Control device and control method

Abstract

To achieve stable communication by preventing an increase in applications that cannot meet communication requirements by issuing instructions to both of a network and applications.SOLUTION: The present invention is a control device in a manufacturing management system having an apparatus-mounted device that transmits information about an application mounted on an apparatus arranged at a manufacturing site, and a communication network that transfers packets containing the information about the application from the apparatus-mounted device to a destination device. The control device includes application state determination means that determines that the operating state of the application is in an abnormal state different from normal based on a receiving rate of the packets containing the information about the application and a request rate required for the application, and instruction setting means that instructs both the application determined to be in the abnormal state and the communication network to suppress operation.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a control device and a control method, and can be applied to a control device that controls application software (hereinafter referred to as "applications") that monitors and controls automatic guided vehicles, machine tools, production lines, etc. operating at a manufacturing site, and a network used by the application. [Background technology]

[0002] In manufacturing sites, for example, in processes such as the transport of materials and products by automated guided vehicles, the processing and assembly of products by machine tools, and inspection by cameras and sensors, a large number of applications are running with various communication requirements depending on the data handled and purpose, such as video, which requires high data rates and low latency, and control data, which must be low-latency and cannot tolerate packet loss.

[0003] In order to satisfy the various communication requirements of each application that shares communication resources on the network, such as frequency and time, it is important to appropriately control the communication resources and communication devices used by the application in accordance with the time-changing state of the application and the network communication environment.

[0004] As a method for satisfying the communication requirements of an application, there is a technique disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1. In addition, there are control models called ALTO (Application-Layer Traffic Optimization) and PAN (Personal Area Network) proposed by the IETF (The Internet Engineering Task Force).

[0005] The control model disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1 is a model that performs QoS (Quality of Service) control of target packets in a network that notifies communication requirements. In addition, control models such as ALTO and PAN are known as models that determine transfer paths by applications that notify network information.

[0006] In recent years, the Smart Resource Flow (SRF) wireless platform has been proposed as one of the means to realize the control model of Application Aware Networking.

[0007] In the SRF wireless platform, based on the communication requirements of the applications notified by the Service Manager, the Field Manager determines the method of control of the communication resources necessary to satisfy the communication requirements of each application in the current environment, and the communication device that notified that information performs QoS control and route switching for the target packets. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0008] [Non-Patent Document 1] Eiji Takahashi, Takanori Iwai, Koichi Nihei, Masaharu Morimoto, “Application-aware ICT control technology supporting DX promotion using Beyond 5G, IoT, and AI”, NEC Technical Report, Vol. 75 No. 1, Special feature on Open Network Technology, pp. 117-120, https: / / jpn.nec.com / techrep / journal / g23 / n01 / pdf / 230123.pdf Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0009] However, if an application continues to send packets that exceed the upper limit of the network's communication resources, the processing load on the communication devices may increase and packets may become stuck, causing communication to become unstable and leading to an increase in applications that are unable to meet their communication requirements.

[0010] Application control models such as ALTO / PAN make it possible for an application to forward packets to a network that it determines can meet its communications requirements and adjust the transmission rate. However, if an application becomes uncontrollable due to equipment failure or hijacking by an attacker and continues to send large numbers of packets, resource limits may be exceeded.

[0011] Therefore, the object of the present invention is to prevent an increase in applications that cannot meet communication requirements and achieve stable communication by issuing instructions to both the network and the application when an application continues to send packets that exceed the network's communication resource limit. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] In order to solve such problems, the first invention is a control device in a manufacturing management system having an equipment-mounted device that transmits information about an application mounted on equipment arranged at a manufacturing site, and a communication network that transfers packets containing the application information from the equipment-mounted device to a destination device, characterized in having (1) an application state determination means that determines that the operating state of the application is an abnormal state different from normal based on the receiving rate of the packets containing the application information and the request rate required for the application, and (2) an instruction setting means that instructs both the application determined to be in an abnormal state and the communication network to suppress operation.

[0013] The second invention is a control method in a manufacturing management system having an equipment-mounted device that transmits information about an application mounted on equipment arranged at a manufacturing site, and a communication network that transfers packets containing the application information from the equipment-mounted device to a destination device, characterized in that (1) an application state determination means determines that the operating state of the application is an abnormal state different from normal based on a receiving rate of the packets containing the application information and a request rate required for the application, and (2) an instruction setting means instructs both the application determined to be in an abnormal state and the communication network to suppress operation. Effect of the Invention

[0014] According to the present invention, when an application continues to send packets that exceed the network's communication resource limit, instructions can be issued to both the network and the application to prevent an increase in applications that cannot meet communication requirements and achieve stable communication. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] 1 is a configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of a manufacturing management system according to an embodiment and the internal configuration of main components; [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an SRF wireless platform. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a processing operation in a manufacturing management system 5 according to an embodiment (part 1). [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining processing operations in the manufacturing management system 5 according to the embodiment (part 2). [Diagram 5] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram (part 3) for explaining the processing operation in the manufacturing management system 5 according to the embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of communication requirements required for applications of each device in a manufacturing site. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of explanations of the categories in FIG. 6 and classification by purpose within the categories. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 illustrates an example of an allowable delay. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] (A) Main embodiment DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a control device and a control method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0017] (A-1) Configuration of the embodiment FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of a manufacturing management system according to an embodiment and the internal configurations of main components.

[0018] In FIG. 1, a manufacturing management system 5 according to the embodiment includes a control device 1, a management control device 2, network devices 3 (3-1 to 3-N, N is a positive integer), and an equipment mounting device 4.

[0019] The manufacturing management system 5 is a system that utilizes wireless communication at a manufacturing site such as a factory. For example, in order to improve productivity, the manufacturing management system 5 collects, by wireless communication, operation data of machine tools, operation data of unmanned guided vehicles that run in a warehouse or a factory, images captured by security cameras, and the like, and performs manufacturing management using the collected data.

[0020] In the manufacturing management system 5, an example will be shown in which an SRF wireless platform that realizes stable wireless communication even in an environment in which a plurality of wireless methods are mixed is adopted as the wireless platform.

[0021] The SRF wireless platform is a wireless communication platform whose specifications were developed and standardized by the standardization organization FFPA (Flexible Factory Partner Alliance).

[0022] As shown in Fig. 2, in the SRF wireless platform, a control device 91 as a Service Manager and a management control device 92 as a Field Manager perform cooperative control (global control) of wireless resources that satisfy the quality required by each application, and equipment 93 as an SRF Gateway and Device perform wireless resource control (local control) for each system in accordance with a control policy. In this way, the SRF wireless platform performs hierarchical control. This hierarchical control is performed dynamically according to the state of the application and changes in the wireless environment. This dynamic hierarchical control makes it possible to realize optimal management of wireless resources according to fluctuations in the wireless environment and integrated management of various applications with different quality requirements.

[0023] Each component of the manufacturing management system 5 (control device 1, management control device 2, network device 3, device mounting device 4) may be located at the same site, or may be located in a distributed manner if it can be connected via the network NT.

[0024] Furthermore, the manufacturing management system 5 is not limited to managing manufacturing using data from one type of application, but may manage manufacturing by combining data from multiple types of applications or by performing calculations using multiple data.

[0025] [Equipment mounted device 4] The equipment mounting device 4 is a communication device mounted on equipment from which information is to be acquired at a manufacturing site, and may be, for example, a machine tool, an unmanned guided vehicle, a surveillance camera, a sensor, etc. The equipment mounting device 4 corresponds to a so-called SRF device, and includes a control unit 41, a storage unit 42, and a wireless communication unit 43.

[0026] The control unit 41 controls the functions of the device. For example, the control unit 41 is a device having a CPU, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, etc., and the functions of the device-mounted device 4 are realized by the CPU executing a processing program (e.g., an application program, a communication control program, etc.) stored in the ROM.

[0027] The control unit 41 includes an application 411 and a communication control unit 412 .

[0028] The application 411 is a function implemented by the device, and data obtained by executing the function is stored in the storage unit 42. The application 411 differs depending on the purpose and application of the device-mounted device 4, and is mounted on the device for each system.

[0029] For example, if the device is a machine tool, application 411 corresponds to processing as a machine tool, assembly processing of a product, etc., and stores data acquired through processing, assembly processing, etc. in storage unit 42. If the device is an automated guided vehicle, application 411 corresponds to processing related to transportation as an automated guided vehicle, etc., and stores information on transported objects and data on the transport route, etc. in storage unit 42. If the device is a surveillance camera, application 411 captures surveillance video, and stores the captured video data, data related to the time and location of the video, etc. in storage unit 42.

[0030] The storage unit 42 stores processing programs, data necessary for processing, data obtained by executing the application 411, and the like.

[0031] The wireless communication unit 43 wirelessly communicates with the network device 3 and transmits information including data obtained by the application 411 to a destination device. For example, in order to perform efficient manufacturing management at a manufacturing site, the wireless communication unit 43 can set a server or the like that performs manufacturing management using application data as the destination device. The timing at which the wireless communication unit 43 transmits data can be determined according to the communication conditions for manufacturing management using application data.

[0032] For example, when transmitting video data or transport data wirelessly to manage the state of an automated guided vehicle transporting materials or products, wireless transmission with high rate and low latency is required. Also, when transmitting real-time processing data wirelessly to manage the state of processing of machine tools on a manufacturing line, communication with low latency and no packet loss is required. Thus, there are applications 411 with various communication requirements according to the type and purpose of the data to be handled, and the wireless communication unit 43 wirelessly communicates data under wireless conditions according to the type of application 411.

[0033] [Network device 3] The network device 3 is a communication device such as a gateway, and transmits and receives information between the equipment mounting device 4 and the network NT. The network device 3 corresponds to a so-called SRF gateway.

[0034] [Control device 1] The control device 1 monitors the status of communication resources based on the communication requirements for each application in the manufacturing management system 5, and when a situation occurs in which the communication resource value of an application exceeds an upper limit value, it instructs communication control for both the application and the network.

[0035] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the control device 1 includes a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a communication unit 13.

[0036] The control unit 11 is responsible for various functions of the control device 1. For example, the control unit 11 is a device having a CPU, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, etc., and the functions of the control device 1 are realized by the CPU executing a processing program (e.g., a communication control program, etc.) stored in the ROM.

[0037] The storage unit 12 stores processing programs, data necessary for processing, data obtained by executing processing, and the like.

[0038] The communication unit 13 transmits and receives information to and from the control device 1 via the network NT.

[0039] [Management control device 2] The management control device 2 performs communication control for each application in accordance with the control of the control device 1. For example, the management control device 2 performs bandwidth control, delay control, interference control, etc. The management control device 2 has a control unit 21, a storage unit 22, and a communication unit 23.

[0040] The control unit 21 is responsible for various functions in the management control device 2. For example, the control unit 21 is a device having a CPU, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, etc., and the functions as the management control device 2 are realized by the CPU executing a processing program (e.g., a communication control program, etc.) stored in the ROM.

[0041] The storage unit 22 stores processing programs, data necessary for processing, data obtained by executing processing, and the like.

[0042] The communication unit 23 exchanges information with the control device 1 via the network NT, and exchanges information with the network device 3 via a communication line.

[0043] (A-2) Operation of the embodiment Next, the processing operations in the manufacturing management system 5 according to this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0044] 3 to 5 are explanatory diagrams illustrating the processing operations in the manufacturing management system 5 according to the embodiment.

[0045] Here, it is assumed that the device-mounted device 4, which is equipped with an application 411 corresponding to each function, transmits application data to a destination device according to the communication requirements for each application. That is, Fig. 3 to Fig. 5 show a case where the application 411 of the device-mounted device 4, which is the transmission source, transmits a packet including data to the application of the destination device via the network.

[0046] 3 to 5 is a network that exists between the application 411 of the transmission source and the application of the destination device. In other words, the communication device that exists in the network of Fig. 3 to 5 is not limited to the network device 3, but means a communication device that exists on a communication path between the application 411 of the transmission source and the application of the destination device.

[0047] The packet includes, as a packet header portion, communication identification information (e.g., IP address, MAC address, etc.) that uniquely identifies the wireless communication unit 43 of the sender, communication identification information (e.g., IP address, MAC address, etc.) of the destination, device identification information that specifies the device, application identification information that uniquely identifies the application 411, etc., and includes application data, etc. as a data portion. Note that the packet configuration is not particularly limited and may be in accordance with the communication method.

[0048] The communication requirements of the application 411 are defined according to its purpose and use. For example, the communication requirements of the application 411 include a requested rate, an allowable delay, an allowable loss, and a priority. The requested rate is a rate defined for each application, and is defined as, for example, a maximum rate value (maximum requested rate value), an average rate value (average requested rate value), or the like. The communication requirements are not limited to the above items, and other items may be requested.

[0049] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of communication requirements imposed on the application 411 of each equipment mounting device 4 at the manufacturing site.

[0050] In the example of FIG. 6, the items are "category," "purpose of communication," "target of communication," "communication requirement," and "numerical value of communication requirement."

[0051] "Category" is a classification managed using data from application 411, and examples include "quality", "control", "management", "other", and "safety". Explanations and specific examples of items belonging to "category" are shown in Fig. 7(A) and Fig. 7(B), and details are omitted here.

[0052] An example of FIG. 6 will be described. For example, for "category: quality", the "purpose of communication" is for "detection of product tampering" and the "target of communication" is "detected data". For example, the on-board device 4 is a sensor, and in order to detect product tampering, it collects information (detected data) related to the state of the product during production and the production equipment. In this example, the "communication requirements" required for the application are "high rate (e.g., 5 Mbps or more)", the "transmission rate" is "8000 Kbps", and the "allowable delay" is "10000 ms". The "allowable loss (%)" is "unspecified".

[0053] In the case of "Category: Control", the "Communication Purpose" is for "Liquid Injection Control" and the "Communication Target" is "Water Volume Data". For example, the on-board device 4 is a water volume detection sensor, and for liquid injection control, it collects information (water volume data) related to the state of the production equipment and issues instructions to the production equipment. In this example, the "Communication Requirements" required for the application are "Low Latency (e.g., 100 ms or less)", the "Transmission Rate" is "Less than 1 Kbps", and the "Allowable Latency" is "100 ms". "Allowable Loss (%)" is "Not Specified".

[0054] In the case of "Category: Management", the "Purpose of Communication" is for "dust amount management in a clean room" and the "Communication Target" is "dust amount data". For example, the equipment mounted device 4 is a dust amount detection sensor, and in order to manage the amount of dust in the clean room, dust amount detection data is collected from the dust amount detection sensor installed in the clean room to manage whether or not the environment is appropriate. In this example, the "communication requirements" required for the application are "low latency (e.g., 100 ms or less)", the "transmission rate" is "less than 1 Kbps", the "allowable latency" is "1000 ms", and the "allowable loss" is "0%".

[0055] "Category: Other" has a "communication purpose" for "video transmission of a moving body" and a "communication target" for "video data." For example, the equipment mounting device 4 is a surveillance camera mounted on an automatic guided vehicle, and for video transmission of the automatic guided vehicle as a moving body, video data is collected and managed from the surveillance camera mounted on the automatic guided vehicle. In this example, the "communication requirements" required for the application are "high rate (e.g., 5 Mbps or more)" and "low latency (e.g., 100 ms or less)," with a "transmission rate" of "18000 Kbps" and "allowable latency" of "33 ms." "Allowable loss" is "unspecified."

[0056] "Category: Safety" has a "purpose of communication" for "activating an emergency stop switch on manufacturing equipment, etc." and a "target of communication" for "control data." For example, the equipment-mounted device 4 is production equipment such as manufacturing equipment, and in order to activate an emergency stop switch on the manufacturing equipment, etc., it instructs the operation of the production equipment based on control data collected from the production equipment. In this example, the "communication requirements" required for the application are "low latency (e.g., 100 ms or less)" and "low loss (e.g., 1% or less)," with a "transmission rate" of "1 Kbps," an "allowable latency" of "1 to 10 ms," and an "allowable loss" of "0%."

[0057] Hereinafter, the operation of the communication control process for each application 411 of the control device 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 3 to Fig. 5. Here, "packet 1" including data of "application 1" and "packet 2" including data of "application 2" are shown, which are different types of data.

[0058] [Determining if communication resources are exceeded] First, with reference to FIG. 3, a process for determining whether or not communication by each application 411 at a manufacturing site has exceeded the communication resources of the network will be illustrated.

[0059] The application 411 transmits communication requirements defined for each application to the control device 1 (S101), and the control device 1 stores the communication requirements for each application 411 in the storage unit 12 for each application 411.

[0060] An application 411 runs in each device-mounted device 4, and a packet including data of the application 411 is transmitted from the wireless communication unit 43 of each device-mounted device 4 to the destination device via the network.

[0061] In order to forward packets, a communication device on the network analyzes information contained in the received packets and measures the reception rate for each application 411 received within a predetermined period (S102).

[0062] In other words, the communication device can identify the application type of the received packet based on the application identification information included in the received packet, and can measure the reception rate of each application received within a certain period of time. In this example, let us assume that the reception rate of "packet 1" is "5 Mbps" and the reception rate of "packet 2" is "10 Mbps".

[0063] Next, the communication device on the network transmits to the control device 1 the measured reception rate of each application and information indicating the communication resources of the communication path on the network (S103).

[0064] The information indicating the communication resource is, for example, information (parameter value) of parameters such as frequency, band, bit rate, radio wave strength, etc., and in this embodiment, it particularly includes the band upper limit value. The band upper limit value can be a value indicating the communication capacity on the path for transferring packets, and in this example, the "band upper limit value" is "10 Mbps".

[0065] In addition, this is not limited to the case where a communication device on a network transmits information indicating communication resources to the control device 1, and if the management control device 2 manages information indicating communication resources in the network, the management control device 2 may transmit information indicating communication resources to the control device 1.

[0066] Also, for example, when a virtual network is set for each application and the physical bandwidth of the network is divided to allocate the bandwidth to each virtual network, the bandwidth upper limit value of the virtual network for each application may be transmitted to the control device 1. In any case, as long as information indicating the communication resources of the network is provided to the control device 1, various methods can be applied.

[0067] In the control device 1, the resource state determination unit 111 adds up the reception rates of the applications to derive a total value of the reception rates (hereinafter, also referred to as a "total rate") (S104).

[0068] Furthermore, the bandwidth upper limit of the communication path of the network is set as a threshold, and the total rate value is compared with the threshold (bandwidth upper limit). If the total rate value exceeds the threshold, the resource state determination unit 111 determines that the communication resource upper limit has been exceeded (S105).

[0069] In this example, since the bandwidth upper limit is "10 Mbps", the threshold is set to "10 Mbps". Furthermore, since the reception rate of "packet 1" is "5 Mbps" and the reception rate of "packet 2" is "10 Mbps", the total rate value is "15 Mbps". When the total rate value (15 Mbps) is compared with the threshold (10 Mbps), the total rate value exceeds the threshold, and the resource state determination unit 111 determines that the communication resource upper limit has been exceeded.

[0070] If the total rate value does not exceed the threshold, it is determined that the communication resource upper limit has not been exceeded, and communication continues.

[0071] [Application anomaly detection] Next, referring to FIG. 4, an example of a process is shown in which, when it is determined that the communication resource upper limit has been exceeded, an application 411 whose reception rate exceeds the requested rate is identified, and the application 411 is determined to be abnormal (a state different from normal communication below the requested rate).

[0072] In the control device 1, when the resource state determination unit 111 determines that the communication resource upper limit has been exceeded, the application state determination unit 112 compares, for each application 411, the value of the reception rate of the application 411 with the value of the request rate of the application 411.

[0073] Then, if there is an application 411 whose reception rate exceeds the requested rate for a predetermined period of time, the application state determining unit 112 determines that the application 411 is abnormal (S106).

[0074] In this example, the requested rate of "application 2" is assumed to be "5 Mbps." The receiving rate of "packet 2" is assumed to be "10 Mbps" for a predetermined period of time. Since the receiving rate of "packet 2" remains at the requested rate for the predetermined period of time, it is determined that "application 2" of "packet 2" is abnormal.

[0075] The reason for monitoring continuity for a predetermined period of time is that, for some reason, the packet reception rate of application 411 may temporarily exceed the threshold, and such cases are excluded to improve the accuracy of determining whether application 411 is abnormal.

[0076] The monitoring duration may differ for each application 411 depending on its allowable delay. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 8, when controlling a manufacturing machine or a robot, low delay (small allowable delay) is required, so it is desirable to set the monitoring duration short. Also, as illustrated in FIG. 8, when an administrator manages preventive maintenance of equipment, the allowable delay can be relatively large, so the monitoring duration can be set relatively long. Furthermore, although not illustrated in FIG. 8, when transmitting video from a camera mounted on an automatic guided vehicle as a moving object, for example, in the case of low delay (small allowable delay) and no packet loss designation, the monitoring duration can be set short.

[0077] Furthermore, if the packet reception rate of the application 411 temporarily deteriorates, the network state may be unstable. In that case, an instruction to lower the transmission rate may be sent to the application that is determined not to be able to meet the communication requirements such as the requested rate. This makes it possible to suppress unnecessary packet transmission from the application in question and reduce the load on the network.

[0078] [Instructions for both applications and networks] Next, a process in which the control device 1 issues instructions to both the application 411 determined to be abnormal and the network will be described with reference to FIG.

[0079] In the control device 1, when the application state determination unit 112 determines that an application 411 is abnormal, the instruction setting unit 113 instructs the application 411 determined to be abnormal to stop operating or to stop sending packets (S107), and also notifies the network used by the application 411 of a communication request to change the requested rate to zero (S108).

[0080] Conventionally, it has been possible to control the communication of communication devices on a network, but according to this embodiment, it is possible to simultaneously control the communication of the network and the operation of the application 411.

[0081] For example, even if a manufacturing management system is taken over by a malicious attacker, causing application 411 to become uncontrollable and continue to transmit a large number of packets, not only can communication control of the network communication devices be performed, but the operation of the uncontrollable application 411 can also be stopped.

[0082] In this example, the instruction setting unit 113 instructs the abnormal application 411 to stop operation or stop packet transmission, but the present invention is not limited to this and may instruct the application 411 to lower the transmission rate. Furthermore, the instruction setting unit 113 may instruct a combination of application operation stop, packet transmission stop, and transmission rate, or all of them.

[0083] [Variations] For example, the instruction setting unit 113 of the control device 1 may notify the communication device of the network of the requested rate of the application determined to be abnormal or the communication requirement with a lowered priority. This prompts the network to reduce the communication resource allocation amount or allocation priority for the target application, thereby reducing the network load caused by the abnormal application, thereby stabilizing the communication of other applications using the same network.

[0084] For example, the instruction setting unit 113 of the control device 1 may notify the network of the communication requirements in which the requested rate of the application determined to be abnormal is set to zero. This prompts the communication devices of the network to block packet transfer of the target application, reducing the load on the network caused by packets sent from the abnormal application, thereby stabilizing the communication of other applications using the same network.

[0085] Furthermore, the control device 1 may notify the network of communication requirements in which the requested rate of an application whose operation state has been determined to be abnormal and whose communication on the network has been blocked, returning the requested rate to the original requested value (the value before the abnormality was determined), thereby prompting the network to lift the block on packet transfer of the target application. This allows the communication of the target application to be quickly restored at any time.

[0086] (A-3) Effects of the embodiment As described above, according to this embodiment, when an application continues to send packets that exceed the network's communication resource limit, instructions are issued to both the network and the application, thereby preventing an increase in applications that cannot meet the communication requirements and achieving stable communication. [Explanation of symbols]

[0087] 5...Production management system, 1: control device, 11: control unit, 12: storage unit, 13: communication unit, 111: resource state determination unit, 112: application state determination unit, 113: instruction setting unit, 2... management control device, 21... control unit, 22... storage unit, 23... communication unit, 3...network device, 4...equipment-mounted device, 41...control unit, 42...memory unit, 43...wireless communication unit, 411...application, 412...communication control unit.

Claims

1. A control device in a manufacturing management system having an equipment mounting device that transmits information on an application mounted on an equipment installed in a manufacturing site, and a communication network that transfers a packet including the information on the application from the equipment mounting device to a destination device, an application state determination means for determining that the operating state of the application is an abnormal state different from a normal state based on a receiving rate of a packet including information of the application and a request rate required for the application; an instruction setting means for instructing both the application determined to be in an abnormal state and the communication network to inhibit operation; A control device comprising:

2. The control device according to claim 1, characterized in that the instruction setting means instructs the application determined to be in an abnormal state to stop or suppress its operation, and instructs the communication network to stop or suppress communication of packets containing information about the application.

3. 2. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the instruction setting means notifies the communication network of a communication request in which the requested rate or priority required for the application determined to be in an abnormal state is lowered.

4. 2. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the instruction setting means notifies the communication network of a communication requirement in which the requested rate required for the application determined to be in an abnormal state is set to zero.

5. 3. The control device according to claim 2, wherein the instruction setting means restores the communication requirements of the application and the communication network that have been determined to be in an abnormal state and have been suppressed from operating, by restoring the original request rate.

6. 2. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the application state determination means determines that the application is in an abnormal state when a receiving rate of packets including information about the application exceeds the requested rate for a predetermined period of time.

7. 2. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the instruction setting means issues an instruction to lower a transmission rate to an application determined to be in an unstable state of the communication network and unable to satisfy communication requirements due to the unstable network state.

8. A control method in a manufacturing management system having an equipment mounting device that transmits information on an application mounted on an equipment installed in a manufacturing site, and a communication network that transfers a packet including the information on the application from the equipment mounting device to a destination device, comprising: an application state determination means determines that an operation state of the application is an abnormal state different from a normal state based on a reception rate of a packet including information of the application and a request rate required for the application; An instruction setting means issues an instruction to inhibit operation of both the application and the communication network that are determined to be in an abnormal state. A control method comprising:

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