JPH09307572A - Information transmission controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To build up an information transmission control system with high security by configuring the system in which fail-safe configuration equipments are interconnected as a master set and terminal equipments. SOLUTION: A master set 20 uses a self-diagnostic section 21 to monitor its own normal operation and stops transmission of a control signal, transfers its control to a normal slave set or tries to quickly recover itself when the self-diagnosis indicates any failure. The master set 20 makes communication with a terminal equipment selected by a polling signal from a polling section 23. A terminal equipment 30 uses a self-diagnostic section 31 to monitor its own normal operation and transfers its control to a normal slave set or tries to quickly recover itself when the self-diagnosis indicates any failure, the same as the case with the master set 20. When a polling judgment section 33 judges it that its own equipment is selected and the terminal equipment itself makes communication based on the polling signal from the master set 20, the terminal equipment 30 starts communication with the master set 20. During communication, an answer-back section 35 returns a control signal received from the master set 20 to the master set 20 as an answer signal. When no error is found out, the output section 36 outputs information of its own equipment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a master unit for transmitting a control signal and a master unit connected by a serial transmission line. The master unit receives a control signal from the master unit to operate and also receives an information signal of the master unit. The present invention relates to an information transmission control device including a terminal for sending to a device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in railway signal control, a fail-safe device is used to make the control safer in the event of an abnormality in order to ensure safety. Then, it is conceivable to construct a system in which devices configured to be fail-safe are connected to each other as a master device and a terminal.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional technique, even if the devices themselves are configured to be fail-safe, the system connecting them does not become fail-safe, and the system is fail-safe. In order to ensure high safety, it is necessary to devise the overall configuration.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to the problems of the above-mentioned conventional techniques. In each of these systems, a system in which fail-safe devices are connected to each other as a master unit and a terminal is constructed with high safety. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information transmission control device capable of performing the above.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, the gist of the present invention is to provide a master unit (20) for transmitting a control signal and the master unit (20) by a serial transmission line.
An information transmission control device (10), comprising a terminal (30) which is connected to the terminal (30) and which operates by receiving a control signal from the parent device (20) and sends an information signal of the own device to the parent device (20), The base unit (20) includes a self-diagnosis unit (21),
The self-diagnosis unit (21) includes an input unit (22), a polling unit (23), an output signal adjusting unit (24), a transmission confirmation unit (25), and a safety holding unit (26). The input unit (22) is for monitoring its own normal operation.
Receives information from the terminal (30), the polling unit (23) sets to selectively communicate with the terminal (30) by polling, and the output signal preparation unit (24) ) Is for creating cycle data which is made up of a series of control signals including polling data and is repeatedly output, and inverts high and low of the data each time the content of the cycle data is changed. The transmission confirmation unit (25) uses the terminal (3
0) to determine whether the transmission line is normal, and the safety holding unit (26) sends a control signal to the safety side when the transmission confirmation unit (25) detects an abnormality in the transmission line. The terminal (30) includes a self-diagnosis unit (31), an input unit (32), a polling determination unit (33), a data monitoring unit (34), and an answerback unit (35). And an output unit (36) and a cycle determination unit (37)
And the self-diagnosis unit (31) has the terminal (3
0) Monitors the normal operation of itself, the input unit (32) receives a control signal from the master unit (20), and the polling determination unit (33) controls the master unit (2).
0) is used to judge whether communication is possible or not, and the data monitoring section (34) judges whether or not the data input from the transmission line is correct by the verification code added to the cycle data. Yes, the answerback unit (35) returns the control signal received from the master unit (20) to the transmission line as an answer signal, and the output unit (36) outputs the information of the own unit to the transmission line. The information transmission control device (10) is characterized in that the cycle judgment unit (37) monitors whether or not the data is switched to high and low every cycle.
Exists.

The present invention operates as follows.

The base unit (20) receives an information signal from the terminal (30) group through the serial transmission line T, grasps the situation, and transmits a control signal according to the purpose. Each terminal (30)
Receives a control signal from the parent device (20) through the serial transmission line T and operates, and sends an information signal of the own device to the parent device (20).

More specifically, the master unit (20) monitors its own normal operation by the self-diagnosis unit (21) and, if an abnormality is diagnosed by the self-diagnosis, the control signal is stopped or the normal operation is stopped. Give control to the device and try to recover quickly. Further, the master unit (20) communicates with the terminal (30) selected by the polling signal from the polling unit (23).

Communication between the master unit (20) and the terminal (30) is performed as follows. In the parent device (20), a series of control signals including polling data is configured as one cycle data, and the cycle data is repeatedly output signal preparation unit (2
4) to the terminal (30). Also, the control signal is
Cycle data is output by inverting high and low every cycle. The input unit (22) receives the information from the terminal (30), and the transmission confirmation unit (25) receives the answer signal from the terminal (30) at the time of communication and determines the normality of the transmission path. If the transmission confirmation unit (25) detects an abnormality in the transmission path, the safety holding unit (26) sets the control signal to the safe side to ensure fail safe.

The terminal (30) monitors its own normal operation by the self-diagnosis unit (31), and if there is an abnormality, the master unit (2)
As in 0), control is given to a normal slave device and quick recovery is attempted. The polling determination unit (33) is the master unit (2
The terminal (30) starts communication with the master unit (20) when the terminal (30) determines that it should communicate with it by the polling signal from 0).

The data monitoring unit (34) monitors whether or not the data is correct by the test code added to the cycle data, and considers that the data with the wrong test code is an error signal due to noise or the like. Not adopted. Also, if an error exceeds a predetermined limit such as continuous errors in the cycle, it will react as an abnormality.

During communication, the answerback unit (35) returns the control signal received from the master unit (20) to the master unit (20) as an answer signal. If there is no abnormality, the output unit (36)
Outputs its own information to the transmission path. Further, the cycle determining unit (37) monitors whether the data repeats high and low every cycle, and if not inverted, adopts the previous data and processes it. If the data is not inverted for two cycles or more, the safe side data is set to 0 (zero) and processed.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Each drawing shows an embodiment of the present invention. The information transmission control device 10 connects the plurality of terminals 3 to the parent device 20 that transmits the control signal via the serial transmission path T.
It is configured by connecting 0, 30 ... The terminal 30 operates by receiving a control signal from the parent device 20 and sends an information signal of the own device to the parent device 20. Normally, the master unit 20 is provided as a master-slave pair, and when the master unit 20, which is the master unit, has an abnormality, it can be replaced with the slave unit.

The base unit 20 has the following hardware configuration.
As shown in FIG. 2, a fail-safe comparison circuit CMP that includes two CPUs A and B having the same specifications and that compares processing data of both CPUs A and B, and an output unit OC to which the serial transmission line T is connected And a contact is provided at the exit of the serial transmission line T in the master device 20, and the fail-safe comparison circuit C is provided.
A normal relay FLR that closes this contact when the data matches in MP and opens when the data does not match is connected to a fail-safe comparison circuit CMP.

The fail-safe comparison circuit CMP, the normal relay FLR, and the serial input / output circuit IO form a self-diagnosis unit 21 that monitors the normal operation of the master unit 20 itself. The base unit 20 is provided with an input unit 22 that receives information from the terminal 30, and the input unit 22 is commonly connected to the CPUs A and B.

As shown in FIG. 1, the master device 20 includes a polling unit 23, an output signal adjusting unit 24, and a transmission confirmation unit 25.
And a safety holding unit 26 are provided. These are a polling unit 23, an output signal preparation unit 24, a transmission confirmation unit 25,
The safety holding unit 26 is provided in both CPU-A and B of the parent device 20 with the same specifications, but is simply shown as one set of display in FIG.

The polling unit 23 is set so as to selectively communicate with the terminal 30 by polling.

The output signal preparation section 24 creates cycle data repeatedly output consisting of a series of control signals including polling data, inverts high and low of data for each cycle, and detects error. Is included in the cycle data of the control signal as a CRC verification code.

Further, the transmission confirming unit 25 is arranged so that the terminal 3 can communicate with each other during communication.
It receives the answer signal from 0 to judge the normality of the transmission line, and the safety holding unit 26 sets the control signal to the safe side when the transmission confirmation unit 25 detects an abnormality in the transmission line.

The terminal 30 has the same or similar hardware configuration as the base unit 20. Then, similar to the parent device 20, a self-diagnosis unit 31 that monitors its own normal operation and an input unit 32 that receives information from the parent device 20 are provided as hardware, and a pair of CPUs (not shown) are respectively provided. Polling determination unit 33, data monitoring unit 34, answer back unit 35, output unit 36, and cycle determination unit 37.
And are provided.

The polling judgment unit 33 judges whether or not communication is possible based on the polling signal from the base unit 20, and the data monitoring unit 34 adds to the cycle data whether or not the data input from the transmission line is correct. The determination is made by the CRC verification code which is the verification code, and the answerback unit 35 returns the control signal received from the parent device 20.

The output unit 36 outputs the information of its own device to the transmission line, and the cycle judgment unit 37 monitors whether the data repeats high and low every cycle, and if not inverted, the previous time. Adopt and process data. When the data is not inverted for two cycles or more, the data on the safe side is set to 0 (zero) for processing.

Next, the operation will be described. As an outline, the master device 20 receives an information signal from the group of terminals 30 through the serial transmission line T, grasps the situation, and transmits a control signal according to the purpose. Each terminal 30 operates by receiving a control signal from the parent device 20 via the serial transmission path T, and sends an information signal of the own device to the parent device 20. In addition, the terminal group 30 may output the external control output C separately.

The base unit 20 monitors its own normal operation by the self-diagnosis unit 21. Two CPUs with the same specifications-
The fail-safe comparison circuit CMP compares the processed data of A and B, and when the data match in the fail-safe comparison circuit CMP, the contact of the normal relay FLR is closed to maintain the connection of the serial transmission line T. When the fail-safe comparison circuit CMP does not match the data, the normal relay FLR
The contact of is opened to disconnect the serial transmission line T.

In addition, when an abnormality is diagnosed by self-diagnosis, the control signal transmission is stopped, control is given to a normal slave device, or prompt recovery is made. In addition, the base unit 20
Communicates with the terminal 30 selected by the polling signal from the polling unit 23.

Communication between the base unit 20 and the terminal 30 is performed as follows. In the master device 20, the output signal adjusting unit 24
A series of control signals including polling data is configured as one cycle data, and a plurality of cycles are repeatedly output to the terminal 30. Further, the output signal preparation unit 24 includes the CRC verification code in the 1-cycle data.

The transmission format of a series of control signals including polling data is as shown in FIG. 3, and is composed of an ID code for specifying a terminal, data, an inverted ID code, and a CRC verification code. The 1-cycle data is a set of control signals having this transmission format created for each terminal.

Since the cycle data is repeatedly transmitted, even if an error signal is generated due to noise or the like during the repetition, it can be complemented by the previous signal, and the error can be detected from the CRC verification code. You can do it. Further, the control signal is output by inverting the high and low of data every cycle.

The input unit 22 receives the information from the terminal 30 and transmits it to the CPU-A, B. The transmission confirmation unit 25
The answer signal is monitored, and the answer signal from the terminal 30 is received during communication to judge the normality of the transmission path. When the transmission confirmation unit 25 detects an abnormality in the transmission line, the safety holding unit 2
6 sets the control signal to the safe side to ensure fail-safe.

The terminal 30 monitors its own normal operation by the self-diagnosis unit 31, and if there is an abnormality, transfers control to a normal slave device as in the case of the parent device 20 and makes an effort for prompt recovery. When the polling determination unit 33 determines that its own device is selected by the polling signal from the master device 20 and that communication should be performed, the terminal 30 starts communication with the master device 20.

The data monitoring unit 34 monitors whether or not the data is correct by the CRC verification code added to the cycle data, and when an error is known by the CRC verification signal, it is not adopted as a transmission error.

During the communication, the answerback unit 35 is operated by the base unit 2
The control signal received from 0 is returned to the parent device 20 as an answer signal. If there is no abnormality, the output unit 36 outputs the information of its own device to the transmission path. In addition, the cycle determination unit 37 determines that the data is 1
Monitors whether high and low are repeated every cycle,
If not reversed, the previous data is adopted and processed.
If the data is not inverted for two cycles or more, the safe side data is set to 0 (zero) and processed.

Abnormality detection in the data monitoring unit 34 is performed by the parent device 20.
The safety holding unit 26 of the parent device 20 controls to the safe side in the control state at that time, and the terminal 30 also controls to the safe side.

When the master device 20 is an electronic interlocking device and the terminal 30 is a traffic signal or a turning device which is an electronic terminal device, two sets of transmission lines may be connected between them. Then, the terminal 30 constantly monitors the state of the transmission line, and can switch the normal line quickly when an abnormality is detected.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the terminal 30 receives the polling information addressed to its own terminal device even when the line is normal, the terminal 30 transmits its own display information and
Switch the line. FIG. 4A shows how the terminal P3 switches the line.

When an abnormality occurs, for example, CRC is performed twice consecutively.
When an error occurs, a reception start time-out, a reception buffer overflow occurs, or other set abnormality, the line is switched as shown in FIG. 4 (b).

[0037]

According to the information transmission control device of the present invention, since the devices configured to be fail-safe are configured to utilize the characteristics of the master unit and the terminal, the system is highly safe. It is possible to build an information transmission control system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an information transmission control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a base unit of the information transmission control device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a transmission format of a transmission signal of the information transmission control device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of switching transmission lines of the information transmission control device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... Information transmission control device 20 ... Master device 21 ... Self-diagnosis unit 22 ... Input unit 23 ... Polling unit 24 ... Output signal preparation unit 25 ... Transmission confirmation unit 26 ... Safety holding unit 30 ... Terminal 31 ... Self-diagnosis unit 32 ... Input Part 33 ... Polling judgment part 34 ... Data monitoring part 35 ... Answer back part 36 ... Output part 37 ... Period judgment part T ... Serial transmission line

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A master unit that transmits a control signal, and a terminal that is connected to the master unit by a serial transmission line and that operates by receiving a control signal from the master unit and that sends an information signal of the own unit to the master unit. In the information transmission control device comprising, the master unit has a self-diagnosis unit, an input unit, a polling unit, an output signal preparation unit, a transmission confirmation unit, and a safety holding unit, the self-diagnosis unit Is for monitoring its own normal operation, the input unit is for receiving information from the terminal, the polling unit is set to selectively communicate with the terminal by polling, The output signal preparation unit creates cycle data that is repeatedly output and is made up of a series of control signals including polling data, and inverts the cycle data between high and low for each cycle. The transmission confirmation unit is for determining the normality of the transmission line by receiving an answer signal from the terminal at the time of communication, and the safety maintenance unit is provided when the transmission confirmation unit detects an abnormality in the transmission line. The control signal is to be on the safe side, and the terminal has a self-diagnosis unit, an input unit, a polling determination unit, a data monitoring unit, an answerback unit, an output unit, and a cycle determination unit. The self-diagnosis unit monitors the normal operation of the terminal itself, the input unit receives a control signal from the master unit, and the polling determination unit uses the polling signal from the master unit. The data monitoring unit is for determining whether or not the data input from the transmission line is correct by a verification code added to the cycle data. Is for returning the control signal received from the master unit to the transmission line as an answer signal, the output unit is for outputting the information of the own unit to the transmission line, and the cycle determination unit is one cycle of data. An information transmission control device, characterized in that it monitors for switching to high and low for each.