JPH0583772A - Interrupting processing method of multiple transmitting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the interrupting processing time as much as possible. CONSTITUTION:A master device 1 and plural terminal devices 2 are connected through a signal line L. To a higher order network A, a lower order network B to connect plural terminal devices 2 through the signal line L is connected through a relay 3. The master device 1 specifies the address of each terminal device 2, accesses individually each terminal device 2 and performs mutually the signal transmission. The terminal devices 2, even when the selection from the master device 1 is not performed, can perform the interruption request to the master device 1. When the master device 1 receives the interruption request from the terminal devices 2, the device performs the interruption address polling, specifies the interruption request terminal devices 2 and performs the signal transmission between the interruption request terminal devices 2. A function to detect that the terminal devices 2 of either of a higher order network A perform the interruption is provided at the relay 3 and during the interrupting processing of the higher order network A, in the relay 3, the relaying of the return signal of the lower order network B is stopped.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multiplex transmission system used for a lighting control system, a security system and the like in the field of home automation and building automation, and in particular, a multiplex transmission system in which an upper network and a lower network are connected by a repeater. The present invention relates to the interrupt processing method of.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 5, a multiplex transmission system is constructed by connecting a master unit 1 and a plurality of terminals 2 via a signal line L as a signal transmission medium, and is used for a lighting control system and a security system. Used in systems, etc. And
In this type of multiplex transmission system, a repeater 3 is connected to a signal line L connecting the master device 1 and the terminal device 2, and a plurality of terminal devices 2 may be further incorporated into the system via the repeater device 3. There is something that I was able to do. The repeater 3 of the conventional multiplex transmission system transmits and returns a transmission signal between a host network A, which is a network on the base unit 1 side of the repeater 3, and a lower network B, which is a network subsequent to the repeater 3. It has a function of simply relaying signals, and this multiplex transmission system is substantially equivalent to one in which each terminal device 2 is directly connected to the master device 1.
Further, the repeater 3 has a function of amplifying the transmission signal and the reply signal together with the relay.

In this multiplex transmission system, a unique address is set in each of the terminals 2, and the parent device 1 sends a transmission signal having the signal format shown in FIG. This transmission signal is a synchronization signal SNC for the terminal 2 to detect the start of signal transmission of the master unit 1, a subsequent address signal AD and a control signal C.
A mode signal MD that defines the data content of D, an address signal AD that indicates the unique address of the destination terminal 2, a control signal CD that indicates the control content such as an ON / OFF signal of the load connected to the terminal 2, and transmission An error detection signal FCC for detecting a signal transmission error, and a reply signal band RSP provided as a time band for returning a reply signal from the terminal 2 to the master unit 1.
Consists of.

Normally, the base unit 1 sends the transmission signal to each terminal unit 2
Are sequentially transmitted to each other for signal transmission. For example, the master device 1 specifies the address of each terminal device 2 by the address signal AD of the transmission signal and sequentially cyclically accesses each terminal device 2,
Signal transmission is mutually performed between the master device 1 and each terminal device 2. By the way, in this type of multiplex transmission system, when the terminal 2 urgently wants to send a reply signal to the base unit 1, as shown in FIG. 7, it is synchronized with the transmission timing of the synchronization signal SNC (pulse waveform). And transmits an interrupt pulse Vi to make an interrupt request. Upon receiving the interrupt pulse Vi, the master device 1 sets the mode signal MD of the transmission signal in the interrupt address polling mode and transmits the mode signal MD to specify the interrupt request terminal device 2.

Here, as a method for the master unit 1 to identify the interrupt requesting terminal 2, the interrupt requesting is performed by simultaneously performing the interrupt address polling on a plurality of terminals 2 of the same group having the same upper address. It is possible to use so-called group address polling in which the lower-order address is returned from the terminal 2 that has performed the process and the interrupt request terminal 2 is specified. Then, when the interrupt request terminal device 2 is specified, the master device 1 sets the mode signal MD of the transmission signal to the monitoring mode, and
Set the address of the interrupt request terminal 2 in the address signal,
A reply signal is received from the interrupt request terminal 2.

[0006] When the master unit 1 sets the mode signal to the response mode and transmits it to the interrupt request terminal 2 and stops the transmission of the interrupt pulse Vi from the interrupt request terminal 2, the interrupt process is performed. Ends. In addition to the group address polling described above, there is one that uses individual address polling for individually accessing each terminal 2 to determine whether or not there is an interrupt request. In this case, all terminal 2 are polled. Since it is necessary to do so, there is a drawback that the interrupt processing time is long, and it is preferable to specify the interrupt request terminal 2 by the group address polling.

[0007]

By the way, in the multiplex transmission system in which the interrupt request terminal 2 is specified by using the group address polling described above, when a plurality of terminals 2 belonging to the same group make an interrupt request. , The lower addresses are simultaneously returned from a plurality of terminals 2 at the time of the group address polling. Therefore, collisions of reply signals from a plurality of terminals 2 occur, a reply signal error occurs, and the master terminal 1 cannot specify the interrupt terminal 2.

Therefore, in this case, the interrupt address polling is individually performed on the terminals 2 in the group to specify the interrupt terminals 2. After that, in the same manner as in the case described above, the master device 1 sets the mode signal MD of the transmission signal to the monitoring mode, sets the address of each interrupt request terminal device 2 to the address signal, and sets the interrupt request terminal device. The master unit 1 sets the mode signal in the response mode and transmits it to the interrupt request terminal device 2, and transmits the interrupt pulse Vi from the interrupt request terminal device 2. To stop the interrupt processing.

However, in the multiplex transmission system in which the interrupt request terminal 2 is specified by using the group address polling described above, when there are simultaneous interrupt requests from a plurality of terminals 2 in the same group having the same upper address, As described above, since it is necessary to redo the process of individually specifying the interrupt request terminal device 2, there is a problem that it takes time to specify the interrupt request terminal device.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an interrupt processing method for a multiplex transmission system which can shorten the interrupt processing time as much as possible. is there.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a relay with a function of detecting that interrupt processing is being performed in the host network, and the relay is a terminal of the host network. During the machine interrupt process, relaying of the reply signal from the lower network terminal to the master unit is stopped.

[0012]

With the above-described structure, the interrupt of the lower network is postponed and the interrupt processing of only the upper network is performed so that the simultaneous interruption of the terminals of the upper network and the lower network can be prevented. This makes it possible to reduce the possibility of simultaneous interrupts and shorten the interrupt processing time as much as possible.

[0013]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention. The system configuration of this embodiment is such that a plurality of terminals 2 can be added by using the repeater 3 as in FIG. 5, and in this embodiment as well, the network on the master unit 1 side is the upper network with the repeater 3 as a boundary. The network on the side to which the parent device 1 does not belong will be referred to as A and the lower network B will be described.

The base unit 1 of the multiplex transmission system of this embodiment is
As shown in FIG. 2, a signal processing unit 10 including a microcomputer, a signal amplification unit 11 that amplifies a transmission signal (logic signal) created by the signal processing unit 10 and transmits the signal to a signal line L, and a signal line It is composed of a reply signal detection unit 12 which detects a current mode reply signal sent from the terminal 2 to the reply signal band RSP via L. Here, the reply signal detection unit 12 also detects an interrupt pulse returned in the current mode at the same time as the synchronization signal SNC, converts the reply signal and the interrupt pulse into a logic level, and outputs the logic level to the signal processing unit 10.

As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal device 2 includes a signal processing unit 20 including a microcomputer, a storage unit 21 for storing a unique address and the like, and a base unit 1 via a signal line L.
A transmission signal detection unit 22 for detecting a transmission signal transmitted from
And a reply signal sending section 23 that sends a reply signal in the current mode back to the master unit 1. When the transmission signal from the master unit 1 is for controlling the load connected to the terminal unit 2, for example, and when the address signal of the transmission signal matches its own address, the signal processing unit 20 gives a control output to a relay or the like. The signal processing unit 20 receives the monitoring input indicating the operation of the load at that time, and returns it to the master unit 1 in the reply signal band RSP.

As shown in FIG. 4, the repeater 3 detects a transmission signal transmitted from the base unit 1 via the signal processing unit 30 including a microcomputer and the signal line L of the host network A. A part 31 and a transmission signal amplifier 32 that amplifies the transmission signal detected by the transmission signal detector 31 and transmits it to the lower network B, and a signal from the terminal 2 via the signal line L of the lower network B. Reply signal detecting section 33 for detecting a reply signal, reply signal amplifying section 34 for amplifying the reply signal detected by this reply signal detecting section 33 and returning it to upper network A, reply signal detecting section 33 and reply signal amplifying section And a gate unit 35 which is inserted between the unit 34 and the unit 34 and controls the input of the reply signal to the reply signal amplifying unit 34. Here, the opening and closing of the gate unit 35 is controlled by the signal processing unit 30.

In the case where the terminal 2 having the above-mentioned configuration is connected to a load such as a switch for lighting control,
When a switch or the like is operated, this state is set in the signal processing unit 20.
Judges from the monitoring input and sends an interrupt pulse to the master unit 1 via the reply signal sending unit 23 to make an interrupt. At this time, the master device 1 specifies the interrupt request terminal device 2 that has made an interrupt request by interrupt address polling. As the interrupt address polling, the group address polling described above is also used in this embodiment. In order to perform this group address polling, in the multiplex transmission system of this embodiment, a plurality of terminals 2 are divided into groups, and the higher-order address (for example, the address is 8
If it is a bit, the upper 4 bits are set to be the same. Then, when the master device 1 performs the interrupt address polling, the upper address of the terminal device 2 is set in the address signal AD, and the group address polling is performed to sequentially access the plurality of terminal devices 2 in a group.

When the interrupt request terminal 2 exists in the group accessed by the group address polling, the interrupt request terminal 2 returns the lower address of its own address to the master unit 1. The base unit 1 which has received the lower address identifies the terminal 2 from the lower address and the upper address. When the interrupt request terminal device 2 is specified in this way, as described above, the master device 1 sets the mode signal MD of the transmission signal to the monitoring mode and sets the address of the interrupt request terminal device 2 to the address signal. To receive a reply signal from the interrupt request terminal 2.

When the master unit 1 sets the mode signal to the response mode and transmits it to the interrupt request terminal 2 and stops the transmission of the interrupt pulse from the interrupt request terminal 2, the interrupt process is executed. finish. In the above normal operation, the repeater 3 merely functions as a relay for signals and does not affect the operation of the entire system. That is, as shown in FIG. 1A, between the master device 1 and the terminal device 2 of the lower network B, as in the case of the terminal device 2 of the upper network A, the mutual communication is performed in real time via the relay device 3. The signal transmission is performed at the same time, and the signal transmission is performed by interrupting.

The features of this embodiment will be described below. The feature of this embodiment relates to the operation when an interrupt occurs in the upper network A. Here, the following description will be made assuming that both the upper network A and the lower network B in the present embodiment are equipped with the terminals 2 included in the same group at the time of group address polling.

In this case, the repeater 3 always transmits the transmission signal in the upper network A and the lower network B.
1), the gate unit 35 is closed in the signal processing unit 30 of the repeater 3 when an interruption occurs in the terminal 2 in the host network A, as shown in FIG. .. That is, the signal transmission between the reply signal detection unit 33 and the reply signal amplification unit 34 is stopped by the gate unit 35, and the operation of returning the reply signal detected by the reply signal detection unit 33 from the reply signal amplification unit 34 is stopped. ..

Here, as a method of detecting that an interrupt has occurred in the host network A in the repeater 3, the mode signal MD of the transmission signal of the master unit 1 is set to the interrupt address polling mode. It can be judged from that. In some cases, the upper network A
It is also possible to detect the interrupt request state of the higher-level network A by detecting the interrupt pulse Vi returned from the terminal device 2 to the master device 1.

The operation of stopping the reply of the reply signal from the terminal 2 of the lower network B to the master 1 in the repeater B is held until the interrupt processing in the upper network A is completed. And the upper network A
After completion of the interrupt processing in (1), the reply signal from the terminal 2 of the lower network B can be returned to the master 1. Here, to detect the end of the interrupt processing of the host network A, the master device 1 transmits a transmission signal in which the mode signal is set to the response mode to the interrupt request terminal device 2 and the interrupt request terminal device 2 sends the interrupt signal. It may be detected by stopping the transmission of the embedded pulse Vi. Further, the end of the interrupt processing of the upper network A may be detected from the stop of the interrupt pulse Vi of the upper network A.

In this way, at least the terminals 2 of the same group in the upper network A can preferentially interrupt, and the simultaneous interruption of the terminals 2 in the upper and lower networks A and B can be prevented. , Simultaneous interrupts can be minimized. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the need to individually perform the interrupt address polling for specifying the terminal 2 in which the simultaneous interrupt occurs, and the interrupt processing can be promptly performed. Therefore, the responsiveness of the entire system can be improved. Further, there is an advantage that it is possible to prevent the inconvenience caused by the transmission of the interrupt pulse or the reply signal during the interrupt processing of the upper network A from the terminal 2 of the lower network B which is not in the same group.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, the relay is provided with the function of detecting that the interrupt processing is being performed in the upper network, and the relay is the terminal of the lower network during the interrupt processing of the upper network. Since the relay of the reply signal from the machine is stopped, the interrupt of the lower network can be postponed and the interrupt processing of only the upper network can be performed to prevent the simultaneous interrupt of the upper network and the lower network. Therefore, the possibility of simultaneous interrupts can be reduced, and the interrupt processing time can be shortened as much as possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are explanatory diagrams of a normal operation of a repeater according to an embodiment of the present invention and an operation when a simultaneous interrupt occurs.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a master unit.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a terminal.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a repeater.

FIG. 5 is a system configuration diagram of a multiplex transmission system.

FIG. 6 is a signal format of a transmission signal of the master unit.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a method for a terminal to interrupt.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A Upper network B Lower network 1 Base unit 2 Terminal 3 Repeater L Signal line

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A master unit and a plurality of terminals each having a unique address set are connected via a signal transmission medium, and the master unit specifies the address of each terminal unit to access each terminal unit individually. Signals to each other, and the terminal device can make an interrupt request to the master device without selection from the master device. When the master device receives an interrupt request from the terminal device, the interrupt request is sent. Address polling is performed to identify the terminal that made the interrupt request, signal transmission is performed with the interrupt request terminal, and the master network and terminal are connected to the host network connected via a signal transmission medium. , A lower-level network in which multiple terminals are connected via a signal transmission medium is connected via a relay device, and the parent device also connects the terminals of the lower-level network to the parent device via the relay device. Mutual signal transmission by specifying the In a multiplex transmission system that can be performed, a relay is equipped with a function to detect that interrupt processing is being performed in the upper network, and the relay is the master from the lower network terminal during the interrupt processing of the upper network terminal. A method of interrupt processing in a multiplex transmission system, characterized in that relaying of a reply signal to the machine is stopped.