JPH10207745A - Method for confirming inter-processor existence - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inter-processor existence confirmation method in which a master process can exactly detect the runaway or fault of a slave processor. SOLUTION: Illumination controllers 2... control and monitor connected illumination loads 3.... The plural illumination controllers 2 are connected through a transmitting medium 4 with an illumination supervision controller 1, and the illumination supervision controller 1 centralizedly monitors the tuning-on states of the illumination loads 3... based on a monitor signal transmitted from each illumination controller 2.... In this case, each time a prescribed transmission interval passes, the illumination supervision controller 1 transmit an existence confirmation signal to the illumination controller 2, and the illumination controller 2 which receives this existence confirmation signal returns a prescribed response signal to the illumination supervision controller 1. The illumination supervision controller 1 judges that abnormality such as runaway or fault is generated in the illumination controller 2 when the arbitrary signal is not received from the illumination controller 2 in a period longer than a prescribed abnormality judging time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inter-processor survival confirmation method for a master processor to confirm the operation of a slave processor connected to the master processor via a transmission medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a system in which a master processor and a slave processor are connected via a transmission medium,
The master processor has confirmed the operation of the slave processor by using the following inter-processor survival confirmation method. First, the master processor transmits a survival confirmation signal for operation confirmation to the slave processor, and from the time when the survival confirmation signal is transmitted until a predetermined abnormality determination time elapses, a predetermined response to the survival confirmation signal from the slave processor is performed. If a response signal is received, the master processor determines that the operation of the slave processor is normal. If the response signal cannot be received within the abnormality determination time, the master processor determines that the slave processor has an abnormality such as runaway or failure. It was determined that this occurred (see JP-A-5-181760).

[0003]

In the above-described inter-processor survival confirmation method, when the master processor transmits the survival confirmation signal to the slave processor, the slave processor continuously transmits an arbitrary signal other than the response signal for a long time. If the slave processor is in an overload condition, it is necessary to return the response signal from the slave processor to the master processor, and the response signal may not be returned within the abnormality determination time. However, the master processor erroneously detects that an abnormality has occurred in the slave processor.

Further, even if the slave processor can return the response signal within the abnormality determination time, there is a problem that the return of the response signal is delayed and it takes time for the master processor to confirm the operation of the slave processor. . By the way, when the slave processor is in an overloaded state, in order to prevent the master processor from erroneously detecting an abnormality in the slave processor due to a delay in the response signal,
It is conceivable to set the abnormality determination time longer in consideration of the delay of the response signal. For example, when the master processor outputs a survival confirmation signal to the slave processor every other minute, the abnormality determination time is set to 5 minutes, and a response signal is sent within 5 minutes after the master processor transmits the survival confirmation signal. If received, the master processor determines that the operation of the slave processor is normal. As described above, by providing a margin for the abnormality determination time, even if the response signal is slightly delayed, the master processor does not erroneously detect the abnormality of the slave processor, but the abnormality determination time has a margin. In addition, there is a problem that it takes time to detect an abnormality of the slave processor. In addition, when the response signal is further delayed even though the abnormality determination time is set to be longer, there is also a problem that the master processor erroneously detects the abnormality of the slave processor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to prevent the slave processor from erroneously detecting an abnormality in the slave processor even when the slave processor is overloaded. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for confirming the existence between processors which can be reliably detected. Also,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an inter-processor survival confirmation method in which the time from when an abnormality occurs in a slave processor to when the master processor detects the occurrence of the abnormality is reduced.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, to achieve the above object, a master processor and a slave processor are connected via a transmission medium, and the master processor is connected to the slave processor every time a predetermined time elapses. In the inter-processor survival confirmation method of transmitting a survival confirmation signal for operation confirmation to the processor and returning a predetermined response signal to the master processor after receiving the survival confirmation signal, the slave processor may be configured to transmit the survival confirmation signal longer than the transmission interval of the survival confirmation signal. If the master processor does not receive a meaningful signal including the response signal from the slave processor for a long predetermined abnormality determination time, the master processor determines that an abnormality has occurred in the slave processor. Note that the meaningful signal indicates a signal that may not be transmitted from the slave processor to the master processor at that time.

Since the master processor sends a survival confirmation signal to the slave processor every time the transmission interval elapses, if the operation of the slave processor is normal, the slave processor responds to the master processor at least every transmission interval. Send back signal. On the other hand, when the slave processor is overloaded, the response signal returned from the slave processor to the master processor may be significantly delayed, but the interval between signals transmitted from the slave processor to the master processor is longer than the transmission interval. Is never too long.

According to the present invention, the abnormality determination time is set to be longer than the transmission interval, and the time interval of a meaningful signal transmitted from the slave processor to the master processor is longer than the abnormality determination time. Since the master processor has detected an abnormality in the slave processor, the master processor may incorrectly detect an abnormality in the slave processor even if the slave processor is overloaded and the response signal returned from the slave processor is delayed. Therefore, the operation of the slave processor can be reliably detected.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the abnormality determination time is set to a time obtained by adding a very short margin time to the transmission interval to the transmission interval. The time from the occurrence of the abnormality until the master processor detects the occurrence of the abnormality in the slave processor can be set to a time slightly longer than the transmission interval.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment 1) The inter-processor survival confirmation method of the present embodiment employs a lighting control device 2 as a plurality of slave processors to which a plurality of lighting loads 3 are connected, as shown in FIG.
And a plurality of lighting control devices 2... Connected via a transmission medium 4 and a lighting monitoring control system 1 serving as a master processor that monitors the operation of each lighting control device 2. Is done.

The lighting control devices 2 control and monitor the respectively connected lighting loads 3. When the lighting state of the lighting loads 3 changes from on to off or from off to on, the lighting loads 3. Is transmitted to the lighting monitoring control device 1 as a monitoring signal. And the lighting monitoring control device 1
Receives monitoring signals from the respective lighting control devices 2 and centrally monitors the lighting state of the lighting loads 3.

Here, a process in the case where the lighting monitoring and control device 1 monitors the operation of the lighting control device 2 will be described. First, an operation when the lighting monitoring control device 1 transmits a survival confirmation signal to the lighting control device 2 will be described based on a flowchart of FIG. In step 11, the illumination monitor control unit 1 sets a predetermined transmission interval T ₁ to the timer (not shown). The timer will Kiriji the transmission interval T _1, and waits until the time is up (step 12). When the timer expires, the lighting monitoring and control device 1 transmits a survival confirmation signal to the lighting control device 2 (step 13).
The lighting monitoring control device 1 repeats the above-described processing, and transmits a survival confirmation signal to the lighting control device 2 every time the transmission interval T ₁ elapses.

Next, the operation when the illumination monitoring and control device 1 receives the signal transmitted from the illumination control device 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Lighting monitoring and control device 1 is longer T than the transmission interval T ₁ described above
₃ (T ₃ > T ₁ ) is set as the abnormality determination time, and the time limit of the abnormality determination time T ₃ is started (step 21). Then, the illumination monitoring control device 1 waits for a signal transmitted from the illumination control device 2 (step 22), and determines whether a signal from the illumination control device 2 has been received (step 23).

When the illumination monitoring and control device 1 receives a meaningful signal from the illumination control device 2, it performs a process of receiving this signal in step 24, and then returns to step 21 to repeatedly execute the above-described process. On the other hand, if the lighting monitoring control device 1 does not receive a signal with a meaning from the lighting control apparatus 2, illuminating the monitoring controller 1 determines whether the elapsed abnormality determination time T ₃ (step 25). Abnormality judgment time T ₃
If is not elapsed, the process returns to step 22, performs a reception waiting for a signal from the lighting control unit 2 again, the abnormality if the determination time T ₃ has elapsed, such as runaway or failure in the lighting control apparatus 2 It is determined that an abnormality has occurred, and abnormality processing is performed (step 26).

In the lighting monitoring control device 1, the above-described process of receiving a signal from the lighting control device 2 is provided separately for all the lighting control devices 2 connected to the lighting monitoring control device 1. Then, the above-described processing is performed for all the lighting control devices 2. Here, as shown in FIG. 2, when the lighting control device 2 does not transmit any signal other than the response signal S ₂ to the lighting monitoring control device 1, the lighting control device 2 transmits the survival confirmation signal from the lighting monitoring control device 1. Upon receiving the S _1, returns a response signal S ₂ to the lighting monitoring and control device 1. Since lighting monitoring and control device 1 is transmitting existence confirmation signals S ₁ to the transmission interval T ₁ every other to the lighting control device 2, if operation of the lighting control apparatus 2 is normal, the illumination monitor control unit 1 includes at least transmission At each interval T ₁ , a response signal S ₂ is received from the lighting control device 2.

Next, the illumination control device 2 sends a response signal S_TwoOther than
Meaningful signal S such as a monitoring signal _ThreeWhen sending
This will be described with reference to FIG. Time t₁~ T_TwoThen
The lighting control device 2 outputs a response signal S_TwoLighting monitoring system for signals other than
Since it has not been transmitted to the control device 1, the time t₁Lighting monitoring system
The control device 1 sends a survival confirmation signal S to the lighting control device 2.₁Send
Then, time t_TwoThe lighting monitoring control device 1 is a lighting control device 2
Response signal S from_TwoTo receive.

Thereafter, at time t_Two~ T_ThreeThen, the lighting monitoring system
The control device 1 has a time interval T_{twenty one}, T_{twenty two}, T _{twenty three}Lighting control equipment
Response signal S from device 2_TwoValid signal S other than_Three(In FIG. 3
(Shown by a broken line). Time t_Three~ T_FourSo, the lighting system
The control device 2 receives the response signal S_TwoSignal S other than_ThreeTo send
At time t_ThreeAnd the operation confirmation signal S from the lighting monitoring control device 1
₁Lighting control signal 2 is a response signal
No. S_TwoBefore sending the other signals S_ThreeContinuously sent
The lighting monitoring and control device 1 operates at time t_ThreeTime interval T from
_{twenty four}, T_{twenty five,}T ₂₆Every other signal S_ThreeTo receive. afterwards,
Time interval T₂₇Time t has elapsed_FourSo, the lighting control device 2
Response signal S_TwoTo receive.

Further, at time t_Four~ T_FiveNow, the lighting control equipment
2 is a response signal S_TwoOther signals to the lighting monitoring and control device 1
Since the transmission is not transmitted, the lighting monitoring control device 1
Survival confirmation signal S₁At time t_FourFrom time to
Interval T₂₈Time t has elapsed_FiveIn the lighting monitoring and control device
1 is a response signal S from the lighting control device 2_TwoTo receive. When
At this time, in this embodiment, the abnormality determination time is set to the transmission interval T.₁Yo
Long time T_Three(T_Three> T₁), Set the lighting monitoring system
The control device 1 receives a meaningful signal from the lighting control device 2
From the moment when the next meaningful signal is received
Normal judgment time T _ThreeAfter a longer time, this lighting
It is determined that an abnormality such as runaway or breakdown has occurred
From the lighting control device 2 to the lighting monitoring control device 1
The transmitted signal S_Two, S_ThreeTime interval T_{twenty one}~ T₂₈Is abnormal
Judgment time T_ThreeIf it is shorter, the lighting control device 2 is overloaded.
It becomes a state and the survival confirmation signal S₁Response signal S to_Threeof
Even if the return is delayed, the lighting monitoring control device 1 controls the lighting.
There is no erroneous detection of an abnormality of the device 2.

Incidentally, in the lighting monitoring control device 1, at that time,
Lights that should not be sent (meaningless signals) are lighting
If the signal is returned from the control device 2, the signal will be ignored.
It is configured as follows. Therefore, the lighting control device 2
Or a signal that is meaningless to the lighting monitoring and control device 1
In the case of continuous return, the lighting monitoring control device 1
Ignore all meaningless signals transmitted from the control device 2
Therefore, even in such a case, the abnormality detection time T_Threethan
For a long time, the lighting monitoring and control device 1 can receive a meaningful signal
If not, the lighting monitoring control device 1
You can always detect. (Embodiment 2) Inter-processor survival confirmation method of Embodiment 1
Then, the lighting monitoring control device 1 detects an abnormality of the lighting control device 2.
When issuing, the abnormality determination time T_ThreeTransmission interval T₁Longer than
In this embodiment, the abnormality determination time is set.
Transmission interval T₁And the transmission interval T ₁Very short compared to
Slack time T_Five(T_Five≪T₁) Plus T_Four(T_Four= T
₁+ T_Five).

Here, the operation when the lighting monitoring control device 1 receives the signal transmitted from the lighting control device 2 will be described.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Lighting monitoring and control device 1 sets the time T ₄ as described above in the abnormality determination time, starts at limit abnormality determination time T ₄ (Step 3
1). Then, the lighting monitoring control device 1 waits for a signal transmitted from the lighting control device 2 (step 32), and determines whether a signal from the lighting control device 2 has been received (step 33).

When the illumination monitoring and control device 1 receives a meaningful signal from the illumination control device 2, it performs a process of receiving this signal in step 34, and then returns to step 31 to repeatedly execute the above-described process. On the other hand, the illumination monitor control unit 1 may not receive the signal with a meaning from the lighting control apparatus 2, illuminating the monitoring controller 1 determines whether the elapsed abnormality determination time T ₄ (step 35). Abnormality judgment time T ₄
If is not elapsed, the process returns to step 32, performs a reception waiting for a signal from the lighting control unit 2 again, the abnormality if the determination time T ₄ has elapsed, such as runaway or failure in the lighting control apparatus 2 It is determined that an abnormality has occurred, and abnormality processing is performed (step 36). Since the settings other than the abnormality determination time T ₄ is the same as the inter-processor alive method of Embodiment 1, description thereof will be omitted.

[0022] Embodiment 1, as described in, from the point of illumination monitor and control apparatus 1 receives the signal S _2, S ₃ from the lighting control apparatus 2, then the signal S ₂ from the lighting control device 2, S ₃
Since the reception interval to the reception becomes the transmission interval T ₁ or less, the abnormality determination time, the transmission interval T _1, the value T ₄ obtained by adding the T ₅ very short margin time compared to the transmission interval T ₁ By doing so, the lighting monitoring control device 1
Can be reliably detected, and the time required until the abnormality of the lighting control device 2 is detected can be shortened.

In the first and second embodiments, the inter-processor survival confirmation method of the present invention is applied to a lighting control system. However, the present invention is not limited to a lighting control system, but includes a master processor and a slave processor. Needless to say, the present invention may be applied to a system other than the illumination control system as long as the system is used.

[0024]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, as described above, the master processor and the slave processor are connected via the transmission medium, and the master processor sends an operation confirmation to the slave processor every time a predetermined time elapses. In the inter-processor survival confirmation method of transmitting the confirmation signal and receiving the survival confirmation signal, the slave processor returns a predetermined response signal to the master processor, a predetermined abnormality determination time longer than a transmission interval of the survival confirmation signal, When the master processor does not receive a meaningful signal including the response signal from the slave processor, the master processor determines that an abnormality has occurred in the slave processor.

Here, since the master processor transmits the survival confirmation signal to the slave processor every time the transmission interval elapses, if the operation of the slave processor is normal, the slave processor transmits to the master processor at least every transmission interval. Returns a response signal. When the slave processor is overloaded, the response signal returned from the slave processor to the master processor may be significantly delayed, but the interval between signals transmitted from the slave processor to the master processor is longer than the transmission interval. It will not be.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the abnormality determination time is set to be longer than the transmission interval, and the time interval of a meaningful signal transmitted from the slave processor to the master processor is longer than the abnormality determination time. Therefore, since the master processor has detected an abnormality in the slave processor, even if the slave processor is overloaded and the response signal returned from the slave processor is delayed,
There is an effect that the operation of the slave processor can be reliably detected without the master processor erroneously detecting the abnormality of the slave processor.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the abnormality determination time is set to a time obtained by adding a very short margin time to the transmission interval to the transmission interval. The time required for the master processor to detect the occurrence of an abnormality in the slave processor can be made slightly longer than the transmission interval, and the time required until the abnormality is detected can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a lighting monitoring control system using an inter-processor survival confirmation method according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing signal transmission of the above.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing another signal transmission of the above.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the above.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating another operation of the above embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an inter-processor survival confirmation method according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Lighting monitoring and control device 2 Lighting control device 3 Lighting load 4 Transmission medium

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A master processor and a slave processor are connected via a transmission medium. The master processor transmits an operation confirmation signal for operation confirmation to the slave processor every time a predetermined time elapses. In the inter-processor survival confirmation method in which the slave processor that has received the signal returns a predetermined response signal to the master processor, the slave processor may determine whether the slave processor has the slave processor with a predetermined abnormality determination time longer than a transmission interval of the survival confirmation signal. A method for confirming existence between processors, wherein the master processor determines that an abnormality has occurred in the slave processor when a meaningful signal including the response signal is not received from the processor. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the abnormality determination time is set to a value obtained by adding a margin time much shorter than the transmission interval to the transmission interval. .