JPH04301945A - High efficiency multicast system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute multicast communication at a computer system connecting plural terminals to a host computer by a communication network disabling the multicast communication. CONSTITUTION:A CPU 101 instructs a multicast processing to a communication interface 105. The communication interface 105 executes the multicast processing by an MPU 106. Namely, multicast data are temporarily stored in a communication buffer 107, and data transmission is instructed to line control modules 113-a, 113-b and 113-c according to a destination pattern table 108. Then, end reports are collected from the respective line control modules 113-a, 113-b and 113-c by using an end report confirmation table 109, and the end of the multicast processing is reported to the CPU 101. The respective line control modules 113-a, 113-b and 113-c transmit the multicast data to terminals 117-a, 117-b, 117-c and 117-d connected to a public communication network 116. Thus, the communication processing load of the CPU in the host computer can be reduced.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a computer system that transmits and receives information between a host computer and a plurality of terminals connected via a public line or a private line. This invention relates to a multicast method that transmits information all at once.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a system in which a plurality of information processing devices are connected via a communication network, one information processing device (for example, a master station such as a host computer) communicates with other information processing devices (for example, a terminal, etc.). When performing broadcast communication (multicast communication) that simultaneously transmits the same data to
For example, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-281841, each information processing device is connected by a communication network that allows broadcast communication. The information processing device (master station) on the sending side sends broadcast data without a destination address to the communication network. The communication network transmits the received broadcast data without a destination address to all other information processing devices. Each information processing device (slave station) that receives data from the communication network determines the destination address, and in the case of broadcast data without a destination address, processes it as data addressed to itself. Or, JP-A-2-225
As described in Publication No. 7, each information processing device has a LAN (Local A) capable of broadcast communication (multicast communication).
rea Network). When performing multicast communication, a supervisor node, which is an information processing device (master station) on the sending side, adds multicast communication identification information to multicast data and sends it to the LAN. Data sent to the LAN can be received by all information processing devices connected to the LAN. The line set, which is the information processing device (slave station) on the receiving side, determines whether the received data is multicast data or not.
In the case of multicast data, multicast processing was performed.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-mentioned conventional technology, when performing multicast communication, since the communication network to which the information processing device is connected is capable of multicast communication, the information processing device on the sending side transmits multicast data to the communication network. By simply sending the data, the information processing device on the receiving side determines whether or not it is multicast data and processes it. For this reason,
The information processing device is connected to a communication network where multicast communication is not possible (
For example, there is a problem in that the multicast method cannot be applied to systems connected via a telephone network. Also,
A receiving side information processing device that does not have multicast processing means has a problem in that it cannot perform multicast communication.

A first object of the present invention is to connect a plurality of terminals, which are information processing devices of slave stations, to a host computer, which is an information processing device of a master station, through physically separate public lines or private lines. In a computer system, even if the communication network connecting the host computer and the terminals is not capable of multicast communication, it is possible to perform multicast communication from a host computer to a plurality of terminals.

[0005] A second object of the present invention is that the terminal:
without being aware of the type of data received from the communication network.
It is to perform multicast communication to any number of terminals.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the following means are provided.

[0007] A host computer having one or more communication interface units, a multi-line communication control device connected to the communication interface unit, and a plurality of computers connected to the multi-line communication control device via a public line or a private line. In a computer system consisting of terminals, the CPU in the host computer is provided with the following means. That is, in response to a multicast processing instruction from a communication processing program running on the CPU, data is sent to the storage address of the transmission data in the main memory of the host computer and to the line control module by a command. Means is provided for notifying the communication interface unit of a table to be used from among a plurality of tables indicating destinations when instructing. In addition, in the communication interface section,
The following shall be provided.

(1) An MPU for processing instructions from the CPU and a communication buffer for storing transmission data in a main storage section are provided.

(2) A plurality of destination pattern tables are provided in which information indicating terminals that transmit multicast data are patterned for each transmission line to which the terminals are connected, with different patterns.

(3) Means is provided for instructing the communication interface unit to transmit data to the corresponding line control module in accordance with the destination pattern table specified by the host computer.

(4) When the communication interface section receives a completion report made by the line control module in response to a data transmission instruction from the communication interface section, it registers that the completion report has been received and records the reception status of the completion report. A completion report confirmation table is provided for each multicast process.

(5) Having confirmed that all completion reports have been received in the completion report confirmation table,
A means is provided to report the completion of the corresponding multicast processing to the CPU.

(6) A multicast processing completion monitoring timer is provided to monitor whether a multicast processing completion report to the CPU occurs within a predetermined time after receiving a multicast processing instruction from the CPU.

(7) When the multicast processing completion monitoring timer times out, when reporting the completion of multicast processing to the CPU, a terminal that is not registered as having received a completion report from the line control module in the completion report confirmation table is Provide a means to notify the CPU.

Furthermore, the line control module in the multi-line communication control device is provided with means for reporting completion to the communication interface unit upon completion of data transfer processing from the communication buffer of the communication interface unit.

[0016]

[Operation] A host with one communication interface section.
In a computer system comprising a computer, a multi-line communication control device connected to the communication interface unit, and a plurality of terminals connected to the multi-line communication control device via a public line or a private line, a host computer that controls processing for the terminals is provided. When a communication processing program running on the CPU in a computer instructs multicast communication to send the same data to multiple terminals all at once, the C
The PU issues a multicast command to instruct the communication interface unit to perform multicast processing.

[0017] When the communication interface section receives a multicast command issued from the CPU, it activates a multicast processing completion monitoring timer. Next, the communication interface unit loads the multicast data into a communication buffer within the communication interface unit from the storage address on the main storage unit in the host computer notified by the command. Then, according to the destination pattern table specified by the host computer,
Instructs the line control module in the multiline communication control device to which the terminal to transmit multicast data is connected to transmit data.

When the line control module in the multi-line communication control device receives the data transmission instruction from the communication interface section, it takes in the transmission data from the communication buffer of the communication interface section to the communication buffer in the line control module, and completes the taking in. After that, a completion report is sent to the communication interface unit. The line control module then transmits multicast data to the corresponding terminal.

When the communication interface unit receives the completion report from the line control module, it registers in the completion report confirmation table that the completion report has been received from the corresponding terminal. When the communication interface unit receives a completion report from the line control module for each terminal transmitting multicast data, it stops the multicast processing completion monitoring timer and reports the completion of the corresponding multicast processing to the CPU. Here, if the communication interface unit cannot receive all the completion reports from the line control module within a predetermined time and the multicast processing completion monitoring timer times out, the corresponding multicast processing is aborted and the corresponding multicast processing is terminated by the CPU. Report. At this time, the communication interface section detects a terminal for which completion report reception has not been registered from the completion report confirmation table, and reports the corresponding terminal to the CPU.

[0020] In this way, multicast communication can be performed from the host computer to multiple terminals by instructing the CPU of the host computer to perform multicast processing once and receiving a report of completion of the multicast processing once. . Additionally, the use of the host computer bus by data transfer during multicast processing is
Only one transfer from the main storage unit to the communication buffer of the communication interface unit is required.

[0021] Furthermore, in a computer system having a host computer having a plurality of communication interface units as a component, when a multicast communication instruction is received from a communication processing program running on a CPU, the C
The PU performs multicast/multicast for each communication interface unit.
A command is issued to instruct each communication interface unit to perform multicast processing. The communication interface unit that received the multicast command and the multi-line communication control device connected to the communication interface unit are a communication interface in the computer system when there is only one communication interface unit in the host computer described above. It performs the same processing as the multi-line communication control device and the multi-line communication control device. Then, when the CPU receives a multicast processing completion report from all the communication interface units that received the multicast command,
End the corresponding multicast processing.

[0022] In this way, even in a large-scale computer system having a plurality of communication interface units in the host computer, a multicast command can be issued once for each communication interface unit, and a multicast processing completion report can be sent. By receiving it once, a series of multicast processing can be performed.

[0023]

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a computer system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The computer system can be roughly divided into a host computer 100 that provides services to users, user terminals 117-a, 117-b, 117-c, 117-d,
Each of the terminals 117-a, 117-b, 117-c, 11
Public communication network (or dedicated communication network) to which 7-d is connected
116, and components of a multi-line communication control device 110 that controls communication between the host computer 100 and each terminal 117-a, 117-b, 117-c, 117-d. Further, the host computer 100 consists of the following components. The CPU 101 connects each terminal 117-
Performs communication processing to a, 117-b, 117-c, and 117-d. The main storage unit 102 has a communication buffer 103 for storing transmission data, and is connected to the CPU 101 via a computer bus 104. The communication interface unit 105 includes an MPU 106 and a communication buffer 107 therein, and is connected to the computer bus 104. Here, the MPU 106 performs processing in response to a data communication instruction command from the CPU 101, and
2 communication buffer 103 to communication interface 105
Processing such as data transfer to the communication buffer 107 is performed. Furthermore, the communication interface unit 105 has a plurality of destination pattern tables 108 and a completion report confirmation table 109.
has. The destination pattern table 108 is used by the communication interface unit 105 to determine the terminal to which data is to be sent when performing multicast communication. In addition, the completion report confirmation table 109 includes each terminal 117-a, 117-b, which transmits multicast data,
This is to confirm whether all completion reports from each line control module 113-a, 113-b, 113-c have been received for 117-c and 117-d. The multi-line communication control device 110 consists of the following components. Computer interface module 111
is connected to the communication interface section 105. The line control modules 113-a, 113-b, 113-c are
Each internally contains an MPU 114-a and a communication buffer 115-
a, MPU 114-b and communication buffer 115-b, M
It includes a PU 114-c and a communication buffer 115-c, and is connected to the computer interface module 111 via an internal bus 112. Here, each MPU1
14-a, 114-b, and 114-c perform processing for data transmission instructions from the communication interface unit 105, data transfer from the communication buffer 107 in the communication interface unit 105, and data transmission to the terminal. And each line control module 113-a, 113-b,
113-c is the public communication network (or private communication network) 11
Each terminal 117-a, 117-b, 117 connected to 6
-c and 117-d.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic procedure for performing multicast communication in the computer system. When performing multicast communication, the CPU 101 in the host computer 100 executes the command 200
Instructs the communication interface unit 105 to perform multicast processing. Then, the communication interface unit 10
5, upon receiving the multicast processing instruction, a data transmission instruction processing 201 is activated. That is, the host
Each line control module 113 in the multi-line communication control device 110 transfers multicast data from the main storage unit 102 in the computer 100 to the communication buffer 107, and to which terminals that are targets of multicast communication are connected.
-a, 113-b, and 113-c, instruct data transmission. Each of the line control modules 113-a, 1
13-b and 113-c, upon receiving the data transmission instruction, transmit the communication buffer 107 in the communication interface unit 105.
Each corresponding terminal 117-a, 117 that transfers data from and is connected to the public communication network (or dedicated communication network) 116
-b, 117-c, and 117-d. In addition, each line control module 113
-a, 113-b, 113-c are communication buffers 107
When data has been imported from the communication interface section 1,
Report the completion to 05. Then, the communication interface unit 105 receives the completion reports from each of the line control modules 113-a, 113-b, and 113-c through the completion report receiving process 202, and reports the completion of the multicast processing to the CPU 101. . Also, a monitoring timer 20 for multicast processing in the communication interface unit 105
4, the multicast timeout process 203 is activated.

FIG. 3 shows that when a communication processing instruction is received from a communication program running on the CPU 101, the CPU 101
command 20 issued to the communication interface unit 105
This shows the format of 0. Said command 2
00 has the following components. Command code 301
represents the type of command issued by the CPU 101. When the command code 301 is a code representing multicast, the command is a multicast command. The storage address 302 indicates the first address on the main storage unit 102 where the transmission data is stored. Further, the transfer amount 303 is calculated from the main storage unit 102 to the communication buffer 1
Indicates the amount of transmission data transferred to 07. The usage table number 304 is the communication interface unit 105.
indicates the number of the destination pattern table to be referred to when instructing the line control module to send data.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of the destination pattern table 108 that the communication interface section 105 refers to when instructing the line control module to transmit data. The destination pattern table 108 has the following components. The line control module number 400 indicates all the line control modules 1 in the multiline communication control device 110.
13-a, 113-b, and 113-c are sequentially assigned numbers. Further, the terminal number 401 represents a number sequentially assigned to the terminals connected to each of the line control modules 113-a, 113-b, and 113-c. In the destination pattern table 108, for each terminal number 401 of each line control module number 400, 1 and 0 indicate whether multicast data transmission is valid or invalid, respectively.

FIG. 5 shows that each line control module 113-a, 113-b,
Completion report confirmation table 10 that registers completion report received from the corresponding terminal when the completion report is received from 113-c.
9 shows the configuration of No. 9. The completion report confirmation table 109 has the following components. The line control module number 500 indicates all the line control modules 113-a, 113-b, 113-c in the multi-line communication control device 110.
, represents the numbers assigned sequentially. In addition, the terminal number 501 is for each line control module 113-a, 113-b, 11
Represents a number sequentially assigned to a terminal connected every 3-c. The total number of issued data transmission instructions 502 represents the total number of terminals that transmit multicast data in the corresponding destination pattern table 108. Completion report receipt confirmation counter 503
are each line control module 113-a, 113-b, 1
It represents the number of completion reports received from 13-c, and the value is increased by 1 when a completion report is received. The completion report confirmation table 10
9, each line control module 113-a, 113-b
, 113-c has been received, and the 1 of the corresponding terminal is rewritten to 0.

FIG. 6 shows multicast processing 60 in the communication interface section 105 when performing multicast communication.
This shows the software configuration of 0. The multicast processing 600 includes a data transmission instruction processing 201, a completion report reception processing 202, and a multicast timeout processing 203. Upon receiving a multicast command from the CPU 101 in the host computer 100, the data transmission instruction processing 201 performs multi-line communication to which the corresponding terminal is connected, according to the destination pattern table 108 indicating the terminal to which the multicast data is to be transmitted. Each line control module 11 in the control device 110
This is a process of instructing 3-a, 113-b, and 113-c to transmit data. In addition, the completion report receiving process 202
is for a terminal sending multicast data,
Each line control module 113-a, 113-b, 113
- By receiving all the completion reports from c, the CPU
This is a process of reporting the completion of the corresponding multicast process to 101. And multicast timeout processing 2
03 is a process of aborting the corresponding multicast process due to a timeout of the multicast process completion monitoring timer 204 that monitors the completion of the process of the multicast command issued by the CPU 101, and reporting the completion to the CPU 101. Below, using FIGS. 7, 8, 9 and 10,
The flow of the multicast processing procedure in the first embodiment of the present invention will be explained.

FIG. 7 shows that when performing multicast communication, C
This figure shows a processing flow until the PU 101 instructs the communication interface unit 105 to perform multicast processing using a command 200, and ends the multicast processing upon receiving a multicast processing completion report from the communication interface unit 105. .

CPU 1 in host computer 100
When receiving an instruction for multicast communication from the communication processing program running on the 01, the CPU 101 issues a multicast command to instruct the communication interface unit 105 to perform multicast processing (700). Then, it is determined whether the completion report of the corresponding multicast processing has been received from the communication interface unit 105 (70
1) Wait for a multicast processing completion report from the communication interface section 105. Then, upon receiving the multicast processing completion report from the communication interface unit 105, the CPU 101 ends the corresponding multicast processing.

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of data transmission instruction processing 201 in the communication interface section 105.

CPU 1 in host computer 100
When the command 200 is issued from 01, the data transmission instruction processing 201 starts operating in the communication interface section 105.

When the communication interface unit 105 receives the command 200 from the CPU 101,
), analyzes the contents of the command (801), and determines whether the command code 301 is multicast (802).
). If the command code 301 is not multicast, the process is handed over to the corresponding command process (803) and the process ends. When the command code 301 is multicast, that is, when the command 200 is a multicast command, each line control module 113
-a, 113-b, 113-c, use table number 30 of the command 200.
The destination pattern table 108 specified in step 4 is copied to the completion report confirmation table 109 (804). Then, the multicast data is sent to the communication interface unit 1 from the address on the communication buffer 103 of the main storage unit 102 indicated by the storage address 302 of the command 200.
The amount of data indicated by the amount of transfer 303 is transferred to the communication buffer 107 in 05 (805). Next, the above C
In order to monitor whether a completion report in response to a multicast processing instruction from the PU 101 occurs within a predetermined time,
The multicast processing completion monitoring timer 204 is activated (806). Next, the destination pattern table 108
Detect terminals sending multicast data from (
807), and instructs the line control module to which the detected terminal is connected to transmit data (808). Then, in the destination pattern table 108, for all the terminals that transmit the multicast data, it is determined whether or not the data transmission instruction to the corresponding line control module has been completed (809), and if not completed, the data transmission instruction is Continue the issuing process, and end this process when it is completed.

[0035] In this way, when a multicast command is received from the CPU 101, the communication interface unit 10
5 takes in multicast data from the main storage unit 102, and according to the contents of the destination pattern table 108, each line control module 113 to which the data transmission terminal is connected
-a, 113-b, and 113-c are instructed to transmit data.

[0036] Each line control module 113-a, 113-b, 113-c that has received the data transmission instruction takes in multicast data from the communication buffer 107 of the communication interface unit 105, and sends it to the communication interface unit 105. Make a completion report. Then, the data is sent to the corresponding terminal.

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of the completion report receiving process 202 in the communication interface section 105.

Each line control module 113-a, 113-b, 113-c in the multi-line communication control device 110 receives data from the communication buffer 107 of the communication interface section 105,
Transmit data to each communication buffer 115-a, 115-
When the transfer to 115-b and 115-c is completed, a completion report is sent to the communication interface unit 105. Then, in the communication interface unit 105, the completion report receiving process 202 starts operating.

In the communication interface section 105, each line control module 113-a, 113-b, 113-
When the completion report from c is received (900), the 1 of the corresponding terminal that received the terminal is changed to 0 in the completion report confirmation table 109, and the received status is registered (901). Then, the completion report receipt confirmation counter 50 of the completion report confirmation table 109
3 is increased by 1 (902). Next, the total number of data transmission instructions issued 502 in the completion report confirmation table 109,
It is determined whether the values of the completion report receipt confirmation counters 503 are equal (903). If the result of the above judgment is that they are equal,
This means that all terminals that have transmitted multicast data have received completion reports from the corresponding line control modules, and the multicast processing completion monitoring timer 204 is stopped (904). Then, the end of the corresponding multicast processing is reported to the CPU 101 in the host computer 100 (905). If the results of the determination are not equal, the corresponding multicast processing has not been completed, and this processing ends.

In this way, the communication interface unit 105
When the completion report sent from each line control module 113-a, 113-b, 113-c in the multi-line communication control device 110 is received, a received status is registered for the corresponding terminal in the completion report confirmation table 109. Then, for all terminals that sent multicast data,
Upon completion of receiving the completion report from the corresponding line control module, the completion of the corresponding multicast processing is reported to the CPU 101.

FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of multicast timeout processing 203 that operates in communication interface section 105 when multicast processing completion monitoring timer 204 times out during multicast processing.

[0042] Each line control module 113-a, 113- to which the communication interface unit 105 has instructed data transmission
If the predetermined multicast processing time elapses before the communication interface unit 105 receives all the completion reports from the multicast processing end reports from the multicast processing end monitors 113-c, the multicast processing end monitoring timer 204 times out. When the multicast processing completion monitoring timer 204 times out, the multicast timeout processing 203 starts operating.

The communication interface unit 105 selects a terminal for which the reception of the completion report from the line control module is not registered in the completion report confirmation table 109, that is, a terminal for which 1 is written in the completion report confirmation table 109. Detected (1000), the terminal is considered to have terminated abnormally, and the process is terminated (1001). Then, the contents of the completion report confirmation table 109 are notified to the CPU 101, and the multicast processing is reported to be completed (100
2).

In this way, the communication interface section 105
In this case, if all completion reports cannot be received from each line control module 113-a, 113-b, and 113-c within a predetermined multicast processing time, the monitoring timer 204 that monitors the elapsed time of multicast processing is activated. Multicast processing is forcibly terminated due to timeout. The communication interface unit 105 communicates with the CPU 10
1, a termination report of the corresponding multicast processing is made, and at the same time, terminals that have not been registered as having received the termination report from the line control module are reported to the CPU 101 as abnormally terminated terminals.

According to this embodiment, when transmitting the same data from the CPU in the host computer to arbitrary plurality of terminals all at once, the CPU instructs multicast processing once by a command, and then sends the same data to the CPU. Since a series of multicast processing can be realized by reporting the completion of the multicast once, the communication processing load on the CPU during multicasting can be reduced. Furthermore, since the bus is used only once for transferring multicast data from the main memory in the host computer, the load on the computer bus due to data transfer during multicast communication can be reduced. Furthermore, since the multicast data stored in the communication buffer of the main storage section only needs to be data for one terminal, the capacity of the main storage section due to multicast data can be reduced.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, data transfer between the upper and lower modules is performed by the upper module initiating the lower module, rather than by the upper module transmitting data to the lower module. , the lower module takes in data from the upper module. Therefore, the load of data transfer processing on the upper module for the lower module that requires transmission data can be reduced.

Next, a second embodiment will be explained using FIGS. 11 and 12.

FIG. 11 shows the configuration of a computer system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The difference between the computer system and the computer system of the first embodiment is that a host computer 1100 that provides services to users includes a plurality of communication interface units 105, 1105-a, and 1105-b.
and a multi-line communication control device 110, 1110-a, 1110-b is connected to each communication interface unit. Further, the CPU 1101 of the host computer 1100 performs communication processing for all communication interface units. The components of each communication interface unit 105, 1105-a, 1105-b and each multi-line communication control device 110, 1110-a, 1110-b are the same as in the first embodiment. And each multi-line communication control device 110, 1110-a,
1110-b is a public communication network (or private communication network) 1
16, each terminal 117-a, 117-b, 11
7-c and 117-d.

The flow of the multicast processing procedure in the second embodiment of the present invention will be explained below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 12 shows that when performing multicast communication,
In the CPU 1101, each communication interface unit 10
5, 1105-a, 1105-b to perform multicast processing, and each communication interface unit 105, 110
5-a and 1105-b, the processing flow is shown until the corresponding multicast processing is completed upon receiving all the multicast processing completion reports from 5-a and 1105-b.

CPU in host computer 1100
When receiving an instruction for multicast communication from a communication processing program running on the communication processing program 1101, the CPU 1001 issues a multicast command to the communication interface unit 105 (1200). Next, a multicast command is issued to the communication interface unit 1105-a (1
201), sequentially issues multicast commands to the corresponding communication interface units. Then, a multicast command is issued to the last communication interface unit 1105-b (1202). After issuing the multicast command to all applicable communication interfaces,
The CPU 1101 determines whether a multicast processing completion report has been received from the corresponding communication interface unit (1203), and waits for a multicast processing completion report from the corresponding communication interface unit. When the multicast processing completion report is received from the corresponding communication interface section, it is determined whether the multicast processing completion report has been received from the next corresponding communication interface section (1204), and the multicast processing completion report is received from the next corresponding communication interface section. wait. Then, the multicast processing completion report is repeatedly received from the corresponding communication interface unit, and it is determined whether the multicast processing completion report has been received from the last corresponding communication interface unit (1205).
). Upon receiving the multicast processing completion report from the last corresponding communication interface unit, the CPU 1101 ends the corresponding multicast processing.

[0052] Here, each communication interface unit 105 that has received the multicast command from the CPU 1101
, 1105-a, 1105-b, and multi-line communication control devices 110, 1110- connected to each of the communication interface units 105, 1105-a, 1105-b, respectively.
a and 1110-b are the communication interface unit 105 and the multi-line communication control device 110 in the first embodiment, respectively.
Perform the same processing as .

According to this embodiment, even in a large-scale computer system having a plurality of communication interface units in the host computer, when performing multicast communication, the multicast processing instructions from the CPU and the CPU A series of multicast processing can be realized by reporting the completion once to . Therefore, the communication processing load on the CPU during multicast communication can be reduced.

Further, a third embodiment will be explained using FIGS. 13 and 14.

FIG. 13 shows the configuration of a computer system according to a third embodiment of the present invention. As in the case of the first embodiment, the computer system includes a host computer 100, a multi-line communication control device 110, a public communication network (or private communication network) 116, and terminals 117-a, 117-b, 117. -c,117-
Consists of d components. Computer of the third embodiment
The difference between the system and the computer system of the first embodiment is that the computer in the multi-line communication control device 110
This includes the internal configuration of the interface module 1300 and the processing of the communication interface section 1305 within the host computer 100. The computer interface module 1300 includes an MPU 1301 and a communication buffer 1302, and further includes a destination pattern table 108 and a completion report confirmation table 109. The MPU 1301 performs processing in response to data communication instruction commands from the CPU 101, data transfer from the main storage unit 102 to the communication buffer 1302, and the like. Further, the computer interface module 1300
The communication interface unit 1305 connected to the CPU1
Data communication instruction command from 01 and main storage unit 102
The transferred data from the computer interface module 1300 is passed as is to the computer interface module 1300.

FIG. 14 shows the computer system of the third embodiment.
This figure shows a general procedure for performing multicast communication in the system.

When performing multicast communication, CPU 101 in host computer 100 issues a multicast command to computer interface module 1300 in multi-line communication control device 110. Then, data transmission instruction processing 201, completion report reception processing 202, and multicast timeout processing 203 of multicast processing 600 are performed in the computer interface module 1300. At this time, the communication interface unit 1305 does not perform any processing regarding the exchange of information between the CPU 101 and the computer interface module 1300, and transfers the information as is. Then, the CPU 101 receives a multicast processing completion report from the computer interface module 1300, and ends the corresponding multicast processing.

Furthermore, the computer interface module in the multi-line communication control device in the computer system of the second embodiment is the same as the computer interface module in the multi-line communication control device in the computer system of the third embodiment. The general procedure for multicast communication in the case of module 1300 is also the same as the above-described processing procedure for each multi-line communication control device.

According to this embodiment, when a line control module in a multi-line communication control device is added to a computer system, changes related to multicast processing can be made only within the multi-line communication control device. That is, multicast communication can be performed to any number of terminals connected to the host computer via a public line or the like, without making any changes to the inside of the host computer.

[0060]

According to the present invention, in a computer system in which a plurality of terminals are physically connected to a host computer via a multi-line communication control device through separate public lines or private lines, Even if the connected communication network is not capable of multicast communication, it is possible to implement multicast communication in which the same data is sent to terminals all at once. Furthermore, the terminal can process all data received from the communication network as data destined for itself, without determining whether the data transmitted from the host computer is multicast data or data addressed to itself. This allows the system to be constructed using general terminals without the need for terminals with special means.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic procedure of multicast processing according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the format of a command issued by a CPU to a communication interface section.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of a destination pattern table that is referred to when instructing a line control module to transmit data in a communication interface unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of a completion report confirmation table in which, when a completion report is received from a line control module, the communication interface section registers the completion of reception of the completion report from the corresponding terminal.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a software configuration of multicast processing when performing multicast communication.

FIG. 7 shows a computer according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a processing flowchart from instructing multicast processing to completion of the corresponding multicast processing in the CPU of the system.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a flowchart of data transmission instruction processing that operates in the communication interface section.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a flowchart of completion report receiving processing that operates in the communication interface unit.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a flowchart of timeout processing that operates in the communication interface section.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the configuration of a computer system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a processing flowchart from instructing multicast processing to completion of the corresponding multicast processing in the CPU of the computer system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the configuration of a computer system according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a schematic procedure of multicast processing in a computer system according to a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

100...Host computer, 101...CPU, 105...Communication interface section, 106...MPU, 107...Communication buffer, 108...Destination pattern table, 109...Completion report confirmation Table, 110...Multi-line communication control device, 113-a, 113-b, 113-c...Line control module, 200...Command, 201...Data transmission instruction processing, 202...End Report reception processing, 203...Multicast timeout processing, 13
00... Computer interface module.

Claims (4)

[Claims] Claim 1: A host computer consisting of a CPU, a main memory, and one communication interface, and an MP that processes instructions from the host computer.
A multi-line communication control device that includes a U (Micro Processing Unit) and a communication buffer for temporarily storing transmission data, and has a plurality of line control modules connected to the communication interface section, and the multi-line communication control device , consists of a plurality of terminals that are physically connected to each other by separate public lines or private lines, and furthermore, the part that receives data transmission instructions is equipped with means for fetching data from the communication buffer of the instruction issuer. In a computer system, when performing multicast communication in which the same data is simultaneously transmitted from the host computer to a plurality of terminals (a group of terminals) via a multi-line communication control device, a command is sent to the communication interface section. A CPU is provided with a means for instructing multicast processing once, and an M that performs processing in response to an instruction from the CPU.
PU, a communication buffer for temporarily storing transmission data on the main storage unit, and a line control module to which a terminal for transmitting multicast data is connected;
A highly efficient multicast system, characterized in that a communication interface section is provided with a table indicating destinations for instructing data transmission, and means for instructing a corresponding line control module to transmit data according to the table. 2. In a computer system, the part that receives the data transmission instruction is provided with means for reporting completion of the data transmission instruction to the instruction issuer, wherein the computer system is equipped with a means for reporting the completion of the data transmission instruction to the instruction issuer, wherein the computer system is configured to transmit a signal to the line in response to the data transmission instruction from the communication interface section during multicast communication. A table for confirming that the communication interface unit has received the completion report issued by the control module; means for reporting the completion of multicast processing; a timer for monitoring whether the communication interface unit reports the completion of multicast processing to the CPU within a predetermined time after receiving the multicast processing instruction from the CPU; 2. The high-efficiency multicast system according to claim 1, wherein the communication interface unit is provided with means for notifying the CPU of terminals in the table that have not yet completed receiving the completion report when the timer times out. 3. The high-efficiency multicast system according to claim 1, wherein the host computer has a plurality of communication interface units as components. 4. The multi-line communication control device includes an MP that processes instructions from a CPU of a host computer.
A computer interface module comprising a communication buffer for temporarily storing transmission data on the main memory of a host computer as a component, and when performing multicast communication, distributes the data transmission instruction according to claim 1. 2. The high-efficiency multicast system according to claim 1, wherein the processing is performed by the computer interface module.