JPH07147587A - System for recognizing hub connection state - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow the system to recognize the hub connection state without provision of a management function to all hubs by sending/receiving simple management information as polarity information of a transmission packet. CONSTITUTION:A packet transmission port 1 uses a management information conversion means 13 to convert simple management information of a concerned port into polarity information of each packet based on packet presence information from a carrier detection means 12. A polarity inversion means 14 controls the polarity based on the polarity information. A resultingly generated packet is sent as a form of, e.g. 1001, let a positive packet be information 1 and a negative packet be information 0 as definition. That is, 1-bit data are sent for each packet. A packet reception port 2 uses a polarity information conversion means 24 to detect the management information such as 1001 based on the polarity information detected by its polarity detection means 23. Thus, the connection state is recognized by sending/receiving the simple management information between hubs as a packet polarity change.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hub connection state recognition system in a network using a concentrator (hub) for connecting communication equipment such as LAN.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the progress of personal computers and workstations, communication systems such as LAN for high-speed communication between computers have become widespread. Some of these communication methods require not only a communication board installed in a computer but also a communication control device that controls communication between these communication boards. For example,
The 10BASE-T and CDDI systems require a concentrator called a hub in addition to the communication board.

An example of a LAN system using a hub is shown in FIG.
Shown in. In the configuration of FIG. 4, the communication board is installed in the terminal T. The communication control device between these terminals T is the hub H, and all twisted pair lines TP from the terminal T are concentrated on the hub H.

However, once a communication device such as a LAN is installed, the number of connected terminals T tends to increase. As the number of terminals T increases, the number of devices such as the hub H inevitably increases. In terms of communication, it is meaningless if they are not connected to each other. Therefore, it is necessary to connect the hubs H to each other.
Here, if it is attempted to recognize the connection state of each hub H connected to a plurality of hubs, communication is performed between the network management device M connected to the backbone B as a trunk and each hub H, and management information such as By exchanging, each hub H
You must be aware of the connection status of.

[0005]

In order to communicate between the hub H and the network management device M, it is necessary to use a hub with a management function as the hub H. However, since the hub with the management function is more expensive than the hub without the management function, there is a problem that the economical burden for adding the device increases significantly.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide all hubs constituting a network without management functions.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hub connection state recognition system capable of recognizing a hub connection state in a network.

[0007]

The invention according to claim 1 is
A hub connection state recognition system in a network in which a plurality of hubs are connected, wherein at least one hub is a master hub having a management function, other hubs are slave hubs having no management function, and the master hub is Connected to the network management device via the backbone, and transmitted to the packet transmission port of each hub by a signal from the management information conversion means and the management information conversion means for converting the management information to be transmitted into polarity information for each packet. Polarity inverting means for inverting the polarity of the packet is added, and the packet receiving port has polarity detecting means for detecting the polarity of the received packet and polarity information for converting the polarity information of the packet detected by the polarity detecting means into management information. It is characterized in that a conversion means is added.

[0008]

In the hub connection state recognition system of the present invention, the management information to be transmitted is transmitted as the polarity information of the transmission packet at the packet transmission port of each hub.
At the packet receiving port, the management information is transmitted between the hubs by detecting the management information from the polarity information of the received packet, and by superimposing the management information on the polarity information of the transmission packet. By sending the management information to the network management device via the backbone, the network management device can recognize the connection state of the hub.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a network using a hub according to an embodiment of the present invention. The MH is a master hub that is mainly positioned in the network configuration, has a management function, and can communicate with a network management device described later. The SH is a slave hub that is positioned as a subordinate in terms of network configuration and uses one that does not have a normal management function. Each hub M
H and SH are connected via a twisted pair cable TP, and other slave hubs SH and terminals T are connected to the respective ports of the hubs MH and SH. Furthermore, the master hub MH
Is connected to the network management device M via a backbone B such as an Ethernet cable. Master hub MH
Between the network management device and the network management device, information for network management such as network configuration information and failure occurrence information is communicated.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the packet transmission port 1 of the slave hub SH and the master hub MH. Reference numeral 11 is a packet transmitting means for generating a packet for transmitting normal data.
Reference numeral 12 is carrier detection means, which is packet transmission means 11
It detects the presence of carriers by taking in the packets output from. That is, it is to detect whether or not a packet is output. Reference numeral 13 is a management information conversion means, which converts simple management information such as hub address information and port on / off information into polarity information for each packet and outputs it. Reference numeral 14 is a polarity reversing means, and according to the polarity information of the packet generated by the management information converting means 13,
The polarity of the transmission packet is reversed. The polarity reversing means 14 can be realized by, for example, a configuration in which an inverter 16 is connected to one of the two outputs of the selector 15 and the selector 15. The polarity of the transmission packet is inverted for each packet by controlling the route of the selector 15 from the management information converting means 13. Reference numeral 17 denotes a driver, which sends a transmission packet in which management information is superimposed on the polarity information output from the polarity inverting means 14 to the twisted pair wire 3 as a transmission line.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the packet receiving ports 2 of the slave hub SH and the master hub MH. 21 is a receiver, and twisted pair wire 3
It receives a packet transmitted via the. Reference numeral 22 is a carrier detecting means, which takes in the received packet and detects the presence of a carrier. That is, the presence or absence of the received packet is detected.
Reference numeral 23 is a polarity detecting means, which detects the polarity of the received packet. Reference numeral 24 is a polarity information conversion means,
The polarity information of the packet detected by the polarity detection means 23 is converted into management information. Reference numeral 25 is a packet receiving means, and based on the received packet, 10BASE-T
The normal processing of is performed.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. At the packet transmission port 1 of each hub, simple management information to be transmitted such as on / off information of its own port and its own address information is transmitted by the management information conversion means 13 to the carrier detection means 1
It is converted into polarity information for each packet based on the packet presence / absence information from 2. The polarity of the transmission packet is controlled by the polarity inverting means 14 based on this polarity information. The packet generated as a result is as shown in FIG. 4. For example, if the packet of the polarity + is defined as the information 1 and the packet of the polarity − is defined as the information 0, the data 1001 can be transmitted. That is, 1-bit data can be transmitted for each packet. At the packet reception port 2, based on the polarity information detected by the polarity detection means 23,
The polarity conversion means 24 detects the management information 1001.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the simple management information can be transmitted and received between the hubs as a change in the polarity of the packet.

[0014]

As described above, in the hub connection state recognition system of the present invention, the management information to be transmitted is transmitted as the polarity information of the transmission packet at the packet transmission port of each hub, and the packet reception is performed. The port detects the management information from the polarity information of the received packet and superimposes the management information on the polarity information of the transmission packet between each hub to transmit the management information, and further the backbone from the master hub. Since the management information is sent to the network management device via the hub, the connection status of the hub in the network can be recognized without making all the hubs that make up the network have management functions. A recognition system could be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a packet transmission port of the hub according to the above.

3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a packet receiving port according to the system of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a signal waveform diagram according to the above.

FIG. 5 is a system configuration diagram showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 MH master hub SH slave hub M network management device B backbone T terminal TP twisted pair cable 1 packet transmission port 2 packet reception port 3 twisted pair line 11 packet transmission means 12 carrier detection means 13 management information conversion means 14 polarity reversal means 15 selector 16 inverter 17 Driver 21 Receiver 22 Carrier detecting means 23 Polarity detecting means 24 Polarity information converting means 25 Packet receiving means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A hub connection state recognition system in a network in which a plurality of hubs are connected, wherein at least one hub is a master hub having a management function, and other hubs are slave hubs having no management function. The master hub is connected to a network management device via a backbone, and a packet transmission port of each hub has a management information conversion unit for converting management information to be transmitted into polarity information for each packet and the management information conversion unit. Polarity inversion means for inverting the polarity of the transmission packet according to the signal from, and the packet reception port has polarity detection means for detecting the polarity of the reception packet and polarity information of the packet detected by the polarity detection means as management information. A connection state recognition system for hubs, characterized in that a polarity information conversion means for converting to the above is added.