JPH07146890A - Terminal controller for point of sales system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the down time by reporting error information indicating contents of an abnormality to a host computer to shorten the time required for clearing-up of the cause of the abnormality in the case of the down due to the occurrence of the abnormality from which self-restoration is impossible. CONSTITUTION:If the abnormality from which self-restoration is impossible occurs in a first terminal control part by the fault of a display device interface 20, a flag corresponding to the error code of the display abnormality in an error information table formed in a RAM 15 is set by a CPU 11 on the side of a main CPU board 23, and the operation of the CPU 11 is stopped. Meanwhile, contents of the error information table are periodically read out by a CPU on the side of an extended CPU board 27; and when it is confirmed that the flag corresponding to the error code of the display abnormality, is set, loop switching is immediately performed, and a point of sales (POS) terminal group is annexed under the control of a second terminal controller. Simultaneously, this error report data is transmitted to a store processor through a LAN interface and a LAN line 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a point-of-sale information management system used in mass retailers, supermarkets, etc., a terminal control device in a so-called POS system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 is an overall view of a POS system used in a large-scale mass retailer, a supermarket, etc. This system includes a store processor 1 as a host computer, a LAN (local communication line) as a first communication line. Area network) The first terminal control device 3A and the second terminal control device 3B are connected via the line 2, and the first and second terminal control devices 3A and 3B are respectively used as second communication lines. Through a plurality of HDLC (high level data link control) lines 4A, 4B, so-called POS terminal group 5A,
5B is connected in a closed loop.

Therefore, the first and second terminal control devices 3A,
Under the control of the store processor 1, 3B is provided for each terminal 5
The product sales registration operation in A and 5B is controlled to manage information at the time of sales.

Further, a loop switch 6 is interposed on the terminal control device side of both HDLC lines 4A and 4B, and when an abnormality occurs in one terminal control device and the terminal control device goes down, the down terminal control device Loop switching is performed so that the POS terminal group under control is merged under the control of the other normal terminal control device.

That is, the first terminal control unit 3A is the second
Functions as a backup machine for the terminal control apparatus 3B, and the second terminal control apparatus 3B functions as a backup machine for the first terminal control apparatus 3A.

[0006]

By the way, when an abnormality that cannot be self-recovered occurs due to an abnormality of the hardware, the terminal control device needs a repair work such as replacement of the abnormal hardware. Conventionally, this kind of repair work has been done by a specialized maintenance worker (serviceman on the manufacturer side).
Went to the store and read the error information recorded in the error log file on the hard disk mounted on the terminal control device that went down, analyzed the cause of the error, and repaired based on it. Therefore, it takes a lot of time until the cause of the error is clarified and repaired, and there is a problem that the down time is long.

To solve this problem, as long as the contents of the abnormality occurring in the terminal control device are notified to the store processor, which is a high-order computer, for example, by utilizing the conventionally known inter-computer communication function, the store is performed. The abnormality content notified to the processor can be collected and analyzed by a computer installed in a corporate body or the like where maintenance personnel are on standby, which can be solved.

Therefore, according to the present invention, when the system goes down due to the occurrence of an abnormality that cannot be self-recovered, it is possible to reliably notify the host computer of error information indicating the content of the abnormality, and it is possible to shorten the time required to clarify the cause of the abnormality An object of the present invention is to provide a terminal control device in a point-of-sale information management system that can reduce downtime.

[0009]

According to the present invention, a host computer is connected via a first communication line and a second computer is provided.
Point-of-sale information management system that connects a plurality of terminals for registering product sales data via the communication line of In the terminal control device at, check the status of the main control unit for abnormalities that cannot be self-recovered by constantly monitoring it, and confirm that an abnormality that cannot be self-recovered has occurred by this abnormality monitoring means. Then, an abnormality content inspection means for inspecting the abnormality content and an error information notification means for notifying the host computer of the error information indicating the abnormality content obtained by this inspection means are provided. is there.

[0010]

According to the present invention having such a configuration, the state of the main control section is constantly monitored by the abnormality monitoring means, and as a result, it is confirmed that an abnormality that cannot be self-recovered has occurred. The content of the abnormality is investigated by the content investigation means. Then, the error information indicating the content of the abnormality obtained by the investigating means is transferred to the first by the error information notifying means.
Is notified to the host computer via the communication line.

Therefore, the cause of the abnormality that has occurred in the terminal control device can be clarified by analyzing the error information notified to the host computer.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The first and second terminal control devices 3 of the point-of-sale information management (POS) system shown in FIG.
One embodiment applied to each of A and 3B will be described with reference to the drawings.

Since the first terminal control device 3A and the second terminal control device 3B have the same structure, only the first terminal control device 3A will be described here, and the second terminal control device 3B will be described. Is omitted.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the terminal control device 3A. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a CPU (central processing unit) that constitutes a main control unit, and a keyboard 12
And processing such as various calculations based on the input information from the communication line of the LAN line 2 and the HDLC line 4A.

Then, the CPU 11 is connected to the bus line 1
3, a ROM (read only memory) 14 in which fixed data such as program data is stored in advance, and a RAM (area) for storing variable data such as input information and calculation processing results ( (Random access memory) 15, a clock unit 16 functioning as a protocol monitoring timer of a communication line, and each interface 1 described later.
Main CPU board 2 by connecting 7 to 22 respectively
3 is formed.

HD among the interfaces 17 to 22
The D interface 17 is a hard disk device (HD
D) Controls the exchange of data between the FD and the FD,
The D interface 18 is a floppy disk device (F
The data exchange with the DD) 25 is controlled.

The hard disk device 24 is a P file downloaded from the store processor 1 through the LAN line 2.
It is used for storing an LU (price look up) setting file, an effect file for collecting product sales data sent from each POS terminal group 5A through the HDLC line 4A, and the like.

The floppy disk device 25 is provided to read the program data and the like recorded on the floppy disk and load them into the RAM 15.

The keyboard interface 19 takes in key signals from the keyboard 12. The display device interface 20 sends display data and the like to the CRT display 26.

The LAN interface 21 is the LAN
The data communication performed between the store processor 1 and the second terminal control device 3B through the line 2 is controlled according to a predetermined protocol. HDLC interface 22
Is the POS terminal group 5 through the HDLC line 4A.
A data communication with A (including the POS terminal group 5B at the time of the backup operation of the second terminal control device 3B) is controlled according to a predetermined protocol.

An expansion CPU board 27 is mounted in the expansion I / O slot of the main CPU board 23, and the CPU 28 and the main CPU on the expansion CPU board 27 side are mounted.
The CPU 11 on the board 23 side is connected by the bus line 13.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a concrete circuit configuration of the additional CPU board 27. The additional CPU board 27 has a CPU 28, a ROM 29,
A RAM 30, a clock unit 31, a LAN interface 32, and an I / O port 33 for sending a loop switching command signal to the loop switching device 6 shown in FIG. 5 are mounted, and these are connected by the bus line 13. .

The additional CPU board 27 constantly monitors the state of the CPU 11 of the main CPU board 23, which is the main control unit, to monitor whether an abnormality that cannot be self-recovered has occurred. When it is confirmed that an unrecoverable abnormality has occurred, an abnormality content inspection means for inspecting the abnormality content, and error information indicating the abnormality content obtained by this inspection means is transmitted via the LAN line 2 which is the first communication line. It is provided with error information notifying means for notifying the store processor 1, which is a higher-level computer.

That is, the CPU on the side of the extension CPU board 27
28, when the power of the terminal control device 3A is turned on,
The processing shown in FIG. 4 is started according to a program preset in the ROM 29, and first, as the ST (step) 1, the RAM 3 on the main CPU board 23 side via the bus line 13
The error information table 40 is read from 0.

As shown in FIG. 3, the error information table 40 corresponds to error codes set for various kinds of abnormalities which cannot occur in the terminal control device and which cannot be self-recovered. And a flag indicating whether or not there is an abnormality, the main CPU board 23 side CPU 11 detects an abnormality that cannot be self-recovered, such as a hardware failure, and outputs an error code corresponding to the abnormality content. After setting the corresponding flag to the information indicating that there is an abnormality (for example, 1), the operation is stopped.

Incidentally, in the case of a self-recoverable abnormality such as a system error, error information, that is, information such as a corresponding error code or an error occurrence time read from the clock unit 16 is written in an error log file on the hard disk device 24. After writing, it will be automatically restarted by Stay Task Clear.

Even in the case of a self-recoverable error, in the case of a checksum error, since the data on the RAM 14 has been destroyed, the RAM data saved in the hard disk device 24 is first restored. Next, after saving the error information in the same manner as above,
Automatically restarted by Stay Task Clear.

When the CPU 28 on the side of the additional CPU board 27 reads the error information file 40 in ST1, the state of all flags on this file 40 is checked to see if there is a flag set in the information indicating abnormality. That is, it is checked whether or not an abnormality that cannot be self-recovered has occurred in the terminal control device 3A. If there is no flag set in the abnormal information, no self-recoverable abnormality has occurred. Therefore, after a fixed time lag, the error information table 40 is read again as ST1.

In this way, the state of the CPU 11 on the main CPU board 23 side is constantly monitored by the processing of ST1 and ST2 to monitor whether or not an abnormality that cannot be self-recovered has occurred (abnormality monitoring means).

If there is a flag set in the information indicating abnormality in ST2, an abnormality that cannot be self-recovered due to a hardware abnormality or the like has occurred in the terminal control device 3A, so that it is formed on the hard disk device 24 as ST3. The stored contents of the effect file are transferred to the second terminal control device 3B through the LAN line 2 via the additional CPU board side LAN interface 32 to back up the data, and at ST4, loop switching is performed via the I / O port 33. A switching command signal is sent to the machine 6 to cause loop switching so that the POS terminal group 5A under the control of the terminal control device 3A is merged under the control of the second terminal control device 3B.

However, if the storage contents of the effect file cannot be transferred due to an abnormality in the hard disk device 24, only loop switching is performed.

Next, in step ST5, the CPU 28 reads the error code and the error information corresponding to the flag set in the error information table 40 from the error information table 40, and investigates the content of the abnormality (abnormality content examining means).

Then, at ST6, the error data indicating the abnormality is added to the time data read from the clock unit 31 to edit the error notification data, and the error notification data is passed through the additional CPU board side LAN interface 32, The error information is notified by transmitting the error information to the store processor 1 through the LAN line 2 (error information notifying means).

In the present embodiment thus constructed, when an abnormality that cannot be self-recovered occurs in the first terminal control section 3A due to a failure of the display device interface 20, for example, the CPU 11 on the main CPU board 23 side causes , The flag corresponding to the error code “9991” of the error information table 40 formed in the RAM 15 is set to the information indicating the abnormality. Then, the operation of the CPU 11 is stopped.

On the other hand, the CPU 2 on the extension CPU board 27 side
8 confirms that the contents of the error information table 40 have been periodically read and that the flag corresponding to the error code "9991" has been set to the information indicating that there is an abnormality. The stored contents of the file are LAN interface 32 and LA.
The data is transferred to the second terminal control unit 3B via the N line 2 and backed up, and a switching command signal is sent to the loop switching unit 6 to perform loop switching.
The OS terminal group 5A is merged under the control of the second terminal control device 3B.

At this time, the CPU 28 causes the error information "display abnormality" corresponding to the error code "9991".
Is read and the time data read from the clock unit 31 is added to this error information to edit the error notification data. Then, this error notification data is transmitted to the store processor 1 through the LAN interface 32 and the LAN line 2 to notify the error information.

Thereafter, the terminal control device 3A in which the abnormality that cannot be self-recovered occurs stops its operation.

The abnormality content of the first terminal control unit 3A notified to the store processor 1 in this way is set in a corporate body or the like where maintenance personnel are on standby by using, for example, a conventionally known inter-computer communication function. It can be collected and analyzed by a computer that is installed. Therefore, the maintenance staff can immediately understand the cause of the abnormality that has occurred in the terminal control device 3A by taking out and analyzing the error information notified to the store processor 1 and attempt repair. As a result, the down time of the terminal control device 3A is significantly reduced.

In the above embodiment, when a self-recoverable error such as a system error occurs, the main CP
The CPU 11 on the U board 23 side has performed self-recovery processing, but when a self-recoverable error occurs, the CPU 11
Sets a corresponding flag in the error information table 40, and when the CPU 28 on the additional CPU board 27 side searches the error information table 40 and confirms the occurrence of a self-recoverable error, the same self-recovery process is performed. May be.

[0040]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, when a down occurs due to the occurrence of an abnormality that cannot be self-recovered, it is possible to reliably notify the host computer of error information indicating the details of the abnormality. It is possible to provide a terminal control device in a point-of-sale information management system that can shorten the time required for clarifying the cause and shorten the downtime.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a terminal control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration of an additional CPU board in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a structural diagram of an error information table in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the main processing of an additional CPU board side CPU in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an overall view of a general POS system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Store processor (upper computer) 2 ... LAN line (first communication line) 3A, 3B ... Terminal control device 4A ... HDLC line (second communication line) 5A, 5B ... POS terminal group 11 ... CPU (main control) 23) Main CPU board 27 ... Expansion CPU board

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A host computer is connected via a first communication line, and a plurality of terminals for registering merchandise sales data are connected via a second communication line, and the host computer is controlled under the control of the host computer. In the terminal control unit of the point-of-sale information management system that controls the product sales registration operation at each terminal and manages the information at the point of sale, whether there is an error that cannot be self-recovered by constantly monitoring the state of the main control unit Anomaly monitoring means for monitoring, anomaly content investigation means for investigating the content of the anomaly by confirming that the anomaly which cannot be self-recovered by this anomaly monitoring means, and error information indicating the anomaly content obtained by this investigation means In the point-of-sale information management system, an error information notifying means for notifying the host computer of the error via the first communication line is provided. Terminal control device.