JPH10275037A - Hot-line insertion and extraction adaptive type electric circuit package - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the hot-line insertion and extraction adaptive type electronic circuit package which can securely load a nonvolatile memory of an object device to be protected even if a rise of a source voltage applied at the time of hot-line insertion or extraction is unstable. SOLUTION: At the time of the hot-line insertion or extraction of the electronic circuit package 1 into or from a device main body, a power source monitor device 3 mounted on the electronic circuit package 1 monitors the transient variation state of the applied voltage, and outputs a load start command to the object device 2 to be protected which is mounted on the electronic circuit package 1 after the variation state becomes stable; and a load signal is outputted from a nonvolatile memory 2a of the device 2 to be protected to a nonvolatile memory 2b and after the loading of the nonvolatile memory 2b is completed, the power source monitor device 3 outputs a reset signal for resetting the whole electronic circuit package 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a large-scale apparatus such as an exchange in a communication apparatus, in which functions are divided so that an electronic circuit package formed by a printed circuit board is in a live state of a power supply supplied to the apparatus. Sometimes, even if there is a variation in the insertion / removal work speed of the worker who performs the insertion / removal, the load start time of the protected device is delayed until the power supply fluctuation becomes stable, and the destruction or malfunction of the protected device due to the power supply fluctuation is prevented. The present invention relates to a hot-swappable electronic circuit package that reliably prevents the problem.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a large-scale apparatus such as an exchange in a communication apparatus, a plurality of functions are divided, each function is formed into an electronic circuit package by a printed wiring board, and each electronic circuit package is supported in a plurality of units. The main body of the apparatus is configured by storing the subrack in black and further storing the subrack in a cabinet.

Most of the electronic circuit packages housed in the main body of the apparatus are duplicated into a first system and a second system for safe operation of the main body against a normal failure. Even if one of the systems fails, a measure is taken to prevent the second system from automatically switching and hindering the operation of the apparatus main body.

[0004] As described above, in the case of a duplicated apparatus body, for example, an electronic circuit package inserted in a predetermined subrack of the first system breaks down or is replaced with a new electronic circuit package. In this case, even if the electronic circuit package is replaced, the electronic circuit package of the second system automatically backs up the operation, so that the service of the apparatus main body can be continued.

On the other hand, even when the apparatus main body is not duplexed into the first system and the second system, if it is necessary to replace a predetermined electronic circuit package for some reason, this replacement is required. The electronic circuit packages other than the electronic circuit package should be kept energized and must be replaced without turning off the power supply to the device to maintain the service of the device and shorten the maintenance time. Replace the package.

[0006] As described above, the apparatus main body includes the first system and the second system.
Even when the system is duplexed with the system or when the system is not duplexed with the first system and the second system, in order to avoid interruption of service as much as possible during operation of the system, the system A predetermined electronic circuit package is pulled out of the subrack of the apparatus main body in a so-called live state in which power is supplied to the device, and is inserted again. That is, hot-swap is performed.

The need for a technique for performing such hot-swap is described in "EMC" 1994.
1.5 <NO. 79> (hereinafter referred to as a first publicly known document) on page 28-32, titled "Technology of Electronic Circuit Packages in Communication Devices", posted by NTT Network Systems Laboratories "Masaharu Sasaki".

In the first document, since the voltage of the inserted electronic circuit package is floating at the time of hot insertion and removal, the signal potential may be higher than the power supply voltage depending on the connection order of the connector pins of the electronic circuit package. ,
Alternatively, when a voltage higher than the rated voltage of the semiconductor device is applied due to a potential lower than the ground potential or a transient phenomenon at the time of insertion of the electronic circuit package, a reverse bias is applied due to a power supply wraparound, and the semiconductor device Destroy.

Further, when the electronic circuit package is inserted, a large inrush current flows because the capacitance of the capacitor between the power supply and the ground of the electronic circuit package is rapidly charged up. This will damage the connector pins.

Therefore, it is necessary to take measures such as suppressing the fluctuation of the power supply voltage when the electronic circuit package is inserted and stabilizing the signal of the bus line.

Therefore, a connector pin having a contact time difference between the connector pins is adopted, and the long pin is used for power connection,
The short pin is assigned for signal connection.

Further, "NTT R & D Vol. 43 NO.
3 1994, pp. 69-76, published by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, 1991, a document entitled "Hot Insertion Technology for Electronic Circuit Packages" posted by Mr. Masaharu Sasaki (hereinafter referred to as "second known document"). As for the countermeasures against hot-swap, there are descriptions about the following DC characteristics and AC characteristics, in addition to the description about the same contents as in the first known document.

That is, the DC characteristics include a DC voltage drop due to a back board, a connector pin, and a resistance inside the electronic circuit package. The DC voltage drop at the back board is increased by the resistance value of the power supply layer. On the other hand, the mounting position of the power supply package and the number of power supply layers are major factors that determine the resistance value.

If a sufficient voltage drop distribution cannot be obtained for hot insertion and removal of the electronic circuit package, the number of power supply layers is added or the position of the power supply package is changed.

Further, as an AC characteristic, when suppressing inrush AC current, in the case of a high power electronic circuit package, the load resistance is reduced, so that the precharge resistance due to the resistance of the coil and the power supply pattern cannot be ignored. There is a statement that this precharge resistor needs to be incorporated into a high power electronic circuit package.

Furthermore, "NTT R & D Vol. 40 N"
O. 10 1991 ", Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, 1991
On pages 1360-1370 of the issue, a post by Mr. Katsuyuki Okada stated, "Communication processor packaging technology."
A third known document entitled "Measures against inrush current in a hot-swap technique of a network node system" has been described.

In the third publicly known document, a hot-swap technique for enabling a network node system to be in an operating state and replacing a faulty electronic circuit package in order to improve maintainability is essential in the network node system. Inrush current may flow through a capacitor or load that has not been charged up in the hot-plug electronic circuit package, and may also cause destruction of the element. In the package,
There is a possibility that power supply fluctuations occur, causing destruction or malfunction of the semiconductor element.

As an effective countermeasure, the power supply voltage is stabilized until the signal pins of the electronic circuit package come into contact with each other, so that the signal lines and the power supply lines do not float.

For this purpose, as described in the above-mentioned first publicly known document, a connection is made in the order of ground-power-signal when the electronic circuit package is inserted by utilizing a contact time difference due to a difference in pin length of the electronic circuit package. It states that the method is adopted.

However, in each of the above-mentioned first to third publicly known documents, when a live circuit of an electronic circuit package is inserted into or removed from an apparatus main body, an excessive fluctuation of a power supply voltage is automatically determined and mounted on the electronic circuit package. No specific technique is described for loading and resetting the protected device.

Therefore, there has been proposed a hot-swappable electronic circuit package in which a device to be protected having volatile and nonvolatile memories and a power supply monitoring device using an IC (integrated circuit) are mounted.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional electronic circuit package of this type corresponding to hot-swap. FIG.
The electronic circuit package 11 is composed of a printed circuit board and is not shown in FIG. 4, but is one component of a large device body such as an exchange in a communication device. In this case, a plurality of such electronic circuit packages 11 are set as a set and are removably attached to a subrack in the form of a plug-in unit.

As described above, the plurality of electronic circuit packages 1
Further, a plurality of subrackes incorporating the same 1 are further incorporated in a cabinet of the apparatus main body.

Each electronic circuit package 11 has a PLD (prog
rammble logick device), FPGA (field programmble
A gate array) or the like is used, and a system in which a system is programmably created on a printed wiring board so as to have a predetermined logic function on the user side is used.

A protection target device 12 and a power monitoring device 13 using an IC are mounted on an electronic circuit package 11. The device to be protected 12 includes a nonvolatile memory 12
b (ROM) and a volatile memory 12a (SRAM). When the electronic circuit package 11 is inserted into a subrack of the apparatus main body in a live state, the volatile memory 12a is transferred to the nonvolatile memory 12b. Can be loaded.

Next, the operation of the conventional hot-swappable electronic circuit package will be described with reference to the timing chart of FIG.

When the electronic circuit package 11 is inserted into the subrack of the apparatus main body in a hot-plug state, a voltage of 5 V is applied to the electronic circuit package 11 from the apparatus main body as shown in FIG.

This applied voltage is monitored by a power supply monitoring device 13 mounted on the electronic circuit package 11,
After confirming that power has been applied to the electronic circuit package 11, after a certain period of time, as shown in FIG. 5C, the volatile memory 12a provided in the protection target device 12 A load command signal is generated, and the electronic circuit package 11 is operated in a hot-swap state.

When a predetermined time elapses after the generation of the load signal, as shown in FIG.
In order for the PLD or FPGA constituting the electronic circuit package 11 to perform a normal operation after the elapse of the transient time at the time of hot-swapping, the entire electronic circuit package 11 is reset with respect to the electronic circuit package 11. Generate a reset signal.

Therefore, even when the electronic circuit package 11 is inserted into the apparatus main body while the apparatus main body is in the hot-swap state, the service of the apparatus main body can be continued without interruption.

[0031]

However, in such a conventional hot-swappable electronic circuit package, when the electronic circuit package 11 is first inserted into the subrack, as shown in FIG. 5 (b). In addition, the applied voltage in the electronic circuit package 11 is unstable.

In the transient period when the applied voltage is unstable, as described in the description of the first known document, the power supply voltage becomes unstable, and as shown in FIG. When a load command signal is generated from the volatile memory 12a of the device 12 to the nonvolatile memory 12b, the electronic circuit package 11 may malfunction or damage the semiconductor circuit element.

Further, even if the power supply monitoring device 13 is mounted on the electronic circuit package 11 and monitors the presence or absence of the applied power supply voltage when the electronic circuit package 11 is hot-swapped, the electronic circuit package 11 is supported. There is an individual difference in the insertion and removal time of the worker who inserts in black.

In addition, the time at which loading of the nonvolatile memory 12b from the volatile memory 12a of the device to be protected is started after a lapse of a predetermined time from the rise of the power supply during hot-swapping is not uniform depending on the device to be protected and the manufacturer. At the same time, the transition time of the rise of the power supply during hot-swapping cannot be solved by keeping the time constant, and the power consumption of the electronic circuit package 11 to be inserted and removed, the power supply capacity of the backboard to be supplied, and the contact It is an extremely difficult problem to solve due to various factors such as the contact resistance of the pin and the insertion speed and the removal speed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the power supply voltage fluctuates due to a transient phenomenon at the time of hot-swap, and the fluctuation time is not always constant.

In the conventional electronic circuit package 11 of the hot-swappable type shown in FIG. 4, the reset signal is output by the power supply monitoring device 13 after a lapse of a certain period of time, as described above. However, when the logic information is transferred from an external or internal memory to load a predetermined circuit, it is necessary to perform the reset before outputting the reset signal.

If this logical information is not transferred, the reset of peripheral devices is released before the loading of the corresponding circuit is completed, which affects the loading of the predetermined circuit.
In other words, the input / output of peripheral devices is determined by the determination of the logical information. Therefore, it may not be possible to use the PLD or FPGA which is a component of the electronic circuit package.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and is intended to protect a device to be protected even in a situation where the rising of the power supply voltage applied to a hot-swap electronic circuit package is unstable due to a transient phenomenon. Volatile memory can be reliably loaded from the non-volatile memory, and PLDs and FPGAs that cannot be used conventionally can be used.
An object of the present invention is to provide a hot-swappable electronic circuit package that is effective not only for a system that requires time during information transfer and loading, but also can detect an abnormality in the electronic circuit package.

[0039]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and is provided for an electronic circuit which is divided for each function of a predetermined apparatus main body and is inserted into and removed from the apparatus main body. Package 1 and electronic circuit package 1
A protection target device 2 having a non-volatile memory 2b and a volatile memory 2a, and protected when the electronic circuit package 1 is inserted and removed when the power supply to the apparatus is in a live state; Implemented in
The electronic circuit package 1 monitors the state of the applied voltage from the device body to the electronic circuit package 1 when the electronic circuit package 1 is inserted into or removed from the device body when the power supply to the device body is in a live state, and the applied voltage becomes a predetermined stable voltage state. A first power supply monitoring device 3 that outputs a load start signal so that loading from the volatile memory 2a to the nonvolatile memory 2b becomes possible;
It is mounted on the electronic circuit package 1 and monitors the state of the voltage applied from the device main body to the electronic circuit package 1 when the electronic circuit package 1 is inserted into and removed from the device main body when the power supply to the device main body is in a live state, and A second power supply monitoring device that releases a reset signal for resetting the entire electronic circuit package when a predetermined time has elapsed after the volatile memory has been loaded into the nonvolatile memory. .

[0040]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electronic circuit package according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention.

As in the conventional case, a plurality of electronic circuit packages 1 surrounded by broken lines in FIG. 1 are detachably mounted on a subrack of a large-scale apparatus main body such as an exchange in a communication apparatus. I have.

A plurality of such sub-racks to which a plurality of electronic circuit packages are mounted are removably incorporated in a cabinet of the apparatus main body to constitute the apparatus main body.

Each of the electronic circuit packages 1 is divided into functional units among a large number of functions of the apparatus main body, and is configured in a state where an operating power supply voltage is applied to the apparatus main body, that is, in a live state. Each electronic circuit block 1 can be inserted and removed from the subrack.

The electronic circuit package 1 is composed of a PLD or an FPGA mounted on the printed wiring board based on the printed wiring board. The device 2 to be protected and the power supply monitoring devices 3 and 4 are printed wiring boards. Mounted on the board.

The device 2 to be protected is provided with a volatile memory 2a such as an SRAM and a non-volatile memory 2b such as a ROM.

Each of the power supply monitoring devices 3 and 4 is constituted by an IC. The power supply monitoring device 3 is used when a transient phenomenon is applied from the apparatus main body when the electronic circuit package 1 is hot-plugged into or removed from a subrack of the apparatus main body. This monitors the applied voltage of the power supply voltage.

The power supply monitoring device 4 is the device 2 to be protected.
After the execution of the loading of the volatile memory 2a from the nonvolatile memory 2b, a reset signal is output to reset the entire electronic circuit package 1 including the PLD, the FPGA, and the like.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to the timing chart of FIG.

When a power supply voltage is applied to the main body of the apparatus and the main body of the apparatus is in a live state, a predetermined electronic circuit package 1 is extracted from the subrack of the main body of the apparatus due to, for example, replacement due to a failure. When the new electronic circuit package is inserted into the subrack again after the repair of the failure or in place of the electronic circuit package removed from the subrack, that is, when the power supply voltage of the device body is Applied to the electronic circuit package.

This applied voltage has been monitored by the power supply monitoring device 3 from the beginning when the electronic circuit package 1 was inserted into the subrack, and as shown in FIG. Until the passage, the power supply voltage applied to the electronic circuit package 1 fluctuates for the reason described in the first known document or the second known document.

At the time of this transient phenomenon, the power supply monitoring device 3
Is not output from the power monitoring device 3 to the protection target device 2 after the transient time has elapsed and the power supply voltage is stabilized until the power supply voltage is applied to the electronic circuit package. As shown in FIG. 2C, a load command signal is output.

As a result, in the device 2 to be protected, as shown in FIG. 2D, the load command signal is output and a load signal is output from the volatile memory 2a to the nonvolatile memory 2b with a short delay. Is done.

By outputting this load signal,
The program stored in the nonvolatile memory 2b can be executed. Therefore, the nonvolatile memory 2b can be reliably loaded even if there is an individual difference in the operation speed of hot-swap of the electronic circuit package 1.

Since it is generally desirable that the entire system be reset from the start of loading of the nonvolatile memory 12b to the end of execution of the program, the power supply monitoring device 4 is provided. Therefore, when the execution of the program stored in the nonvolatile memory 2b is completed, the reset signal is output from the power supply monitoring device 4 as shown in FIG.
Is output as shown in

When a reset signal is output from the power supply monitoring device 4, P, which is a component of the electronic circuit package 1,
The entire electronic circuit package 1 including the LD and the FPGA is reset.

However, when the power supply monitoring device 3 inserts the electronic circuit package 1 into the subrack, the applied power is checked and the volatile memory 2a of the protection target device 2 is checked.
From the start of loading of the non-volatile memory 2b to the end of the execution of the program stored in the non-volatile memory 2b even if the time is actually set, This time is determined by the time constant of the capacitors and resistors used.

Therefore, it is difficult to determine the load time of the nonvolatile memory 2b due to variations in the constants of the capacitors and resistors.

Therefore, the present invention solves this problem by linking the power supply monitoring devices 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention which has solved this problem.

In the description of the configuration of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and only the parts different from FIG. 1 will be described.

In FIG. 3, a command to start loading the volatile memory 2a of the device 2 to be protected is output from the power supply monitoring device 3 and is also output to the power supply monitoring device 4 at the same time. Other configurations are the same as those in FIG.

With this configuration, the reset signal is not output from the power supply monitoring device 4 from when the electronic circuit package 1 is inserted into the subrack until the voltage applied to the electronic circuit package 1 becomes stable. .

In other words, the power supply monitoring device 4 delays the variation of the applied voltage variation time due to the variation of the constant between the capacitor and the resistor connected to the outside of the electronic circuit package 1 from the power supply monitoring device 4. Can be output.

Therefore, the reset signal is not output from the power supply monitoring device 4 until the loading of the nonvolatile memory 2b of the device 2 to be protected is completed.

In each of the above embodiments, the case where the PLD or the FPGA is used for the electronic circuit package 1 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the load method and the transfer method regardless of whether the electronic circuit package 1 is inside or outside. That is, the present invention can be applied to a system that requires time between transfer and loading.

The present invention can be applied to the case where the PLD and the FPGA also have the same functions as the power monitoring devices 3 and 4. Further, the present invention can be applied to a case where a memory is provided inside a PLD or an FPGA.

[0067]

As described above, according to the hot-swappable electronic circuit package of the present invention, the first power supply monitoring device mounted on the electronic circuit package at the time of hot-swapping the electronic circuit package to / from the apparatus body. A transient fluctuation state of the applied voltage is monitored, and after the fluctuation state is stabilized, a load start command is output from the first power supply monitoring device to the protection target device mounted on the electronic circuit package, and the volatility of the protection target device is output. A load signal is output from the memory to the nonvolatile memory, and a reset signal for resetting the entire electronic circuit package is output from the second power supply monitoring device after the loading of the nonvolatile memory is completed. In the case of unstable start-up due to the transient phenomenon of the power supply voltage applied to the electronic circuit package, and individual differences in the hot-swap operation speed Even during a state where the applied voltage is stabilized, it can be reliably loaded from nonvolatile memory for the protected device to the volatile memory.

Further, PLDs and FPs which cannot be used conventionally
GA can be used, during the transfer and loading of information,
This is effective for systems that require time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a first embodiment of a hot-swappable electronic circuit package according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the hot-swappable electronic circuit package of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a second embodiment of a hot-swappable electronic circuit package according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional hot-swap-vs. 0-type electronic circuit package.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of a conventional hot-swappable electronic circuit package.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electronic circuit package 2 Device to be protected 2a Volatile memory 2b Non-volatile memory 3 First power supply monitoring device 4 Second power supply monitoring device

Claims (2)

[Claims] An electronic circuit package (1) divided for each function of a predetermined apparatus main body and removably mounted on the apparatus main body; a non-volatile memory (2) mounted on the electronic circuit package (1);
b) and a volatile memory (2a), and the electronic circuit package (1) when the power supply to the device body is in a live state.
The device to be protected (2), which is protected at the time of insertion and removal of the device, and the electronic circuit package (1), which is mounted on the electronic circuit package (1), when the electronic circuit package (1) is inserted into or removed from the device body when the power supply to the device body is in a live state The state of the applied voltage from the device main body to the electronic circuit package (1) is monitored, and when the applied voltage reaches a predetermined stable voltage state, loading from the volatile memory (2a) to the nonvolatile memory (2b) becomes possible. A first power monitoring device (3) for outputting a load start signal to the electronic circuit package (1), and the electronic circuit package (1) is mounted on the electronic circuit package (1) when the power supply to the apparatus main body is in a live state. The state of the voltage applied from the device body to the electronic circuit package (1) is monitored when the device is inserted into or removed from the device.
A second power supply monitoring device that outputs a reset signal for resetting the entire electronic circuit package (1) when a predetermined time elapses after (2a) has been loaded into the nonvolatile memory (2b)
(4) A hot-swappable electronic circuit package, comprising: 2. The electronic circuit package according to claim 1, wherein the second power supply monitoring device (4) starts loading the first power supply monitoring device (3) into the device to be protected (2). A hot-swappable electronic circuit package, wherein the reset signal is released after the volatile memory (2a) is completely loaded from the nonvolatile memory (2b) after the signal is output.