JPS589978B2 - Computer network configuration method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a system configuration method for a computer network system comprising one or more computers and terminal systems.

Figure 1 shows the currently common method of directly connecting the main computer and terminal system, etc., and Figure 2 shows the method of Figure 1, with two communication lines each installed to improve reliability.
FIG. 3 shows a method for connecting the main computer and terminal systems etc. via the network system.

Here, the network system is composed of multiple network processors with switching functions and communication lines, and each subscriber (for example, a main computer or a terminal system) is connected to the network processor and communicates with other subscribers. Data transmission becomes possible.

In the system shown in FIG. 1, since there is only one communication line between the two, if that communication line fails, data transmission between them becomes impossible, which poses a reliability problem.

The method shown in Figure 2 aims to improve reliability compared to the method shown in Figure 1 because two communication lines are provided between the two, but the number of main computers is n, the number of slave computers and terminal systems are m, and the communication If this is carried out between the main computers, between the main computer and the slave computers, and between the terminal systems, the number of communication lines required will be nX(n-1)-1-2XnXm), which is a huge number.

On the other hand, in the system shown in Figure 3, the number of communication lines is [excluding communication lines within the network system].

10 m] This is less than the methods shown in Figures 1 and 2, but if a failure occurs in the communication line on the main computer side, all communications to that main computer will be disabled, and the impact of that failure on system operation will be It's a dog in terms of the whole system.

The present invention enables communication between the main computer and slave computers, terminal systems, etc. without providing many communication lines compared to the methods shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and eliminates the drawback of the method shown in FIG. The purpose is to eliminate the large impact that a single communication line failure has on the operation of the entire system, improve system reliability, and improve system resource usage efficiency.

The gist of the present invention is to use a network system consisting of a network processor and a communication line as a communication medium, and to provide a plurality of communication lines between the main computer and the network system, each of which is connected to a separate network processor, This is a method in which a transmission path between the main computer and a terminal system, etc. is set for each communication line, and a circuit is provided to select and use one of these multiple transmission paths at any time.

Examples are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 5 shows the simplest case, that is, an example in which two transmission paths are set between one main computer and one terminal system.

The implementation method will be explained with reference to this figure. Communication lines 2A and 2B are installed between the main computer and the two network processors, respectively.

Each network processor communicates with the connected network processors of the terminal system via communication lines and other network processors within the network.
connected by one or more paths.

Finally, the main computer and the terminal system are connected through two transmission lines.

At this time, even if one communication line is faulty or in use, the selection circuit 6 selects another communication line to enable data transmission.

FIG. 6 shows a simple transmission path selection circuit.

7A is a signal indicating a failure in the communication circuit 2A, 8A is a signal indicating that it is in use, and 7B is a signal indicating a failure in the communication circuit 2B.
Assuming that the signal indicating that it is in use is 8B, when data to be transmitted to the terminal system comes in from 9, the transmission path is automatically selected by these signals and the selection circuit 10 shown in the figure, 2A in the figure.
Or it is sent to the network system via the 2B communication circuit and sent to the terminal system.

The present invention makes it possible to construct a highly reliable computer network system with fewer communication lines than the conventional systems shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Furthermore, by adding fewer communication lines than the conventional system shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to realize a computer network system with high reliability, good transmission efficiency, and short transmission time.

As an extension of this method, a method can be considered in which multiple communication lines are provided in terminal systems, slave computer systems, etc. in the same way as in the main computer system.

It is also applicable between systems that have no master-slave relationship, such as between terminal systems or slave computer systems.

Further, the transmission procedure method between systems can be either a mutual activation type or a central activation type.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1, 2, and 3 are computer network system configuration diagrams showing an example of the conventional method, Figures 4 and 5 are system configuration diagrams showing an example of implementing the present method, and Figure 6. is a simple transmission path selection circuit diagram. In FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. 6, 1... main computer,
2...Communication line, 3...Network system, 4...Slave computer or terminal system, 5...Network processor, 6...Transmission path selection circuit, 7...Signal indicating communication line failure, 8...Communication Signal indicating that the line is in use, 9... Data to be transmitted, 10... Transmission path selection circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a computer network having 11 or more main computer systems and multiple terminal systems or a group of slave computer systems,
In order to transmit data between main computer systems, between a main computer system and a terminal system, or between a main computer system and a slave computer system, a network system consisting of a network processor with an exchange function and a communication line is used, A plurality of communication lines are provided from the main computer system to the network system, each of which is connected to a separate network processor, and a transmission line between the main computer system and the terminal system or the slave computer system and the other is established between the main computer system and the network system. A computer network configuration method characterized by setting up each of a plurality of communication lines and selecting the plurality of transmission paths at any time.