JPS62138923A - Maintenance system for audio response unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the instantaneousness of an analysis of trouble and to take an early countermeasure to handle the trouble by providing a maintenance controller to a repeater station, storing trouble information transferred from an audio response unit, and reading it as necessary. CONSTITUTION:When the audio response unit 1 detects serious trouble, the contents of a memory are saved in a trouble information storage file 2 and trouble information reception request data is transmitted to the maintenance controller 12 through a communication circuit 7. When the maintenance controller 12 receives the trouble information reception request data, the trouble information is received by a communication circuit control part 13, a communication circuit switching monitor part 14, a processing part 16, a filter control part 8, and a file part 9 in order as respective control parts which are made ready for reception. A person in charge of maintenance inputs a command on a typewriter 11 at his desired time to store the trouble information in the memory of the processing part 16 temporarily through the file control part 8, thereby outputting it on the typewriter 11 in order.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a maintenance method for a voice response device, and particularly to a maintenance method suitable for collecting fault information of a voice response device located in a remote location.

[Background of the invention]

Hitachi Review U, D, C, 681, 327, 22: 534
．． 782 recent voice input/output technology As described in JS6110 voice response device subsection, voice response devices have become popular in recent years and are being used for various services. A failure occurred within the response device (
The contents of voice response device failures, input/output device failures (communication line failures, software failures) are accumulated and provided to maintenance personnel as valuable data during equipment maintenance and inspection. Conventionally, this fault information has been generated by voice response devices located in various locations, and currently maintenance personnel have to go to each voice response device to obtain the data. However, as the number of voice response devices increases, it is becoming difficult to visit voice response devices in various locations and collect failure information.

Therefore, it is easy to imagine that a method would be used to collect fault information of voice response devices located in various places in one place (maintenance center) using communication lines. An example of such a remote maintenance system will be explained with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 4, there is a data transmission program in the voice response device 1, a data reception program in the voice response control device 4 in the relay station, and each device has a data reception program in the voice response control device 4.
．． 6 and a communication line 7.

The data transmission program reads the information in the failure information storage file 2 and transmits it to the voice response control device 4 via the communication control devices 3 and 6. The data reception program receives the transmitted fault information and stores it in the fault information collection file 5. As a result, the relay station obtains failure information of voice response devices in various locations.

Although this method has the advantage that maintenance personnel can obtain fault information without having to go to the voice response device, it also has the following drawbacks.

(1) The voice response control device 4 of the relay station is connected to the user's host computer, and during online operation, online data is constantly exchanged between the voice response bag Nt 1 and the user's host computer. In the voice response control device 4 of the relay station, acquisition of fault information affects online operation.

(2) Since the voice response control device 4 of the relay station receives and transmits online information from the voice response devices 1 in various locations, there is a limit to its ability to acquire failure information and to perform communication.

(3) Since failure information is acquired after online service, maintenance personnel cannot acquire failure information when they wish.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide a maintenance method that allows failure information of a voice response device to be easily acquired at a remote location independently of the operation of the voice response device. [Summary of the Invention] To achieve the above object, In the present invention, when a failure occurs, the voice response device stores failure information and transmits failure information reception request data. A maintenance control device separate from the voice response control device is provided at the relay station, and when fault information reception request data is detected, the fault information is transferred and transferred from the voice response device to the maintenance control device. Accumulate failure information and retrieve it when necessary.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

In FIG. 1, 12 is a maintenance control device, and a processing section 1
6. File control unit 8. Console control section 10, typewriter 11, 21gN communication line control section 13.15, communication line switching monitoring section 14. It is composed of a file section 9.

This maintenance control device 12 is installed at a relay station so that centralized maintenance can be performed.

The voice response device 1 is located at a remote location, has a failure information storage file 2 as an input/output device, and is connected to the maintenance control device 12 through a communication port @7. Voice response device 1
A data transmission program is stored in the internal memory of the voice response device 1. According to this data transmission program, the voice response device 1 acquires failure information when a failure occurs, stores the failure information in the failure information storage file 2, and also stores the failure information. At the end of the process, failure information reception request data is transmitted to control the maintenance control device 12.

The maintenance control device 12 includes a processing section 16 that operates independently of the voice response device 1. This processing section 16 has an internal memory, and the file control section 82 communicates with various programs stored in this memory. Line control units 13, 15
, communication line switching monitoring section 14. and console control unit 10
The communication line switching monitoring unit 14 monitors failure information reception request data from the voice response device 1, and when it is received, reports it to the processing unit 16 and also takes in the failure information according to a command from the processing unit 16. Make preparations.

The file control section 8 is connected to the file section 9, and the processing section 1
Read the file according to the command from 6.

Write.

The communication line control unit 13 is connected to the voice response device 1 and the communication line switching monitoring unit 14, and includes a transmission procedure program for transmitting and receiving fault information.The communication line control unit 13 receives the fault information and switches the communication line according to a command from the processing unit 16. The information is sent to the monitoring unit 14.

The communication line switching control unit 15 is connected to the communication line switching monitoring unit 14 and the voice response control device 4, and the communication line switching control unit 15 is connected to the communication line switching monitoring unit 14 and the voice response control device 4. Data is received from the supervisory end 4 and sent to the voice response control device 4.

The funnur control unit 10 is connected to a typewriter 11,
Under the control of the processing unit 16, key-in processing from maintenance personnel and message output to the maintenance personnel are performed.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram of a program stored in the internal memory of the voice response device 1. As shown in FIG.

The program has a real-time monitor 24 for real-time processing, and under its control are a voice processing program 21 that controls voice output, a communication line control program 26 that controls communication with the maintenance fee device 12, and a process for handling when a failure occurs. a fault processing program 22 that performs fault processing, a fault information sending program 25 that sends fault information to the maintenance control device 12, a file control program 28 that stores fault information, and an automatic program that restores the device to a normal state after acquiring fault information. There is a startup program 26 and other programs 27.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration diagram of a program stored in the memory of the maintenance control device 12.

The program has a real-time monitor 34 for real-time processing, and under this control, a communication line control program 33 that controls communication with the voice response device 1 or the voice response control device 4, and a failure information reception request from the voice response device 1. A communication line monitoring program 35 that receives data or failure information transmission completion data and switches the communication line, a failure information reception program 36 that prepares for and receives failure information, and a file control program 31 that stores failure information in a file. There is a console control program 32 that controls input and output from the typewriter, and a command analysis program 37 that analyzes commands typed in by maintenance personnel.

The operation of the illustrated embodiment will be described below.

First, an outline of the operation when sending fault information of the voice response device 1 to the relay station will be explained.

The voice response device c1 normally follows the real-time monitor 24,
The voice processing program 21 and other programs 27 provide voice services, and the communication control program 26 transmits data necessary for the user to the maintenance control device 1 of the relay station.
2 and the voice response control device 4 to the user's host computer. Conversely, data transmitted from the user's host computer passes through a relay station, and based on this data, audio is edited by the audio processing program 21.
Provide voice services. This is realized using technology that has been used in conventional voice response systems. When the voice response device 1 detects a serious failure, the failure processing program 22 runs and saves the contents of the memory in the failure information storage file 2. Then, fault information reception request data is transmitted to the connected maintenance control device 12 through the communication line 7.

Thereafter, the voice response device 1 runs the automatic startup program 23 to perform initial loading, startup the system, and transmits fault information immediately after loading. Then, the information in the saved failure information storage file 2 is transferred to the failure information transmission program 25 and the communication control program 26.
D, the information is sent to the maintenance control device fi12. When the transmission is completed, failure information transmission completion data is transmitted.

When the voice response device 1 receives a system restart instruction from the voice response control device 4 via the maintenance control device 12, it starts the voice service again.

Next, the maintenance control system! ? ! The operation of i12 will be explained.

In the maintenance control device 12, a processing unit 16 operates independently of the operations of the voice response device [1 and voice response control device 4].

The maintenance control device 12 normally uses the real-time monitor 3
4, a communication line monitoring program 35 and a communication line control program 53 are running. In this state, data sent from the voice response device 1 passes through the communication line 7 and is received by the communication line control section 13.

The communication line control unit 13 includes a microprogram that is a procedure for communicating with the voice response device 1.

The data from the communication line control unit 13 is received by the communication line switching monitoring unit 14, and the data is sent as is to the communication line control unit 15.
Send to. At this time, the communication line switching monitoring unit 14
Monitors whether failure information reception request data is sent in the data. If this data is not received, the following data is transmitted and received. Data from the voice response control device 4 is received by the communication line control unit 15, and the data is transmitted as is to the communication line switching monitoring unit 14, and further received by the communication line control unit 13. The communication line control unit 13 performs procedural control on the data and transmits it to the voice response device 1 .

When the maintenance control device 12 receives fault information reception request data, the communication line switching monitoring section 14 detects this data by collating the data.

If the data match as a result of comparison, it is held in the status and detected by the processing unit 16 by periodically reading the status as the communication line monitoring program 35 runs.

In the processing section 16, the fault reception program 36 starts running, and the maintenance control device 12 starts preparing to take in fault data in response to a command from the processing section 16. And the maintenance control device 12
reports to the voice response control device 4 that the failure f11 report is being acquired.

Preparation for acquiring the disability information is performed by switching a data switch so that the communication line switching monitoring section 14 can input the data to the processing section 16. Furthermore, the processing unit 16 sends the file control unit 8 the track address which is the failure information acquisition area,
Issues commands such as head address and sector address.

Fault information is received by the communication line control program 33.Fault information reception program 36. This is done by the File IIJ m program 31. The failure information is received by each control unit, which is the communication line control unit 13゜communication line switching monitoring unit 1.
4. Processing unit 16. File control unit 8. The files are received in the order of file portion 9.

Reception is performed by each control unit using DMA transfer. The data received by the communication line control unit 13 is sent to the communication line switching monitoring unit 1.
4, and stored in the memory of the processing unit 16, and further stored in the file unit 9 while the trunk address, head address, and sector address are updated by the file control unit 8.

When the data transfer of the failure information is completed, the program shifts to the communication line monitoring program 35.

When the fault information transmission end data is received, the communication line monitoring program 35 detects the end of reception using the same method as detecting the fault information reception request data.

If the reception end report is not received, the data subsequently transmitted from the voice response device 1 is sent to the failure reception program 36.
DMA processing is performed and information is stored.

Upon receiving the failure information end data, the processing unit 16 cancels the data reception command, switches the switch to the communication line switching monitoring unit 14, and further reports the completion of failure information acquisition to the voice response control device 4. do. This allows data to be transmitted and received between the voice response device 1 and the voice response control device 4. Furthermore, the communication line monitoring program 35 and the communication line control program 36 run again, and the program enters a waiting state for the next failure fA report reception request data.

The stored fault information is converted using a type-in command by maintenance personnel, and the command analysis program 37. A console control program 32 runs. The processing unit 16 monitors the communication line, but since it takes several tens of seconds for the voice response device 1 to process the fault after the fault information reception request data is received until the fault information is received, the processing unit 16 monitors the communication line. A scan period of several hundred milliseconds is sufficient for program execution. Therefore, voice response device 1? The processing unit 16 can operate almost independently of the voice response control device 4.

The maintenance staff inputs commands from the typewriter 11 whenever he/she wishes; from this, the damage information is temporarily stored in the memory of the processing unit 16 from the file unit 9 via the file control unit 8, and is sequentially stored. It can be output to the typewriter 11.

Since the notator can be transferred from the file section 9 to the processing section 16 in less than a few tens of milliseconds, the transfer can be done easily. Even if the processor 16 temporarily occupies the processing unit 16, it does not affect the monitoring cycle of the fault information reception request data.

Furthermore, if failure information reception request data is received again during output, it is possible to report this to maintenance personnel using a type alert message.

Maintenance personnel can obtain new failure information by updating the file.

In the voice response control device 4, the maintenance control device 12 is usually
kl receives data from the voice response device 1,
Sends the necessary information to the user's host computer.

Conversely, the data sent from the user's host computer is edited and sent to the voice response device 1 via the maintenance control device 12.

This voice response control device 4 is connected to voice response devices 1 in various places via a communication line 7, and is also connected to each user's host computer for processing.
Processing a large amount of fault information is impossible in terms of processing power. However, in this embodiment, the voice response control device 4 is configured to simply receive a report from the maintenance control device 12 that a failure information is being acquired, and then use the information that a failure has occurred in the voice response device 1 . The voice response control device 4 then interrupts data transmission and reception with the voice response device 1 by noting this information. At this time, calls for which service has not been completed are prepared for retransmission and then terminated. This is performed only for the voice response device 1 where the failure has occurred, and the service continues for the normal voice response devices 1.

The voice response device 1 in which a failure has occurred is restarted by receiving a data acquisition completion report from the maintenance control device 12. The restart is performed by transmitting restart command information from the voice response control device 4 to the voice response device 1 via the maintenance control device 12. These series of operations have no effect on other normal voice response devices 1 or the user's host computer. By restarting the voice response device 1, service for the service call that was interrupted while in progress is restarted from the beginning.

In this way, according to the present embodiment, failure information can be obtained remotely from the voice response device 1. According to this method, in order to acquire fault information in the maintenance control device 12, one voice response control device r! The load on 14 is extremely light, and there is almost no impact on host computers of other users.

Furthermore, since the fault information is stored in the maintenance control device 12, it is possible to output the fault information at a time when maintenance personnel can easily obtain it.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, is there a voice response device? Since failure information of the voice response device can be obtained at a maintenance center or the like at any time separately from the operation of the voice response control device, the immediacy of failure analysis is improved and early countermeasures can be taken.

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Fig. 1 is a system configuration diagram using an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a configuration diagram of a program executed in the voice response device, Figure 3 is a configuration diagram of a program executed in the maintenance control device, and Figure 4 is a diagram of a conventional system configuration. Device, 2: Fault f/I information accumulation file, 3
: Communication control device, 4: Voice response control device, 5; Fault information collection file, 6X communication control device, 7: Communication line, 8:
File control unit, 9: File unit 110: Console control unit, 11: Typewriter, 12: Maintenance control device a, 13
: Communication line control unit, 14: Communication line switching monitoring unit, 15
: Communication line control unit, 16: Processing unit, 21: Audio processing program, 22: Failure processing program, 23: Automatic start-up program, 24: Real-time monitor, 25: Failure information transmission program, 26: Communication line control program, 27
: Other programs, 28: File control program, 31: File control program, 32: Console control program A, 33F communication line control program, 34:
Real-time monitor, 35: Communication line monitoring program,
36: Failure information reception program, 37: Command analysis program. , Par'- Patent attorney Masaru Ogawa Male? - Erotic /) Shi d - Fake Kudzu 2 times

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a voice response system that sends failure information of a voice response device to a maintenance center through a communication line, when a failure occurs in the voice response device, the failure information is stored in the voice response device and failure information reception request data is transmitted. When the maintenance control device installed in the maintenance center detects the fault information reception request data, the fault information is transferred and stored in the maintenance control device, and when the fault information is required, it is retrieved from the maintenance control device. A maintenance method for a voice response device characterized by maintenance and inspection.