JPH1188458A - Network connection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network connection device by stopping supply of power to a circuit relating to ports not in use so as to reduce the power consumption of the entire device. SOLUTION: The network connection device 100 consists of a power supply section 101 and a printed circuit board 102. The printed circuit board 102 consists of input output ports 105-1 -105-n , port control circuits 104-1 -104-n , power switches 106-1 -106-n provided between each of the port control circuits 104-1 -104-n , and the power supply section 101 and link monitor circuits 108-1 -108-n provided corresponding to each of the port control circuits 104-1 -104-n , to monitor the presence of the link. The link monitor circuits 108-1 -108-n close the corresponding power switch only when the link is set and supply power to the link monitor circuits whose link is set.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network connection device, and more particularly to a network connection device having a configuration having a plurality of ports and circuits associated with each of the ports to reduce wasteful power consumption. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the amount of information on a network has been rapidly increasing with the spread of the Internet and the use of multimedia in information devices. For this reason, there is an increasing need for higher-speed transmission paths and relay devices. Against this background, high-speed Ethernet and ATM (asynchronous trans
fer mode) and switching hubs are attracting attention. Most of these products basically relay data by hardware in order to improve performance.
For this reason, compared to the previous relay device, the recent relay device has a large amount of hardware, and accordingly, the power consumption increases.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration of a conventional network connection device. The network connection device 200 is roughly divided into a power supply unit 201 and a circuit board 202 that receives power supply from the power supply unit 201. The circuit board 202 includes a control circuit 204, port control circuits 205 _-1 to _205-1 .
205 _-n , input / output ports 206 _{-1 to} 206 _{-n and the} like.
It is connected to the.

[0004] Terminal devices and networks are connected to input / output ports 206-1 to 206 _{- n} , and connection control is performed by port control circuits 205 corresponding to input / output ports 206-1 to 206 _{- n} .
_{-1 to} 205- _n . The management of the port control circuit 205 _-1 to 205 _-n are performed by the control circuit 204. The power supply is always supplied from the power supply unit 201 to all circuits in the network connection device 200, and even the unused port control circuit 205 is in operation.

[0005]

However, according to the conventional network connection device, no port is used, and all terminals connected to the port are turned off.
In the case of F, power is consumed even though hardware around the port is not operating. Especially,
A switching hub having a high-speed port such as a high-speed Ethernet or an ATM requires a great deal of hardware processing, so that the above-mentioned wasteful power consumption is also large. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a network connection device in which power supply to a circuit associated with an unused port is stopped and power consumption of the entire device can be reduced.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plurality of input / output ports to which a plurality of terminal devices are connected, a plurality of circuits relating to these input / output ports,
And a network connection device provided with a power supply unit for supplying power to these circuits, wherein the control unit divides the plurality of circuits according to functions, monitors an operation state of each unit, and supplies power only to a circuit in an operation state. There is provided a network connection device characterized by being provided.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a perspective view of a network connection device. Network connection
The connection device 100 supplies power to each circuit in the device.
And a circuit board 102. Times
The circuit board 102 includes a control circuit 1 for controlling the entire device.
03, a port control circuit for controlling input / output ports described later
104 _-1~ 104_-n, This port control circuit 104_-1~ 1
04_-nI / O port 105 connected to each of_-1-10
5_-n, Port control circuit 104_-1~ 104_-nEach and power
Power switch 106 provided between the units 101_-1-10
6_-n, Power supply lines connecting these switches to the power supply unit 101
107, power switch 106 for monitoring the presence or absence of a link_-1
~ 106_-nMonitoring circuit 10 for controlling ON / OFF of the power supply
8_-1~ 108_-nIs installed.

[0008] As shown in FIG. 1, the power supply to the circuit board 102 is carried out via the power line 107, the port control circuit 104 _-1 -104 _-n, power switch 106 _-1
Through 106- _n . Power switch 106 _-1 ~
106 _-n is ON / OFF individually by the link monitoring circuit 108 _-1 -108 _-n. This link monitoring circuit 10
8 _{-1 to} 108 _-n monitor the presence or absence of a link, and turn on the corresponding power switch 106 _{-1 to} 106 _-n when there is a link.
If there is no link, turn it off.

As described above, since power is supplied only to the port control circuit in use according to the presence or absence of the link, the power consumption of the entire network connection device 100 can be reduced.

FIG. 2 shows an operation example of the network connection device according to the present invention. Here, in order to facilitate understanding of the network connection device 100 shown in FIG. 1, a case where the number of input / output ports is three is illustrated. The terminal device of the power ON state to the port 1 (input-output port 105 _-1) 30
1a is connected, the terminal device 301b in a power OFF state is connected to the port 2 (input / output port 105 _-2 ), and nothing is connected to the port 3 (input / output port 105 _-3 ). In this case, link link monitoring circuit 108 _-1 port 1 determines link without the link monitoring circuit 108 _-2 108 _-3 ports 2,3. As a result, the power switch 106 _-1 becomes ON, the power switch 106 _-2, 10
_6-3 is turned off, so the port control circuit _104-2 , 1
Power supply to the 04 _-3 is stopped. Port control circuit 10
Of 4 _-1 -104 _-n, since the power supply is performed only port control circuit 104 _-1, it is possible to reduce power consumption on the circuit board 102.

In the above embodiment, the circuit board 10
2, the control circuit and the port control circuit are described. However, the present invention is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. The present invention
The present invention can be applied to any type of network connection device as long as a circuit group can be divided according to function and power supply can be selected according to the presence or absence of a link in the divided circuit.

[0012]

As described above, according to the network connection device of the present invention, since no power is supplied to the port control circuit of the port having no link, the power consumption of the network connection device is reduced, and power saving is achieved. Can be planned.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a network connection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an operation state of the network connection device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional network connection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

100, network adapter 101, power supply unit 102, the circuit board 103, the control circuit 104 _-1 -104 _-n, port control circuit 105 _-1 to 105 _-n, input-output port 106 _-1 - 106 _-n, a power switch 107 , Power supply line 108 _{-1 to} 108 _-n , link monitoring circuit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of input / output ports to which a plurality of terminal devices are connected, a plurality of circuits related to these input / output ports,
And a network connection device having a power supply unit for supplying power to these circuits, wherein the plurality of circuits are divided according to function to monitor the operation state of each unit, and control means for supplying power only to the circuit in the operation state is provided. A network connection device, comprising: 2. The control means includes: a link monitoring circuit that monitors the presence or absence of a link between the plurality of input / output ports; and a circuit that is associated with the corresponding input / output port when the link monitoring circuit detects the presence of a link. The network connection device according to claim 1, further comprising: a power switch for supplying power.