JP2010211601A - System and program for device power supply management and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To turn off a power source efficiently so as not to be affected by other devices when turning off a plurality of devices.
Means for dividing a plurality of device groups so as not to exceed the capacity of the power supply system, means for causing a device to reject a power-off command from another device, and power supply for each device group The problem is solved by means of dropping.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a device power management system, and relates to power management of network equipment.

  It is efficient if a large number of devices can be reliably turned off at once by remote control before maintenance of electrical equipment.

  However, when power is supplied to an electrical device, a temporary large current called an inrush current (or inrush current) may flow. When a device such as a copying machine is turned on, an inrush current is generated (FIG. 2), which affects the power supply system. Similarly, even when the power of the device is turned off at once, an inrush current may occur if the power is suddenly cut off, which may affect the power supply system.

  Note that FIG. 2 shows that the current temporarily increases suddenly in a certain device.

  As a solution to this problem, when turning off the power, a method of turning off the power individually at different times can be considered. (See Patent Document 1)

JP 2000-238373 A

  However, if the power is turned off one by one at different times, it takes time to turn off the power to a large number of devices, which is not efficient.

  For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the management apparatus PC 301 issues a power-off command to the device DEV 301, receives a power-off termination notification from the device DEV 301, and issues a power-off command to the next power-off target device DEV 302. . If this is performed for all devices to be powered off in the order of DEV303 and DEV304, it takes time to process the number of devices.

  Even if the power is turned off at different times, the power may be turned off at the same time if an operation from another device is possible.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 4, if the management apparatus PC 402 manages the power sources of the devices PC 401 to PC 404, if the power sources of the device PC 403 and PC 403 are operated from another management apparatus PC 401, it is unexpected. The device may be powered down at the timing.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a device power management system according to the present invention is a device power management system including a power management device, a device management device connected to an information network, and a plurality of devices managed by the device management device. Means for acquiring power supply information from a target device to be powered off, means for dividing the device into a plurality of device groups so as not to exceed the capacity of the power supply system, and for the device from another device The problem is solved by means for rejecting the power-off command and means for turning off the power for each device group.

  It is possible to efficiently turn off the power while avoiding the influence of the inrush current.

  Furthermore, it is possible to avoid the problem that the power is turned off from another device.

The figure showing the structure of the power management system of this invention Diagram showing peak current (inrush current) Diagram showing the procedure for turning off the power of each device Diagram showing the possibility of power being turned off by other devices Flow chart of the present invention List with device peak current (inrush current) and power location information Flow chart to calculate the power supply system so that it does not exceed the maximum current Diagram showing devices receiving power from each power system Diagram showing that the power supply system performs grouping so that the maximum current is not exceeded The flowchart which added the forced power-off process in addition to the flowchart of this invention described in FIG. Internal structure of a computer that is a power management device Internal structure of power management target device Flow chart showing processing for power-off request on device side Flow chart showing processing that can be forcibly terminated in response to a power-off request on the device side Flowchart showing processing on device side for ID acquisition request A screen that displays that there are devices that cannot be powered off Table by device

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  It is assumed that the power management software according to the present invention is installed on the computer PC 101 in FIG. For example, it is installed in the hard disk HDD 101 of FIG.

  The power management software of the PC 101 has a list of devices to be powered off.

  The list of devices to be turned off here is a list as shown in FIG.

  The list is held in a storage area on the PC 101. For example, it is held in the hard disk HDD 101 of FIG.

  The information included in the list of devices to be turned off is information necessary for power-off communication, and includes information for communicating with a device such as an IP address.

  This list may be input in advance by the user. Alternatively, the power management software searches for a device existing on the network using a protocol such as SNMP or SLP via the network, stores information acquired from the device in a storage area on the PC 101, and selects a user from the list. May be selected. Alternatively, all the searched devices may be targeted.

  In addition, the power management software has information on the arrangement of a power supply system that supplies power to the target device and the maximum rated current of each power supply. FIG. 9 shows an example of a power supply system that supplies power to a target device. In FIG. 9, the power supply system is divided into blocks A to C, and each block has a maximum rated current.

  In the power management software, when an operation for power-off is started (step S501 in FIG. 5), a list of devices to be power-off created in advance in step S502 in FIG. get.

  In step S503, information necessary for power management is acquired for the devices on the list using a protocol such as SNMP or SLP via the network (Net 101 in FIG. 1).

  The information necessary for power management is the peak current (inrush current) and power position information of the device as shown in FIG.

  From the information acquired in step S503 and the information on the power supply system shown in FIG. 9, a group of devices to be simultaneously turned off in step S504 is determined (FIG. 7).

  At that time, a group of devices to be simultaneously turned off is determined so that the total peak current (inrush current) does not exceed the maximum rated current of the power supply system.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 8, when device A, device H, and device E are supplied with power from power supply A, the sum is calculated from the current information of device A, device H, and device E acquired in step S503. To do. Compared with the maximum rated current of the power supply system shown in FIG. If the maximum rated current of the power supply system is exceeded, the power supply system is divided so as not to turn off the power simultaneously. Similarly, power supply system B is divided according to the maximum rated current. Similarly, the power supply system C is divided according to the maximum rated current.

  Finally, device groups that can be executed simultaneously in all power supply systems are registered as one group in the power-off schedule.

  The procedure for dividing the device group in step S504 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, a list of devices connected to one power supply system is acquired (S702).

  Next, the variable “i” that stores the total value of the peak current (inrush current) is initialized (S703).

  An index “n” referring to the device list is initialized to “1” (S704).

  An index “m” referring to a device group storing the device is initialized to “1” (S705). The peak current of the “n” -th device is added to “i” (S706). It is determined whether “i” exceeds the maximum rated current of the power supply system (S707). If it is determined in step S707 that “i” has exceeded the maximum rated current of the power supply system, “1” is added to “m”, “i” is initialized (S708), and the process proceeds to S709. If it is determined in step S707 that “i” does not exceed the maximum rated current of the power supply system, the “n” -th device is added to the “m” -th group (S709). After step S709, 1 is added to “n” (S710). Next, it is determined whether there is an “n” -th device (S711). If there is no “n” -th device, the process ends. If it is determined in step S711 that there is an “n” -th device, the process proceeds to step S706.

  The above processing is performed for each power supply system. If different power supply systems are used, there is no problem even if the power supply is cut off at the same time. Therefore, one group is collected from each power supply system to form the same group. The same group is a device group that performs a power-off at the same time.

  For example, when the sum of the peak currents of the devices A, H, and E in the power supply A group is calculated from the table TAB 1701 of FIG. 17, the sum is 410 as shown in the TAB 1703 of FIG. The current (TAB 1702) is exceeded. Therefore, the maximum rated current is not exceeded by grouping device A and device H and device E into different groups. Similarly, since the power supply B and the power supply C exceed the maximum rated current, the devices F and B and the device I are divided into different groups, and the devices G and D and the device C are divided into different groups.

  Since device A, device H, device F, device B, device G, and device D are separate power sources, they can be simultaneously powered off as the same group. Similarly, the remaining devices E, I, and C can be turned off simultaneously as a group.

  Therefore, in this case, the power is cut off twice.

  When a device group to be turned off at the same time is determined in S504, an ID is acquired from an unprocessed device in S505.

  Here, the device from which the ID has been acquired is configured not to accept information from other devices within a certain period of time.

  The device processing here will be described with reference to FIG. When the device receives an ID acquisition request from the PC 101 of the management apparatus (FIG. 1) (S1501), it checks in step S1502 whether an ID has already been acquired. Is issued (S1503). If it is determined in step S1502 that an ID has already been issued, the set timer value is checked (S1508). If the fixed time has elapsed, the timer is cleared (S1509). Is issued (S1503). If it is determined in step S1508 that the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process ends and waits for the next ID acquisition request. If an ID is issued in step S1503, the issued ID is held in a storage area in the device (S1504), a timer value is acquired (S1505), a timer is set (S1506), and the process ends (S1507).

  The timer value acquired in step S1505 is a value held in the management apparatus and may be a value input in advance by the user or a value determined in advance by a program.

  In step S506, it is checked whether IDs have been acquired for all devices. If all IDs have been acquired, the process advances to step S508. If all IDs have not been acquired in step S506, the IDs are temporarily excluded from the power supply processing targets of the group including the device that could not be acquired in step S507.

  In step S508, the power is turned off for each device group. The protocol for powering off is determined in advance between the device and the PC 101 containing the power management software. For example, a power-off command is transmitted from the PC 101 to the devices Dev101, Dev102, Dev103 with a value corresponding to the power-off defined by the SNMP MIB and SLP attributes. At that time, the device ID acquired in S505 is also sent at the same time.

  Here, the processing on the device side will be described with reference to FIG.

  The Dev 101, Dev 102, and Dev 103 that have received the power-off command interpret the power-off command and ID internally (S1302).

  Dev 101 checks whether the received ID is a normal value (S1303). The ID has a fixed length and may be a character string such as a number or alphabet.

  Next, if the ID is a value issued by the device, a power-off command is executed (S1304), and Dev 101 turns off the power. The power-off command is acquired by the network board NIC 1201 inside the device 101 in FIG. 12 from the PC 101 in FIG. 1 through the network N102 in FIG. Further, the controller CON1201 collates with the ID held by the DEV 101, and if the ID matches the ID held by the DEV 101, the microprocessor MPU 1201 of the controller CON1201 interprets the power-off command and issues a power-off command to the power POW 1201. Alternatively, the microprocessor MPU 1202 of the NIC network board NIC 1201 interprets the power-off and issues a power-off command to the power POW 1201 without using the controller CON 1201.

  When the power is turned off, the device DEV 101 notifies the PC 101 that the power has been turned off immediately before the power is turned off (S1305).

  The PC 101 attempts communication to check whether the device DEV 101 is actually powered off or not. If communication is not possible, it is determined that the power has been turned off.

  When all the devices in the group are powered off, similarly, the next device group is powered off.

  If the power-off of all devices in the device group is not executed even after a certain time has elapsed, the device group in which the power-off of the device has not been completed is stored, and the power of the next device group is turned off.

  In step S508, after power is turned off for one device group, power is turned off for the next device group, and power is turned off for all device groups.

In S509, it is checked whether there is a group that has not been processed.
The group that has not been processed is a device group that has been excluded in S507, and a device group in which processing has not been completed within a certain time in S508.

  If all the processes are completed in S509, the power-off operation is completed in S511.

  If there is a device group that has not been processed in S509, the process proceeds to S510. If a certain time has elapsed, the user is notified that there is an unprocessed device, and the process ends.

  For example, FIG. 16 shows a screen WIN 1601 that displays to the user that there is an unprocessed device on the output device of the management apparatus PC 101.

  If it is determined in step S510 that the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process is performed again from step S505.

  The second embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except for the processes related to steps S611 and S612 in FIG. 10 and S1407 in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 10, when a predetermined time has elapsed in step S610, it is possible to forcibly terminate the device by determining whether to forcibly terminate in step S611. Whether to forcibly terminate or not can be selected by the user in advance. It is also possible to make the user select at the time of S611.

  The device processing here is shown in FIG. The difference from FIG. 13 is that, after checking whether the issued ID is a regular ID, if it is determined that the issued ID is not normal, it is determined whether there is a forced stop command in S1407. It is assumed that a value corresponding to a forced stop in the protocol is determined in advance between the management apparatus and the device.

  If it is determined in step S1407 that the process is forcibly terminated, the power is turned off (S1404).

  If it is determined in step S1407 that the process is not forcibly terminated, it waits for reception of the next power-off request (S1401).

Claims (5)

  A device power management system comprising a power management device (PC101) connected to an information network (Net101) and a plurality of devices (Dev101, Dev102, Dev103) managed by the device management device, Means for acquiring power supply information from devices to be powered down (Dev101, Dev102, Dev103); means for dividing the device into a plurality of device groups so as not to exceed the capacity of the power supply system (Pow101); Dev. 101, Dev. 102, Dev. 103) means for rejecting a power-off command from another device and means for turning off the power for each device group.   2. The device power management according to claim 1, further comprising means for notifying the user that the power cannot be turned off if the power cannot be turned off for a predetermined time after the means for turning off the power for each device group. system.   2. The device power management system according to claim 1, further comprising means for forcibly turning off the power when the power cannot be turned off for a predetermined time after the means for turning off the power for each device group.   A device power management program for managing the device power management system according to claim 1 by a computer.   A storage medium storing the device power management program according to claim 4 in a form readable by a computer.