JPH10164113A - Data communication system, apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a data communication system, an apparatus, and a method capable of easily and easily confirming connection between a plurality of devices. SOLUTION: In a data communication system for performing communication between a plurality of devices connected in a tree shape via a transmission path,
Management means for managing the connection relationship between the plurality of devices; display means for displaying the connection relationship between the plurality of devices based on the management means; designation means for designating a specific device from the display means; Transmitting means for transmitting control data to the specific device specified by the means,
By specifying a specific device from the devices that display the connection relationship of a plurality of devices in the system, it is easy to connect the specific device or the device having the display that indicates the connection relationship with the specific device, and Make it easy to check.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data communication system, apparatus and method, and more particularly to a digital interface for communicating digital information signals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, a system for connecting a plurality of devices using a serial bus compliant with IEEE 1394-1995 (hereinafter, IEEE 1394) and performing communication between these devices is being studied.

In the digital bus system connected by the IEEE 1394 bus, in the initial state, the power of all digital devices connected to the bus is turned off. Therefore, the user first turns on the power of the digital device to be used.

As described above, when the power of a digital device to be used is turned on, the bus is reset, and
Initialization is performed according to the EEE1394 standard, whereby IDs are assigned to nodes of digital devices that are powered on the bus.

[0005] Thereafter, when exchanging control information and status information with a specific partner node, the assigned ID is set as the destination ID of the packet. When transmitting information to an unspecified number of nodes, the information can be transmitted using an IEEE 1394 broadcast channel.

[0006]

However, the system constructed according to the IEEE 1394 standard as described above has the following disadvantages. For example, when a plurality of devices are connected in a tree shape to form a system, it has been difficult for a user to check a specific device from predetermined devices that control the system. In particular, when the same model of the same maker is connected, there is a problem that there is no means for solving the above-mentioned disadvantage.

[0007] In view of the above-mentioned background, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and to provide a data communication system, an apparatus and a method capable of easily and easily confirming connection between a plurality of devices. That we can provide.

[0008]

A data communication system according to the present invention manages a connection relationship between a plurality of devices in a data communication system in which communication is performed between a plurality of devices connected in a tree via a transmission path. Management means, a display means for displaying a connection relationship between the plurality of devices based on the management means, a designation means for designating a specific device from the display means, and the specific device designated by the designation means And transmission means for transmitting control data to the control unit.

Another feature of the present invention is that
A device existing between the specific device and the device having the transmitting means relays the control data.

Another feature of the present invention is that when the specific device receives the control data,
The display for confirming the connection state is performed by the specific device or the device having the designation unit.

According to another feature of the present invention, the control data is data for confirming a connection state with the specific device specified by the specifying means.

Another feature of the present invention is that the display for confirming the connection state is performed by a predetermined voice or a predetermined display.

Another feature of the present invention is that the management means has a function of a topology manager conforming to IEEE 1394-1995.

Another feature of the present invention is that data communicated via the transmission path is an IEEE 1
It is characterized by data conforming to 394-1995.

Another feature of the present invention is that the designating means can be directly operated by a user.

Another feature of the present invention is that the transmitting means packetizes the control data, generates a transmission packet, and transmits the packet.

Another feature of the present invention is that the transmission packet is a packet in an isochronous mode or an asynchronous mode.

According to another feature of the present invention, the transmitting means converts the transmission packet into a bit stream and transmits the bit stream serially.

Further, the data communication apparatus of the present invention is a data communication apparatus for communicating between a plurality of devices connected in a tree via a transmission path, wherein the managing means manages a connection relationship between the plurality of devices. A display unit that displays a connection relationship between the plurality of devices based on the management unit; a specification unit that specifies a specific device from the display unit; and a control unit that controls the specific device specified by the specification unit. Transmission means for transmitting data.

Further, the data communication method of the present invention is a method for performing communication between a plurality of devices connected in a tree via a transmission path, wherein the first process for managing the connection relationship between the plurality of devices is performed. A second process for displaying a connection relationship between the plurality of devices based on the first process, a third process for specifying a specific device from the second process, and a designation based on the third process. And transmitting the control data to the specified device.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a data communication system, apparatus and method of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows a system in which a plurality of digital information devices (nodes) are connected and configured by IEEE1394. The system is based on IEEE 139.
4 compliant.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a printer, 2 is a personal computer (PC), and 3 is a first digital V
TR (DVTR1), 4 is a second digital VTR (D
VTRs 2) and 5 to 7 are connection confirmation display sections provided in each node, and 8 is a cable.

As shown in FIG. 1, in a system constituted by a plurality of nodes, a node ID number is automatically assigned according to the connection mode of each node constituting the system after a bus reset.

For example, in the case of FIG. 1, node_0 for the printer 1, node_1 for the PC2, DVTR1
(3) node_2, DVTR2 (4) node
e_3, and a node ID. The node ID of each node is assigned according to a node assignment procedure based on IEEE1394.

The PC 2 has a function of managing the connection relation of the nodes on the bus as a table, that is, a function of a topology manager defined in IEEE1394.
By using this function, PC 2
The node ID and device name of each node can be displayed on the monitor 207 of C2, for example, DVTR2 (node_3).

The device name of each node is data for each product type that each digital information device has. For example, if two digital VTRs of the same manufacturer and model are connected to the system, the data for each product type of each digital VTR is the same, so that the device name of each digital VTR is also set to the same.

In IEEE 1394, since the connection between nodes is described in a parent-child relationship, the PC 2 can display the topology of each node physically connected on the bus. FIG. 4 shows a monitor screen of PC2 which is a control node. In FIG. 4, 201, 203,
Reference numerals 205 and 208 denote icons representing information devices connected to the bus as images.
6, 209 indicate the node ID of each node;
11, 212, and 213 indicate device names of the respective nodes.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 214 denotes an icon (201, 203, 205, 20) displayed on the monitor 207.
8) pointing means (for example, an arrow-shaped pointer that can be designated by a mouse).

By pointing the icon (201, 203, 205, 208) of each node displayed on the monitor screen of the PC 2 by the pointing means 214, the connection to the node pointed from the PC 2 is confirmed. For example, Icon 2 on the monitor 207 of the PC 2
When pointed to 05, PC2 is the DV of node_3.
The connection confirmation is performed on the TR2 (4), and if the connection is normally made, the connection confirmation display section 7 of the DVTR2 (4) performs an easy-to-understand display such as lighting or blinking.

The connection confirmation display sections (5, 6,
In 7), it has been described that when a normal connection is confirmed, display such as lighting or blinking is performed, but it is also possible to display by voice or a liquid crystal panel. When a normal connection is not confirmed, it is also possible to display that no confirmation was made at the node that confirmed the connection.
Further, when checking the connection of each node from the monitor screen of the PC 2, the user can also check the physical positional relationship of each device. For example, the icon of each node displayed on the monitor screen (201, 203, 205, 2
08) can be changed to the actual arrangement state.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a connection confirmation transaction conforming to IEEE 1394. The connection confirmation transaction from the operation of the connection confirmation button (pointing means 214) of the transmission node to the display of the connection confirmation display section of the target node is shown. Since the transaction conforms to IEEE 1394, a detailed description thereof is omitted.

In FIG. 2, the left side shows the flow of operation of the transmitting node, and the right side shows the flow of operation of each target node. The center indicates each layer of the transmitting node and the target node, and the vertical line indicates the boundary between the layers.

The IEEE 1394 comprises a plurality of layers, a physical layer, a link layer, a transaction layer, a management layer, and an application layer (FIG. 8). Each layer is a physical layer. Set electrical specifications,
The link layer defines a protocol such as read / write, the transaction layer is a management driver that performs an actual operation on the IEEE1394 interface, and the management layer is an IEEE1
394 is a driver for managing the network, and the application layer is software for managing the transaction layer and the management layer.

When the explanation button of the transmission node is operated, the transmission node generates a connection confirmation packet to confirm the connection of the target node. The connection confirmation packet is transmitted to the target node designated by the pointing means 214. The target node receives the connection confirmation packet, executes the connection confirmation packet connection confirmation command, and displays the connection confirmation on the connection confirmation display unit.

Further, when the target node receives the connection confirmation packet, the transmission of the connection confirmation packet to the transmission node allows the transmission node to display the connection confirmation of the target node.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a connection confirmation packet. FIG. 3 shows an asynchronous mode (Asynchronous mod.
The configuration of the packet for connection confirmation according to e) is shown.
The configuration of the connection confirmation packet in FIG.
394, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

When the transmitting node generates a packet (FIG. 3) for connection confirmation in Asynchronous mode, the ID of the target node specified by the pointing means is written in the destination node ID, and the connection confirmation command is written in the payload.

In the asynchronous mode, if a code for confirming the connection is set in advance in the tcode of the packet, the code indicating the target node is set in the target node.
It is only necessary to write a control command or the like to the register address, and it is not necessary to add extra data to the payload. For this reason, the data amount of the transmission packet can be reduced.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a case where three nodes are connected on the bus. In FIG. 5, nodes 0 (109), node 1 (110),
A node 2 (111) and a node ID are set. 1
01 is a display unit that displays connection confirmation by lighting or blinking, 102 is a control CPU, 103 is a pointing unit that specifies a node for which connection confirmation is desired, 104 is a memory,
105 is a bus, 106 is a packet processing unit conforming to IEEE 1394, 107 is a terminal conforming to IEEE 1394, 108 is a cable, 109 is node 0, 110 is node 1, 111 is node 2, and 112 is connection confirmation by voice. This is a display unit for displaying. The nodes 1 and 2 have the same configuration as the node 0 except for the pointing unit 103.

Node 0 (109), which is the transmitting node,
According to the operation of the pointing unit 103, the node 1 (11
0) and node 2 (111) are designated as target nodes. After operating the pointing unit 103, the control CPU of the transmitting node reads the connection confirmation command from the memory 104 and inputs the command to the packet processing unit 106.

In the packet processing unit 106, in order to specify a target node as a transmission destination, the IEEE 1394
Set the register address of the destination node specified in
Further, packetization of the transmission packet is performed in accordance with the IEEE 1394 transaction, link, and physical layer standards.

Further, the packet processing unit 106 converts the generated transmission packet into a bit stream,
07 to the target node connected on the bus via the cable 108.

The target node receives the bit stream data from the transmitting node and restores the received packet in accordance with the IEEE 1394 standard.
Perform at

The control CPU 102 of the target node
The packet information is extracted from the restored received packet, and the packet information is written to a specific address of the memory 104 specified by IEEE1394. Control CPU 102
Determines whether the type of control command written at a specific address in the memory 104 is a connection confirmation command.
Then, if the result of the determination is a control confirmation command, the display unit 101 causes the display by lighting / flashing to be displayed on the display unit 112.
Then, display is performed by voice.

By performing the above operation on each node of each target node (node 1 or node 2), the connection of each node can be confirmed.

Next, the control CPU 102 determines the content of the control command written at the specific address, and if it is a confirmation code, turns on the display device 101. Also, a confirmation sound is generated by the sound generation device 112 for generating a sound such as a buzzer sound.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show flowcharts for explaining the operation of the transmitting node and the target node according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, in the transmitting node, first, in step S61, the IEEE 1394 is reset, and an ID is assigned to each node.

Next, in step S62, it is determined whether or not the reset is "OK".
If not K ”, the process proceeds to step S63 to stop the process.

If the reset is "OK", the flow advances to step S64 to acquire topology information. next,
Proceeding to step S65, the topology information acquired in step S64 is displayed.

Next, the flow advances to step S66 to wait for an event from the pointing means. When a specific node is designated via the pointing means 214, the process proceeds to step S67 to perform a button operation.
As described above, wri for connection confirmation by Asynchronousmode
Perform te transaction processing (step S6)
8).

Next, proceeding to step S69, the connection confirmation code is packetized, and the register address is set in step S70. Next, in step S71, after the target node ID is packetized to the destination, the process proceeds to step S72, and a packet is transmitted to the target node ID.

On the other hand, the processing in the target node
This is performed as shown in the flowchart of FIG. First,
In step S51, a packet having its own node ID is received. Since the received packet has been converted into a bit stream, the process proceeds to step S52 to restore the received packet to the original packet.

Then, the process proceeds to a step S53, wherein the data written in the payload of the received packet is
A process of writing to the register address of the memory is performed. Thereafter, in step S54, a code determination process of the register is performed, and it is determined in the next step S55 whether or not the determined code is a confirmation code.

If the result of determination in step S55 is that the code is a confirmation code, the flow advances to step S56 to perform display processing, perform processing for generating a buzzer sound, and visually and audibly confirm that the confirmation code has been received. To inform the user. If the result of determination in step S55 is that the code is not a confirmation code, the mode shifts to another mode (step S55).
57).

In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the topology is displayed on the PC. However, the topology may be displayed on a dedicated controller in a table format. In that case, the actual physical arrangement cannot be displayed on the screen, but the convenience of specifying the node can be obtained.

(Other Embodiments of the Present Invention) The present invention is directed to an apparatus connected to the various devices or a computer in a system so as to operate various devices so as to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments. On the other hand, a program code of software for realizing the functions of the packet generation means, the transmission packet generation means, the bit stream generation means, the reception packet generation means, etc. of the above embodiment is supplied and stored in a computer (CPU or MPU). What was implemented by operating the above-mentioned various devices according to a program is also included in the category of the present invention.

In this case, the program code of the software itself realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to the computer,
For example, a storage medium storing such a program code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for storing such a program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM,
A magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the supplied program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (operating system) or other operating system running on the computer. Needless to say, the program code is also included in the embodiment of the present invention when the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized in cooperation with application software or the like.

Further, after the supplied program code is stored in a memory provided in a function expansion board of the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board or the function expansion unit is specified based on the instruction of the program code. It is needless to say that the present invention also includes a case where a CPU or the like provided in the first embodiment performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

The present invention can be embodied in various forms without departing from its spirit or its main features. For example, in the present embodiment, IEEE1394-1
Although a system configured using a serial bus conforming to 995 has been described, the present invention can be applied to a system having functions similar to those of the system. Therefore, the above-described embodiment is merely an example in every aspect, and should not be construed as limiting.

[0061]

As described above, according to the present invention, by specifying a specific device from among the devices for displaying the connection relationship of a plurality of devices in the system, the display indicating the specific device or the connection relationship is performed. The connection with the specific device can be easily and easily confirmed by the device having

Further, according to the present invention, the connection relationship between a plurality of devices in the system is displayed, and a specific device is designated from this display, so that the devices on the display and the devices actually connected are displayed. The user can easily specify and relate. Therefore, for example, even when a plurality of the same devices exist in the system, the inconvenience of erroneous operation can be reliably prevented.

Further, according to the present invention, since the physical positional relationship of each device can be confirmed from the display of the connection relationship of a plurality of devices, the user can actually display the connection relationship of each device. Can be displayed after being converted to an arrangement where is connected. Thereby, the arrangement on the display and the actual arrangement can be made the same, and the operation of each device can be easily performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention and illustrating a connection example of digital devices.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a connection confirmation transaction according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an asynchronous packet according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a topology display example.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of node connection according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a transmission node.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the receiving node.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing components of IEEE1394.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 printer 2 personal computer (controller) 3 first digital VTR 4 second digital VTR

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A data communication system for performing communication between a plurality of devices connected in a tree via a transmission path, wherein: a management means for managing a connection relationship between the plurality of devices; Display means for displaying a connection relationship between a plurality of devices; designation means for designating a specific device from the display means; and transmission means for transmitting control data to the specific device designated by the designation means. A data communication system comprising: 2. The data communication system according to claim 1, wherein a device existing between the specific device and the device having the transmission unit relays the control data. . 3. The data communication system according to claim 1, wherein when the specific device receives the control data, a display for confirming a connection state is performed by the specific device or the device having the designation unit. A data communication system, comprising: 4. The data communication system according to claim 1, wherein the control data is data for confirming a connection state to the specific device specified by the specifying unit. Characteristic data communication system. 5. The data communication system according to claim 3, wherein the display for confirming the connection state is performed by a predetermined voice or a predetermined display. 6. The data communication system according to claim 1, wherein said management means has a function of a topology manager compliant with IEEE 1394-1995. 7. The data communication system according to claim 1, wherein the data communicated via the transmission path is IEEE139.
A data communication system characterized by data conforming to 4-1995. 8. The data communication system according to claim 1, wherein said designation means can be directly operated by a user. 9. The data communication system according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting unit packetizes the control data, generates a transmission packet, and transmits the generated transmission packet. system. 10. The data communication system according to claim 9, wherein the transmission packet is an isochronous mode packet or an asynchronous mode packet. 11. The data communication system according to claim 9, wherein said transmission unit converts the transmission packet into a bit stream and transmits the bit stream serially. 12. A data communication device for performing communication between a plurality of devices connected in a tree via a transmission path, wherein: a management unit for managing a connection relationship between the plurality of devices; Display means for displaying a connection relationship between a plurality of devices; designation means for designating a specific device from the display means; and transmission means for transmitting control data to the specific device designated by the designation means. A data communication device comprising: 13. A method for performing communication between a plurality of devices connected in a tree via a transmission path, wherein a first process for managing a connection relationship between the plurality of devices and a first process are performed based on the first process. A second process for displaying the connection relationship between the plurality of devices, a third process for specifying a specific device from the second process, and a process for the specific device specified by the third process. And a fourth process of transmitting control data by using the data communication method.