JPS6345148B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention provides a central processing unit that periodically sends and receives a fill-in signal consisting of a specific pattern via a communication device in order to confirm the normality of a communication line and a partner station. Relating to a communication device failure identification method for identifying failure factors in a communication device including failures in a communication line and a partner station by requesting failure factor identification information from a communication device in response to a timeout and interpreting the read information. It is something.

Such a communication system is configured as shown in the figure. In the figure, 1 is a central processing unit, 2 is a communication device, 3 is a scanning device, 4 is an information transmission line connecting the central processing unit 1 and the communication device 2, and 5 is an information transmission line connecting the central processing unit 1 and the scanning device 3. , 6 is an information transmission path connecting the communication device 2 and the scanning device 3, 7 is a communication line for connecting with a partner station, 8 is a backup communication device, and 9 is a partner station.

In the conventional communication device failure identification method in such a communication system, when a failure is detected in the communication device 2, the communication device 2 is transferred to the scanning device 3 via the information transmission path 6.
The corresponding fault indication bit register (FIN=Falt
The central processing unit 1 communicates with the scanning device 3 via the information transmission path 5 independently from the communication device 2.
The display of the fault indication bit register (FIN) of the communication device 2 is periodically scanned, and if a display is detected, the FIN details for fault identification are sent to the communication device 2 displayed in the fault indication bit register via the information transmission path 4. The cause of the failure within the communication device 2 was identified by requesting information and interpreting the read FIN detailed information. Furthermore, the failure that the communication device 2 displays on the failure display bit register of the scanning device 3 via the information transmission path 6 is only a failure within the communication device 2 itself, and the communication device 2 indicates a failure in the other station 9 or the communication line 7. 2 was detected, but it was not displayed in the fault display bit register.

In such a conventional communication device failure identification method, if a failure occurs in the communication device 2 itself, the central processing unit 1 can read the FIN detailed information and identify the cause of the failure, making it possible to perform appropriate recovery processing. However, if a failure occurs in the partner station 9 or the communication line 7, the central processing unit 1 cannot identify the cause of the failure because there is no indication of the failure in the failure indication bit register. Therefore, the central processing unit 1 uniformly assumes that a failure has occurred in the communication device 2 of its own station when the reception timeout of the fill-in signal occurs, and uses the communication device 2 as a backup even if there is no failure of the communication device 2 of its own station. After taking measures such as switching to the communication device 8, the subsequent recovery process was left to the maintenance personnel.

That is, the communication device 2 has a function of detecting the occurrence of a failure in the communication line 7 based on the physical level envelope of the S bit (start bit), and detecting the occurrence of a failure in the other station 9 based on link level retry-out or the other station being busy. Despite the fact that
Since there was no means for notifying the central processing unit 1 of the failure identification information, the central processing unit 1 had the drawback of uniformly performing failure recovery processing assuming that it was the own communication device 2, as described above.

Generally, the scanning device 3 accommodates fault indication bit registers not only for the communication device 2 but also for several types and a relatively large number of devices. The amount of information that can be read at one time is a fixed length (1 word) like other devices, and the capacity of a fixed length word for the FIN detailed information of the communication device corresponding to the fault indication bit is
The FIN detailed information alone is full, and therefore the failure factors of the partner station 9 and the communication line 7 cannot be included in the FIN detailed information as they are.

Possible methods for solving the problems of the conventional communication device fault identification methods are as follows.

Previously, detailed FIN information indicated the cause of failure by the position of the bit, but by assigning meaning to the combination of bits and corresponding failure causes, it is now possible to include failures in communication lines and other stations in the FIN information. How to display it in the fault display bit register as well.

Status data is handled in the same way as FIN detailed information, and failures in the communication line 7 or the other station 9 are detected by the communication device 2.
If detected, status data is set and an indication is made in the fault indication bit register of the scanning device 3 via the information transmission line 6, and the status data is read subsequent to reading the FIN detailed information.

The scanning device 3 is provided with a status data read request bit register (LSFR) in addition to the fault display bit register, and when the communication device 2 detects a fault in its own communication device 2, it is displayed in the fault display bit register and transmitted to the other station. 9 or communication line 7
If a failure is detected, it is displayed in the status data read request bit register. Therefore, the central processing unit 1 periodically scans both the fault indication bit register and the status data read request bit register of the scanning device 3, and if either indication is detected, it sends a message to the communication device 2 in response to the indication. How to request either FIN details or status data.

However, all of these methods ~ lack uniformity of interface with other devices, and methods ( and) require that the central processing unit 1 be interpreted as the device type, making the interpretation process complicated, and methods ( ) The two displays must be scanned periodically,
This method has drawbacks such as an increase in the load on the central processing unit 1, and cannot be a practical solution.

In order to solve these shortcomings, the present invention completely independently of the conventional means for identifying failures in communication equipment,
Means for the central processing unit 1 to request fault cause identification information from the communication device 2 via the information transmission path 4 upon timeout of reception of a fill-in signal for confirming the normality of the partner station 9 or the communication line 7. When a communication device does not receive a fill-in signal for a certain period of time during transmission/reception, the central processing unit determines that a failure has occurred in either the communication device, the communication line, or the other station, and the communication device The system is characterized in that it requests fault factor identification information from the communication device, decodes the fault factor identification information from the communication device, and identifies the fault factor.

The communication device fault identification method of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings. The central processing unit 1 periodically sends and receives fill-in signals via the communication device 2 in order to confirm the normality of the partner station 9 and the communication line 7, and the central processing unit 1 periodically sends and receives fill-in signals via the communication device 2 to check the normality of the partner station 9 and the communication line 7. 2, the central processing unit 1 will not be able to receive this fill-in signal for a certain period of time, and this fill-in signal reception timeout will indicate a failure in either the local station communication device 2, the other station 9, or the communication line 7. It is possible to detect what has occurred.

The central processing unit 1 has conventional fault indication bits and
Completely independently of the means for identifying a communication device failure based on FIN detailed information, information transmission path 4 is sent to communication device 2 upon timeout of reception of a fill-in signal for confirming the normality of partner station 9 or communication line 7. A new means is provided for requesting failure factor identification information via the .

In addition to detecting a partial failure in itself and storing it as detailed FIN information, the communication device 2 also detects the occurrence of a failure in the communication line 7 based on the physical level envelope of the S bit, etc., as described above. and means for detecting occurrence of a failure in the partner station 9 due to link-level retryout or busy partner station and storing it as status data.

Triggered by the reception timeout of the fill-in signal, the central processing unit 1 identifies the cause of the failure to the local communication device 2 via the information transmission path 4, regardless of the failure detection report from the local communication device 2. Sends an information request command signal. Communication device 2 that received this
sends the identification information (status data) of the failure factor set in the failure detection storage means to the central processing unit 1, and the central processing unit 1 decodes the identification information,
It is determined which of the local station communication device 2, the other station 9, or the communication line 7 is at fault. Note that when a failure occurs in the communication device 2 that makes it unable to respond to the failure cause identification information request from the central processing unit 1, the lack of a response from the central processing unit 1 communication device 2 causes the communication device 2 be able to identify that there is a disability.

In this way, by being able to identify the cause of the failure, it becomes possible to carry out appropriate failure recovery processing thereafter.

As explained above, the present invention uses the timeout of reception of a fill-in signal for confirming the normality of the other station or communication line as an opportunity to detect the other station or the communication stored in the communication device of the own station as status data. Since the cause of line failure is read by the central processing unit, the cause of the failure can be determined more accurately than conventional communication equipment failure identification methods.
Failures can also be dealt with more accurately.

Furthermore, by using the present invention in conjunction with the conventional communication device failure identification method, the interface with other devices is well unified, and failures in communication devices can be identified without almost affecting the load on the central processing unit 1. It has the advantage of becoming like this.

In other words, for failures in the local communication device 2 that occur relatively frequently and require immediate treatment, the conventional communication device failure identification method is applied, and periodic scanning (on the order of tens of milliseconds) is used to detect failures early. We will strive to
Use the same interface as other devices. In addition, for failures in the communication equipment 9 or communication line 7 that occur relatively infrequently and require maintenance personnel's intervention even if a failure is detected, the communication equipment failure identification method according to the present invention is applied, and a fill-in signal is detected. Because it is possible to request status data from the communication device 2 completely independently of the fault occurrence report of the local communication device 2 in response to a reception timeout (on the order of several tens of seconds), conventional periodic scanning and judgment There is an advantage that there is no need to rework the process or the like, and there is no need to increase the load.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure is a diagram for explaining a communication system. 1...Central processing unit, 2...Communication device, 3...
Scanning device, 4... Information transmission line connecting the central processing unit 1 and the communication device 2, 5... Information transmission line connecting the central processing unit 1 and the scanning device 3, 6... Connecting the communication device 2 and the scanning device 3 Information transmission path, 7... communication line for connecting with partner station 9, 8... spare communication device,
9... Opponent station.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A communication device that is connected to the central processing unit, accommodates a communication line, and sends and receives signals to and from the other station, and periodically sends and receives fill-in signals, and if the fill-in signal is not received for a certain period of time, the central processing unit The central processing unit then requests failure factor identification information from the communication device, the central processing unit interprets the failure cause identification information read from the communication device, and identifies the failure based on the deciphered result. A communication device fault identification method characterized by: