JP2739818B2 - Device path monitoring method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an in-device path monitoring method, in which a section in which monitoring is not performed at all on a signal path is eliminated, and when a failure occurs in any section of a signal path, monitoring of another section is performed. The present invention relates to an in-device path monitoring method capable of detecting a failure of a monitoring circuit itself for monitoring a signal path without impairing a function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram of a conventional path monitoring system.

FIG. 2A shows a method of monitoring each monitoring section using a unique path monitoring bit. In the monitoring section A, the monitoring bit insertion unit 11 inserts an arbitrary fixed bit into an empty time slot of the main signal. Monitoring bit detector 12
Are compared and detected using the same fixed bits inserted by the monitoring bit insertion unit 11, and if abnormal, the signal path failure in the monitoring section A is determined. Similarly to the monitoring section A, the monitoring sections B and C monitor the respective sections by inserting fixed bits by the monitoring bit insertion units 21 and 31 and detecting fixed bits by the monitoring bit detection units 22 and 32.

On the other hand, FIG. 2B shows a system in which a monitoring bit is inserted at the start of a signal path and the monitoring bit is detected at the end of each monitoring section.

[0005] The monitoring bit insertion unit 11 at the start of the signal path inserts an arbitrary fixed bit into an empty time slot of the main signal. In the monitoring section A, the monitoring bit detecting section 12 at the end of the monitoring section detects and compares the same fixed bit inserted by the monitoring bit inserting section 11 using the same fixed bit. Similarly to the monitoring section A, the monitoring sections B and C monitor the respective sections by detecting the fixed bits inserted by the monitoring bit inserting section 11 by the monitoring bit detecting sections 22 and 32 at the end points of the monitoring sections. .

[0006]

However, FIG.
In the monitoring method (a), a signal path from a monitoring bit detection unit at an end point of a monitoring section to a monitoring bit insertion unit at a start point of the next monitoring section, that is, a part of a break from a certain monitoring section to the next monitoring section. No monitoring is performed. In addition, the monitoring of the circuit failure of the monitoring bit detector itself in each monitoring section is not monitored at all.

On the other hand, in the monitoring method shown in FIG. 2 (b), monitoring is performed without omission on all signal paths to be monitored. However, if a fault occurs in an intermediate section, all the monitoring sections thereafter are normal. However, the monitoring bit detection unit becomes abnormal (so-called upstream alarm spreads). In this method, usually, a part for collectively processing alarms issued from the monitoring bit detection unit of each monitoring section is provided, and when an alarm is detected from any monitoring section, the alarms raised from all monitoring sections downstream of the signal path are output. The process of suppressing (masking) is performed, but this has a disadvantage that when some monitoring section is abnormal, the monitoring capability in the subsequent monitoring section loses the monitoring capability.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2A, an unmonitored section is not created as in the method shown in FIG.
An object of the present invention is to provide a monitoring method which does not impair the monitoring capability of another monitoring section when some monitoring section is abnormal as in the method (b). Therefore, in the in-device path monitoring method of the present invention, in addition to the monitoring bit detection function at the monitoring bit insertion end point (upstream detection section) at the start point of the monitoring section, the same monitoring is performed at the next monitoring section end point (downstream detection section). Has a bit detection function,
In addition, each detection unit has a function to evaluate the alarm of the self-monitoring section abnormality and the previous monitoring section abnormality which are raised from the monitoring bit detection unit at the end point of each monitoring section. The bit for abnormality detection suppression (for masking) is inserted in the downstream detection unit, and when detecting the abnormality in the pre-monitoring section, the bit for abnormality detection suppression (for mask) is not detected in the downstream detection unit, and the monitoring of the pre-monitoring section is performed. The above object is achieved by adding a method of making the previous monitoring section abnormal only when the use bit has an abnormality.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an intra-device path monitoring method according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, components denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 2A have the same functions as those of the conventional example. Here, functions different from the conventional example will be mainly described.

In FIG. 1, monitoring bit insertion units 11 and 12 are provided.
1, 31, 41, and the monitoring bit detectors 12, 22, 32, as in the conventional example, provide arbitrary fixed bits (A1, B1, B1) in predetermined time slots at the start and end points of the respective monitoring sections A, B, C. C1) is inserted and detected, and its own monitoring section is monitored. However, each of the monitoring bit insertion units 11, 21, 31, and 41 performs insertion using an empty time slot other than the time slot used for monitoring in the previous monitoring section. The detection output of the monitoring bit detection unit is sent to a higher-level processing unit (not shown), where abnormal locations are located.

The preceding section monitoring bit detectors 14 and 24 detect any fixed bits (A1 and B1) of the preceding monitoring section for the time slots used for monitoring in the preceding monitoring sections A and B, respectively, and perform abnormality detection. . Here, when an abnormality occurs in the monitoring sections B and C, the monitoring bit detection units 22 and 32
To detect abnormalities, and the previous section monitoring bit detector 1
4 and 24 also detect an abnormality.
The self-monitoring section abnormality alarm that is raised when an abnormality is detected in 2, 32,
The previous section monitoring bit detectors 14 and 24 can take measures such as suppressing (masking) the occurrence of a previous monitoring section abnormality alarm that is raised when an abnormality is detected.

In a device having a huge circuit scale, a signal path is long, and a package is often divided for each processing unit to use a plug-in unit configuration. In this case, each monitoring section is mainly a unit of device maintenance, that is, a package unit. Therefore, the monitoring section is often divided into packages and between packages. When the monitoring section is between packages, a monitoring bit insertion / detection circuit is mounted on each of the transmission / reception packages, and both of these packages are also subject to maintenance.

The functions added in the present invention, that is, the places where the failures can be detected by the preceding section monitoring bit detectors 14 and 24 are from the locations detected by the monitoring bit detectors 12, 22 and 32 to the monitoring bit insertion section 21. , 31, 41 are signal path up to the point where they are inserted and indirectly the monitoring bit detectors 12, 22, 32 themselves are abnormal. It should be changed if the monitoring section should be extended. In the configuration up to this point, the pre-monitoring section is extended. Therefore, when an abnormality is detected by the monitoring bit detection units 12 and 22, the pre-monitoring bit detection units 14 and 24 always detect an abnormality (causes an alarm to propagate). . In order to prevent the transmission of this alarm, the alarm suppression bit insertion units 13, 23, and 33 input the self-monitoring section abnormality alarms 16, 26, and 36, which are raised when an abnormality is detected by the monitoring bit detection units 12, 22, and 32. When the section abnormality alarms 16, 26, and 36 occur, arbitrary fixed patterns (A2, B2) are inserted into empty time slots other than the time slots used for monitoring in the own monitoring section and the next monitoring section.

The preceding section monitoring bit detectors 14 and 24 detect the monitoring bits of the preceding monitoring sections A and B, respectively, and have any fixed patterns (A2 and B2) inserted by the alarm suppression bit inserting sections 13 and 23, respectively. Is monitored, and when an arbitrary fixed pattern is detected, the issuance of an alarm is suppressed (masked).

Next, the operation will be specifically described with reference to FIG.

If a monitoring pattern A1 is inserted into a time slot X for monitoring a monitoring section A by a monitoring bit insertion section 11, this pattern A1 is detected by a detection section 12 and monitoring of the own section A is performed. It is. Here, when it is detected that an abnormality has occurred in the section A from the pattern A1,
The alarm suppression bit insertion unit 13 inserts the pattern A2 into the predetermined time slot Z and sends it to the next section B. This abnormality information is also sent to the host processor . Next , in order to monitor the section B, the monitoring pattern B
1 is inserted by the bit insertion unit 21. In the section B, first, the previous section monitoring bit detector 14
And patterns A1 and A2 inserted in Z and Z are detected.
When this occurs , it is determined that section A is abnormal, and this fact is sent to the host processor. Next, the monitoring bit detection unit 22 detects the pattern B1 of the time slot Y, and determines whether there is an abnormality in the own section (section B). Alarm suppression if abnormal
The bit insertion unit 23 inserts the pattern B2 into the time slot Z and sends it out to the next section.

This determination information is similarly sent to the host processor. Note that the pattern A2 of the time slot Z has been removed by the detection unit 14.

The monitoring bit inserting unit 31, for monitoring the section C, insert the pattern C 1 in the time slot X (already removed in the pattern A 1 is detecting section 14), and sends to the next section.

[0020]

As described above, according to the in-device path monitoring method of the present invention, in addition to the insertion and detection (first detection) of monitoring bits at the start and end points of each monitoring section, the same operation is performed again at the end point of the next section. By detecting the monitoring bit (second detection),
Eliminating the unmonitored section on the signal path (the existence of an unmonitored path between each monitored section in the signal path) and always having two detection points for the same monitoring bit allows the first detection circuit itself A decrease in monitoring capability due to a failure can be prevented by the second detection function.

The route from the first detection of an arbitrary monitoring section to the insertion point of the next monitoring section can be monitored by the second detection function, but the failure detection capability of the second detection circuit itself is not as good as that of the first detection circuit. , This path section should be as short as possible in the prior art. From this fact, the preceding section monitoring bit detection section, monitoring bit detection section, alarm suppression bit insertion section, and monitoring bit insertion section shown in the embodiment are always located near each other, and when this monitoring circuit is actually configured, the timing generation circuit and the like are shared. Many circuits are available, and the circuit scale for adding functions is small.

On the other hand, since there is no unmonitored path, the setting of the monitoring section does not need to be performed in the maintenance unit as in the past. For example, even if the maintenance unit is the package unit, the insertion and output of the monitoring bit at the package input point are not necessarily performed. There is no need to detect a monitoring bit at a point. There is no problem if several monitoring sections are provided in the package, and an alarm from any detected point is notified to the upper processing unit as a package failure alarm. Therefore, in the case of connecting two or more of the same LSIs in a package, for example, a monitoring section is set for each LSI, and an integrated processing is notified to an upper processing unit. 3).

At a glance, the number of time slots used for path monitoring, such as the time slot for inserting a bit for alarm propagation and masking, increases, but the number of time slots used can be reduced in a signal path that removes n inputs to one output. There is also an effect that the number of monitoring bit patterns can be reduced (FIG. 3).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an in-device path monitoring method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a conventional in-device path monitoring method.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the effect of using the in-device path monitoring method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 to 41 monitoring bit insertion unit 12 to 32 monitoring bit detection unit 13 to 33 alarm suppression bit insertion unit 14 to 24 previous section monitoring bit detection unit 16 to 36 self-monitoring section abnormality alarm

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An internal path monitoring method for monitoring a signal path by dividing a signal path into several sections and inserting a monitoring bit into a predetermined time slot in the signal for each section, A monitoring bit insertion unit that inserts a predetermined monitoring bit at a start point of each monitoring section; a monitoring bit detection unit that detects a predetermined monitoring bit at an end point of each monitoring section; An intra-device path monitoring method, comprising: a preceding section monitoring bit detection unit that detects a monitoring section end point. 2. An alarm suppression bit insertion unit for inserting a predetermined fixed pattern into a predetermined time slot when an abnormality is detected by the monitoring bit detection unit, wherein the fixed pattern inserted by the alarm suppression bit insertion unit is
When detected by the preceding section monitoring bit detection unit ,
The monitoring bit of the previous monitoring section in the previous section monitoring bit detection unit is
2. The in- device path monitoring method according to claim 1, wherein an output of an alarm due to detection of a fault is suppressed .