JPH055138B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a centralized monitoring system, and particularly to a centralized monitoring system capable of monitoring the operation of automatic machines and grasping transaction information all at once.

(b) Background of the technology The spread of transaction automation technology through the introduction of automatic machines is remarkable, and in particular, automatic teller machines, payment machines, etc. that automatically perform cash transactions are widely used in banking operations. On the other hand, with the spread of automatic machines, there is a demand for improvement in maintenance of each automatic machine and methods for quickly dealing with the occurrence of failures. That is, as the number of automatic machines installed increases, there is a demand for a system that can collectively control and monitor the operations of each automatic machine.

(c) Prior Art and Problems Conventionally, remote monitoring and control devices have been provided to control the operation and monitor the status of automatic machines. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional remote monitoring system.
The figure shows a system for remotely monitoring automatic machines (automated teller machines) 3 serving as bank terminals, in which a remote monitoring and control unit (CMU) 1 is connected to each automatic machine 3 via a line 4a. has been done. Further, in the automatic machine 3, a line 4c for the center is connected to the branching device 2.
and are connected via line 4b.

The center-to-center line 4c is used for exchanging information between the automatic machine 3 and a center (not shown). That is, it is used to check the user's account balance, personal identification number, or to notify transaction information handled by the automatic machine.

Further, the remote monitoring and control device 1 has the following functions.

a Specifying the operation mode for each automatic machine 3 (for example, specifying the transaction mode, the types of transactions that can be handled, or specifying the test mode).

b Media provided in automatic machine 3 (banknotes, slips, etc.)
near-end display.

c Display of power on/off of automatic machine 3.

d Display of various abnormalities (occurrence of failure) of automatic machine 3.

In this way, the remote monitoring and control device 1 is a device mainly focused on remote control of the automatic machine 3 and monitoring of its operating state. Further, the remote monitoring and control device 1 is connected to the automatic machine 3 via a private line or a dedicated line. In other words, conventionally, automatic machines 3 installed in one branch were monitored.

However, with the spread of automatic machines, it has become necessary to centrally monitor automatic machines belonging to one bank group rather than each branch. Furthermore, the need for a monitoring system that could not only remotely control automatic machines and monitor failures as in the past but also grasp the usage status of each automatic machine was also advocated.

(d) Purpose of the invention In order to meet the above-mentioned demands, the purpose of the present invention is to provide centralized monitoring that can grasp the operating status of each automatic machine and the situation leading up to the occurrence of a failure, and that can monitor the status of automatic machines from more various angles. The system is to provide.

(e) Structure of the invention According to the present invention, in a structure in which a central monitoring device is connected to a plurality of automatic machines via a line control device, the central monitoring device has a command input means, a command processing unit, and an automatic machine. It is equipped with time setting means for specifying data transmission requests to files and automatic machines, and each automatic machine is equipped with a main controller, a processing mechanism,
It is equipped with a processing mechanism control unit that controls these, and the main control device has the function of storing transaction information such as operation status information of each processing mechanism, failure information, transaction details and number of deposited and withdrawn banknotes, and the central monitoring device When no input is made, the automatic machine is interrupted by an interrupt signal generated at the automatic machine information collection time set by the time setting means, and a data transmission request is made to each automatic machine. When the main controller of the automatic machine returns operating status information, fault information, and transaction information, the central monitoring device adds date and time information to this returned information, stores it in the automatic machine file, and then inputs it to the command input means. When a command is input for aggregating failures by automatic machine or aggregating transactions by automatic machine by specifying the aggregation start and end date, the command processing unit searches the automatic machine file and retrieves the date and time information of the automatic machine data. By means of a centralized monitoring system characterized by knowing the operation start and end times of the automatic machine from the operation status information and the operation status information, and further creating failure information aggregate data or transaction information aggregate data from the operation status information and failure information or transaction information. will be achieved.

The present invention will be explained in detail below using Examples.

(f) Embodiments of the Invention Fig. 2 is a principle diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the central monitoring system according to the present invention, and Figs. 3 and 4 respectively show the central monitoring device 5 and automatic machine 3a shown in Fig. 2. ~3
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of d.

That is, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
It takes the form of connecting to one central monitoring device 5 via. The line control device 6 selects a dedicated line connected to each branch based on the destination information from the central monitoring device 5. Note that a public line may be used as the line connecting the line control device 6 and each branch. Furthermore, this centralized monitoring device 5 is installed alongside the line connecting each automatic machine and the center shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the central monitoring device 5 includes a keyboard 8 for operation by an operator, and a timer 1.
0, auxiliary storage device 11 such as a floppy disk,
It consists of a display 12, a printer 13, and a command processing section 7 which is a control section. Also automatic machines 3a-3
d has the configuration shown in FIG. That is, a line control device 14 connected to the line control device 6 on the central monitoring device 5 side, a main control device 15, a power supply control device 16 that performs ON/OFF control of the device power supply according to commands from the central monitoring device 5, and A plurality of processing mechanisms (hereinafter referred to as I/O) 23 to perform transaction processing
28, I/O control units 17-22. The I/O configuration shown in the figure is an example of an automatic teller machine, including a payment mechanism CC, a card reader/printer/imprinter mechanism CIP, a deposit mechanism BDU,
Passbook printer PR, display section CRT, user operation section
Consists of UOP.

In addition, the main controller 15 shown in FIG. 4 has a function of sensing the operating status of each I/O.
It is equipped with a function to detect failures occurring in I/O using interrupt signals etc. from O. This failure detection function is provided to conventional automatic machines and is a well-known function. Furthermore, the main control section 15
has an auxiliary storage device (floppy disk), not shown, and stores transaction information in this auxiliary storage device. The transaction information here refers to the account number of the user who made the transaction, the details of the transaction, and the result (balance).
It also includes the number of banknotes deposited and the number of banknotes disbursed.

That is, the main control section has a function of storing operating state information, failure information, and transaction information of the automatic machine.

The operation of the embodiment system will be explained below using FIGS. 5 to 14.

5 is a diagram showing examples of input commands to the central monitoring device 5 shown in FIG. 3 and the functions of the central monitoring device 5 for each command. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an input format from the console keyboard 8. 7 is a diagram showing a command conversion table having the command conversion section 9, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the output format of the command conversion section 9.

The commands shown in FIG. 5 are input by the operator from the keyboard 8 (FIG. 3).
The centralized monitoring device 5 of this embodiment is capable of compiling fault information and transaction information of each automatic machine, and outputting (displaying or printing) the results of these computations. Furthermore, it also has the functions of the conventional remote monitoring and control device 1 shown in FIG. 1 (automatic machine power control, transaction mode designation, status display).

The command entered by the operator is
The data is input to the command converter 9 in the data format shown in the figure. In the figure, the command to print the tally results is
An example is shown in which PRINT+parameter (file name in this case) is input, and a field 29 indicating the number of data of the command data is added to the beginning of the command data. Command converter 9
has a command conversion table shown in FIG. Based on this conversion table, the command converter 9 converts command data input from the keyboard 8 into internal processing codes. Further, the command conversion section 9 supplies the above internal processing code and parameters to the command processing section 7 in the format shown in FIG. At this time, since the number of parameters varies depending on the command data, a field 30 indicating the number of parameters is provided. However,
The command processing section 7 executes processing based on the internal processing code and parameters provided by the command conversion section 9. The operation of the central monitoring device 5 will be explained below based on the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 9 to 12.

First, as shown in FIG. 9, if the operator does not input the above-mentioned command, the central monitoring device 5 requests each automatic machine to send data. Each of the automatic machines 3a to 3d shown in FIG. 2 is given an identification number (hereinafter referred to as automatic machine number) in advance. Therefore, the command processing unit 7 sets the automatic machine number to the initial value (No. in the figure).
1), and this setting value and a data transmission command are transmitted to the automatic machine side via the line control device 6.

In response to a data transmission request from the centralized information device 5,
The corresponding automatic machine (in this case, the automatic machine corresponding to automatic machine No. 1) returns the data. The return data from the automatic machine is received by the line control device 6. When receiving a notification from the line control device 6 that there is received data, the command processing unit 7 moves to the received data analysis process flow shown in FIG. The data returned by the automatic machine includes information such as block data 31 in FIG. In other words, the data that the command processing unit 7 receives from the automatic machine includes information on the operating status of the automatic machine,
It includes transaction information consisting of the number of deposits and withdrawals for each denomination, the number of deposits and withdrawals, and failure information such as I/O error codes. The command processing section 7 adds date/time information 32a to the received data 31 and stores this data 32 in the automatic machine file 33 in the auxiliary storage device 11. The automatic machine data 32 is sequentially stored in each record REC0, REC1, . . . in the file 33.
The figure shows a case where automatic machine data 32 has been stored up to record RECn, and new automatic machine data 32 is stored in record RECn+1.

When the data returned to the central monitoring device 5 is completed,
The automatic machine transmits termination instruction data indicating that all data transfer has been completed. i.e. automatic machine
The data with the data number field having the value "0" are sent back to the central monitoring device 5 together with the No. number. Therefore, by checking the value of the data number field of the received data 31, the command processing unit 7 knows that the received data of the automatic machine has been completed. Upon completion of the received data, the command processing unit 7 updates the automatic machine number (FIG. 9) and issues a data transmission request to the next automatic machine. As a result, the operating status information, transaction information, and fault information for each automatic machine are collected by the central monitoring device 5.
The information is collected in the auxiliary storage device 11 of.

The data transmission request to the automatic machine described above is activated by an interrupt signal from a timer 10 provided in the central monitoring device 5. FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration of the timer 10. As shown in the figure, the timer 10 includes a timer 35 that keeps time and a time setting means 34. That is, by using this time setting means 34, the automatic machine information collection time of the central monitoring device 5 can be set. For example, the setting means 34 sets a time period in which each automatic machine is not operated (when the station is closed). Thereby, the information gathering operation of the central monitoring device 5 does not interfere with the transaction operation of each automatic machine, and efficient information gathering can be achieved.

On the other hand, when a command is input from the keyboard 8, the command processing section 7 executes processing according to the internal processing code and parameters from the command conversion section 9 described above. That is, as shown in FIG. 10, when the automatic machine number is included in the parameter, the command processing section 7 sends a command corresponding to the internal processing code together with the specified automatic machine number. As a result, the remote control functions (power ON/OFF control, transaction mode designation, automatic machine state detection) shown in the fifth to eighth commands in FIG. 5 are achieved.

In addition, the input parameters are the first to fourth in FIG.
When the automatic machine number is not included as in the second command,
The central monitoring device 5 moves to the flow shown in FIG.
In the same figure, the input command is automatic machine-specific failure tally.
Indicates the case where DSORT + (date) + (date) is given. The two date parameters attached to the command DSORT provide the start and end dates for specifying the time period over which failures should be tallied. Using this parameter, the command processing unit 7 sets the initial conditions (start date) for failure information aggregation. 11th
In the figure, the automatic machine number for which fault information should be collected is also included as an initial condition. In this embodiment, the automatic machine number (for example, 1) is automatically set by the command processing section 7, and failure information is totaled for all automatic machines. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can easily infer that the automatic machine number may be configured so that it can be specified using the keyboard 8.

When the initial condition setting of automatic machine number and start date is completed, the command processing section 7 stores the auxiliary storage device 11.
The automatic machine file 33 is searched. File 33
The search is performed by sequentially reading each unit record REC0, REC1, REC0, REC0, REC1, . Needless to say, this search is performed using the automatic machine number and time information included in each automatic machine data as keys.

Based on the automatic machine data retrieved by searching each record, the command processing unit 7 performs the following aggregation. That is, based on the time information and operation status information of the automatic machine data 32, the operation start time and operation end time of the automatic machine are stored in registers R0 and R1, respectively. R1 to R3, RE and
RM is a register built in the command processing section 7. Furthermore, the command processing unit 7 totals the operation stop time of the automatic machine based on the operation status information.
This operational downtime is classified into two categories: downtime due to failure is totaled in register R2, and operational downtime due to replacement of a storage medium, which is an auxiliary storage device of the automatic machine, is totaled in register R3. Next, the command processing unit 7 totals the number of error occurrences for each error code in the register RE based on the I/O error code of the automatic machine data 32. Also, in register RM,
The number of times the storage medium is replaced is counted. The number of exchanges is the number of times the near-end information of the storage capacity left on the storage medium, which is included as one of the I/O error codes, is counted.

The above-mentioned aggregation is performed for the corresponding automatic machine data, and when the aggregation for one day is completed, the operating time of the automatic machine for that day is calculated. This is obtained by subtracting the operation start time stored in register R0 from the operation end time stored in register R1. Based on the calculation of the operating time, the command processing unit 7 updates the initially set date conditions,
Fault information is aggregated up to the final date specified by the parameter. In addition, by updating the automatic machine number, it is possible to perform aggregation for a desired automatic machine.

The above-mentioned aggregation operation of the command processing unit 7 enables the aggregation of failure information and transaction information for each automatic machine. The aggregated information is summarized in the formats shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, respectively, and registered in an aggregate file (not shown) in the auxiliary storage device 11. Furthermore, each file in the auxiliary storage device 11 is
As already mentioned, the display command DISP or print command PRINT shown in FIG. 5 can be used to output to the display 12 or printer 13, respectively.

It is clear that this aggregated data enables multifaceted condition analysis of each automatic machine.
To give an example, failure information aggregate data (13th
(Figure), it is possible to grasp the percentage of failure stop time in the operating time of each automatic machine, the tendency of error occurrence for each I/O, or the utilization rate of the automatic machine in terms of the number of storage medium exchanges. In addition, based on the transaction information aggregate data (Figure 14), the amount of banknotes that should be set in each automatic machine based on the rate of deposit and withdrawal transactions of the automatic machine, daily (day of week) usage status, or number of deposits and withdrawals of banknotes. You can also understand the estimates, etc. Furthermore, it is possible to specify the time for collecting information from each automatic machine, making it possible to collect information that suits the operating mode of each automatic machine.

(g) Effects of the Invention As detailed above, according to the present invention, it is not only possible to collectively monitor a large number of automatic machines installed in various locations, but also to monitor failures and transaction information history of each automatic machine. This makes it possible to analyze the operating conditions of automatic machines in a more diversified manner, and it is also highly practical.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional remote monitoring system, Fig. 2 is a principle diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the central monitoring system according to the present invention, and Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively shown in Fig. 2. Central monitoring device 5, automatic machine 3a~
3d is a block diagram showing the configuration of the central monitoring device 5. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing examples of input commands to the central monitoring device 5 shown in FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the command conversion table of the command conversion section 9, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the output format of the command conversion section 9, and FIGS. 9 to 12 are diagrams showing the concentrated A flowchart showing the operation of the monitoring device 5, FIGS. 13 and 14 are diagrams showing examples of formats of failure information aggregate data and transaction information aggregate data for each automatic machine, respectively, and FIG. 15 shows the configuration of the timer 10. It is a diagram. 5 is a central monitoring device, 6 is a line control device, 7 is a command processing unit, 11 is an auxiliary storage device,
31 indicates received data, and 33 indicates an automatic machine file.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a configuration in which a central monitoring device is connected to multiple automatic machines via a line control device, the central monitoring device must specify command input means, command processing section, automatic machine file, and data transmission request to the automatic machines. Each automatic machine is equipped with a main controller, a processing mechanism, and a processing mechanism control section that controls these. The central monitoring device has a function of storing transaction information such as the number of banknotes, and when no commands are input, the automatic machine is activated by an interrupt signal generated at the automatic machine information collection time set by the time setting means. When the main control device of the automatic machine returns operating status information, failure information, and transaction information, the central monitoring device records the date and time on this returned information. When time information is added and stored in the automatic machine file, and a command for aggregation of failures by automatic machine or transaction aggregation by machine is input by specifying the aggregation start and end date using the command input means, the command The processing section searches the automatic machine file,
It is possible to know the operation start and end times of the automatic machine from the date and time information and operation status information of the automatic machine data, and to create failure information aggregate data or transaction information aggregate data from the operation status information and failure information or transaction information. Features a central monitoring system.