JP6529099B2 - Abnormality detection method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a repeater communication system, a central management device, a repeater communication device, an anomaly detection method, and an anomaly detection program, and in particular, it can be constructed at low cost, and when a fault occurs, this can be detected early and quickly recovered. A repeater communication system etc.

  When constructing a network consisting of communication devices and a management device that collects the information in a facility related to communication, a LAN (Local Area Network) using TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) is used. It can also be realized using. However, when constructing such an environment in an old facility or when constructing such an environment in a vast facility, the construction cost will increase unreliably and a large cost will be wasted. Become.

  Also, when the communication device to be managed is a device with a limited function such as a fire alarm device or a crime alarm device, the content of the information to be communicated is relatively simple, and both the amount and frequency are so much Most of them are not things, and there is little possibility that their communication will expand in the future. In such a case, even if a LAN by TCP / IP is constructed, it is clearly over-spec, and unnecessary costs are wasted.

  Furthermore, most of the fire alarm devices and crime alarm devices of each room installed in multi-family dwellings and complex buildings etc. only sound when the phenomenon to be detected is detected, and were detected. A device for centrally managing information (for example, dealing with notification to a fire department or the police) is often not provided because of the cost required for its installation and management.

  Therefore, even if a fire or a crime is detected and the device rang, it is necessary for a person who noticed the sound to take measures such as notifying the fire department or the police. If there is no one who can handle the problem, the response will be delayed and the damage will increase. In addition, since these apparatuses are often not managed by the management apparatus, even if there is a failure due to aging or the like, they may be left unmaintained and may not exhibit their functions when necessary.

  From the above viewpoints, the inventors invented a communication system which can sufficiently operate even with existing low-priced electronic devices and communication lines (for example, telephone lines etc.) in the past, and the following Patent Documents 1 and 2 Disclosed as

  In the communication system described in Patent Document 1, each electronic device is provided with a function of calling a device on the management side called a central management unit. Also, when transmitting an alarm at the time of abnormality as calling data to the central management device, the port numbers of other electronic devices to be relayed along the way are sequentially stored and stored, and the central management device is reached The cumulative column of these port numbers is managed as the address of the corresponding electronic device.

  The communication system described in Patent Document 2 is configured by a repeater communication device including electronic devices that can communicate with another route different from a route normally used, and a central management terminal that manages these. The central management terminal sets the address of each repeater communication device by a series of port numbers on the route to them. When a failure occurs, the main port is rotated in one of the repeater communication devices in accordance with an instruction from the central management terminal, and the address is changed. This is intended to continue communication even after a failure occurs.

  Moreover, there exists patent document 3 as a technical literature relevant to this. Patent Document 3 describes a communication system in which a correspondence table of physical positions and addresses of load devices can be created without manual operation in a so-called home network. In this system, the physical position of each load device corresponds to the physical port of the load control signal relay device, and the test signal transmitted from each load device corresponds the physical position of the load device to the address. ing.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-026920 JP 2008-278424 A Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2003-348090

  The communication system described in Patent Document 1 is a low-cost communication system that performs centralized management and control of small-capacity data, and measures for cases where a failure occurs in a communication device or data communication path that configures the system. Is not mentioned. Also, in the bit configuration of the communication frame used there, it is determined whether the frame is in the aggregation direction from each device to the central management device or, conversely, the frame in the routing direction from the central management device to each device There is also a problem that it can not be determined.

  In the communication system described in Patent Document 2, the point is improved, and it is possible to cope with a case where a failure occurs. However, this is only possible in the case where a failure occurs in the repeater communication device itself, and it can not cope with a failure such as disconnection of a communication line. Also, in this system, when a failure occurs in a specific repeater communication device, a detour path is constructed to avoid the use of the repeater communication device. However, because the operation may leave a repeater communication device in which there are a plurality of routes leading to that, the management and control of the routes become complicated.

  Furthermore, in this system, one bit indicating whether it is the aggregation direction or the routing direction is added to the bit configuration of the communication frame, and each device determines which direction the frame is based on the value of this bit. I am able to do it. However, since some control frames include useless bit strings to arrange data format, complicated processing is required to extract necessary information from the communication frame in the processing on the receiving side. This point is also a problem in order to provide a low cost communication system.

  Then, in the communication systems described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, it is necessary to connect each repeater communication device so that the central management device side always has a port number “11”, but in particular, a large number of repeater communication devices are connected. In this case, the connection work is complicated and connection errors are likely to occur. That is, it takes a lot of labor and cost when constructing the system.

  Incidentally, since the communication system described in Patent Document 3 is premised on TCP / IP, it is not suitable from the beginning when constructing a low-cost communication system for centrally managing and controlling small-capacity data. .

  It is an object of the present invention to enable a repeater communication system, a centralized management apparatus, and repeater communication that can be detected early and quickly recovered when a failure occurs in the information transmission path, and can be constructed at low cost. An apparatus, an abnormality detection method, and an abnormality detection program are provided.

  In order to achieve the above object, a repeater communication system according to the present invention includes a repeater in which a plurality of repeater communication devices and a central management device for transmitting and receiving information to and from each repeater communication device are connected. A communication system, wherein each repeater communication device is a physical connection terminal with another device, and has a plurality of transmission / reception physical ports each having a different physical port number, and a physical port number for the transmission / reception physical port The present invention is characterized by having a port conversion control unit that performs communication with another device according to the corresponding logical port number by correlating different logical port numbers corresponding to each other on a one-to-one basis.

  In order to achieve the above object, a repeater communication device according to the present invention is a repeater communication device connected to a central management device and another device to transmit and receive information, and is physically connected to the other device. A plurality of transmit / receive physical ports which are terminals each having different physical port numbers, and different transmit / receive physical ports correspond to different logical port numbers corresponding to the physical port numbers, respectively, And a port conversion control unit that communicates with the apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, a centralized management device according to the present invention is a centralized management device connected to a plurality of repeater communication devices to transmit and receive information, and inquires of all repeater communication devices for addresses. Together with storing the address information returned from each repeater communication device as an address table, periodically sending out the control frame and comparing the reply to this with the recorded contents of the address table, An address management unit that detects whether or not a failure occurs in each repeater communication device, and an abnormal state that records the failure in an abnormality detection log and issues an alarm when a failure occurs in each repeater communication device And a corresponding portion.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the abnormality detection method of the present invention, a plurality of repeaters having a plurality of transmission / reception physical ports which are physical connection terminals with another device and have different physical port numbers respectively A method for detecting an abnormality in a repeater communication system configured by connecting a communication apparatus and a central management apparatus that transmits and receives information to and from each repeater communication apparatus, wherein the address management unit of the central management apparatus is all Sending out a control frame for inquiring the address to the repeater communication device of the above, and the transfer processing control unit of each repeater communication device that has received the control frame receives the control frame via the transmission / reception physical port; The port conversion control of the central management device is performed so that the logical port number indicating that it is the central management device corresponds to the transmission / reception physical port that received the control frame. The transfer processing control unit of the repeater communication device adds a logical port number to the other device to the control frame, and transfers the control frame to the other repeater communication device. Address information in which the logical port numbers of the other repeater communication devices are concatenated is returned to the central management device, and the address management unit of the central management device stores the address information returned from each repeater communication device as an address table. That is.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the abnormality detection program according to the present invention, a repeater is configured by connecting a plurality of repeater communication devices and a central management device that transmits and receives information to and from each repeater communication device. In the communication system, a procedure for sending out a control frame for inquiring the address to all repeater communication devices to a processor provided in the central management device, storing the address information returned from each repeater communication device as an address table And sending out a control frame periodically to compare the response to this with the recorded contents of the address table, thereby performing a procedure for detecting whether or not a failure occurs in each repeater communication device. , Is characterized.

  In the present invention, as described above, the repeater communication device is configured to make the transmitting / receiving physical port correspond to the logical port number, so that connection can be performed without being tied to the physical port number, and also when a problem occurs It becomes possible to cope. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a repeater communication system, a centralized management device, a repeater communication device, an abnormality detection method, and an abnormality detection program that can achieve the above-described object.

It is explanatory drawing shown about the basic composition of this invention. It is explanatory drawing shown about the basic concept of the repeater communication system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which simplifies and shows planarly the repeater communication system shown in FIG. 2 more. It is explanatory drawing shown about the more detailed structure of the repeater communication apparatus shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing shown about the more detailed structure of the central control apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing frame transfer in the aggregation direction in the repeater communication system shown in FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing frame forwarding in the routing direction in the repeater communication system shown in FIG. 3; It is explanatory drawing which shows a more detailed structure about the repeater communication apparatus shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows a more detailed structure about the central control apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing an operation when the repeater communication system shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 is constructed for the first time. It is a flowchart shown about operation | movement of the repeater communication system of the state constructed | assembled for the first time shown in FIG. FIG. 12 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the operation shown in FIG. 11 is performed and the correspondence of port numbers is completed in the repeater communication system shown in FIG. 10; It is a flowchart shown about operation | movement of each apparatus in operation of the repeater communication system shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state which a failure generate | occur | produced during operation | use of the repeater communication system shown in FIG. FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing a format example of a communication frame exchanged between the devices in the repeater communication system shown in FIG. 10; FIG. 12 is an explanatory view showing address information assigned to each repeater communication device as a result of performing the operation shown in FIG. 11 in the repeater communication system shown in FIG. 10; FIG. 12 is an explanatory view showing recorded contents of an address table stored by the address management unit of the centralized management device in the operation shown in step S106 of FIG. 11; It is an explanatory view shown about the composition of the repeater communication system concerning extension of this embodiment. FIG. 19 is an explanatory view showing a more detailed configuration of the central control device shown in FIG. 18; FIG. 19 is an explanatory view showing a state before and after enabling a spare path in the repeater communication system shown in FIG. 18;

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described according to the attached FIGS. 1 to 9.
(Basic content)
First, the basic contents of the present invention will be described.
In FIG. 1, the repeater communication system 100 performs centralized management of transmitting and receiving information between a plurality of repeater communication devices 20a, 20b, 20c,... (Collectively referred to as repeater communication devices 20) and each repeater communication device. The apparatus 10 is connected and configured. Here, each repeater communication device 20 is a physical connection terminal between the central management device and another device, and has a plurality of transmission / reception physical ports 21a to 21d each having a different physical port number, and a transmission / reception physical port. The physical port numbers correspond to different logical port numbers in a one-to-one correspondence, and a port conversion control unit 31i performs communication with another device according to the logical port numbers.
That is, since this repeater communication system 100 is configured to make the repeater communication device 20 correspond the logical port number to the transmission / reception physical port, connection can be made without being tied to the physical port number, and the information transmission path Since this is detected early when a failure occurs in the system, the whole system can be constructed at low cost, and the operator (administrator) can quickly recover the failure.
A more detailed configuration of each of these means will be described as the next embodiment.

(Specific content)
In the present embodiment, as described above, the repeater communication system 100 is configured by connecting the plurality of repeater communication devices 20 and the central management device 10 that transmits and receives information to and from each repeater communication device. There is. Each repeater communication device 20 is a physical connection terminal between the central management device and another device, and has a plurality of transmission / reception physical ports 31a to 31d each having a different physical port number, and a physical port number for the transmission / reception physical port And a port conversion control unit 31i that performs communication with another device according to the corresponding logical port number.

  Further, the central control device 10 has an address management unit 13a that sends out a control frame for inquiring the address to all repeater communication devices, and the repeater communication device 20 receives the control frame via the transmission / reception physical port. In this case, the port conversion control unit is instructed to associate the transmission / reception physical port that received the control frame with the logical port number indicating that it is on the centralized management device side, and the control frame also sends the logical port to the other device A transfer processing control unit 22 is provided which adds a number and transfers it to another repeater communication device, and this transfer processing control unit concatenates the address information obtained by connecting the logical port numbers of the other repeater communication devices through which the control frame passes. It has a function to return to the central control device.

  Furthermore, the address management unit 13a of the central management device 20 stores the address information returned from each repeater communication device as the address table 14a, and periodically sends out a control frame to record a reply to the address frame. It has a function of detecting whether or not a failure has occurred in each repeater communication device in comparison with the contents. The centralized management device 20 has an abnormal condition handling unit 13b that records a defect in the abnormality detection log 14b and issues an alarm when a defect occurs in each repeater communication device.

As a result, as described above, this repeater communication system 100 can be constructed at low cost, and if a failure occurs, this can be detected early and quickly recovered.
This will be described in more detail below.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a basic configuration of the repeater communication system 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The repeater communication system 100 includes a plurality of repeater communication devices 20a, 20b, 20c... (These are communication devices having a repeater function for detecting and relaying alarm information and device control information in a wired or wireless network). Since they all have a common configuration, they are generically referred to as repeater communication device 20) and central management device 10 for transmitting and receiving information to and from these repeater communication devices 20 are mutually connected.

  In the example shown in FIG. 2, repeater communication system 100 is divided into partial networks 100a and 1b, repeater communication devices 20a, 20b and 20c belong to partial network 100a, and repeater communication devices 20d and 20e exist in partial network 100b. , 20f belongs. The central management device 10 is directly connected to the repeater communication device 20a, and the repeater communication devices 20a, 20b and 20c are mutually connected in the partial network 100a.

  The repeater communication device 20b is connected to the repeater communication device 20d of the partial network 100b by the line 2a, and the repeater communication devices 20d, 20f and 20f are mutually connected in the partial network 100b. With this configuration, the central management device 10 communicates with all the repeater communication devices 20a to 20f.

  Here, for example, when the central management device 10 sends some information to the repeater communication device 20f of the partial network 100b, the output packet sent by the central management device 10 is until the packet reaches the repeater communication device 20f. And path information indicating the communication path to be routed.

  The route information referred to here is managed by the central management device 10, and is configured by concatenating a repeater communication device to which the communication packet should pass and an output port number in the communication device. Each repeater communication device determines to which port the received communication packet should be output next in accordance with the path information. Details of this will be described later.

  The communication packet sent from the central management device 10 to the repeater communication device 20 f reaches the repeater communication device 20 f via the repeater communication device 20 a → the repeater communication device 20 b → the line 2 a → the repeater communication device 20 d in order. Conversely, the communication packet sent to transmit information from the repeater communication device 20e belonging to the partial network 100b to the central management device 10 is in the following order: repeater communication device 20d → line 2a → repeater communication device 20b → repeater communication device 20a The central management device 10 is reached via

  Here, a case where a failure such as disconnection occurs in the line 2a and communication becomes impossible will be considered. When this failure occurs, the partial networks 100a and 100b are separated, and the central management device 10 and the repeater communication devices 20d to 20f can not communicate with each other. However, if another line 2b can be established between the repeater communication device 20c of the partial network 100a and the repeater communication device 20d of the partial network 100b, the central management device 10 and the repeater communication devices 20d to 20f mutually reciprocate. It becomes possible to communicate.

  An object of the present invention is to easily realize such reconstruction of the information transfer path. Not only in the case where a failure such as disconnection occurs in the line 2a, but also in the case where the repeater communication device 20b or 20d breaks down and communication becomes impossible, reconstruction of the information transfer path can be realized similarly. The specific configuration and operation for that will be described from the next stage.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing the repeater communication system 100 shown in FIG. 2 in a more simplified and planar view. In FIG. 3, a central management device 10 and six repeater communication devices 20a to 20f are shown. Further, one of them, the repeater communication device 20a, is enlarged and shown. FIG. 3 simply and conceptually shows an example of the network configuration of the repeater communication system 100, so it does not correspond to the configuration described in FIG.

  That is, the central management device 10 is connected to the repeater communication device 20a, and the repeater communication device 20a is connected to the repeater communication devices 20b and 20c. Further, repeater communication devices 20a and 20d, 20b and 20e, and 20c and 20f are mutually connected, and an information transmission path exists. This connection may be wireless or wired, and any protocol may be used.

  However, when viewed from the central management device 10, there is basically only one type of route to each repeater communication device. That is, for example, loop paths such as repeater communication devices 20d to 20e and 20d to 20f do not exist.

  In each repeater communication device 20, there are two directions of information transmission. A direction in which a control frame or the like transmitted from the central management device 10 is transmitted to each repeater communication device 20 is referred to as a routing direction, and is indicated by a broken arrow or a white block arrow in FIG. Conversely, the direction in which frames transmitted from each repeater communication device 20 (alarm frame or response frame to control frame) are transmitted to the central management device 10 is referred to as aggregation direction, and in FIG. 3, solid arrows or black block arrows It shows.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a more detailed configuration of the repeater communication device 20 shown in FIG. The repeater communication device 20 includes four sets of input / output ports 21a to 21d. The input / output port 21a has a port number "00", the input / output port 21b has a port number "01", the input / output port 21c has a port number "10", and the input / output port 21d has a port number "11". The repeater communication device 20 also includes a transfer processing control unit 22 that controls data transfer processing by the input / output ports 21a to 21d, and a port conversion control unit 31i described later.

  The port number “11” represents communication frame output in the “aggregate direction”. That is, if the communication frames input from the input / output ports 21a to 21c are in the "aggregate direction", the transfer processing control unit 22 always outputs this to the input / output port 21d having the port number "11". Conversely, the communication processing frame in the “routing direction” input from the input / output port 21 d is either one of the input / output ports 21 a to 21 c or the transfer processing control unit 22 according to the route information included in the communication frame Output for all of them.

  That is, the input / output port 21d having the port number "11" has a role as a main port for information on the direction of concentration on the side of the centralized management device 10 and the direction of routing from the side of the centralized management device 10.

  For the communication frames in the aggregation direction, the transfer processing control unit 22 adds one of the port numbers “00”, “01”, and “10” at which the communication frame is received to the path information of the packet and updates the communication frame. , Port number "11" to the output side. Conversely, for communication frames in the routing direction, it is determined from the path information to which port among the port numbers “00”, “01”, and “10”, and the port number is determined from the path information. Delete and output to the port.

  The repeater communication apparatus 20 is naturally also provided with means for detecting a phenomenon to be detected such as a fire or a crime, but since this is known, in FIG. Not shown. The same applies to the subsequent figures.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a more detailed configuration of the central control device 10 shown in FIG. The central control device 10 includes four sets of input / output ports 11 a to 11 d as the repeater communication device 20. The input / output port 11a has a port number "00", the input / output port 11b has a port number "01", the input / output port 11c has a port number "10", and the input / output port 11d has a port number "11".

  The centralized management device 10 also has a transfer processing control unit 12 that controls data transfer processing in the same operation as the transfer processing control unit 22 of each repeater communication device 20, and additionally, a centralized management unit 13 and a management data storage unit 14. Equipped with The centralized management unit 13 includes an address management unit 13a and an abnormal condition handling unit 13b. The management data storage unit 14 stores an address table 14a and an abnormality detection log 14b.

  The address management unit 13a periodically sends out a control frame for returning address information to each repeater communication device 20, and the address information returned from each repeater communication device 20 in response to this is sent to the address table 14a. Manage and update information. Further, when the address information is not returned from all the repeater communication devices 20 recorded in the address table 14a, this state is detected, and "abnormality occurrence" is notified to the abnormal state handling unit 13b.

  The abnormal state handling unit 13 b records and stores this information as the abnormality detection log 14 b when notified of “occurrence of abnormality” from the address management unit 13 a. In addition, it has a function to issue an alert and notify the administrator when an abnormality occurs. The administrator who has received it checks the abnormality detection log 14b via the management terminal or the like, and then a control frame on which a port conversion instruction described later is loaded is transmitted from the abnormality condition handling unit 13b to each repeater communication device 20. It sends it out (to be described in detail later).

  Although the central management apparatus 10 is naturally also provided with input / output means for presenting information such as the abnormality detection log 14b to the administrator and receiving an operation from the administrator, this is also known. This is not illustrated in FIG. The same applies to the subsequent figures.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing frame transfer in the aggregation direction in the repeater communication system 100 shown in FIG. Here, the case of performing data transfer from the repeater communication device 20g to the central management device 10 will be considered. The communication frame sent from the port number "11" of the repeater communication device 20g is input from the port number "00" of the repeater communication device 20e, and is output from the port number "11" to the repeater communication device 20d. In each of the drawings after FIG. 6, the input / output port of the port number “11” may be displayed in black for visibility.

  The repeater communication device 20d receives this by the port number "10", and outputs the port number "11" to the repeater communication device 20a. Then, the repeater communication device 20a receives this by the port number "01", and outputs the port number "11" to the central management device 10.

  In such a route from the central management device 10 to a specific repeater communication device, the connection of repeater communication devices that have passed is the address information as viewed from the central management device 10, and this is the address management unit 13a. It manages as an address table 14a. In the case of this example, the address information of the repeater communication device 20g is "011000", the address information of the repeater communication device 20e is "0110", and the address information of the repeater communication device 20d is "01". Incidentally, since the repeater communication device 20a is directly connected to the central management device 10, no address information is necessary, and therefore there is no address information of the repeater communication device 20a.

  This process of the centralized management device 10 collecting the addresses of the repeater communication devices is periodically performed by the address management unit 13a in a predetermined cycle, such as "every hour", for example. It can also be performed according to the operation of the administrator. In response to this, the address management unit 13a updates the address table 14a. The operation at that time will be described later.

  FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing frame transfer in the routing direction in the repeater communication system 100 shown in FIG. Here, a case is considered where data transfer is performed from the central management device 10 to the repeater communication device 20g. In this case, the address "011000" of the repeater communication device 20g is recorded in the address table 14a by the operation shown in FIG.

  The address management unit 13a sends a communication frame to the address information "011000" based on the recording. This communication frame is input from the port number "11" of the repeater communication device 20a. The repeater communication device 20a determines that the output port number is "01" from the first two bits "01" of the address information, and outputs the communication frame to the port number "01". At that time, the address information included in the communication frame is output as "1000" updated by deleting the first two bits.

  This communication frame is received by the repeater communication device 20d at the port number "11", and similarly it is determined from the first two bits "10" of the address information that the output port number is "10", and this port number " The communication frame is output to 10 ". At that time, the address information included in the communication frame is output as "00" updated by deleting the first two bits.

  The repeater communication device 20e receives this communication frame with the port number "11", and similarly determines that the output port number is "10" from the first 2 bits "00" of the address information, and this port number " The communication frame is output to “00”. At that time, the address information included in the communication frame is updated by deleting the first two bits, and the address information "absent" is output.

  The repeater communication device 20g having received this receives the communication frame with the address information "none", so that it can determine that it is the destination of the communication frame and perform processing corresponding thereto.

  FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a more detailed configuration of repeater communication device 20 shown in FIG. The repeater communication device 20 is roughly divided into three blocks of a transmission / reception termination unit 31, an aggregation direction processing unit 32, and a routing direction processing unit 33.

  The transmission / reception termination unit 31 includes transmission / reception physical ports 31a to 31d which are any one of the input / output ports 21a to 21d, logical ports 31e to 31h, and a port conversion control unit 31i. The transmission / reception physical ports 31 a to 31 d are transmission / reception physical ports of port numbers “00”, “01”, “10”, and “11”, respectively. The logical ports 31 e to 31 h are logical ports with port numbers “00”, “01”, “10”, and “11”, respectively.

  Then, the port conversion control unit 31i associates the transmission / reception physical ports 31a to 31d with the logical ports 31e to 31h in a one-to-one correspondence. Normally, that is, particularly when no failure occurs, the port numbers of the transmission / reception physical port and the logical port match. That is, the transmission / reception physical port 31a corresponds to the logical port 31e, the transmission / reception physical port 31b to the logical port 31f, the transmission / reception physical port 31c to the logical port 31g, and the transmission / reception physical port 31d to the logical port 31h. The transfer processing control unit 22 in FIG. 4 is the aggregation direction processing unit 32 and the routing direction processing unit 33. In FIG. 4, the logical ports 31 e to 31 h are not illustrated because of space.

  Communication frames received from another repeater communication device in the aggregation direction, that is, the transmission / reception physical ports 31a to 31c, are temporarily stored in the frame buffer 32a provided in the aggregation direction processing unit 32, usually through the logical ports 31e to 31g. Be done. Also, communication frames received from another repeater communication device in the routing direction, ie, the transmission / reception physical port 31d, are temporarily stored in the frame buffer 33a provided in the routing direction processing unit 32, usually via the logical port 31h. .

  Here, in the case of an abnormal state, that is, disconnection of any one of the repeater communication systems 100 or failure of any repeater communication apparatus, the central management apparatus 10 detects this and gives an alarm. And a control frame carrying a port conversion instruction to each repeater communication device 20 according to the operation of the administrator who has received it. The transfer processing control unit 22 of the repeater communication device 20 that receives this control frame controls the port conversion control unit 31i according to this command, and the correspondence between the transmission / reception physical ports 31a to 31d and the logical ports 31e to 31h. Change

  For example, the port conversion control unit 31i selects the transmission / reception physical port 31a having the port number "00" as the logical port 31g having the port number "10" and the transmission / reception physical port 31c having the port number "10" instead as the port number "00". Can correspond to each of the logical ports 31e. Also, the transmission / reception physical port 31b of the port number "11" can be made to correspond to the logical port 31h of the port number "11", and the transmission / reception physical port 31d of the port number "11" can not be used.

  That is, by providing this configuration, “frames in the aggregation direction are input from any of port numbers“ 00 ”,“ 01 ”, and“ 10 ”and output from“ 11 ”, and“ frames from the routing direction are port numbers “11”. The operation can be performed without being restricted by physical restrictions such as “output to any or all of“ 00 ”,“ 01 ”,“ 10 ”.

  However, when the correspondence relationship between the transmission / reception physical port and the logical port is changed, the addresses of the repeater communication devices 20 are all changed at the same time. As described above, the address information for all the devices is collected at the same time, and the address information of each device is recorded in the address table 14a.

  Returning to the description of the operation in the normal state, the aggregation direction processing unit 32 includes a frame buffer 32a for temporarily storing communication frames (of any of port numbers "00", "01", and "10") in the aggregation direction, and a frame buffer. An output selection switch 32b selects an output from 32a, a frame end unit 32c interprets the contents of the communication frame output from the frame buffer 32a, and a frame generation unit 32d generates a new communication frame according to the interpreted contents. And consists of

  At this time, the frame generation unit 32d simultaneously receives the transfer destination port number from the frame buffer 32a, updates the address information to generate a new communication frame, and generates a new communication frame. This is the logic of the port number "11" of the transmission / reception termination unit 31. The communication frame is output to the port 31h, that is, the transmission / reception physical port 31d (in the normal state) associated with the port 31h, that is, the port conversion control unit 31i, and the communication frame is transmitted to another repeater communication device 20 or the central management device Send to 10

  Similarly to the aggregation direction processing unit 32, the routing direction processing unit 33 also includes a frame buffer 33a for temporarily storing a communication frame (of port number "11") in the routing direction, and the contents of the communication frame output from the frame buffer 33a. A frame termination unit 33 b to interpret, a frame generation unit 33 c that generates a new communication frame according to the interpreted content, and the generated communication frames for port numbers “00”, “01”, and “10” (ie, logical ports 31e to 31g) and an output selection switch 33d for selecting which to output or all of them.

  At this time, the frame generation unit 33c and the output selection switch 33d update the address information of the transfer destination port number extracted by the frame termination unit 33b to generate a new communication frame, and switch the output destination port. It is used for both things. The new communication frames output to the logical ports 31e to 31g are output to the transmission / reception physical ports 31a to 31c (in the normal state) associated with them by the port conversion control unit 31i, and the communication is performed via the ports The frame is transmitted to another repeater communication device 20.

  Further, when the frame end units 32c and 33b interpret that the received communication frame is a control frame, it controls the operation of the port conversion control unit 31i according to the contents.

  FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing a more detailed configuration of the central control device 10 shown in FIG. The transfer processing control unit 12 has the same configuration as the repeater communication device 20 except that the central management unit 13 and the management data storage unit 14 are connected in addition to the transfer processing control unit 22 of the repeater communication device 20. Because the same operation is performed, the inside will be referred to by the same name and reference number as FIG. 8 and the detailed description will be omitted.

  As described with reference to FIG. 5, the centralized management unit 13 includes the address management unit 13a and the abnormal condition handling unit 13b, and the management data storage unit 14 includes the address table 14a. And the abnormality detection log 14b. The central management unit 13 may be configured as hardware as an electronic circuit, or may be configured as software as a processor that executes a computer program. The management data storage unit 14 can be configured by a general storage element. The details of the operation will be described later.

  FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing an operation when the repeater communication system 100 shown in FIGS. 2 to 3 is constructed for the first time. Here, an example is shown in which the central management device 10 and twelve repeater communication devices 20a to 20l are connected and initialized. The arrangement of the repeater communication devices 20 and the wiring between them do not need to be particularly concerned at the initial setting stage. Therefore, FIG. 10 shows an example of arrangement and connection different from those in FIGS.

  In this connection, there is only one path from the central management device 10 to each repeater communication device 20, and it is only necessary to connect so that a loop path having a plurality of paths can not be made. As long as the conditions are met, there is no need to worry about the port number. In the existing technologies described in the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 and 2, it is necessary to connect so that the port number "11" is always on the side of the central management device, but this is not necessary in this embodiment.

  FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the operation of repeater communication system 100 in the state of construction for the first time shown in FIG. When connection is possible and power is supplied to the central management device 10 and each repeater communication device 20a to 20l, first, the address management unit 13a of the central management device 10 makes a control frame for querying all repeater communication devices 20 for addresses. It sends (FIG. 11: step S101).

  The transfer processing control unit 22 of the repeater communication device 20a that first receives this control frame first determines whether this control frame requires conversion between its own physical port and logical port ((1) Fig. 11: Step S102). Here, since the control frame is received via the physical port "11", conversion between the physical port and the logical port is not particularly necessary, so all the other three ports "00" "01" "10" are all The same control frame is sent out in response to (FIG. 11: step S103). Here, when transferring this control frame to another device, the logical port number connected to each device is added to the address information and then transferred (details will be described later).

  Then, the repeater communication device 20a sends back its own address information to the central management device 10 (FIG. 11: step S105), but here the repeater communication device 20a is directly connected to the central management device 10. , Address information is blank. Alternatively, in this case, the process of returning the address information can be omitted.

  Next, the transfer processing control unit 22 of the repeater communication device 20b that has received the control frame also determines whether the control frame requires conversion between its own physical port and logical port (FIG. 11: Step S102). Here, since the control frame is received via the physical port "10", it is determined that conversion between the physical port and the logical port is necessary, and the port conversion control unit 31i of the transmission / reception termination unit 31 The port "10" is set to the logical port "11" (FIG. 11: step S104). The other three physical ports are also set as logical ports "00" "01" "10" at the same time.

  Thereafter, the same control frame in which the logical port number communicating with each device is added to the address information is sent to all the other three ports "00", "01" and "10" (FIG. 11: step S103). Further, its own address information is returned as a response frame to the central management device 10 (FIG. 11: step S105). The address information mentioned here is a concatenation of port numbers through which the control frame has passed before the control frame reaches itself.

  Thereafter, the processing in steps S102 to S105 is repeated in all the repeater communication devices 20. Finally, the address management unit 13a of the central management device 10 stores the address information received from each repeater communication device 20 as the address table 14a (FIG. 11: step S106).

  This operation is performed when constructing the repeater communication system 100 for the first time, and the logical port set in step S104 by each repeater communication device 20 is also used in the subsequent operation of the device concerned (address information is reconstructed It is effective continuously). For example, the physical port set as the logical port number "11" continues to behave as the port number "11" thereafter. The same applies to other port numbers.

  FIG. 12 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the operation shown in FIG. 11 is performed in the repeater communication system 100 shown in FIG. 10 and correspondence of port numbers is completed. In the example shown here, three repeater communication devices 20b, 20e and 20i (device group 41) and four repeater communication devices 20c, 20d, 20h and 20l (device group 42) are physical ports and logical ports. A device in which conversion between

  The address information returned by each repeater communication device 20 at step S105 in FIG. 11 is the connection of the port numbers through which each device passes before the communication packet reaches the device, as described in FIGS. It is. For example, the address information of the repeater communication device 20l is "10000110". The central management device 10 can exchange communication packets with the repeater communication device 20 using this information.

  FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing the operation of each device in operation of repeater communication system 100 shown in FIG. The address management unit 13a of the central control device 10 sends out a control frame for inquiring the same address as in step S101 to all the repeater communication devices 20 when a preset time interval has elapsed (FIG. 13: step S201). (FIG. 13: step S202).

  In response to this, the transfer processing control unit 22 of each repeater communication device 20 transmits the same control frame to another port as in step S103 (FIG. 13: step S203), and similarly to step S105. The own address information is returned to the central management device 10 (FIG. 13: step S204).

  In the centralized management device 10, the address management unit 13a compares the address information received from each repeater communication device 20 with the records in the address table 14a, and returns all the address information from all the repeater communication devices 20 recorded there. It is determined whether or not there is (FIG. 13: step S205). If there is a reply from all the repeater communication devices 20, the operation ends there, and if the abnormal state handling unit 13b records that in the abnormality detection log 14b, an alert is issued to the administrator (FIG. 13: step S206) )finish.

  FIG. 14 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a failure occurs during operation of the repeater communication system 100 shown in FIG. Here, since it was detected that there was no reply from the repeater communication device 201, a warning was issued to the administrator. However, at this stage, it is not specified whether the repeater communication device 201 itself has failed or the line between the repeater communication devices 20k and 20l has failed.

  Therefore, the administrator connects the repeater communication devices 20h (ports 00) and 20l (port 10) with a new line by using an empty port, and the repeater communication system 100 described in FIGS. Similar to the operation in the construction state, the address information of all the repeater communication devices 20 is collected (update of the address table 14a). In this case, if there is a reply from the repeater communication device 201, it can be determined that there is a line failure, and if not, it is determined that the repeater communication device 201 has a failure.

  If there is a line failure, the repeater communication system 100 can continue to operate as it is with the updated address table 14a. If there is a failure in the repeater communication device 201, the communication device may be exchanged and the operation of the repeater communication system 100 may be resumed after collecting address information (updating the address table 14a) again. FIG. 14 shows an example in which the repeater communication device 201 itself has failed.

  FIG. 14 also shows an example in which a failure occurs in the line between the repeater communication devices 20f and 20j. Also in this case, it was detected that there was no reply from the repeater communication devices 20i and 20j, so an alert was issued to the administrator. However, at this stage, it is not specified whether the repeater communication device itself has failed or whether the line of the repeater communication device has failed.

  Therefore, the administrator connects the repeater communication devices 20i (ports 00) and 20e (port 10) with new lines using empty ports, and for the first time the repeater communication system 100 described in FIGS. Similar to the operation in the construction state, the address information of all the repeater communication devices 20 is collected (update of the address table 14a). With this, if there is a reply from the repeater communication devices 20i and 20j, it can be determined that there is a failure in the line, and if there is no response from the repeater communication device itself.

  Here, since it was a failure of the line, first, there was a reply from the repeater communication device 20i. At this time, the conversion between the physical port and the logical port described in step S104 of FIG. 11 is performed, and the physical port "00" of the repeater communication device 20i is converted to the logical port "11". By this conversion, first, communication between the central management device 10 and the repeater communication device 20i is restored, and address information of the repeater communication device 20i is also collected and recorded in the address table 14a.

  Then, when the control frame shown in step S103 of FIG. 11 is sent from the repeater communication device 20i, the physical port "00" of the repeater communication device 20j is converted into the logical port "11" this time. Address information is also collected and recorded in the address table 14a. This restores communication with all devices. All the address information of the respective devices changed in accordance with the change of the line connection relationship are also collected and recorded in the address table 14a.

  FIG. 15 is an explanatory view showing a format example of communication frames 101 to 104 exchanged between the devices in the repeater communication system 100 shown in FIG. The communication frame 101 is a control frame (address request frame) issued from the central management device 10 to all the repeater communication devices 20.

  This communication frame 101 is composed of 8 bits from the beginning, and is composed of a frame start identifier 101a having a value of “0x7e” and 2 bits, and makes an address request to all the repeaters by broadcast sent from the centralized management device A frame type identifier 101b having a value of "0x3" indicating that it is a control frame, and 3 bits, and "0x3" indicating that the number of mounted ports per repeater forming the network is four. Port number information 101c having a value (this field is 3 bits, so up to 8 ports can be supported), a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value 101d, and 8 bits, and "0x7e" which is the same as the frame head identifier 101a And a frame end identifier 101e having a value.

  The communication frame 102 is an address response frame that each repeater communication device 20 that has received the communication frame 101 (address request frame) from the top sends back to the central management device 10. Like the communication frame 101 (address request frame), this communication frame 102 is composed of a frame start identifier 102a having a value of "0x7e" and 2 bits, and has a value of "0x1" indicating that it is a response to the address request. The number of ports with a value of “0x3” which is composed of a frame type identifier 102 b having 3 and 3 bits and which indicates that the number of mounted ports per repeater is 4 similarly to the communication frame 101 (address request frame) First, it has information 102c.

  The port number information 102c is followed by repeater number information 102d indicating the number of repeater communication devices through which each communication frame has passed. The repeater number information 102 d is configured by 10 bits in the present embodiment, so a repeater communication system can be configured with a maximum of 1024 repeater communication devices 20.

  The repeater number information 102d is followed by address information 102e in which the port numbers of the repeater communication devices on the path through which the communication frame 102 has passed are concatenated. Since the number of digits of the port number assigned by one repeater communication device changes according to the value of the port number information 102c, the division of the address information 102e also changes, and the number of digits of the address information 102e also changes according to the value of the repeater number information 102d. change.

  In the example shown in FIG. 15, since the port number information 102c = “0x3”, that is, four ports, two bits each serve as a delimiter of the address information 102e. Further, the repeater number information 102 d = "0000000100", that is, four. Address information 102e = “10001 10”, that is, a response from the fifth repeater communication device after tracing “10” → “00” → “01” → “10” as viewed from the centralized management device 10 side It is shown.

  The device identifier 102f following the address information 102e is a unique-length identifier indicating a device number or the like unique to each repeater communication device, and this identifier is previously held by the repeater communication device. The address management unit 13a of the central management device 10 records and manages this value in the address table 14a. The device identifier 102f is followed by a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value 102g and a frame tail identifier 102h similar to the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value 101d and frame tail identifier 101e of the communication frame 101, such that the communication frame 102 is the end.

  The communication frame 103 is a control frame that the central management device 10 issues to a specific repeater communication device 20. The communication frame 103 has, from the top, a frame start identifier 101a of the communication frame 101, a frame type identifier 101b (the value is “0x2” indicating that the control frame is transferred in the routing direction), and the same start identifier as the port number information 101c. First, it has 103a, a frame type identifier 103b, and port number information 103c. The port number information 103c is followed by repeater number information 102d of the communication frame 102 and repeater number information 103d and address information 103e similar to the address information 102e.

  The address information 103e is the address of the target repeater communication device 20, which is included in the communication frame 102 (address response frame) returned by the repeater communication device 20 in response to the communication frame 101 (address request frame). The address information 102e is stored in the address table 14a of the central control device 10.

  The device identifier 103 f following the address information 103 e is the same as the device identifier 102 f of the communication frame 102. After that, a control command 103g which is fixed-length data representing a command issued by the central management device 10 to the target repeater communication device 20 follows. The control command 103g includes a conversion control command that causes the port conversion control unit 31i described above to start, change, or end the association between a specific physical port and a logical port.

  The control command 103g is followed by a request value 103h which is fixed-length data representing a request value for the command. For example, if the control command 103g is a command prompting "port conversion", the request value 103h is "a setting value indicating which physical port number and logical port number are specifically associated". This makes it possible to control the association between specific physical ports and logical ports.

  The request value 103h is followed by a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value 103i and a frame tail identifier 103j similar to the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value 101d and frame tail identifier 101e of the communication frame 101, so that the communication frame 103 is the end.

  The communication frame 104 is an information frame such as an alarm issued to the central management device 10 from a specific repeater communication device 20. The communication frame 104 has, from the top, a frame head identifier 102a of the communication frame 102, a frame type identifier 102b (the value is “0x0” indicating that the information frame is transferred in the aggregation direction), and the same head identifier as the port number information 101c. First, it has a frame type identifier 104b and port number information 104c. The port number information 104c is followed by the repeater number information 102d of the communication frame 102 and the repeater number information 104d and the address information 104e similar to the address information 102e.

  In the example shown in FIG. 15, the repeater number information 104d = “0000000100”, ie, 4, and the address information 104e = “10001 10”, ie, “10” → “00” → “01” viewed from the centralized management device 10 side. It is shown that the notification is from the repeater communication device ahead, which is traced to “10”. A device identifier 104f following the address information 104e is a unique-length identifier indicating a device number or the like unique to each repeater communication device.

  The device identifier 104f is followed by notification content information 104g which is fixed-length data indicating information such as an alarm that the repeater communication device notifies the central management device 10. Further followed by a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value 104h and a frame tail identifier 104i similar to the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value 101d and frame tail identifier 101e of the communication frame 101, so that the communication frame 104 is It becomes the end.

  FIG. 16 is an explanatory view showing the address information assigned to each repeater communication device 20 as a result of the operation shown in FIG. 11 being performed in the repeater communication system 100 shown in FIG. The communication frames 101 and 102 shown in FIG. 15 are used for the operation of assigning the address information.

  The address management unit 13a of the central control device 10 transmits the communication frame 101 shown in FIG. 15 to all the repeater communication devices 20a to 20l in step S101 of FIG. The repeater communication devices 20a to 20l having received the communication frame 101 return the communication frame 102 shown in FIG. 15 to the central management device 10 in step S105 of FIG.

  FIG. 17 is an explanatory view showing the recorded contents of the address table 14a stored by the address management unit 13a of the central management device 10 in the operation shown in step S106 of FIG. In the address table 14a, the device identifier 102f, the repeater number information 102d, and the address information 102e in the communication frame 102 received from each repeater communication device 20 are recorded together with the reception date 105.

  For example, in the communication frame 102 returned from the repeater communication device 201 to the central management device 10, the repeater number information 102d = “0000000100”, the address information 102e = “1000110”, and the device identifier 102f is unique to the repeater communication device 20l. The identifier is recorded in the address table 14 a together with the reception date 105.

  Further, in the communication frame 102 returned from the repeater communication device 20i to the central management device 10, the repeater number information 102d = “0000000011”, the address information 102e = “010100”, and the device identifier 102f is unique to the repeater communication device 20l. The identifier is recorded in the address table 14 a together with the reception date 105.

  The address management unit 13a of the central control device 10 transmits a communication frame 103 (a control frame emitted to a specific repeater communication device 20) to each repeater communication device 20 using the address table 14a and performs control. It can be performed. Further, as shown in FIG. 13, the communication frame 101 is periodically transmitted to all the repeater communication devices 20a to 20l, compared with the records of the address table 14a, and all the repeater communication devices 20 recorded there. It can be determined whether or not there is a reply of the communication frame 102 including the address information (step S205 in FIG. 13).

  The network administrator checks the abnormality detection log 14b in response to the alarm issued by the abnormal state handling unit 13b in step S206 of FIG. Is possible.

(Overall operation and effect of the embodiment)
Next, the overall operation at the time of abnormality occurrence of this embodiment will be described.
First, the repeater communication system in this embodiment is, as described above, a plurality of repeaters having a plurality of transmission / reception physical ports which are physical connection terminals with other devices and each have a different physical port number. The communication device 20 and a central management device 10 that transmits and receives information to and from each repeater communication device are connected. Then, the central control device 10 sends out a control frame for inquiring the address to all the repeater communication devices (FIG. 11: step S101), and the transfer processing control unit 22 of the repeater communication device 20 that has received this control frame. Instructs the port conversion control unit 31i of the repeater communication device to associate the transmission / reception physical port that received the control frame with the logical port number indicating that it is on the centralized management device side (FIG. 11: steps S102 and S104) . Next, the transfer processing control unit 22 of the repeater communication device adds the logical port number to the other device to the control frame, and transfers it to the other repeater communication device 20 (FIG. 11: step S103). The address information in which the logical port numbers of the other repeater communication devices through which the frame has passed is concatenated is returned to the central management device 10 (FIG. 11: step S105). The central control device 10 stores the address information returned from each repeater communication device 20 as the address table 14a (FIG. 11: step S106).

  Then, the central control device 10 periodically sends out a control frame and compares the reply to it with the recorded contents of the address table (FIG. 13: steps S201 to S204), whereby a fault occurs in each repeater communication device. Whether or not it is detected is detected (FIG. 13: step S205).

Here, each of the operation steps may be programmed to be executable by a computer and may be executed by a processor provided in the central management device 10 that directly executes the steps. The program may be recorded on a non-temporary recording medium, such as a DVD, a CD, a flash memory, and the like. In this case, the program is read from the recording medium by the computer and executed.
By this operation, the present embodiment has the following effects.

  According to the present embodiment, at the stage of construction of the repeater communication system 100, the communication frames 102 returned from each repeater communication device 20 in response to the communication frame 101 issued from the central management device 10 are recorded as the address table 14a. By doing this, it is not necessary to individually address each repeater communication device 20.

  In the above-mentioned existing technology, it is necessary to connect each repeater communication device 20 so that the port number “11” always comes to the central management device 10 side, and in particular, as the number of devices increases, the connection becomes complicated. However, according to the present embodiment, connection can be made regardless of the port number, and connection errors can not occur. Also, when adding a new repeater communication device 20 to the repeater communication system 100 or changing its communication path, reconfiguration is immediately completed by the same operation as at the time of construction.

  Furthermore, periodical exchange of the communication frames 101 and 102 between the central management device 10 and each repeater communication device 20 makes it easy to detect any failure in the repeater communication system 100. In addition, the administrator can quickly determine whether the failure is a failure that has occurred in each repeater communication device 20 itself or a It is possible to cope with this problem.

  Then, by simply and clearly defining the format of the data of the communication frame, each communication device is configured not to require advanced processing, so the device necessary for constructing the repeater communication system 100 can be provided at low cost. It is possible to In addition, the cost for its construction and operation can be significantly reduced.

(Extension of this embodiment)
The present embodiment can be variously extended without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following describes this extension.
In this embodiment, when a failure occurs, an administrator manually performs an operation for identifying the cause, in particular, reconnection using a new line.

  However, although it may not be physically impossible at all, as in the case of, for example, reconnection between repeater communication devices across different floors or buildings, there may be cases where much effort is required for reconnection. Further, in the case of a repeater communication system constituted by a large number of repeater communication devices, when a failure occurs in a specific device or path among them, all the repeater communication devices following it become impossible to communicate. Hereinafter, an example of an extension of the embodiment that can solve this point will be described.

  FIG. 18 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of the repeater communication system 201 according to the extension of this embodiment. The repeater communication system 201 is configured of a central management device 210 in which the function is partially expanded from the present embodiment and the repeater communication device 20 identical to the present embodiment.

  In addition to this, a spare path 231 connecting between some of the vacant input / output ports in the repeater communication device 20 is constructed in advance. A switch 232 is inserted in the middle of the backup path 231. Since the backup path 231 is not normally used, the switch 232 is turned off.

  FIG. 19 is an explanatory view showing a more detailed configuration of the central control device 210 shown in FIG. The centralized management device 210 includes the same address management unit 13a as that of the present embodiment, and an abnormal state handling unit 213b expanded from the present embodiment. In addition to the abnormal condition handling unit 13b of this embodiment, the abnormal condition handling unit 213b is additionally provided with a function of issuing a command to open and close the switch 232 according to the operation input of the administrator. The switch 232 may be manually opened and closed by the administrator. The centralized management apparatus in that case can use the same centralized management apparatus 10 as this embodiment as it is.

  Referring back to FIG. 18, when a failure occurs in the repeater communication device 20g, the repeater communication devices 20h, 20k, and 20l subsequent thereto can not communicate. When the address management unit 13a detects the occurrence of this failure, the administrator issues a command to turn on the switch 232 via the abnormal state handling unit 213b, and is built in advance between the repeater communication devices 20j and 20k. The spare path 231 which has been set is made effective. Then, the address management unit 13a performs the same operation (described in FIG. 13) as that of the present embodiment.

  Thus, repeater communication devices 20 k and 20 l can temporarily restore communication with central management device 10. FIG. 20 is an explanatory view showing a state before and after enabling the spare path 231 in the repeater communication system 201 shown in FIG. In the repeater communication device 20k, the physical port "00" becomes the logical port "11" and the physical port "11" becomes "unused" as the protection path 231 becomes valid and the logical port is reallocated.

  However, repeater communication devices 20g and 20h are still unable to communicate. With regard to these, while performing the provisional operation of the repeater communication devices 20k and 20l, it is possible to take permanent measures such as correction or replacement of the repeater communication device 20g as described in the present embodiment. When this permanent measure is completed and all repeater communication devices 20 are restored, it is also possible to reset the switch 232 to the off state and restore the network to the original state. Of course, the operation may be continued with the spare path 231 remaining.

  In addition to this, for example, in the present embodiment, a configuration may be added to automate identification of the cause of the problem that the administrator manually operated, or a plurality of spare paths may be provided to determine which spare system. It may be automatically selected whether to use.

  Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the specific embodiments shown in the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown in the drawings, and any known devices can be used as long as the effects of the present invention can be obtained. Even the configuration can be adopted.

  The main points of the new technical contents of the above-described embodiment are summarized as follows. In addition, although a part or all of the said embodiment is put together as follows as a novel technique, this invention is not necessarily limited to this.

(Supplementary Note 1) A repeater communication system including a plurality of repeater communication devices and a centralized management device configured to transmit and receive information to and from each of the repeater communication devices.
Each of the repeater communication devices
A plurality of transmission / reception physical ports, which are physical connection terminals with other devices, each having a different physical port number;
The transmission / reception physical port corresponds to a different logical port number corresponding one-to-one between the physical port number and a port conversion control unit that communicates with another device according to the logical port number. Repeater communication system characterized by

(Supplementary Note 2) The centralized management device
And an address management unit that sends out a control frame that makes an address inquiry to all the repeater communication devices,
Each of the repeater communication devices
When the control frame is received via the transmission / reception physical port, the port conversion control unit causes the transmission / reception physical port that received the control frame to correspond to the logical port number indicating that it is the centralized management device side. And a transfer processing control unit that adds the logical port number to the other device to the control frame and transmits the command to another repeater communication device.
Additional feature 1 is characterized in that the transfer processing control unit has a function of returning, to the central management device, address information in which the logical port numbers of the other repeater communication devices through which the control frame has passed are connected. Repeater communication system as described.

(Supplementary Note 3) The address management unit of the centralized management device stores the address information returned from each of the repeater communication devices as an address table, and periodically transmits the control frame to reply to the control frame. The repeater communication system according to claim 2, further comprising a function of detecting whether or not a failure occurs in each of the repeater communication devices by comparing with the recorded contents of an address table.

(Additional remark 4) It is characterized by the above-mentioned central control device having an abnormal condition corresponding part which records a problem concerned in an abnormality detection log and issues an alarm when a defect occurs in each of the repeater communication devices. The repeater communication system according to 3.

(Supplementary Note 5) A backup path for interconnecting the transmission / reception physical ports available in the repeater communication device, and a switch that is normally disconnected and inserted between the spare paths,
The repeater communication system according to claim 4, wherein the abnormal state handling unit of the centralized management device has a function of issuing a command to open / close the switch according to an operation input.

(Supplementary Note 6) A repeater communication device connected to a central management device and another device to transmit and receive information,
A plurality of transmission / reception physical ports, which are physical connection terminals between the central management device and the other devices, each having a different physical port number;
Having different port numbers corresponding to different physical port numbers corresponding to the physical port numbers in the transmission / reception physical port, and having a port conversion control unit for performing communication with another device according to the logical port number; Repeater communication device characterized by the above.

(Supplementary Note 7) When the control frame is received through the transmission / reception physical port, the port is configured to associate the logical port number indicating that the centralized management device is with the transmission / reception physical port that receives the control frame. And a transfer processing control unit that instructs the conversion control unit, adds the logical port number to the other device to the control frame, and transfers the control frame to another repeater communication device.
The transmission processing control unit has a function of returning, to the central management device, address information in which the logical port numbers of the other repeater communication devices through which the control frame has passed are connected. The repeater communication device described.

(Supplementary Note 8) A centralized management device connected to a plurality of repeater communication devices to transmit and receive information.
Sends a control frame for address inquiry to all the repeater communication devices, stores the address information returned from each of the repeater communication devices as an address table, and periodically sends out the control frame. An address management unit which compares a reply to the reply with the recorded contents of the address table and thereby detects whether or not a failure occurs in each of the repeater communication devices;
A centralized management device characterized by comprising: an abnormal condition handling unit which records an anomaly in an anomaly detection log and issues an alarm when an anomaly occurs in each of the repeater communication devices.

(Supplementary Note 9) Between each of the repeater communication devices and a plurality of repeater communication devices provided with a plurality of transmission / reception physical ports that are physical connection terminals with another device and have different physical port numbers. In a repeater communication system configured to be connected to a central management device that transmits and receives information in
The address management unit of the centralized management device sends out a control frame for inquiring the address to all the repeater communication devices;
The repeater communication such that the transfer processing control unit of each of the repeater communication devices that has received the control frame causes the transmission / reception physical port that receives the control frame to correspond to the logical port number indicating that it is on the centralized management device side. Command the port conversion control unit of the device,
Next, the transfer processing control unit of the repeater communication device adds the logical port number to the other device to the control frame and then transfers the control frame to another repeater communication device, and the control frame passes through. Address information in which the logical port numbers of the other repeater communication devices are concatenated is returned to the central management device.
An address management unit of the central control device stores the address information returned from each of the repeater communication devices as an address table.

(Supplementary Note 10) The centralized management device periodically sends out the control frame, compares the reply to it with the recorded contents of the address table, and thereby whether or not a failure occurs in each of the repeater communication devices. The anomaly detection method according to supplementary note 9, characterized in that

(Supplementary Note 11) A repeater communication system including a plurality of repeater communication devices and a centralized management device configured to transmit and receive information to and from each of the repeater communication devices.
In a processor provided in the centralized management device,
A procedure for sending out a control frame that makes an address inquiry to all the repeater communication devices;
A procedure of storing the address information returned from each of the repeater communication devices as an address table;
And sending out the control frame periodically to compare the response to this with the recorded contents of the address table, thereby performing a procedure for detecting whether or not a failure occurs in each of the repeater communication devices. An anomaly detection program characterized by.

  The invention is broadly applicable to low cost communication systems with centralized management and control of small volumes of data. More specifically, it is suitable, for example, for a fire alarm system or crime alarm system in a housing complex or a residential complex, or a notification system such as a nurse call in a hospital.

100, 201 Repeater communication system 2a, 2b Line 100a, 100b Partial network 20 Repeater communication device 10, 210 Central management device 11a to 11d, 21a to 21d I / O port 12, 22 Transfer processing control unit 13 Central management unit 13a Address management unit 13b, 213b Abnormal condition handling unit 14 Management data storage unit 14a Address table 14b Abnormality detection log 31 Transmission / reception termination unit 31a to 31d Transmission / reception physical port 31e to 31h Logical port 31i Port conversion control unit 32 Aggregation direction processing unit 32a, 33a Frame buffer 32b , 33d output selection switch 32c, 33b frame termination unit 32d, 33c frame generation unit 33 routing direction processing unit 231 spare path 232 switch

Claims (2)

Transmission / reception of information between a plurality of repeater communication devices provided with a plurality of transmission / reception physical ports that are physical connection terminals with other devices and have different physical port numbers, respectively, and the respective repeater communication devices A repeater communication system configured to be connected to a central management device that performs
The address management unit of the centralized management device sends out a control frame for inquiring the address to all the repeater communication devices;
Transfer processing control unit of the repeater communication device receiving the control frame, the repeater communication so as to correspond to indicate to logical port number that the receiving physical port that received the control frame is the centralized management device side Command the port conversion control unit of the device,
Next, the transfer processing control unit of the repeater communication device adds the logical port number to the other device to the control frame and then transfers the control frame to another repeater communication device, and the control frame passes through. Address information in which the logical port numbers of the other repeater communication devices are concatenated is returned to the central management device.
An address management unit of the central control device stores the address information returned from each of the repeater communication devices as an address table. The address management unit of the centralized management device periodically sends out the control frame, compares the response to this with the recorded contents of the address table, and thereby whether or not a failure occurs in each of the repeater communication devices. abnormality detection method according to claim 1, detecting, and wherein the or.

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