JP2003288209A - Object-using gateway device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable different network systems A and B to easily achieve mapping between objects that express the respective systems. <P>SOLUTION: An arrangement, wherein elements constituting the systems are used as objects and data on the objects are shared by the different systems, has an intermediate model 102 to be accessed by the different systems. For an intermediate object 103 provided within the intermediate model to correspond to the element, each system associates the item of its own corresponding element 106 with it and transfers the data to the associated item. When one of the systems needs data on the elements of the other system, the intermediate object is accessed to obtain the item-associated data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to setting and use of an intermediate object used for connecting a plurality of different network systems to each other and exchanging data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a network for sending and receiving monitoring / control commands for building equipment such as air conditioning and lighting installed in buildings and a higher building management system for collectively monitoring and controlling those equipment groups There is a gateway device which is placed between or between a plurality of network systems having different protocols to connect these to each other. In this gateway device, the settings of objects that handle both systems and the settings of mapping to objects that are mutual correspondences are set and held uniquely for each system correspondence in the software produced for each applicable property. Alternatively, some form of set information is held and selected from among them to be used. Therefore, it was necessary to rewrite the software to change the setting information.

In order to solve such a problem, the second
As a conventional example of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-173795, a relation management object for managing bidirectional relation information between a plurality of objects is provided, and mapping maintenance between objects is performed by an operation on the relation management object. Attempts have also been made.

[0004]

The mapping information is set in the conventional gateway device as described above, and when the configuration of the system to be connected is changed or the mapping specification (correspondence relationship) is changed. Had the problem that it cost a lot of money and time. Furthermore, the setting of the mapping requires knowledge of both systems to be connected together and the mutual relationships of the objects that handle the systems, and it is necessary to have a high level of technician. . Further, according to the second conventional example, since the relationship management object has the mapping information between both objects, the mapping setting operator must be familiar with both mapping systems at the same time. There is a problem that when the system change occurs, it is necessary to re-set the mapping while considering the situation of the other system again.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and interconnects heterogeneous network systems A and B operated by different protocols by mutually mapping objects representing each system. In a gateway device, the mapping system can be set even if they are not familiar with each other's network systems, and even if a change occurs in one network system, the setting information of the other network system is not affected. The purpose is to obtain an associating device. Furthermore, setting work and development for monitoring and control will be done in a convenient and easy-to-use format using views. Furthermore, it is also intended to generate a more accurate and valid mapping. In addition, the purpose is to obtain a device that easily follows changes in the network system due to operation.

[0006]

An object-using gateway device between systems according to the present invention sets elements constituting a system as objects and sets data of the objects in different systems in one system. An intermediate model is provided, and one system associates an item of an element corresponding to itself with an intermediate object provided in the intermediate model for each element, and transfers data to the associated item. When the data of the intermediate object is required as the element data in the other system, the data corresponding to the item of the intermediate object is obtained by the other system.

Alternatively, in an arrangement in which elements constituting the system are used as objects and data of the objects are mutually used in different systems, an intermediate model for accessing each other is provided, and an intermediate object provided for each element in the intermediate model is provided. On the other hand, each system associates the item of the corresponding element of itself, transfers the data to this associated item, and when the own system needs the element data of the other system, it accesses the intermediate object and handles the item. I got the data of.

Further, each system, when accessing the data of the intermediate object, associates the intermediate object whose constituent items of the intermediate object match the access target of itself with a predetermined ratio or more as the intermediate object.

Further, additional information is added to the intermediate object, and each system refers to the additional information to access the intermediate object.

Furthermore, when associating the system with the intermediate model, the intermediate model, the constituent intermediate objects, and the system and the elements constituting the system are displayed on the same screen.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiment 1. Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. FIG. 1 shows an explanatory block diagram of an implementation method of mapping between heterogeneous networks according to the present invention. Here, the BACnet system 10 is used as an example of an interconnected network.
5 and LON system 107, these are the objects that exist as entities. Mapping these systems to each other and connecting them means BACnet
An object-to-object mapping 111, which is a correspondence relationship between the BACnet object 106 defined in the system 105 and the LON object 108 defined in the LON system 107, is set.

In the present embodiment, a common concept or property of a system existing as these entities, or an original model is utilized / introduced to construct an intermediate entity model 102 as a virtual model having no entity, The mapping setting of the object of each network system is not performed directly between the BACnet object 106 or the LON object 108 which are the entities, but the intermediate model object 103 defined in the intermediate model 102.
Do against. For example, the BACnet object 10
6 is not directly mapped to the LON object 108, but is mapped to the intermediate model object 103 (step 109), and (hereinafter, such an operation is expressed in steps). The LON object 108 is also directly mapped to the BACnet object 106. Instead, it maps to the intermediate model object 103 (step 110). Here, for the first time, the setting is 111 in which the BACnet object 106 and the LON object 108, which are the actual system objects mapped to the common intermediate model object 103, are mutually mapped.

Next, FIG. 2 shows a very simple concrete example. The actual system is the BACnet system 20 as described above.
7 and LON system 214. The intermediate model 201 constructed from these is a unique model although it has a configuration close to the object of the LON system because the substance of the device is taken into consideration here. First, description will be given assuming that the BACnet system 207 is mapped to the intermediate model 201. One of the BACnet objects,
The Binary Output object 208 with ID = 10 is the property 20 of the PresentValue.
It is assumed that 9 is mapped at the property level to the operating state property 203 of the air conditioner 202 of the intermediate model object (step 220). Similarly, Pr of the Binary Output object 210 with ID = 11
The essentValue 211 maps to the operating state 206 of the lighting device 205 (step 221), and Mul
P of the Tistate Output object 212
The presentValue 213 maps to the operation mode 204 of the air conditioner 202 (step 222).
This completes the setting on the BACnet side.

Next, the mapping from the LON system 214 to the intermediate model 201 is performed. LON Object 1
The air conditioner object 215 of ID = 5001 is mapped with the air conditioner 202 of the intermediate model object at the object level (step 223). Similarly, the illuminator 218 of the LON object also has the illuminator 2 of the intermediate model object at the object level.
05 (step 224). When performing mapping at the object level, the mapping at the property level within the object is performed collectively. As a result, the operation / stop property 216 of the air conditioner 215 of the LON object and the operation mode property 21
7 is the air conditioner 20 of each intermediate model object
2 is mapped to the driving state property 203 and the driving mode property 204. Similarly, the on / off property 219 of the illuminator object 218 is mapped to the operating state property 206 of the illuminator object 205 (step 224). This completes the setting on the LON side.

After both settings are completed, the intermediate model 20
The mapping setting between the real object, that is, the BACnet object and the LON object in this case, is obtained from the setting status on 1. In the air conditioner 202 of the intermediate model object, the operating state property 203 is set to Binary of the BACnet object.
The PresentValue property 209 of the Output 208 and the operation / stop property 216 of the air conditioner 215 of the LON object are mapped. From this, as a result, PresentV of BinaryOutput208 of BACnet object
The value property 209 and the operation / stop property 216 of the air conditioner 215 of the LON object are substantially mapped (step 225).
Similarly, Pres of Binary Output 210
The entValue 211 is substantially mapped to the turn-on / turn-off property 219 of the illuminator 218 (step 226), and the Multistate Output 212.
The PresentValue 213 of No. is mapped to the operation mode property 217 of the air conditioner 215 (step 227).

Such mapping settings may be made, for example, via a setting screen 301, an example of which is shown in FIG. That is, in the figure, a list 302 of intermediate models,
A method is conceivable in which a list 306 of BACnet objects and a list 309 of LON objects are displayed, and corresponding objects (instance level or class level mapping may be used) or properties are selected from there. For example, the BACnet object 308 is mapped to the intermediate model object 304 and the LON object 310 is mapped to the intermediate model object 304. As a result, the BACnet object 308 and the LON object 310 are eventually mapped. The mapping setting screen 301 may display the objects of both network systems to be mapped at the same time as in the example shown here, or display them one by one, and each technician of each network system can perform the setting work respectively. May be easier to do. In addition to the GUI setting screen shown here, an input method in a tabular format or the like may be used.

The intermediate model according to the present invention may be installed inside the gateway device so that the intermediate model can be run even when the gateway function is executed. However, various types of gateway devices prepared separately from the gateway device are provided. It is possible to provide a high-performance gateway device at a lower cost by installing it on the setting tool for setting and installing only the minimum necessary functions to execute the gateway function in the gateway device itself. Becomes

Note that, for example, when there are two systems A and B, and when mutual data exchange is performed, first, the A system converts the intermediate object of the intermediate model and transfers the data,
A mode in which this is used unilaterally by another B system is also conceivable, which is effective when the lower system uses the data of the upper system. Furthermore, there may be a time lag between the setting and the use rather than the simultaneous time. Furthermore, if the intermediate object set from the A system is set to be used by the B system side in advance or is set to be used later,
You may make it transmit item data immediately after data setting. Further, in the above description, the case where the intermediate object is first set from the system side has been described, but first, the intermediate model is set and the intermediate model is mapped to the A and B systems, that is, the two systems are associated in advance. There is also. In this way, data is exchanged via the intermediate model at the time of setting, but data can be exchanged directly between the systems when the systems are operated. Including this case,
If the data is directly exchanged or the intermediate object is simply fetched, the gateway device may have a simple configuration such as a table, and only at the time of association, a separately provided setting tool may be used.

As described above, in the realization method of the mapping between the heterogeneous networks, the modeling is performed by utilizing the common concept / property of the network systems 105 and 107 to be mapped, or the intermediate model using the original model. 102, each network system 1
05 and 107 perform mapping to only the intermediate model 102. Then, the BACnet object 106 of the BACnet system 105 which is one network system and the LON object 108 of the LON system 107 which is the other system mapped to the object 103 of the common intermediate model are eventually mapped. By doing so, even a person who is not an engineer who is familiar with both network systems to be mapped can set the mapping. Moreover, even if a change occurs in one network system, the setting information of the other network system is not affected. In addition, if a view of the intermediate model 102 is prepared and each view of each of the networks 105 and 107 is constructed and associated with each other, mapping becomes easier.

Embodiment 2. Hereinafter, the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Here, as in the first embodiment, the BACnet system 408 and the LON system 410 are taken as examples of actual network systems. In the first embodiment, when the BACnet object 409 and the LON object 411 are mapped to the intermediate model 402, mutual mapping is performed when they are mapped to a common intermediate model object. Rather than mapping the entities with each other exactly, that is, mapping to a common intermediate model object, once setting different intermediate model objects,
It is also possible to combine these intermediate model objects using the mapping information and perform mapping between the entities after the combination.

That is, even if the intermediate models do not completely match, for example, those having a common class as a parent class,
This can be realized by, for example, associating the property configurations that match at a certain ratio or more (for example, 80% or more). For example, if the intermediate model objects 403 and 405 and 404 and 406 are mapped to each other because their property configurations match at a certain ratio or more, the BACnet object 409 mapped to the intermediate model object 403 is mapped 412.
And mapping 413 to the intermediate model object 405
The created LON object 411 is connected to the intermediate model objects 404 and 406 and the intermediate model objects 403 and 405 and then mapped to each other.
14 will be done.

As described above, the realization method of the mapping between heterogeneous networks is as follows.
When 8 and 410 map to the intermediate model 402, different intermediate model objects 403 and 4
Even if the objects 409 and 411 of each network system mapped in 05 are mapped according to the similarity between the intermediate model objects 403 and 405, the setting work can be performed more easily and the engineering cost Can be reduced.

Embodiment 3. Hereinafter, the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Here, as in the first and second embodiments, BACnet system 505 and LON system 5 are used as actual network systems.
Take 10 as an example. In the first and second embodiments, BA
Cnet object 506, LON object 51
When 1 is mapped to the intermediate model 502 and the mapping 517 in the entity is obtained, it is mapped to a common intermediate model object, or because the objects are mapped to different intermediate model objects that are mapped, mapping information Was seeking. However, in the present embodiment, in addition to these, the supplementary information given to each object of the actual network system is used. The treatment in the intermediate model may be either the method of the first embodiment or the method of the second embodiment, but FIG. 5 shows the case of the method of the first embodiment. This supplementary information is defined as information used for characterizing the substance of each object and associating each network system with each other.

For example, in the example shown in FIG. 5, the installation location information is the supplementary information. With this supplementary information, the target of the object to be combined should be specified in which place the object should be combined. BA
As the incidental information of the Cnet object 506, the installation place 507 has a value of “meeting room A”. Similarly, the installation location 509 of the BACnet object 508
Is “meeting room B”, the installation location 512 of the LON object 511 is “meeting room A”, and the installation location 514 of the LON object 513 is “corridor”. In addition to the method similar to the method in the first embodiment, these pieces of information are taken into account to obtain mapping information between substantial objects. In FIG. 5, the BACnet object 506 mapped to the common intermediate model object 503.
It is considered that the LON object 511 is mapped, but it is found that the installation location is “meeting room A” along with the acquisition of the supplementary information thereof, and it can be understood from this that the mapping is appropriate.

As additional information, the installation location (room name, room number, space name (corridor, landing, common space, etc.), floor number, section number, direction, etc.) shown in FIG. It is also effective to use the model / model name, model number, scene used (normal time, fire, failure, etc.), a specific symbol or ID number defined corresponding to the property.

As described above, the realization method of the mapping between heterogeneous networks defines the supplementary information for mapping between the objects of both network systems 505 and 510, and assigns it to each of the objects of each network system 505 and 510. Since the additional information is added and the additional information is added to perform mapping, more accurate mapping can be generated and the validity of the mapping is determined. Further, the supplementary information is given to each object, and the mapping is performed based on this information.
Even if it is separated from the intermediate model because the mapping with the intermediate model 502 initially assumed and constructed cannot be taken due to the changes of 05 and 510, the analog information can be used for the analogical reasoning. Therefore, the network system 5
Since it is possible to analogize and maintain the mapping relationship between 05 and 510, it is possible to reduce the engineering cost.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, each system is provided with an intermediate model that is accessed by another system, and each system associates its own element with an intermediate object corresponding to an element in the intermediate model. The element data of the other system is obtained from the intermediate object, so it is easy to use the element data of the other system, and the influence of item changes in each system on other systems is minimized. effective.

Furthermore, since the additional information is added, there is an effect that more accurate correspondence can be achieved when the element data of another system is used.

Furthermore, since the intermediate model, the constituent intermediate objects, and the system and the elements constituting the system are displayed on the same screen, there is an effect that the correspondence becomes easier.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating correspondence between intermediate models between systems according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a specific mutual use system and an intermediate model in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an intermediate object element association display screen according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a specific mutual use system and an intermediate model according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing a specific mutual use system and an intermediate model according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

102 intermediate model, 103 intermediate model object, 105 BACnet system, 106 BACn
et object, 107 LON system, 108
LON object, 109 BACnet object to intermediate model object mapping, 110
Mapping LON objects to intermediate model objects, 111 BACnet objects and LOs
Mapping between N objects, 202 intermediate model air conditioner object, 205 intermediate model lighting device object, 208 BACnet system
_{Binary Output} object, 215 LON system air conditioner object, 301 mapping setting screen example, 507 incidental information (installation location).

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yoshiro Ito             2-3 2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Inside Ryo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shigenori Nakata             2-3 2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Inside Ryo Electric Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 5B089 GA31 GB10 KA10 KF05

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. In a configuration in which elements constituting a system are objects and data of the objects are used in different systems, an intermediate model set in one system is provided, and the intermediate models are provided in correspondence with the elements. When the above-mentioned one system associates the item of the corresponding element with the intermediate object and transfers the data to the associated item, the data of the intermediate object is required as the element data in another system. An object utilization gateway device, wherein the data corresponding to the item of the intermediate object is obtained by the other system. 2. An intermediate object provided with an intermediate model for accessing each other in a configuration in which elements of the system are used as objects and data of the objects are mutually used in different systems, and corresponding to the elements in the intermediate model. Against
When each system associates the item of the corresponding element of itself and transfers the data to the associated item, and when the own system needs the element data of the other system, the intermediate object is accessed to access the data corresponding to the item. An object-using gateway device characterized by being obtained. 3. Each system, when accessing the data of an intermediate object, associates an intermediate object in which the configuration items of the intermediate object match the access target of itself with a predetermined ratio or more as an intermediate object. The object-using gateway device according to claim 1 or 2. 4. The supplementary information is added to the intermediate object, and each system is configured to access the intermediate object by referring to the supplementary information. Object use gateway device. 5. When associating the system with the intermediate model, the intermediate model, the constituent intermediate objects, and the system and the elements constituting the system are displayed on the same screen. The object-using gateway device according to claim 1 or 2.