JP2735681B2 - Remote monitoring device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a remote monitoring device having a terminal device and a monitoring center device.

[Conventional technology]

The operation status of the terminal device in the conventional remote monitoring device is as follows.
The monitoring center transmits a terminal check signal sequentially to each of the plurality of terminal devices at predetermined schedules and intervals, and receives a response from each terminal device to the terminal check signal, thereby confirming the result. Also,
There has been proposed a method in which a terminal device has a function of outputting a terminal check signal at a fixed period, and each terminal device transmits a terminal check signal to a monitoring center to check an operation state.

It is to be noted that a device related to this type of device includes, for example, a device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-121551.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the above prior art, as the number of terminal devices monitored by the monitoring center increases, the number of terminal check processes for checking the operation status of each terminal device also increases, and the proportion of the terminal check processes in the processing capacity of the monitoring center increases. Therefore, important processes such as an abnormal alarm process may be affected. Further, in the worst case, the abnormality alert processing cannot be performed, and there is a risk that the processing for responding to the occurrence of the abnormality may be delayed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a remote monitoring device capable of preventing an increase in the amount of processing related to terminal check processing of a monitoring center even when the number of terminal devices monitored by the monitoring center increases. .

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a terminal device installed in a plurality of buildings and connected to equipment in the same building, and a monitoring center for remotely monitoring these terminal devices via a communication line. In the configured remote monitoring device, a predetermined number of terminal devices among the terminal devices are formed as one group, the order of the terminal devices in this group is set, and each of the terminal devices in the group is set. ,
A receiving unit for receiving the terminal check signal; and a transmitting unit for transmitting the received terminal check signal, wherein the first terminal in which the terminal check signal is set at the highest position in the group is provided to the monitoring center. A transmission processing unit for transmitting to the device;
And a reception processing unit for receiving a terminal check signal output from the last terminal device set at the lowest order in the group.

[Action]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, when the monitoring center checks the operation status of the terminal devices in the group, first, the transmission processing unit of the monitoring center is set to the first highest level in the group. A terminal check signal is transmitted to the terminal device. Next, the first terminal device identifies the terminal check signal received by the receiving unit, and after confirming the operation status,
The transmitting unit transmits a terminal check signal to the second terminal device. This second terminal device also performs the same processing as the first terminal device, sequentially transmits a terminal check signal to lower terminal devices, and the last terminal device set as the lowest in the group Transmits a terminal check signal from the transmission unit to the monitoring center after confirming the operation status. Upon receiving the terminal check signal, the reception processing unit of the monitoring center confirms that all the terminal devices in the group are operating normally by receiving the terminal check signal from the last terminal device. As a result, even if the number of terminal devices monitored by the monitoring center increases, it is possible to prevent an increase in the processing amount related to the terminal check processing of the monitoring center.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of a remote monitoring apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the remote monitoring apparatus of the present invention.

The remote monitoring device of the present embodiment shown in FIG.
1a to 1n respectively, equipment 2a to in the same building
2n and terminal devices 3a to 3n connected to
To 3n are remotely monitored via the communication line 4 and the terminal device 3a
To 3n are formed as one group, and the order of the terminal devices 3a to 3n in this group is set.

The first terminal device 3a set at the highest level in the county includes a data collection unit 6a that receives an output signal output from the equipment 2a, and a center communication processing unit that performs communication processing.
7a, a transmission data creation unit 8a that creates transmission data,
A terminal communication control unit 9a for controlling transmission and reception of each data, a reception data identification unit 10a for processing and identifying received data, and a terminal check processing unit for processing a terminal check signal
11a. The receiving unit that receives the terminal check signal output from the monitoring center 5 includes the terminal communication control unit 9a, the received data identification unit 10a, and the terminal check processing unit 11a described above. Is transmitted to the second terminal device 3b,
It comprises the above-described transmission data creation unit 8a and terminal communication control unit 9a. Further, the terminal devices 3b and 3n have the same configuration as the terminal device 3a.

On the other hand, the monitoring center 5 includes a communication control unit 12 for controlling transmission and reception of data to and from the terminal devices 3a to 3n, and a terminal check signal output from the last terminal device 3n set at the lowest order in the group. , A monitoring processing unit 14 for managing the operation of the entire monitoring center 5, and a transmission processing unit for transmitting a terminal check signal to the first terminal device 3a set at the highest position in the group. 15 and a terminal check unit 16 for controlling the terminal check.

In this embodiment, the monitoring processing unit in the monitoring center 5
14 sends a start signal to the terminal check unit 16 to prompt the start of the terminal check process at the time set in the operation schedule stored therein, for example, 8:00 pm. Upon receiving the start signal, the terminal check unit 16 sends the terminal telephone number, terminal code, terminal check signal, and the like of the first terminal device 3a to the transmission processing unit 15 as terminal check data.
Upon receiving the terminal check data, the transmission processing unit 15 confirms that there is no processing request having a high priority from the monitoring processing unit 14, and then collectively sends the transmission data to the communication control unit 12 based on the terminal check data, The communication control unit 12 having received the transmission data performs connection and data communication with the terminal device 3a via the communication line 4.

On the other hand, the terminal communication control unit 9a in the terminal device 3a connected to the communication control unit 12 via the communication line 4 performs data communication according to a predetermined procedure and then disconnects the line. Next, the reception data identification unit 10a
The contents of the data received via a are checked, and if the contents include a terminal check signal, the terminal check signal is sent to the terminal check processing unit 11a. At this time, if the received data does not include the terminal check signal, the received data is sent to the center communication processing unit 7a for performing normal processing. Terminal check processing unit that has received the terminal check signal
11a sends the terminal telephone number, terminal code, terminal check signal, and the like of the second terminal device 3b set in advance to the transmission data creation unit 8a as terminal check data. Upon receiving the terminal check data, the transmission data creation unit 8a confirms that there is no processing request with a high priority, such as an error report of the equipment 2a, from the center communication processing unit 7a, and then sends the terminal check data to the terminal communication control unit 9a. The transmission data created based on the data is transmitted, and the terminal communication control unit 9a receiving the transmission data connects the terminal device 3b via the communication line 4 and performs data communication.

The terminal device 3b connected to the terminal communication control unit 9a of the terminal device 3a via the communication line 4 performs the same operation as the terminal device 3a. In this way, the transmission data is sequentially transmitted, and when the operation confirmation of all the terminal devices 3a to 3n monitored by the monitoring center device 10 is completed, the terminal (not shown) of the last terminal device 3n set in advance to the lowest order is set. The communication control unit transmits the transmission data including the terminal check end signal created by the terminal check processing unit and the transmission data creation unit (not shown) to the communication control unit 11 of the monitoring center device 10 via the communication line 4. This transmission data is sent to the reception processing unit 13 via the communication control unit 12, the reception processing unit 13 identifies the transmission data, sends a terminal check end signal to the terminal check unit 16, and the terminal check unit 16 sends the terminal check end signal. After confirming the end of the processing, the monitoring processing unit 14 is notified. At this time, if the end of the terminal check process cannot be confirmed, the start of the terminal check is again instructed to the first terminal device 3a. Further, while the terminal check is being sequentially performed, for example, a failure occurs in the terminal device 3b, the terminal check signal cannot be transmitted to the next terminal device, and the terminal check end signal is not transmitted to the monitoring center 5. In this case, the monitoring center 5 again instructs the first terminal device 3a to start the terminal check because the terminal check end signal is not transmitted within a predetermined time. As described above, when the terminal check does not end normally, one or more retries are usually performed. If the terminal check process does not end normally even by this retry, the monitoring center 5 checks the terminal check end signal held in the terminal devices 3a to 3n by the binary search method, and the terminal Searching for devices.

In the present embodiment configured as above, the monitoring center 5 only needs to transmit the terminal check signal to the first terminal device 3a and to receive the terminal check end signal from the last terminal device 3n. , All monitored terminal devices
Since the terminal check processing of 3a to 3n can be performed, and the search for the terminal device having a defect can be easily performed,
Even if the number of terminal devices monitored by the monitoring center increases, it is possible to prevent the amount of processing related to the terminal check processing of the monitoring center from increasing.

〔The invention's effect〕

Since the present invention is configured as described above, even if the number of terminal devices monitored by the monitoring center device increases, it is possible to prevent an increase in the processing amount related to the terminal check processing of the monitoring center, thereby , The terminal check process does not affect important processes such as abnormal alert processing,
Therefore, it is possible to expedite the measures for responding to the occurrence of the abnormality.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the remote monitoring apparatus of the present invention. 1a to 1n building, 2a to 2n facility equipment, 3a to 3n terminal device, 4 communication line, 5 monitoring center, 6a data collection unit, 7a center communication processing unit, 8a: transmission data creation unit, 9a: terminal communication control unit, 10a: reception data identification unit, 11a: terminal check processing unit, 12: communication processing unit, 13: reception processing unit, 14: monitoring Processing unit, 15: Transmission processing unit, 16: Terminal check unit

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A remote monitoring system comprising a terminal device installed in a plurality of buildings and connected to equipment in the same building, and a monitoring center for remotely monitoring these terminal devices via a communication line. In the device, a predetermined number of the terminal devices are formed as one group, the order of the terminal devices in this group is set, and a terminal check signal is received by each of the terminal devices in the group. And a transmitting unit for transmitting the received terminal check signal. The monitoring center transmits the terminal check signal to a first terminal device set at the highest position in the group. A remote monitoring device comprising: a processing unit; and a reception processing unit that receives a terminal check signal output from the last terminal device set as the lowest in the group.