JPH1051867A - Device monitor system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device monitor system by which a device monitor equipment collects a status register value in peripheral devices in a shorter time. SOLUTION: A device monitor equipment 10 sends the same status read command to repeaters 110, 120, 130 altogether. A CPU 112 of the repeater 110 reads a status register from a peripheral device designated in the status read command and stores it to a status buffer 111, then a priority control section 113 sets a reply request signal on a signal line 12 to hold the transmission of th status register value. When the priority control section 113 discriminates it that highest priority is placed on its own repeater among the repeaters in the transmission hold state based on the reply request signals on signal lines 12-14, the CPU 112 transfers the status register value from the status buffer 111 toward the device monitor device 10. The repeaters 120, 130 are operated similarly to above.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for monitoring the operation status of a system such as a general-purpose computer system, a radar system, and a line switching device.
The present invention relates to a technique for acquiring information on an operation status from each device operating on a system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Usually, on a system such as a general-purpose computer system, a radar system, and a line switching device, a plurality of devices connected to the system are usually operated. It is important to grasp the operation status of these devices in order to achieve stable operation of the entire system. In this regard, conventionally, a technique has been devised in which a monitoring device placed in a system acquires information on the operating status of a device operating on the system.

[0003] With reference to FIG. 4, a prior art of this kind will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a general computer system. The system bus 41 of the computer system 4 includes peripheral devices (computer system 4).
And a plurality of relay devices 410, 420, and 4 that monitor the operating state of various devices operating on the
30 are connected. Further, each of the relay devices 410 and 42
0 and 430 respectively have k peripheral devices 441.
To 44k, m peripheral devices 451 to 45m, and n peripheral devices 461 to 46n are connected.

The relay devices 410, 420, and 430 include CPUs 441, 421, and 431 for executing a status read command transmitted from the device monitoring device 40, and peripheral devices 441 to 44k, 451 to 45m, and 461 to 4
Reference numerals 6n denote status registers 471 to 47k for storing status register values which are information on the operating state of the self.
81-48 m and 491-49 n. Although the number of relay devices is limited to three for the sake of simplicity, the number of relay devices and the number of devices connected to the relay devices are generally arbitrary.

In the computer system 4 having the above-described configuration, the device monitoring device 40 sends the relay devices 410 and 42
A different status read command is transmitted to each of 0 and 430. For example, a status read command transmitted from the device monitoring device 40 to the relay device 410 is transmitted to the relay device 410 by the peripheral devices 441 to 44.
The instruction is to read the status register value from any of the k status registers 471 to 47k.

Hereinafter, the operation of the computer system 4 will be described more specifically. The device monitoring device 40 transmits a status read command to the relay device 410. The relay apparatus 410 that has received the status read command, according to this command, among the peripheral devices 441 to 44k,
The status register value is read from the designated one and transmitted to the device monitoring apparatus 40. Next, the device monitoring device 40 transmits a status read command to the relay device 420. Upon receiving the status read command, the relay device 420 responds to the command by the peripheral device 4.
The status register value is read out from the designated one of 51 to 45 m and transmitted to the device monitoring apparatus 40.
Finally, the device monitoring device 40 transmits a status read command to the relay device 430. Upon receiving the status read command, the relay device 430 reads the status register value from the designated one of the peripheral devices 461 to 46n according to the command, and reads the status register value.
Send to 0. Thus, the device monitoring device 40
Acquires the status register value of the specified peripheral device via the relay devices 410, 420, and 430.

[0007]

According to the above prior art, the device monitoring device 40 transmits a status read command to specify the designated peripheral device connected to the relay device 410, the designated peripheral device connected to the relay device 420, The status register values are acquired from the status registers in the order of the designated peripheral devices connected to the relay device 430. For example, the time required for each relay device to read one status register value is Tdev, and the peripheral devices 441 to 44
Assuming that k, 451 to 45m, and 461 to 46n are all specified by the status read command, the time Twat required to read the status register is given by the following equation.

[0008]

## EQU1 ## Twat = 3.times. (K + m + n) .times.Tdev

As described above, the period from when the device monitoring apparatus 40 starts transmitting the status read command to the relay apparatus 410 to when the reception of the status register value of the peripheral device connected to the relay apparatus 430 is completed. , The above T
There is a problem that a time required for reading the status register such as wat is required, and a great amount of time is required for monitoring peripheral devices.

An object of the present invention is to provide a device monitoring system capable of further reducing the time from when a device monitoring device transmits a status read command to when the device monitoring device finishes receiving a status register value of a specified peripheral device. It is in.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device monitoring system for acquiring status information relating to an operation, such as a status register value, from a plurality of devices; A plurality of relay devices that relay the monitoring device and, the monitoring device comprises means for transmitting a type of monitoring command specifying a device to obtain the state information to the plurality of relay devices, Each relay device includes means for acquiring the status information from a device designated by a monitoring command transmitted from the monitoring device, and transmitting the status information to the monitoring device.

As a preferred mode of each of the relay devices, the relay device has a buffer for storing the status information acquired from a device specified by a monitoring command transmitted from the monitoring device, and is provided in advance in the plurality of relay devices. When the own relay device has the highest priority among the relay devices having the buffer in which the status information is stored in the priority order, the status information stored in the buffer is transmitted to the monitoring device. I do.

[0013] The monitoring command includes, for example, identification information of a device from which the status information is to be obtained for each of the relay devices. Each of the relay devices includes a device identification for its own relay device included in the monitoring command. Reading the state information from a device indicated by the information.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system bus 11 of the computer system 1 includes a device monitoring device 10 for monitoring the operation status of peripheral devices (various devices operating on the computer system 1) and a plurality of relay devices 110, 120, and 130, a half-duplex communication system. Connected to enable drop serial transmission.

The relay devices 110, 120 and 130 respectively have k peripheral devices 141 to 14k and m, respectively.
Peripheral devices 151 to 15 m and n peripheral devices 161 to 16 n are connected. Further, the peripheral devices 141 to 14k, 151 to 15m, 161 to 16n
Are status registers 171 to 17k, 181 to 18m, and 191 to 19n for storing status register values as status information.
And the relay device can read the status register value. Here, the subscript natural numbers k, m, and n mean the number of devices.

The relay devices 110, 120, and 130 analyze and execute the status read command transmitted from the device monitoring device 10, respectively.
2, status registers 171 to 17k, 181 to 18m,
Connected to status buffers 111, 121, and 131 and three signal lines 12 to 14 for temporarily storing status register values read from 191 to 19n until transmission to the device monitoring apparatus 10. The priority control units 113, 123, and 133 are provided for notifying the CPUs 112, 122, and 132 of the transmission timings of the status register values stored in the status buffers 111, 121, and 131.

The signal line 12 is connected to the repeater 110 and the signal line 13
Is a relay device 120, and the signal line 14 is a relay device 130.
Respectively. Priority control units 113, 123, 13
Reference numeral 3 sets the response signal flowing through the signal lines 12 to 14 to ON or OFF in accordance with the state of its own relay device.

As an example, the operation of the priority control unit 113 will be described, but the other priority control units 123 and 133 perform the same operation. The priority control unit 113 sets the response signal of the signal line 12 to ON when the status register values of the peripheral devices 141 to 14k specified by the status read command transmitted from the device monitoring device 10 are stored in the status buffer 111. Then, the other relay apparatuses, that is, the relay apparatuses 120 and 130, indicate that transmission of the status register value to the device monitoring apparatus 10 is pending. Further, when the response signal of the signal line 12 is on, the priority control unit 113 determines that the relay device whose transmission of the status register value is pending based on the priority set in advance for all the relay devices is It is determined whether or not the relay device 110 has the highest priority, and if it is the highest priority, it notifies the CPU 112 that the status register value stored in the status buffer 111 should be transmitted to the device monitoring device 10.

For example, the priorities set in advance in the relay device are in the order of the relay devices 110, 120, and 130, and the response signal flowing through the signal lines 12 and 13 is ON, and the response signal flowing through the signal line 14 is OFF. For example, the relay devices 110 and 120
Transmission of the status register value is pending, and the priority control unit 1
13 informs the CPU 112 that its own relay device 110 should transmit the message with the highest priority.
The status register value stored in 11 is transmitted to the device monitoring apparatus 10. Then, immediately after the relay device 12
From 0, the status register value is transmitted. Further, when the priority control unit 113 finishes transmitting the status register value stored in the status buffer 111 to the device monitoring apparatus 10, it sets the response signal on the signal line 12 to off.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the format of a status read command transmitted collectively from the device monitoring apparatus 10 to the relay apparatuses 110, 120, and 130. The status read command includes the relay device 110,
Synchronization characters for synchronous reception by 120 and 130, information on peripheral devices from which status register values should be read via relay device 110 (device information read to relay device 110), status via relay device 120 Information on peripheral devices from which register values should be read (device information read to relay device 120), relay device 1
The information of the peripheral device from which the status register value is to be read via the device 30 (device information to be read to the relay device 130), and an end character indicating the end of the command are arranged.

Here, the read device information to the relay devices 110, 120, and 130 includes the number of peripheral devices from which the status register value is to be read and an array of identification information. For example, in the figure, the read device information to the relay device 110 has the read device number k, the device identification number 141 to 14k, the read device information to the relay device 120 has the read device number m, and the device identification number 151 to 15m. Is shown. The same applies to the device information read to the relay device 130.

Next, referring to FIG.
The processing procedure of each of the relay devices 120 and 130 will be described. First, from the device monitoring apparatus 10 to the relay apparatuses 110 and 12
A status read command is transmitted to the relay apparatuses 110, 120, and 130 at a time, and the processing of each of the relay apparatuses 110, 120, and 130 is started.

When each relay device is receiving the status read command (step S301: Yes), the relay device identification number included in the read device information of the status read command being received is the number of its own relay device. It is determined whether or not (Step S302). When the relay device identification number is its own relay device number (step S30)
2: Yes), the status register value is read from the status register of the peripheral device designated by the device identification number, and stored in the status buffer (step S303). afterwards,
A signal line corresponding to its own relay device (for example, the peripheral device 11
If it is 0, the response request signal of the signal line 12) is set to ON (step S304).

If the status read command is being received (step S301: Yes) and the relay device identification number included in the read device information of the status read command being received is not the number of its own relay device (step S3).
02: No), the process returns to step S301, and it is determined again whether or not the status read command is being received.

On the other hand, when the status read command is not being received (step S301: No), it is checked whether the response request signal of the signal line corresponding to the own relay device is on or off. When the response request signal is on (step S30)
5: Yes), the priority of its own relay device is determined from among the other signal lines for which the response request signal is turned on, and if it is the highest priority (step S306: Yes), the device monitoring device 10 Then, the contents of the status buffer are transferred (step S307). Thereafter, the response request signal of the signal line corresponding to the own relay device is set to off (step S3).
08), end the process. Here, if the own relay device is not the highest priority (step S306: N
o) Returning to step S301, it is determined again whether a status read command is being received.

If the status read command is not being received (step S301: No) and the response request signal of the signal line corresponding to the own relay device is off (step S305: No), the process returns to step S301. It is determined again whether the status read command is being received.

Thus, according to the present embodiment, the reading of the status register values from the peripheral devices 141 to 14 k, 151 to 15 m, and 161 to 16 n is performed by the device monitoring apparatus 10.
And can be executed by batch transmission of the same read command.

Although the number of relay devices is limited to three for the sake of simplicity, generally, the number of relay devices and the number of devices connected to the relay devices may be arbitrary.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the device monitoring system of the present invention, the device monitoring apparatus transmits the same read command to a plurality of relay apparatuses in a batch so that the read command to be transmitted can be transmitted. There is an effect that the total length of the command can be reduced. Further, since there is no need to wait for completion of reading of the status information from the peripheral device by another relay device, there is an effect that the total time required for reading the status register value from the peripheral device can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an exemplary view showing an example of a format of a status read command according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a processing procedure of the relay device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a computer system according to the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 4 Computer system 10, 40 Device monitoring device 11, 41 Communication line 12, 13, 14 Signal line 110, 120, 130, 410, 420, 430 Relay device 111, 121, 131 Status buffer 112, 122, 132, 411 , 421, 431 C
PU 113, 123, 133 Priority control units 141 to 14k, 151 to 15m, 161 to 16n,
41-44k, 451-45m, 461-46n Peripheral devices 171-17k, 181-18m, 191-19n, 4
71-47k, 481-48m, 491-49n status registers

Claims (4)

[Claims] A monitoring device that obtains status information relating to an operation such as a status register value from a plurality of devices; and a plurality of relay devices that relay each of the plurality of devices and the monitoring device. The monitoring device includes a unit that collectively transmits one type of monitoring command designating a device from which the status information is to be acquired to the plurality of relay devices, and each relay device is transmitted from the monitoring device. A device monitoring system, comprising: means for acquiring the status information from a device designated by a monitoring command and transmitting the status information to the monitoring device. 2. Each of the relay devices has a buffer for storing the status information acquired from a device specified by a monitoring command transmitted from the monitoring device, and the status information is stored in the buffer. 2. The device monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the device monitoring system is configured to start transmitting the information stored in the buffer to the monitoring device. 3. The priorities of the plurality of relay devices are determined in advance, and the relay devices in which the status information has already been stored in the buffer have the highest priority. The device monitoring system according to claim 2, wherein transmission of buffer storage information to the monitoring device is started. 4. The monitoring command includes, for each relay device, relay device-specific information including identification information of the relay device and identification information of a device from which the status information is to be acquired by the relay device. The device monitoring system according to claim 1.