JPH0324112B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a technology for remotely installing a part of a terminal device connected to a computer system via a communication line. The technology relates to a technology for connecting a terminal device and a plurality of remotely installed terminal devices.

One of the systems in which the present invention exhibits remarkable effects is a totalizer system, so the present invention will be explained below using an example of this system.

FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of the portion of the totalizator system related to issuing voting tickets. A totalizer control device 2, which is a terminal control device controlled by the central processing unit 1, is connected to a plurality of voting ticket issuing machines 4, which are terminal devices, via a terminal interface 3. The voting ticket issuing machine (hereinafter abbreviated as ticket issuing machine) sends out the contents of the voting ticket to be issued as data, and after being processed by the central processing unit, a ticket issuing permission signal is usually returned and the voting ticket is issued. will be done.

A large number of ticket issuing machines are normally connected to the totalizer control device, but if all the connection terminals are not used, the totalizer control device on the main body side controls the ticket issuing machines under its control by time-sharing processing. Capacity is available so that ticket issuing machines can be added by simply connecting them to free terminal interfaces.

On the other hand, when adding a terminal, it is natural to want to install it in a location away from the existing one, not only in the system of this example but also in other systems. In that case, if you are adding a large number of terminal devices, you will have to configure one system again, but if it is a relatively small number, you can connect it to the existing system using a communication line such as a public line or private line. It turns out.

When using communication lines, one terminal device per line
Since connecting multiple terminals is not a problem as the line usage efficiency is poor, normally a line control device 5 is used to connect a plurality of terminal devices to one line as shown in FIG. In this method, the number of additional devices is not limited to the number of empty terminal interfaces 3, but new software is required to operate the line control device.

In such a case, the present invention provides a method for connecting a plurality of terminal devices through a single line without changing the software. The terminal control device to be controlled has a plurality of terminal interfaces, and the N terminal interfaces other than the terminal interface to which the terminal device is directly connected include a first terminal having N terminal interfaces as well. / line control device is connected, which device communicates via a communication line common to the N terminal interfaces,
It is connected to a second terminal/line control device having N terminal interfaces, and the first and second terminal/line control devices are each provided with a buffer memory for storing data transmitted and received by the N terminal devices. , data between the first and second terminals/line control devices via the communication line is transmitted and received within each device in a time-division manner for each N terminal device, and in response to polling from the terminal control device, the first If there is data to be sent to the corresponding buffer memory, the terminal/line control device sends it back to the terminal control device side, and if there is no data, it returns a confirmation signal EOT and sends it to the second terminal via the communication line. / Polls the line control device, and if there is data to be sent to the corresponding buffer memory in the device, the first
This is achieved by a terminal device connection control method characterized by sending back a confirmation signal EOT to the corresponding terminal/line control device, and if there is no confirmation signal EOT, and polling the corresponding terminal device. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the present invention.

In the present invention, TCP(A) 6, which is a terminal/line control device, is used to connect the communication line 8 to the device on the main body side, and the connection with the terminal interface 3 is made. Furthermore, TCP(B) 7 is used to connect the communication line 8 and the terminal device 4'. These two TCPs are (A)
Both (B) and (B) have the same hardware.

FIG. 4 schematically shows the functions of such a device. In the totalizer control unit (hereinafter abbreviated as TCU) 2 serving as a terminal control unit, the connection with the terminal interface 3 is sequentially switched, and the data to be sent is stored in the buffer memory 9 in the terminal unit 4 or TCP(A) 6. If it is, it is sent to the central processing unit (hereinafter abbreviated as CPU) 1, and the processed result is sent back to the terminal device 4 or buffer memory 9, and this process is repeated.

Time-sharing processing is also performed within the two TCPs 6 and 7 by microprocessor control, but the timing of switching here may be independent of the switching in TCU 2, and furthermore, the timing of switching here may be independent of the switching in TCU 2.
Switching in TCP also does not need to be synchronized.
A one-to-one correspondence between the remote terminal 4' and the buffer memory 9 can be achieved by using the identification symbol of each terminal included in the data.

Data sent from the terminal device 4' enters the buffer memory 9' and is sent to the communication line 8 by time-sharing processing within the TCP(B) 7. TCP(A)6 is line 8
The data received from the buffer memory 9 is distributed to the buffer memory 9. The data stored in the buffer memory 9 is processed by the CPU 1 as described above, and the response signal from the CPU follows the above-mentioned route in the opposite direction to reach the terminal device 4'.

If such a configuration is adopted, when viewed from the CPU side, it is exactly the same as if a terminal device is connected to the terminal interface 3, so there is no need to change the software.

The configuration of the two TCPs used here is shown in FIG. These TCPs have the same hardware on both the TCU side and the terminal side, so one, TCP6, will be explained.

The microprocessor 11 controls the entire TCP. In addition to the ROM 12 that stores the program that operates the processor, the RAM 13 that serves as a buffer memory for temporarily storing data to be transferred, and an adapter for line connection (hereinafter abbreviated as BSA).
14 and an adapter (hereinafter abbreviated as ADP) 15 for connecting to a terminal device or terminal interface are connected to a bus 16 to form the whole.

The BSA 14 is a circuit for sending data to and receiving data from the line according to instructions from the microprocessor 11, and has a parallel/serial conversion function. The ADP 15 is a device for connecting with a terminal device or a terminal interface and has a data parallel/serial conversion function, and its configuration is shown in FIG.

The reason why the X and Y2 channels are used as subchannels is that in the totalizer system, the TCU on the main body side uses two channels on the terminal device to increase its processing speed.
This is in conjunction with channel control.
If the processing speed is not a concern, it will work in the same way with just one channel. Connected to the terminal device 4' or terminal interface 3 is a combination of a transmitter/receiver 22 and a driver/receiver 21.
Serial conversion is performed and data is transmitted and received by the driver/receiver. Control circuit 23
various timing signals are generated.

In the ADP 15 in the TCP(A) 6, the data stored in the RAM 13 is sent to the terminal interface 3 by the transmitter and driver via the X or Y subchannel. Also, a reply from the main body side is accepted through the ADP 15, stored in the RAM, and then sent out to the line 8 through the BSA 14. In TCP(B)7, data from the terminal and replies from the line are sent and received in the same way as in TCP(A)6, and the functions of each device making up TCP(B) are also similar to TCP(A).
is the same as The interface that connects the terminal device to TCP(B) is the same in terms of hardware as the terminal interface 3 provided in the TCU,
A terminal device for TCU can be directly connected to TCP(B).

As mentioned above, the remotely installed terminal 4' is connected and operated by one line, but when viewed from the main body side, there is no difference in the terminal interface from when a terminal device is connected. No software changes required.

When actually operating a system like the one above, there are two ways to connect a terminal device directly to the TCU and one using TCP.
Since the response speed to polling is different when connecting via , consideration must be given to timeouts.

Normally, in response to polling from the main unit, if there is data to be sent to the terminal, it will be sent, and if there is no data, it will return an EOT as a confirmation signal. In that case,
The communication status is monitored by checking the time required from polling to EOT reception, and this is done by checking whether the EOT has arrived within a set time.

When the terminal devices are directly connected, the relationship between the response timing and the set time (TOV) is set as shown in FIG. If there is an intervention, the timing of EOT return from the terminal device will be delayed as shown in FIG. 8, resulting in a timeout. If the setting time is increased, the ability of time-division processing will deteriorate, so the following processing is effective.

First, TCP (A) and (B) are provided with a function that immediately returns an EOT to the upper side when the buffer memory RAM does not have data sent from the corresponding terminal device upon receiving polling. This can be easily accomplished with software that controls TCP. If this is done, there will be no delay in sending the EOT in response to polling from the host device, so as long as normal communication is performed at any stage, there will be no time-out. This state is shown in FIG.

In response to polling 31 from TCU, TCP(A)
EOT 31' is returned without waiting for a response from TCP(B), and polling 32 is sent to TCP(B), which is a lower-level device. Similarly, TCP(B) returns EOT 32' without waiting for a response from the terminal device, and issues polling 33 to the terminal device. Terminal device 4'
returns EOT33', which is an inherent function.

In such a hierarchical configuration, the timing of each shipment may be independent from each other. Only the first one of the polling signals 31, 32, 33 in FIG. 9 is sent out sequentially.

The procedure for ending polling is TCP(A), TCP
In (B), if each timer is monitored and polling is not received for a certain period of time, it is determined that the polling has ended and polling of the lower level is stopped.
Since the stoppage is sequentially extended to lower levels, a polling completion state is realized.

As explained above, according to the present invention, terminal devices can be added via communication lines without changing the software. Further, as a system to which the present invention is effective, the totalizer system can be cited as mentioned above, but it can also have similar effects in other systems such as those for issuing seat reservation tickets for transportation facilities, theaters, etc. It is.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1, 2, 7 and 8 are views showing the prior art, and FIGS. 3 to 6 and 9 are views showing the present invention, in which 1 is in the center. processing equipment,
2 is a totalizer control device as a terminal control device, 3 is a terminal interface, 4 and 4' are terminal devices, 5 is a line control device, 6 and 7 are terminal/line control devices, 8 is a communication line, and 11 is a microprogram. 12 is a ROM, 13 is a RAM, 14 is a line connection adapter, 15 is a terminal interface or an adapter for connecting to a terminal, 21 is a driver/
Receiver, 22 is transmitter/receiver, 2
3 is a control circuit, 24 and 24' are address registers,
25, 25' are subchannel adapters, 31, 3
2, 33 are polling signals, 31', 32', 3
3' is the EOT signal.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A terminal control device controlled by a central processing unit has a plurality of terminal interfaces, and N terminal interfaces other than the terminal interface to which the terminal device is directly connected also have N terminal interfaces. A first terminal/line control device having an N terminal interface is connected to a second terminal/line control device having an N terminal interface via a communication line common to the N terminal interfaces. The first and second terminals/line control devices connected to each other are each provided with a buffer memory for storing data sent and received by the N terminal devices, and the communication between the first and second terminals/line control devices via the communication line is provided. data is sent and received in a time-division manner to each N terminal device within each device, and in response to polling from the terminal control device, the first terminal/line control device has data to be sent to the corresponding buffer memory. If there is a confirmation signal EOT, it is sent back to the terminal control device side, and if there is no confirmation signal EOT is sent back and a second signal is sent via the communication line.
polls the terminal/line control device of
If there is data to be sent to the corresponding buffer memory in the device, it is sent back to the first terminal/line control device, and if there is not, it returns a confirmation signal EOT and polls the corresponding terminal device. Characteristic terminal device connection control method.