JP2001265692A - Equipment management system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] Even if data or communication commands are added or changed due to system specification changes or model version upgrades, the development period and labor required for software correction and verification are greatly reduced. Providing a facility management system that can The equipment management system includes an equipment 300 to be managed, an equipment input / output unit 220 for transferring data between the equipment 300, and a data management unit for storing data to be transferred. An equipment management system comprising an equipment controller 200 having a 230 and a central management device 100 connected to the equipment controller 200 so as to be able to perform data communication, and used for communication between the equipment controller 200 and the central management device 100. As the data to be transmitted, a text-format communication command in which the data length is variable and a data name for distinguishing the data is added to the data content is used.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data communication system and a data storage system of an equipment management system for monitoring and controlling the operation state and abnormality of equipment such as an escalator, an air conditioner, and lighting. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an equipment management system for monitoring and controlling the operation state and abnormality of equipment such as an escalator, an air conditioner, and a light at a remote place. There are the following problems in building a system connecting various types of equipment with such an equipment management system.

[0003] First, in the conventional equipment management system, the state of equipment is constantly collected by a central management apparatus provided with a display device and an input device by which a manager or a resident can check the state of the equipment. Equipment controllers are connected via a telephone line or a network such as a LAN. In this case, a communication command is used for communication between the central management device and the equipment controller.However, the number of bytes of each data included in the communication command and the setting start position are defined by fixed values. Almost. Therefore, if a data size change or new data is added in a communication command due to the addition of new equipment or a change in equipment specifications, etc., change the communication command for the new data size. The communication management programs of both the central management unit and the equipment controller had to be modified. Further, if necessary, it is necessary to modify the program of the equipment controller which has been shipped so far, which requires a great deal of labor.

Second, in the conventional equipment management system, when new data is added to the communication command or the data size is changed due to the addition of new equipment or a change in the specifications of the equipment, the equipment management system is used. Adjustment of the non-volatile memory area for saving data in the controller, modification of the function part that calls the data, verification of whether the adjustment of the memory area affects the program part that handles other data,
Alternatively, a great deal of effort has been required to correct and verify software in data storage management, such as verification of compatibility with equipment controllers already shipped.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problem. When data or communication commands are added or changed due to a specification change of a facility management system or a model version upgrade, the present invention has been made. However, it aims to provide a facility management system that can significantly reduce the development time and labor required for software correction and verification.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an equipment management system according to the present invention provides an equipment input / output for transferring data between equipment to be managed and the equipment. A facility controller having a data management unit for storing data to be transferred, and a central management device connected to the facility controller so as to be able to perform data communication. As data used for communication between the management devices, a text-format communication command is used in which the data length is variable and a data name for distinguishing the data is added to the data content.

The communication command in the above configuration is
It is composed of a request category for distinguishing the data request type, a data category indicating the storage location of the data, a data name for distinguishing the data, and data contents including a data value corresponding to the data name, and a communication. In the command, the data size relating to the data name and the corresponding data content, the arrangement order of the data name, and the number of the data name and the corresponding data content can all be set and changed. .

In each of the above-described configurations, the data management unit of the equipment controller should store, in the nonvolatile memory, the nonvolatile memory and the volatile memory for storing the data of the communication command, and the data passed between the central management unit. A data type determination unit for determining whether or not the data is stored, and a data storage management unit for performing data storage processing. Further, when changing data, the data name and data content of the data to be changed are transmitted from the central management device to the data of the equipment controller. When transmitted to the management unit, the data type determination unit determines whether to store the data in the non-volatile memory based on the data name of the data, and determines that the data is data to be stored in the non-volatile memory by the data type determination unit. If it is determined, the data storage management unit stores the data in the nonvolatile memory, and the data type determination unit Over data is what if it is determined not to be data to be stored in the non-volatile memory data storage management unit is a configured to store the data in the volatile memory.

Further, in the above configuration, a free area for storing communication command data is provided in the non-volatile memory, and a new data area corresponding to the size of data to be stored is provided in the free area when data is stored. Is set, and data to be stored is stored in the newly set data area.

The facility management system of the present invention having the above-mentioned processing means can solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional facility management system. That is, as a solution of the first problem, as shown in the invention according to claims 1 and 2, communication between the equipment controller and the central management device includes:
Using a communication command that transmits and receives data in the form of adding a data name to a data content using a character string such as an ASCII code, the data size of each part in the communication command, the arrangement order of the data name, or stored in one communication command The number of data items that can be set can be freely changed. As a result, it is easy to change the data size by changing the model of the equipment or adding new equipment, and to change the communication command by adding new data.

For example, when the size of data used in equipment is changed from 1-byte data to 2-byte data, a communication command having a fixed length in a conventional equipment management system is changed, and a central monitoring device is changed. Also, the communication management software of the equipment controller had to be modified. However, in the invention according to claim 1,
Since the communication command uses, for example, a character string format in which data can be handled with a variable length, the data size can be changed without modifying the communication management software of the equipment controller or the central management device.

[0012] For example, when data of "second" is newly added to the abnormality history data represented by "hour" and "minute", the number of data is reduced by the conventional equipment management system. New data was added to the fixed communication commands, which required modification of the communication management software in the central monitoring device and the equipment controller. However, in the invention according to claim 2, since the data arrangement order in the communication command is free and the number of data in the communication command is freely changed, new data can be added without modifying the communication management software. Data can be added.

On the other hand, as a solution to the second problem, as described in the third and fourth aspects of the present invention, the data to be stored in the nonvolatile memory is determined from the data name, and the data stored in the nonvolatile memory is set in advance. By having a mechanism for dynamically arranging data in the free area, it is easy to change the data size or change the stored data by adding new data.

For example, when changing the size of data used in equipment from 1-byte data to 2-byte data, in a conventional equipment management system, an area for storing data and a storage size in a non-volatile memory of an equipment controller are limited. Because it is fixed, it was necessary to adjust the non-volatile memory area, correct the function part that calls data, and verify whether the adjustment of the non-volatile memory area affects the program part that handles other data, etc. . However, at the time of data storage as in the invention according to claim 4, a new data area is re-allocated in a predetermined free area according to the data size to be stored, and data is stored in this new area. Is stored, so that the data size can be changed without modifying the software of the storage part.

For example, in a case where data of “second” is newly added to the abnormality history data represented by “hour” and “minute”, the conventional equipment management system uses Since the data storage area and storage size in the non-volatile memory are fixed, adjustment of the non-volatile memory area, modification of the function that calls data,
It was necessary to verify whether or not the adjustment of the non-volatile memory area has an effect on a program portion that handles other data. However, in the invention according to claims 3 and 4, the data to be stored in the nonvolatile memory is determined from the data name,
By providing a mechanism for dynamically arranging data in a free area set in a nonvolatile memory in advance, new data can be added without modifying software in a storage portion.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Embodiment 1 of the Invention In the first embodiment, FIG.
1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an equipment management system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the figure, a central management device 100 includes a communication management unit 110 that manages data transmission and reception performed with the equipment controller 200, a display device 120 that displays data transmitted and received by the communication management unit 110, And an input device 130 for inputting from outside. Equipment controller 20 for monitoring equipment 300 typified by an escalator, an air conditioner, a light, etc.
0, a communication management unit 210 that manages data transmission / reception performed with the central management device 100; a facility device input / output unit 220 that manages data transmission / reception (delivery) with the facility device 300; The operation status of the device 300 and the setting data items from the central management device 100 are stored in the volatile memory 2.
35 or a data management unit 230 stored in the nonvolatile memory 234. In addition, the aforementioned equipment 3
00 includes a communication management unit 310 that manages data transmission and reception performed with the equipment controller 200.

The communication management unit 310 of the equipment 300 notifies the equipment input / output unit 220 of the equipment controller 200 of the change data when the state of the equipment 300 changes, and the equipment input / output unit 220 Is passed to the data management unit 230. The data management unit 230 stores the received data in a flash memory or an EEPROM that retains the acquired data even when the power is turned off.
Or the like, which is stored in the nonvolatile memory 234 represented by the above-described method, or has a property of erasing data when the power is turned off.
It is stored in a volatile memory 235 represented by AM or the like.

Further, the central management device 100 includes the input device 1
The communication management unit 110 of the central management device 100 at a time designated by an administrator input from 30 or a schedule or the like.
Requests or sets data to the communication management unit 210 of the equipment controller 200 from the server.

At this time, a communication command as shown in FIG. 2 is used for communication between the central management device 100 and the equipment controller 200. The format of this communication command includes a request category for distinguishing a request type such as whether the data is a monitor request or a setting request, a data category indicating a data storage destination, a data name for distinguishing data, and , And data contents including a data value corresponding to the data name. Further, the communication command is an HTTP protocol (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) used when viewing a home page on the Internet.
It is expressed in a variable-length text format using a communication protocol such as l), and can be set by specifying the data name to be obtained or set in any order.

For example, when a plurality of escalators installed are exemplified as the equipment 300, and in an equipment management system that manages the operation state of each escalator, it is desired to monitor the operation state and operation time of the escalator with the equipment number 1 In the communication command shown in FIG. 2, the central management device 100 sets “monitor request” in the request division section, “escalator” in the data division section, and “device number =“ 1 ”” and “device number” in the data name section and the data content section. Operating state = """,
“Operation time =” “” ”is set and input, and the communication management unit 110 sends the communication management unit 2 of the equipment controller 200
The request command is transmitted to 10. The equipment controller 200, which has received the request command from the communication management unit 110, sends a monitor response to the request division section of the communication command, an escalator in the data division section, and a current operation state in the data name section and the data content section, for example, "Equipment". After setting and inputting the numbers = “1”, “operating state =“ rising operation ””, “operating time =“ 5420 ””, etc., the communication management unit 210 returns a response command to the central management device 100. It has become.

As described above, according to the equipment management system according to the first embodiment, the communication command between the central management apparatus 100 and the equipment controller 200 uses the text-format communication protocol in which the data length is variable. The data indicating the state of the equipment 300 stored in the equipment controller 200 can be extracted in any order without being aware of the data order. Therefore, when adding new equipment or changing the specifications of equipment, which is a problem with fixed-length communication commands used in conventional equipment management systems, the data size in communication commands changes or new data Since there is no need to change settings such as additions, the time required for software modification has been greatly reduced.

Further, since there is no change in the communication management software due to a change in the data size or the addition of data, the communication management software is modified every time the function of the equipment is expanded as in the conventional equipment management system. It also solves the problem of having to manage multiple pieces of software.

Embodiment 2 of the Invention Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the second embodiment, FIG. 3 shows the data management unit 230 in the equipment controller 200 in FIG. 1 in detail, and the central management device 100 and the equipment 300 are the same as those in FIG. The data management unit 230 of the equipment controller 200 includes a data type determination unit 231 that determines the storage location of the equipment controller data, and a data storage management unit 236 that writes and reads data. The data storage management unit 236 includes a nonvolatile memory access control unit 232 that writes and reads data to and from the nonvolatile memory 234, and a volatile memory 235.
And a volatile memory access control unit 233 for writing and reading data to and from the memory.

FIG. 4 shows the data structure in the non-volatile memory 234, including a pointer area 250 in which a data name and a storage location of data contents are written, a data name area 260 in which a data section + data name is stored, Further, it is composed of a main data area 270 storing data contents and a sub data area 280. The pointer area 250
A status 251 describing whether each data pointer is valid, a data name pointer 252 describing an address in the nonvolatile memory area storing the data name, a main data pointer 253 describing a storage destination address of the duplicated data, and a sub It comprises a data pointer 254 and a checksum 255 for the status 251 to the sub data pointer 254 described above. The data name area 260 includes a plurality of stored data names 261. Main data area 270
Consists of a plurality of main data 271 held,
The sub data area 280 includes a plurality of sub data 281 stored.

Therefore, in the equipment management system according to the second embodiment, the equipment controller 300
As shown in FIG. 2, the data contents input to 00 are added with a data section and a data name, and
20, the data type determination unit 2 of the data management unit 230
It is passed to 31. The data type determination unit 231 writes the acquired data to the nonvolatile memory 234 or
It is determined whether the data is to be written to the non-volatile memory access control unit 232 or the volatile memory access control unit 233 based on the determination result. That is, when the data name and the data content of the data to be changed are transmitted from the central management device 100 to the data management unit 230 of the equipment controller 200, the data type determination unit 23
1 judges from the data name of the data whether or not the data should be stored in the nonvolatile memory 234. If the data type determination unit 231 determines that the data is data to be stored in the nonvolatile memory 234, the data storage management unit 23
6 stores the data in the nonvolatile memory 234. Conversely, when the data type determination unit 231 determines that the data should not be stored in the nonvolatile memory 234, the data storage management unit 236 stores the data in the volatile memory 235.

Here, "from status 251 to checksum 255" in FIG. 4 is called one "block". Therefore, the nonvolatile memory access control unit 232
If the user wants to save the data in the nonvolatile memory 234, the last data in the data name area 260, the main data area 270, and the sub data area 280 are stored in the last block of the pointer area 250 in FIG. The start address of the stored area is obtained. Thereafter, the data lengths held by the respective data are added to calculate the start address of the free area of each area, and the data name 261 is calculated from the calculated start address.
a, main data 271a, and sub data 281a are written. At this time, each data 261a, 271a, 28
1a is stored in the pointer area 250 in the data name pointer 252a and the main data pointer 25.
3a, held as a sub $ data pointer 254a, and a code indicating "normal data" is written in the status 251a. However, if there is data having the same name as the data to be stored in the data name area, the status portion of the block in the pointer area 250 pointing to the data name with the same name is used to prevent data duplication. A code indicating "erasable" is written in advance.

In a data write-once system using a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory which cannot be overwritten, data is added every time data is updated. There is a problem that the area gradually decreases. In order to solve such a problem, the system according to this embodiment reads all the contents of the status 251 in the pointer area 250 and indicates "erasable" when the data in each area occupies a certain area or more. The block in which the code is written, the data name area 26 indicated by the data name pointer 252
The data name in 0 and the data indicated by the data pointers 253 and 254 of the duplicated data are deleted. In this manner, unnecessary areas are deleted by packing the data existing in the respective data areas from the beginning, so that the above-described problem of the data additional recording system is solved.

As described above, the equipment management system according to the second embodiment does not overwrite data in a specific memory area as in the conventional system, but performs transmission and reception using data names of various data as keywords. Since the data is written in the form of adding data to the free area allocated for storage, a structure of the nonvolatile memory 234 capable of coping with a change in data size can be realized. In addition, it has a mechanism to search by data name unit, and data related to the status of the equipment 300 can be easily retrieved by specifying the data name to be acquired, so that data can be retrieved in any order without being aware of communication commands. Can be taken out. In other words, there is no need to change the communication command settings in response to a change in the data size in a communication command or the addition of new data due to the addition of new equipment or the change of equipment specifications, as in the conventional system. As a result, the time and labor required for software correction can be significantly reduced.

[0029]

As described in detail above, in the equipment management system according to the present invention, the communication between the equipment controller and the central management unit uses a variable data length and a data name for distinguishing data. A text-format communication command added to the data content is used. That is, in the communication command, the data name and the data content corresponding to the data size can be changed, the number of data can be changed, or the arrangement order of the data names can be changed freely. It is possible to easily change the data size by adding new equipment or change communication commands by adding new data.

Also, it is determined based on the data name whether or not the change data sent from the central management unit is to be stored in the nonvolatile memory. If the change data is to be stored, the change data is stored in the nonvolatile memory. Since the data that should not be stored in the non-volatile memory is stored in the volatile memory, whether to store the data in the non-volatile memory can be freely changed by the central management device. In addition, a free area for storing communication command data is provided in the non-volatile memory, and a new data area according to the size of data to be stored is set in the free area at the time of data storage, and the newly set data is set. Since the data to be stored can be stored in the area, it is possible to change the stored data more easily by changing the data size or adding new data.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an equipment management system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining contents of a communication command used for communication between the central management device and the equipment controller according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing details of a data management unit in an equipment controller in the equipment management system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an area content of a nonvolatile memory in an equipment controller according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 Central management device, 110 Communication management unit, 200
Equipment controller, 210 communication management unit, 220 equipment input / output unit, 230 data management unit, 231 data type determination unit, 232 nonvolatile memory access control unit, 23
3 volatile memory access control unit, 234 nonvolatile memory, 235 volatile memory, 236 data storage management unit,
250 pointer area, 260 data name area, 270
Main data area, 280 Sub data area, 300
Equipment, 310 Communication management unit.

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Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An equipment input / output unit for transferring data between equipment to be managed and said equipment.
An equipment management system including an equipment controller having a data management unit that stores the data to be transferred, and a central management device connected to the equipment controller so as to be able to perform data communication, wherein the equipment controller includes: As the data used for communication between the central management devices, a text-format communication command in which the data length is variable and a data name for distinguishing the data is added to the data content is used. Equipment management system. 2. A communication command includes a request category for distinguishing a data request type, a data category indicating a storage location of the data, a data name for distinguishing the data, and data corresponding to the data name. A data size including a value, a data size related to the data name and the corresponding data content in the communication command, an arrangement order of the data name, and the data name and the corresponding data content The equipment management system according to claim 1, wherein the number of the devices is changeable. 3. A data management unit of the equipment controller, comprising: a nonvolatile memory and a volatile memory for storing data of a communication command; and a determination as to whether or not the data transferred between the central management device and the nonvolatile memory should be stored in the nonvolatile memory. A data type determination unit for determining, and a data storage management unit for performing a data storage process, and further, when changing data, the data name and data content of the data to be changed are transmitted from the central management device to the data management unit of the equipment controller. When transmitted to the non-volatile memory, the data type determination unit determines whether to store the data in the nonvolatile memory based on the data name of the data, and the data type determination unit stores the data in the nonvolatile memory. If it is determined that the data is data, the data storage management unit stores the data in the nonvolatile memory, and If the data type determination unit determines that the data is not data to be stored in the nonvolatile memory, the data storage management unit stores the data in the volatile memory. Item 3. The equipment management system according to item 1 or 2. 4. An empty area for storing data of a communication command is provided in a non-volatile memory, and a new data area according to the size of data to be stored is set in the empty area when storing data. The equipment management system according to claim 3, wherein the data to be stored is stored in the newly set data area.