Monitoring system, central control device, and monitoring method

Abstract

To reduce, when equipment to be monitored is added, a period of time before monitoring the equipment added.SOLUTION: A monitoring system 100 includes a central control device 30 that manages monitoring data, which is information related to monitoring of equipment E1, and a terminal T1 that is used for inputting the monitoring data. The central control device 30 includes a confirmation unit 31 that receives a notification of key information indicating monitoring items of the equipment E1 to be newly monitored and notifies the terminal T1 of the key information, and an equipment monitoring unit 33 that starts a temporary monitoring process for the equipment E1 to be monitored, which is indicated by the key information, based on monitoring data that associates the notified key information with input information responded to from the terminal T1. The terminal T1 accepts input information of the monitoring data corresponding to the key information notified from the confirmation unit 31, and responds to the central control device 30 with the input information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a monitoring system, a central control device, and a monitoring method. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 describes a monitoring system in which a monitoring device monitors the operating status of a target system. The monitoring device notifies a user when an operating status is abnormal, allowing the user to quickly grasp the system abnormality. For this reason, a monitoring item is set for each component in the monitoring device's monitoring item DB, and a target value is set to determine whether the system is normal or abnormal. However, the more monitoring items are added, the heavier the load on the monitoring device becomes. Therefore, Patent Document 1 describes a process for automatically adding components on which a component depends as further monitoring targets only when the component is determined to have performance degradation. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2006-018369 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The equipment that composes the target system is expanded or modified for various reasons, and the monitored targets of the monitoring device also change over time. The contents of the database in which the monitoring device registers the monitored targets also need to be updated from time to time due to the expansion of each equipment in the target system.

[0005] FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram of a monitoring process performed by the monitoring system. In this monitoring system, the on-site equipment 10z and the monitoring control device 20z that are monitored are connected to the central control device 30z that monitors them via a network. First, when the on-site equipment 10z is expanded or remodeled (S11z), the details are notified to the monitoring control device 20z. The monitoring control device 20z manages the latest status of the on-site equipment 10z that it accommodates.

[0006] Then, the manager of the monitoring control device 20z checks the details of the expansion or modification notified in S11z, and reflects the results in the management information of the monitoring control device 20z (S12z). The processing of S12z is, for example, processing for setting monitoring data and adding / changing line data definitions. Each piece of information reflected in S12z is notified from the monitoring control device 20z to the central control device 30z. Furthermore, the administrator of the central control device 30z checks the details of the expansion / modification notified in S12z and reflects the results in the management information of the central control device 30z (S13z). As a result, the latest information of the expanded on-site equipment device 10z is registered in the monitoring control device 20z and the central control device 30z, respectively, and the on-site equipment device 10z becomes a new monitoring target.

[0007] The central controller 30z starts a process of monitoring whether the on-site equipment 10z managed by the monitor controller 20z is in a normal state or not (S21z). The monitor controller 20z receives the process of S21z, collects the state of the on-site equipment 10z contained therein, and starts monitoring to provide the result to the central controller 30z (S22z).

[0008] Now, suppose that a failure occurs in a field equipment device 10z to be monitored (S23z). The monitoring control device 20z collects the status of the field equipment device 10z in which the failure occurred, and notifies the result to the central control device 30z (S24z). The field equipment device 10z notifies the user of the failure of the field equipment device 10z by displaying the notified details of the failure on a user terminal or the like (S25z). As described above, in order to start the monitoring process (S21z), it is necessary to prepare both a process for reflecting management information by the administrator of the monitoring control device 20z (S12z) and a process for reflecting management information by the administrator of the central control device 30z (S13z).

[0009] However, the administrator of the monitoring control device 20z and the administrator of the central control device 30z are often different companies. In such a case, the waiting period (S19z) between the reflection process (S12z) of the monitoring control device 20z and the reflection process (S13z) of the central control device 30z may be as long as one month. Therefore, during the waiting period (S19z), the state before the newly added on-site equipment device 10z is registered as a management target continues, resulting in a blank period in the monitoring of the on-site equipment device 10z.

[0010] In addition, the conventional technology such as that disclosed in Patent Document 1 aims to reduce the monitoring load by reducing unnecessary monitoring items. Therefore, the conventional technology is not designed from the viewpoint of reducing the blank period of monitoring, that is, increasing the monitoring load appropriately.

[0011] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and has as its main object to reduce the gap in monitoring of an increased number of facilities to be monitored. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] In order to solve the above problems, the monitoring system of the present invention has the following features. The present invention provides a monitoring system having a central control device that manages monitoring data, which is information related to the monitoring of a facility, and a user terminal that is used to input the monitoring data, The central control device: a confirmation unit that receives notification of key information indicating a monitoring item of the equipment that is to be newly monitored and notifies the user terminal of the key information; an equipment monitoring unit that starts a temporary monitoring process for the equipment to be monitored, which is indicated by the key information, based on the monitoring data in which the notified key information is associated with input information responded from the user terminal; The user terminal receives the input information of the monitoring data corresponding to the key information notified from the confirmation unit, and responds to the input information to the central control device. Other features will be described later. Effect of the Invention

[0013] According to the present invention, when the number of facilities to be monitored increases, the gap in monitoring the facilities can be reduced. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 2 is a sequence diagram of a monitoring process by the monitoring system of FIG. 1 according to the present embodiment. [Diagram 3] 4 shows tables stored in a monitoring item storage unit according to the present embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a screen diagram showing a temporary monitoring item setting screen according to the embodiment; [Diagram 5] 4 is a table showing a list of monitoring items according to the present embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of each device in the monitoring system according to the present embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram of a monitoring process performed by the monitoring system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0016] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a monitoring system 100. In the monitoring system 100, on-site equipment 10 and monitoring control device 20 on the monitored side are connected to a central control device 30 on the monitoring side via a network. In addition, terminals T1 and T2 operated by users who use the central control device 30 are arranged on a user console 40 at the user's location. The central control device 30 manages monitoring data, which is information related to the monitoring of equipment E1. The terminals T1 and T2 are used to input the monitoring data. The on-site equipment device 10 is, for example, equipment E1, E2, and E3 installed on a highway or in a tunnel, and each of these pieces of equipment is incidental equipment for the road having functions such as power distribution and ventilation. The monitoring and control device 20 is, for example, remote stations M1 and M2 installed at each interchange of a highway. In Fig. 1, the remote station M1 is connected to accommodate the facility E1, and the remote station M2 is connected to accommodate the facilities E2 and E3.

[0017] The central control device 30 is applied, for example, to a road control unit 30S which is a control system for road facilities, and the road control unit 30S assigns unique definition data for each monitoring item of each piece of equipment E1 to E3 in order to monitor the failure status and operation status of the on-site equipment device 10, and manages each piece of equipment E1 to E3. The road control unit 30S includes a confirmation unit 31, a monitoring item storage unit 32, and an equipment monitoring unit 33. The confirmation unit 31 is notified of the equipment E1 to be newly monitored and key information indicating the monitoring items thereof, and notifies the terminal T1 of the key information. The terminal T1 accepts input information of the monitoring data corresponding to the key information notified from the confirmation unit 31 from the user, and responds with the input information to the confirmation unit 31 of the central control device 30. The equipment monitoring unit 33 manages monitoring data in the monitoring item storage unit 32 that corresponds the notified key information with the input information responded to from the terminal T1, and based on the monitoring data, initiates temporary monitoring processing for the equipment E1 to be monitored, which is indicated by the key information.

[0018] FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram of a monitoring process performed by the monitoring system 100 of FIG. First, when the on-site equipment 10 is expanded or remodeled (S11), the details are notified to the monitoring and control device 20. The monitoring and control device 20 manages the latest status of the on-site equipment 10 that it accommodates. Then, the manager of the monitoring control device 20 checks the details of the expansion / modification notified in S11, and reflects the results in the management information of the monitoring control device 20 (S12). The management information in S12 is, for example, key information for setting monitoring data (details of which will be described later in FIG. 3) and definition information for line data. The definition information of the line data is a data definition of the line for communicating (connecting) from the monitoring control device 20 to the central control device 30, and includes, for example, an IP address for each device. For example, when a power outage occurs in a certain monitoring control device 20, the line data is referenced in order to access the central control device 30 from another monitoring control device 20 to obtain status data of the field equipment device 10 accommodated in the monitoring control device 20 where the power outage occurred.

[0019] The monitor and control device 20 transmits the key information input in S12 to the central control device 30 (S31, details of which will be described later in Table 102 of FIG. 3). The central controller 30 causes the terminal T1 to display the temporary monitoring items including the key information received in S31 (S32, see FIG. 4 for details). Terminal T1 causes a user such as an operator to input the missing (blank) items among the temporary monitoring items (S33). The temporary monitoring items input in S33 are notified to the central controller 30 from terminal T1. Then, the central control device 30 associates the key information received from the monitoring control device 20 in S31 with the temporary monitoring items input from the terminal T1 in S33, and stores them in the monitoring item storage unit 32 as monitoring data.

[0020] As a result, preparation of temporary monitoring data is completed for the newly added or modified equipment E3 to be monitored even before the administrator of the central control device 30 reflects (S13) the details of the addition or modification notified in S12 (key information, line data definition information). Therefore, the monitoring process after the reflection process in S13 is called "main monitoring", and the monitoring process tentatively performed before the main monitoring is called "temporary monitoring".

[0021] The details of the temporary monitoring will be explained below in the order of S41 to S45. The central controller 30 starts a process of temporarily monitoring whether the status of the on-site equipment 10 managed by the monitoring controller 20 is normal or not based on the temporary monitoring data acquired in S31 to S33 (S41). After receiving the process of S41, the monitoring controller 20 starts monitoring to collect the status of the on-site equipment 10 contained therein and provide the result to the central controller 30 (S42).

[0022] Now, suppose that a failure occurs in a field equipment device 10 to be monitored (S43). The monitoring control device 20 collects the status of the field equipment device 10 in which the failure has occurred, and notifies the result to the central control device 30 (S44). The field equipment device 10 notifies the user of the failure of the field equipment device 10 by displaying the notified details of the failure on a user terminal or the like (S45). It is possible that the user may overlook the abnormality warning if the abnormality warning in S45 is sent only once. Therefore, in the temporary monitoring process, the equipment monitoring unit 33 may issue an abnormality warning again if the abnormality in the equipment E1 continues for a predetermined period after issuing an abnormality warning.

[0023] As described above, in order to start the temporary monitoring process (S41), it is necessary to prepare both the key information received from the monitoring control device 20 in S31 and the temporary monitoring items input from terminal T1 in S33. In other words, the preparation process for temporary monitoring by semi-automatic setting, which combines the automatic setting of the key information in S31 and the manual setting of the temporary monitoring items in S33, is executed in S31 to S33.

[0024] Here, the administrator of the central control device 30 checks the details of the expansion / modification notified in S12, and reflects the results in the management information of the central control device 30 (S13). As a result, the latest information of the added on-site equipment device 10 is registered in the monitoring control device 20 and the central control device 30, respectively, and the on-site equipment device 10 becomes a new monitoring target for "main monitoring." The timing for ending the temporary monitoring process (S41) may be when preparations for main monitoring are completed by the reflection process in S13, or when the expiration date defined in the monitoring data has elapsed.

[0025] As described above, even if the administrator of the monitoring control device 20 and the administrator of the central control device 30 are different companies and the transitional waiting period between the reflection process of the monitoring control device 20 (S12) and the reflection process of the central control device 30 (S13) becomes long, temporary monitoring of a new on-site equipment device 10 can be started during that waiting time, thereby shortening the monitoring gap period.

[0026] FIG. 3 shows the tables stored in the monitoring item storage unit 32. Table 101 shows an example of monitoring data in an initial state before the key information of S31 arrives at the central control device 30. Table 101 associates the following information with each record number (#). - "Substation name" that contains the equipment to be monitored. - Specific information of monitored items for each facility ("word and bit combination"). - "Monitoring" to show whether the current status of the equipment is normal or abnormal. "Alarm yes / no" indicates whether an alarm is required when the monitoring status is abnormal. This alarm yes / no may be explicitly input by the administrator, or may be set automatically depending on the importance of the monitoring item. - "Expiration date" when monitoring equipment. By setting this expiration date, you can prevent forgetting to delete monitored items.

[0027] The key information in the management information in S12 is composed of a combination of three columns, namely, slave station name, word, and bit, from among the columns of table 101. Table 102 shows the key information of the equipment newly notified in S31. The key information is information used by the monitoring control device 20 and the central control device 30 to manage the current status of each on-site equipment device 10.

[0028] Table 103 shows the state where a new record "#=3" from table 102 has been added to table 101. Since the key information in table 102 includes the slave station name, word, and bit, only these three pieces of information are written to the record "#=3". Table 104 shows the state of table 103 after the contents of the temporary monitoring items entered from terminal T1 in S33 have been added. The monitoring column, warning presence / absence column, and expiration date column are newly written to the record "#=3". This completes preparation for temporary monitoring for the record "#=3".

[0029] FIG. 4 is a screen diagram showing a temporary monitoring item setting screen. The setting screen includes a key information setting field 210, an additional input information setting field 220, an OK button 231, and a cancel button 232. By pressing the OK button 231, terminal T1 completes inputting into the key information setting field 210 and the additional input information setting field 220, and notifies the central control device 30 of this as a temporary monitoring item in S33. When the cancel button 232 is pressed, the input in the key information setting field 210 and the additional input information setting field 220 is discarded in the terminal T1.

[0030] The key information setting field 210 includes a slave station name field 211, a word field 212, and a bit field 213. These setting fields are each input with the key information notified from the monitoring control device 20 in S31 as is, so the user does not need to edit them. The additional input information setting field 220 includes a monitoring field 221A, a monitoring field acquisition button 211B, an alarm presence / absence field 222A, an alarm presence / absence acquisition button 222B, and an expiration date field 223. 3, the monitoring field 221A indicates whether the current status of the equipment to be monitored indicated by the key information is normal or abnormal. Input into the monitoring field 221A may be performed directly by the user, but a notification of the current status may also be received from the monitoring control device 20 that accommodates the equipment to be monitored by pressing the monitoring field acquisition button 211B.

[0031] The alarm presence / absence column 222A indicates whether or not an alarm is required for the equipment to be monitored indicated by the key information, as described in the table 101 of Fig. 3. An input to the alarm presence / absence column 222A may be made directly by the user. That is, the confirmation unit 31 causes the terminal T1 to input at least one of the following alarm setting information as input information: first setting information (alarm presence / absence column 222A) indicating whether or not to generate an abnormality alarm notifying that an abnormality has occurred in the equipment E1 to be monitored in the temporary monitoring process corresponding to the notified key information, and second setting information (not shown in FIG. 4) indicating the type of abnormality alarm. Then, the equipment monitoring unit 33 generates an abnormality alarm according to the alarm setting information included in the input information responded from the terminal T1.

[0032] On the other hand, instead of the user directly inputting information into the alarm presence / absence column 222A, the information may be automatically set according to the importance of the monitoring item by pressing the alarm presence / absence acquisition button 222B, as will be described with reference to FIG. In other words, instead of having terminal T1 input alarm setting information as input information, the confirmation unit 31 refers to data indicating the importance of each monitoring item that has been created in advance (Figure 5), and determines the alarm setting information from the importance of the monitoring item that corresponds to the key information to be notified.

[0033] FIG. 5 is a table showing a list of monitoring items. Table 111 associates key information (words and bits) with the contents of the corresponding monitoring items and the importance according to the contents. This table 111 is created in advance by an administrator or the like. The monitoring item in the first column, "Power outage / power on," is an item that monitors whether electricity is being supplied correctly to the equipment. Since a state in which there is no power is clearly an abnormality, it is assigned the highest importance level of "10" out of 10. The monitoring item in the second column, "Switchboard door opening / closing," is an item that monitors whether the door of the switchboard that houses the equipment has been opened or closed. Since the switchboard door may be opened and closed not only in abnormal cases such as tampering, but also for maintenance work, a low importance level of "2" is assigned to this. 4, the terminal T1 obtains the corresponding importance by referring to the table 111 from the key information. Then, the input to the alarm presence / absence field 222A may be automatically set according to a determination formula such as, for example, if the importance is ≧5, then alarm presence / absence=Yes, and if the importance is <4, then alarm presence / absence=No.

[0034] 4, the expiration date field 223 is for setting an expiration date of the temporary monitoring, but input may be omitted. The confirmation unit 31 causes the terminal T1 to input, as input information, the expiration date of the temporary monitoring process corresponding to the notified key information. Unlike regular monitoring, temporary monitoring is a provisional measure taken before approval by the administrator of the central control device 30 (the reflection process in S13) is obtained. Therefore, unless an expiration date is set for temporary monitoring, the monitoring process will continue indefinitely without the administrator of the central control device 30 being aware of it. Therefore, in order to prevent temporary monitoring from being forgotten to be turned off, the following process can be started by setting an expiration date for temporary monitoring before starting temporary monitoring. If the expiration date of the temporary monitoring has not yet expired and there is only a short time left until the expiration date (for example, when there are two days left until the expiration date), the equipment monitoring unit 33 sends a reminder message to each user, such as the administrator of the central control device 30, informing them of the expiration date, and in response to the reminder message, accepts a procedure to extend the expiration date of the temporary monitoring process. After the expiration date of the temporary monitoring has elapsed, the equipment monitoring unit 33 forcibly terminates the temporary monitoring process started in S41, and sends an email from the central control device 30 to each user, such as the administrator of the central control device 30, informing them of the forced termination of temporary monitoring.

[0035] FIG. 6 is a hardware configuration diagram of each device of the monitoring system 100 (equipment E1 to E3 of the on-site equipment device 10, slave stations M1 and M2 of the monitoring control device 20, the central control device 30, and terminals T1 and T2 of the user console 40). Each device in the monitoring system 100 is configured as a computer 900 having a CPU 901 , a RAM 902 , a ROM 903 , a HDD 904 , a communication I / F 905 , an input / output I / F 906 , and a media I / F 907 . The communication I / F 905 is connected to an external communication device 915. The input / output I / F 906 is connected to an input / output device 916. The media I / F 907 reads and writes data from a recording medium 917. Furthermore, the CPU 901 executes a program (also called an application or its abbreviation, an app) loaded into the RAM 902, thereby improving and controlling each processing unit. This program can also be distributed via a communication line, or recorded on a recording medium 917 such as a CD-ROM and distributed.

[0036] According to the monitoring system 100 of the present embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained. In the input work for temporary monitoring items in S33, the input of key information automatically transmitted in S31 can be omitted, so the input work can be made more efficient. · Temporary monitoring of the added or remodeled equipment can be started (S41) without waiting for approval by the administrator of the central control device 30 (reflection process in S13). Even if the expansion or modification of equipment in S11 and the transmission of its key information (S31) occur multiple times, the administrator of the central control device 30 can approve all of these operations together (reflection process in S13), making it possible to monitor the new equipment at any time.

[0037] Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various other application examples and modifications are possible without departing from the gist of the present invention described in the claims. For example, the above-described embodiments are detailed and specific descriptions of the configuration of the monitoring system 100 in order to easily explain the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those including all of the components described. In addition, it is possible to replace a part of the configuration of one embodiment with a component of another embodiment. It is also possible to add a component of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. It is also possible to add, replace, or delete other components from a part of the configuration of each embodiment.

[0038] In addition, the above-mentioned configurations, functions, processing units, etc. may be realized in part or in whole by hardware, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. As the hardware, a broad processor device such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) may be used. Furthermore, each component of the monitoring system 100 according to the above-described embodiment may be implemented in any hardware as long as the respective hardware can transmit and receive information to each other via a network. Furthermore, the processing executed by a certain processing unit may be realized by a single piece of hardware, or may be realized by distributed processing by multiple pieces of hardware. [Explanation of symbols]

[0039] 10 Field equipment 20 Monitoring and control equipment 30 Central Control Unit 30S Road Control Department 31 Verification Department 32 Monitoring item storage section 33 Equipment Monitoring Department 40 User Desk 100 Surveillance System E1~E3 equipment M1,M2 slave station T1, T2 terminal (user terminal)

Claims

1. A monitoring system having a central control device that manages monitoring data, which is information related to monitoring of a facility, and a user terminal that is used to input the monitoring data, The central control device a confirmation unit that receives notification of key information indicating a monitoring item of the equipment that is to be newly monitored and notifies the user terminal of the key information; an equipment monitoring unit that starts a temporary monitoring process for the equipment to be monitored, which is indicated by the key information, based on the monitoring data in which the notified key information is associated with input information responded from the user terminal; The user terminal receives the input information of the monitoring data corresponding to the key information notified from the confirmation unit, and responds to the input information to the central control device. Surveillance system.

2. the confirmation unit causes the user terminal to input, as the input information, a validity period of the temporary monitoring process corresponding to the key information to be notified; The equipment monitoring unit terminates the temporary monitoring process after a validity period of the temporary monitoring process has elapsed. The monitoring system of claim 1 .

3. The equipment monitoring unit transmits a reminder message notifying the expiration date before the expiration date of the temporary monitoring process, and accepts a procedure for extending the expiration date of the temporary monitoring process in response to the reminder message. The monitoring system of claim 2.

4. the confirmation unit causes the user terminal to input, as the input information, at least one of alarm setting information among first setting information indicating whether or not to generate an abnormality alarm notifying that an abnormality has occurred in the equipment to be monitored in the temporary monitoring process corresponding to the key information to be notified, and second setting information indicating a type of abnormality alarm; The equipment monitoring unit generates an abnormality alarm in accordance with the alarm setting information included in the input information responded from the user terminal. The monitoring system of claim 1 .

5. The confirmation unit, instead of inputting the alarm setting information as the input information into the user terminal, refers to data indicating the importance of each monitoring item created in advance, and obtains the alarm setting information from the importance of the monitoring item corresponding to the key information to be notified. The monitoring system according to claim 4.

6. The equipment monitoring unit is characterized in that, in the temporary monitoring process, if an abnormality in the equipment continues for a predetermined period after issuing an abnormality warning, it issues an abnormality warning again. The monitoring system according to claim 4.

7. A central control device that manages monitoring data, which is information related to monitoring of a facility, a confirmation unit that receives notification of key information indicating a monitoring item of the equipment that is to be newly monitored, notifies the user terminal of the key information, and receives input information of the monitoring data corresponding to the key information from the user terminal; and an equipment monitoring unit that starts a temporary monitoring process for the equipment to be monitored, which is indicated by the key information, based on the monitoring data in which the notified key information is associated with the input information responded from the user terminal. Central control unit.

8. A monitoring method executed by a monitoring system having a central control device that manages monitoring data, which is information related to monitoring of a facility, and a user terminal that is used to input the monitoring data, comprising: The central control device has a confirmation unit and an equipment monitoring unit, The confirmation unit receives notification of key information indicating a monitoring item of the equipment to be newly monitored, and notifies the user terminal of the key information; the equipment monitoring unit starts a temporary monitoring process for the equipment to be monitored, which is indicated by the key information, based on the monitoring data in which the notified key information is associated with input information responded to from the user terminal; The user terminal receives the input information of the monitoring data corresponding to the key information notified from the confirmation unit, and responds to the input information to the central control device. Monitoring method.

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