JP3189221B2 - Control information delivery 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 system for delivering control information to a predetermined device in a communication network in which a plurality of local communication networks connecting a plurality of devices to be controlled are hierarchically connected. It is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method of transmitting control information from a control device to a controlled device connected to a local communication network having a hierarchical structure, a fixed length is used in one-to-one correspondence with the structure of the local communication network. Is allocated to all controlled devices, and the management information is routed using the addresses. FIG. 2 illustrates this method. 1, 2 and 3 are hierarchically connected local communication networks A, B, C, and 4 and 5 are hierarchically connected control networks connected to a higher-level local communication network 1. The devices 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 are devices to be controlled connected to the local communication networks 1, 2, 3, respectively. In the configuration of FIG. 2, the local communication network 2 is a sub-network of the local communication network 1,
The controlled device 6 is a gateway between the local communication network 1 and the local communication network 2. Then, an address as a sub-network of the local communication network 1 is assigned to the local communication network 2, and for example, one of the sub-network addresses assigned to the local communication network 2 is selected and the Address.

[0003]

In the conventional method, routing is performed using a fixed-length address in order to send control information to a controlled device connected to a hierarchically structured local communication network. For this reason, when the number of connection layers of the local communication network increases by a predetermined number or more, addresses cannot be assigned. Therefore,
It could not be applied to large communication networks.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a control information delivery system capable of transmitting control information from a control device to a controlled device even if the connection hierarchy of a local communication network is large.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a communication network in which a plurality of local communication networks connecting a plurality of devices to be controlled are hierarchically connected through predetermined devices. In a control information delivery system for delivering control information from a control device to each device via the communication network, the control information for a predetermined device, which is hierarchically connected to a higher-level local communication network, is referred to as the name of the device. And a control device that outputs an identification name consisting of the names of the devices in the order of routes to the device, and information on the names of all connected devices connected to each local communication network and their corresponding addresses. And a network information management device that outputs an address corresponding to the name of the device when receiving the device name. Is connected to the network, to extract the name of the given device from DN output from the control unit,
This is sent to the network information management device, and the address output from the network information management device is identified.
A control information delivery device for transmitting aliases and control information;
The device that has received the identification name and the control information
Is not addressed to itself, the identification information and control information
It is characterized in that it is sent to a delivery device .

[0006]

According to the present invention, when an identifier of a device to be controlled is transmitted from the controller, the network information management device of each local communication network transmits the name of the controlled device in the given identifier. To check if the controlled device is in the local communication network that it manages. If it is in the local communication network, the address of the controlled device in the local communication network is returned. If not, the address of the controlled device is returned from the name of the controlled device in another local communication network. Then, the control information delivery device relays the control information using the address returned from the network information management device.

[0007]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 20, 21, 22
2, 23 are local communication networks A, B, C, D
, And are hierarchically connected to each other to form one communication network. Reference numeral 24 denotes a control device hierarchically connected to the local communication network 1, which outputs control information for a predetermined device together with an identification name including the name of the device. Here, the identifier is the route to the device to be controlled,
That is, it is composed of the name of the device and the name of the device corresponding to the order on the route to the device. For example, the device 31
Is controlled, "root, common name = controlled device A, common name = controlled device C, common name = controlled device G". 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 3
Reference numerals 0, 31, and 32 denote controlled devices A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H to be controlled by the control device 24. The controlled devices 25, 26, and 27 also serve as bridges that connect the local communication networks hierarchically. 33,3
4, 35 and 36 are local communication networks 20 and 2 respectively.
A network information management device connected to the local communication network, which has information on the names of all the devices connected to the local communication network and addresses corresponding to the devices, and receives the names of the devices; And output the address. Reference numerals 37, 38, 39, and 40 denote control information delivery devices connected to the respective local communication networks. The control information delivery devices extract names of predetermined devices in accordance with the order from the identifiers output from the control device 24, and use the extracted information for network information management. The information is sent to the devices 33, 34, 35, and 36, and the name of the device and control information are sent to the address output from each network information management device. In this embodiment, the communication protocol between the control information delivery device and the network information management device uses the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) X.500 protocol. Therefore, the network information management device behaves as a DSA (Directory Service Agent), and the control information delivery device is D which is a service using side.
It operates as a UA (Directory User Agent).

The operation in this configuration will be described, for example, when the control device 24 sends control information to the controlled device 31 connected to the local communication network 23. The configuration information of the controlled device 31 is stored in the network information management device 3.
6 is recorded in the local communication network 21 by the controlled device 27.
It is connected to the. The configuration information of the controlled device 27 is recorded in the network information management device 34, and the local communication network 21 is connected to the local communication network 20 by the controlled device 25. The configuration information of the controlled device 25 is stored in the network information management device 33.
It is recorded in.

The procedure for transmitting control information is as follows.
4 sends the control information delivery device 37 the identification name of the controlled device 31 and the control information. In the present embodiment, the identification names of the controlled devices 31 are as described above. The control information delivery device 37 that has received the identification name of the controlled device 31 extracts the name of the controlled device 25, which is the second item in the identification name of the controlled device 31, and sends this to the network information management device 33. Send out. The network information management device 33 includes the controlled device 25
Is transmitted to the control information delivery device 37. This address information may be a local address in the local communication network A. The control information delivery device 37 that has received the address information of the controlled device 25
5 and sends the identification name of the controlled device 31 and control information. The controlled device 25 sends the information received from the control information delivery device 37 to the control information delivery device 38. The control information delivery device 38 obtains the address information of the controlled device 27, which is the third item in the identifier of the controlled device 31, by inquiring the network information management device 34, and obtains the name of the controlled device 31 and the control information. It is sent to the controlled device 27. Hereinafter, similarly, the name of the controlled device 31 and the control information are sent to the controlled device 31.

[0010]

As described above, according to the present invention, a variable-length name can be used according to the configuration of a communication network. Delivery to the controlled device via the network is enabled.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a communication network showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional method.

[Explanation of symbols]

20, 21, 22, 23 ... local communication network,
24 ... Control device, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 3
0, 31, 32 ... controlled device, 33, 34, 35, 36
... Network information management devices 37, 38, 39, 40
... Control information delivery device.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A communication system comprising: a plurality of local communication networks connecting a plurality of devices to be controlled connected hierarchically through predetermined devices; and from the control device to each device via the communication network. In a control information delivery system that delivers control information of
Control information for a given device, and a control device for both output <br/> force and DN consisting of the name of the route order of devices leading to the name and the device of the device, is connected to each local communication network, the A network information management device that has information on the names of all devices connected to the local communication network and their corresponding addresses, and outputs an address corresponding to the name of the device when receiving the device name; Connected, extracts the name of a predetermined device from the identification name output from the control device, sends this to the network information management device, and outputs the identification name to the address output from the network information management device. > and e Bei and control information delivery apparatus for delivering the control information, receiving the DN and the control information unit, the control information is the own
If it is not addressed, control information is delivered with identification information and control information
A control information delivery system characterized by transmitting to a device .