JPH11353201A - Maintenance bus communication controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To always secure a communication between one of devices constituting a multiplex device and a simplex device, even when an in-use system device is switched, by providing a switching means which switches a connection between a maintenance bus control circuit corresponding to an in-use system among maintenance bus control circuits and a trailing-stage common-use part. SOLUTION: The state of a signal level is detected by control information interfaces 12 (system 0) and 11 (system 1) corresponding to respective systems and supplied to a gate circuit 14 as it is. Namely, an 'H' level is supplied to the system-0 side input of the gate circuit 14 and an 'L' level is supplied to the system-1 side input. The output of the gate circuit 14, therefore, falls to the 'L' level by itself and the input of a selector 13 is set to the side of the maintenance bus control circuit 11 (system 0) of the system 0. Consequently, the maintenance bus control circuit 11 (system 0) of the system 0 is connected to a processor peripheral circuit 15 to make a bidirectional communication between a host device A (system 0) and a slave device B which are operating as the in-use system.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a maintenance bus communication control device, and more particularly to an information processing system having a configuration in which at least one lower-level device having a single configuration is accommodated with respect to a higher-level device having a duplex configuration. It is something.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, in many systems requiring a high degree of real-time performance, in order to avoid interruption of a processing operation due to a failure or the like, a duplex configuration in which a spare device is provided in various devices is generally adopted. The same applies to the exchanges. To avoid interruption of the exchange operation due to a device failure or the like, a duplex configuration is adopted for main devices such as a communication channel system and a control system.

FIG. 2 shows a connection configuration of a maintenance system employed in a conventional exchange. The maintenance system shown in FIG. 2 is composed of devices A and b having a duplex configuration and a device B having a single configuration. It is difficult for the device A as a higher-level device to switch from the active system to the standby system. In response to switching from the standby system to the active system, the devices b and B under its control are also switched from the active system to the standby system or from the standby system to the active system.

[0004] For this reason, devices A and b adopting a duplex configuration
Is the system to which the own device belongs (that is, system 0 or system 1).
The system is connected only to the maintenance bus unique to the system, and has no confounding with the maintenance bus unique to other systems. That is, the higher-level device and the lower-level device belonging to the same system have an integrated configuration with each other.

Therefore, as described above, when the state of the device A is switched, another lower device b belonging to the same system as the device A
Also, in conjunction with the switching, the operation state is simultaneously switched.

[0006]

However, in the case of the exchange having the above configuration, the connection of the device B having the single configuration is
It is limited to only one system (system 0 in FIG. 2) of the two systems A.

Therefore, when the system to which the device B belongs (system 0 in FIG. 2) is switched to the standby system, access to the device B is no longer possible at all, and the operation cannot be guaranteed. As described above, in the case of the exchange having the conventional configuration, the advantage of the dual configuration of the device A cannot be fully utilized in the device B adopting a partially single configuration.

On the other hand, if it is intended to simply secure two systems of the maintenance bus interface circuit in the device B having a single configuration, that is, to secure two systems of the maintenance bus control circuit and the processor peripheral circuit, a relatively large scale is required. Since two sets of large processor peripheral circuits are required, there is also a problem that the scale of hardware increases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and any system of a higher-level device having a multiplex configuration can access a lower-level device having a single configuration.
Further, it is an object of the present invention to realize a maintenance bus communication control device which requires a small increase in hardware scale required for realizing the same.

[0010]

In order to solve this problem, according to the present invention, each of the devices constituting the multiplexing device is connected to a single device connected through a maintenance bus unique to each device. A maintenance bus communication control device that controls a communication operation between devices, comprising the following means.

That is, (1) a plurality of maintenance bus control circuits connected in a one-to-one relationship with a maintenance bus specific to each device constituting the multiplexing device, and (2) A switching means for switching the connection between the plurality of maintenance bus control circuits corresponding to the active system and the shared unit at the subsequent stage is provided.

With this configuration, in the maintenance bus communication control device according to the present invention, even when the active device is switched on the multiplexing device side, the communication between any one of the multiplexing devices and the multiplexing device is always performed. Can be secured.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (A) Basic form The following describes a case where a maintenance bus communication control device according to the present invention is used for communication control of a maintenance bus in an exchange.

FIG. 1 shows a basic configuration of a maintenance bus communication control device according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the maintenance bus communication control device is a host device A (0 system) adopting a redundant configuration.
And A (system 1) and a lower-level device B having a single configuration.

Here, the host devices A (0 system) and (1 system)
Means MPU (micro processor unit) as processing means
1, an internal configuration includes a ROM / RAM area 2 as a work area or a storage area, a maintenance bus control circuit 3 for controlling a maintenance bus, and a control information interface 4 for notifying a system selection (active system).

The control information interface 4 includes:
When the selection of the system is set in the internal register, this is notified to the lower-level device B having a single configuration through a signal line (for example,
This is a means for setting the signal line to the “H” level, and when the system is not selected for some reason (ie,
In the case of the standby system, the level of the signal line is set to “L” level.

The signal line of the control information interface 4 is connected only to the lower-level device B of the single configuration shown in the present basic configuration, and to other lower-level devices accommodated in the higher-level device A. Is a device having a duplex configuration (for example, the device b in the description of the conventional example), there is no need to connect a signal line to the device. This is because, for these devices, the system is selected integrally with the host device A.

The above is the description of the components specific to the host device A. Although omitted in FIG. 1, the interface of the host device A includes the maintenance bus control circuit 3 described above.
In addition, a voice interface and a control information interface unit are provided.

On the other hand, the lower-level device B having a single configuration has a maintenance bus control circuit 11 (0) corresponding to the maintenance bus of each system on a one-to-one basis.
System / system 1), a control information interface 12 (system 0 / system 1) for receiving notification of system selection (working system), a selector 13 for switching connection to the maintenance bus, a gate circuit 14 for instructing the switching, Peripheral circuit 15 connected to maintenance bus control circuit 11, and MPU as processing means
16, a ROM / RAM area 17 as a work area or a storage area is provided as an internal configuration.

A feature of the lower order device B is that a maintenance bus control function is provided for two lines. For this reason, the maintenance bus control circuit 11 is provided with two systems for the system 0 and the system 1. Note that these two maintenance bus control circuits 1
The 1 (0 system) and 11 (1 system) are connected to the selector 13, and only the maintenance bus control circuit 11 on the selected side
The connection with the processor peripheral circuit 15 is allowed.

In this embodiment, as the gate circuit 14 for instructing the selector 13 to switch, an AND circuit having an inverter at the 0-system side input is used. Therefore, in the case of a configuration in which the signal level of the signal line is directly supplied from the control information interface 12 to the gate circuit 14, the output of the gate circuit 14 becomes "L" level when the 0 system is the active system.
When the first system is the active system, it is at the “H” level.

For this reason, when the signal level of the switching signal is "L" level, the selector 13 connects the maintenance bus control circuit 11 for the system 0 to the processor peripheral circuit 15 and the signal level of the switching signal is "H". At the "" level, the maintenance bus control circuit 11 for the first system and the processor peripheral circuit 15 are connected.

However, the setting of the selector 13 is as follows.
This is the case where the configuration and the input / output relationship of the gate circuit 14 are set as described above, and when the configuration and the input / output relationship of the gate circuit 14 are different, the settings are made accordingly.

[0024] Such a series of selection operations are executed autonomously on hardware without going through software processing.

The above is the description of the components specific to the lower-level device B. Although not shown in the drawing, the lower-level device B is also provided with a voice interface and a control information interface unit in addition to the maintenance bus control circuit.

Next, the communication operation of the maintenance bus communication control device having the above configuration as the whole device will be described.

Here, it is assumed that the upper system A of the system 0 is selected as the active system and the upper system A of the system 1 is selected as the standby system. It is also assumed that the 1-system host device A selected as the standby system is in a thermal standby (so-called hot standby) state, and is operating in synchronization with the 0-system host device A selected as the active system.

At this time, the MPU 1 of the upper-level device A (0-system) operating as the active system sets the own device as the active system in an internal register of the control information interface 4 according to a predetermined program, and The signal level of the signal line is set to “H” level through the interface 4.

On the other hand, a higher-level device (1) operating as a standby system
Similarly, the MPU 1 of the system sets the internal system of the control information interface 4 to the internal register of the control information interface 4 according to a predetermined program, and sets the signal level of the signal line to “L” level through the control information interface 4. I do.

The state of this signal level is determined by the control information interfaces 12 (0 system) and 12 (1 system) corresponding to each system.
, And applied to the gate circuit 14 as it is. That is, "H" is applied to the 0-system side input of the gate circuit 14.
The “L” level is given to the level 1 and system 1 inputs.

Thus, the output of the gate circuit 14 becomes the "L" level autonomously (from the logical product of the "L" levels), and the input of the selector 13 is the maintenance bus control circuit 11 of the 0 system (0 system). Set to the side. As a result, the maintenance bus control circuit 11 (system 0) of the system 0 and the processor peripheral circuit 15 are connected, and the host device A (system 0) operating as the active system
Two-way communication is performed between the device and the lower-level device B.

Next, in this state, when the relationship between the active system and the standby system is switched for some reason (that is, the upper system A of the 1 system becomes the active system and the upper system A of the 0 system becomes the standby system). Will be described. Here, some reasons include not only the case of maintenance but also the case of failure.

In the case of maintenance, 0 which is operating as the active system
From the host device A of the system to the host device A of the 1 system operating as the standby system, or from the host device A of the 1 system operating as the standby system to the host device A of the 0 system operating as the active system , A state switching instruction is issued, and the internal register of the control information interface 4 of each device is rewritten. The operation after rewriting is the same except that the relationship described above is switched.

On the other hand, if the reason for the switching is a failure in the active system, the higher-level device A of the first system, which has been operating as the standby system, detects an abnormality that has occurred in the higher-level device A of the zero system. In order to switch the own device to the active system, an instruction to rewrite information set in the internal register of the control information interface 4 is issued. As a result, the signal level output from the control information interface 4 of the first system switches from “L” level to “H” level.

On the other hand, in the control information interface 4 provided in the 0-system host device A, which is the host device switched to the standby system, the signal level is automatically switched to "L" level by the fail-safe function. .

Therefore, the signal level given to the gate circuit 14 via the control information interfaces 12 (0 system) and 12 (1 system) corresponding to each system is
The system side input is at "L" level, the system side input is at "H" level, and the output of the gate circuit 14 is autonomously at "H" level (from the logical product of "H" levels).

As a result, the input of the selector 13 is set to the maintenance bus control circuit 11 (system 1) of the system 1, the maintenance bus control circuit 11 (system 1) of the system 1 and the processor peripheral circuit 15
Is connected, and the higher-level device A (1) operating as the active system
) And the lower-level device B are executed.

As described above, according to the maintenance bus communication control device according to the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

First, it is possible to access the simplex device (lower device B) from any of the duplex devices (higher device A (0 system) and (1 system)), and operate as in the conventional device. It is possible to effectively avoid a state in which guarantee cannot be performed.

The hardware added at that time is as follows:
Since the hardware amount may be relatively small, it is possible to realize the miniaturization and power saving of the device.

(B) Other Embodiments In the above description of the basic form, for the sake of simplicity, as shown in FIG. 1, a higher order apparatus A adopting a duplex configuration is replaced by a lower order apparatus adopting a single configuration. Although the case where one B is connected has been described, in an actual device, as shown in FIG. 3, the present invention can be similarly applied to a case where a plurality of lower-level devices B having a single configuration are connected.

Similarly, the present invention can be applied not only to the lower-level device B having a single configuration but also to a device having one or more lower-level devices b having a duplex configuration.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is used for communication control of the maintenance bus in the exchange has been described. Any system having a configuration connected by a maintenance bus can be similarly applied. For example, the present invention can be applied to other communication systems, broadcasting systems, information processing systems using computers, and the like.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the standby state of the device selected as the standby system is set to the thermal standby (so-called hot standby) state is described, but the cold standby (so-called cold standby) state is set. It can also be applied to

Further, in the above-described embodiment, a case where the present invention is applied to a system in which devices are duplicated in preparation for maintenance or the like has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The same can be applied to

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, the communication operation between each device constituting the multiplexing device and the single device connected through a maintenance bus unique to each device is established. A plurality of maintenance bus control circuits connected in a one-to-one relationship with a maintenance bus specific to each device constituting the multiplexing device are provided at an input stage of the unifying device in the maintenance bus communication control device to be controlled. By providing switching means for switching the connection between the maintenance bus control circuit corresponding to the active system and the shared unit at the subsequent stage, the multiplexing device always performs multiplexing even when switching the active system device. And a maintenance bus communication control device capable of securing communication between any of the devices constituting the multiplexing device and the multiplexing device.

Further, by adopting the device configuration using the switching means, the device portion at the subsequent stage of the switching device can be shared, and the size of the device itself can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic form of a maintenance bus communication control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a conventional configuration of a maintenance bus communication control device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 16: MPU, 2, 17: ROM / RAM area,
3, 11 maintenance bus control circuit, 4, 12 control information interface, 13 selector, 14 gate circuit, 15
... Processor peripheral circuits.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Kenshi Yoshikawa 1-7-12 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Jin Imagawa 3-19-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Within Japan Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Toshio Awaji 4-1-1 Kamikadanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Fujitsu Limited

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A maintenance bus communication control device for controlling a communication operation between each device constituting a multiplexing device and a single device connected through a maintenance bus unique to each device. A plurality of maintenance bus control circuits connected to the input stage of the multiplexing device in a one-to-one relationship with a maintenance bus specific to each device constituting the multiplexing device; and a plurality of maintenance bus control circuits. A maintenance bus communication control device, comprising: a switching unit that switches a connection between a unit corresponding to an active system and a shared unit in a subsequent stage. 2. The maintenance bus communication control device according to claim 1, wherein said switching means is based on system selection information notified from each of the devices constituting said multiplexing device. A maintenance bus communication control device characterized by autonomously specifying a maintenance bus control circuit corresponding to (1) and switching connections.