via the LAN 14.

When the expansion adapter 1l receives this information, it stores the operation information of the accommodation line in the RAM 2 as shown in FIG.
2 actual line setting area (This is the same address area as the actual line setting area of RAM 2 1, addresses 0 to nA)
At the same time, the received test information is written into the free area of the RAM 22. Here, the free area is, for example, if the number of lines that can be accommodated in the expansion adapter is from O channel to nc channel, and the lines currently accommodated are O channel to n A channel, then the number of lines that are not yet accommodated is n.
Address areas allocated to the RAMs 21 and 22 are used for the B channel to the nc channel. In this embodiment, addresses O~nA are used in the setting area of the actual line, and addresses n8~nc are used in the setting area of the test line.
is used.

After this, the programmer controller 5 reads out the operational information of the actual line from this RAM 22 and continues normal operation of the lines other than the faulty line, while reading test information for the faulty line and performs a line test. .

In this line test, information on which line is to be tested is also written to the RAM 32 of the terminal control unit 3, and the PN pattern generation unit 31 reads the contents and generates a PN pattern (test pattern) to be tested. so that it is sent to the same line.

This PN pattern is transmitted via the line under test, for example, to a LAN.
The signal is sent to the expansion adapter 12 of the opposite station within LJ, where it is looped back and sent back to the expansion adapter 11. The terminal control unit 3 of the expansion adapter 11 can investigate whether the line to be tested is normal by checking this looped-back PN pattern.

As a result of the above, it is possible to test each line on a line-by-line basis, while keeping the lines currently in operation alive.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, when a failure occurs in any of the accommodated lines in the line accommodation device, the line related to the failure can be removed for each line without stopping the operation of all accommodated lines. This will greatly contribute to the efficient operation of multiplexed lines, as it will now be possible to conduct tests and investigate failures.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a communication system for carrying out a method for testing a communication line in a line accommodation device as an example of the present invention; Fig. 3 is a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. A diagram showing an example of the configuration of an expansion adapter in a system.
A diagram showing an example of the configuration around M and FIG. 5 are diagrams for explaining the operation of the expansion adapter in the RAM and the setting of test data. In the figure, 1... Optical interface unit 2... Frame converter unit 3... Terminal control unit 4... Terminal interface unit 5... Programmable controllers 21, 22... Communication line table setting RAMs 23, 2
4... Bidirectional buffer 25... Inverter 31... PN pattern generation section 32... RAM 33... Switch section 11, l2... Expansion adapter 13... Network monitoring device l7... Optical LAN Invention 1 Explanation of principle Figure 1 Figure 2 Extended Azobu'7 configuration example Figure 3 RAM setup area Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] The line accommodation device is provided with two RAMs for table setting (52, 53) and a test pattern generation circuit (54), and in normal times, operational information of the actual line is written in one of the RAMs. Then, this operational information is read out and the actual line is operated. During the test, the plane is switched and the operational information of the actual line is written to the other RAM, and the test line is written to the free area of the other RAM. The test information is written and the operation information is read from the other RAM to operate the line, while the test information of the line to be tested is read and a line test is performed. Pattern generation circuit (54
) A method for testing a communication line in a line accommodation device, characterized in that a test pattern is generated for each line to be tested and a line test is performed.