JPH04336727A - Automatic addressing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain address setting without an error when the user manages an address of each terminal equipment by devising so that each terminal equipment sets automatically a communication address. CONSTITUTION:A terminal equipment comprising a communication control section 2a making communication via a communication line 1, a terminal attribute information section 4a storing terminal attribute information, a terminal management section 3b managing the communication control section 2a and the terminal section 5a, sends an address setting request packet having a communication line monitor time having a prescribed fixed time calculated based on the terminal attribute or having a start bit time and a destination address is used for a communication address to its own communication control section 2a when a negative reply in an address field of the packet is returned. That is, when the address on the communication line 1 of the terminal equipment connecting to the communication line 1 is set, it is not set by the user but set by each terminal equipment automatically. Thus, the address is set without error.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention is a method for automatically setting the communication address value on the communication line of each terminal device when the power is turned on in terminal devices mutually connected via a communication line. It is related to.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional communication networks, such as the Domestic Digital Bus (D2B), which communicates information between audio and video equipment,
) (IEC TC(84)-(S)861, 2 Dra
ft-Domestic Digital Bus (D
An example of the communication network configuration in 2B)) is shown in FIG. Each terminal device is composed of a communication control section, an address setting section, and a terminal section.When the power is turned on, each terminal device sets the address value set in the address setting section to each communication control section, and the communication control section uses this set address value as the communication address of the terminal equipment on the communication line, and thereafter performs communication between the terminal equipment.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above conventional method, for example, in the case of a communication network configuration in which multiple terminal devices of the same type are connected to a communication line, different communication methods are used to distinguish between the terminal devices. Address value must be set. However, since the setting values differ depending on the configuration of the communication network, the user must manage the settings. In such cases, if the user sets an incorrect communication address value, system operation cannot be guaranteed.
Another problem was that it was difficult for users to manage their addresses.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides a method that eliminates the need for users to manage communication address values by automatically setting communication address values for each terminal device, and a method that can be used therefor. The purpose is to provide a device that can

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] (1) In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a communication control unit that communicates via a communication line, a terminal attribute information unit that stores terminal attribute information, and a communication control unit that performs communication via a communication line. Each terminal device is equipped with a terminal management section that manages the terminal section and terminal section, a communication control section, a terminal management section, and a terminal section that exchanges information with other terminal devices via a communication line. At the time of activation, the terminal management section reads attribute information from the attribute information management section and issues an address setting request including this attribute information to the communication control section. The communication control unit that receives the address setting request calculates a certain fixed time value from the attribute information included therein. Then, the communication line is monitored for the calculated certain period of time to see if communication can be started. If no other communication control unit communicates on the communication line during monitoring, an address setting request packet is transmitted on the communication line after monitoring is completed. If a negative response occurs in the address field of this address setting request packet, the other party's address data output in this address field will be used as the communication address value on the communication line of the terminal device, and a positive response will occur in the address field. In this case, the communication address value of the terminal device is set by transmitting the address setting request packet again using new partner address data obtained by incrementing the address data, and repeating the process until a negative response is generated in the address field. During monitoring, if it detects that another communication is occurring, it waits until that communication is completed and then starts sending the address setting request packet again. (2) In order to achieve this object, the present invention includes a communication control unit that communicates via a communication line, a terminal attribute information unit that stores terminal attribute information, and a terminal management unit that manages the communication control unit and the terminal unit. When each terminal device turns on the power, the terminal management section collects the attribute information. The attribute information is read from the management section, and an address setting request including this attribute information is made to the communication control section. The communication control unit that receives the address setting request calculates a certain fixed time value from the attribute information included therein. After transmitting an address setting request packet having a start bit having this predetermined time value and finishing outputting the start bit, if it is possible to output packet data through the communication line, the packet transmission operation continues. If a negative response occurs in the address field of this address setting request packet, the other party's address data output in this address field will be used as the communication address value on the communication line of the terminal device, and a positive response will occur in the address field. In this case, the communication address value of the terminal device is set by transmitting the address setting request packet again using new partner address data obtained by incrementing the address data, and repeating the process until a negative response is generated in the address field. If no packet data can be output after the output of the start bit is finished, the transmission operation is temporarily interrupted, the system waits until the address setting request packet can be transmitted to the communication line again, and the transmission from the start bit is repeated again.

[0006]

[Operation] With the above configuration, when setting the address value on the communication line of the terminal equipment connected to the communication line, the present invention does not require the user to set it, but each terminal equipment automatically performs the setting. , you can set address values without errors,
Practically effective.

[0007]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a communication network configuration in an embodiment of the present invention. Terminal device 8 and terminal device 9 via communication line 1
, the terminal device 10 is connected. Each terminal device, for example, in the terminal device 8, includes a communication control unit 2a that communicates via a communication line, and a terminal attribute information unit 4 that stores terminal attribute information.
a, a terminal management section 3a that manages the communication control section 2a and the terminal section 5a, and a terminal section 5a that exchanges information via the terminal management section 3a, the communication control section 2a, and the communication line 1. The terminal equipment 9 and the terminal equipment 10 also have similar configurations. Here, the terminal device 8 will be explained.

[0009] When powering up the terminal device 8, the terminal management section 3a reads out attribute information uniquely determined by the terminal device, such as the serial number of the terminal device, from the terminal attribute information section 4a. An address setting request including this attribute information is transmitted to the communication control unit 2a. The communication control unit 2a that receives this address setting request calculates a certain monitoring time value from the attribute information included in the address setting request. The monitoring time value at this time is assumed to be T1.

FIG. 5 shows the format of a packet transmitted by the communication control unit to the communication line. A communication packet has a start bit field, an address field,
It consists of a control field and a data field. The start bit field includes a certain bus monitoring time, and if no other communication is taking place on the bus during this period, that is, if a low input on the bus is not detected, it will output a low signal for a certain period of time and start a packet. Notify. The following address field is a master address indicating the address of the communication control unit of the transmission source, a slave address indicating the address of the communication control unit of the transmission destination, and an affirmation of the transmission contents up to this address field from the communication control unit of the transmission destination. It consists of ACK/NACK bits for negative acknowledgment. FIG. 8 shows the data structure of the master address and slave address. The master address and slave address each consist of 12 bits of data,
The first four bits indicate the service type of the communication control unit having this address; for example, B'0001' indicates that the communication control unit provides services for AV equipment. Continuing 5
The device type of the bit indicates the device type of this communication control unit, and indicates that it is a device such as a TV or a VTR. The last 3-bit device number indicates the number of the device when there is a plurality of the same devices. The following control field indicates the attributes of the packet to be transmitted, and the data field indicates the content of the data to be transmitted. A for each data for both control field and data field
There is a CK/NACK bit, and in the data field, there is a CO indicating whether the data is in the middle or at the end for each data byte.
nt/EOD bit is present.

Here, the procedure when each communication control unit transmits an address setting request packet to the communication line is shown in FIGS. 3 and 6.
I will explain. Each communication control section 2a, 2b, 2c transmits an address setting request packet onto the communication line according to the procedure shown in FIG. That is, it monitors whether the communication line input is High for a certain period of time Tn. If the Tn interval is High, an address setting request packet having specific data for the device type and data for the device number=0 is transmitted on the communication line at the slave address. This address configuration request packet is sent with an acknowledgment (AC) in the address field.
K), it is determined that another communication control unit with the device address of the specified slave address value exists on the communication line, the device number of the slave address value is incremented, and the address setting request packet is sent again. do. Here, in the address field, negative response (N
ACK), it is determined that there is no communication control unit with the same address value on the communication line, and the slave address value is registered as the device address of its own communication control unit. When repeatedly sending an address setting request packet, if no negative response is received in the address field after sending it up to 8 times, it is determined that there is no address value that can be set, and the communication control unit stops communication operations from then on. do.

Each of the communication control units 2a, 2b, and 2c performs the above processing, and the actual transmission operation on the communication line is shown in FIG.
I will explain. The output of the terminal device 8, that is, the output of the communication control section 2a, transmits an address setting request packet after the communication line monitoring time of T1. At this time, the communication control unit 2b of the terminal device 9,
It is assumed that the communication control unit 2c of the terminal device 10 is also performing this address setting process at the same time. Communication control unit 2 of terminal device 9
b monitors whether any other communication is performed on the communication line during the monitoring time T2. If T1<T2 at this time, the communication control unit 2b detects the low output of the start bit of the address setting request packet of the communication control unit 2a during the T2 monitoring time, and temporarily outputs its own signal until this packet is sent. Interrupts the sending operation of address setting request packets. When it detects that it can send on the communication line, it monitors the communication line again for T2 time, and if no other communication control unit communicates on the communication line during this time, it sends its own address setting request packet. . The output of the terminal device 10, that is, the communication control unit 2c also performs a process of transmitting its own address setting request packet onto the communication line during the monitoring time of T3. At this time, if T1<T2<T3, then the address setting request for the terminal device 10 will be sent only after the address setting requests for the terminal devices 8 and 9 are sent on the communication line. FIG. 3 shows a case where the address setting request packet is able to acquire its own device address by transmitting it once.

(Embodiment 2) A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a communication network configuration in one embodiment of the present invention. Terminal device 8 and terminal device 9 via communication line 1
, the terminal device 10 is connected. For example, in the terminal device 8, each terminal device includes a communication control section 2a, a terminal management section 3a,
It is composed of a terminal attribute information section 4a and a terminal section 5a. The terminal equipment 9 and the terminal equipment 10 also have similar configurations.

The terminal equipment 8 will now be explained. When powering up the terminal device 8, the terminal management section 3a reads out attribute information uniquely determined by the terminal device, such as the serial number of the terminal device, from the terminal attribute information section 4a. An address setting request including this attribute information is transmitted to the communication control unit 2a. Upon receiving this address setting request, the communication control unit 2a performs the following from the attribute information included in the address setting request.
Calculate a certain monitoring time value. The monitoring time value at this time is assumed to be T1.

FIG. 5 shows the format of a packet transmitted by the communication control unit to the communication line. A communication packet has a start bit field, an address field,
It consists of a control field and a data field. The start bit field includes a certain period of time for monitoring the communication line, and if no other communication is being performed on the communication line during this period, that is, if no low input from the communication line is detected, the start bit field automatically outputs a low level for a certain period of time. to signal the start of a packet. The following address field is the master address indicating the address of the communication control unit of the sender,
Slave address indicating the address of the communication control unit at the destination, and A that makes an affirmative or negative response to the transmission contents up to this address field from the communication control unit at the destination.
Consists of CK/NACK bits. FIG. 8 shows the data structure of the master address and slave address. The master address and slave address each consist of 12 bits of data, and the first 4 bits indicate the service type of the communication control unit having this address, for example B'.
0001' indicates a communication control unit that provides services for AV equipment. The following 5-bit device type indicates the device type of this communication control unit, and indicates that it is a device such as a TV or VTR. The last 3-bit device number indicates the number of the device when there is a plurality of the same devices. The following control field indicates the attributes of the packet to be transmitted, and the data field indicates the content of the data to be transmitted. There is an ACK/NACK bit for each data in both the control field and data field.
In the data field, there is a Cont/EOD bit for each data byte, which indicates whether it is in the middle or at the end of the data.

Here, the procedure when each communication control unit transmits an address setting request packet to the communication line is shown in FIGS. 4 and 7.
I will explain. Each communication control section 2a, 2b, 2c transmits an address setting request packet onto the communication line according to the procedure shown in FIG. That is, first, it is determined whether transmission can be performed on the communication line, and if transmission is possible, a low output is performed on the communication line. lo at this time
The w output period is T for the communication control units 2a, 2b, and 2c, respectively.
1, T2, and T3. At this time, T1<T2<T3. Each communication control unit outputs High after each low output period. Detect the input of the communication line at this time, and if it is low
If detected, it is determined that another communication control unit is outputting a start bit, and transmission is temporarily interrupted. In FIG. 4, when transmitting the first start bit sections T1 and T2 in the outputs of the terminal devices 8 and 9, if the start bit section T3 of the terminal device 10 is the longest, the communication line input becomes low after each output of T1 and T2. As a result, the communication control units 2a and 2b of the terminal equipment 8 and the terminal equipment 9 temporarily interrupt the transmission operation. That is, the address setting request packet of the terminal device 10 survives. At this time, in the slave address of the address setting request packet, a packet having specific data of the device type and data of device number=0 is transmitted onto the bus. Send this address setting request packet and receive an acknowledgment (ACK) in the address field.
is returned, it is determined that another communication control unit having the device address of the specified slave address value exists on the communication line, and the device number of the slave address value is determined.
is incremented and sends the address setting request packet again. Here, in the address field Negative Acknowledgment (NAC)
If K) is returned, it is determined that there is no communication control section with the same address value on the communication line, and the slave address value is registered as the device address of the own communication control section. When repeatedly sending an address setting request packet, if no negative response is received in the address field after sending it up to 8 times, it is determined that there is no address value that can be set, and the communication control unit stops communication operations from then on. do. Subsequently, the address setting request packet for the terminal device 9 survives, and the address of the terminal device 9 is determined. Finally, the address of the terminal device 8 is also determined in the same way.

[0018]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention reads certain attribute information from the terminal attribute information section of each terminal device,
From this information, time information unique to each terminal device is calculated, and a communication line monitoring time having this time or an address setting request packet having a start bit section is transmitted. By incrementing the device number of the address value until a negative response is returned in the address field of this address setting request packet and finally determining the address value of the own terminal device, the device number can be automatically set without the user having to make any settings. A method and apparatus for determining the address value of a terminal device are provided.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a communication network and terminal equipment in the first and second embodiments of the present invention.

[Figure 2] Configuration diagram of a communication network and terminal equipment in conventional technology

FIG. 3 is a state diagram of transmission of an address setting request packet on a transmission line in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a state diagram of transmission of an address setting request packet on a transmission line in the first embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 5] Format diagram of address setting request packet of the present invention

[Fig. 6] Processing content procedure diagram in the communication control unit of the first embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 7] Processing content procedure diagram in the communication control unit according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A communication control unit that communicates via a communication line, a terminal attribute information unit that stores terminal attribute information, a terminal management unit that manages the communication control unit and the terminal unit, and the terminal management unit, In a communication system in which a plurality of terminal devices each including the communication control unit and the terminal unit that exchanges information via the communication line are connected to the communication line, when the power of the terminal device is turned on, the a terminal management unit reads attribute information from the attribute information management unit, and issues an address setting request including the attribute information to the communication control unit;
Upon receiving the address setting request, the communication control unit waits until it becomes possible to send a packet to the communication line after a certain specific communication line monitoring time based on the attribute information, and sends an address setting request packet to the communication line. If a negative response occurs in the address field of the address setting request packet, the destination address data output in the address field is set as the communication address value on the communication line of the terminal device, and the address When a positive response occurs in the field section, the address setting request packet is sent again using new address data obtained by incrementing the destination address data, and the process is repeated until a negative response is generated in the address field section. An automatic address setting method for determining a communication address value on the communication line. 2. A communication control unit that communicates via a communication line, a terminal attribute information unit that stores terminal attribute information, a terminal management unit that manages the communication control unit and the terminal unit, the terminal management unit, and the terminal attribute information unit that stores terminal attribute information. In a communication system in which a plurality of terminal devices each including a communication control unit and the terminal unit having a function of exchanging information via the communication line are connected to the communication line, turning on the power of the terminal device At times, the terminal management section reads out attribute information from the attribute information management section, makes an address setting request including the attribute information to the communication control section, and upon receiving the address setting request, the communication control section reads out the attribute information. An address setting request packet having a start bit length of a certain specific time based on the above is transmitted to the communication line, the start bit is normally output on the communication line, and a negative response is received in the address field part of the address setting request packet. occurs, the destination address data output in the address field section is set as the communication address value on the communication line of the terminal device, and when an affirmative response occurs in the address field section, the destination address data is incremented. An automatic address setting method that determines a communication address value of the terminal device on the communication line by transmitting the address setting request packet again with new destination address data and repeating the process until a negative response is generated in the address field.