JP4575237B2 - Communications system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement in a communication system including a communication device used to connect, for example, a circuit switching network and an IP (Internet Protocol) network.

  In order to construct a communication system that combines a circuit switched network and an IP network, a communication device such as a gateway device is used. This type of communication device has already been installed on a scale of several hundred in Japan, and all of them are connected to the IP network. When there is a lot of traffic in a node where a communication device is installed, there are cases where a plurality of communication devices are collected by a concentrator and connected to an IP network. An example of a concentrator is disclosed in Patent Document 1 below.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an existing line concentrating system. In FIG. 4, a plurality of communication devices A 24, a communication device B 25, and a communication device C 26 are connected to the network 22 via the line concentrator 23. The network 22 is, for example, an IP network, and the communication apparatuses A24 to C26 have a function of converting traffic from a circuit switching network (not shown), for example, to bypass the IP network. The line concentrator 23 collects lines individually extended from the communication apparatuses A24 to C26 into a single line and connects it to the network 22. A network monitoring device 21 is connected to the network 22. The network monitoring device 21 monitors and controls the line concentrator 23 and the communication devices A24 to C26 via the line concentrator 23.

The communication device A24 includes a control board 27, a circuit board A28, and a circuit board B29. Among them, the control board 27 manages the entire communication device A24 including the circuit board A28 and the circuit board B29. The communication device B25 and the communication device C26 have the same configuration as the communication device A24.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing management targets in the system of FIG. In the configuration of FIG. 4, since the line concentrator is placed outside a plurality of communication apparatuses, the management targets of the network monitoring apparatus 21 include not only the communication apparatus A, communication apparatus B, and communication apparatus C but also the line concentrator. Will be.
JP-A-3-270535

As described above, in the existing technology, the concentrator is installed outside the plurality of communication devices, so from the network monitoring device, the concentrator must be treated as a management target equivalent to the plurality of communication devices. . For this reason, there is a problem that the number of management targets increases and the management method becomes complicated. Further, when the line concentrator fails, it must be repaired or exchanged by a method completely independent of the communication device, which requires troublesome work.
The present invention has been made under the circumstances described above, and an object thereof is to provide a communication system capable of simplifying the management technique.

In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication system having a plurality of communication devices connected to a communication network and a network monitoring device that monitors the plurality of communication devices. Each of the communication devices includes a plurality of substrate modules and a control substrate that monitors the plurality of substrate modules, and at least one of the plurality of communication devices is extended from another communication device. A control board provided in a communication device provided with a concentrating means for monitoring the concentrating means and the plurality of board modules, and the network monitoring apparatus comprises: A communication system is provided that monitors each control board provided in the plurality of communication devices.

  By taking such a means, the concentrating means having the concentrating function is provided as one of the board modules in the specific communication apparatus, and is positioned as the monitoring target of the control board of the communication apparatus. That is, the line concentrator is placed under the same management as the circuit board managed by the control board that controls the entire communication apparatus. As a result, control and management of the concentrator by the network monitoring device are performed as an instruction request and a reference request for the communication device, and the concentrator board is handled as a part of the communication device.

  Therefore, compared with the existing technology, the concentrator can be handled as a part of the communication device, and it is not necessary to manage it as a concentrator independent of the communication device. Further, when the concentrator board breaks down, it can be replaced by a technique equivalent to the circuit board of the communication apparatus, and the maintenance person can easily manage it by a unified management technique.

  According to the present invention, a communication system with a simplified management method can be provided.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a communication system according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the communication device A3 includes a concentrator board 7 on which a communication device B4 and a communication device C5 are concentrated. As a result, the communication device A3, the communication device B4, and the communication device C5 are all connected to the network 2 via the external line 6. That is, the concentrator board 7 plays a role of accommodating lines from the communication device A3, the communication device B4, and the communication device C5 and collecting the lines to the external line 6. Further, the concentrating board 7 has an interface of the internal bus 11 in the communication device A3, and is managed by the control board 8 like the circuit board A9 and the circuit board B10. The line that the line collecting board 7 collects is not only a communication path for control signals for managing the communication apparatuses A3 to C5 by the network monitoring apparatus 1, but also the line accommodated by the line board A and the line board B through the network 2. It is also a communication path for using and transmitting.

  In FIG. 1, in order to perform various controls from the network monitoring device 1 to the concentration board 7, first, a control instruction is sent from the network monitoring device 1 to the control board 8. In response to this, the control board 8 gives a control instruction to the concentrator board 7 such as change or control of the concentrator method or reference to statistical information of the line. This process is the same as the access method for the other circuit boards A9 and B10. From the viewpoint of the network monitoring apparatus 1, there is no need to manage the concentrator board 7 as a separate apparatus, and as a part of the communication apparatus. It becomes possible to control. Further, when any failure or failure occurs in the concentrator board 7, the control board 8 detects that fact and reports it to the network monitoring device 1. Even in this case, the network monitoring device 1 can recognize the failure as a communication failure inside the communication device A3 without being aware of the concentration board 7 as a separate device. Therefore, when the faulty replacement of the concentrating board 7 is performed, the board can be replaced by the same replacement method as the circuit board A9 and the circuit board B10, and the maintenance work of the maintenance person can be simplified.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing management targets of the network monitoring device 1 in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the concentrator board (concentrator board 7) is positioned lower than the communication apparatus A, and the concentrator board 7 is managed as a part of the communication apparatus A. As a result, it is not necessary to place the concentrator board 7 under the management independent of the communication devices A to C, and the network monitoring device 1 can control and manage the concentrating function for the communication device A. Further, in the event of a failure such as a failure of the concentrator board 7, the network monitoring device 1 can receive a message from the communication device A in the same manner as the other communication devices B and C. As a result, the network monitoring device 1 can grasp the failure and failure contents of the current collecting board 7 in the same way as the circuit board A and circuit board B, and can show a uniform situation that is easy to understand for the maintenance person.
In the existing technology, as shown in FIG. 4, the concentrator 23 is located outside the plurality of communication devices A24 to C26. Therefore, when viewed from the network monitoring device 21, the concentrator 23 is different from the communication devices A24 to C26. I had to manage it as a body.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, when the plurality of communication devices A3 to C5 are concentrated and connected to the network 2, the concentration board 7 is mounted on the communication device A3, and the other communication devices B4 and C5 are connected to the concentration board 7. Connecting. The concentrator board 7 collects the communication devices A <b> 3 to C <b> 5 and connects them to the network 2 through one external line 6. The concentrator board 7 is positioned in the communication device A3 in the same manner as the circuit boards A9 and B10, and any of the boards 7, A9 and B10 is monitored by the control board 8. Thereby, it becomes possible to simplify the monitoring control from the network monitoring apparatus 1.

  The present invention is not limited to this embodiment. For example, the concentrator board 7 may be provided not only in the communication device A3 but also in other communication devices B4 and C5. Even in this case, the concentrator board 7 is managed as a part of the mounted communication device, as in the example of the communication device A3. That is, the concentrator board 7 can be controlled and managed by accessing the control board 8 of the mounted communication device. When the concentrator board 7 breaks down or fails, the concentrator board can monitor the network. A report is notified to the device 1.

  Note that the control of the concentrator board 7 becomes impossible in the event of a failure of the control board 8 of the communication device mounting the concentrator board 7 or a serious failure of the communication device itself, which may affect the communication of other communication devices. Sex is conceivable. In order to avoid such a situation, the concentration board 7 can access the control board 8 via a control bus (not shown) different from the internal bus 11 and can be controlled regardless of the state of the communication device A3. You can also

  Furthermore, a redundant configuration with two concentrating boards can be inferred to improve fault tolerance. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a redundant configuration of the communication system according to this embodiment. In FIG. 3, the communication device A43 includes a current collecting board (ACT) 47 as a working system, and the communication device B44 includes a current collecting board (SBY) 53 as a standby system. A concentrator board (ACT) 47 is under the control of the control board 48 and collects the communication device B 44 and the communication device C 45 to connect all the communication devices 43 A to 45 C to the network 42 via the external line 46. The concentrator board (SBY) 53 is under the control of the control board 54, and collects the communication device A 43 and the communication device C 45 and connects all the communication devices 43 A to 45 C to the network 42 via the external line 52.

  In the above configuration, when the concentrator board (ACT) 47 breaks down, the operation is immediately switched to the concentrator board (SBY), and the operation is replaced by using the external line 52 different from the external line 46. The line to be concentrated on (ACT) 47 is also changed to a route to the concentration board (SBY) 53. As a result, it is possible to avoid the operation stop due to the failure of the concentrator board (ACT) 47, and it is possible to replace the faulty concentrator board (ACT) 47 while continuing the operation of the system.

  Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments as they are, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. 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 the communication system concerning this invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating management targets of the network monitoring device 1 in FIG. 1. 1 is a block diagram showing a redundant configuration of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram which shows the existing line collection system. The schematic diagram which shows the management object in the system of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Network monitoring apparatus, 2 ... Network, 3 ... Communication apparatus A, 4 ... Communication apparatus B, 5 ... Communication apparatus C, 6 ... External line, 7 ... Concentration board, 8 ... Control board, 9 ... Line board A, 10 ... Circuit board B, 11 ... Internal bus, 21 ... Network monitoring device, 22 ... Network, 23 ... Concentrator, 24 ... Communication device A, 25 ... Communication device B, 26 ... Communication device C, 27 ... Control board, 28 ... Circuit board A, 29 ... Circuit board B, 41 ... Network monitoring device, 42 ... Network, 43 ... Communication device A, 44 ... Communication device B, 45 ... Communication device C, 46 ... External circuit, 47 ... Concentration board (ACT) , 48 ... Control board, 49 ... Line board A, 50 ... Line board B, 51 ... Internal bus, 52 ... External line, 53 ... Concentration line (SBY), 54 ... Control board

Claims (2)

A communication system comprising a plurality of communication devices connected to a communication network and a network monitoring device for monitoring the plurality of communication devices,
Each of the plurality of communication devices includes
A plurality of substrate modules;
A control board for monitoring the plurality of board modules,
At least one of the plurality of communication devices includes a concentrating unit that collects communication lines extending from other communication devices and connects the communication lines to the communication network.
A control board provided in a communication device including the line collecting means monitors the line collecting means and the plurality of board modules ,
The network monitoring device monitors each control board provided in the plurality of communication devices. When the concentration means is provided in a part of the plurality of communication devices, the concentration means provided in the partial number of communication devices is provided in another communication device provided with the concentration means. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the communication system is made redundant by being connected to a control board.

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