JPS61141083A - Accumulation of communications information - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To analyze quickly the cause of a trouble by analyzing the cause due to contents communicated between devices with the aid of communications information at the time of the occurrence of a trouble. CONSTITUTION:Devices A-C provided with control processors communicate information through communications lines alpha and beta. At this time, the device A is provided with a communications information collecting function and a portable external memory device E for accumulating the collected contents. This external memory device E always collects communications information and copes with analyzing the communications information at the time of the occurrence of a trouble. The memory medium of the external memory device E is made portable and connected to another trouble analyzer, whereby the analysis of trouble causes and measurement of communications volumes can be made even in the on-line state.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a communication information storage method, and in particular, to analysis of the cause of trouble when communication occurs between devices equipped with processors, and actual measured values of communication volume. This invention relates to a communication information storage method suitable for investigation.

[Background of the invention]

Conventionally, to monitor communication information between control devices having control processors, it has been common to connect a separate device or use software for monitoring communication content, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 14641/1983. there were. This method allows detailed monitoring using changes in events as triggers, but it can only be used after some kind of trouble occurs, so it is necessary to collect progress information leading up to the trouble and obtain communication information at the time of the trouble by reproducing the trouble. In fact, it was generally extremely difficult to obtain such information.

[Purpose of the invention]

The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and to quickly analyze the cause when a trouble occurs due to communication information in a system that communicates text information between devices using processors. To provide a method for storing communication information that allows communication information to be easily measured.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention stores the main parts of the communication information in the system operation center, thereby providing a means for preserving data and investigating the cause when trouble occurs. provide. When this communication information is stored, information such as the time of communication, the type of communication partner, and the direction of communication is also added to facilitate analysis of the cause of the failure later. In addition, this communication information is not only stored in the main memory of the device, but also transferred at regular intervals to a portable external storage device with a larger area than the main memory, so that communication information can be stored and read over a long period of time. Makes dashi possible. In addition, the storage medium of this external storage device is portable, and by connecting it to a failure analysis device (for example, a personal computer) located at a maintenance center separate from the current station, detailed analysis of the cause of the failure can be performed even in an offline state. It is also characterized by the ability to measure communication traffic, etc.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 are configuration examples in which the present invention is not applied, and in FIG. 1, devices A, B, and C equipped with control processors communicate via communication lines α and β. It shows the state of being. Figure 2 shows a state in which external devices DI and D2 for monitoring communication information are inserted into these communication lines α and β.When a failure occurs, external devices DI and D2 are attached in this way to monitor communication information. I do.

As shown in FIG. 3, the present invention provides a device A with a communication information collection function and a portable external storage device E for storing the collected contents, so that communication information is constantly collected and communication is maintained in the event of a failure. Be prepared to analyze information. child? Figure 4 shows Figure 3 in more detail.
is a timer, IOC is an input/output control device that connects with a typewriter, TYP is a typewriter for maintaining device A, CPU is a processor that controls the entire device A, and MM is a main memory.

FDD is a floppy disk F/D as an external storage device.
(F/D is a portable external storage medium
(corresponding to E in the figure), HCIF is a device that controls the connection of devices fA, B, and C, and MDM is a communication modem. Devices A and B use communication line α, and devices A and C use communication line β to send and receive text information.

Next, the operation will be explained. The general transmission and reception procedures are as shown in Figure 5.
K), text (STX, TEXT.

ETX) and an acknowledgment response (ACK). The processing when receiving a message on the device mA side is as shown in the schematic flowchart in Figure 6. If the message is normally received from the message reception waiting state (step 1) (determined in step 2), the message is After the data is stored on the storage device MM (step 3), a one-sentence analysis process is performed (step 4), but if the message reception fails, the process waits for the message reception again (from step 2 to step 1). When transmitting a message from the device A side, as shown in Figure 7, if a transmission request occurs (determined in step 5), the message is sent (step 6), and if the transmission ends normally (determined in step 7), the message is sent (step 6). ) The contents of the message are stored on the main memory device MM (Step 8). The contents on the main memory device MM are read out at regular intervals (determined in step 9) according to the program shown in FIG. 8, and as shown in FIG. i=1
．． 2... (Step 10) 0 If the cycle of this accumulation is set to a constant time, the amount of communication per unit time can be immediately measured. According to the above operation, for example, if a communication failure occurs in communication between device A and device 1B, the communication information at the time when the failure occurs is saved on the main memory device MM or on the floppy disk F/D. Therefore, it is possible to analyze the cause of the failure by printing out the contents using the typewriter attached to the device A, or by attaching the floppy disk F/D to a communication failure analysis device, etc. A wide range of communication content can be analyzed.

Furthermore, the amount of communication can also be measured using a similar device.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above embodiments, according to the present invention, the cause of a failure due to the content of communication between devices can be analyzed using the communication information at the time of occurrence of the failure, so that analysis can be performed accurately and quickly. Furthermore, if it is not possible to perform cause analysis using actual equipment, it is now possible to collect data for cause analysis by directly connecting a portable external storage device to an information processing device such as a computer.
Accurate failure analysis is possible without using advanced technology such as remote maintenance. Furthermore, even if it is necessary to store communication information over a long period of time, this can be handled by increasing the capacity of the external storage device, and there is no need to expand the storage area in the main memory.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are device configuration diagrams when the present invention is not applied, FIGS. 3 and 4 are device configuration diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a general configuration diagram when performing communication. A diagram showing the steps,
6 and 7 are overview flowcharts showing reception and transmission processing in device A, FIG. 8 is an overview flowchart of a program for periodically writing from main memory device MM to floppy disk F/D, and FIG. Figure 9 shows the main memory device MM.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing writing from a floppy disk to a floppy disk F/D. A, B, C... Devices E, F with control processors
/D...Portable external storage medium CPU...Central processing unit MM...Main storage device

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a method for storing communication information when transmitting and receiving communication information between a device having a control processor and another device, information such as the transmitted and received communication information, the communication time, the type of communication partner, and the communication direction is transmitted and received. A device having a control processor has a function of storing the information in the main memory of the device itself each time a process is performed, and a large capacity memory that is removable and removable at regular intervals is capable of storing the stored information in the main memory. A method for storing communication information, characterized in that communication information is transferred to an external storage device having a storage area.