JPH02230353A - System for displaying protocol state of terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display a state corresponding to a protocol which becomes complication in simple constitution by providing protocol state holding means which respectively hold the states of respective hierarchies of the protocol and a switching means which selects at least one of the protocol state holding means and which transmits the state display information to a display means. CONSTITUTION:A terminal equipment is connected to a computer network through a communication line, and is provided with a means executing communication control following the prescribed protocol. The protocol state holding means 11 respectively hold the states of respective hierarchies in the protocol and the display means 13 executes the display based on state display information. The state of the protocol in a designated range (hierarchy) is displayed in the display means 13 by permitting the switching means 15 to select at least one of the protocol state holding means 11 holding the states of respective hierarchies of the protocol and to connect it to the display means 13. Thus, the state display corresponding to the protocol which becomes complicated is attained with simple constitution.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding a terminal device having a protocol status display function on a communication control board, the purpose of this invention is to enable status display compatible with increasingly complex protocols with a simple configuration. In a terminal device connected to a computer network via a line and equipped with means for controlling communication according to a predetermined protocol,
Selecting at least one of the protocol state holding means for holding the state of each layer of the protocol, the display means for displaying the state based on the state display information, and the protocol state holding means, and transmitting the state display information to the display means. and a switching means for transmitting the data. [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a terminal device having a protocol status display function on a communication control board.

In a computer network in which various components such as computers, terminal devices, and exchanges are connected through communication lines, it is necessary to use a common protocol (communication protocol) in order for the individual components to communicate with each other. This protocol has become increasingly complex as computer networks have expanded in recent years.

On the other hand, one of the terminal devices housed in such a computer network is, for example, an automatic transaction device used in financial institutions, but what to do when communication with the host computer becomes impossible. In order to perform maintenance easily and quickly, enhanced communication maintenance functions are required. In particular, in order to clarify the cause and enable prompt recovery, it is desired to have a function that displays the increasingly complex status of protocols (for example, the connection status of connections) in real time.

[Conventional technology]

In conventional terminal devices, particularly in terminal devices that only have a display for customers, such as automatic transaction machines of financial institutions, each protocol status in communication control is displayed in the following configuration.

In other words, there is a configuration in which a light emitting element (LED) is provided on the communication control board to display each protocol status, a configuration in which each protocol status is displayed using the display function of the maintenance console, and a management operation unit that manages the entire system. For example, the configuration (2) displays the status of each protocol using the display function of .

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, each of the conventional configurations has the following problems.

In other words, in configuration (2), complex protocols such as OSI (Open System Interconnection) have more states and more protocol layers than conventional simple protocols with basic procedures. Therefore, the number of states to be displayed has increased significantly. Therefore, in order to display all protocol statuses, it is necessary to increase the number of LEDs accordingly, but it has been difficult to secure sufficient space for this on the communication control board.

Configuration (2) required the maintenance console to be connected to the terminal device at all times, which was difficult to implement due to cost considerations.

■In configuration, usually different development environments (tools, languages),
Although it is not necessarily an easy task to develop software that uses the display function of the management and operation section to display the protocol status in the communication control board and management and operation section software created in the execution environment (OS). do not have. Additionally, when debugging the software installed on the communication control board, the program is often stopped, and in that case, the sending of status display data to the management operation unit is also stopped, making it difficult to check the latest status. It is possible that this will happen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a protocol status display method for terminal equipment that enables status display compatible with increasingly complex protocols with a simple configuration.

[Means to solve the problem]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the principle of the present invention.

In the figure, a terminal device is connected to a computer network via a communication line and includes means for controlling communication according to a predetermined protocol. The protocol state holding means 11 is configured to hold the state of each layer of the protocol.

The display means 13 is configured to display the information based on the status display information.

The switching means 15 selects at least one of the protocol state holding means 11 and displays the state display information on the display means 1.
This is a configuration in which the data is sent to 3.

[For production]

In the present invention, the switching means 15 selects at least one of the protocol state holding means 11 that holds the state of each layer of the protocol and connects it to the display means 13, so that the display means 13 displays a specified range ( It is possible to display the protocol status of the layer (layer).

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, a main device 20 of the terminal device is connected to a communication line 50 via a communication control board 30.

The communication control board 30 includes three line control units that perform interface control with the communication line 50, a second layer protocol control unit 33, a third layer protocol control unit 35, and a fourth layer protocol control unit 37 that perform protocol control for each layer. , a main interface control unit 39 that is connected to each layer protocol control unit and controls the interface with the main unit 120. Furthermore, as a feature of the present invention, the communication control board 30 includes a two-layer protocol state holding section 41 that holds the protocol state in each layer protocol control section.
, a 3rd layer protocol state holding section 43, a 4th layer protocol state holding section 45, a selector 47 for selecting one of the layered protocol state holding sections, and displaying the protocol state in the selected one protocol state holding section. A display section 49 is provided.

The selector 47 is configured to select, for example, a protocol state holding section of a layer corresponding to the setting state of a DIP switch. Note that each layer protocol control unit, for example, the second layer protocol control unit 33 performs data link layer protocol control that defines transmission control procedures between terminals or between terminals and networks, and the third layer protocol control unit 35 performs network layer protocol control that defines connection control procedures for setting and canceling connections between terminals via the network and transmitting and receiving data with other terminals;
The layer protocol control unit 37 is configured to perform protocol control of a transport layer that manages connections between terminals.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the correspondence between the dip switch for setting the selector and the display section.

Here, an example of protocol control for packet communication in DDX is shown.

FIG. 3 (1) and (2) show the two-layer protocol control unit 3.
A display example of the protocol status (HDLC level) of No. 3 is shown below. FIG. 3 (3) and (April) show examples of display of the protocol status (packet level) of the third layer protocol control unit 35.

Note that the LEDs with diagonal lines indicate the lit state. Figure 3 (
1), (2), set the dip switch to (00
10), the selector 47 selects the two-layer protocol state holding section 41, and the LEDs of the display section 49 display the DCM state, FRMR state, and ABM state in order from the right. That is, due to the two-layer protocol control that establishes the data link, the LED on the display section 49 indicates D.
CM state (disconnected state) followed by ABM state (connected state)
is displayed. Note that the display of the FRMR status indicates a case where communication becomes impossible due to a frame abnormality or the like.

In addition, in Fig. 3 (3) and (4), by setting the dip switch to (Oozl), the selector 4
7 selects the 3-layer protocol state holding section 43 and displays the display section 4.
The LEDs 9 display the call disconnection state and call connection state in order from the right. That is, by controlling the three-layer protocol for establishing logical channels, the call disconnection state or call connection state is displayed on the display unit 49 by lighting an LED.

In this way, the setting status of the dip switch and the display section 4
By combining the lighting states of the LEDs 9 and 9, the protocol status of each layer can be displayed on a limited number of LEDs, and the protocol status of each layer can be easily determined from the combination.

Further, since the protocol contents can be directly manipulated by the software on the communication control board, it is possible to treat the display in the same way as the actual protocol status display when debugging the software.

Furthermore, since the communication control board is provided with a dedicated display function, it is possible to display the information at all times with simple operation.

Although this embodiment has shown an example in which the selection of each layer protocol state holding unit is fixedly performed using a dip switch, a configuration in which the same selection and designation can be performed is also possible. It is not limited to this selector. For example, a rotary switch may be used, or an automatic switching means that sequentially connects each layer protocol state holding section to the display section 49 may be used. In this case, it is desirable to adopt a device configuration that displays the selected protocol layer using numbers or other means.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, since it has a simple configuration, it can be easily mounted on a communication control board and can be manufactured at low cost.

Furthermore, since the range of protocol status display can be selected, only the necessary information can be easily obtained and its visibility can be improved, which is extremely useful in practice. In the figure, 1 is a protocol status holding means, 13 is a display means, 15 is a switching means, 20 is a main device, 30 is a communication control board, 31 is a line control unit, 33, 35, 37 is a protocol control unit, and 39 is a A main interface control section, 41, 43, 45 are protocol state holding sections, 47 is a selector, and 49 is a display section.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the principle of the present invention, Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 3 is a block diagram of the principle of the present invention.
The figure is a diagram showing an example of the correspondence between dip switches and a display section. Figure 1 is a block diagram of the principle of the present invention. Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a terminal device connected to a computer network via a communication line and equipped with means for controlling communication according to a predetermined protocol, a protocol state holding means (11 ), and display means (13) that displays the status display information based on the status display information.
); and switching means (15) for selecting at least one of the protocol state holding means (11) and transmitting the state display information to the display means (13). Protocol status display method.