JPS63206038A - Terminal state managing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the line utilizing efficiency by changing the data frame length to be transmitted in response to the state of each terminal equipment so as to reduce the line monopoly time required for the terminal state management. CONSTITUTION:A terminal controller 10 is placed between a host computer 1 and plural terminal equipments 21-26 to control the communication between the host computer 1 and the plural terminal equipments 21-26 and to control the communication among the plural terminal equipments 21-26. A terminal management table 4 to manage the state of the terminal equipment is placed at a part of a storage section 3. A storage section 31 of the plural terminal equipments 21-26 store the terminal management table. The terminal controller 10 employs the polling system to recognize the state of the terminal equipments 21-26 at all times, updates the content of the terminal management table 4 to change the data frame length to be transmitted depending on the state.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a terminal status management method in a cluster communication control system, and in particular to a line for notifying all terminals of the status of each terminal in two clusters. The present invention relates to a method for transmitting terminal status management information suitable for improving usage efficiency.

[Prior art] In the conventional cluster communication control system,
As described in No. 60750, a terminal control device controls communication of each terminal using a polling control method. In this communication control system, the terminal control device and each terminal have unique address information, and only devices with matching address contents included in transmitted data can receive the data. The terminal control device sends a message (frame) representing a transmission invitation called polling to each terminal, and only the nine terminals that receive this, that is, the terminals whose addresses in the polling frame match, communicate with the terminal control device or other terminals. is allowed to exit the data frame sent to. This is called acquisition of transmission rights.

In a cluster communication control system using such a conventional polling control method, a terminal control device manages terminals using a terminal status management table that stores the status of each terminal. The polling frames are sequentially sent out according to the contents of this terminal management table. On the other hand, each terminal uses the following procedure when transmitting data with the terminal control device or other terminals. (1) Acquire the transmission right by polling, and (2) embed the transmission data in a frame having the destination address and transmit it. (3) Receive a response from the other party, and (4) release the transmission right to the terminal control device. However, if there is no data to send, use the above υ).

(3) is omitted and the transmission right is immediately released.

In such a communication method, each terminal has a means of knowing the status of terminals in the same cluster, which eliminates unnecessary transmissions when the other terminal is unable to receive data (power off, terminal busy, etc.). It becomes possible.

As a method for each terminal to know the terminal status within the same cluster,
These include: In other words, all terminals have a common address (this is called a global address) so that they can commonly receive data frames, and the terminal control device updates the terminal management table to all terminals every time the contents of the terminal management table change. Send information. As a result, each terminal can always know the latest terminal management status of the same cluster, and there is no need to repeat unnecessary transmissions or update the status of the destination terminal with the terminal control device each time a transmission is made. Improved usage efficiency.

In addition, as a method for transmitting data to many terminals at once, ! There is 1971-101915.

In the above cluster communication control system.

There are problems with the following points. In other words, when the number of terminals connected in the same cluster increases to, for example, 128, the status of the terminals in the same cluster will change frequently when the power of each terminal is turned on/off or the busy state changes. Become. For example, if we assume that the status of each terminal changes at a rate of once per minute, the number of connected terminals is, for example, 2.
In a system with 100 connected terminals, it changes once every 30 seconds, but in a system with 100 connected terminals, it changes once every 6 seconds.

Therefore, as the number of connected terminals increases, the frequency with which the terminal management table of the terminal management device changes increases, and the frequency with which lines are used for transmitting management table information also increases. Moreover, since the status management table information of all terminals is always transmitted,
As the number of connected terminals increases, the time required for one transmission of management table information also increases. Therefore, in the above-mentioned system, there is a problem in that when the number of terminals increases, the usage efficiency of one line decreases significantly.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a terminal management system that does not significantly reduce the usage efficiency of the power supply even when the number of connected terminals is increased.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the terminal control method of the present invention includes:
In a cluster communication system, a common address different from the unique address of each of a terminal control device and a plurality of terminal devices is provided, a terminal management table is also provided for each of the plurality of terminal devices, and the terminal control device manages the terminal. The present invention is characterized in that when the contents of the table are updated, all or part of the information in the terminal management table is attached to the common address and transmitted to all terminal devices according to the updated contents.

[Effect]

The terminal control device can constantly grasp the status of each terminal using a polling method and detect how the contents have changed. Thereby, the terminal control device can switch the terminal management team transmission frame depending on the type of change in the terminal state. Therefore, the length of the data frame to be transmitted can be changed depending on the state, reducing the line exclusive time required for terminal state management,
It becomes possible to improve the line usage rate.

〔Example〕

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Below, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a cluster communication control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The terminal control device 10 is located between the host computer p1 and the plurality of terminal devices #t21 to #t26, and controls communication (vertically distributed communication) between the host combinator 1 and the terminals 21 to 26, and also 21
~26 It also controls mutual communication (horizontal distributed communication). For this purpose, the terminal control device 10 has 1 communication control section 2. It has a storage unit 5 and a data distribution circuit 5, and assigns transmission rights to each terminal 21 to 26 and manages the status thereof. The next terminal management table 4 for managing the status of the terminal is located in a part of the storage section 5.

The data distribution circuit 5 in the terminal control device 10 has a function of distributing the data signal from the host computer 1 onto the lines to which the terminals 21 to 26 are connected, and also has the function of distributing the data signal from the host computer 1 onto the lines to which the terminals 21 to 26 are connected. It has the function of redistributing the next data signal sent on the connected line to other lines.

The terminals 21 to 26 each have a communication control section 30 and a storage section 31, as shown only for the terminal 26. Similar to the storage section 3 of the terminal control device 1o, the dd my county section 3 stores a terminal management table.

Next, a time chart showing the basic steps for communication between the terminals 21 to 26 or with the terminal control device 10 is shown in FIG.

Figure 5 (al is from terminal A (hereinafter referred to as WS-A) to terminal B
This is an example of data transmission to WS-B (hereinafter referred to as WS-B).

When a terminal control unit (hereinafter referred to as NU) sends a polling frame (POL) 1os to WS-A, WS-A sends a response frame (R) indicating that it has data to send and is on standby.
13P)s (Return to Ne at 14.) Having received the LSP frame to4, Ne transmits a frame (S N [) (ACK)) 105 to the effect of granting the transmission right to the WS-A. WS-A gives the address of the WS-8 of the destination to which data frame A (SND (DATA)) is sent.
106 is transmitted without going through WS-BKNC. WS-B
sends a response frame (R8F) 107 indicating that it has been received back to A at the WS, and WS-A transmits a response frame (R8P) 108 indicating that it releases the transmission right to the NC, thereby completing a series of data transmissions.

Next, FIG. 5(b) shows an example of transmitting terminal state management information data when WS-A is turned on and becomes an initial state and when WS-B is turned off. N.C.
sends POL frame 11 to WS-A in polling order.
Send Q. WS-A informs R8P that it is in the initial state.
Respond NO in frame 111. The NC updates the information regarding the WS-A among the contents of the terminal management table it has, and simultaneously transmits an SND (NMT) frame 112 to transmit all the information in the terminal management table as data to all terminals. This frame 112 is WS-
It is received by WS-A and WS-B at the same time, and each terminal updates its own terminal management table. As a result, each terminal is currently using WS-
It can be recognized that A has entered the initial state and is now able to transmit to WS-A.

On the other hand, when the NC sends a POL frame 113 to the WS-B as a polling request, the WS-B does not return a response because the power is OFF'F, and the NC does not respond (No FiSP) 114 due to an internal monitoring timer. can be recognized. N
C updates the content related to WS-H in the terminal management table, and simultaneously sends out a 5ND (SNT) frame 115 to all terminals using only the updated table content related to WS-B as data. WS-A is this frame 1
15, it is possible to rewrite the information related to WS-B among the terminal management table information written in the storage unit 51, and to know that it cannot be transmitted to WS-B.

FIG. 1 (al indicates the general format of the data transmission frame explained in FIG.
(F) 201, destination 7 L/S (A) 2
02, =r Cloak (C) 205, Data (I)
204, 7 Race Sequence Code (FCS) 205 and Termination 7UG (F) 20
It consists of 6. The format of this frame 200 is the same as the international standard HDLC (High Level Data Link Control Format).

FIGS. 1(b) and (C) are frame formats used when transmitting terminal management table information to all terminals at once according to the present invention, and the terminals explained in FIG. 3(b) are ON, respectively.
This shows what is used when the terminal is turned off and when the terminal is turned off. If the terminal is ONL, the terminal does not hold the terminal management table information within the cluster, so it is necessary to transmit the entire table information. On the other hand, if a terminal is OF F I, it is only necessary to notify other terminals of this fact, and only the information for that terminal is transmitted. Therefore, as shown in Figure 1(b) and (c),
Frame formats differ in their content and data part length. That is, the start and end frames 50, 401 and 507°407 are the same as in FIG. The destination address 302#402 becomes the global address GA. See you again in the command section! 505, 405 is the sending command threat S
It becomes ND.

Note that in Figures 1(b) and 1(C), unlike in Figure 1(a), the sapco and cloak parts! i84 and 404, respectively, to distinguish whether it is an all-terminal management table transmission NMT or a specific terminal management table transmission SNT.

Data sections 305 and 405 are all terminal management table information and specific terminal management table information, respectively.

Assuming that the data length representing the status of one terminal is M words and the total number of terminals is N, the data length of the data section 305 in FIG. 1(b) is MxN words, and the data length of the data section 405 in FIG. 1(C) is It becomes the M word. Therefore, the difference between both data lengths increases in proportion to the total number of terminals.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the format of the terminal management table 500. In FIG. 3(a), for example, if the total number of terminals is 128, the addresses of each terminal are terminal numbers #1 to #1.

The value is the sum of #128 and the fixed value. In other words, the fixed value is 'BF': then the address of #1 terminal is 1CO',
The #2 terminal becomes 'C1'. In this table 500, the management table length per terminal is 1 word (=2
expressed in bytes). Upper Pi) 5Q1 is a link grot in the cluster communication control system.

Represents the type of col (handbook for sending and receiving exchanges).

This is to enable the coexistence of multiple protocols. 22 bits (F/8) 502 distinguishes whether the polling cycle is to be lengthened or shortened.

For example, by lengthening the polling cycle for terminals that are powered off or in a busy state, it is possible to prevent unnecessary sending of polling frames and improve the efficiency of using one line. When the F/8 bit 502 is 1', the polling period becomes shorter. The terminal control device 10 is connected to this F/S pit 5.
02 to determine the polling operation. 2 pits) (B8Y) 50! S is.

Indicates whether the terminal is busy or not. B8Y bit 505
When is 1', the 2" bit (RD Y
) 504 indicates whether the terminal is powered on or not.

When RDY bit 504 is 1', it indicates that the power is on.

The 24-2° bit 505 is a system reserved pit.

FIG. 4 (bl represents an example of link protocol code 501. In a communication system between a host combinator and a terminal, that is, a vertically distributed cluster system, o o' is used, and in a communication system between terminals, that is, a horizontally distributed cluster system, 01'.

In addition, it is also possible to further subdivide the link protocol code '501 according to the type of terminal used.

SND (NMT) that sends all information in the terminal management table
To send a frame, RDY bit 504 is °0'
This is when the value changes from 1' to 1'. On the other hand, 8ND (SNT) transmits only specific terminal information from the terminal management table.
The frame is sent when the RDY bit 504 changes from 1' to 'o' or 88Y bit) 50
This is when 5 changes.

In the example of the terminal management table 5000 shown in FIG. 4(a), consider the data length difference between the frame format data sections 305 and 405 shown in FIGS. 1(b) and 1(C) mentioned above.

Since the number of words of one terminal information M=1 (=2 bytes) and the number of terminals N==128, D=(IX12B)-(IXi):=127'7-de(: 254 bytes). Therefore, 254 bytes of transmission time can be saved each time the management information is transmitted when the RDY bit 504 changes from 11' to 0' or when the BAY bit 503 changes.

Note that in the above explanation, the terminal management table 500 only contains contents related to all terminals connected to the terminal control device 101C, but the terminal control device 10 is also considered to be one terminal, and its status is written in the table. Needless to say, it can be used with ease. by this.

It is also possible to manage the state of the terminal control device 10 on the terminal side.

As in this embodiment, not only the terminal control device but also other terminals can immediately know the status of the terminal and terminal control device that make up the cluster system when the status changes, thereby eliminating the need to send out unnecessary transmission frames. In addition to preventing this, it is also possible to shorten the line exclusive time required for network management to achieve this purpose.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, it is possible to shorten the exclusive use time of one line and improve the efficiency of network management, which are essential when realizing mutual communication between terminals, thereby improving the efficiency of using one line, increasing the number of connectable terminals, and transmitting data. This has the effect of reducing costs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a transmission frame format used in the terminal management method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a cluster communication control system to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a transmission frame format used in the terminal management method of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a time chart showing the data transmission procedure and a diagram showing the structure of the terminal management table. 10... Terminal control device, 21-26... Terminal equipment f,
4.500...Terminal management table, 305...All terminal management table information, 405...Specific terminal management table information. Figure 1 L
JL Jka 2
Figure 3 (OL) (b) No. Ushikuni <b)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A terminal in which a terminal control device detects the states of a plurality of terminal devices by a polling method, stores the detected states in a terminal management table, and controls the terminal devices according to the contents of the table. In the control method, a common address different from the unique address of each of the terminal control device and the plurality of terminal devices is provided, and the terminal management table is also provided for each of the plurality of terminal devices, When the contents of the terminal management table of the control device are updated, all or part of the information in the terminal management table is sent to all terminal devices with the above-mentioned common address attached, depending on the updated contents. A terminal management method characterized by: 2. The above update contents are divided into cases where the above terminal device is initialized and cases where other state changes occur. All information in the above table is sent only when the terminal device is initialized, and all information in the above table is sent only when the terminal device is initialized. 2. The terminal management method according to claim 1, wherein only updated terminal information is transmitted if the terminal information is updated. 3. The terminal management system according to claim 1, wherein the terminal management table stores not only the states of all terminal devices but also the state of the terminal control device.