JP6348752B2 - Terminal device and connection confirmation method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a terminal device connected to a network device and a confirmation method thereof.

  Conventionally, in the field of factory automation, for example, a connection cable provided in a plurality of terminal devices such as a programmable controller and a laser processing machine and a plurality of connection ports provided in a network device such as a switching hub are each provided with a communication cable. A LAN (local area network) is constructed by connecting through the network.

By the way, the communication cable is bundled in a lump, or accommodated under the floor or behind the ceiling, and is routed over a long distance. Therefore, the terminal device is moved or removed for maintenance or the like. In this case, it is difficult to confirm to which connection port of each network device each terminal device is connected.
For this reason, the terminal device connected to the network device transmits a packet including a port light emission request for causing the corresponding connection port indicator to emit light for a predetermined time to the network device, so that the indicator of the connection port that has received the packet is displayed. Light is emitted for a predetermined time, and it is confirmed to which input / output port of each network device each terminal device is connected. As such a technique, it describes in Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2011-205448 (patent document 1), for example.

JP 2011-205448 A

  By the way, according to the above method, a dedicated network device for receiving a port light emission request for causing the indicator of the connection port to emit light for a predetermined time and causing the indicator to emit light is required.

  The present invention has been completed based on the above circumstances, and without using a dedicated network device having a function of receiving a port light emission request or the like, each terminal device and a connection port of the network device An object of the present invention is to provide a terminal device in which connection relations can be easily confirmed.

  A terminal device disclosed in this specification includes a plurality of connection ports to which cables are connected, and a plurality of device-side link lamps that are turned on when a communication line for each connection port is established and are turned off when the communication line is not established. Trigger detection for detecting that a terminal device connected to the device via the cable and the terminal side indicator lamp and the communication line has been reestablished from the established state through the non-established state And a control unit that causes the terminal-side indicator lamp to blink when the trigger detection unit detects that the communication line has been reestablished through a non-established state from the established state. However, it has characteristics.

  Further, the technology disclosed in the present specification is a network configured by connecting a terminal device to a connection port of a network device having a plurality of connection ports via a cable and establishing a communication line. A connection confirmation method for confirming to which of the connection ports the connection of the terminal device is established, wherein the communication line is reestablished through a non-established state. Provided in the terminal device when it is detected that the communication line has been reestablished through the non-established state from the established state by the trigger detecting step and the trigger detecting step. And a control step of blinking the terminal-side indicator lamp.

  According to such a configuration, it is detected that the communication line has been reestablished from the established state through the non-established state simply by performing an insertion / removal operation of connecting / disconnecting a cable to / from the connection port of the network device. Is done. As a result, the terminal side indicator lamp blinks by the control unit. Accordingly, even when a terminal device is connected to a general-purpose network device that does not require a dedicated network device having a function of receiving a port emission request as in the prior art and does not have such a function, the network device side The terminal device can be confirmed. In addition, for example, compared to the method of connecting the cable to a port detector dedicated to port confirmation and confirming the connection port, and then reconnecting the cable to the terminal device, the work man-hours can be reduced and Port detectors and the like can be eliminated.

As an aspect of the terminal device disclosed in this specification, the following configuration is preferable.
The terminal-side indicator lamp is a terminal-side link lamp that is turned on when a communication line is established and is turned off when the communication line is not established, and the control unit is in a non-established state from a state in which the communication line is established by the trigger detection unit When it is detected that the state has been reestablished after passing through, the terminal-side link lamp and the device-side link lamp may be blinked by alternately repeating the establishment and non-establishment of the communication line. Good.

  According to such a configuration, when it is detected that the communication line has been reestablished through the non-established state from the established state, establishment and non-establishment of the communication line are alternately repeated, Since both the link lamps flash in accordance with this, the configuration of the terminal device can be simplified as compared with a case where a dedicated lamp and a dedicated lamp control means are separately provided in the terminal device. Also, when the terminal device side performs an operation to insert / remove the cable, the device side link lamp blinks, so it is possible to check which connection port of the network device is connected from the terminal device side. it can.

The control unit is configured to detect the terminal-side indicator lamp after a lapse of a predetermined time from when the trigger detection unit detects that the communication line has been reestablished through a non-established state. It is good also as a structure which returns from a blinking state to a lighting state.
According to such a configuration, when a predetermined time elapses, the blinking of the terminal side indicator lamp returns to the lighting state. As a result, it is possible to prevent a separate return unit from being provided or an increase in work for returning the terminal side indicator lamp.

A time measuring unit that measures a time from when the communication line is established to when it is reestablished through a non-established state, and the control unit is configured to respond to the time measured by the time measuring unit. You may make it the structure which changes the aspect which the said terminal side indicator lamp blinks.
According to such a configuration, the lighting pattern such as the lighting pattern or the display time in the terminal side indicator lamp is turned on according to the time from the established state to the reestablished state through the non-established state. Can be changed. That is, for example, by changing the blinking pattern for each terminal-side indicator lamp, the connection relationship between each connection port and the terminal device can be collectively confirmed. Further, according to the time from when the communication line is established to when it is reestablished through the non-established state, the blinking time of the terminal-side indicator lamp is made different so that the network device and the terminal device The blinking time can be easily changed according to the distance between them.

The control unit re-detects that the communication line has been reestablished from the established state through the non-established state by the trigger detecting unit while the terminal side indicator lamp is blinking. Based on this, the terminal-side indicator lamp may be returned from the blinking state to the lighting state.
According to such a configuration, after confirming which of the terminal side indicator lamps are flashing, the state where the communication line is established from the established state through the non-established state by performing an operation of connecting / disconnecting the cable, etc. Thus, the terminal side indicator lamp can be returned from the blinking state to the lit state, so that the communication line is established by, for example, connecting / disconnecting the cable, such as when the network device and the terminal device are installed far apart. This is effective when the state of the terminal-side indicator lamp cannot be promptly confirmed after it has been reestablished through a non-established state.

  According to the technology disclosed in this specification, the connection relationship between each terminal device and a connection port of a network device can be easily confirmed without using a dedicated network device having a function of receiving a port emission request or the like. .

Schematic diagram showing the configuration of the LAN Block diagram of laser processing machine Communication controller block diagram The flowchart which the communication controller of Embodiment 1 performs The flowchart which the communication controller of Embodiment 2 performs The flowchart which the communication controller of Embodiment 3 performs

<Embodiment 1>
Embodiment 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the present embodiment includes a plurality of switching hubs 30 represented by general-purpose network devices such as switching hubs and routers in the field of factory automation. A LAN (local area network) 100 to which the laser processing apparatus 10 is connected via a communication cable (corresponding to a “cable”) C is illustrated. In the following description, the switching hub 30 will be described as an example of the network device, but the network device may be a router. Moreover, although the laser processing apparatus 10 is described as an example of the terminal device, the same applies to other network terminal devices such as a programmable controller and a sensor device.

  The switching hub 30 is provided with a plurality of hub-side connection ports (an example of “connection ports”) 31 to which the communication cable C is connected side by side (six ports in this embodiment). The hub side connection port 31 has a modular jack connector 31A, and the communication cable C is connected to the hub side connection port 31 when the communication cable C is inserted into the modular jack connector 31A.

  Above each hub side connection port 31, a hub side link LED (an example of a “terminal side link lamp”) 32 provided corresponding to each hub side connection port 31 is provided. Each hub-side link LED 32 has a communication cable C inserted into the corresponding hub-side connection port 31 and the terminal-side connection port 21 of the laser processing apparatus 10 described later, and a communication line between the switching hub 30 and the laser processing apparatus 10 is established. When the communication cable C is pulled out from at least one of the hub side connection port 31 and the terminal side connection port 21 and the communication line is in an unestablished state, the light is turned off. The hub side link LED 32 is configured not only to display the state where the communication line is established, but also to add a function to display the data transmission / reception state so as to blink when traffic occurs. May be.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the laser processing apparatus 10 includes a laser light source 11, a galvano scanner 12 that scans laser light from the laser light source 11, and a controller 13. The controller 13 controls the laser light source 11 and the galvano scanner 12, changes the direction of the laser light emitted from the laser light source 11 by the galvano scanner 12, and irradiates the processing target (not shown) with the laser light.

  The controller 13 includes a CPU 14 that controls the laser light source 11 and the galvano scanner 12, a memory 15 that stores processing data, and a communication controller 20 that controls a communication line. The CPU 14 reads the processing data from the memory 15, controls the laser light source 11 and the galvano scanner 12 based on the read processing data, and processes the processing object with the laser light.

The communication controller 20 controls communication signals input and output between the switching hub 30 and the CPU 14, and as shown in FIG. 3, the terminal side connection port 21 and the terminal side link LED ("terminal side" An example of “indicator lamp” and “terminal-side link lamp” 22, and a communication control unit (an example of “control unit”) 23.
The terminal side connection port 21 has a modular jack connector 21A, and the communication cable C is connected to the terminal side connection port 21 when the communication cable C is inserted into the modular jack connector 21A.

  The communication control unit 23 controls network signals input / output via the terminal side connection port 21, and is modular in the modular jack connector 21 </ b> A of the terminal side connection port 21 and the hub side connection port 31 of the switching hub 30. When the communication cable C is inserted into the jack connector 31A and the switching hub 30 and the laser processing apparatus 10 are connected via the communication cable C, a communication line is established and the terminal-side link LED 22 is turned on. Further, when the communication cable C is pulled out from at least one of the hub side connection port 31 and the terminal side connection port 21 and the communication line is not established, the terminal side link LED 22 is turned off.

Now, the communication controller 20 has the trigger detection part 24, The communication control part 23 will perform control shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4, if the detection signal from the trigger detection part 24 is received.
In the state where the communication line between the switching hub 30 and the laser processing apparatus 10 is established, the trigger detection unit 24 pulls out the communication cable C at either the hub-side connection port 31 or the terminal-side connection port 21 to establish a communication line. When a so-called insertion / removal operation of the communication cable C in which the communication cable C is inserted and the communication line is established again is detected, a trigger operation detection signal is transmitted to the communication control unit 23 (S1).

When receiving the trigger detection signal transmitted from the trigger detection unit 24, the communication control unit 23 alternately repeats establishment and non-establishment of the communication line (S2). When the establishment and non-establishment of the communication line are alternately repeated, the terminal side link LED 22 and the hub side link LED 32 are alternately turned on and off, and a so-called blinking state is obtained.
Then, when a predetermined time elapses after receiving the trigger detection signal (S3), the communication control unit 23 cancels the operation of alternately establishing and not establishing the communication line, and the normal communication line is established. The state is automatically returned to the state (S4).

The present embodiment has the above-described configuration, and subsequently, the operation and effect of the present embodiment will be described.
When a LAN is configured by connecting a plurality of terminal devices such as a laser processing device and a programmable controller to the hub side connection port of the switching hub as in this embodiment, a plurality of communication cables are bundled together. Or housed under the floor or behind the ceiling and routed over a long distance. Therefore, when moving or removing a specific terminal device due to maintenance or updating of the terminal device, check which hub side connection port of the switching hub is connected to the specific terminal device. It is difficult.

  However, according to the laser processing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the communication line is established again from the established state through the non-established state at the hub side connection port 31 of the switching hub 30 or the terminal side connection port 21 of the laser processing apparatus 10. When the so-called communication cable C insertion / removal operation is performed, the trigger detection unit 24 in the communication controller 20 of the laser processing apparatus 10 detects the insertion / removal operation of the communication cable C as shown in the flowchart of FIG. Then, a trigger operation detection signal is transmitted to the communication control unit 23 (S1).

  When the communication control unit 23 receives the trigger operation detection signal transmitted from the trigger detection unit 24, the communication control unit 23 alternately repeats establishment and non-establishment of the communication line. Then, along with this, the terminal-side link LED 22 and the hub-side link LED 32 are alternately turned on and off, and are in a so-called blinking state (S2).

  That is, according to the LAN 100 to which the laser processing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment is connected, the hub side link LED 32 can be connected to the hub side link LED 32 only by inserting / removing the communication cable C at either the hub side connection port 31 or the terminal side connection port 21. The terminal-side link LED 22 changes from the lighting state to the blinking state. As a result, even when the laser processing apparatus 10 is connected to a general-purpose switching hub 30 that does not have such a function without using a dedicated network apparatus that has a function of receiving a port emission request as in the prior art. The laser processing apparatus 10 is connected to which hub side connection port 31 of the switching hub 30 or the laser processing apparatus 10 to which the hub side connection port 31 of the switching hub 30 is connected is easily confirmed. be able to.

  Also, for example, compared to a method in which the communication cable is connected to a dedicated port detector for confirming the connection port and the hub side connection port of the switching hub is confirmed, and then the communication cable is reconnected to the terminal device. The number of work steps can be reduced, and a dedicated port detector can be dispensed with.

By the way, a method for confirming the target laser processing apparatus by providing a confirmation lamp for confirming the port in the laser processing apparatus and blinking the confirmation lamp when the communication cable C is inserted / removed is also considered. It is done. However, according to the present embodiment, the target laser processing apparatus 10 can be confirmed by blinking the terminal-side link LED 22, and therefore the confirmation dedicated lamp and the control means for controlling the confirmation dedicated lamp are separately provided in the laser processing apparatus. Compared with the case where it provides, the structure of the laser processing apparatus 10 can be simplified.
Then, when a predetermined time elapses after the communication control unit 23 detects the insertion / removal operation of the communication cable C by the trigger detection unit 24 (S3), the operation of alternately repeating the establishment and non-establishment of the communication line is canceled. (S4). As a result, the communication line is automatically restored to the normal state established.

  That is, the operation of alternately repeating establishment and non-establishment of the communication line after the elapse of a predetermined time after the communication control unit 23 detects the insertion / removal operation of the communication cable C by the trigger detection unit 24 is canceled. Therefore, the number of work steps can be reduced compared to a case where a return means for manually returning the communication line is provided.

<Embodiment 2>
Next, Embodiment 2 will be described with reference to FIG.
In the second embodiment, the detection contents in the trigger detection unit 24 of the first embodiment and the configuration of the repetitive operation of establishment and non-establishment of the communication line in the communication control unit 23 are changed. Since the configuration, operation, and effect to be duplicated will be omitted from description. The same reference numerals are used for the same configurations as those in the first embodiment.

  In the second embodiment, by measuring the time when the communication cable C is inserted / removed in either the hub side connection port 31 or the terminal side connection port 21, that is, the time required for the trigger operation, the communication is performed according to the measured time. The mode of operation is repeatedly changed alternately between establishment and non-establishment of a line.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, when the trigger detection unit 24 detects that the communication cable C has been pulled out at either the hub-side connection port 31 or the terminal-side connection port 21, it pulls out to the communication control unit 23. A detection signal is transmitted (S21).
The communication control unit 23 according to the second embodiment includes a time measurement unit (not shown) therein, and when the extraction detection signal is received, the time measurement unit starts measuring time (S22).

When the trigger detection unit 24 detects that the communication cable C is inserted into the extracted connection port and a communication line is established, an insertion detection signal is transmitted to the communication control unit 23 (S23).
When the communication control unit 23 receives the insertion detection signal, the time measurement unit ends the time measurement. Further, the communication control unit 23 repeats the establishment and non-establishment of the communication line based on the time measured by the time measurement unit (S24). Here, in the mode of repeated operation of establishment and non-establishment of the communication line, the time for repeating the establishment and non-establishment of the communication line may be lengthened or shortened. And the non-establishment repetition interval may be changed.

  That is, according to the present embodiment, the time required to connect / disconnect the communication cable C at either the hub side connection port 31 or the terminal side connection port 21, that is, the time required for the connection / disconnection operation of the communication cable C, It measures in a time measurement part, According to the measured time, the mode of the repetition operation | movement of establishment and non-establishment of a communication line is made into various states. Therefore, the hub side link LED 32 and the terminal side link LED 22 are in various blinking states.

  That is, according to the present embodiment, for example, in the switching hub 30, the time required for the insertion / extraction operation of the first hub side connection port 31 is different from the time required for the insertion / extraction operation of the second hub side connection port 31. Then, the blinking pattern of the terminal side link LED 22 of the laser processing apparatus 10 connected to the first hub side connection port 31 and the terminal side link LED 22 of the laser processing apparatus 10 connected to the second hub side connection port 31 Therefore, the connection relationship between the hub-side connection port 31 and the laser processing apparatus 10 in the switching hub 30 can be collectively confirmed.

  Further, for example, when the switching hub 30 and the laser processing apparatus 10 are installed far apart and the worker performs work alone, the time for the repeated operation of establishing and not establishing the communication line is a predetermined time. If the process ends, the repetitive operation of establishing and not establishing a communication line may end before reaching the place where the other party is installed. However, according to the present embodiment, for example, when the time required for the insertion / removal operation of the hub side connection port 31 or the terminal side connection port 21 is increased, the repetition time for establishing and not establishing the communication line is also increased. Thus, it is possible to cope with an environment where the switching hub 30 and the laser processing apparatus 10 are installed far apart.

<Embodiment 3>
Next, Embodiment 3 will be described with reference to FIG.
The third embodiment is a configuration in which the communication control unit 23 of the first embodiment changes the configuration related to the cancellation of the operation of alternately repeating the establishment and non-establishment of the communication line. Since the effect is duplicated, its description is omitted. The same reference numerals are used for the same configurations as those in the first embodiment.

Upon receiving the trigger operation detection signal transmitted from the trigger detection unit 24, the communication control unit 23 in the third embodiment starts the operation by alternately repeating establishment and non-establishment of the communication line (S2). Here, in the present embodiment, the communication control unit 23 continues the repetitive operation of establishment and non-establishment of the communication line without stopping the repetitive operation of establishment and non-establishment of the communication line at a predetermined time.
Then, when the communication cable C is inserted / removed again at the hub side connection port 31 of the switching hub 30 or the terminal side connection port 21 of the laser processing apparatus 10, the trigger detection unit 24 detects the insertion / removal operation of the communication cable C and performs communication control. A trigger operation detection signal is transmitted to the unit 23 (S33).

When the communication control unit 23 receives the trigger operation detection signal transmitted from the trigger detection unit 24, the communication control unit 23 alternately cancels the establishment and non-establishment of the communication line, and establishes the communication line (S4). .
Therefore, according to this embodiment, when the insertion / removal operation of the communication cable C is performed, the hub side link LED 32 and the terminal side link LED 22 are in a blinking state, and when the communication cable C is removed / inserted again, the communication line is established. It returns to the state.

  That is, when the hub side link LED 32 and the terminal side link LED 22 are in a blinking state, the blinking state is continued until the communication cable C is inserted and removed again. For example, the switching hub 30 and the laser processing apparatus 10 Even in a remote environment, the other party can be confirmed with certainty. Further, since the communication line between the switching hub 30 and the laser processing apparatus 10 can be established by performing the operation of inserting / removing the communication cable C at the other party, for example, the switching hub 30 and the laser processing apparatus 10 are far apart. Even when one worker performs the work alone, after confirming the other party, the communication line can be quickly established, and the time during which the communication line is not established can be shortened.

<Other embodiments>
The technology disclosed in this specification is not limited to the embodiment described with reference to the above description and drawings, and for example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope.

(1) In the said embodiment, the laser processing apparatus 10 was shown as an example as a terminal device. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the technology disclosed in this specification may be applied to an input device such as a laser sensor or a programmable controller.
(2) In the said embodiment, it was set as the structure which blinks the terminal side link LED22 of the laser processing apparatus 10. FIG. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a terminal-dedicated lamp that is different from the terminal-side link LED 22 may be provided in the terminal device.

10: Laser processing device (terminal device)
22: Terminal side link LED (terminal side indicator lamp, terminal side link lamp)
23: Communication control unit (control unit, time measurement unit)
24: Trigger detection unit 30: Switching hub (network device)
31: Hub side connection port (connection port)
32: Hub side link LED (equipment side link lamp)
100: LAN
C: Communication cable (cable)
S1, S21: Trigger detection step S2, S25: Control step

Claims (6)

A network device having a plurality of device-side connection ports to which cables are connected and a plurality of device-side link lamps that are turned on when a communication line for each device-side connection port is established and turned off when not established, via the cable A terminal device to be connected,
The terminal side indicator light,
Corresponding to the device side connection port of the network device, a terminal side connection port to which the cable is connected;
A trigger detection unit that detects that the communication line has been reestablished through a non-established state from a state in which the communication line has been established with the operation of inserting / removing the cable to / from the device-side connection port ;
A terminal device comprising: a control unit that causes the terminal-side indicator lamp to blink when the trigger detection unit detects that the communication line has been reestablished through a non-established state. The terminal side indicator lamp is a terminal side link lamp that is turned on when a communication line is established and is turned off when the communication line is not established.
The control unit alternately establishes and unestablishes the communication line when the trigger detection unit detects that the communication line has been reestablished through a non-established state. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal-side link lamp and the device-side link lamp are blinked by repeating the above.   The control unit is configured to detect the terminal-side indicator lamp after a lapse of a predetermined time from when the trigger detection unit detects that the communication line has been reestablished through a non-established state. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is returned from a blinking state to a lighting state.   A time measuring unit that measures a time from when the communication line is established to when it is reestablished through a non-established state; and the control unit is configured to measure the time measured by the time measuring unit. The terminal device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the terminal-side indicator lamp flashes differently in response.   The control unit re-detects that the communication line has been reestablished from the established state through the non-established state by the trigger detecting unit while the terminal side indicator lamp is blinking. The terminal device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the terminal-side indicator lamp is returned from a blinking state to a lighting state based on the fact. Terminal-side connection port provided in the terminal device, in a network connected to the communication line through the cable to the device-side connection port of the network device is configured by establishing having a plurality of equipment-side connection port, a connection confirmation method wherein the plurality of device-side connecting the terminal device to any of the device-side connection port of the port to check whether it is connected,
A trigger detection step for detecting that the communication line has been reestablished through a non-established state from a state in which the communication line has been established with the insertion / extraction operation of the cable to the device side connection port ;
A control step of blinking a terminal-side indicator lamp provided in the terminal device when it is detected by the trigger detection step that the communication line has been reestablished through a non-established state. And a connection confirmation method.

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