JPH09284287A - Network system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To control remotely power on/off of each terminal equipment from a host device without considerable revision of an existing system by providing a terminal power supply controller provided with a relay switch, a signal detection circuit and a reception timer one to one to each terminal equipment. SOLUTION: A signal from a line concentrator via a concentrator side line is given from a concentrator side connector 11 to a receiver 17 of a signal detection circuit 21 in a terminal power supply controller 10 provided one to one to each terminal equipment. An output signal of the receiver 17 is reproduced and given to the terminal equipment through a terminal equipment side line from a terminal equipment side connector 12. Furthermore, an output signal of the receiver 17 is given to a reception timer 25 every time the output signal is received and a signal from an output terminal OUT goes to an 'ON' level. Thus, a relay switch 24 is closed and an AC power supply is supplied to an AC power socket 13 so as to apply on-control to power of the terminal equipment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a standardized network system such as a LAN (premise information communication network).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 shows an IS called 10BASE-T.
1 shows a configuration example of a network system on a LAN standardized by O802.3. In the figure, reference numeral 1
Is a host device such as a server, reference numeral 2 is a network HU
It is a concentrator called B (hub), during which LA is
The connection is made with the first network line 3 classified as "10BASE-2" in the 10BASE standard of the N interface cable. The concentrator 2 has a plurality of cable connectors 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e, and each cable connector 2a to 2e has a second network line 4 classified as "10BASE-T" in the 10BASE standard. Terminal devices 5 such as a personal computer and a workstation are connected to each other via.

[0003]

In the standardized network system as shown in FIG. 5, since the signal lines for controlling the on / off of the power source are not incorporated in the network lines 3 and 4, each terminal is The power on / off of the device 5 could not be remotely controlled from the host device 1 using the network lines 3 and 4. Power on from the host device 1 to each terminal device 5 through the network lines 3 and 4,
Although it is possible for the processor of the terminal equipment 5 to recognize the command and turn the power on or off by sending an off control command, this method allows the processor of the terminal equipment 5 to operate even when the power is off. Since the command from the host device must be awaited, the power supply of the processor must be backed up, and the mechanism of the terminal device 5 becomes complicated.

The present invention has been made under such circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a network in which the power of each terminal device can be remotely controlled from the host device without significantly changing the existing system. It is intended to provide a system.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a concentrator is connected to a host device via a first network line, and a plurality of terminal devices are connected to the concentrator via a second network line, respectively. In this network system, a relay switch that turns on and off the supply of power to the terminal device, a signal detection circuit that detects a signal from the host device that is transmitted on the second network line, and a timekeeping value by a fixed timekeeping operation. When it reaches the set value, it outputs a signal to control the relay switch off, and resets the time value each time a detection signal from the signal detection circuit is input, and outputs a signal to control the relay switch on. The terminal power supply control device provided is provided for each terminal device in a one-to-one correspondence, and the host device controls each concentrator by controlling each concentrator. Power-on of the end devices, in which the off so that the remote control. The host device normally sends a link signal at intervals of several tens of millimeters between the concentrator and each terminal device in order to confirm the connection state of the line.
The set value of the reception timer is set to a time sufficiently larger than the interval of the link signal. By doing so, the host device controls the concentrator so as to interrupt the link signal, so that the power of the terminal device can be remotely controlled to be turned off. Further, the host device can remotely control the power of the terminal device by controlling the concentrator so as to generate the link signal.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, in this embodiment, FIG.
ISO 802.3 called 10BASE-T shown in
A case where the present invention is applied to a network system on a LAN standardized in 1. will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of such a network system, and the same parts as those in FIG. 5 are designated by the same reference numerals.
That is, in the network system of this embodiment, the host device 1 and the concentrator 2 are connected by the first network line 3 classified as "10BASE-2" in the 10BASE standard of the LAN interface cable.
In addition, each cable connector 2a, 2b, 2 of the concentrator 2
The terminal devices 5 are connected to c, 2d, and 2e via the second network line 4 classified as "10BASE-T" in the 10BASE standard.

Each terminal device 5 has its own terminal device 5.
Terminal power control unit (PCU) 10 for controlling the power supply of the terminal
Are provided in a one-to-one correspondence. The second network line 4 comprises a line 4a on the concentrator side and a line 4b on the terminal device side. The line connector 4a connects the cable connector of the concentrator 2 to the connector 11 of the terminal power source control device 10 to connect the terminal to the terminal. The device side line 4b connects the terminal device side connector 12 of the terminal power supply control device 10 to the terminal device 5.
Further, the power cord 6 of each terminal device 5 is connected to the AC outlet 13 of the terminal power control device 10. The terminal power supply control device 10 is used by connecting the power plug 14 to a commercial power supply.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the terminal power supply control device 10. The LAN interface cable in the 10BASE-T standard uses a total of four transmission signal lines and two reception signal lines, and the concentrator side connector 11 and the terminal device side connector 12 each have two transmission lines. It has signal line terminals TxD + and TxD- and two reception signal line terminals RxD + and RxD-. In the terminal power supply control device 10, the transmission signal line terminals TxD +, TxD- of the concentrator side connector 11 and the transmission signal line terminals TxD +, TxD- of the terminal device side connector 12 are directly connected by signal lines. On the other hand, the concentrator side connector 11
Between the reception signal line terminals RxD + and RxD− of the terminal device side connector 12 and the reception signal line terminals RxD + and RxD− of the terminal device side connector 12;
The signal processing circuits of the driver 18, the transmission filter 19 and the transformer 20 are serially connected in order from the concentrator side connector 11. Here, the transformer 15, the reception filter 16, and the receiver 17 constitute a signal detection circuit 21 that detects a signal from the host device 1 transmitted on the second network line 4.

In the terminal power control device 10, the power plug 14 and the AC outlet 13 are connected by the power line 22. A power supply circuit 23 for generating a power supply used in the device is connected to the power supply line 22. Further, a relay switch 24 for switching ON / OFF of power supply to the terminal device 5 is inserted downstream of the power supply circuit 23 in the power supply line 21.

The terminal power supply control device 10 inputs the detection signal from the signal detection circuit 21 to the reset terminal RESET and the activation input terminal D, and inputs the clock signal from the clock oscillator (not shown) to the clock terminal CLK. The reception timer 25 is installed. The reception timer 25 has its output terminal OUT connected to the excitation terminal of the relay switch 24. Therefore, the reception timer 25 counts up the clock value T every time a clock signal is input to the clock terminal CLK, as shown in FIG. When the measured value T reaches the set value X, the signal at the output terminal OUT is set to the "OFF" level. As a result, the relay switch 24 is deenergized and switched off. Further, each time the detection signal from the signal detection circuit 21 is input to the reset terminal RESET and the start input terminal D, the time count value T
After resetting once, restarts the timing operation. At this time, if the signal at the output terminal OUT is "OFF" level, it is set to "ON" level, and if it is "ON" level, the state is maintained. As a result, if the relay switch 24 is not excited, the relay switch 24 is excited to switch on, and the relay switch 2
If No. 4 is excited, that state is continued and the switch-on is maintained.

In the terminal power supply control device 10 having such a configuration, the signal flowing from the concentrator 2 through the concentrator side line 4a in the second network line 4 is transmitted from the concentrator side connector 11 to the transformer 1 in the signal detection circuit 21.
5 and the filter 16 to be input to the receiver 17. The output signal of the receiver 17 is reproduced through the driver 18, the filter 19 and the transformer 20 on the transmission side, and the terminal device side connector 12 to the terminal device side line 4 are reproduced.
It is given to the terminal device 5 through b.

The output signal of the receiver 17 is given to the reception timer 25. In the reception timer 25, resetting is repeated every time the output signal of the receiver 17 is input, and the signal from the output terminal OUT becomes "ON" level.
Therefore, the relay switch 24 is closed and AC power is applied to the AC outlet 13, so that the terminal device 5
The power is controlled to be turned on.

On the other hand, when the signal flowing from the concentrator 2 through the concentrator side line 4a is interrupted, the reception timer 25 continues to count up. When the measured value T exceeds the set value X, the signal from the output terminal OUT becomes "OFF" level. Therefore, the relay switch 24 is opened and the AC power supply to the AC outlet 13 is cut off, so that the power of the terminal device 5 is controlled to be turned off. The transmission signal from the terminal device 5 is relayed as it is from the terminal device side connector 12 to the concentrator side connector 11.

Generally, in this type of network system, the host device 1 controls the concentrator 2 to connect the terminal devices 5 to each other on the second network line 4.
As shown in FIG. 4, the link state is confirmed by sending a link signal between data signals at intervals of several tens of milliseconds. Also, the concentrator 2 can disconnect the line for each of the cable connectors 2a to 2e by a command from the host device 1.

Therefore, the set value X of the reception timer 25 in the terminal power supply control device 10 is set to a value sufficiently larger than the interval of the link signal (several tens of milliseconds). In this way, when the host device 1 sends a command to disconnect the concentrator 2 such as the cable connector 2a, the link signal flowing on the second network line 4 connected to the cable connector 2a is interrupted (time t in FIG. 4).
1). Then, when the measured value T of the reception timer 25 in the terminal power supply control device 10 has passed the set value X, the relay switch 24 in the terminal power supply control device 10 opens,
The terminal device 5 corresponding to the terminal power supply control device 10 is powered off (time point t2 in FIG. 4).

After that, when a command for connecting, for example, the cable connector 2a of the concentrator 2 is sent from the host device 1, a link signal is generated on the second network line 4 connected to this cable connector 2a (at the time point in FIG. 4). t3). As a result, the reception timer 25 in the terminal power supply control device 10 is restarted, the relay switch 24 in the terminal power supply control device 10 is closed, and the power of the terminal device 5 corresponding to the terminal power supply control device 10 is turned on.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, even in the standardized network system in which the signal lines for controlling the power on / off are not incorporated in the network lines 3 and 4, the host device 1 By controlling the concentrator 2 with, the power supply ON / OFF of the terminal devices 5 respectively connected to the concentrator 2 can be remotely controlled to be switched.

In this case, since the terminal power supply control device 10 according to the present invention is simply connected between the concentrator 2 and each terminal device 5 of the conventional network system, the existing system can be easily changed without making a great change. There are advantages that can be implemented. Also, each cable connector 2a is attached to the concentrator 2.
Even if there is no function of disconnecting the line for each ~ 2e, the power of all the terminal devices 5 connected to the concentrator 2 can be turned off by turning off the power of the concentrator 2.

In the above embodiment, 10BASE is used.
LAN standardized by ISO802.3 called -T
Although the terminal power supply control device of the present invention is applied to the above network system, it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to other standardized network systems.

[0021]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a network system that can remotely control the power on / off of each terminal device from a host device without making a major change to the existing system.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a terminal power supply control device in FIG.

3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the reception timer in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart of essential signals in the same embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a conventional network system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Host device 2 ... Concentrator 3 ... First network line 4 ... Second network line 5 ... Terminal device 10 ... Terminal power supply control device 21 ... Signal detection circuit 24 ... Relay switch 25 ... Reception timer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A network system in which a concentrator is connected to a host device via a first network line, and a plurality of terminal devices are connected to the concentrator via second network lines, respectively. Power supply to the relay switch for switching on and off, a signal detection circuit for detecting a signal from the host device transmitted on the second network line, and a timed value reaches a set value by a certain timed operation Then, a reception timer that outputs a signal for controlling the relay switch to be turned off, and that resets the clock value each time a detection signal from the signal detection circuit is input and outputs a signal to control to turn on the relay switch is provided. A terminal power supply control device is provided for each terminal device in a one-to-one correspondence, and the host device controls the concentrator. Network system, characterized by remotely controlling more power on each terminal device off.