JP2015177386A - Packet communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To classify the reliability of received data when it is difficult to guarantee the reliability of received data due to a failure in a packet communication system. SOLUTION: This is a packet communication system including a transmitting device and a receiving device, in which the transmitting device transmits a communication packet and the receiving device demolishes the received data from the received communication packet, and the device failure information of the transmitting device is transmitted. A fault communication line for notifying the receiving device is provided, the transmitting device is provided with a means for transmitting fault information generated in the device via the fault communication line, and the receiving device receives the data via the fault communication line. A failure information storage unit that stores failure information including the failure occurrence time of the transmission device, a reception data storage unit that stores reception data together with transmission time information or reception time information, and a reception data storage unit that refers to the failure information in advance. It is provided with a reliability evaluation unit that assigns a reliability level according to failure information for each predetermined time zone. [Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for improving the reliability of received data in a packet communication system.

  In a packet communication system, in addition to information such as frame synchronization bits and transmission conditions (header information) and transmission data, redundant data for determining the presence or absence of transmission data bit errors or transmission packet packet errors is added. There are many cases of communication. By using this method, it is possible to detect the presence or absence of a bit error or a packet error that occurs before the data modulated and transmitted from the transmission device is demodulated by the reception device.

  Patent Documents 1 and 2 describe means for determining whether or not an error has occurred in transmission data by adding redundant data to the transmission data. In general, CRC or parity check is often used.

  Referring to FIG. 2, after completing various functional processes 2 in the transmission side apparatus 1, a transmission frame for adding a packet header or redundant data to the transmission data in the transmission unit 3 and transmitting it as a packet To send a packet. In the reception side device 5, the received packet signal is decoded by the packet reception unit 6, and the decoded reception data is stored in the reception data storage unit 7.

  There is also a technique in which failure information in the apparatus is embedded in a part of transmission data and transmitted. For example, there is a system in which failure information in the apparatus is transmitted by another packet on the same line, such as a signaling method using a D channel in ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network).

JP 2009-225343 A JP 2010-034781

  However, in the techniques described in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2, when a failure occurs in the transmission device or the like, the reliability of the transmitted packet itself is significantly reduced. For example, in many apparatuses, a plurality of processes are performed by a CPU, and the process result is often accumulated in a memory and the next process is performed for each process. If the failure location of the transmitter occurs before the redundant data addition process for detecting data errors, the reliability of the transmitted packet is ensured even if there is no abnormality in the parity check result or CRC check result It can be impossible.

  As a specific example, in the case of a data transfer failure in the transmission device, a memory read failure or a write failure, the data input to the redundant data addition processing unit remains in an unupdated state. An abnormality may not be detected by CRC or parity check.

  Further, in the method of transmitting failure information using another packet on the same line, for example, when processing for adding in-device failure information to a transmission frame is performed, if a failure occurs after that processing, the failure information is transmitted. It is impossible to transmit data before the failure occurs. Therefore, the reception side determines that the CRC calculation result is normal and there is no in-device failure.

  That is, in any of the above cases, even if the data is unreliable, no abnormality can be detected by the check.

  On the other hand, it is possible to implement a mechanism for detecting a single hardware failure, etc., without adding in-device failure information to the transmission packet, but it is possible to realize the redundancy of the data to be transmitted. In many cases, the communication efficiency decreases and the software processing load increases.

  The present invention solves the above-described problems and makes it possible to obtain the reliability of received data when it is difficult to guarantee the reliability of a received packet due to a device failure in the packet communication system.

  Furthermore, the reliability can be obtained for each reception time zone of reception data or for each reception packet.

A more specific aspect of the packet communication system provided by the present invention includes a packet communication that includes a transmission device and a reception device, the transmission device transmits a communication packet, and the reception device demodulates reception data from the communication packet received. A system,
Provided with a fault communication line for notifying the receiver of device fault information of the transmitter,
The transmission device includes a means for transmitting failure information generated in the device via the failure communication line,
The reception device includes a failure information storage unit that stores failure information including the failure occurrence time of the transmission device received via the failure communication line, and a reception data storage unit that stores reception data together with transmission time information or reception time information And a reliability evaluation unit that gives a reliability level corresponding to the failure information for each predetermined time period of the received data with reference to the failure information.

  Further, the reliability evaluation unit sets a predetermined time or time zone including the failure information occurrence time as a failure occurrence time zone, collates the failure occurrence time zone with the transmission time or reception time of the received data, and You may comprise so that a reliability level may be provided to the reception data of a failure generation time slot | zone.

  Further, the failure information may further include a failure importance level, and the reliability evaluation unit may be configured to assign the reliability level according to the failure importance level.

  Furthermore, the reliability evaluation unit may be configured to discard the received data received in a time zone to which a predetermined reliability level is assigned.

  Thereby, when it is difficult to guarantee the reliability of received data due to a device failure in the packet communication system, it is possible to determine that the reliability of the received data is low.

  According to the above aspect, the failure occurrence time information in the packet communication system that may induce an error in the reception data is compared with the transmission or reception time information of the reception data, and the reception data in the failure occurrence time zone is evaluated. By doing so, reliability information of received data can be provided.

  That is, since the received data can be processed in consideration of the reliability of the received data, it is possible to prevent misunderstood received data from being misunderstood as normal data. Detailed communication quality information for each reception time zone can be provided to the user.

  For example, when this system is constructed in a duplex configuration of A / B to improve system reliability, the present invention is adopted to select and use highly reliable data. By doing so, it becomes possible to provide a more reliable service. By using this information, line switching, data discarding, and retransmission processing are performed according to the quality requirement level required for the communication line, thereby ensuring data quality according to the service content such as financial data and streaming distribution. It becomes possible.

  In the packet communication system, the reliability of the packet communication system can be improved.

It is a figure for demonstrating the system configuration | structure in an Example. It is a figure for demonstrating the prior art of a packet communication system. It is a figure for demonstrating the data processing until it adds the redundant data for checking the reliability of the transmission data in a prior art. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of an apparatus structure for performing the reliability evaluation of received data. It is an example of the database produced in an alarm information storage part. It is an example of the database of the reception data which performed the reliability evaluation process in the reliability evaluation part with respect to reception data.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  After completing the various function processes 2, the transmission side device 1 adds a packet header and redundant data to the transmission data at the transmission unit 3, constructs a transmission frame for transmission as a packet, and transmits the packet signal. I do. In the reception side device 5, the packet reception unit 6 demodulates the reception data from the received packet signal and stores it in the reception data storage unit 7.

  This will be described more specifically with reference to FIG.

  In the device 2 that processes the functions of the transmission side device 1, the CPU 11 performs various function processes A, B, and C using the memories A 13a, B 13b, and C 13c. Then, the transmission data for which all processing has been completed is stored in the output memory 14. The redundant data addition processing unit 16 performs processing for adding redundant data such as CRC for error detection to the transmission data, and in the transmission processing 17, the packet header, transmission data, redundant data, etc. Build a frame and send a packet.

  The problems in the prior art will be described.

  In the course of a series of processing until transmission data is stored in the output memory 14, when a data processing error occurs due to a device failure, or a failure occurs that the same data is continuously input to the output memory 14. In this case, it is clear that the transmission data read from the output memory 14 is not correct.

  However, CRC redundant data added to the incorrect transmission data is correct as a calculation result. Therefore, even if the CRC calculation is performed in the reception side device 5, the calculation result becomes a correct value, and an erroneous determination that a bit error or a packet error has not occurred is caused.

  In order to deal with this problem, the present embodiment has a configuration in which failure information generated in the transmission-side device 1 is collected by the reception-side device 5 and reliability evaluation is performed based thereon.

  Specifically, each processing unit of the transmission side device 1 and, if necessary, the reception side device 5 sends the failure information of each device to the failure information report storage unit 8 in the reception side device 5 via the failure communication line 4. It has the function of transmitting. The failure information includes, for example, failure occurrence time, failure identification information, and failure occurrence device identification information.

  The reliability evaluation unit 9 evaluates the reliability of received data based on the failure information stored in the failure information storage unit 8. For example, the stored failure occurrence time is compared with the transmission time or reception time of the reception data in the reception data storage unit 7, and the reception data of the failure occurrence time (a predetermined time including the failure occurrence time) is compared. Perform reliability evaluation and assign a confidence level. The evaluation result (reliability level) is stored in a database in the reliability evaluation unit 9 of the own device.

  The method of using the stored evaluation results depends on the system to which the present embodiment is applied. That is, the received data and the evaluation result may be paired and transmitted to another device, or data to be transmitted to another device may be selected based on the evaluation result.

  As another method of collecting the failure information, the failure information storage unit 8 may poll each device at a predetermined cycle and read the failure information in the transmission side device 1 and the reception side device 5 as necessary.

  The fault communication line 4 can be selected from a metallic wired line, an optical fiber line, and a wireless line.

  As a communication protocol for failure information, a general communication protocol such as general TCP / IP or RS232C may be used. A communication protocol that performs communication while confirming normality of data transfer may be used, or a protocol that only transmits failure information unilaterally. Protocols that increase the probability of information arrival through retransmission processing or multiple transmissions can also be employed.

  The failure information acquired from the transmission side device 1 or the reception side device 5 includes, for example, “failure occurrence time”, “failure identification information” (for example, failure name), and “failure occurrence device” (for example, an ID number) for identifying the failure occurrence device. ) Or any other item.

  The failure information may further include “failure importance” by any one of important failure, normal failure, warning,... As other information.

  An example of a database of failure information created in the failure information storage unit 8 is shown in FIG. For example, the above-described failure occurrence time, failure identification information, and failure occurrence device are stored. When the failure identification information includes other important information such as the above-mentioned important failure, normal failure, warning, etc., these may be stored together.

  If the failure importance is used, it is possible to take measures according to the failure contents depending on the contents of the subsequent business service using the received data, so that a higher quality packet communication system can be realized.

  The reliability evaluation unit 9 compares the failure occurrence time in the failure information storage unit 8 with the transmission time or reception time in the reception data storage unit 7 to evaluate the reliability of the received data.

  When there is no failure information, a reliability (PASS) is assigned for each time (called a time zone) divided at a predetermined interval.

  When there is failure information, for example, the received data received in a preset time zone (for example, 5 minutes) before, after, or before and after the failure occurrence time (referred to as the failure occurrence time zone) The evaluation is Z (LOW). Otherwise, the evaluation is reliability A (PASS).

  Or, as a failure occurrence time zone, including a time zone that includes the failure occurrence time, or any number of time zones before, after, or before or after the time zone divided by the predetermined interval described above, It may be evaluated as degree Z (LOW).

  As shown in FIG. 6, in the evaluation result, a database including the above-described reliability evaluation result is provided in the self-reliability evaluation unit 9 in addition to the items of transmission time, reception time, and data (packet) number. The evaluation result may be added to the database in the reception data storage unit 7.

As mentioned above,
Specifically, in the database of the failure information storage unit in FIG. 5, A (PASS) is received for the reception data when the failure has not occurred, and the reliability Z ( LOW).

  When the above-mentioned failure importance is stored in the database of the failure information storage unit 8, a reliability level may be given accordingly. For example, when the failure severity is classified into three or more such as critical failure, normal failure, warning, etc., the reliability is set as A, B, C, etc. What is necessary is just to classify together.

  As described above, the method of utilizing the reliability evaluation result may be changed depending on the system to which this embodiment is applied.

  For example, instead of transmitting the reception data to which the reliability evaluation result is added to the other device, the reception data having a specific reliability level at the failure occurrence time may be excluded from the reception data transmitted to the other device. For example, in the case of a financial service, it is possible to ensure high data reliability by discarding received data even at the “warning” level and retransmitting the data to the transmission side device.

  On the other hand, in the case of streaming services such as image data, customer satisfaction is improved by making a service that does not charge for bad line quality time by determining whether or not a long-term line failure has occurred. It can also be made.

1 ... Sending device
2 ... Various function processing units of the transmission side device 1
3 ... Transmitter that transmits packet signals
4 ... Fault communication line for sending and receiving fault information of the device
5 ... Receiving device
6 ... Packet receiver for demodulating received data from packet signal
7: Received data storage unit for storing received data
8: Fault information storage unit that receives and stores fault information
9 ・ ・ ・ Reliability evaluation unit that evaluates the reliability of received data based on failure information
11 ... CPU
12 ... Input memory for storing data received by the transmitting device from the previous device
13a to 13c: Memory for storing data after performing various function processes (A to C) of the transmission side device
14 ... Output memory for storing the data to be transmitted after the function processing is completed
16: Redundant data addition processing unit for adding redundant data to detect bit errors and packet errors in transmission data
17 ... Transmission processing unit that builds a transmission frame by adding redundant data and packet header to transmission data

Claims (4)

A packet communication system comprising a transmission device and a reception device, wherein the transmission device transmits a communication packet, and the reception device demodulates received data from the communication packet,
A fault communication line for notifying the receiver of device fault information of the transmitter;
The transmission device includes means for transmitting failure information generated in the device via the failure communication line,
The receiving device is:
A failure information storage unit for storing failure information including a failure occurrence time of the transmission device received via the failure communication line;
A reception data storage unit for storing the reception data together with transmission time information or reception time information;
A packet communication system, comprising: a reliability evaluation unit that refers to the failure information and assigns a reliability level corresponding to the failure information for each predetermined time period of the received data. The packet communication system according to claim 1, wherein
The reliability evaluation unit
A predetermined time or time zone including the failure information occurrence time is defined as a failure occurrence time zone,
A packet communication system, wherein the failure occurrence time zone is compared with a transmission time or reception time of the received data, and the reliability level is given to the reception data in the failure occurrence time zone. The packet communication system according to claim 2,
The failure information further includes a failure importance level,
The packet communication system, wherein the reliability evaluation unit assigns the reliability level according to the failure importance. The packet communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The packet communication system, wherein the reliability evaluation unit discards the received data received in a time zone to which a predetermined reliability level is assigned.

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