JP3102370B2 - Radio station management system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a radio network management system constructed by connecting a master station to a plurality of relay stations and terminal stations by radio lines.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a radio communication system in which a master station, a plurality of relay stations, and terminal stations are connected in a tree shape by a radio line has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-235817. There is. FIG. 6 shows a connection relationship between a master station, a relay station, and a terminal station, which constitute a conventional radio station management system. In the following description, a station located on the upstream side of the network is called an upstream station, and a station located on the downstream side of the network is called a downstream station.

[0003] In FIG.
Is a master station 101 located at the top of the network, a relay station 102 for receiving transmission information from the master station 101 and transmitting the received information to the downstream side of the network,
A relay station 103 that receives transmission information from the relay station 102 located on the upstream side and transmits the received information to the downstream side of the network, and terminal stations 104 to 106 that only receive transmission information from the upstream side. It is composed of

[0004] Further, relay station 102 allocates a radio 201 for receiving transmission information from master station 101 and an upstream station (in this case, master station 101) from a signal received by radio 201 via signal line 301. A receiving circuit 202 for receiving the assigned station number, a relay circuit 203 for relaying a signal received by the wireless device 201 via a signal line 301, and a signal line 30
2 for notifying the relay circuit 203 of the own station number via the local line number 2, and the relay circuit 20 via the signal line 303.
3 and a wireless device 205 for transmitting the received signal relayed by the wireless communication device 3. The relay station 103 has the same configuration as the relay station 102.

[0005] Here, when a failure occurs in the relay station due to a power failure or the like in the wireless network, information is transmitted to other wireless stations (relay station and terminal station) located downstream of the relay station. And affect downstream stations. Then, the monitoring and management device (not shown) connected to the master station 101 determines that the downstream station of the relay station has failed, so that correct monitoring and management for the occurrence of the failure has been requested.

Therefore, in the above-described conventional example, a unique number is assigned to every wireless station on the wireless network so that the monitoring and management apparatus can recognize downstream stations including the relay station. Specifically, in the relay station 102, a number unique to the upstream station (in this case, the master station 101) included in the received signal is received by the receiving circuit 202, and the upstream station is recognized. A unique number is inserted into the own station as a unique number included therein, and transmitted from the wireless device 205 to the downstream station (the relay station 103 and the terminal station 104).

[0007] Further, in the relay station 103, the relay station 102
Similarly to the above, the receiving circuit recognizes a number unique to the upstream station (relay station 102) included in the received signal,
By inserting a unique number into the own station, the downstream station (terminal station 105, 1
06). That is, when a failure occurs in the middle of signal transmission, the station in which the failure has occurred does not insert a unique number into its own station. Therefore, by transferring information received at the terminal stations 104 to 106 to the master station 101, The monitoring and management apparatus can grasp which station has a failure.

[0008]

In general, a monitoring and management apparatus monitors the status of a plurality of wireless stations in a wireless network. It is expected that a lot of trouble information will occur. On the other hand, the monitoring and management device instructs the radio station under construction that construction is underway,
Conventionally, a function to ignore failure information from a radio station that has been instructed during construction has been provided so as not to overlook the occurrence of a failure from a monitored radio station that is not under construction. ing.

In particular, when constructing a radio station, it is necessary to change the status of individual monitoring and management depending on the purpose, such as ignoring fault information or monitoring fault information. In other words, in order to instruct the monitoring system during construction, such as instructions during construction, cancellation during construction, and confirmation of the normality of monitoring, an operation by an administrator is essential. Generally, the relay station and the slave stations are independent of each other, and are distant from each other. Furthermore, in each of these stations, the completion time of the construction of the stations is not constant, and it is almost impossible to simultaneously start the stations under the condition that all stations are ready for operation.

[0010] Under such circumstances, an administrator who intends to monitor and manage the wireless network must be placed on each of the monitoring and management apparatus side and the wireless station side, and furthermore, synchronized work is required. Therefore, there is a problem that the work must be performed using another communication means such as a telephone. Therefore, as the number of stations connected on the network increases, the situation management becomes more and more complicated, and human operations are indispensable.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a radio station management system which eliminates human operations and performs maintenance independently in order to solve the above problems.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention ,
Is (a) a plurality of wireless stations that construct a wireless network
And (b) at least individual
Identification information for identifying the radio station and status indicating the current operation status
Information requesting two pieces of information at a time interval
Information request means, and (c) information request by the information request means.
Each time a request is made, the result is indicated as a response
Is prepared for each wireless station indicated by the identification information.
To a plurality of specified information storage areas in a predetermined order.
Information storage means for sequentially storing one area at a time for each click;
(D) Multiple pieces of information of each wireless station stored in the information storage means
Returned as information indicating the presence or absence of a response in each storage area
Check whether the presence or absence of the answer is stored.
Response from the radio station
No response to the latest inquiry despite the
Indicates that a failure has occurred in the equipment at that station.
Or the device has failed, and no response
Response to the latest inquiry
If there is a response, determine the failure recovery
And there is no response until the latest inquiry
If the wireless station is located, determine that it is excluded from the management target
The wireless station management system is provided with a state grasping means.

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a radio station
Information requests are stored in multiple information storage areas prepared for each
Results (information indicating the presence or absence of a response) in order for each area
It is necessary to store the information
With or without the response stored in the storage area
Therefore, we try to understand the status of each radio station
You. Specifically, there is a response from the radio station once in the past.
Response to the latest inquiry
If the answer is no, the device of the radio station has failed.
And that the device is out of order,
Latest inquiries that may have been answered no
If there is a response to
No response is received until the latest inquiry
Radio stations are excluded from management.
Grasp the state as if to do another.

According to the second aspect of the present invention,
In the radio station management system, detailed details are included in the response of each radio station.
Fault information, and the status
The feature is that the cause is grasped by this detailed failure information.
And

That is, according to the second aspect of the present invention, each radio
By including detailed failure information in the station response,
If there is no response, the cause is determined by this detailed failure.
It is possible to grasp by information.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the information requesting means is
It is characterized by making information requests while traveling around each wireless station.
ing.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on one illustrated embodiment. FIG. 1 shows a connection relationship among a master station, a relay station, and a slave station in the wireless station management system according to the present embodiment. In the figure, a radio station management system 1
Includes a communication line slave station 2 ₁ ... 2 connects a communication terminal T of a predetermined number of through L _n (n is an integer of 2 or more), each slave station 2 ₁ ...
A relay station 3 that relays between 2 _n and the upstream station; a relay station 4 that relays between the relay station 3 and the upstream station; a base station 5 that performs transmission and reception between the relay station 4; A management device 6 is connected to the base station 5 via a signal line 11, and an exchange 7 is connected to the base station 5 via a signal line 12.

Each of the slave stations 2 ₁ ... 2 _n has an antenna 2 _1a.
Na2 _na for transmitting and receiving data to and from the relay station 3. The relay station 3 transmits and receives data to and from each of the slave stations 2 ₁ ... 2 _n via the antenna 3 _a. At the same time, by transmitting and receiving data to and from the relay station 4 via the antenna _3b , the relay between the slave stations 2 ₁ ... 2 _n and the relay station 4 is performed. Relay station 4, like the relay station 3, together with transmit and receive data to and from the relay station 3 via the antenna 4 _a, to transmit and receive data to and from the base station 5 via the antenna 4 _b Thus, the relay between the relay station 3 and the base station 5 is performed.

The base station 5 transmits and receives data to and from the relay station 4 via the antenna 5a,
And exchanges data with the exchange 7 via the. As a result, the mobile stations 2 ₁ ... 2 _n and the exchange 7 are connected by a wireless line. The management device 6 is for centrally monitoring the entire wireless network via the base station 5, and has each function of an information requesting unit, an information storage unit, and a state grasping unit, as will be described later. It also has a function to perform recovery processing.

FIG. 2 shows a main configuration of the management device. As shown in FIG. 2, the management device 6 includes the stations (slave stations 2 ₁ ... 2 _n , relay station 3) connected on the network. And a memory (information storage means) 21 for storing a state in the relay station 4), and a management center 22 serving as a control center of the management device 6. The management center 22 is a CPU
(Central Processing Unit) 31 and ROM (Read O
nly Memory) 32 and RAM (Random Access Memory)
33, the management central unit 22 has a function of an information requesting unit together with the base station 5, and also clears the contents of the memory 21 with a preset value, or selects any contents from the contents of the memory 21. It also has a function as state grasping means for grasping the state of the radio station.

The CP in the memory 21 and the management center 22
U31, ROM32, and RAM33 are connected to the signal line 4 respectively.
The memory 21, the CPU 31, the ROM 32, and the RAM 3 are connected to the system bus 40 through
Numeral 3 is connected to each other via a system bus 40.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the format of the information storage area in the memory. As shown in the figure, the memory 21, information storage area A ₁ ~ corresponding to all the radio stations included in the wireless network (slave station and relay station)
A _n -A _m (where n <m), and the information storage areas A ₁ -A _n -A _m are areas B ₁₁ , B ₂₁ for storing identification information for identifying each wireless station. includes a region B ₁₂ for storing the information indicating the current operating status of B ₃₁ and each of the radio stations, B _22, B ₃₂ and triplicate.

The three sets of areas B₁₁And B₁₂, Area B_{twenty one}
And B_{twenty two}, Area B₃₁And B₃₂Are the same length data
Are stored in the area B first.₁₁And
And B ₁₂And then use area B_{twenty one}And B_{twenty two}, Area B₃₁
And B₃₂And this time again, area B₁₁And B₁₂To
Use. This allows the current operation at each radio station to be
Even when information is stored, the operation that was stored last time and two times before
You have the information. That is, this history information
By checking the current operation information while referring to the
The central control unit 22 can grasp the detailed status of each radio station.
You.

FIG. 4 shows the contents of the judgment of the operation state based on the result of making an information request to the radio station.
This is indicated by "1" when a response to the information request is received from the wireless station side indicating that the information request is normal, and by "0" when no response is received during construction or a failure. The information before last is area B _11, the last information area B _21, the current information is to be stored in the area B _31, if information stored in the area B ₃₁ is "0", Indicates that the station is currently ineligible on the network,
If the information is "1" stored in the area B _31, the radio station indicates that it is valid on the network at this time.

If the information is "0", "0", or "0" from the past history information, it is known that the wireless station has been excluded from the network all the time. , “0”, “1”, it is understood that the wireless station is newly added to the network this time. Similarly, for “0”, “1”, and “0”, it is found that a failure has occurred after being added to the network, and for “0”, “1”, and “1”, it has been added to the network. It can be seen that the normal state has been maintained afterwards.

In the case of "1", "0", and "0", a fault that has existed on the network from the beginning has continued thereafter, and in the case of "1", "0", and "1", the fault has been recovered once. You can see that. “1”, “1”, and “0” exist from the beginning on the network and have failed this time. “1”, “1”, and “1” exist on the network from the beginning and are in the normal state. It can be seen that is maintained. In this way, by taking a history of information indicating the state, it is possible to grasp the state of each wireless station in more detail.

Next, an operation example of the management device in the above embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 shows a process for managing the construction and maintenance of a network according to the present embodiment. Note that the information storage area A ₁ ~A _n ~A _m in the memory 21,
We are prepared more than the total number of the slave station 2 ₁ to 2 _n and the relay station 3 and 4 respectively, in FIG during 1, slave station 2 ₁ to 2 _n correspond to each data storage area A ₁ to A _n, the relay station 3 corresponds to the information storage area A _{n + 1} , and the relay station 4 corresponds to the information storage area A _{n + 2} . In the figure, the management device 6
First, the contents of the memory 21 are all cleared by the management center 22 (step S101).

Next, '0' is substituted for the count variable I (step S102), and an information request is made to the I-th wireless station.
A normality inquiry is made (step S103). Here, it is checked whether or not there is a response from the wireless station that made the inquiry (step S104), and if there is a response (step S104).
104; Y) Then, the presence or absence of a device failure is confirmed based on the response information (step S105). In the determination process of step S105, if there is a device failure (step S105; Y), a processing operation for failure recovery is executed (step S106), and if there is no device failure (step S105; N), The presence flag is set in a corresponding portion of the areas B ₁₁ , B ₂₁ , and B ₃₁ (step S1).
07), the process proceeds to step S110.

On the other hand, if there is no response in the determination processing of step S104 (step S104; N), it is confirmed whether or not an apparatus exists (step S108).
If the device exists (step S108;
Y), a processing operation for the occurrence of a failure is performed in the wireless station (step S109), and if there is no device (step S108; N), the process proceeds to step S110. Next, the count variable I is incremented (step S1).
10), it is confirmed whether or not information requests have been made to all the wireless stations based on the count variable I (step S11).
1).

In the judgment processing of step S111, if there is a remaining radio station (step S111; N),
The processing from step S103 is repeatedly executed, and in the determination processing of step S111, there is no remaining wireless station,
If an information request has been made to all wireless stations (step S111; Y), the processing from step S102 is repeatedly executed. In this case, the information storage area A ₁ to A _n
Switching the area to be used in to A _m in the following areas.

In the above processing, a response from the radio station has already been received and there is a memory to the effect that the device is present. However, if there is no response to the latest inquiry, it is determined that a device failure has occurred or that the device has failed. Remember. If there is a memory indicating that the device has failed, but there is a response at the time of the latest inquiry, the storage is changed to a memory indicating that the device has recovered from the failure, and the status returns to the normal status of the device. Here, in the case of a station that does not respond once, there is no memory, so it is excluded from monitoring and management, and it is treated in the same way as construction during which power is not turned on. 4).

In the above description, the details are omitted. However, if detailed failure information is included in the response information from each wireless station, for example, it is determined that the device is in failure or under test. Can be grasped in detail, so that the management device 6 can independently perform monitoring and management.

As described above, in this embodiment, even if the existence of the slave station or the relay station and the normality of the connection are not registered in advance, the information is sent from each wireless station based on the information sent from each wireless station. It can be automatically determined and extracted as fault information. When a network system including a plurality of wireless stations is constructed, this fault information can be used as a trigger for a detour process and a recovery process in the network system, and the normality of the network can be independently ensured. be able to.

This makes it possible to monitor the installation of a device set at a remote location, whether or not the power is turned on, or the device for centrally monitoring and managing the state without any human operation. The network system can be maintained and managed independently.

In the above-described embodiment, the information storage areas A ₁ -A _n -A _m in the memory 21 are divided into three groups, and the three areas are used cyclically so as to have an information history. But it is not limited to this. For example, a configuration may be adopted in which only the current information is stored in one set of areas, or the area is divided into more areas to have an information history.

[0037]

As described above, the invention according to claim 1 is described above.
According to the above, a plurality of information storage areas for storing information are provided,
Keeping a history of information using these multiple information storage areas
Thus, it is possible to always grasp information of each wireless station that changes with time .

According to the second aspect of the present invention, each radio
Since detailed failure information was included in the station response,
If there is no response, the gripper will report the cause to this detailed fault information.
The information can be easily grasped.

Further , according to the third aspect of the present invention, the information required
Since the requesting means makes an information request while patroling each wireless station,
The load of making requests by such time-division work
Can be dispersed.

[0040]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a connection relationship among a master station, a relay station, and a slave station in a wireless station management system according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a main configuration of a management device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a format example of an information storage area in a memory.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a determination content of an operation state based on a result of making an information request to a wireless station.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating processing for managing the construction and maintenance of a network according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a connection relationship among a master station, a relay station, and a terminal station, which constitute a conventional radio station management system.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Radio station management system 2 ₁ ... 2 _n slave station 3, 4 relay station 5 base station 6 management apparatus 7 exchange 21 memory (information storage means) 22 management central part (information request means, state grasping means) 31 CPU 32 ROM 33 RAM 40 system bus 41-44 signal line

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Mariko Mori 5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside NEC Corporation (72) Inventor Masatoshi Mizobe 5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo Japan NEC Corporation (72) Inventor Hiromi Atsuta 5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo NEC Corporation (72) Inventor ▲ Yoshi ▼ Chizuko 5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo NEC (56) References JP-A-6-164523 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04B 17/00 H04B 7/26

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of radios for constructing a radio network
Stations and, for these stations, at least the individual stations
2 of identification information to be distinguished and status information indicating the current operation status
Information request means for requesting two pieces of information sequentially at time intervals
If, each time the information request by is made the information request means, its
Of the response as information indicating the presence or absence of a response
Multiple information storage areas prepared for each radio station
Cyclically one area at a time in a predetermined order
Information storage means for sequentially storing information, and a plurality of information storage areas of each wireless station stored in the information storage means
Each area has a response as information indicating the presence or absence of a response.
Check whether or not stored
The response from the radio station has been once
Nevertheless, there is no response to the latest inquiry
If so, has the radio station device failed?
Determines that the device is out of order and determines that there was no response in the past.
Response to the latest inquiry that may have been made
If there is a failure, it is determined that the fault has been recovered.
No response until the latest inquiry
A radio station management system, comprising: a state grasping means for judging that the radio station is excluded from the management target in the case of the radio station. 2. Detailed failure information is included in a response from each wireless station.
If there is no response, the status
2. The radio station management system according to claim 1 , wherein the detailed information is obtained from the detailed failure information . Wherein said information requesting means, claim 1, characterized in that the information requested while visited each radio station individually
The radio station management system as described.