JP4433935B2 - Relay master device and remote monitoring control system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a relay master device that relays communication signals between a monitoring control device that monitors and / or controls a device and the device. And it is related with a remote monitoring control system provided with a relay parent apparatus.

  Various devices such as lighting devices, air conditioning devices, measuring devices, and security devices are installed in buildings such as detached houses, apartment buildings, government buildings, halls, commercial buildings, office buildings, and factories. In recent years, due to the advancement of communication technology and the like, these devices are networked by being connected to each other via a wired or wireless transmission path, and the monitoring control device is connected to the network and concentrated by the monitoring control device. Monitored and / or controlled.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the configuration of the remote monitoring control system. In FIG. 10, a remote monitoring control system 1000 is connected to a plurality of devices 11 having communication functions, and these devices 11 are communicably connected to each other via a first transmission path 12 to monitor and / or control these devices 11. And a control device 10. In the example illustrated in FIG. 10, the plurality of devices 11 are two devices 11-a and 11-b. In such a remote monitoring control system 1000, the monitoring control apparatus 10 monitors the device 11 by transmitting a monitoring request for requesting monitoring information to the device 11 and receiving monitoring information from the device 11. Further, the monitoring control apparatus 10 controls the device 11 by transmitting a control request for requesting control to the device 11 and receiving monitoring information as a control result from the device 11.

  Here, there is a case where the device 11 is added or a case where the device 11 cannot be directly connected to the first transmission path 12 due to a place where the device 11 is installed. In particular, depending on the installation location of the device 11, it is not possible to use the same transmission medium as the transmission medium (for example, communication line) of the first transmission path 12, or it is not possible to use the same communication protocol as the remote monitoring control system 1000. There is a case. In such a case, a relay device 700 that relays communication signals is further provided in the remote monitoring control system 1000, and the device 11 is incorporated into the remote monitoring control system 1000.

  The example shown in FIG. 10 is a case where four devices 11-c to 11-f are incorporated into the remote monitoring control system 1000 by three relay devices 700-x to 700-z. The relay device 700-x is directly connected to the monitoring control device 10 via the first transmission path 12 so as to be communicable and is incorporated in the remote monitoring control system 1000. The devices 11-c and 11-d are communicably connected to the relay device 700-y via the second transmission path 13-a, and the relay device 700-y is connected to the relay device 700-x via the third transmission path 14. Can be communicated with the monitoring control apparatus 10 and is incorporated in the remote monitoring control system 1000. The devices 11-e and 11-f are communicably connected to the relay device 700-z via the second transmission path 13-b, and the relay device 700-z is connected to the relay device 700 via the third transmission path 14. It is possible to communicate with the monitoring control device 10 by being connected to -x so as to be communicable, and the remote monitoring control system 1000 is incorporated.

  Since there is no need to newly lay a communication line, the third transmission line 14 is usually a wireless medium or a power line, for example. The first transmission line 12, the second transmission line 13-a, and the second transmission line 13- b is a dedicated communication line having the same communication protocol. Therefore, the relay device 700 includes a first communication interface unit (hereinafter abbreviated as “first communication IF unit”) 701 that transmits and receives communication signals by wired communication using the first communication protocol, and the first communication protocol. And a second communication unit (hereinafter abbreviated as “second communication IF unit”) 702 that transmits and receives communication signals by wireless communication using a second communication protocol that is a different communication protocol. In addition, the relay device 700 stores information related to the device 11 managed by the relay device 700, for example, a device ID described later.

  Here, a relay device that communicates directly with the monitoring control device 10 without going through another relay device 700 in communication is called a relay parent device, and a communication signal between the monitoring control device 10 and the device 11 is relayed. The relay device 700 that relays via the device 700 is referred to as a relay device. In the example illustrated in FIG. 10, the relay device 700-x is a relay master device, and the relay devices 700-y and 700-z are relay slave devices.

  In addition, in this specification, when referring generically, it shows with the reference symbol which abbreviate | omitted the alphabetic suffix, and when referring to an individual structure, it shows with the reference symbol which attached | subjected the alphabetic suffix.

  In the remote monitoring and control system 1000 including the relay master device 700-x and the relay slave devices 700-y and 700-z, monitoring and / or control is performed according to the following sequence.

  FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the remote monitoring control system according to the background art. In FIG. 11, monitoring is performed from the device 11 (11-a, 11-b) that communicates directly via the first transmission path 12 without going through the relay master device 700-x and the relay slave devices 700-y, 700-z. When the information is collected by the monitoring control device 10, for example, in the example shown in FIG. 11, when the monitoring control device 10 collects monitoring information from the device 11-a, the monitoring control device 10 collects the monitoring information. A communication signal (monitoring request signal) containing the device ID of 11-a (= 1) and information requesting monitoring information is transmitted to the first transmission line 12 (C1001). The device 11-a that has received this monitoring request signal returns a communication signal (response signal) containing monitoring information to the monitoring control device 10 (C1002). And the monitoring control apparatus 10 collects and monitors monitoring information from the apparatus 11-a by receiving this response signal.

  Here, the device ID is a symbol string (including a case where the device 11 is composed of one symbol) uniquely assigned to the device 11 in order to identify and specify the device 11, and plays the role of the communication address of the communication protocol. Also serves as. The device IDs (communication addresses) of the device 11-a, the device 11-b, the device 11-c, the device 11-d, the device 11-e, and the device 11-f are, for example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

  On the other hand, when the monitoring control device 10 collects monitoring information from the devices 11 (11-c to 11-f) that communicate via the relay parent device 700-x and the relay child devices 700-y and 700-z, for example, In the example illustrated in FIG. 11, when the monitoring device 10 collects monitoring information from the device 11-c, the monitoring control device 10 sends a monitoring request signal to the device 11-c that should collect the monitoring information in the first transmission path. 12 (C1011). The monitoring request signal is converted from the first communication protocol to the second communication protocol by the relay master device 700-x and transmitted to the relay slave device 700-y via the third transmission line 14 (C1012). By reconverting from the second communication protocol to the first communication protocol at y, the original communication protocol is restored and transmitted to the second transmission line 13-a (C1013). The device 11-c that has received this monitoring request signal returns a communication signal (response signal) containing monitoring information to the monitoring control device 10 (C1014). The response signal of the reply is converted from the first communication protocol to the second communication protocol by the relay slave device 700-y and transmitted to the relay master device 700-x via the third transmission line 14 (C1015), and the relay master device 700- By reconverting from the second communication protocol to the first communication protocol at x, the original communication protocol is restored and transmitted to the first transmission path 12 (C1016). And the monitoring control apparatus 10 collects and monitors monitoring information from the equipment 11-c by receiving this response signal.

In addition, a wired communication device unit that performs wired communication, an arithmetic processing unit that includes a wired / wireless protocol conversion function that converts a communication protocol between a wired protocol and a wireless protocol, and a wireless communication device that performs wireless communication The communication repeater provided with the part is disclosed by patent document 1, for example.
JP 2003-134030 A

  By the way, half-duplex communication may be employed for communication between the monitoring control device and the relay master device. Half-duplex communication is a communication method in which communication is performed while switching between transmission and reception using a single communication line. Therefore, all two communication lines using a communication line for transmission and a communication line for reception are used. Since there are fewer communication lines than heavy communication, construction is easy, construction costs are low, and workability is high, but it is necessary to avoid collision of communication signals.

  When the response signal for the communication signal transmitted from the supervisory control device is delayed, the supervisory control device transmits this communication signal by retrying, so that the response signal for the communication signal transmitted from the supervisory control device is delayed. Will increase. When the collision of communication signals increases, the communication rate between the monitoring control device and the relay master device decreases.

  This response signal delay is caused by the first cause when the relay master device and the relay child device are in communication between the monitoring control device and the device, compared to when the monitoring control device and the device communicate directly. The communication protocol conversion process in the relay master device and the relay slave device is required at least four times, and the second cause is that the transmission and reception of communication signals occurs at least twice in the relay master device and the relay slave device, the third cause As the transmission path between the relay master device and the relay slave device is usually a wireless medium or power line, the communication state is unstable, so that a retry occurs between the relay master device and the relay slave device. The fourth cause is that the communication speed between the monitoring control device and the relay parent device is lower than the communication speed between the normal relay parent device and the relay child device.

  Of these response signal delay causes, the number of retries depends on the communication state. Therefore, it is difficult to predict the delay time due to the third cause in the design stage, the construction stage, or the like. Further, this retry process is relatively long compared to the delay time due to other causes, and cannot be easily handled.

  On the other hand, if the delay time due to the third cause is set based on the maximum number of retries, the timeout time that is the maximum time allowed from the transmission of the communication signal to the reception of the response signal in the supervisory control device is too long. Therefore, it becomes impossible to provide a remote monitoring control system suitable for the purpose.

  In addition, the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 has no description regarding collision of communication signals.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and is capable of suppressing collision of communication signals when communication between the monitoring control device and the relay master device is half-duplex communication. An object is to provide a parent device. And it aims at providing the remote monitoring control system using such a relay parent apparatus.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention is connected to a monitoring control device for monitoring and / or controlling a device according to the present invention via a first transmission line, and also connected to the device via a second transmission line to send a communication signal In the relay master device that is connected to the relay slave device to be relayed via the third transmission path and relays the communication signal between the monitoring control device and the device via the relay slave device, The communication is half-duplex communication, and relays the first communication signal by transmitting a first communication signal received from the monitoring control device to the device of the monitoring control device to the relay device. And a relay processing unit that relays the second communication signal that is a reply to the first communication signal and that has been received from the relay device and addressed to the monitoring control device of the device, to the monitoring control device ; The monitoring control device Measures the retry time interval of the monitoring control device, which is the time interval for retrying the first communication signal, and sets the timeout time of the relay parent device to a time shorter than the measured retry time interval of the monitoring control device A time setting unit, and when the relay processing unit receives the first communication signal from the monitoring control device until the second communication signal is received from the relay device, the retry processing unit The second communication signal is received from the relay device after a time-out period of the relay parent device has elapsed since the first communication signal was discarded by and the first communication signal was transmitted to the relay device. The suspension of transmission of the second communication signal to the monitoring control device, and the time when the second communication signal is received from the relay device and the monitoring control device. When the difference from the time when the first communication signal of the next retry is received is within a predetermined value, the second communication signal is used as a response to the first communication signal of the next retry by the monitoring controller. It is characterized by transmitting .

  And in this relay parent device, further comprising a storage unit for storing the shortest response time from transmission of a communication signal in communication with the device via the relay child device until reception of the reply, The relay processing unit further communicates with the relay slave device based on a retry time interval of the relay master device in communication between the timeout time of the monitoring control device, the shortest response time, and the relay slave device. The number of retries of the relay master device in the communication is obtained.

  Further, in this relay master device, the relay processing unit further sets a response time from transmission of a communication signal in communication with the device via the relay slave device to reception of the response for each communication. When the measured response time is shorter than the shortest response time, the shortest response time is updated with the measured response time.

Further, according to the present invention, a device to be monitored and / or controlled, a monitoring control device that monitors and / or controls the device, and a relay device that relays a communication signal by connecting to the device via a second transmission path And connected to the supervisory control device via a first transmission line and connected to the relay device via a third transmission line, and relays communication signals between the supervisory control device and the device via the relay device. In the remote monitoring control system including the relay master device, the communication between the monitor control device and the relay master device is half-duplex communication, and the relay master device has received from the monitor control device The first communication signal addressed to the device of the supervisory control device is relayed to the relay device, thereby relaying the first communication signal, and the reply of the first communication signal received from the relay device. Said equipment Retries the monitoring and control device and the relay processing unit for relaying by a second communication signal transmitted to the monitoring control device addressed to the monitoring control device is a time interval to retry the first communication signal monitoring controller A time-out time setting unit that measures a time interval and sets a time-out time of the relay parent device at a time shorter than the measured retry time interval of the monitoring and control device, and the relay processing unit includes the second communication signal When the first communication signal by retry is received from the monitoring and control device until it is received from the relay device, the first communication signal by the retry is discarded , and the first communication signal is relayed by the relay When the second communication signal is received from the relay child device after the time-out time of the relay parent device has elapsed since the transmission to the child device, Suspending transmission of the second communication signal to the monitoring control device, receiving the second communication signal from the relay device, and receiving the first communication signal of the next retry by the monitoring control device; If the difference is within a predetermined value, the second communication signal is transmitted as a response to the first communication signal of the next retry by the monitoring control device .

  In the relay master device and the remote monitoring system configured as described above, the communication between the relay master device and the monitoring control device is half-duplex communication, and the monitoring received by the relay processing unit of the relay parent device from the monitoring control device The second communication addressed to the monitoring control device from the device that is the reply of the first communication signal after the time-out time of the relay master device has elapsed since the transmission of the first communication signal addressed to the device of the control device to the relay slave device When the signal is received from the relay device, the transmission of the second communication signal to the monitoring control device is suspended. For this reason, the collision with the 1st communication signal which a supervisory control apparatus transmits to a relay parent apparatus can be suppressed.

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, the structure which attached | subjected the same code | symbol in each figure shows that it is the same structure, The description is abbreviate | omitted.
(Configuration of the first embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a remote monitoring control system according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the relay master device according to the first embodiment.

  In FIG. 1, the remote monitoring control system 1 according to the first embodiment uses a relay master device 20 according to the first embodiment described below instead of the relay device 700-x according to the background art. This is the same as the remote control system 1000 described with reference to FIG. Therefore, the description of the monitoring device 10, the first to third transmission paths 12, 13, and 14 and the relay devices 700-y and 700-z is omitted.

  Here, the device 11 will be described in further detail. The device 11 is a device to be monitored and / or controlled by the remote monitoring and control system 1 and operates in relation to electric energy. The device 11 includes a communication unit that performs communication and a function unit that executes the function of the device 11, and is either spontaneously or directly from the device monitoring control device 10 or directly from the relay master device 20 and the relay device 700. According to the monitoring request for requesting the state of the function unit received via the function unit state (for example, power on / off, operating state, failure state, detection state, etc.) directly or relayed to the device monitoring control device 10 A control request that is transmitted via the parent device 20 and the relay device 700 or that controls the state of the functional unit is received directly from the device monitoring control device 10 or via the relay parent device 20 and the relay device 700 and controlled. Or control as required. A function part is a light emission function which produces light, when the apparatus 11 is a lighting fixture, for example. In addition to lighting fixtures, for example, devices for adjusting the housing environment such as air conditioners and office environments, electric locks, housing units such as water heaters and ventilation fans, disaster prevention facilities such as guide lights and emergency lights, televisions, videotapes Home appliances such as recorders, DVD recorders and washing machines, information processing equipment such as computers, communication equipment such as telephones and facsimile machines, medical equipment such as pulse meters, thermometers, blood oxygen meters and electrocardiographs, gas meters, power meters And a meter such as a water meter, a disaster prevention sensor, a security sensor, a sensor such as a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor.

  Of these devices, lighting devices, air conditioners, hot water supply devices for hot water in bathtubs, disaster prevention facilities, metering meters, electric locks, disaster prevention sensors, security sensors, and the like are preferable for building equipment. In the case of lighting fixtures, air conditioners, and hot water heaters, a comfortable environment can be provided by remote control before entering a building. In the case of disaster prevention facilities, safety can be ensured in the event of a disaster by performing inspections by remote monitoring. In the case of a metering meter, the metering efficiency can be improved by measuring the amount of use remotely. In addition, waste can be eliminated by monitoring the amount of usage at each location remotely and grasping the actual usage. In the case of an electric lock, it can cope with forgetting to lock. In the case of a disaster prevention sensor or crime prevention sensor, it is possible to prevent damage and prevent expansion by remote monitoring.

  In FIG. 2, the relay master device 20 according to the first embodiment includes a first communication interface unit (hereinafter abbreviated as “first communication IF unit”) 21, a control unit 22, a storage unit 23, And a second communication interface unit (hereinafter abbreviated as “second communication IF unit”) 24.

  The first communication IF unit 21 is a communication interface circuit for performing communication using the first transmission path 12. Data from the control unit 22 is transmitted as a communication signal according to the first communication protocol of the first transmission path 12. At the same time, the communication signal from the first transmission path 12 is converted into data in a format that can be processed by the control unit 22.

  The second communication IF unit 24 is a communication interface circuit for performing communication using the third transmission path 14, and transmits data from the control unit 22 to the communication signal according to the second communication protocol of the third transmission path 14. At the same time, the communication signal of the third transmission path 14 is converted into data in a format that can be processed by the control unit 22.

  Here, the transmission medium and communication protocol of the first transmission path 12 and the transmission medium and communication protocol of the second transmission path 13 may be different, but in this embodiment, the same transmission medium and communication protocol are adopted. . For this reason, the first and second communication IF units 702 and 701 of the relay device 700 are the same as the first and second communication IF units 21 and 24, respectively.

  In addition, for example, the second communication IF unit 24 may encapsulate data in the format according to the first communication protocol in the second communication protocol when transmitting, and decapsulate the data when receiving. That is, when transmitting, the second communication IF unit 24 encapsulates the data in the format according to the first communication protocol notified from the control unit 22 by accommodating it in the payload portion of the second communication protocol. A communication signal to be transmitted to the third transmission path 14 is generated. On the other hand, when receiving, the second communication IF unit 24 decapsulates the data by extracting the data from the payload portion of the communication signal received from the second transmission path 14 and generates data to be output to the control unit 22. . Thus, since the conversion from the first communication protocol to the second communication protocol is performed by encapsulation, when converting from the first communication protocol to the second communication protocol, it is accommodated in the communication signal of the first communication protocol. It is not necessary to replace the existing data in accordance with the format of the second communication protocol and generate a communication signal of the second communication protocol. Conversely, since the conversion from the second communication protocol to the first communication protocol is performed by decapsulation, when converting from the second communication protocol to the first communication protocol, the communication signal of the second communication protocol is accommodated. What is necessary is just to take out the data as it is. For this reason, the conversion process is easy and can be performed at high speed. Therefore, the time required for the relay processing of the communication signal between the relay master device 20 and the relay slave device 700 can be further shortened by adopting the capsule for the communication protocol conversion.

  The first communication protocol and the second communication protocol are different from each other. For example, the first communication protocol is a data signal line protocol of RS485, and the second communication protocol is a power line communication protocol, weak wireless, specific Short-range radio protocols such as low-power radio and Bluetooth (registered trademark).

  The control unit 22 includes, for example, a microprocessor and its peripheral circuits, and includes a relay processing unit 31 and a timeout time setting unit 32. The first communication IF unit 21, the storage unit 23, and the second communication unit 22 are provided according to each program. The communication IF unit 24 is controlled according to the function.

  The relay processing unit 31 relays the communication signal addressed to the device 11 by transmitting to the relay device 700 when a communication signal addressed to the device 11 is received from the monitoring control device 10 by the operation described later, and from the device 11. When the communication signal addressed to the monitoring control device 10 is received from the relay device 700, the communication signal addressed to the monitoring control device 10 from the device 11 is relayed by transmitting it to the monitoring control device 10. The time-out time setting unit 32 sets the time-out time of the relay parent device 12 by an operation described later.

  The storage unit 23 includes a relay information storage unit 41 that stores relay information, a monitoring control device timeout information storage unit 42 that stores monitoring control device timeout information, a shortest response time storage unit 43 that stores the shortest response time, and a relay A relay master device timeout storage unit 44 for storing the master device timeout information, and stores each program such as a control program for operating the relay master device 20, information necessary for execution of each program, and control This is a so-called working memory for the unit 22. The storage unit 23 includes, for example, a volatile storage element such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a rewritable nonvolatile storage element such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), and a nonvolatile storage such as a ROM (Read Only Memory). A semiconductor memory element such as a memory element is provided.

  The relay information is information necessary for relaying a communication signal between the monitoring control device 10 and the device 11. For example, the relay information is connected to the relay device 700 and the relay device 700 via the second transmission path 13. It is information which shows the correspondence with the apparatus 11 which is carrying out. This correspondence relationship is indicated by, for example, associating the communication address of relay device 700 with the communication address of device 11. The communication address of relay child device 700 is a relay child device that is a symbol string (including a case of one symbol) uniquely assigned to relay child device 700 in order to identify and specify relay child device 700. It is an ID, and the communication address and the ID are shared. The communication address of the device 11 is a device ID that is a symbol string uniquely assigned to the device 11 in order to identify and specify the device 11, and the communication address and the ID are used together.

  In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the communication addresses (relay child device IDs) of the relay child device 700-y and the relay child device 700-z are, for example, “y” and “z”, respectively, and the device 11-a and the device The communication addresses (device IDs) of 11-b, device 11-c, device 11-d, device 11-e, and device 11-f are, for example, “1”, “2”, “3”, “4”, respectively. ”,“ 5 ”and“ 6 ”.

  Similarly, the communication address of the relay master device 20 is a relay master device ID that is a symbol string uniquely assigned to the relay master device 20 in order to identify and specify the relay master device 20. The ID is also used. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the communication address (relay parent apparatus ID) of the relay parent apparatus 20 is “x”, for example.

  The monitoring control device timeout information is a communication signal that is a response to the communication signal (command signal) addressed to the device 11 after the monitoring control device 10 transmits the communication signal (command signal) addressed to the device 11 to the first transmission path 12. The time-out time TOsc of the supervisory control device 10 that is a time that can be allowed as a reply until the (response signal) is received from the first transmission path 12, and the supervisory control device that is the time interval at which the supervisory control device 10 retries command signals 10 retry time intervals TRsc, the number of retries NRsc of the monitoring control device 10 which is the number of times the monitoring control device 10 retries the command signal, and the spare time TSsc of the monitoring control device 10. The spare time TSsc of the monitoring control device 10 is stored in advance in the monitoring control device timeout information storage unit 42. On the other hand, the timeout time TOsc, the retry time interval TRsc, and the retry count NRsc of the monitoring control device 10 are acquired by measurement after the relay parent device 20 is activated and stored in the monitoring control device timeout information storage unit 42, as will be described later. Is done.

  The spare time TSsc of the monitoring control device 10 is a time longer than the time normally required from when the monitoring control device 10 transmits a command signal to the first transmission path 12 until receiving a response signal to the command signal. For example, it is set in advance according to the communication speed of the first transmission path 12 and the data amount of the command signal. The standby time TSsc of the monitoring control device 10 is shortened when the communication speed of the first transmission path 12 is high, and is shortened when the data amount of the command signal is small.

  The command is a monitoring request and / or a control request, and the command signal includes a communication signal (monitoring request signal) containing a monitoring request, a communication signal (control request signal) containing a control request, a monitoring request and There is a communication signal (monitoring control request signal) containing a control request. Monitoring information is accommodated in the response signal.

  The monitoring information is information related to the device 11 according to the monitoring purpose and / or control purpose of the remote monitoring control system 1, and the data detected by the functional unit of the device 11 and the state of the functional unit (for example, power on / off, Data relating to operating state, failure state, etc.). For example, when the monitoring purpose of the remote monitoring control system 1 is load power consumption, the device 11 is a power meter, and the monitoring information is the power amount of the power meter. Further, for example, when the monitoring purpose of the remote monitoring control system 1 is crime prevention, the device 11 is a crime prevention sensor, and the monitoring information is the presence / absence of an event notification in the crime prevention sensor. For example, when the control purpose of the remote monitoring and control system 1 is lighting control of the lighting fixture, the device 11 is the lighting fixture, and the monitoring information is on / off of the lighting fixture. For example, when the control purpose of the remote monitoring control system 1 is the operation of the air conditioner, the device 11 is the air conditioner, and the monitoring information is on / off of the air conditioner, the set temperature, the set air volume, and the like. .

  The shortest response time TAmin is obtained when the command signal received from the monitoring control device 10 is transmitted (relayed) to the device 11 via the relay device 700, after the command signal is transmitted to the third transmission line 14. This is the shortest response time among the response times required to receive a response signal for.

  The relay master device time-out information is received from the third transmission line 14 after the relay master device 20 transmits the command signal to be relayed received from the supervisory control device 10 to the third transmission line 14. The timeout time TOpr of the relay master device 20, which is the time that can be allowed as a reply until the reply, the retry time interval TRsc of the relay master device 20, and the retry count NRsc of the relay master device 20. The retry time interval TRpr of the relay master device 20 is stored in advance in the relay master device timeout information storage unit 44. On the other hand, the timeout time TOpr and the number of retries NRpr of the relay master device 20 are acquired by measuring predetermined amounts after the relay master device 20 is activated, as will be described later, and the relay master device timeout information storage unit 44. Is remembered.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described.
(Operation of the first embodiment)
First, a timeout time setting process for setting the timeout time of the relay parent device 20 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of setting a timeout time of the relay parent device according to the first embodiment.

  When the device 11 cannot be directly connected to the first transmission line 12 due to the installation location, or when the device 11 is added, the relay parent can communicate with the monitoring controller 10 via the first transmission line 12. When the device 20 is arranged and, for example, its power is turned on, the timeout time setting unit 32 in the control unit 22 of the relay parent device 20 is activated and executes the following operation.

  In FIG. 3, the timeout time setting unit 32 determines whether or not the monitoring control device timeout information has been set in the monitoring control device timeout information storage unit 42 (S11). As a result of the determination, if the monitoring control device timeout information has been set (YES), the timeout time setting unit 32 ends this timeout time setting process. On the other hand, if the monitoring control device timeout information is not set as a result of the determination (NO), the timeout time setting is performed to measure the timeout time TOsc, the retry time interval TRsc, and the retry count NRsc of the monitoring control device 10. The unit 32 waits for reception of a communication signal in the first communication IF unit 21. When the first communication IF unit 21 receives the command signal M, the unit 32 stores the received command signal M in the storage unit 23 (S12). . Then, as the first time, the timeout time setting unit 32 starts measuring the retry time interval TRsc (1) of the monitoring control device 10 (S13).

  The timeout time setting unit 32 waits for reception of a communication signal in the first communication IF unit 21 and receives the command signal N in the first communication IF unit 21 (S14), the received command signal N is stored in the storage unit 23. It is determined whether or not it matches the command signal M stored in (S15). That is, the timeout time setting unit 32 determines whether or not the monitoring control device 10 has retried (retransmitted) the command signal M. This determination is made, for example, by comparing all bits of the command signal M and the command signal N or by comparing sequence numbers.

  As a result of the determination, if they do not match (NO), the timeout time setting unit 32 returns the process to step S12 and waits for reception of a communication signal in order to start the timeout time setting operation from the beginning. On the other hand, if they match (YES) as a result of the determination, the measurement of the retry time interval TRsc (1) of the monitoring control device 10 is terminated, and the retry time interval TRsc (1) of the monitoring control device 10 in the first time is set. It memorize | stores in the memory | storage part 23 (S16).

  Next, the timeout time setting unit 32 increments the retry count NRsc of the monitoring control apparatus 10 by 1 (S17). That is, the number of retries NRsc = 1 for the supervisory control device 10.

  Then, the timeout time setting unit 32 determines whether or not the measurement time of the monitoring control device timeout information has ended (S18). The measurement time of the monitoring control device timeout information is a time sufficient for measuring the timeout time of the monitoring control device 10, for example, usually longer than the time assumed to be set as the timeout time in the monitoring control device 10. Is the time.

  If the measurement time of the monitoring control device timeout information has not ended as a result of the determination, the timeout time setting unit 32 processes the process to measure the retry time interval TRsc (2) of the next monitoring control device 10. Return to S13. The timeout time setting unit 32 measures the retry time interval TRsc (2) of the monitoring control device 10 in the second time by executing the processes S13 to S18, and counts the number of retries NRsc. In this way, the timeout time setting unit 32 repeatedly executes the processing S13 to S18 until the measurement time of the monitoring control device timeout information elapses, and the retry time interval TRsc (n) of the one or more monitoring control devices 10 And the number of retries NRsc is measured.

  On the other hand, if the measurement time of the monitoring control device timeout information has ended as a result of the determination in step S18, the timeout time setting unit 32 determines the retry time interval TRsc of the monitoring control device 10 stored in the storage unit 23. Based on (1) to TRsc (n) and the number of retries NRsc, the average value of the retry time intervals TRsc (1) to TRsc (n) of the monitoring controller 10 is calculated, and the average value of the calculation results is calculated by the monitoring controller 10. The retry time interval TRsc is set and stored in the monitoring control device timeout information storage unit 42. The timeout time setting unit 32 adds the spare time TSsc of the monitoring control device 10 to the sum of the retry time intervals TRsc (1) to TRsc (n) of the monitoring control device 10 stored in the storage unit 23, and obtains this result. The time-out time TOsc of the monitoring information device 10 is set and stored in the monitoring control device time-out information storage unit 42. Then, the timeout time setting unit 32 stores the number of retries of the monitoring control device 10 stored in the storage unit 23 in the monitoring control device timeout information storage unit 42 (S19).

  Next, the timeout time setting unit 32 calculates the timeout time TOpr of the relay parent device 20 based on the retry time interval TRsc of the monitoring control device 10, and uses the calculated timeout time TOpr of the relay parent device 20 as the relay parent device timeout. The information is stored in the information storage unit 44 (S20).

  For example, the timeout time setting unit 32 sets the timeout time TOpr of the relay parent device 20 to a value shorter than the retry time interval TRsc of the monitoring control device 10. More specifically, for example, the timeout time setting unit 32 calculates the timeout time TOpr of the relay parent device 20 by subtracting the standby time TSsc of the monitoring control device 10 from the retry time interval TRsc of the monitoring control device 10. Set.

  Next, the timeout time setting unit 32 calculates the retry number NRpr based on the timeout time TOpr and the retry time interval TRpr of the relay parent apparatus 20 set in step S20, and uses the calculated retry number NRpr as the relay parent apparatus timeout. The information is stored in the information storage unit 44 (S21).

  For example, the standby time TSpr of the relay parent device 20 is stored in advance in the relay parent device timeout information storage unit 44, and the timeout time setting unit 32 determines the standby time of the relay parent device 20 from the timeout time interval TOpr of the relay parent device 20. TSpr is subtracted, and the subtraction result is divided by the retry time interval TRpr of the relay parent device 20, and the maximum integer value of the division result is set as the retry count NRpr of the relay parent device 20. The standby time TSpr of the relay master device 20 is a time normally required from when the relay master device 20 transmits a command signal to the third transmission path 14 until receiving a response signal to the command signal, and is determined according to the specification. However, it is set in advance according to, for example, the communication speed of the third transmission path 14 and the data amount of the command signal.

  Further, for example, the timeout time setting unit 32 transmits a communication signal (ping, ping) requesting a reception response from the device 11 to the third transmission line 14 by broadcast communication, and receives the reception response first after the transmission. The time until this is measured, and this is stored in the shortest response time storage unit 43 as the initial shortest response time TAmin0. Then, the timeout time setting unit 32 subtracts the initial shortest response time TAmin0 from the timeout time interval TOpr of the relay parent device 20, divides the subtraction result by the retry time interval TRpr of the relay parent device 20, and the division result Is the retry count NRpr of the relay master device 20.

  Next, the timeout time setting unit 32 discards the command signal M and the command signals N (1) to N (n) stored in the storage unit 23, and ends the processing (S22).

  By operating in this way, the relay master device 20 can automatically acquire the retry time interval TRsc and the retry count NRsc of the monitoring control device 10. Further, the relay master device 20 can automatically calculate and set the timeout time TOpr and the retry count NRpr of the relay master device 20 from the acquired retry time interval TRsc of the monitoring control device 10. In particular, since the retry count NRpr of the relay master device 20 is calculated as described above, it can be set to the maximum number within the range of the retry time interval TRsc of the monitoring control device 10.

  When such a timeout time setting process is completed, the operation of the relay master device 20 is started, and the relay of the communication signal between the monitoring control device 10 and the device 11 is started.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a relay operation of the relay master apparatus according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 4, the relay processing unit 31 waits for reception of a communication signal in the first communication IF unit 21 and receives a command signal in the first communication IF unit 21. Are initialized (S31), measurement of elapsed time is started for timeout (S32), and measurement of elapsed time is started for retry (S33). Then, the relay processing unit 31 transmits this command signal from the second communication IF unit 24 in order to relay the command signal received by the first communication IF unit 21 (S34).

  Next, the relay processing unit 31 waits for reception of the communication signal in the second communication IF unit 24, and relays the elapsed time when the response signal is received by the second communication IF unit 24 or measured for retry. It is determined whether the retry time interval TRpr of the parent device 20 has been reached (S35).

  As a result of the determination, when the response signal is received by the second communication IF unit 24 (reception of the response signal), the relay processing unit 31 sets the elapsed time measured for timeout as the response time TA, It is determined whether or not the elapsed time measured for timeout has reached the timeout time interval TOpr of the relay parent device 20 (S36).

  As a result of the determination, if the timeout time interval TOpr of the relay master device 20 has been reached (YES), it is determined that a timeout has occurred, and the relay processing unit 31 monitors the response signal received by the second communication IF unit 24. 10 without relaying to S10 (S37), and the process returns to S31.

  On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S36 is that the timeout time interval TOpr of the relay master device 20 has not been reached (NO), the relay processing unit 31 monitors the response signal received by the second communication IF unit 24. This response signal is transmitted from the first communication IF unit 21 to be relayed to 10 (S51).

  Next, the relay processing unit 31 determines whether or not the response time TA of the process S36 is shorter than the shortest response time TAmin stored in the shortest response time storage unit 43 (S52). As a result of the determination, when the response time TA is not shorter than the shortest response time TAmin (NO), the relay processing unit 31 returns the process to the process S31. On the other hand, when the response time TA is shorter than the shortest response time TAmin (NO), the relay processing unit 31 stores the response time TA as a new shortest response time TAmin in the shortest response time storage unit 43 and stores the shortest response time. TAmin is updated (S53).

  Next, since the shortest response time TAmin has been updated, the relay processing unit 31 updates the retry count NRpr of the relay parent device 20 and then returns the process to the process S31 (S54). The retry number NRpr of the relay master device 20 is updated by subtracting the shortest response time TAmin from the timeout time interval TOpr of the relay master device 20 using the new minimum response time TAmin, and subtracting the subtraction result from the relay master device 20. Dividing by the retry time interval TRpr, the maximum integer value of the division result is set as the retry count NRpr of the relay parent apparatus 20.

  On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S35 is that the retry time interval TRpr has been reached (retry time), the relay processing unit 31 determines whether or not the retry counter RCpr has reached the retry count NRpr of the relay parent device 20. Judgment is made (S41).

  As a result of the determination, if the retry counter has not reached the retry count NRpr of the relay master device 20 (YES), the relay processing unit 31 increments the retry counter RCpr by 1 to retry the command signal. Update (S42), and return the process to the process S33. Accordingly, the relay processing unit 31 executes the retry by executing the processing S33 and S34, and the command signal is transmitted from the second communication IF unit 24 by the retry. On the other hand, if it is determined that the retry counter RCpr has reached the retry count NRpr of the relay master device 20 (NO), the relay processing unit 31 waits for reception of a communication signal in the second communication IF unit 24. Then, it is determined whether a response signal is received from the second communication IF unit 24 or whether the elapsed time measured for timeout has reached the timeout time interval TOpr of the relay parent device 20 (S43).

  As a result of the determination, when the timeout time TOpr has been reached (timeout), the relay processing unit 31 returns the process to step S31. In this case, the command signal received in step S31 is relayed, but the response signal cannot be received. On the other hand, as a result of the determination, when the timeout time TOpr has not been reached (reception of a response signal), the relay processing unit 31 executes a process S36.

  Next, remote monitoring control in which the monitoring control apparatus 10 monitors and / or controls the device 11 via the relay master apparatus 20 and the relay slave apparatus 700 will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating operations in the monitoring control device, the relay parent device, the relay child device, and the device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5A shows a case where the relay master device receives a response signal from the relay child device before the relay parent device times out. FIG. 5B shows a case where the relay parent device relays the relay child after the relay parent device times out. This is a case where a response signal is received from the device.

  In FIG. 5A, when the monitoring control device 10 transmits a command signal to the device 11 having the device ID = “3” to the first transmission path 12 (C11), the command signal is received by the relay master device 20. The The relay master device 20 executes the above-described processing S31 to S34, and transmits this command signal to the third transmission line 14 to be relayed (C12). This command signal is received by the relay device 700-y. The relay device 700-y transmits this command signal to the device 11 with the device ID = “3” via the second transmission path 13 (C13). Upon receiving this command signal, the device 11 with the device ID = “3” performs an operation based on the instruction accommodated in the command signal and returns a response signal accommodating the monitoring information to the relay device 700-y ( C14). When the relay slave device 700-y receives this response signal from the device 11 with the device ID = “3” via the second transmission path 13, it transmits this command signal to the third transmission path 14 to be relayed (C15). ). This command signal is received by the relay master device 20. The relay master device 20 executes the above-described processing S35 and processing S36. Here, since this response signal is received from the relay parent device 20 before the relay parent device 20 times out, it is determined in step S36 that the timeout time interval TOpr of the relay parent device 20 has not been reached. Therefore, the relay master device 20 executes the above-described processing S51, transmits this response signal to the first transmission path 12 to be relayed to the monitoring control device 10 (C16), and executes processing S52 to processing S54. This response signal is received by the monitoring control apparatus 10, and the monitoring control apparatus 10 can know the execution result of the command signal addressed to the device 11 having the device ID = “3”.

  In C16, the timeout time TOpr of the relay master device 20 is set to a value shorter than the retry time interval TRsc of the monitoring control device 10 as described above, so the response signal transmitted by the relay master device 20 is monitored and controlled. There is a low possibility that a retry command signal transmitted from the device 10 collides with the first transmission path 12. Therefore, a collision in the first transmission path 12 between the response signal of the relay master device 20 and the retry command signal of the monitoring control device 10 is suppressed. In particular, when the timeout time TOpr of the relay parent device 20 is set to a value obtained by subtracting the standby time TSsc of the monitoring control device 10 from the retry time interval TRsc of the monitoring control device 10, the response signal of the relay parent device 20 Collisions in the first transmission path 12 with the retry command signal of the monitoring control device 10 can be substantially avoided.

  Further, by executing the processing S52 to S54, the retry count NRpr of the relay master device 20 can be updated by updating the shortest response time. Therefore, even when the communication state of the third transmission path 14 is not stable, automatically. When the communication state of the third transmission line 14 is most stable, the retry count NRpr of the relay master device 20 can be optimized.

  On the other hand, in FIG. 5B, when the monitoring control device 10 transmits a command signal to the first transmission path 12 addressed to the device 11 with the device ID = “3” (C21), the command signal is transmitted to the relay master device 20. Received. The relay master device 20 executes the above-described processing S31 to S34, and transmits this command signal to the third transmission line 14 to be relayed (C22). Here, this command signal is not received by the relay device 700-y for some reason, such as the poor communication state of the third transmission path 14. For this reason, it is determined that the retry time TRpr has been reached in step S35, and the relay master device 20 executes step S41, step S42, step S33, and step S34, and transmits a command signal to the third transmission line 14 by retry ( C23). Further, for some reason, this command signal is not received by the relay slave device 700-y, and it is determined that the retry time TRpr has been reached in the process S35, and the relay master apparatus 20 determines that the process S41, the process S42, the process S33, and the process S34 is executed, and the command signal is transmitted to the third transmission line 14 by retry (C24). The cause is resolved, and this command signal is received by the relay device 700-y. The relay device 700-y transmits this command signal to the device 11 with the device ID = “3” via the second transmission path 13 (C25). Upon receiving this command signal, the device 11 with the device ID = “3” performs an operation based on the instruction accommodated in the command signal and returns a response signal accommodating the monitoring information to the relay device 700-y ( C26). When the relay slave device 700-y receives this response signal from the device 11 with the device ID = “3” via the second transmission path 13, it transmits this response signal to the third transmission path 14 to be relayed (C27). ). This response signal is received by the relay master device 20. The relay master device 20 executes the above-described processing S35 and processing S36. Here, since this response signal is received from the relay master device 20 after the relay master device 20 times out, it is determined in step S36 that the timeout time interval TOpr of the relay master device 20 has been reached. Therefore, the relay master device 20 performs the above-described process S37 and holds this response signal. That is, this response signal is not transmitted to the first transmission path 12.

  In C27, the timeout time TOpr of the relay master device 20 is set to a value shorter than the retry time interval TRsc of the monitoring control device 10 as described above, and therefore the monitoring control device 10 after the timeout time TOpr of the relay master device 20 is set. , A retry command signal can be transmitted to the first transmission line 12. Since the response signal received after the time-out of the relay master device 20 is suspended and not transmitted to the first transmission path 12, it is possible to avoid a collision in the first transmission path 12 of the retry command signal transmitted by the monitoring control apparatus 10. .

Next, another embodiment will be described.
(Configuration of Second Embodiment)
In FIG. 1, the remote monitoring control system 2 according to the second embodiment uses a relay master device 50 according to the second embodiment described below instead of the relay device 700-x according to the background art. This is the same as the remote control system 1000 described with reference to FIG. Therefore, the description of the monitoring device 10, the first to third transmission paths 12, 13, and 14 and the relay devices 700-y and 700-z is omitted. Since the device 11 is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the relay master device according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 6, the relay master device 50 according to the second embodiment includes a first communication IF unit 21, a control unit 51, a storage unit 52, and a second communication IF unit 24. Since the first and second communication IF units 21 and 24 are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  The control unit 51 includes, for example, a microprocessor and its peripheral circuits, and includes a relay processing unit 61 and a retry information collection unit 62, and also includes a first communication IF unit 21, a storage unit 52, and a second unit according to each program. The communication IF unit 24 is controlled according to the function.

  The relay processing unit 61 relays a communication signal addressed to the device 11 by transmitting to the relay device 700 when a communication signal addressed to the device 11 is received from the monitoring control device 10 by an operation described later, and from the device 11. When the communication signal addressed to the monitoring control device 10 is received from the relay device 700, the communication signal addressed to the monitoring control device 10 from the device 11 is relayed by transmitting it to the monitoring control device 10. The retry information collection unit 62 measures and collects the retry time TRsc and the number of retries NRsc of the monitoring and control apparatus 10 by the operation described later.

  The storage unit 52 includes a relay information storage unit 41 that stores relay information, a monitoring control device retry information storage unit 71 that stores monitoring control device retry information, and a relay parent device timeout storage unit 72 that stores relay parent device timeout information. And is a so-called working memory for the control unit 51 and stores each program such as a control program for operating the relay master device 50, information necessary for executing each program, and the like. The memory | storage part 23 is provided with semiconductor memory elements, such as RAM, EEPROM, and ROM, for example.

  The monitoring control device retry information is the retry time interval TRsc and the retry count NRsc of the monitoring control device 10. As will be described later, the retry time interval TRsc and the retry count NRsc are acquired by measurement after the relay parent device 50 is activated and stored in the monitoring control device retry information storage unit 71.

The relay master device timeout information includes the timeout time TOpr of the relay master device 20, the retry time interval TRsc, and the retry count NRsc of the relay master device 20, as in the first embodiment. In the first embodiment, only the retry time interval TRpr of the relay master device 20 is stored in advance in the relay master device timeout information storage unit 44. However, in the second embodiment, the timeout time TOpr and retry of these relay master devices 20 are stored. The time interval TRpr and the number of retries NRpr are determined according to the specifications and stored in advance in the relay parent device timeout information storage unit 72.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described.
(Operation of Second Embodiment)
First, retry information collection processing in which the relay master device 50 collects retry information of the monitoring control device 10 will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation of collecting retry information of the relay master device according to the second embodiment.

  When the device 11 cannot be directly connected to the first transmission line 12 due to the installation location, or when the device 11 is added, the relay parent can communicate with the monitoring controller 10 via the first transmission line 12. When the device 50 is arranged and, for example, its power is turned on, the retry information collecting unit 61 in the control unit 51 of the relay parent device 50 is activated and performs the following operations.

  In FIG. 7, the retry information collection unit 61 determines whether or not the monitoring control device retry information has been set in the monitoring control device retry information storage unit 71 (S61). As a result of the determination, if the monitoring control device timeout information has been set (YES), the retry information collection unit 61 ends this retry information collection processing. On the other hand, when the monitoring control device retry information is not set as a result of the determination (NO), the retry information collecting unit 61 determines the retry time interval TRsc of the monitoring control device 10 and the retry count NRsc. When the first communication IF unit 21 waits for reception of a communication signal and the first communication IF unit 21 receives the command signal M, the received command signal M is stored in the storage unit 52 (S62). Then, the retry information collection unit 61 starts measuring the retry time interval TRsc (1) of the monitoring control device 10 as the first time (S63).

  The retry information collection unit 61 waits for reception of a communication signal in the first communication IF unit 21 and receives the command signal N in the first communication IF unit 21 (S64). In order to determine (retransmission), it is determined whether or not the received command signal N matches the command signal M stored in the storage unit 52 (S65).

  As a result of the determination, if they do not match (NO), the retry information collection unit 61 returns the process to step S62 and waits for reception of a communication signal in order to start the retry information collection process from the beginning. On the other hand, if they match (YES) as a result of the determination, the measurement of the retry time interval TRsc (1) of the monitoring control device 10 is terminated, and the retry time interval TRsc (1) of the monitoring control device 10 in the first time is set. It memorize | stores in the memory | storage part 52 (S66).

  Next, the retry information collection unit 61 increments the retry count NRsc of the monitoring control apparatus 10 by 1 (S67). That is, the number of retries NRsc = 1 for the supervisory control device 10.

  Then, the retry information collection unit 61 determines whether or not the measurement time of the monitoring control device retry information has ended (S68). The measurement time of the monitoring control device retry information is a time sufficient for measuring the number of retries NRsc of the monitoring control device 10, and is similar to the measurement time of the monitoring control device timeout information in the first embodiment. This is a time that is longer than the time that is assumed to be set as the timeout time in the monitoring control device 10.

  As a result of the determination, if the measurement time of the monitoring control device retry information has not ended, the retry information collecting unit 61 processes the processing to measure the retry time interval TRsc (2) of the next monitoring control device 10. Return to S63. Then, the retry information collection unit 61 executes the processing S63 to S68, thereby measuring the retry time interval TRsc (2) of the monitoring control device 10 in the second time and counting the number of retries NRsc. In this way, the retry information collection unit 32 repeatedly executes the processing S63 to S68 until the measurement time of the monitoring control device retry information elapses, and the retry time interval NRsc (n) of one or more monitoring control devices 10 And the number of retries NRsc is measured.

  On the other hand, if the measurement time of the monitoring control device retry information has ended as a result of the determination in step S68, the retry information collection unit 61 stores the retry time interval TRsc of the monitoring control device 10 stored in the storage unit 52. Based on (1) to TRsc (n) and the number of retries NRsc, the average value of the retry time intervals TRsc (1) to TRsc (n) of the monitoring controller 10 is calculated, and the average value of the calculation results is calculated by the monitoring controller 10. The retry time interval TRsc is set and stored in the monitoring control device retry information storage unit 71. Then, the retry information collection unit 61 stores the retry count NRsc of the monitoring control device 10 stored in the storage unit 52 in the monitoring control device retry information storage unit 71 (S69).

  Next, the retry information collection unit 61 discards the command signal M and the command signals N (1) to N (n) stored in the storage unit 52, and ends the processing (S70).

  By operating in this way, the relay master device 50 can automatically acquire the retry time interval TRsc and the retry count NRsc of the monitoring control device 10.

  When such retry information collection processing is completed, the operation of the relay master device 50 is started, and relaying of communication signals between the monitoring control device 10 and the device 11 is started.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the relay operation of the relay master apparatus according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 8, the relay processing unit 61 waits for reception of a communication signal in the first communication IF unit 21 and receives a command signal in the first communication IF unit 21, and executes a retry of the command signal in the monitoring control device 10. Various variables such as a retry counter RCsc that counts the number of times are initialized (S81), and the relay processing unit 61 receives the command signal received by the first communication IF unit 21 from the second communication IF unit 24. This command signal is transmitted (S82). Then, the relay processing unit 61 starts measuring the elapsed time for retry of the monitoring control apparatus 10 so as to measure the time for the monitoring control apparatus 10 to retry (S83).

  Next, the relay processing unit 31 waits for reception of a communication signal in the first and second communication IF units 21 and 24, and whether the monitoring signal is received by the monitoring control device 10 in the first communication IF unit 21. Alternatively, it is determined whether the response signal is received by the second communication IF unit 24 (S84).

  As a result of the determination, when a retry command signal is received (retry command signal), the relay processing unit 61 discards the retry command signal (S91) and updates the retry counter RCsc by incrementing by one. (S92), the process returns to the process S83.

  On the other hand, if the response signal is received (response signal) as a result of the determination in step S84, the relay processing unit 61 stores the response signal in the storage unit 52, and the monitoring control device 10 is near to retry the command signal. Whether or not (S85). For example, the relay processing unit 61 subtracts the elapsed time for retry of the monitoring control device 10 measured in step S82 from the retry time interval TRsc of the monitoring control device 10 stored in the monitoring control device retry information storage unit 71. When the subtraction result is less than or equal to the predetermined value, it is determined that the retry of the command signal by the monitoring control device 10 is near. On the other hand, when the subtraction result exceeds the predetermined value, the command signal of the monitoring control device 10 is determined. Judge that the retry is not near. The predetermined value is determined according to specifications from the viewpoint of avoiding a collision between a response signal transmitted from the relay parent apparatus 50 to the monitoring control apparatus 10 and a retry command signal transmitted from the monitoring control apparatus 10. For example, the monitoring control apparatus 10 Is set to be longer than the time normally required for the relay master device 50 to receive this communication signal after transmitting the communication signal, and is set in advance according to the communication speed of the first transmission path 12, the data amount of the command signal, and the like. The This predetermined value may be short if the communication speed of the first transmission path 12 is high, and may be short if the data amount of the command signal is small. In addition, for example, in conjunction with the above-described retry information collection processing, the retry information collection unit 61 transmits a ping to the monitoring control apparatus 10 and measures the time from when the transmission is received until the reception response is received. The above time may be a predetermined value.

  As a result of the determination in the process 85, when the retry of the command signal by the monitoring control device 10 is near (YES), the relay processing unit 61 retries the monitoring control device 10 stored in the monitoring control device retry information storage unit 71. Based on the number of times NRsc and the retry counter RCsc of the monitoring control apparatus 10, the monitoring control apparatus 10 determines whether or not to retry this command signal (S86). That is, the relay processing unit 61 subtracts the retry counter RCsc of the monitoring control device 10 from the retry count NRsc of the monitoring control device 10 stored in the monitoring control device retry information storage unit 71, and whether or not the subtraction result is greater than zero. Determine whether. Alternatively, the relay processing unit 61 divides the retry count NRsc of the monitoring control device 10 stored in the monitoring control device retry information storage unit 71 by the retry counter RCsc of the monitoring control device 10, and whether the division result is greater than 1 or not. Determine whether.

  If the monitoring control apparatus 10 does not retry the command signal as a result of the determination (NO), the relay processing unit 61 discards the response signal stored in the storage unit 52 (S89), and returns the process to the process S81. When the monitoring control device 10 retries the command signal as a result of the determination (YES), the relay processing unit 61 waits for reception of the communication signal in the first communication IF unit 21, and the first communication IF unit 21 When the retry command signal is received (S87), the relay processing unit 61 transfers the response signal stored in the storage unit 52 from the first communication IF unit 21 to the first transmission path 12 in correspondence with the retry to relay. Then, the process returns to step S81 (S88).

  By operating the relay processing unit 61 in this way, it is possible to avoid a collision between the retry command signal from the monitoring control device 10 and the response signal from the relay parent device 10 on the first transmission path 12.

  Next, remote monitoring control in which the monitoring control device 10 monitors and / or controls the device 11 via the relay parent device 50 and the relay child device 700 will be described.

  FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram illustrating operations in the monitoring control device, the relay parent device, the relay child device, and the device according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 9, when the monitoring control device 10 transmits a command signal to the device 11 having the device ID = “3” to the first transmission path 12 (C31), the command signal is received by the relay parent device 50. The relay master device 50 executes the above-described processing S81 to S84, and transmits this command signal to the third transmission line 14 to be relayed (C32). This command signal is received by the relay device 700-y. The relay device 700-y transmits this command signal to the device 11 with the device ID = “3” via the second transmission path 13 (C33). Upon receiving this command signal, the device 11 with the device ID = “3” performs an operation based on the instruction accommodated in the command signal and returns a response signal accommodating the monitoring information to the relay device 700-y ( C34). When the relay slave device 700-y receives this response signal from the device 11 with the device ID = “3” via the second transmission path 13, the relay slave device 700-y transmits this response signal to the third transmission path 14 to be relayed (C35). ). This response signal is received by the relay master device 20.

  When the monitoring control device 10 transmits a retry command signal to the first transmission path 12 between C32 and C35 (C41), the relay master device 50 determines that the command signal is received in step S84. Process S91 and process S92 are executed, and the process returns to process S83. By operating in this way, the retry command signal by the monitoring control apparatus 10 of C41 is discarded. The relay master device 50 discards the retry command signal from the monitoring control device 10 received by the first communication IF unit 21 until the second communication IF unit 24 receives a response signal to the relayed command signal. Communication traffic on the transmission path 14 and the second transmission path 13 can be suppressed, and collision of communication signals on the third transmission path 14 and the second transmission path 13 can be suppressed. Since the retry command signal is not relayed, the power consumption of the relay parent device 50 and the relay child device 700 is reduced and saved.

  Then, when receiving the response signal of C35, the relay master device 50 determines that the response signal has been received in the process S84, and the retry of the next command signal by the supervisory control device 10 (the third time in FIG. 9) is close in the process S85. Determine whether or not. As shown by the solid line in FIG. 9, when the response signal reception (C35) is close to the retry of the next command signal by the monitoring control device 10 (third time in FIG. 9), the relay master device 50 performs processing S86 to processing S88 is executed, and the response is not sent to the C41 retry command signal (second time in FIG. 9), but sent to the monitoring control device 10 as a response to the next retry command signal (third time in FIG. 9). Therefore, the response signal is transmitted to the first transmission path 12 by the first communication IF unit 21 (C36). On the other hand, when the response signal reception (C35 ′) is not close to the next command signal retry (third time in FIG. 9) as shown by the broken line in FIG. Processing S88 is executed, and this response signal is transmitted to the first transmission line 12 by the first communication IF unit 21 to be transmitted to the monitoring control device 10 as a response to the retry command signal of C41 (second time in FIG. 9) ( C36 ′).

  By operating the relay processing unit 61 in this way, it is possible to avoid a collision between the retry command signal from the monitoring control device 10 and the response signal from the relay parent device 10 on the first transmission path 12. When the response signal is received, if the reception time is close to the time when the monitoring control device 10 can receive the next retry command signal, the relay master device 50 displays the next retry command signal. It waits and relays a response signal as a response to this. For this reason, the relay master device 50 can quickly return a response signal in response to the command signal for the next retry, and the responsiveness can be improved.

  In the first embodiment, the timeout time setting process is executed, and in the second embodiment, the retry information collecting process is executed at the start of the operation of the relay parent apparatus 20, but the setting of the monitoring control apparatus 10 is changed. From the viewpoint of being able to respond, it may be executed periodically every six months or every year.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the remote monitoring control system which concerns on embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the relay parent apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which sets the timeout time of the relay parent apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the relay operation | movement of the relay parent apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation | movement in the monitoring control apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment, a relay parent apparatus, a relay apparatus, and an apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the relay parent apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which collects the retry information of the relay parent apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the relay operation | movement of the relay parent apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation | movement in the monitoring control apparatus, relay parent apparatus, relay child apparatus, and apparatus which concern on 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the remote monitoring control system which concerns on background art. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the remote monitoring control system which concerns on background art.

1, 2, 1000 Remote monitoring system 10 Monitoring control device 11 Equipment 12, 13, 14 Transmission path 20, 50 Relay master device (relay device)
21, 701 First communication interface unit 22, 51 Control unit 23, 52 Storage unit 24, 702 Second communication interface unit 31, 61 Relay processing unit 32 Timeout time setting unit 42 Monitoring control device timeout information storage unit 43 Shortest response time storage Units 44 and 72 Relay master device timeout information storage unit 62 Retry information collection unit 71 Monitoring control device retry information storage unit 700 Relay device (relay parent device, relay child device)

Claims (4)

Connected to the monitoring control device for monitoring and / or controlling the device via the first transmission line, connected to the relay device for relaying the communication signal by connecting to the device via the second transmission line, connected via the third transmission line, In the relay master device that relays the communication signal between the monitoring control device and the device via the relay device,
Communication between the monitoring and control device is half-duplex communication,
The first communication signal is relayed by transmitting the first communication signal received from the monitoring control device to the device of the monitoring control device to the relay device, and the first communication signal is returned. A relay processing unit that relays the second communication signal addressed to the monitoring control device of the device received from the relay device by transmitting to the monitoring control device ;
The monitoring control device measures the retry time interval of the monitoring control device, which is a time interval for retrying the first communication signal, and the time-out time of the relay parent device is shorter than the measured retry time interval of the monitoring control device. And a timeout time setting unit for setting
The relay processing unit
When said first communication signal of retries during the second communication signal to be received from the relay terminal device is received from the monitoring control unit discards the first communication signal by said retry,
When the second communication signal is received from the relay slave device after the timeout time of the relay master device has elapsed since the transmission of the first communication signal to the relay slave device, the second communication signal of the second communication signal The difference between the time at which the transmission to the monitoring control device is suspended and the second communication signal is received from the relay device and the time at which the monitoring control device receives the first communication signal for the next retry is within a predetermined value. If so, the second communication signal is transmitted as a response to the first communication signal of the next retry by the monitoring control device. A storage unit that stores the shortest response time from when a communication signal is transmitted in communication with the device via the relay device to when the reply is received;
The relay processing unit further communicates with the relay slave device based on a retry time interval of the relay master device in communication between the timeout time of the monitoring control device, the shortest response time, and the relay slave device. The relay parent device according to claim 1 , wherein the number of retries of the relay parent device in the communication is obtained. The relay processing unit further measures, for each communication, a response time from transmission of a communication signal in communication with the device via the relay device to reception of the response, and the measured response The relay parent device according to claim 2 , wherein when the time is shorter than the shortest response time, the shortest response time is updated with the measured response time. A device to be monitored and / or controlled, a monitoring control device that monitors and / or controls the device, a relay device that connects to the device via a second transmission path and relays a communication signal, and the monitoring control device A relay master device connected via a first transmission line and connected to the relay device via a third transmission line and relaying a communication signal between the monitoring control device and the device via the relay device; In the remote monitoring and control system,
Communication between the monitoring control device and the relay parent device is half-duplex communication,
The relay master device is
The first communication signal is relayed by transmitting the first communication signal received from the monitoring control device to the device of the monitoring control device to the relay device, and the first communication signal is returned. A relay processing unit that relays the second communication signal addressed to the monitoring control device of the device received from the relay device by transmitting to the monitoring control device ;
The monitoring control device measures the retry time interval of the monitoring control device, which is a time interval for retrying the first communication signal, and the time-out time of the relay parent device is shorter than the measured retry time interval of the monitoring control device. And a timeout time setting unit for setting
The relay processing unit
When said first communication signal of retries during the second communication signal to be received from the relay terminal device is received from the monitoring control unit discards the first communication signal by said retry,
When the second communication signal is received from the relay slave device after the timeout time of the relay master device has elapsed since the transmission of the first communication signal to the relay slave device, the second communication signal of the second communication signal The difference between the time at which the transmission to the monitoring control device is suspended and the second communication signal is received from the relay device and the time at which the monitoring control device receives the first communication signal for the next retry is within a predetermined value. If so, the second communication signal is transmitted as a response to the first communication signal of the next retry by the monitoring control device .

Images