JPH0360242A - Network system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the data transfer capacity of a whole system by providing each node with a function to receive data from one highway in principle and transmit and receive the data to/from all the highways only in the case for a common data area. CONSTITUTION:A network system consists of a trunk line node 300, a trunk line LAN 301, a branch line LAN 303, and terminal equipment 304. Then, each node device 300 on a loop network executes reception processing operation for a communication frame inputted from one specified communication channel among plural communication channels (highway) multiplexed physically or logically, and executes transmission processing operation by using the communication frame flowing in the optional communication channel selected correspondingly to a destination node. Thus, the data transfer capacity of the whole system can be improved without accelerating information processing speed at each node device 300.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a network system, and more specifically, to a network having a plurality of loop-shaped transmission paths physically or logically multiplexed between nodes; In particular, multiple branch lines L A N (Local Area Network
k) connected via one trunk LAN.

[Conventional technology]

The following two types of data transfer capability in LAN are as follows:
There are two possible methods. The first method is to increase the data transmission speed itself on the LAN, and the second method is to accommodate multiple LANs with a predetermined data transmission speed using multiplex cables. This method improves the data transfer capacity of the LAN in the form of the sum of the transfer capacity of each LAN.

For example, if a high-speed LAN with a speed of several 10 Mbps to 100-odd Mbps exists, and if you try to adopt method I above in response to a request to further increase the capacity,
For example, set the data transmission speed to several OOMbps to several Gbps.
In order to increase the transmission speed to 1.5 sec, it is necessary to replace all the circuits in the node equipment that connects the transmission path and the terminal equipment with ultra-high-speed logic circuits so that they can operate at several 100 Mbps to several Gbps.

On the other hand, if the second method is adopted, by accommodating, for example, 10 LANs, the system as a whole will have 10
You can get double the transfer capacity.

In this case, there is no need to change the transmission speed of each LAN, so ultra-high-speed logic is not required.

If the transmission data rate per terminal device connected to the LAN ranges from several 100 Mbps to several Gbps, the former method must be adopted. However, there is no change in the transmission data rate per device, and as the number of terminal devices increases, if a larger data transfer capacity is required, even if the speed is 100 Mbp.
Since the speed remains at about 150 Mbps, the second method is being adopted to increase the capacity.

However, when adopting the second method, in order to be able to communicate with any party on the multiple LNAs accommodated, it is necessary for each node to be able to send and receive data to and from any LAN. be. That is, when each node accommodates n LANs, n transmitting/receiving mechanisms are required for each node device, and the cost increases as the number of LANs accommodated increases.

As one method to solve this problem, for example, the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers Information Network Study Group 1N36-64
An example of this is the method shown in ``A method for constructing a large-capacity, high-reliability ring network using multiplex cables''.

In the conventional method described above, multiple cables are used to connect multiple LAs between nodes in order to increase the transmission capacity of the entire system.
In order to accommodate N and realize communication with any other party, instead of providing a transmitting/receiving mechanism for all LANs, the LANs that can be directly connected are limited and a limited number of transmitting/receiving mechanisms are provided. That's what I do. In other words, each node is connected by n LANs using multiplex cables, each node is provided with m transmission/reception mechanisms (n > m), and m LANs are selected from among the n LANs to provide transmission/reception mechanisms. Change it for each node. (n-m) LAs that are not directly connected via a transmitting/receiving mechanism from a node consisting of
When sending a packet to a terminal device (destination device) connected to any of N, the sending node sends a message to request another intermediate node that relays the packet to forward it to the corresponding LAN. Information is added to the packet, and the packet is transmitted to one of the m LANs connected via the transmitting/receiving mechanism. A node adjacent to the above sending node,
That is, the intermediate node checks the destination address included in the sent packet, and if the packet can be transferred to the LAN to which the destination device is connected, relays the packet between the LANs. In this way, in the conventional method, for a communication partner accommodated in a LAN that is not directly connected via a communication means, an intermediate node acts as a relay station and relays and transfers packets between LANs. The packet is delivered to the intended recipient.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the above-mentioned conventional technology, no consideration is given to high-speed transfer, and packets sent to a destination device on a LAN that is not directly connected to one originating node are transferred to a LAN at an intermediate node.
There has been a problem in that a delay occurs due to relay transfer between N nodes.

Furthermore, when a terminal device moves, it is necessary to rewrite the route information stored in each node, that is, the information for each destination indicating whether or not transfer is possible by relay operation. If a node does not have a receiving mechanism for all LANs, only partial monitoring of network configuration changes is possible. Therefore, each node cannot immediately recognize packets from a new location after the terminal moves, and rewriting of route information is delayed.

In other words, the learning function of the route information does not work properly, and the relay transfer by the intermediate node becomes uncertain, so that the packet may not reach the destination for some time.

Furthermore, even when one node performs a relay communication that conveys the same information to all other nodes, the originating node instructs the other nodes to relay information to the LAN that it cannot directly transmit, and , there was a problem in that it required complex control, such as controlling to prevent the same information from being sent redundantly to the same node.

An object of the present invention is to provide a network system in which the data transfer capability of the entire system is improved without increasing the information processing speed in each node device.

Another object of the present invention is that a plurality of node devices are connected by a plurality of physically or logically multiplexed ring-shaped transmission paths, and each node device responds to communication frames flowing through a predetermined one transmission path. An object of the present invention is to enable a terminal device belonging to one node device to easily communicate with any terminal device belonging to another node device in a network system configured to perform reception operations.

Still another object of the present invention is to enable each node device to easily collect information for destination address management indicating the correspondence between terminal devices and node devices in the network configured as described above. .

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, in the network system of the present invention, each node device on the loop network
Performs reception processing operations on communication frames input from each specific communication path among a plurality of physically or logically multiplexed communication paths (highways),
It is characterized in that a transmission processing operation is performed using a communication frame flowing through an arbitrary communication path selected corresponding to a destination node.

Furthermore, in the present invention, when the address of the destination node device or the communication path on which the destination node device is receiving is unknown, or when you want to send the same information to multiple node devices (broadcast communication), In order to facilitate the transmission operation of the source node device, the communication frames on each communication path are divided into two areas. The first area is a common area used to give the same information to each communication frame flowing through multiple communication channels, and the second area is a common area used to transmit unique information for each communication channel. It is a separate area. Each node device is a circuit that, when adding or deleting information to a common area of communication frames on one communication path selected during transmission processing, produces the same result on all other communication frames. It has a configuration.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, since each node device is connected by a plurality of multiplexed communication paths, the data transmission capacity between the node devices can be increased. In addition, each node device has one
Since it is sufficient to perform a receiving operation and a transmitting operation for communication frames flowing through two communication channels, the processing circuit for transmitting and receiving information is allowed to operate at a relatively low speed. Each node device is configured to perform a reception processing operation on one specific communication path, but the sending node device selects the communication path to transmit information depending on the destination node device. Therefore, communication can be performed with any node device.

In addition, communication frames are divided into a common area and an individual area, and when sending information is output to the common area, the same sending information can be sent to the communication frames of all communication paths. It is possible to ensure that all nodes receive the information.

Therefore, each node device transmits broadcast communication information addressed to all terminal devices connected to other node devices, or information to be sent to a terminal device to which it is unknown which node device it is connected to. By using the area, it can be easily delivered to the other party's device.

If the above communication frame is configured with multiple slots, and each node device divides the message to be transmitted into multiple packets and outputs them to empty slots in the communication frame, each node device By outputting the first packet to the common area and outputting the other packets to the individual areas, the first packet can be received by all node devices. In this way, each node can monitor the first packet of all communication messages on the loop network, and from the header information attached to these first packets, it can determine the terminal address that is the source of the message and this The relationship between the terminal and the address of the node device to which it is connected can be known, and this can be stored as route information and used in subsequent transmission processing.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the network system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 shows l pieces of the overall configuration of a network system implementing the present invention. In the figure, 300A to 300D
are nodes (mainline nodes) interconnected by a mainline loop transmission line (LAN) 301, and constitute one mainline network (mainline LAN). 303A-303
D is a plurality of terminal devices 304 (303A1 to
304A2゜...304D1 to 304D2) are connected to the subnetwork (branch LAN) signal transmission path, and each branch LAN is connected to the trunk nodes 300A to 300D.
It is connected to the trunk LAN 301 via. However, these trunk nodes may directly accommodate terminal devices without going through the branch LAN.

Different branch line LANs, for example, a terminal 304A1 belonging to branch line LAN 303A and a terminal 30 belonging to branch line LAN 303G
When communicating with 4G2, the sending terminal 304 A 1
Messages or packets sent to branch line LAN 303A from node 300A to trunk loop transmission line 301. /-do 300C.

It reaches the destination terminal 304C2 via the branch LAN 303C. In other words, communication between the branch LANs is carried out via the trunk LAN.

Each node 300A to 300D on the trunk LAN needs to know the route information according to the destination terminal. In addition, the relationship between each terminal and the branch LAN is not fixed;
A terminal belonging to a LAN may be connected to another branch AlLAN, and in this case, it is necessary to update the route information stored in each node. Each node on the trunk LAN monitors all messages passing through it, and updates the contents of its respective route information table based on the source information attached to the packet header. For example, the header of each packet contains the address of the source terminal of the packet and the branch LAN to which this terminal belongs.
Contains source information such as the address (bridge address) of the trunk LAN node accommodating the LAN node. Therefore, by checking the source information of each packet flowing through the trunk LAN, each node can know which branch LAN (or trunk node) the transmission source terminal passes through, and the correspondence relationship between the two. can be stored on the route information table. Also, a certain 1'.

Even if a terminal moves from one branch aLAN to another branch 5LAN, when this terminal receives a packet sent from the relocated optical fiber, the relocation of the terminal can be known from the change in the source information, and the route information table can be updated.

FIG. 1(A) shows the structure of a transmission frame 100 flowing on the trunk LAN 301. On the trunk LAN, time division multiplexing (N multiplexing in this example) allows multiple (
N) highways 101 to ION are configured. This can be considered that the trunk LAN 301 is logically composed of N LANs (transmission lines).

Figure (B) shows the format of the transmission frame corresponding to each highway 101 to ION.

According to the present invention, each highway has a frame header area 110 containing a synchronization pattern and a common data area 120.
A frame consisting of the data area 130 and the individual data area 130 flows. The common data area 120 and the individual data area 130 are each divided into multiple time slots or mini-packet areas 11-1 to 11-j, 11- to 11-q, and each mini-packet area has a corresponding area. A mini-packet 11 consisting of a data area HB and a data area HB is sent out.

The message 200 to be sent to the trunk LAN is, for example, a plurality of mini packets 201 to 2 as shown in FIG. 2(A).
The contents of the data area 11B are divided into 04 and a header H is added to the beginning of each of them. If the message length is short, the message 200 will be simple, as shown in FIG. 2(B).

The present invention is based on the premise that each node receives data from one highway in principle and has the function of transmitting and receiving data to and from all highways only in the common data area. Each node outputs packet data that should be transmitted in common to all highways to an empty mini-packet area in the common data area 120, and outputs data that should be transmitted only to a specific highway to an empty mini-packet area in the individual data area 130 of the highway. Output to the packet area. For example, Figure 2 (A)
The first packet 201 of the message shown in Figure 2 (B)
A single packet shown in (this is also the first packet)
A common data area is used for transmitting 201, and an individual data area is used for transmitting intermediate packets 202, 203 and final packet 204. If it is unknown which highway the destination node of the message is using, not only the first packet but also the intermediate or final packet is transmitted in the common data area.

In the common data area, since all highways have the same content, packets can be reliably delivered to any partner node that receives data only from one specific highway. In addition, if at least the first packet of all messages output by each terminal is transmitted using a common data area, it can be received by all nodes, and each node can receive the above-mentioned route information. You can make them learn. A so-called "broadcast message" that conveys the same information to all nodes is also transmitted using the common data area.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of the trunk LAN node 300. The signal flowing through the transmission line 301 of the main LAN is transmitted to the receiver 31.
0 and is input into one of two sets of input shift register columns forming a two-sided receive buffer. Each shift register column consists of a plurality of stages of shift registers 311 to 314 (or 311' to 314') connected in series, each having a data capacity of one bit. The capacity of each shift register is the size of the mini-packet area (this is shown in Figure 1 (A
), which is equal to the size of the timeslot shown in
The number of connected stages matches the number N of highways (N=4 in this example). These input shift register rows are used by being switched alternately. For example, the data of time slot 101-1 is inputted to the final stage 314 of the first shift register row, and the data of time slot 10N-1 is input to the first stage 314.
11, the connection between the receiver 310 and the shift register train is switched, and the next time slot 10
Data 1-2 to 10N-2 are input to the second shift register. While data is being input to one shift register column, received data is taken out independently for each highway from each stage of the other shift register column.

The received data on each highway is input to the first selector group 331 to 334 via delay circuits 321 to 324 each having a predetermined delay time, and in parallel, is input to two selectors 315 and 316. There is. selector 3
15 and 316 are preset signals PS2 and PS, respectively.
The received data of the highway specified by l is input to the transmission processing circuit 360 and the reception processing circuit 370. The preset signal PS1 is fixed, so data of a specific highway is input to the reception processing circuit 370.

On the other hand, the preset signal PS2 is output from the transmission processing circuit 360 and selects an arbitrary highway.

The transmission processing circuit 360 and the reception processing circuit 370 are connected to the bus 38
0 to the branch line LAN controller 390. 316 is a common area detection circuit connected to the receiver 310, which detects the common data area 120 that appears following the header area 110 based on the synchronization signal of the received frame, and generates a common area identification signal 317.

The transmission processing circuit 360 decomposes the message frame given from the branch line controller 390 into mini-packets, and fills the empty packet area found during the period when the identification signal 317 is it 1 n with the first mini-packet or the broadcast communication mini-packet. The packet is sent, and other mini-packets are sent to the empty packet area found during the period when the detection signal is 'O''. Also, if there is a mini-packet sent from the own node in the received frame, this The highway data in which mini-packets have been inserted or deleted in this way is converted into a serial signal and then output to the signal line 361.

On the other hand, the reception processing circuit 370 extracts mini-packets to be relayed to the branch line LAN 303 from the received frame, assembles them into a message frame, and relays them to the branch line LAN controller 390. At this time, in order to notify the sending node that the mini-packet has been received, an answer bit is written at a predetermined position in the corresponding mini-packet area. After the specific highway data input to the reception processing circuit 370 and added with the answer bit is converted into a serial signal,
The first safety lid group 331 to 334 is connected via the signal line 371.
is input. The first selector group includes selector 31
Only the selector corresponding to the specific highway selected in step 6 selects the output 371 of the reception processing circuit according to the output of the decoder 330 output in response to the preset signal PS1, and the other selectors select the output 371 of the reception processing circuit. The state is set to select the highway data input via.

The output of the first selector group is the output 3 of the transmission processing circuit.
61 and is input to the second selector group 341 to 344. The second selector group 341-344 receives control signals 81-S generated from the selection signal generation circuit 500, respectively.
Depending on the state of 4, either the data signal input from the first selector group or the data signal input from the transmission processing circuit is selected. Further, the second selector group 341 to 34
The outputs of 4 are output from corresponding shift register stages 351 to 354 of two sets of shift register columns forming a two-sided output buffer.
, or input to 351' to 354'. Each shift register column is used alternately, with one shift register column (
For example, while data is being input to the shift registers (351' to 354'), the other shift register array (351' to 354') serially outputs data to the transmitter 355, and the ) can transmit multiplexed highway data in the form shown in the figure below.

The selection signal generation circuit 500 has a configuration shown in FIG. 5, for example, and outputs a common area identification signal 317 outputted from the common area detection circuit 316 and the deletion or insertion of a spontaneous packet from the transmission processing circuit 360. Rewrite notification signal 3
68 and a register 5 in which the preset signal PS2 is set.
The selection signals 81 to S4 are generated in a linear manner according to the state of the signal PL-P4 outputted from the demultiplexer 502 according to the contents of 01.

The common area identification signal 361 and the rewrite notification signal 368 are input to AND gates 5 and 511 as shown in the figure. The common area identification signal 36 is input to the AND gate 5e.
Since the inverted signal of 1 is manually input, when data is rewritten in the mini-packet area in the common area 120 of the received frame, the output of the AND gate 510 becomes ``1''.
”, and if data is rewritten in the mini-packet area in the individual area 130, the AND gate 511
The output becomes "1". The output of the AND gate 510 is output from the OR gates 531 to 5 provided corresponding to each highway.
34, if a mini-packet is deleted or added in the common area, all selection signals 5L-34 become "work". At this time, the second selector group 341-344 in FIG. 4 selects the output 36 of the transmission processing circuit, so that mini-packets are equally deleted or added to all highways.

On the other hand, when rewriting the mini packet in 1 individual area, the output is “l”
The output of the AND gate 511 is transmitted to the OR gates 531 to 53 via the two-man AND gates 52 to 524.
4 is entered.

The outputs Pi to P4 of the demultiplexer 502 are applied to the other inputs of the AND gates 521 to 524, respectively, and only one AND gate corresponding to one highway designated by the preset signal PS2 receives the output of the AND gate 511. can be input to the OR gate. Therefore, in the individual area, only one of 81 to S4 receives #171 during the mini-packet period in which data is updated.
As a result, the processing part of the received highway data is replaced by the output of the transmission processing circuit 360.6 FIG. 6 shows the configuration of the reception processing circuit 370 of the selection processing circuit 360.

The transmission processing circuit 360 includes an S/P converter 362 that converts serial reception data of a specific highway inputted from the selector 315 into parallel data, and a packet transmission unit 363.
and a P/S converter 364 that converts the parallel data output from the transmission unit 363 into a serial signal and outputs it as a signal 361. It consists of a packet empty detection circuit that determines whether the received mini-packet area is empty based on the output data of the S/P converter 362 and outputs the determination result to a signal line 367, and a frame decomposition unit 366.

The frame disassembly unit 366 receives and receives a transmission message from the branch line controller 303 via the internal bus 380, and the zero disassembly unit 366, which interprets the destination terminal address included in the message, determines whether the destination terminal address and the destination terminal are connected. It is equipped with a route information table that stores the correspondence relationship with the addresses of the main trunk nodes. The trunk node address is an address that can be uniquely set within the trunk LAN. For example, by looking at a specific digit of the trunk node address, the reception processing circuit 370 of the trunk node can determine which highway is the receiving highway. Keep it. The frame decomposition unit 366 refers to the route information table based on the destination terminal address of the transmitted message, obtains the address of the trunk node (destination node) to which the destination terminal is connected, and uses the node address to find the address of the trunk node (destination node) connected to the destination terminal. Find the number and set it in the built-in transmit highway preset register. As a result, the value of the preset signal PS2 output from the register is changed, and the selector 315 for selecting the transmission highway and the second selector group (341 to 344) can select the same highway as the reception highway of the destination node. The state changes. The frame disassembly unit 360 is
A transmitted message is divided into a single block or a plurality of blocks according to the message length, and a mini-packet is generated by adding a trunk LAN header indicating a destination node address and a source node address (self-node address) to each block.

The generated mini-packet is sent to the packet transmission unit 363 according to the states of the common area detection signal 317 and the packet area empty detection signal 367. Packet transmission unit 363 incorporates these transmission mini-packets into the highway frame received from reception S/P converter 362 and outputs it to transmission P/S converter 364. Furthermore, if the received highway frame contains a minipacket sent from the own node, the answer bit is checked and the minipacket received by the destination node is deleted from the highway frame. In the section where the mini-packet is sent or erased, the rewrite notification signal 368 becomes "1". When the frame disassembly unit 366 confirms that all the minipackets of one transmission message have been successfully received by the destination node and that the packet transmission unit 363 has finished releasing all the minipacket areas that it was using, the frame disassembly unit 366 disassembles the next message. The transmission processing operation described above for the transmission message is repeated.

The reception processing circuit 370 includes an S/P converter 372 that converts serial reception data of a specific highway inputted from the selector 316 into parallel data, and selects data addressed to the own node from among the highway data outputted from the S/P converter. A packet receiving unit 373 extracts the packet of A frame assembly unit 375 that assembles into a frame and sends it to the internal lotus 380, and a route information receiving unit 376 that captures each mini-packet in highway data and acquires route information when the common area detection signal 317 is "1". Become.

The route information receiving unit 376 obtains route information from the first packet or single packet included in the common area of the received highway frame, compares it with the route information it stores, and determines whether it is route information that should be changed or added. If so, it is communicated to the frame disassembly unit 366.

Next, an example of a method for acquiring route information for each trunk node in the network system according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

FIG. 7 shows the format of frames flowing through the trunk LAN, and N highway frames 101 to ION are:
Each area is composed of a common area 120 and an individual area 130. Now, as shown in FIG. 8, the branch s! connected to the trunk node 300A! Branch line LAN connected from one terminal a belonging to LAN 303A to main node 300B
Consider the case where a message is sent to one terminal belonging to 303B. here.

Trunk node 300B receives only highway 102;
It is assumed that the trunk node 300C connected to the branch LAN 303G receives only the highway ION, and that the trunk node 300A has already stored in the route information table 40A that the terminal belongs to the node B. The route information table 40A consists of a terminal address, a trunk node address, and a direction identifier, and the direction identifier is tt 1 tp when the terminal is on the trunk LAN side.
, if it exists on the supporting uALAN side, it will be "Ω".

When the trunk node 300A receives the above message from the branch LAN 303A, the trunk node 300A updates the route information table 40A (,
It knows that the destination terminal is connected to the trunk node 303B, and also knows from the address B of the trunk node 300B that the node uses the highway 102. Therefore, after converting the transmitted message into mini-packets, the trunk node converts the first packet E1Q into the common area 120.
The remaining packets 11Q=11n are sent to a free area in the individual area 130 of the highway frame 102. 1 mini packet each
1 includes a destination trunk node address 121, a source trunk node address 122, a destination terminal address 123, and a source terminal address 124.

According to the present invention, the first packet llQ is in the common area 120.
Since the first packet is sent out to all highways using , even the main node 300G other than the destination node 300B can receive the first packet. Therefore, the relationship between the terminal address a and the trunk node address B is expressed in the route information table 40.
By storing it in C, after that, branch line LAN30
When transmitting a message from any terminal belonging to 3G to the terminal 303A, the trunk node 300C sends a message to the trunk node 303A based on the route information table 40G.
Communication using the specific highway used by A becomes possible.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show the case where data is transmitted to a destination terminal that is not registered in the route information table.

Now, in the network shown in Figure 9(A), branch line LAN3
When a message addressed to terminal X belonging to branch line LAN 303Z is sent from terminal a belonging to branch line LAN 303Z,
For example, the route information table 40A of 00A is shown in FIG.
), it is assumed that the destination terminal a does not have route information regarding the destination terminal a. In this case, the trunk node 300A converts the message sent from terminal a into mini-packets, and divides each mini-packet into mini-packets 1-g to any-i as shown in FIG.
All mini-packets are sent to highway frames 101 to ION with a header in which the address 121 of the destination trunk node is blank or a special code indicating that the address is unknown.
It is sent to the common area 120 of. These mini-packets are received by all trunk nodes on the trunk LAN, and the trunk nodes other than the source trunk node relay messages assembled from the received mini-packets to the branch LAN side.

Therefore, the message relayed by the trunk node 300Z to the branch LAN 303Z is received by the destination terminal X. In addition, in each branch line LAN, the branch line LAN controller 390 erases the message that has gone around the branch line LAN.

Figure I1 shows one terminal a belonging to branch line LAN303A.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a case where a broadcast message is sent from the main LAN 301 to all terminals connected via the trunk@LAN 301. Branch line L
The trunk node 300A that received the broadcast message from the AN 303A converts the message into a mini-packet,
In each mini-packet hll g=11-i, as shown in FIG. 12, a code indicating "broadcast" is set in the destination trunk node address 21 and the destination terminal address 123, and Give the addresses of the node 300A and terminal a to the address 124, respectively,
These mini-packets are sent to the common area 120 of the highway frame.

If the address 121 of the destination trunk node is a mini-packet with a "broadcast" code, trunk nodes 300B, 300G, and 300Z receive it and assemble it into a message.

According to the present invention, since the broadcast mini-packet is sent to a common area, it is received by all trunk nodes. Therefore, messages can be relayed to all branch LANs and received by all terminals.

13 and 14 show another embodiment of the invention.

In this embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG.
Among the high sea urchins 01 to 105 multiplexed on N,
Using the entire packet area of a specific highway, for example, Hiuniie 01, as a common area, other highways 102 to 05
is used as an individual area. In this case, each trunk node 300 frame is input to the common transmission path processing circuit 600, and its output is sent to the transmitter 3 via the output register 359.
55. The transmission processing (b) circuit 360' and the reception processing circuit 370' handle the entire highway selected by the selectors 315 and 316, respectively, as individual areas, so they are common from the circuit configurations explained in FIGS. 4 to 6. A circuit configuration that excludes the determination based on the area detection signal 31'7 may be used. Input shift registers 311 to 314 and output shift registers (51 to 355 are omitted in the figure, but they adopt a two-sided buffer format as in FIG. 4).

The common transmission path processing circuit 600 treats the entire highway 10.1 as a common area, and only needs to perform processing for receiving mini-packets addressed to its own node from the highway and processing for transmitting mini-packets addressed to other nodes. , functionally includes the above-mentioned transmission processing circuit 360' and reception processing circuit 370', which receive and process the output from the shift register 319, and perform transmission processing in sections where mini-packets are added or deleted. The configuration may be such that the output of the circuit and, in other cases, the output of the reception processing circuit are supplied to the shift register 359.

In this embodiment, for example, a relay message output from the branch line LAN controller 390 (not shown) to the internal bus 380 is received by the transmission processing circuit 370' and the common transmission path processing circuit 600, and the relay message is transmitted as a broadcast message, Alternatively, if the message has an unknown destination trunk node, the common transmission path processing circuit 600 will perform the transmission processing, and if it is another message, the transmission processing circuit 360' will perform the transmission processing. In addition, in order to be able to obtain route information at each node,
Even if the message is transmitted by the transmission processing circuit 360', only the first mini-packet portion thereof may be sent to the common highway 101 by the common transmission path processing circuit 600. In this way, in each trunk node, the common board route processing circuit 600 receives header information regarding messages sent from all terminals, and the transmission processing circuit 360 uses the route information obtained thereby.
The route information table used by ' can be updated.

15 to 17 show still other embodiments of the present invention. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
This is an example in which the present invention is applied to a network configuration in which AN transmission paths 401 to 404 exist and a plurality of trunk nodes 300A to 30ON are connected to each transmission path. Frames flowing through each transmission path 401 to 404 have a frame header area 110 and a common area 12, as shown in FIG.
0 and an individual area 130, and the common area 120 and the individual area 130 are each divided into a plurality of mini-packet areas.

In this embodiment, each trunk node 300 outputs the first mini-packet of each transmitted message or the mini-packet of a circular message to the free area of the common area 120, as in the first embodiment, and outputs the other mini-packets individually. area 130
Output to free space. Each of the trunk LANs 401 to 404 is connected to a common area data relay device 700, and the relay device is connected to the common area 12 of the trunk LAN frame 100.
It has the function of reading a mini-packet from 0 and adding it to the common area of other trunk LAN frames. According to this embodiment, since each trunk node only needs to transmit and receive data to one transmission path, a transmission and reception processing circuit is provided between the receiver 310 and the transmitter 355, as shown in FIG. 380 can be easily configured. That is, the transmission/reception processing circuit has a function of converting a message received from the branch LAN into a mini-packet and transmitting the mini-packet to an empty area in the received frame in accordance with the output of the common area detection circuit 316;
A function to erase spontaneous mini-packets included in received frames, a function to receive mini-packets addressed to the own node included in received frames and assemble them into a message, a function to add an answer bit, and a function to receive mini-packets in the common area. Since the function of updating the route information table can be performed for one fixed highway, the structure is simpler than the node configuration shown in FIG. 4.

Although the present invention has been described in detail above, as another modification of the present invention, for example, highways 101 to ION 2 in FIG.
The first group of highway frames may use the entire mini-packet area as an individual area, and the second group of highway frames may have a common area and an individual area. In this way, among the plurality of trunk nodes, the nodes connected to the highway of the first group are each connected to a closed LA for each highway.
A composite LAN in which nodes connected to the second group of highways can communicate with each other via a common area.
LANs can be formed and these LANs can coexist on one trunk transmission path.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention can facilitate the configuration and communication processing operation of each node device in a network having a plurality of physical loop transmission paths or a plurality of multiplexed logical loop transmission paths. can.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1(A) and 1(B) are diagrams for explaining multiplexed communication frames on a transmission path and frame structures separated by communication path (highway), and FIG. 2(A),
(B) is a diagram for explaining packetization of transmitted messages, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing one example of the overall configuration of a network system according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing one example of the configuration of a node device.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the selection signal generation circuit 500 in FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing details of the transmission processing circuit 360 and reception processing circuit 370 in FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example. Figure 8 is an explanatory diagram for transmitting a message between two terminals, Figures 9 (A) and (B
) is a diagram for explaining the transmission of a packet to a node whose address is unknown, FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the header added to the above-mentioned transmitted packet, and FIG. A diagram for explaining broadcast communication for transmitting information, FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a header attached to a broadcast communication packet, and FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining how to use multiple communication channels in another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the node device in the above embodiment, and FIG. 15 is a network configuration diagram showing still another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 16 is a configuration diagram of a communication frame in the above embodiment,
FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the configuration of each node in the above embodiment. 101~ION...Frame corresponding to the communication path, 11
0...Frame header, 120...Common area, 13
0... Individual area, 11-1 to engineering 1-, g... Mini packet area, 300... Main line node, 301... Main line LAN, 303-... Branch 1 LAN, 304-... Terminal device , 316... common area detection circuit, 360... transmission processing circuit, 370... reception processing circuit, 390...
Branch line LAN controller. Fig. 20t/ 07 Taku 5 Fig. S Fig. Kaya (A) Fig. γ (13) I)/l- is 3 difficult

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A network in which a plurality of nodes are connected by physically or logically multiplexed loop-shaped transmission paths, and each node performs a receiving operation for communication frames flowing on a specific transmission path. - In the system, a common area and an individual area are provided for each communication frame, and during transmission operation, each node selects a transmission path according to the transmission information or the destination node, and the common area or individual area of the communication frame on the transmission path is selected. When transmitting information to individual areas and transmitting information to the common area, the same information is sent to the common area of communication frames on a plurality of different transmission paths. Network system. 2. The communication frame according to item 1, wherein each communication frame consists of a plurality of time slots, and each node performs the information transmission operation on an empty slot in the common area or the individual area. Network system. 3. Each communication frame consists of a plurality of time slots, and each node packetizes the information to be transmitted and sends the packet to an empty slot in the common area or individual area. The network system according to item 2. 4. Each communication frame consists of a plurality of time slots, and each node divides the transmitted message into one or more packets, and sends the packets to empty slots in the common area or individual area. 3. The network system according to claim 2, characterized in that: 5. The network system according to item 4, wherein each of the nodes is connected to a terminal device or a subnetwork accommodating a plurality of terminal devices, and receives the transmitted message from the terminal device or subnetwork. 6. Paragraph 1, characterized in that, if each node does not know the transmission path on which the node to which the transmission information is directed is receiving operations, it transmits the transmission information addressed to the node to the common area. - The network system according to any one of Items 5 to 5. 7. The network according to any one of items 1 to 5, characterized in that when each of the nodes transmits information addressed to a plurality of nodes, the transmitted information is sent to the common area. system. 8. If each node knows the transmission path on which the destination node of the transmitted message is receiving, it selects the first packet from among the multiple packets created by dividing the transmitted message addressed to that node. A fourth method characterized in that, in the common area, other packets are sent to individual areas of communication frames flowing on transmission paths corresponding to the destination node.
The network system according to item 1 or item 5. 9. A route in which each packet includes a source terminal address and a source node address, and each node indicates a relationship between a terminal device and a node to which the terminal belongs from a packet included in a common area of a received frame. 9. The network system according to claim 8, wherein the network system collects information. 10. Consisting of a plurality of nodes connected by a loop-shaped trunk transmission line and a plurality of terminal means connected to the nodes directly or via a sub-network, multiple communications are carried out by time division multiplexing on the trunk transmission line. In a network system in which communication channels are formed and communication frames consisting of multiple packet areas are transmitted for each communication channel, each node transfers packets addressed to its own node from the communication frames of a specific communication channel. a reception processing means for receiving, a transmission processing means for selecting a communication path corresponding to a destination node and outputting a transmission packet for a communication frame on the communication path, and the terminal means or sub-network connected to the node. and interface means provided between the reception processing means and the transmission processing means. 11. Each node includes means for separating the multiplexed signal on the trunk transmission path into frame signals for each communication path, and receiving the frame signal of the specific communication path from among the frame signals separated for each communication path. a first selection means for inputting to the processing means; and inputting a frame signal of one communication path designated by the transmission processing means from among the plurality of frame signals separated for each communication path to the transmission processing means; multiplexes the respective output frame signals of the separation means, reception processing means and transmission processing means in accordance with the selection operations of the first and second selection means, and multiplexes the output frame signals to the main transmission line. 11. The network system according to claim 10, further comprising means for outputting. 12. A communication frame flowing through each of the communication channels consists of a unique area for transmitting a unique packet for each communication channel and a common area for transmitting a packet common to a plurality of communication channels, and The node includes means for identifying a common area in the communication frame, and the transmission processing means performs packet sending or packet area release processing on the common area of the received frame of the selected communication path. 12. The network system according to claim 11, further comprising: means for providing a similar result to a corresponding packet area of a received frame of another communication channel. 13. The transmission processing means of each node divides the message received from the terminal means or subnetwork into single or multiple packets, and sends the first packet to a common area of the communication frame. 12th
The network system described in Section. 14. The transmission processing means of each node divides the received message from the terminal means or subnetwork into single or multiple packets, and when the destination node address of the message is unknown or unspecified, all of the packets are 13. The network system according to claim 12, wherein the network system transmits the following information to a common area of the communication frame. 15. Item 12, wherein the reception processing means of each node collects route information indicating the relationship between each terminal means and the node to which the terminal means belongs from packets included in a common area of the received frame. - The network system according to any one of Items 13 to 14.