JPH10112714A - Communication converter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optimum error report system to attain fault monitor of RS-232-C communication on a host computer by selecting whether error information is reported to a host computer or thrown away. SOLUTION: Upon the receipt of a connection request of an error report line from a reagent check information processing unit 105, a line state monitor section 150 opens a logic line and informs the opening of the logic line to a path switching device 145. The path switching device 145 receives it to switch a path for error information to a report side. When an RS-232-C driver 160 detects a communication error in this state, it is reported to the reagent check information processing unit 105 through an error report logic channel. When the reagent check information processing unit 105 interrupts the error report logic channel, the line state monitor section 150 detects the interrupted channel and informs the interrupted channel to the path switching device 145. The path switching device 145 receives it to switch the path of the error information to a position of thrown away.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a communication conversion device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 shows the appearance of a communication system using a communication converter. When transmitting data from the communication device 510 to the information device 505, as a first step, data transmitted by the communication device is received by the communication conversion device 500 via the RS-232-C line 515. Second
As a step, the RS-232-C
And Ethernet protocol conversion is performed. As a third step, the communication data is transmitted to the information device via the Ethernet line 520. When the information device transmits data, the data is transmitted to the communication device in the opposite direction on the same communication path.

The mechanism of communication conversion inside the communication conversion device will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the inside of a conventional communication converter. The data transmitted by the communication device
Received by the RS-232-C communication control unit 440,
It is passed to the communication conversion unit 425. The communication converter determines which RS
It recognizes whether data has been received from the -232-C interface, and passes the received data to the Ethernet communication control unit. At this time, the data is transferred to an appropriate one of the N data transfer logical lines associated with each channel of the RS-232-C. Finally, the conversion is completed when the Ethernet communication control unit transmits the data onto the Ethernet. The conversion from Ethernet to RS-232-C is performed in the opposite direction. As described above,
A host computer 405 for performing Ethernet communication,
A virtual communication path connecting the communication device 410 that performs the RS-232-C communication is realized.

[0004] However, the communication converter is RS-232-C.
If a parity error or a framing error is detected by the interface and data reception from the communication device fails, the received data is discarded inside the communication conversion device without being transmitted to the host computer. At this time, in the conventional method, no error occurrence report is sent to the host computer. In the conventional method, the abnormality detection on the host computer is usually detected in the form of a communication timeout (no response from the partner station), and no active error report is made by the communication converter. Therefore, in the conventional method, it takes time to find the cause of a failure such as when the system is stopped, which is a factor that hinders the operation time of the communication system. In other words, there is a problem that no consideration is given to the execution of error reporting and error logging at the time of occurrence of a failure to determine the cause of the failure. Error reporting and error logging when a failure occurs enables quick investigation of the cause of the failure, and such a function is essential especially when exchanging important data such as money. . In addition, the active error reporting of the communication converter allows monitoring of abnormalities on the host computer,
The trouble of referring to the storage device or the like of the communication conversion device for acquiring error information can be omitted.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an optimum error reporting method for enabling an abnormality monitoring of RS-232-C communication on a host computer. In other words, in the error report, the channel in which the error has occurred and the type of the error must be known, and the error report to the host computer and the communication data from the communication device must not be confused to avoid increasing the load on the host computer. Be implemented in an easily categorizable format,
An object of the present invention is to automatically determine whether an error report to a host computer is necessary or not, so that the same communication converter can be used in a system that requires an error report or in a system that does not.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided an error reporting mechanism for controlling error reporting to a host computer;
An error reporting logical line, which is a communication line for reporting an error, is provided. A logical line is a logical communication line for performing communication between a host computer and a communication conversion device, and a plurality of logical lines may physically exist in one Ethernet. It is possible. In the present invention, there are two types of logical lines for data transfer for transmitting and receiving normal communication data and logical lines for error reporting for reporting errors. The logical line for data transfer is
The number is equal to the number of channels of the RS-232-C, and the logical line for data transfer and the RS-232-C line correspond one to one. The error reporting mechanism includes an error reporting request monitoring unit for monitoring an error reporting request from the communication conversion unit, a line status monitoring unit for determining whether an error reporting line is connected, and transmitting error information to the host computer. It consists of a path switching mechanism that switches between reporting and discarding.

An error reporting mechanism is incorporated in the communication conversion device,
The host computer confuses communication data with error reporting by providing a dedicated logical line for error reporting as an Ethernet logical line connecting the communication converter and the host computer, in addition to the data transfer logical line through which normal communication data flows. It is possible to easily classify without performing. For the error reporting line, the host computer is set on the client side and the establishment / shutdown of the line is entrusted to the host computer side, thereby facilitating the determination of the establishment / shutdown of the logical line by the logical line status monitoring unit.
The error reporting mechanism is provided with two types of communication paths for reading and discarding the error information and reporting the error information to the host computer. By incorporating a path switching mechanism for switching the path based on a signal from the line state monitoring unit, the host computer can execute the communication. It is not necessary to explicitly specify the necessity of error reporting. If reporting is required, an error reporting line is connected. If not, it is only necessary not to connect. Therefore, the same communication conversion device can be used in both the communication system that requires the error report and the system that does not require the error report.

Further, the host computer displays the error report content received from the communication conversion device as warning information on a screen, thereby easily monitoring the abnormality on the host computer.

[0009]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention.
This will be described below. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the inside of a communication conversion apparatus to which the present invention is applied.
Communication device 310 having C interface, and communication conversion device 300 for converting between Ethernet and RS-232-C
It consists of. The communication converter incorporates the error reporting mechanism 335 according to the present invention.

[0010] The components of the communication converter are typically realized by software using a real-time OS. That is, the Ethernet communication control unit is realized as an Ethernet driver, the RS-232-C communication control unit is realized as an RS-232-C driver, and the communication conversion unit and the error reporting mechanism are realized as a communication conversion task and an error reporting task, respectively. The communication path connecting the communication conversion unit and the error reporting mechanism is an inter-task communication path such as a pipe or message passing.

An embodiment of an error report according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a system for testing a specimen such as blood. In this system, “sample test request” and “test result” are handled as communication data. The correspondence with FIG. 3 is that the sample test information processing device is a host computer and the sample test device is a communication device.

In the initial state, the error reporting logical line is in the cutoff state, the path switching mechanism is on the discard side, and the error reporting task monitors the error reporting request 135 from the communication conversion task by the error reporting request monitoring unit 140. Now
In the initial state, it is assumed that the RS-232-C driver of the communication conversion device 100 has detected a communication error because the test result data transmitted from the sample testing device 110 has changed due to the influence of noise. The communication conversion task is RS-23
The detailed error information is acquired from the 2-C driver, and the error information is notified to the error reporting task by an inter-task communication mechanism such as a pipe or message passing. This request is accepted by the error report request monitoring module regardless of the state of the error reporting line. However, since the path of the error information is set to the discard side, the error reporting task discards the request and returns to the initial state.
Such an operation is invisible to the sample test information processing apparatus, and the communication program on the sample test information processing apparatus is used without modification even for a conventional communication conversion apparatus that does not incorporate an error reporting mechanism. It is possible.

When an error reporting logical line is connected, it operates differently. Upon receiving the error report line connection request from the sample test information processing apparatus, the line state monitoring unit opens a logical line, and notifies the path switching mechanism of the establishment of the logical line. The path switching mechanism receives this and switches the path of the error information to the reporting side. In this state, R
It is assumed that the S-232-C driver has detected a communication error. Even in this case, the communication conversion task is RS-232-C
The process is the same until the error information is obtained from the driver and the error is reported to the error reporting task.However, since the error information route is set on the reporting side, the error information is routed to the sample test information processing device through the error reporting logical line. Will be reported.

When the sample test information processing apparatus cuts off the error reporting logical line, the line state monitoring unit detects the line disconnection and notifies the path switching mechanism of the logical line disconnection. In response to this, the path switching mechanism switches the path of the error information to the discard side. This state is equal to the initial state, and the error report request from the communication conversion task is discarded without being reported to the sample test information processing apparatus.

As described above, the path of the error information is automatically changed depending on the state of the error reporting logical line. Therefore, the sample test information processing apparatus connects the error reporting logical line when an error report is required. Just do it. If no error report is required, it is only necessary to simply connect a logical line.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of data transmitted through the error reporting line. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the error information is divided into a part indicating the channel in which the error has occurred and a part indicating the type of the error. By transmitting such error information and displaying this data on the display device of the sample test information processing device, when an error occurs, what error is detected on which channel without referring to the storage device of the communication conversion device. It can be easily known whether or not it has occurred. Reference numeral 155 in FIG. 1 represents an embodiment of an error screen display when the sample test information processing apparatus receives an error report.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart when the error reporting mechanism is realized by software. The error reporting mechanism is initially in a line connection request waiting state 600. Here, when a line connection request is received from the sample test information processing apparatus, the state transits to an error report request waiting state 615 after opening a logical line. In the error report request wait state, every time an error report request is received, an error report is made through the logical line opened in 605, and the process returns to the error report request wait state. At the same time, the connection state of the logical line is monitored, and when the disconnection is detected, the state returns to the initial state. If an error report request is received in an initial state, that is, in a state in which a logical line is not established, it is simply discarded.

[0018]

According to the present invention, when a communication error occurs, an error report is sent to the host computer, thereby enabling an abnormality monitoring on the host computer. In error reporting, by using an error reporting line prepared separately from the logical line for communication data transfer, normal communication data and error information can be easily distinguished,
The load on the host computer can be reduced by the error report. The host computer can easily monitor the host computer for abnormalities by extracting the channel number where the error occurred and the type of error from the reported error information and displaying them on the screen. This enables efficient failure analysis in a short time. Further, the communication converter automatically determines whether or not to report an error, so that the communication converter can be used in a system that does not require an error report.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment when the present invention is realized by software.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of error information transmitted by a communication conversion device to a host computer.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the inside of a communication converter incorporating an error reporting mechanism according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an internal block diagram of a conventional communication conversion device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a communication system using a communication conversion device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart when the error reporting mechanism according to the present invention is implemented by software.

[Explanation of symbols]

100: communication conversion device, 130: communication conversion task, 16
5 ... an internet driver.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for converting between RS-232-C communication and Ethernet communication, comprising N RS-232-C interfaces as physical communication interfaces and one physically but logically. Has an Ethernet interface composed of a plurality of logical lines, and an Ethernet communication control unit for controlling a communication interface, RS-232-C.
In a communication conversion device including a communication control unit, RS-23
A communication conversion unit for converting between 2-C communication and Ethernet communication, a line status monitoring unit for monitoring the status of an Ethernet logical line, and an error report request monitoring unit for monitoring a report request for a communication error occurring in RS-232-C. And a path switching mechanism for switching between reporting and discarding a path of the error information received by the error report request monitoring unit to an information device connected via Ethernet. 2. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein
N data transfer logical lines associated with the RS-232-C communication and one error report for reporting a communication error occurring in the RS-232-C to an information device connected via Ethernet. And a data transfer logical line corresponding to the RS-232-C line for normal communication data.
C: A communication conversion device that, when a communication control unit detects a communication error such as a parity error, reports an error occurrence to an information device connected via an error reporting logical line. 3. An information apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the type of error in which channel is reported to the information device, and the information device displays the error information on a screen.
A communication conversion device provided with an error reporting mechanism that enables abnormality monitoring on information equipment.