JP4398887B2 - Communication device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication device used for connecting different networks to each other, and more particularly to a communication device having a redundant configuration by duplication.

  Many communication systems having a redundant configuration are known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In addition to multiplexing of transmission channels, the internal configuration of a communication device is made redundant to improve fault tolerance performance. ing. In recent years, the control system responsible for the core processing has also been duplicated.

  By the way, it is necessary to pay attention to the following when duplicating the control system into the active system (ACT system) and the standby system (SBY system). That is, the control system is provided with a memory for storing various data necessary for the arithmetic processing in addition to a block (CPU and the like) for performing the arithmetic processing. And memory are implemented. In order to prepare for the occurrence of a failure at an arbitrary point in time, it is necessary to synchronize the data held in both systems (ACT system, SBY system), so if an event involving a change in ACT system data occurs, Each time, data is transferred to the SBY system in real time.

However, as the amount of data to be transferred increases, the time required for inter-system transfer increases, and the time lag for ensuring data consistency between both systems increases, so the SBY system is switched to the operational system and a new ACT system is launched. There is a risk of data inconsistency later. In such a case, there is a problem that the expected processing cannot be continued depending on the function of the control system.
JP 2001-292082 A

As described above, in the existing communication system, since it takes time to exchange data between the active system and the standby system, inconsistency between the data of both systems often occurs. For this reason, if redundancy switching is performed with data inconsistency occurring, the service that has been implemented in the active system cannot be sufficiently taken over by the standby system (new operational system), and the service may not be provided continuously. There is.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a communication apparatus capable of enhancing the continuity of services provided by the system during redundancy switching.

In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, the control system includes a plurality of interface units connected to different types of communication networks, and a control unit that controls the plurality of interface units. Each of the operation system module and the standby system module includes a central processing unit that executes control of the interface unit, and the central processing unit. Storage means for storing data necessary for processing by the unit, and when an event accompanied by a change in data stored in the storage means occurs, the changed data is transferred to the counterpart module, A failure occurred in the own system, a matching means for matching the data stored in the storage means with the data stored in the storage means of the standby system module The case, determining means for determining whether it is necessary for redundancy switching in response to the occurrence cause the type of this disorder, if it is determined that there is no need for the redundancy switching by the determination means, and restarts the self There is provided a communication device comprising: reset means for continuing control of the plurality of interface units using data stored in the storage means of a system .

  By taking such means, the determination means selectively determines whether to switch the operating system or perform the resumption process in its own system for each failure factor such as hardware abnormality or software abnormality. As a result, when the system can be restarted without necessarily switching the system, such as a software failure, the processing can be continued without deleting the data during operation. Therefore, it is possible to improve the continuity of the service provided by the system during redundancy switching.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a communication device capable of enhancing the continuity of services provided by the system during redundancy switching.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of a communication apparatus according to the present invention. The communication apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes an A network interface (I / F) unit 10, a B network I / F unit 20, and a maintenance line I / F unit 50. The A network I / F unit 10 and the B network I / F unit 20 are connected to different information communication networks (differentiated as A network and B network). This communication apparatus is called PBX (Private Branch Exchange) and is still widely used in all companies.

  The maintenance line I / F unit 50 accommodates a maintenance terminal (not shown) via the maintenance line. The maintenance terminal can perform data setting and maintenance operation operation for the communication device.

  The A network I / F unit 10 and the B network I / F unit 20 terminate the data received from the respective networks, and send the voice data to the control switch unit 80 (80-0, 80) via the PCM highway (PCM HWY). -1).

  The control switch unit 80 is duplicated into an active system and a standby system, of which 80-80 is assigned to the active system (ACT) and 80-1 is assigned to the standby system (SBY). Both the active system control switch unit 80-0 and the standby system control switch unit 80-1 are mounted on individual hardware boards and have the same configuration.

  By the way, the control switch unit 80 mainly includes a central control unit 90 that controls the A network I / F unit 10, the B network I / F unit 20, and the maintenance line I / F unit 50, and time-division data on the PCM highway. And a memory 110 for storing control data 110a necessary for processing of the central control unit 90. Further, the central control unit 90 includes a matching processing unit 90a, a determination processing unit 90b, and a restart processing unit 90c.

  When an event involving a change in the control data 110 occurs, the matching processing unit 90a transfers the changed data to the counterpart module. That is, the matching processing unit 90a is a process for synchronizing the control data 110a stored in the active system control switch unit 80-0 and the control data 110a stored in the standby system control switch unit 80-1 so as to match each other. I do. When a failure occurs in the own system, the determination processing unit 90b determines whether or not there is a need for redundant switching with the control switch unit with another system according to the cause of the failure. When the determination processing unit 90b determines that there is no need for redundancy switching, the restart processing unit 90c performs reset processing using the control data 110a of its own system and continues control.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining processing by the matching processing unit 90a. As shown in the drawing, when an event occurs in the ACT system (active system) and the control data 110a is changed, the data is immediately transferred to the SBY system (standby system). When the transferred data is received, the SBY control switch unit reflects the content of the received data in its own control data 110a. In this process, a certain time is required. As the amount of transfer data increases, a longer time is required, and continuous and continuous data transfer is gradually performed.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining processing when a failure occurs in this embodiment. In FIG. 3, there are three data to be transferred, and it is assumed that a failure has occurred in the operation system control switch unit 80-0 at the stage where the second data in the middle is transferred. In this case, the transfer of the third data is not completed. However, in the existing communication apparatus, redundancy switching from this state to the standby system is performed blindly as shown in FIG. . For this reason, in the standby system, processing is resumed while using invalid data.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, whether or not redundancy switching is necessary is determined according to the cause of failure occurrence. Failures are roughly classified into hardware failures and software failures. When a hardware failure such as a clock supply interruption occurs, there is no choice but to recover by exchanging parts, and redundant switching is executed. On the other hand, if a software failure such as a software bug, a problem in message communication between tasks, an abnormal error code return, or an OS system call error occurs, it may be possible to recover by simply resetting the system. is there. The occurrence of a software failure can be detected by a monitoring function of an OS (Operation System) installed in the control switch unit 80, and the failure cause type is based on a hardware mechanism using existing technology. It is possible to carve out. For example, various OSs have a function that is called when an abnormality occurs, and a restart process on the substrate is defined as one of the processes of this function. By monitoring the presence or absence of this function call, it is possible to isolate the fault.

  In this embodiment, using this, the determination processing unit 90b determines the cause of failure. Based on the determination result, if the fault can be recovered by resetting, the restart processing unit 90c resets the faulty board without performing redundant switching, and copes with the fault. In this way, it is possible to continue processing based on the control data 110a in a completely held state, no matter how long it takes for the data transfer between the active system and the standby system by the matching processing unit 90a. become. Therefore, it is possible to provide a communication apparatus that can continuously use the control data in the complete state in the operation system and can improve the continuity of the service provided by the system at the time of redundancy switching.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment as it is, In an implementation stage, a component can be deform | transformed and embodied in the range which does not deviate from the summary. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment.

The functional block diagram which shows embodiment of the communication apparatus concerning this invention. The schematic diagram for demonstrating the process by the matching process part 90a of FIG. The schematic diagram for demonstrating about the process at the time of the failure generation in embodiment of this invention. The schematic diagram which shows the process at the time of the failure generation in the existing communication apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... A network interface part, 20 ... B network interface part, 50 ... Maintenance line interface part, 80 (80-0, 80-1) ... Control switch part, 90 ... Central control part, 90a ... Matching processing part, 90b ... Determination processing unit, 90c ... Resume processing unit, 100 ... Switch unit, 110 ... Memory, 110a ... Control data

Claims (2)

A communication system comprising a plurality of interface units connected to different types of communication networks and a control unit for controlling the plurality of interface units, wherein the control unit is made redundant into an active system module and a standby system module. In the device
Each of the operational system module and the standby system module is
A central processing unit for executing control to the interface unit;
Storage means for storing data necessary for processing by the central processing unit;
When an event accompanied by a change in the data stored in the storage means occurs, the changed data is transferred to the counterpart module, and the data stored in the storage means of the operational module and the storage of the standby module A matching means for matching the data stored in the means;
When a failure occurs in the own system, a determination unit that determines whether or not redundancy switching is necessary according to the type of cause of the failure,
When the determination means determines that there is no need for redundancy switching, reset means that performs resumption processing and continues control to the plurality of interface units using data stored in the storage means of its own system A communication device comprising: 2. The determination unit according to claim 1, wherein when the failure is roughly classified into a hardware failure and a software failure, the determination unit determines that the redundancy switching is not necessary when the software failure occurs. Communication equipment.

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