JPH07336381A - Multiport repeater - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To save power consumption by suppressing the operations of a processing part performing the frame repeating between input/output ports and a processing part storing and controlling the terminal information on a transmission line when a frame does not arrive in a port. CONSTITUTION:The transmission signal detection means 2 of a power consumption lowering means 15 always monitors the transmission signal of the arriving frames in input/output ports 13, 14 and notifies the result to time measurement means 3. The means 3 measures the lapse of the time when the transmission signal is not detected and notifies a frequency adjustment means 4 and a lower power consumption mode start/release means 8 that the lapse of time becomes fixed time or more. Receiving this notification, the means 4 judges that the frames do not arrive in the ports and lowers the output frequency of a clock signal supply means 5. The means 8 starts the lower power consumption mode of the microprocessor 9 of a control processing part 7 by the same judgment. Thus, the operations of a repeating processing part 6 and the processing part 7 are suppressed and power consumption is lowered.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-port relay device used in a network for interconnecting computers, and more particularly to a multi-port relay device for reducing power consumption.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A multiport relay device is provided for interconnecting a plurality of computers using a local area network (hereinafter referred to as a network). The multi-port relay device includes a large number of input / output ports connected to a transmission line of a network, a relay processing unit that relays frames between these ports, and a network management processing unit that stores and manages terminal information on the transmission line. Is equipped with.

Since the multi-port relay device is a device that relays a frame arriving at a port to another port, it only waits for the frame to arrive while the frame has not arrived. However, even when the frame has not arrived, it consumes the same power as when the frame has arrived.

In general, the network management processing unit of a multi-port relay device includes a microprocessor and operates with a clock signal of a predetermined frequency together with the relay processing unit.
The network management processing unit and the relay processing unit are configured by integrating innumerable logic elements such as flip-flops, and each logic element operates in synchronization with a clock signal. In such a configuration, most of the power consumption is due to charging / discharging when the element logically inverts, and does not depend on the processing content.As described above, the power consumption is almost constant regardless of the frame processing. It becomes.

[0005]

As described above, in the conventional multi-port relay apparatus, even when a frame has not arrived and no processing has been performed, a frame arrives and processing for relay and management is performed. There is a power consumption equivalent to that when performing, and a large amount of power is wasted.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-352017 discloses a technique of turning off the main power supply when the peripheral device is not accessed for a certain period of time and turning on the main power supply when there is access. This technology can save power consumption.

However, in this technique, the power supply is cut off only to the peripheral device, and it is necessary to manage the status immediately before the power supply is cut off by a high-order computer that is not cut off. The multi-port relay device does not have a higher-level computer and manages the terminal information by itself, and turning off the power causes a disadvantage such as loss of the managed terminal information. In particular, if the power of the network management processing unit equipped with the microprocessor is turned off, when the power is turned on, the microprocessor starts its operation from a blank state such as power-on reset. Therefore, the method of cutting off the power source to save power in the multi-port relay device cannot be adopted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a multi-port relay device which saves power consumption.

[0009]

To achieve the above object, the present invention is directed to a large number of input / output ports connected to a transmission path of a local area network, and a relay processing section for relaying frames between these ports. In a multi-port relay device including a network management processing unit that stores and manages terminal information on a transmission path, when a frame has not arrived at a port, the operation of the relay processing unit and the network management processing unit is suppressed to reduce power consumption. It is provided with a power consumption reducing means for reducing the consumption.

A clock signal supplying means for supplying a clock signal of a predetermined frequency for operating the relay processing section and the network management processing section, a transmission signal detecting means for detecting a transmission signal of an incoming frame to the port, and a transmission signal are detected. And a frequency adjusting means for lowering the frequency of the clock signal when a transmission signal is not detected for a certain period of time or lowering it to the original frequency when a transmission signal is detected. Good.

A microprocessor provided in the network management processing unit for switching from a normal power consumption operation mode to a low power consumption mode and a low power consumption mode, and a transmission signal detection for detecting a transmission signal of an incoming frame to a port. Means, a time measuring means for measuring a lapse of time when a transmission signal is not detected, and a low power consumption mode of the microprocessor when the transmission signal is not detected for a predetermined time or more, and a low power consumption when the transmission signal is detected. A low power consumption mode activation / cancellation means for canceling the mode may be provided.

[0012]

With the above structure, when the frame has not arrived at the port, the power consumption lowering means suppresses the operations of the relay processing section and the network management processing section. By suppressing the operation of the relay processing unit and the network management processing unit,
The frequency of charge and discharge due to logic inversion decreases in many of the logic elements that configure them. Therefore, power consumption is reduced.

The clock signal supply means outputs a clock signal of a predetermined frequency and supplies it to the relay processing section and the network management processing section. The relay processing unit and the network management processing unit operate using the clock signal as a basic timing clock and perform their respective processes. If the frequency of the clock signal is increased, the processing speed is increased, but the power consumption increases sharply. Conversely, if the frequency of the clock signal is decreased, the processing speed is reduced, but the power consumption is suppressed. Therefore, the transmission signal detecting means detects the transmission signal of the frame arriving at the port, and the elapse of the time when the transmission signal is not detected is measured by the time measuring means. When the elapsed time exceeds a certain time, the frequency adjusting means determines that the frame has not arrived at the port and lowers the frequency of the clock signal. The decrease in the frequency of the clock signal suppresses the operation of the relay processing unit and the network management processing unit, which reduces the power consumption. The frequency adjusting means returns the clock signal to the original frequency immediately when the transmission signal is detected.

As the microprocessor provided in the network management processing unit, a microprocessor capable of switching from the normal power consumption operation mode to the low power consumption mode is used. The transmission signal detecting means detects the transmission signal of the frame arriving at the port, and the elapse of time when the transmission signal is not detected is measured by the time measuring means. When this time elapses beyond a certain time, the low power consumption mode activation / cancellation means determines that the frame has not arrived at the port, and activates the low power consumption mode of the microprocessor. Since the microprocessor switches to the low power consumption mode, the operation of the network management processing unit is suppressed, which reduces power consumption. The low power consumption mode start / release means releases the low power consumption mode immediately when the transmission signal is detected.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a multi-port relay device 1 with a management function having a power saving function according to the present invention.
Are input / output ports 13 and 14 respectively connected to transmission lines 11 and 12 of the local area network, a relay processing unit 6 that relays frames between the ports, and network management that stores and manages terminal information on the transmission lines. And a processing unit (management processing unit) 7. The management processing unit 7 acquires information on terminals existing on the transmission path from the relayed frame,
This terminal information is accumulated to manage the network, and based on the accumulated terminal information, whether the relay processing unit 6 relays the frame arriving at one port to the other port is determined.

The management processing unit 7 has a microprocessor 9 and can switch the microprocessor 9 from a normal power consumption operation mode to a low power consumption mode. In the low power consumption mode, for example, by executing a hold instruction on software, the microprocessor freezes the running of the program to eliminate the logic inversion of the internal circuit and suppresses the power consumption.

The relay processing section 6 and the management processing section 7 operate by a clock signal which is a basic timing clock. For this purpose, the multiport relay device 1 supplies a clock signal supply means 5 for supplying a clock signal of a predetermined frequency for operating the relay processing unit and the network management processing unit.
Is equipped with.

The multiport relay device 1 includes a transmission signal detecting means 2 for detecting a transmission signal of a frame arriving at a port.
And a time measuring means 3 for measuring the passage of time when no transmission signal is detected, and a frequency adjustment for reducing the frequency of the clock signal when the transmission signal is not detected for a certain period of time and returning to the original frequency when the transmission signal is detected. Means 4, and low power consumption mode activation / starting the low power consumption mode of the microprocessor when no transmission signal is detected for a certain period of time and canceling the low power consumption mode when a transmission signal is detected /
And a releasing means 8. The transmission signal detecting means 2, the time measuring means 3, the frequency adjusting means 4, and the low power consumption mode activating / releasing means 8 operate the relay processing unit 6 and the network management processing unit 7 when no frame arrives at the port. The power consumption lowering means 15 is configured to suppress the power consumption and reduce the power consumption.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described.

The transmission signal detecting means 2 comprises an input / output port 1
The transmission signals of the arriving frames to 3 and 14 are constantly monitored. Whether the transmission signal is detected is notified to the time measuring means 3. The time measuring means 3 measures the passage of time when no transmission signal is detected, and notifies the frequency adjusting means 4 and the low power consumption mode starting / releasing means 8 that the passage of time has exceeded a certain time. In response to this notification, the frequency adjusting means 4 judges that the frame has not arrived at the port, lowers the frequency of the clock signal, and the low power consumption mode starting / releasing means 8 makes the same judgment and the microprocessor 9 Activate the low power consumption mode of. The decrease in the frequency of the clock signal suppresses the operation of the relay processing unit 6 and the network management processing unit 7, and thus the power consumption is reduced. Further, since the microprocessor 9 is switched to the low power consumption mode, the operation of the network management processing unit 7 is suppressed, so that the power consumption is reduced.

When a frame arrives at any of the input / output ports 13 and 14, the transmission signal detecting means 2 detects the transmission signal of the arriving frame at the port, and the time measuring means 3, the frequency adjusting means 4 and the low power consumption. The mode start / release means 8 is notified. Upon receiving this notification, the time measuring means 3 erases the lapse of the time measured so far, and restarts the measurement when the transmission signal is no longer detected. Further, upon the notification of the detection of the transmission signal, the frequency adjusting means 4 immediately returns the clock signal to the original frequency. The low power consumption mode starting / releasing means immediately releases the low power consumption mode. By these procedures, the relay processing unit 6 and the network management processing unit 7
And the microprocessor 9 returns to normal power consumption and processing speed. In this case, the states of the relay processing unit 6, the network management processing unit 7, and the microprocessor 9 are not changed by reducing the frequency of the clock signal or switching to the low power consumption mode,
The operation before entering the power saving operation is continuously performed. Therefore, the relay process and the management process are correctly performed on the arrived frame.

[0023]

The present invention exhibits the following excellent effects.

(1) The waste of electric power while the frame has not arrived and no processing is being performed is eliminated, and the running cost of the local area network is reduced.

(2) Since the operation of the processing unit is suppressed and the power consumption is reduced without cutting off the power, the multiport relay device continues the operation before entering the power saving operation with respect to the arrival of the frame. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a multiport relay device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 transmission signal detecting means 3 time measuring means 4 frequency adjusting means 5 clock signal supplying means 6 relay processing section 7 management processing section 8 low power consumption mode start / release means 9 microprocessor 15 power consumption lowering means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A large number of input / output ports connected to a transmission path of a local area network, a relay processing section for relaying frames between these ports, and a network management processing section for accumulating and managing terminal information on the transmission path. In a multi-port relay device including the above, a power consumption lowering unit that suppresses operations of the relay processing unit and the network management processing unit to reduce power consumption when a frame has not arrived at the port is provided. Multi-port relay device. 2. A clock signal supply means for supplying a clock signal of a predetermined frequency for operating the relay processing section and the network management processing section, a transmission signal detection means for detecting a transmission signal of a frame arriving at a port, and a transmission signal. Is provided with a time measuring means for measuring the lapse of time, and a frequency adjusting means for lowering the frequency of the clock signal when the transmission signal is not detected for a certain time or more, and returning it to the original frequency when the transmission signal is detected. The multi-port relay device according to claim 1, wherein 3. A microprocessor provided in the network management processing unit for switching from a normal power consumption operation mode to a low power consumption mode, and a transmission for detecting a transmission signal of an incoming frame to a port. A signal detecting means, a time measuring means for measuring the lapse of time when a transmission signal is not detected, and a low power consumption mode of the microprocessor which is activated when the transmission signal is not detected for a certain period of time or low when the transmission signal is detected. The multi-port relay device according to claim 1, further comprising a low power consumption mode starting / releasing unit that releases the power consumption mode.