JP4595577B2 - Monitoring and control equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a monitoring / controlling device suitable for application to an information transmission system for video information and the like. Specifically, for error information of the information-related equipment being monitored, the error details and error handling details can be easily redefined, and when an error occurs, the error information (error occurred) The user-defined message is displayed at the same time as the device name, etc., so that the error can be dealt with quickly.

  Via multiple sites (bases), the information (video information, etc.) added at each site is concentrated on another site, and then this selected information is distributed to distribution destinations (broadcast stations, etc.) Information transmission systems that distribute or distribute data are known.

  A suitable site may be a site owned by a telecommunications company. Video information, etc. is produced at each site, and the produced video information (for one channel or multiple channels) is multiplexed and transmitted, and the multiplexed information is separated to further separate only necessary information. Will be delivered to the site. In such an information transmission system, monitoring of the operating status such as whether or not the video-related equipment (equipment to be monitored / controlled and also referred to as device below) installed at each site is operating normally, A monitoring / control terminal (monitoring / control device) is provided at each site for selecting information to be transmitted and controlling the information.

  Among them, the operating status of multiple devices installed at the site is monitored, and when an error occurs, information such as which device at which site and what error has occurred is for monitoring and control. It is displayed on the screen of the device.

  For example, if the fan installed on device a among the devices installed on site A has stopped for some reason, an error message (error information on “Device a fan has stopped.”) Is displayed.

  Patent Documents 1 to 3 and the like are known as well-known examples regarding the monitoring target device that has caused this error and error information display such as an error code (error ID) and an error message corresponding to the error.

  Patent Document 1 relates to a technique for converting an error code into a format that an external service site can easily respond to. Patent Document 2 relates to a technique in which errors are grouped and stored, and an error display instruction is given in accordance with the priority order of the group. Patent Document 3 outputs only the error code of the highest priority error content when a plurality of error determinations are made, and sets an output format according to the user's environment, so that detailed results can be obtained only for the user. It is related with the technique which can be displayed in another output format to others.

JP 2002-31513 A JP 2002-232626 A JP 2000-221198 A

  By the way, in Patent Documents 1 to 3, for any particular error among the errors that have occurred, in addition to an error message for this error name, a coping method for the error that has occurred is displayed in an easy-to-understand manner. The method is not disclosed.

  For example, when the error message that is set in advance for the fan stop error is “The fan of device a has stopped.”, The transmission system administrator (system operator, etc.) However, if it is easy to find out what to do and how to deal with it, it is possible to perform error recovery processing quickly. As a result, the administrator of this type of information transmission system has the merit that it can be managed and operated even by an engineer who is not familiar with the transmission system.

  In the above example, in response to the error message “The fan of device a has stopped.” For example, displaying a message unique to the user such as “Please call Mr. Suzuki of the system management section”. If it is possible, the system administrator can contact Mr. Suzuki in the system management section without hesitation, and the error can be recovered quickly.

  The error information referred to here is a concept including the name (also referred to as a device name) of a monitoring target device (information related device) in which an error has occurred, an error ID, an error message related to the error code, and the like.

  Therefore, the present invention solves such a conventional problem, and by allowing a user-specific message (user-defined message) to be arbitrarily added and set particularly for a specific error, The present invention proposes a monitoring and control device applicable to an information transmission system that can quickly cope with errors.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the monitoring / control apparatus according to the present invention described in claim 1 is a monitoring / control apparatus for information-related equipment provided at a plurality of sites for constructing an information transmission system. ,
Error information input means from multiple information-related devices that are monitored / controlled devices,
Means for collating a table storing error messages and outputting an error message related to the error information;
Means for displaying the error information and the error message respectively;
A user-defined message setting means for specific error information,
The user-defined message is stored by linking to the error information. When a user-defined message linked to the error information exists, the user-defined message is displayed together with the error information. .

  In the present invention, an error list is selected from the error setting menu screen in the system setting menu. This error list relates to information-related equipment provided at the monitored site. For example, in the case of a video transmission system, a video-related device (such as an encoder or switching means) corresponds to this information-related device.

  An error name to be added and redefined from the error list is selected, and in addition to the selected error message, a message selected based on the user's intention is set as a user-defined message. User-defined messages are stored linked to error names and error messages.

  For example, a user-specific message such as “Please call Mr. Suzuki in the system management section” is added to the error message “The fan of device a has stopped.” Then, when the fan of device a stops, in addition to the error message “The fan of device a has stopped.”, User-defined “Please call Mr. Suzuki in the system management section.” A message is displayed at the same time. Thus, a quick recovery process can be realized.

  Also, when a specific error occurs, place a warning light (for example, a rotating light) in the management building that manages the information transmission system, and set this warning light as an external control device in the same way as the user-defined setting of the message And register. When an error occurs at the same time, a warning lamp is turned on, and when it is a rotating lamp, it is simultaneously driven to rotate.

  Then, when a specific error, for example, as described above, the fan stops, a trigger for external control is generated, the indoor warning light is turned on, and the rotation control process is performed.

  The user-defined message and the identification of the external control device can be set (environment setting) on the system setting screen, so there is no need to customize the software itself, thereby enabling a user-specific operation.

  In the present invention, a user-defined user-specific message can be added to a specific error item in addition to the error message.

  According to this, when an error message is difficult to understand, it can be easily redefined with user's own expression, or while viewing the system setting screen as a user-defined message for the error handling method and action contents Can be set.

  As a result, it is possible to reliably grasp what kind of error has occurred without making a mistake, and it is possible to display a countermeasure / recovery method for the error as a user-defined message.

  Furthermore, since the external device to be controlled can also be set using the system setting screen, there is no need to customize the software itself. Therefore, the software development time and development cost can be significantly reduced.

  Next, a preferred embodiment of the monitoring / controlling apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a system configuration diagram when a monitoring / control device 20 according to the present invention is applied to an information transmission system 10 for video information and the like. In the figure, there are multiple video production / transmission sites (bases) that transmit the generated video or simply relay the video, and multiplex information such as video transmitted from them using a communication cable, for example. To transmit. And it is a case where it applies to the information transmission system 10 constructed | assembled as a system which isolate | separates the information which reached | attained the final target site, and distributes it to the target place.

  In the example of FIG. 1, three sites 10A, 10B, and 10C function as video production / transmission sites. Since the plurality of sites 10A to 10C have the same configuration, only the site 10A (site A) is shown in the drawing for the specific configuration.

  The site 10A has a plurality of video-related devices. Since the plurality of video-related devices are all devices that are targets of monitoring / control in the present invention, these will be described below as devices to be monitored / controlled. The whole is shown as a monitoring / control target device group 100A.

  In this example, the monitoring / control target device group 100A includes a switcher (TSSW) 106A for transport stream (TS) data, four encoders 110A to 116A, two multiplexers 120A and 122A, and an NIU (Network Interface Unit). Two data conversion means 130A and 132A are illustrated.

  First, in this example, an input system 102A for digitized video signals (for example, high-definition video signal HDTV and standard video signal SDTV) produced inside the site, and a digitized video signal input from an external site. (HDTV / SDTV) input system 104A. The internally generated video signals each have two channels, high-definition video signals HDTV-1 and HDTV-2 for two channels, standard video signals SDTV-1 and SDTV-2 for two channels, and an external video signal HDTV-A. SDTV-A is supplied to the video switcher 106A.

  A desired video signal is selected by the video switcher 106A. In this example, two channels of high-definition video signals are selected, and only two channels of standard video signals are selected.

  These selected video signals are supplied to corresponding encoders (HD encoder and SD encoder) 110A, 112A and 114A, 116A, respectively, and subjected to data compression processing. In this example, the compressed data is in the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) format.

  In the first multiplexer 120A, the compressed video signals for two channels are multiplexed with a high-definition video signal HDTV and a standard video signal SDTV to form a one-channel video signal. Similarly, in the second multiplexer 122A, the high definition video signal HDTV and the standard video signal SDTV are multiplexed into a video signal for one channel.

  The multiplexed high-definition and standard video signals are further supplied to NIUs 130A and 132A for data conversion, and in this example are converted into transmission signals in the ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) format. These ATM transmission signals SAa and SAb are the final transmission signals output from the site 10A. These transmission signals SAa and SAb are transmitted to the site 10C side by communication cables 136A and 138A.

  The site 10A is provided with a terminal device (monitoring / control device) 20A for monitoring / controlling the monitoring / control target device group 100A. In addition to selecting a video signal by the single monitoring / control device 20A, status information from the monitoring / control target device group 100A is collected. This status information is the operating state of each monitoring / control video-related device (106A, etc.), and the status information includes error information of each video-related device.

  As described above, the site 10A includes the monitoring / control target device group 100A and the monitoring / control device 20A corresponding thereto. The other sites 10B and 10C are similarly configured, and in this example, the transmission signals SAa, SAb, SBa, and SBb from the sites 10A and 10B are further multiplexed at the site 10C, and the multiplexed transmission signals SCa and SCb are final. It is transmitted toward the target site 10D. In this example, at the site 10B, video signals for one channel are superposed for both high definition and standard, so the transmission signals SCa and SCb are each composed of video signals for three channels. Yes.

  At the site 10D, the multiplexed transmission signal is separated into individual video signals, restored to the original video signals, and then delivered to the intended delivery destination. Therefore, the site 10D is a monitoring / control target device group 100D in the reverse order to the site 10A.

  First, the received asynchronous transmission signals SCa and SCb are converted into high-definition and standard MPEG signals in the NIUs 140D and 142D for data conversion, and then video signals for two channels multiplexed in the demultiplexers 150D and 152D. Are separated into video signals for a single channel, and then supplied to a video switcher (TSSW) 160D. The video switcher 160D completely converts each video signal, that is, a high-definition video signal (for three channels) and a standard video signal (for three channels) into stream signals.

  The video signals for each of the three channels converted into stream signals are supplied to corresponding decoders (for HD and SD) 170D to 180D, and the video signals compressed in MPEG format are subjected to error correction and the original stream signals To be restored.

  In this example, these stream signals are once supplied to the video switcher (TSSW) 190D and led to each output terminal. Accordingly, the high-definition video signal and the standard video signal output from the video switcher 190D are distributed to the target site. Which video signal is distributed to which site is controlled by a monitoring / control device 20D provided in this site 10D.

  The monitoring / control devices 20A, 20B, 20C, and 20D provided at the respective sites 10A to 10D perform channel control and monitoring at their own sites, but these are connected to each other by a network, so that the sites other than the own site Can control or monitor the site.

  Further, when the information transmission system 10 is constructed in a plurality of sites as described above, the monitoring / control device 20D installed on the final transmission site 10D side serves as a master and monitors each site. In this example, the external control device 22 is connected to the monitoring / control device 20D of the final transmission site 10D.

  As will be described later, the external control device 22 is used as a device for notifying a system administrator or the like of an abnormality when the monitoring / control target device is in an abnormal state (error). For example, a rotary warning light (patlight) corresponds to the external control device 22. As an external control device, an automatic telephone calling device or the like may be considered in order to notify other departments of an abnormal state.

  By the way, the monitoring / control apparatus 20 transmits information to the monitor screen in connection with the function of controlling the monitoring / control target device as described above and collecting the status information from these to determine the error state. If each site of the system 10 and the whole system diagram can be displayed, a message addition function for adding a message unique to the user to the error information, selection of the external control device 22, execution conditions for control, etc. A function to make settings is added. Among these, there are a message addition function and an external device setting function as typical functions. Subsequently, a description of this representative function will be given with reference to FIG.

  Both the message addition function and the external device setting function are set while being selected from the system setting menu. FIG. 2 shows all the monitoring / control target devices (devices) provided in the site 10A and the related items. An example of an error list screen (only a part is shown) is shown.

  When the error list screen is selected, as shown in FIG. 2, the error ID related to the monitoring / control target device, the corresponding error name and error message are displayed on the error list screen. For example, the error ID “Msb0030001” is an error “fan stop”, and “fan has stopped” is displayed as the message.

  By seeing this content, the system administrator can know what device is causing the error. However, the error information in this example can immediately determine the content of the error, but it is still unclear how to deal with the error that occurred and how to deal with it. Therefore, an error is individually selected, and a user's own message can be added thereto as shown in FIG. In other words, a user-defined message can be added. This user-defined message has the character of a redefinition message for an error that has occurred.

  In the above example, if the fan stops, for example, if you add a message such as “Please contact Mr. Suzuki as soon as possible,” the system administrator will immediately contact Mr. Suzuki at the facility. And can discuss good workarounds. This enables a quick recovery process.

  The error to which the user-defined message should be added can be arbitrarily selected by the user, and it is up to the user what kind of message is to be added. This user-defined message is performed as one step of system setting (environment setting).

  In the monitoring / control device 20, when a further error occurs, a warning light is always provided as one means for notifying the transmission system management building of the error state as soon as possible, and when a specific error occurs. External control is performed to turn on the warning lamp as urgent.

  In order to realize this, as part of the environment setting among the system settings, the setting of the external control device, the setting process of the execution condition when an error occurs, etc. are performed. An example is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of a setting screen for external device control. As an external device to be controlled, a rotary warning lamp is exemplified as described above. Since the monitoring / control device 20 is provided with an interface unit (parallel interface unit) with an external device as will be described later, the control output device becomes this parallel interface. As the parallel interface, a general purpose general purpose interface (GPI) interface is used.

  Among the output ports provided in this interface, in this example, a control line (not shown) for a rotary warning light (patlight) is connected to the output port 7 pin, so that an output to which a control output should be sent Out 7 pin is set as the port. In the example of FIG. 4, the operation timing (control timing) for the external device is set at the same time when an error occurs. Therefore, when the error occurs, the rotary warning lamp is turned on and driven to rotate. A control output for controlling the external device is generated by a trigger manager described later.

  FIG. 5 is a system diagram of a main part showing an example of the monitoring / controlling device 20 and is constituted by a computer. Therefore, the control unit (CPU) 30 that controls the entire system, application software for setting user-defined messages using the above-described system setting menu, and specifying external control devices, etc. A memory means (ROM) 32 stored, a memory means (RAM) 34 for working, an input means 36 composed of a mouse and a keyboard, a memory means 38 for storing user setting information, etc. are connected to the bus 40. Configured. As the memory means 38, a semiconductor memory, a hard disk, etc. are used together depending on the application.

  In addition to a GUI processing unit 42 and a monitor 44, a network such as Ethernet (registered trademark) is connected to the bus 40 via an interface 46. Further, a parallel interface 50 for controlling an external device or the like is connected. A rotary warning lamp which is an external device is connected to the terminal (output port) 50a.

  The monitoring / control device 20 shown in FIG. 5 is related to the error information by collating error information input means from a plurality of information-related devices, which are monitoring / control target devices, with a table storing error messages. A means for outputting the error message, a means for displaying the error information and the error message, and a means for setting the user-defined message for the specific error information.

  Further, only the thread processing centering on the system setting menu will be described. The system setting processing unit related to the monitoring / control device 20D includes a processor thread and a GUI thread as shown in FIG. In the processor thread, the control processing unit (processor unit) 60 performs all the instructions for processing when an error occurs and for the monitoring / control target device group (device group) 100D.

  The provider unit 62 is a module for performing synchronization with application software installed in another site connected by a communication cable. Specifically, the provider unit 62 performs synchronization processing such as packet processing and data and commands.

  The data part 64 is a data management module, and all data is stored in the data part 64. This corresponds to the memory means 38 of FIG. The data unit 64 manages data, monitors data changes, and has a function of issuing triggers to other components when data changes. The data unit 64 is configured by a semiconductor memory or a hard disk.

  The device adapter unit 66 is a module that directly communicates with the monitoring / control target device group 100 </ b> D and the external device interface 50. The virtual device unit 68 does not have a portion to be connected to a monitoring / control target device or the like, but implements an interface for enabling monitoring / control of the monitoring / control target device. It is determined whether the device is a monitoring / control target device to be directly managed. When the device is directly managed, a command is issued to the device adapter unit 66, and when the device is indirectly managed, the provider unit 62 is instructed. Issue an instruction. The trigger manager unit 70 is a module used when controlling an external device.

  Even in the GUI thread provided in association with the processor thread, the data unit 74 is provided via the provider unit 72. This data portion 74 stores the same data as that stored in the previous data portion 64.

  The virtual device unit 76 issues a command to the provider unit 72 and the GUI component unit 78. The GUI component unit 78 is a module having a GUI processing function. A monitor 44 is associated with the GUI component unit 78.

  A processing example related to the system setting of the monitoring / control device 20D having such a thread configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of processing when the transmission control application is activated. First, the environment setting information is read and the corresponding data table and memory are initialized (step 201). Thereafter, the entire transmission system including the own site or a system diagram of only the own site is drawn on the GUI (monitoring GUI) and displayed on the monitor 44 (step 202). In this example, only the local site is displayed.

  When the system diagram display processing is completed, the network connection with the monitoring / control device (monitored device) in the corresponding site (local site) is performed, and the operating status of the monitoring / control device is read as status information. (Step 203). When the status information has been read, network connection processing with monitoring / control devices provided at other sites is performed (step 204), and various control processing and monitoring processing at the local site are started and initialized. Is completed (step 205).

FIG. 8 shows an example of system setting processing, and an error setting menu or a setting menu for an external device is selected from the system setting menu (step 211).
When an error setting menu is selected, an error list screen is read out from the setting menu, and a monitoring / control target device (error name displayed as an error ID) in the local site to be monitored is extracted (step) 212). The error name is accompanied by a preset error message as described above.

  The error name to be redefined by the user is selected from the extracted / selected error list (step 213). A user-specific message is further added to the error message related to the selected error name. This message redefined by being added becomes a user-defined message (step 214). User-defined messages are stored in data portions 64 and 74.

  Since this error information is stored in a table as one of the environment setting items, the above-mentioned user-defined message is added and stored linked to the corresponding error item.

When the user-defined message addition process ends, the process proceeds to the external control device setting process (step 215).
When an error occurs, in order to make the error occurrence known, a rotary warning light is installed in the site monitoring floor, and it is driven to rotate while being turned on simultaneously with the occurrence of the error. It is possible to recognize the occurrence of an error even from a remote location.

  This rotary warning light corresponds to an external control device for the monitoring / control device 20, and it is left to the user how to control the external control device. Therefore, the setting process is performed (step 216).

  In this setting process, a target error name is specified, an external device to be controlled is specified in relation to the specified error name, and an execution condition (operation timing, operation period, parallel interface 50 for the specified external device is specified. Port designation, etc.) are input and stored in the data sections 64 and 74 as part of the environment setting information.

  The system setting process is completed by the series of processes described above. All user-defined messages and external control device settings can be set (environmental settings) on the system settings screen so that they can be operated without customizing these application software itself. , Responsiveness, expandability, etc. are improved.

FIG. 9 shows an example of storing and displaying an error message.
In response to an instruction from the processor unit 60, the device adapter unit 66 acquires error information such as an error name from the monitoring / control target device in which an error has occurred (step 221). The acquired error information is stored in the data part 64 (step 222).

  On the other hand, the virtual device unit (virtual device unit) 68 acquires the above-described error information from the device adapter unit 66, and sends the acquired error information to the data unit in the GUI thread via the provider unit 62 in the processor thread. 74 (steps 223 and 224).

  When the error information is stored in the data part 74, the error information (at least the error message) stored in the message table is linked with the user-defined message by referring to the message table in the data part 74 (step 225). As described above, since the user-defined message is stored linked to the same data table, the error message and the user-defined message can be read simultaneously by the error name.

  Next, the GUI component unit 78 draws and displays error information and a user-defined message linked to the error information on the GUI (step 226). In this example, the display color of the corresponding location (error occurrence location) in the system diagram is switched to a warning color (for example, red) and an error notification is performed by voice (step 227). By performing this process, the occurrence of an error can be recognized both visually and audibly.

  FIG. 10 shows an example of control of an external device. The trigger manager unit 70 monitors corresponding error information stored in the data unit 64 for target error information (step 231). Then, a control output corresponding to a preset execution condition is generated and output to the device adapter unit 66 (step 232). The device adapter unit 66 sends a control signal to the target port of the parallel interface 50 specified by the execution condition (step 233). By this processing, a rotation drive signal is supplied to the rotary warning lamp 22 which is an external device, and the warning lamp 22 is driven to rotate for a predetermined time in a lighting state. The rotation drive signal may be reset manually.

  The present invention is particularly suitable for application to an information transmission system system such as video information that has many devices to be monitored.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of the information transmission system which can apply this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of an error list screen. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of an error redefinition screen. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the setting screen for external apparatus control. It is a systematic diagram of the principal part which shows an example of the monitoring / control apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a functional block diagram when the monitoring / control device according to the present invention is expressed in units of processing. It is a flowchart which shows the example of a starting process of a transmission control application. It is a flowchart which shows the example of a system setting process. It is a flowchart which shows the storage and display example of an error message. It is a flowchart which shows the process example with respect to external apparatus control.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Information transmission system 10A-10D ... Site 20 (20A-20D) ... Monitoring / control apparatus 100A-100D ... Monitoring / control object apparatus group 106A, 160D, 190D ... Video switcher 110A ˜116A, encoders 120A, 122A, multiplexers 130A, 132A, 140D, 142D, NIU
150D, 152D ... Demultiplexer 22 ... External control device

Claims (2)

A device for monitoring and controlling information-related equipment provided at a plurality of sites for constructing an information transmission system,
Error information input means from multiple information-related devices that are monitored / controlled devices,
An output means for collating a table storing error messages and outputting an error message related to the error information ;
A user-defined message setting means for linking and saving a user-defined message for specific error information to the specific error information ;
Display means for displaying the user-defined message together with the input error information and the error message output from the output means when there is a user-defined message linked to the error information input to the input means; ,
External device setting means for linking and storing control information for controlling an external device for notifying an abnormality when a specific error occurs, linked to error information corresponding to the specific error;
External device control means for sending a control output to the external device based on the control information linked to the error information input to the input means;
Have
The external device setting means is a means capable of designating an external device to be controlled from a plurality of external devices.
A monitoring and control device characterized by that. The monitoring / control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user-defined message is an error handling content.

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