JPH02295262A - Communication state monitor device for secondary station - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To operate and maintain an information network effectively by allowing a secondary station side to monitor its communication state and a primary station side to monitor the communication state of an opposite station (secondary station). CONSTITUTION:The communication state monitor device consists of an input data buffer 1, a current state buffer 2, a merging device 3, a comparison data buffer 4, transition state buffers 51-5n, a transition state buffer control part 6, and a data comparison control part 7. Then the state of the secondary station at an optional point of time as to a protocol rule is outputted by the primary and secondary stations to outside the communication control and if communication trouble occurs, the state of transition in the communication state of the secondary station due to the trouble is offered to persons in charge of operation and maintenance at the primary station in easy-to-understand format from a trace log as long as the primary station gathers and holds a sequence (trace log) of sent and received data in the case of the trouble. Consequently, the operation and maintenance of the network are reducible in cost.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention is directed to the effective operation and utilization of an information network in which information processing devices such as computers and terminals are connected through a communication network consisting of transmission equipment and switching equipment. It can be used in various industrial fields. Specifically, communication control system. Network integrated management system. Network fault management system. The present invention relates to a communication status monitoring device for a secondary station used in a network failure diagnosis system, etc.

[Prior Art] The rules (protocols) for mutual communication between a computer (primary station) and a computer (secondary station), and between a computer (primary station) and a terminal (secondary station) are written in software as a communication control program. Or it is realized by communication control hardware. The protocol (divided into 7 levels for each function) defines the internal communication status of computers and terminals when communicating, and also defines the internal communication status of computers and terminals when communicating. It even specifies how the communication status changes. Protocols are usually expressed using state transition diagrams or state transition tables.

Even in conventional communication control, status monitoring is performed to detect and deal with communication abnormalities within the range specified by the protocol.
The communication state at any given time is not explicitly expressed, and the transition of the communication state cannot be known in detail from outside the communication control. In particular, the communication status of the secondary station cannot be known from outside the communication control of the primary station.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

To enable the communication state of a secondary station, which could not be monitored from outside the communication control of a primary station, to be monitored from the outside of the communication control of a primary station. It expresses the communication state of the secondary station that performs communication based on the communication protocol (protocol), outputs the state that changes as communication commands are sent and received to the outside of communication control, and furthermore, although the communication itself has already ended, For secondary stations that monitor past communication state transitions of secondary stations, even when the primary station traces the transmitted and received data at each level of the protocol and saves the sequence of transmitted and received data (hereinafter referred to as a trace log). communication status monitoring device.

[Means to solve the problem]

The communication status monitoring device for a secondary station of the present invention is configured to provide data (input data) received by the primary station at each level of a protocol that defines a communication control flow for mutual communication between the primary station and the secondary station. ), a means for temporarily holding the state (current state data) of the secondary station in communication specified by the protocol at the time the input data is input, and a means for temporarily holding the state (current state data) of the secondary station in communication specified by the protocol at the time the input data is input; A means for merging data, a means for temporarily holding the merged data (comparison data), input data that causes a transition (transition factor), and the current state.
A means to hold data including the transition destination state (compared data), a means to control some compared data, and a state transition on the protocol that compares and communicates the compared data and compared data. and means for outputting the current state of the secondary station.

In the present invention, the state of the secondary station at any point in time when communicating is explicitly expressed, and each state holds a transition destination state for each next transmission/reception command as specified by the protocol. This is achieved by receiving data as input, processing which state to transition from the current state, holding data representing the next state, and outputting it to the outside.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, it is possible to use an application program to monitor which communication state a secondary station communicating with is in among the states specified by the protocol, and furthermore, in the event of a communication failure, trace logs etc. In past communications, it is possible to obtain an output that shows how the communication state has changed.

According to the present invention, it is possible for the secondary station to monitor the communication status of its own station, and for the primary station to monitor the communication status of the other station (secondary station).

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the communication status monitoring device for a secondary station according to the present invention is shown in the block diagram of FIG.

The input data buffer 1 temporarily stores received data from the primary station or transmitted data from the secondary station for subsequent processing.

The current state buffer 2 temporarily stores the current communication state of the secondary station.

The merging device 3 concatenates the data contents of the input data buffer l and the current state buffer 2 and stores it in the comparison data buffer 4.

The comparison data buffer 4 holds the current communication state and the transmission data performed in the communication state.

The transition state buffers 5, - 57 hold states defined by the protocol (hereinafter referred to as communication states) and transition relationships between each state. As shown in FIG. 2, the transition state buffers 5, - 57 have a current state data (B) field 9 that stores the communication state, and a transition factor data (A) field that stores the received data that is the basis for the current state transition. ) field 8, and a transition state data (C) field 10 for storing the communication state of the transition destination.

The comparison data buffer 4 shown in FIG. 1 is composed of a transition factor data field 8 and a current state data field 9 shown in FIG.

The transition state buffer control unit 6 controls the contents of the comparison data buffer 4 and the transition state buffer 5. Control is performed to sequentially transfer the contents of ~57 to the data comparison control section 7.

The data comparison control unit 7 compares the contents of the comparison data buffer 4 with the corresponding contents of one transition state buffer, and if they match, replaces the transition state data C in FIG. 2 with the current state data B, and It is output to the state buffer 2 and notifies the transition state buffer control section 6 of the completion of processing by the data comparison control section 7.

The transition state buffer control unit 6, which has received the processing completion notification from the data comparison system jB unit 7, stops transferring the contents of the transition state buffer to the data comparison control unit 7, and waits until new data is input to the comparison data buffer 4. Goes into standby mode.

The contents of the transition state buffers 51 to 57 are not automatically created, but must be created by the user according to the type of protocol and the knowledge of the operator/maintainer. When realizing a communication state monitoring device for a secondary station that supports multiple protocols, the transition state buffers 51 to 5o are logically grouped to correspond to each protocol, and the transition state buffer control unit 6 The transition state buffers 51 to 57 that are transferred to the data comparison control unit 7 are controlled with grouping in mind.

〔Effect of the invention〕

By using the communication status monitoring device for a secondary station according to the present invention, when communicating between a computer and a terminal or between computers, it is possible to monitor the protocol-defined status of the secondary station at any point in time between the primary station and the secondary station. It becomes possible to output data to the outside of communication control from the next station, and if a communication failure occurs, if the sequence (trace log) of transmitted and received data during communication at the time of failure is collected and retained by the primary station, The transition of the communication state of the secondary station in the event of a failure can be seen from the trace logs at the primary station.
Since it can be provided in a format that is easy for maintainers to understand, it is possible to reduce the cost of network operation and maintenance.

[BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a communication state monitoring device for a secondary station according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows each data field of the transition state buffer shown in FIG. It is a diagram showing the contents. ■...Input data buffer 2...Current state buffer 3...Merge device 4...Comparison data buffer 5. ~57...Transition state buffer 6...Transition state buffer control unit 7...Data comparison control unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Means for temporarily holding the received data (input data) of the primary station at each level of the protocol that defines the communication control flow for mutual communication between the primary station and the secondary station; A means for temporarily holding the state of the primary station in communication specified by the protocol at the time when data is input (current state data), a means for merging input data and current state data, and a means for merging the merged data (comparison). data), the input data that causes the transition (transition factor), the current state,
A means to hold data including the transition destination state (compared data), a means to control some compared data, and a state transition on the protocol that compares the comparison data and the compared data and performs communication. 1. A communication status monitoring device for a secondary station, comprising means for controlling the current status of the secondary station and outputting the current status of the secondary station.