JPH07152610A - Component replacement managing device for computer system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically calculate and warn the replacement timing of various electronic components, incorporated in the computer system, by the computer system. CONSTITUTION:The operation times of the respective electronic components in a power-ON period are counted respectively and when the counted operation times of the respective electronic components reach respective prescribed operation time set by the electronic components, the replacement of the respective electronic components is warned. In another invention, a timer circuit 5 which clocks the present time is provided to counts the elapsed time after replacement from the replacement time of a battery 6 to the present time and also count the battery actual operation time indicating a power-OFF state time in the period from the replacement time of the battery 6 to the present time. When the elapsed time after replacement exceeds a prescribed elapsed time or when the battery actual operation time reaches the prescribed actual operation time, an alarm prompting the replacement of the battery 6 is outputted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a parts replacement management device for a computer system which automatically manages the replacement timing of various electronic parts incorporated in the computer system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Computers, such as computer systems for controlling various equipment in factories and computer systems for financial institutions, are not allowed to break down even in a short time and interrupt the production line or window operations. In the system, in order to improve reliability, when various electronic components incorporated in the computer system are operated for a specified time, even if no failure occurs or performance deterioration does not occur, Parts are replaced on a regular basis.

The reason for this is that, in general, in various electronic components, the probability of failure occurrence rapidly increases when the operating time exceeds a certain time. Conventionally, the management of the regular replacement period of various electronic components incorporated in a computer system has been manually performed by a dedicated maintenance management staff. Specifically, the types of electronic components incorporated in a computer system include FDD (floppy disk
Drive device), HDD (hard disk drive device), etc., and static parts such as batteries and capacitors, which deteriorate due to repeated charging and discharging, and normal static parts such as IC elements. There are multiple types such as. Each of these electronic components has different usage conditions and has a different durable life.

Therefore, every time a maintenance staff member replaces a part, the replacement date and time of the corresponding electronic part, the operating time until the periodical replacement and the next replacement date and time are entered in the parts management ledger, and then written in this parts management ledger. When the specified replacement date and time arrives, the corresponding part is replaced.

[0005]

However, the method for exchanging each electronic component using the component management ledger described above still has the following problems. (1) As mentioned above, it is necessary to evaluate the operating time until the regular replacement of each electronic component by the time that the computer system is actually operating. But every day.
Alternatively, in a computer system in which the operating hours are not fixed every week, as a practical matter, it is almost impossible to manually add the daily operating hours. Therefore, the specified operating time is set with some allowance from the daily or weekly average operating time, and the next component replacement date and time is calculated based on the specified operating time and is described in the parts management ledger.

Therefore, not only is it impossible to accurately manage the replacement time, but also when the computer system is operated for a long period of time, the number of times of parts replacement becomes unnecessarily large, and the maintenance cost of the entire computer system increases. is there. (2) For example, a main memory (main storage device) configured by a DRAM or the like needs to retain the stored contents even in a non-operating period when the power of the computer system is cut off. Further, other electronic parts having a data holding function including various input / output interfaces also need to hold the stored contents when the power is cut off.

In the battery used for such a system backup, regardless of the operating period or the non-operating period of the computer system from the battery replacement, the deterioration progresses with the passage of time in the charged state. Cannot set the specified operating time until the regular replacement period.

Further, in the system backup battery, the electric charge of the battery is discharged in order to supply the memory holding voltage to the above-mentioned main memory during the non-operating period when the power supply of the computer system is cut off. .
Since the discharge period of this battery, that is, the actual working time of the battery has a great influence on the life of the battery, the accumulated time of the actual working time of this battery should also be taken into consideration when setting the next replacement date and time of the battery. However, the conventional parts replacement management method using the parts management ledger cannot deal with such matters at all. (3) Further, there is a concern that the burden on maintenance personnel will increase and human error such as oversight of the items recorded in the parts management ledger will occur.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and by incorporating a method of counting the actual operating time for each electronic component in the computer system, the electronic component is automatically The operator can be alerted that the replacement time has come, parts can be replaced based on accurate operating time, and the burden on maintenance personnel can be greatly reduced.
An object of the present invention is to provide a parts replacement management device for a computer system, which can reduce the number of parts replacement when the system is operated for a long period of time, and can improve reliability of the entire system and reduce maintenance costs.

Further, the present invention provides a parts replacement management device for a computer system, which can replace a battery for system backup by controlling the replacement time with two kinds of elapsed times, so that the battery can be replaced at a more appropriate timing. With the goal.

[0011]

In order to solve the above problems, the parts replacement management apparatus according to the invention of claim 1 operates various electronic parts incorporated in the system during the energized state to perform various information processing. It is applied to the computer system that executes.

A clock circuit for measuring the current time,
An operating time counting unit that counts the operating time of each electronic component in the energized state, and the operating time of each electronic component counted by the operating time counting unit reaches each specified operating time set for each electronic component. And a warning output means for outputting a warning prompting replacement of the corresponding electronic component.

Further, the invention of claim 2 executes a variety of information processing, and at the same time executes a necessary access to various information stored in a main storage device backed up by a battery in the information processing process. Applied to.

A clock circuit for measuring the current time,
A post-replacement elapsed time counting means for counting the post-replacement elapsed time from the battery replacement time to the current time, and a battery actual working time for counting the battery actual working time indicating the non-energized state time in the period from the battery replacement time to the current time And a warning output means for outputting a warning prompting replacement of the battery when the post-replacement elapsed time counting means counts the prescribed elapsed time or when the battery actual operating time counting means counts the prescribed actual operating time.

[0015]

In the component replacement management device of the computer system thus configured, a clock circuit for keeping time is built in the computer system. For example, the operating time of each electronic component in the energized state period is counted from this clock circuit based on the clock information. Then, when the specified operating time set for each electronic component is reached, a component replacement warning for the corresponding molecular component is automatically output. Therefore, the parts management ledger is not required, and the burden on maintenance personnel is greatly reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the last replacement time of the system backup battery is stored and retained. If the post-replacement elapsed time calculated from the replacement time and the current time read from the clock circuit exceeds the specified elapsed time, the battery replacement is warned.

Furthermore, for example, the actual working time during which the battery is actually backing up the system during the power-off period is counted, and when the actual working time exceeds the specified actual working time, battery replacement is warned.

As described above, the replacement time of the backup battery having the function of continuously maintaining the charged state from the time of replacement and discharging the charge during the power interruption period is different from that of other general electronic parts. By setting
The battery can be replaced at a time when the battery life is more appropriate.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A position embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the entire computer system in which the component replacement management device of the embodiment is incorporated.

The bus line 1 is composed of a CPU (central processing unit) for executing various information processing, a ROM for storing various fixed data such as a control program, and a DRAM for storing various variable data to be processed. The main memory 4 and the clock circuit 6 for measuring the current time t are connected. The main memory 4 is connected to a system backup battery 6 for holding the stored contents even when the power is cut off. The clock circuit 5 is started by the battery 7. The power consumption of the clock circuit 5 is very small.

Further, for the bus line 1, a display control unit 9 for displaying various data and a parts replacement message on the display unit 8, an FDD control unit 11 for controlling the FDD 10,
HDD control unit 13 for controlling the HDD 12, keyboard 1
A keypad controller 15 to which a key signal is input from 4, and an input / output unit 1 for transmitting / receiving various data to / from the outside
6, and the RAM in which the parts management table 17 is formed are connected.

Further, a power supply device 18 for supplying a DC drive voltage Vc to each of the above electronic components is incorporated in this computer system. A commercial AC power source is supplied to the power source device 18 via a plug 19. Further, a cooling fan 20 is connected to the power supply device 18.

R in which the parts management table 17 is formed
A battery 21 for holding the stored contents when the power is cut off is connected to the AM. Each of the batteries 6, 7, 2
No. 1 is connected to the power supply device 18, and is always charged to the specified voltage during the power-on period.

In the parts management table 17, an area 17a for storing a replacement date D _BS of the battery 6 of the main memory 4 as a battery for system backup and a specified elapsed time T _BM , a power-off period, etc. An area 17b for storing a battery actual operating time T _BA and a specified actual operating time T _BAM indicating a period in which the battery 6 supplies the memory holding voltage to the main memory 4, and the current time t read from the clock circuit 5.
Area 17c for storing _A , for example, area 1 for storing a count value T _U for counting the unit time number T _UM such as 1 hour
7d, HDD 10 operating time T _H and specified operating time T _HM
17e, an operating time T _{F of the} FDD 12 and an area 17f for storing the specified operating time T _FM , the cooling fan 2
An area 17g for storing an operating time T _{R of} 0 and a specified operating time T _RM is formed.

The specified elapsed time T _BM and the specified actual working time T
_BAM , specified operating time T _HM , specified operating time T _FM , and specified operating time T _RM are values that have been statistically obtained in advance from the durable life, failure rate, etc. of each corresponding electronic component. It is a desirable value to replace the relevant part when the accumulated time reaches this specified time. Then, these values are set in advance in each area when the computer system is installed.

When the battery 6 is replaced, the battery replacement date D _BS is keyed in from the keyboard 14 and set in the area 17a. At the same time, the battery working time T _BA in the area 17b is cleared to 0.

Further, the HDDs 10 and F other than the battery 6
When the electronic components of the DD 12 and the cooling fan 20 are replaced, the keyboard 14 is operated to operate the areas 17e to 17
Clear each operating time T _H , T _F , T _R of g to 0.

When the power switch of the power supply device 18 is turned on, the cooling fan 20 is activated, the DC drive voltage Vc is supplied to each electronic component of this computer system, the reset state for the CPU 2 is released, and C
PU2 becomes operable.

When the CPU 2 is released from the reset state, it executes the system starting process shown in FIG. Further, after the system is activated, the clock circuit 5 is added to the CPU 2.
For example, the time interrupt signal INT is input every time ΔT such as 1 minute elapses. CPU2 is a time interrupt signal INT
When is input, the time interrupt process shown in FIG. 2 is executed.

When the time interrupt process in FIG. 2 is started, the clock circuit 5 is set at P (program step) 1.
The current time t is read from and the current time t _A stored in the area 17c in the parts management table 17 at P2 is updated to the current time t read this time (t _A = t).

Next, 1 is added to the count value T _U of the area 17d (T _U = T _U +1) (P3), and the count value T _U after addition is a value T _U = T _UM (1 if = 60) to reach (P4), each of the regions 17e, 17f, each operating time T _H of 17b, T _F, adds 1 is a unit respectively time T _R (P5). Then, the count value T _U of the area 17d is cleared to 0 (P6).

If the count value T _U after addition at P4 has not reached the value T _U = T _UM (= 60) corresponding to one hour, it is not necessary to perform the processes of P5 and P6.
Next, at P7, in the process of P1 to P6, for example, it is checked whether or not the power is shut down due to a power shutdown operation by the operator or a power failure. In a normal computer system, a power cutoff detection circuit is incorporated in the power supply device 18, and when the drive voltage Vc for each electronic component including the CPU2 drops below a specified voltage, the power cutoff detection is performed for the CPU2. An interrupt signal is input. When the CPU 2 detects this power interruption detection interrupt signal, it executes processing such as forcibly ending the application program being executed,
It waits until the drive voltage Vc falls below the lower limit voltage and shifts to the reset state.

At P7, when the power interruption is detected,
The latest current time t is read again from the clock circuit 5 and the area 1 is read.
The current time t _{A of} 7c is updated to the latest current time (P
8). When the operator turns on the power or the power failure is automatically restored and the reset state of the CPU 2 is released, the CPU 2 executes the system start-up process shown in FIG.

When the flow chart starts, the latest current time t is read from the clock circuit 5 (Q1). Next, take Wing battery replacement date D _BS area 17a in the component management table 17 (Q2). Then, in Q3, the post-replacement elapsed time T _B from the replacement date of the battery 6 to the current time is calculated (T _B = t−T _BS ).

When the post-replacement elapsed time T _B has not reached the specified elapsed time T _BM of the area 17a, the current time t _A stored in the area 17c is read (Q5). And
In Q6, the current battery operating time (t−t _A ) corresponding to the current power-off period is calculated, and the battery operating time T _BA stored in the area 17b is updated (T _BA = T
_BA + t-t _A).

When the updated battery actual operating time T _BA does not reach the specified operating time T _BAM (Q7), it is checked in Q8 whether the HDD operating time T _{H of the} area 17e has reached the specified operating time T _HM. Find out. If not, Q9
In the area 17f, the FDD operating time T _F is the specified operating time T
Check if _FM is reached. If not, it is checked in Q10 whether the cooling fan operating time T _{R of the} region 17g has reached the specified operating time T _RM . If it has not reached, the current system startup process is terminated and the process proceeds to the next process.

In Q4, if the elapsed time after replacement T _B has reached the specified elapsed time T _BM in the area 17a, Q11
Then, the display 8 displays a message indicating that the post-replacement elapsed time T _B has reached the specified elapsed time T _BM and a battery replacement warning.

[0038] In Q7, if the battery production time T _BA has reached the prescribed production time T _BAM proceed to Q11, and a message indicating that the battery production time T _BA on the display device 8 has reached a predetermined production time T _BAM Display the battery replacement warning.

Similarly, in Q8, if the HDD operating time T _H has reached the specified operating time T _HM , the process proceeds to Q11 and the display 8 indicates that the HDD operating time T _H has reached the specified operating time T _HM. Message and an HDD replacement warning are displayed.

If the FDD operating time T _F has reached the specified operating time T _FM in Q9, the process proceeds to Q11, and a message indicating that the FDD operating time T _F has reached the specified operating time T _FM is displayed on the display unit 8. Displays a warning of FDD replacement instruction.

In Q10, if the cooling fan operating time T _R has reached the specified operating time T _RM , the process proceeds to Q11 and the display 8 indicates that the cooling fan operating time T _R has reached the specified operating time T _RM. Display a message and a warning to replace the cooling fan.

According to the component replacement management device for a computer system configured as described above, the electronic components such as the HDD 10, the FDD 12 and the cooling fan 20 that are activated in synchronization with the energized period in this computer system. The accurate operating times T _H , T _F , and T _R for each electronic component are automatically calculated, and the specified operating times T _HM , T _FM , and T _RM are set individually for each electronic component. When it reaches, a message indicating that the operating time of the corresponding electronic component has reached the specified operating time and a warning message prompting replacement of the corresponding component are automatically displayed and output.

Therefore, it becomes unnecessary for the maintenance manager of this computer system to enter the replacement date and the scheduled replacement date for each electronic component in the component management ledger. As a result, the work load on the maintenance staff is greatly reduced. As a result, the number of required maintenance personnel can be reduced.

Further, since the management of the replacement time of each electronic component is automatically carried out by the computer system itself, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of human error such as oversight when the component management ledger is used. The overall reliability can be greatly improved.

Further, even if the operating time of the computer system fluctuates day by day or week, the operating time of each electronic part can be accurately obtained, so that there is some margin to replace parts as in the conventional method. No need to set. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the number of times each electronic part is replaced when the computer system is operated for a long period of time, and it is possible to reduce the maintenance cost of the entire computer system.

Further, in the battery 6 for system backup, the date of replacement of the battery 6 is stored, and the post-replacement elapsed time D _B from the replacement time including the energized period and the de-energized period in the computer system, The actual battery operating time T _BA corresponding to the non-energized period time is individually obtained, and the replacement instruction of the battery 6 is output as a warning at the timing when the preset times T _BM and T _BAM set and known individually are reached. .

Therefore, the battery can be replaced at a timing closer to the actual degree of deterioration of the battery 6. Therefore, the non-energization time becomes very long, and the battery 6
Unexpectedly deteriorates, important data cannot be stored and held in the middle of the non-energized state of the computer system, and accidents such as data disappearance can be prevented in advance.
The reliability of the entire computer system can be further improved. Further, the life of the battery 6 can be used more effectively.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of a computer system incorporating a parts replacement management device according to another embodiment of the present invention. The configuration and operation of each unit other than this flowchart are the same as the configuration and operation shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Similar to the flow chart of FIG. 3 in the above-mentioned embodiment apparatus, FIG. 4 shows the operation time detection processing of each component which is performed when the computer system is powered on and the reset state is released. 6 is a flowchart showing a life determination process of each component and a warning output process of a component replacement instruction at the time of life.

In the apparatus of the above-mentioned embodiment, as shown in the flow chart of FIG. 3, when the replacement time of even one part is reached, the life of the corresponding part is warned and the operating time of other parts is verified. However, in the device of this embodiment shown in FIG. 4, R4, R8, R10, R12,
In R14, when each operating time reaches the specified operating time, the life of each component is individually displayed in R5, R9, R11, R13, and R15.

Therefore, even if the lifespan of a plurality of parts is reached at the same time, a warning indicating the end of the lifespan of a plurality of parts is simultaneously displayed on the display unit 8. Therefore, 1
It is possible to replace a plurality of parts at the same time with a single part replacement work, and the maintenance efficiency of the computer system can be improved.

[0052]

As described above, in the parts replacement management apparatus of the present invention, a method of counting the actual operating time of each electronic component is incorporated in the computer system to automatically replace each electronic component. It outputs a warning that the time has come. Therefore, parts can be replaced based on accurate operating time, the burden on maintenance personnel can be greatly reduced, and the number of parts replacement can be reduced when this computer system is operated for a long period of time. It is possible to improve reliability and reduce maintenance costs.

Further, in another invention, the replacement time of the battery for system backup is managed by two kinds of time, that is, the elapsed time after replacement from the replacement time and the actual battery operating time when the battery is not energized. Therefore, the battery can be replaced at a more appropriate timing, and the reliability of the computer system can be further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a computer system incorporating a parts replacement management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of the apparatus of the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of a parts replacement management device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... CPU, 4 ... Main memory, 5 ... Clock circuit, 6 ... Battery, 8 ... Indicator, 10 ... FDD, 12 ... HDD, 14 ...
Keyboard, 17 ... Parts management table, 17a to 17g
... area, 18 ... power supply device, 20 ... cooling fan.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a computer system for executing various information processing by operating various electronic components incorporated in the system during the energized state period, a clock circuit for measuring the current time, and the energized state of each electronic component. When operating time counting means for counting the operating time in each period, and when the operating time of each electronic component counted by the operating time counting means reaches each specified operating time set for each electronic component, A parts replacement management device for a computer system, comprising: warning output means for outputting a warning for prompting replacement of the corresponding electronic parts. 2. A computer system that executes various types of information processing during an energized state and executes necessary access to various types of information stored in a main storage device that is system-backed by a battery during the information processing process, A clock circuit for counting the current time, a post-replacement elapsed time counting means for counting the post-replacement elapsed time from the battery replacement time to the current time, and non-energization in a period from the battery replacement time to the current time A battery actual operating time counting means for counting a battery actual operating time indicating a state time, and a time when the post-replacement elapsed time counting means counts a specified elapsed time or a battery actual operating time counting means counts a specified actual operating time of the battery. A parts replacement management device for a computer system, comprising: a warning output means for outputting a warning prompting replacement.