JPH0744495A - Event processing method in terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily obtain a terminal equipment making event processing in response to a processing characteristic of a host computer by processing an event generated by the terminal equipment according to a predetermined rule corresponding to an operation rate of a CPU provided to the host computer. CONSTITUTION:An input device group 108 provided to a terminal equipment 102 is started on the occurrence of an event and information of the processing method of the event corresponding to the type of the generated event is retrieved from an event processing rule table 112 and a corresponding processing rule section is retrieved. Then the data of a newest CPU load factor of a host computer 101 stored in a CPU load factor storage table 111 provided to the terminal equipment 102 are extracted. Then the data of the CPU load factor to be extracted and the CPU load factor range stored in the retrieved processing rule section are compared and corresponding processing rule information is extracted. Finally the processing procedure stored in the processing rule information is conducted to conduct the processing corresponding to the event.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of processing an event generated by a terminal device which constitutes various network devices. For example, the present invention relates to an event processing method in a supervisory control man-machine terminal device or the like connected to a plant control computer system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional terminal device that constitutes various networks, an event such as movement of a CRT pointer or echo back of keyboard input characters to a screen,
Regarding an event that can be processed independently of the host computer, the terminal device side independently processes the event without notifying the host computer side that the event has occurred.

However, most of the processing causes an event corresponding to the event of the terminal device to occur on the host computer side as well, and the program for the terminal device processing provided on the host computer side interprets the generated event and sets a predetermined event. A terminal device having a relatively low function, such as processing an event occurring in the terminal device by executing the process, has been used.

Regarding such a terminal device, for example,
Many are described in "X-Window Handbook" (published by ASCII Publishing).

[0005]

By the way, for example, in a plant control computer system, the state of a target plant is taken in periodically or when a state change occurs (at the time of plant failure, etc.), and data relating to this state is obtained. Then, various calculations are performed and the result is notified to the plant operator via the man-machine terminal device.

Further, the plant operator instructs a necessary plant control operation to the host computer via the man-machine terminal device based on the notified information.

In the host computer, after verifying whether or not the instructed information is correct, a control signal is generated for the target plant device.

In such a supervisory control system, for example, a power system supervisory system, when the state of the target plant is stable, both the host computer and the terminal device are
Although the amount of processing is relatively small, once the plant to be controlled changes, for example, if a system accident such as a circuit breaker trips due to a lightning strike on the transmission line and a power outage occurs, a large amount of status changes from the target plant. Is output, and the load on the CPU of the host computer increases due to the analysis of the information.

Further, in each terminal device, information on these state changes is reported one after another, and the operator restores the state of the target plant, that is, various control commands in order to minimize the power failure range. Will be given to the plant to be controlled, which will increase the load on the CPU of the host computer.

In such a case, it is required that the operator's judgment result be accurately and rapidly transmitted to the control computer.

In such a computer system, a CPU having a necessary capability is normally considered in consideration of the number of events that may occur in a unit time, the number of man-machine terminals, and the allowable time from the occurrence of an accident to the recovery. Is assigned to the host computer for maximum load design, but on the other hand, it is said that we want to utilize the surplus CPU capacity in normal times as incidental work such as equipment refurbishment plan drafting and operation result drafting. The needs are high.

The main processing is such processing of a database centrally managed by the host computer, and the operator of the terminal device is required to have a man-machine interface which is highly flexible and has good operability.

If a low-performance terminal device is used in an attempt to realize such a dual terminal device by a conventional terminal device, the CP provided in the host computer when an accident occurs
When the load (operation rate) of U is high, the processing load on the host computer side accompanying the man-machine terminal operation also increases, and a host computer having higher processing capacity is required.

On the other hand, when a high-performance workstation is used, the processing load on the host computer can be reduced, but the surplus capacity of the CPU of the host computer at normal times is
There are problems that it is not used so much, that the workstation side has to be equipped with various resources such as a database, the cost increases, and the software that is provided to support distributed processing becomes complicated.

The present invention provides a method for realizing such a terminal device at low cost.

[0016]

In order to solve the above problems, the following means are considered.

A method for processing an event generated by the terminal device in a network configured by connecting at least one terminal device and a host computer via a transmission line, the event being generated by the terminal device. Is an event processing method for a terminal device that performs processing according to a predetermined processing rule corresponding to the operating rate of the CPU included in the host computer.

It should be noted that the processing rule is that at least two or more events generated by the terminal device are aggregated, and when the event aggregation amount exceeds a predetermined amount or when a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of the aggregation process, the aggregation is performed. An event processing method of collectively transferring processed events to the host computer, an event processing method of discarding events generated by a terminal device, and the like can be considered as the processing rule.

It is preferable that the rule can be arbitrarily set for each terminal device.

[0020]

The terminal device refers to the event processing rule set in its own terminal device when an event such as a key input or a mouse input occurs, and the CPU of the host computer
A processing rule corresponding to the current load (for example, CPU operating rate) is taken out.

The processing rules include, for example, (a) reporting the event to the host computer, (b) processing locally in the terminal device, depending on the type of event and the load on the host computer. It defines processing procedures such as c) suspending the report to the host computer, and (d) discarding.

The terminal device executes event processing according to this processing rule.

In a normal state where the CPU load (CPU operating rate) is low, the host computer is accurately notified of events that occur on the terminal side, and detailed events that occur during man-machine operation are processed by the host computer. By interpreting and executing by, it is possible to realize highly flexible man-machine processing.

CPU load of host computer (CP
When the operation rate of U is high, by inputting a rule such that each event generated by man-machine operation is aggregated until an event of a level that can finally operate the plant is input, man-machine operation is performed. The individual events that occur are aggregated on the man-machine terminal side, and can be collectively transferred to the host computer side as one important event for controlling the plant, which is redundant with each man-machine operation. A heavy load on the host computer.

As a result, the unnecessary operation of the CPU is suppressed as much as possible, and the terminal device with excellent operability can be easily realized.

Further, by making it possible to externally input and change rules for collecting and discarding event groups according to the state of the host computer, it is optimal according to the processing contents and characteristics of the host computer. It is possible to realize various events and expand the applicable range of the present invention.

[0027]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of hardware which is an embodiment of the present invention.

This embodiment comprises a host computer 101, a terminal device 102, and a communication line 103 connecting the host computer and the terminal device.

It is sufficient that there is at least one terminal device 102, and there are usually a plurality of terminal devices.

The host computer is a CPU unit 104 which is a central processing unit of a general computer, a semiconductor memory,
Storage device 10 realized by a storage element such as a magnetic disk
It is configured to have 5.

The communication line 103 is a communication means for mutually communicating data, events and the like between the host computer and the terminal device, and is realized by an electric wire, an optical fiber cable or the like.

Further, on the host computer in this embodiment, the CPU load measuring task unit 1 having the function of calculating the CPU load factor (for example, the CPU operation factor).
06 is provided.

The CPU load measuring task section measures and aggregates execution times of various programs operating on the CPU device provided in the host computer, and thereby calculates the CPU usage time per unit time (hereinafter, "CPU Load factor"
(Referred to as “)”, and sends the calculated CPU load factor to each terminal device via a communication line, for example, at a constant cycle.

The CPU load measuring task unit may be implemented, for example, on a storage device and using a calculation function of the CPU device.

The terminal device 102 is means for exchanging various kinds of information between a human being and a computer, and an output device group 107 such as a display device for transmitting data in the computer device to the human being, and a human being. A group of input devices such as a keyboard and a mouse for transmitting an instruction from the computer to the computer,
It is configured to have a terminal processing device 109 and a terminal storage device 110 for controlling these input / output device groups.

The display device is, for example, a CR
It may be realized by a T, a liquid crystal display, an EL display, etc.
0 can be realized by electronic devices such as RAM, various CMOSs, resistors, and transistors.

Further, on the terminal device in this embodiment, a CPU load factor storage table 111 for storing the CPU load factor data sent from the host computer,
An event for processing the input device group 108 in response to an event generated by human operation and for storing the processing method (processing rule) of the event for sending the processing result to the host computer. A processing rule table 112, an event storage work table 113 for temporarily storing events for processing a plurality of events, an event processing process and a processing result of the host while referencing and updating these tables The event control task unit 114 for sending to the computer is provided.

The CPU load factor storage table 111, the event processing rule table 112, the event storage work table 113, and the event control task unit 114 are R
It can be realized by a predetermined program or the like stored in a terminal storage device configured to have an AM and the like.

The event control task unit 114 may be realized by using the calculation function of the terminal processing device.

Here, the "event" means various kinds of interrupts generated in the terminal device by a human operating an input device group, for example, a mouse or a keyboard.

The event includes various kinds of information such as event type information indicating which input device was operated and how, a coordinate value of a mouse pointer, and a key code indicating which key was pressed on the keyboard. Event data of is attached.

Further, the "event processing" is obtained by examining the contents of a plurality of events that occur in time series, and obtaining information that cannot be understood from each event by analyzing a plurality of consecutive events. It means to put together using the information that can be obtained.

For example, according to the occurrence status of events before and after a certain event, a process of discarding an event which is apparently a human operation error, or an event having the same effect is generated a plurality of times within a predetermined time. If it happens,
This is a process of consolidating the last one event, that is, adopting only the last one event.

Next, with reference to FIG. 1, an outline of the processing flow in this apparatus will be described.

The installer (or operator) of the terminal device is
When the terminal device is installed, data indicating how to process an event generated in the input / output device group to the host computer is stored in the event processing rule table included in the terminal device for each terminal device.

The above-mentioned data can be stored in the event processing rule table by, for example, writing the data created in another device in a non-volatile memory means (for example, ROM) and mounting the means in the terminal device. , Or
It is stored in a file in the host computer 101, and when the terminal device 102 is started up, via the communication line 103,
A method of downloading the contents of the file onto the terminal device can be considered.

Of course, the content of data stored in the event processing rule table may be determined by the terminal installer based on the content of work performed by the host computer, the processing capacity of the host computer, the response limit time of terminal operation, and the like.

On the host computer, the CPU load measurement task unit 106 measures the CPU load factor of the host computer,
The CPU load factor is transferred to the terminal device 10 via the communication line 103.
It is sent to No. 2 at a constant cycle.

As a method of measuring the CPU load factor, for example, a "program execution unit" (generally "process") in which a CPU device is assigned to a task control unit of an operating system (OS) existing on a host computer
Each time), the execution time is obtained by subtracting the start time from the execution end time for each process for each unit time, by incorporating means for measuring the allocation start time and the end time. It is possible to obtain it by a method of calculating by totaling the execution times of all the processes to which the CPU devices are allocated within the unit time and dividing the total value by the unit time.

In addition to this method, for example, a unit for measuring the start and end times of the CPU allocation free time (the time when no process is allocated to the CPU) is incorporated in the task control unit in the OS, and the unit It is also possible to obtain the non-operating time of the CPU from the CPU allocation free time and the non-operating time per unit time (non-operating rate).

On the other hand, on the side of the terminal device, the event control task unit 114 performs a process of storing the CPU load factor sent from the host computer at regular intervals in the host CPU load factor table 111.

Next, the operation performed by the event control task section 114 when an event occurs due to a human being operating the input device group 108 will be described in detail.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the event processing rule table.

The event processing rule table includes an event type index section 201 for distinguishing the processing rules for each type of event generated from the input device group 108.

The event type index section 201 includes an event type 202 and a processing rule section 2 indicating an event processing method when an event belonging to the event type occurs.
A pointer 204 to 03 is provided.

The processing rule section corresponds to the event type for each CPU load factor range 205 of the host computer.
The processing rule information 206 indicating the processing procedure regarding what kind of processing is executed in the terminal device is stored.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, C of the host computer
The “event immediate report processing” 207, which classifies the PU load factor into four stages for each “25 (%)” and immediately reports to the host computer without modifying the event data according to each stage 207 , "Event aggregation processing" 208 in which events are stored without reporting until a certain amount occurs within a certain unit time, and are reported collectively when a certain amount or a certain time is reached, CPU load of the host computer is constant Event data is stored until it falls to a certain value, and when it falls below a certain value, "event hold processing" 209 that reports event data collectively, all event data,
"Event discard processing" 210 that is not reported to the host computer
Etc. are incorporated.

This embodiment is merely an example of processing rule information, and it goes without saying that the operator can store various processing procedures as event processing rules for each load factor range of the host computer.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an event processing flow in the event control task section 114.

This process is started when an event occurs from the input device group 108 provided in the terminal device 102.

First, the event processing rule table is searched for information on an event processing method corresponding to the type of event that has occurred (step 301).

As a search method, a search is performed by checking whether or not the type of event that has occurred and the type of event stored in the event type index section match, and the type of event that corresponds to the searched event type is searched. The corresponding processing rule section is searched by tracing the pointer to the processing rule section.

Next, the latest CPU load factor data of the host computer stored in the CPU load factor storage table 111 provided in the terminal device is fetched (step 302).

Next, the retrieved CPU load factor data is compared with the CPU load factor range stored in the retrieved machining rule section, and the corresponding machining rule information is retrieved (step 303).

Finally, the processing procedure stored in the processing rule information is executed to execute the processing corresponding to the event (step 304).

Next, the event aggregation processing and the event suspension processing, which are examples of the event processing processing, will be described in detail.

The event aggregation processing is performed until a certain number of events occur within a unit time in which the events exist.
It tries to reduce the processing on the host computer by storing it without reporting it to the host computer and reporting it to the host computer as one event collectively when a certain amount or a certain time has elapsed. Processing.

In the event aggregation, it is necessary to save some events that occurred in the past. The table used for this storage is the event storage work table 113 shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the event storage work table used in the event aggregation processing.

In the event storage work table, one aggregation block 401 is assigned for each event processing procedure according to the event processing rule shown in FIG.

Since the event generation time 402 and the cumulative number 403 of events that have occurred are necessary in the event aggregation processing, the areas that store these and the events that have actually occurred from the input device group of the terminal device are stored. An event data storage area 404 that stores event data indicating the contents of

Here, the event occurrence time and the cumulative number of events store "0" as an initial value when the terminal device is started.

It should be noted that, as the time of occurrence of the event, it is assumed that the accumulated number of seconds is stored as the relative time since the terminal device was started. Further, the event data, if it is a mouse button pressing event, is data indicating the specific content of the generated event such as coordinate data indicated by the mouse pointer at that timing.

FIG. 5 shows the procedure of the event aggregation process, which is an example of the modification process.

The event aggregation process is performed by referring to the aggregation block corresponding to the aggregation process of the event storage work table shown in FIG.

First, in order to check whether or not an event of the same type as the event that has occurred this time has occurred within a certain fixed time, it is determined whether or not the cumulative number of events is "0" (step 501).

If the value is "0", the event has occurred for the first time, so the time of occurrence of the event and the event data are stored in the block (step 502).

Further, a timer for measuring a fixed time is set (step 503), and after the fixed time elapses, the host report processing described later is activated.

If it is not "0", the above two processes are skipped.

Next, in order to save that the cumulative number has increased by "1" due to the event that occurred this time,
"1" is added to the cumulative number of events, which indicates the number of events that have occurred so far (step 504).

Next, it is determined whether or not the total number of events has reached the maximum number of events to aggregate (step 505).

If the maximum number has not been reached, the events that have occurred this time are aggregated into the events that have occurred previously, so the process is terminated without performing any processing.

On the other hand, when the maximum number is reached, the event data and the cumulative number are generated as one new event (step 506).

Here, whether or not to send the aggregated new event to the host computer at that time can be determined according to the rule of the event processing process for the new event.

Next, in the event aggregation process, since the aggregated event is reported as a new event, the work table and the like are initialized so that the aggregation process can be newly performed. Specifically, "0" is stored in the total number of aggregates (step 507), and a process for canceling a timer for measuring a certain time (step 508) is performed.

By the above processing alone, unless a certain number of events are collected, a new event will not be generated forever. Therefore, when it is necessary to forcibly generate an event from an aggregated event after a certain time has elapsed, a certain process is performed. The process for this is the forced event report process.

FIG. 6 shows a flow of forced event report processing.

The compulsory event report process is started after a certain time has elapsed from the occurrence of the first event to be aggregated using the timer described in FIG. 5, and the process (step 506), (step 507) in FIG. ), (Step 50
The same processing as the processing shown in 8) (step 601),
(Step 602) and (Step 603) are executed.

If the cumulative number of events reaches a certain amount to be aggregated before the certain time has elapsed, the process shown in FIG.
As shown in step 508 of 1., the timer is canceled so that the compulsory reporting process is not activated.

Next, an event holding process will be described as another example of the event processing process.

The event hold processing is C of the host computer.
Until the PU load factor falls below a predetermined value, event data
This is a process of accumulating data and reporting event data collectively when the CPU load factor falls below a predetermined value, and is a process of performing the process on the host computer during a time period when the load factor is low. .

When performing the event hold processing, it is necessary to save some events that have occurred in the past. For this storage, the event storage work table may be used as in the aggregation processing.

When performing the event suspension processing, the data to be suspended is different from the event aggregation processing, and therefore the block configuration is different from that of the aggregation processing.

FIG. 7 shows the structure of a holding block for carrying out the holding process.

The suspension block 701 has a list form for accumulating individual event data one after another, and each cell constituting the list has a suspension release host CPU load range data 702 for releasing the suspension. , Event data storage area 703.

In the event hold processing, when an event to be held occurs, the event data of the event that occurred and the CPU load range data of the host computer that should release the hold of the event are stored in the cells of the hold block one after another. go.

FIG. 8 is a flow of a hold releasing process showing a process of determining whether or not the hold should be released, and releasing the hold of a necessary event if necessary.

In this process, the CPU load factor of the host computer sent from the host computer is received by the terminal device, and C
It is activated at the timing stored in the PU load factor storage table. The event control task unit searches the hold block in FIG. 6 for each cell, and the CPU load factor of the host computer stored in the CPU load factor storage table is included in the range of the hold release host CPU load range data. The cell which is open is searched (step 801).

Next, the event data stored in this cell is reported to the host computer (step 802).
Further, the cell is deleted from the block (step 803). By repeatedly executing this process for all the cells stored on the block, it is possible to release the hold of the event.

In the embodiment, the processing of the event is shown by using a relatively simple example. However, the user may combine these processings according to the processing characteristics of the terminal device or the host computer. Needless to say, more complicated event processing can be realized by incorporating new processing.

As described above, by using the computer system shown in FIG. 1, it is possible to easily realize the event processing in the terminal device according to the processing capacity of the host computer. In this embodiment, the CPU load factor of the host computer is used as the data for detecting the processing margin of the host computer, but other information, for example, sent from the host computer to the terminal device. The object of the present invention can be achieved by using information such as the amount and frequency of incoming information, communication line load information, host computer delay time (responsiveness) to an event sent from the terminal device to the host computer. It goes without saying that a terminal device that can do this can be easily realized.

[0103]

According to the present invention, it is possible to easily realize a terminal device which performs event processing according to the processing characteristics of the host computer.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an event processing rule table.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of processing an event in an event control task unit.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an event storage work table in event aggregation processing.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an event aggregation processing procedure, which is an example of modification processing.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a forced event report processing procedure that is part of the event aggregation processing procedure.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an event storage work table in event holding processing.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a hold release processing procedure that is a part of an event hold processing that is an example of a modification processing.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 ... Host computer, 102 ... Terminal device, 103 ... Communication line, 104 ... CPU device, 105 ... Storage device, 10
6 ... CPU load measurement task unit, 107 ... Output device group, 1
08 ... Input device group, 109 ... Terminal processing device, 110 ... Terminal storage device, 111 ... CPU load factor storage table, 11
2 ... Event processing rule table, 113 ... Event storage work table, 114 ... Event control task section, 2
01 ... Event type index section, 202 ... Event type, 203 ... Processing rule section, 204 ... Pointer to processing rule section, 205 ... Load factor range, 206 ... Processing rule information, 207 ... Event immediate report processing, 208 ... Event Aggregation process, 209 ... Event hold process, 210 ... Event discard process, 401 ... Aggregation block, 402 ... Event occurrence time, 403 ... Cumulative number of events, 404 ...
Event data storage area, 701 ... Reserved block, 70
2 ... Hold release host CPU load range data, 703 ... Event data storage area

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masahiro Nakamura 5-2-1 Omika-cho, Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki Hitachi Process Computer Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Makoto Aida 5-chome, Omika-cho, Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki No. 1 Hiritsu Process Computer Engineering Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method for processing an event generated by the terminal device in a network configured by connecting at least one terminal device and a host computer via a transmission line, the method comprising: The event processing method for a terminal device, wherein the processed event is processed according to a processing rule predetermined corresponding to an operating rate of a CPU included in the host computer. 2. The processing rule according to claim 1, wherein the processing rule aggregates at least two or more events generated by the terminal device, and the event aggregation amount reaches a predetermined amount or more, or a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of the aggregation process. An event processing method for a terminal device, comprising: collectively transferring the aggregated events to the host computer when the time has elapsed. 3. The event processing method for a terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the processing rule is to discard an event generated by the terminal device. 4. The processing rule according to claim 1, wherein the processing rule sequentially accumulates at least two or more events generated by the terminal device, and when the operating rate of the CPU becomes a predetermined value or less. An event processing method for a terminal device, wherein the accumulated events are collectively transferred to the host computer. 5. The event processing method for a terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the processing rule can be arbitrarily set for each of the terminal devices. 6. A network system configured by connecting at least one terminal device and a host computer via a transmission line, wherein the host computer measures an operating rate of its own CPU. Further, each terminal device includes an event generating means for generating an event including a mouse click and a keyboard input, an operating rate detecting means for detecting a value of the operating rate given by the operating rate measuring means, and the operating state. A means for storing a predetermined processing rule corresponding to the rate, a means for processing an event generated according to the processing rule, and a transfer means for transferring the processed event to the host computer. And network system.