Monitoring system and monitoring method

Abstract

The purpose of the present invention is to provide technology by which a system as a whole can continue providing service, even when a device constituting the system fails. One embodiment of a monitoring system according to the present invention is a monitoring system in which a plurality of terminal devices and a monitoring server for monitoring the terminal devices are connected by a network, wherein the monitoring server comprises a failure handling database, and when a failure occurs in some of the terminal devices, the monitoring server changes the settings of the terminal devices other than the terminal devices in which the failure has occurred, in accordance with terminal device setting values stored in the failure handling database.

Description

Monitoring system and monitoring method

[0001] The present invention relates to a monitoring system and a monitoring method.

[0002] In recent years, with the spread of systems using IoT, systems consisting of numerous devices equipped with sensor functions and servers that aggregate and monitor data from the devices have become common. These devices and servers are connected via a network, allowing instantaneous information transmission even if the server and devices are located in remote locations. Meanwhile, the number of devices included in a system tends to increase, and this also tends to increase the burden of responding to device malfunctions. For this reason, various technologies have been developed to efficiently discover information about device malfunctions.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology in which "in response to the registration SQL of sensor information indicating the attributes of the sensor terminal to be installed, which is notified from the maintenance terminal 301, the sensor information registration permission / denial processing unit 4030 of the analysis and storage server 109 executes a process to determine whether to permit the actual registration of the sensor information (step 603). In the process of determining whether to permit the actual registration, if it is determined that no other sensor terminals of the same type exist near the sensor terminal to be installed, the sensor information is registered in the database 201."

[0004] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2021-50993

[0005] However, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, if it is determined that there are no other sensor terminals of the same type near the sensor terminal to be installed, sensor information can be registered in a database, which makes it possible to prevent installation errors and reduce the labor required for checking for installation errors, but does not consider how to deal with failures of individual terminals themselves.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide a technology that allows the entire system to continue providing services even if a device constituting the system fails.

[0007] In order to solve the above problems, one representative monitoring system of the present invention is a monitoring system in which multiple terminal devices and a monitoring server that monitors the terminal devices are connected via a network, and the monitoring server is equipped with a fault response database, and in the event of a fault occurring in one of the terminal devices, the monitoring server changes the settings of the terminal devices other than the terminal device in which the fault occurred according to the setting values ​​of the terminal device stored in the fault response database.

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a technology that allows the entire system to continue providing services even if a device that constitutes the system fails. Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become clear from the description of the following embodiments of the invention.

[0009] Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a monitoring system according to a prerequisite technology. Fig. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of how to handle a failure in the prerequisite technology. Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a monitoring system according to an embodiment. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a first database. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a second database. Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing a failure handling process in a monitoring system according to an embodiment.

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. In the drawings, identical parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. When multiple components having the same or similar functions are present, they may be described using the same reference numerals with different subscripts. Furthermore, when it is not necessary to distinguish between these multiple components, the subscripts may be omitted. Furthermore, although terms such as "first," "second," and "third" may be used to describe various elements or components in this disclosure, it should be understood that these elements or components should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one element or component from another. Therefore, a first element or component discussed below may also be referred to as a second element or component without departing from the teachings of the inventive concept. The position, size, shape, range, etc. of each component shown in the drawings may not represent the actual position, size, shape, range, etc., in order to facilitate understanding of the invention. Therefore, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the position, size, shape, range, etc. disclosed in the drawings.

[0011] In this disclosure, a "faulty device" refers to a terminal device among the monitored terminal devices in which a fault has occurred. A "setting change device" refers to a terminal device among the monitored terminal devices other than the device in which a fault has occurred, and is a terminal device for which settings are changed. A "fault content" refers to the symptoms of the fault that has occurred in the faulty device, for example, "a power supply abnormality has occurred in the sub-unit." A "fault situation" refers to the attributes of the location where the faulty device is installed, the positional relationship of the faulty device, the time when the fault occurred, etc., for example, "a fault occurred at night in a building that is a hospital."

[0012] [Prerequisite Technology] First, the prerequisite technical matters for the monitoring system of the present disclosure will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a monitoring system related to the prerequisite technology. The monitoring system 1 includes a monitoring server 100, monitored devices 200, and a monitoring terminal 300, which are connected to each other via a network 400.

[0013] The following describes the components of the monitoring system 1. <Monitoring Server> The monitoring server 100 is a device that monitors the failure status of the monitored device 200, monitors the monitored device 200 via the network 400, and transmits the monitoring content to the monitoring terminal 300.

[0014] <Monitored Device> The monitored device 200 is a terminal device monitored by the monitoring server 100, and includes, for example, a parent device 211, an aggregation device 220, and a child device 2300. The parent device 211, the aggregation device 220, and the child device 2300 may be connected in a hierarchical structure in that order, and information about the lower device can be transmitted to the higher device. Specifically, if a failure occurs in the child device 2300, which is one of the terminal devices, information about the failure may be transmitted to the parent device 211 via the aggregation device 220. Similarly, information about the failure of the aggregation device 220 may be transmitted to the parent device 211. Furthermore, the information transmitted from the lower device to the higher device is mainly the failed device, the failure details, and the failure status, but may also be other information.

[0015] The monitoring system 1 described in Figure 1 includes one parent device 211, four aggregation devices 221 to 224, and 16 child devices 2301 to 2316, with four child devices 2300 connected to one aggregation device 220.

[0016] Furthermore, one aggregation device 220 is arranged per floor (F) of the building, and for example, aggregation device 221 is connected to slave devices 2301 to 2304 arranged on the first floor. Similarly, aggregation device 222 is connected to slave devices 2305 to 2308 arranged on the second floor, aggregation device 223 is connected to slave devices 2309 to 2312 arranged on the third floor, and aggregation device 224 is connected to slave devices 2313 to 2316 arranged on the fourth floor.

[0017] (Changing the Settings of Terminal Devices) The slave device 2300 may be a wireless communication device that has an antenna and outputs radio waves. If the slave device 2300 is a terminal device that outputs radio waves within a certain range and communicates with wireless communication devices that receive radio waves within that range, the slave devices 2301 to 2316 will each cover a certain range of wireless communication from their installation location. Furthermore, the settings of the slave device 2300 can be changed to change the direction of the antenna, change the strength of the radio waves output, and change the communication band, etc.

[0018] In addition, although the monitored device 200 is described as a wireless communication device in this disclosure, it may be any other type of device. For example, the monitored device 200 may be an air conditioner that changes the direction of its blades or changes the set temperature.

[0019] <Monitoring Terminal> The monitoring terminal 300 is an operation terminal of the monitoring system 1 operated by a monitor 510 (described later), and can display information about a malfunctioning monitored device 200 and change settings, for example.

[0020] <Network> The network 400 is a computer network that enables the monitoring server 100, the monitored devices 200, and the monitoring terminal 300 to communicate with each other, and is, for example, a VPN, but may also be any other type of computer network.

[0021] <Monitor / Worker> The monitor 510 is a person who checks the failure status of the monitored device 200 from the monitoring terminal 300 and checks the failed monitored device 200. The worker 520 is a person who repairs the failed monitored device 200 in accordance with the instructions of the monitor 510.

[0022] <Failure Response in Assumed Technology> Next, an example of failure response in the assumed technology will be described with reference to Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of failure response in the assumed technology. In the following description, it is assumed that the slave device 2302 has failed due to a power supply abnormality, but the flow of the example of failure response is similar even if other devices have failed due to different failure types. For example, the same applies if the slave device 2306 has failed or if one of the aggregation devices 220 has failed.

[0023] (Step S101) In step S101, the aggregation device 221 detects a failure in the slave device 2302, and notifies the master device 211 that the slave device 2302 is a faulty device and that a power supply abnormality is the fault content.

[0024] (Step S102) In step S102, the monitoring server 100 receives the information about the faulty device and the details of the fault from the parent device 211 and detects that the child device 2302 has failed due to a power supply abnormality. At this time, the monitoring server 100 transmits the received information about the faulty device and the details of the fault to the monitoring terminal 300, allowing the monitor 510 to detect the failure of the child device 2302.

[0025] (Step S103) In step S103, the monitor 510 instructs the worker 520 to repair the slave device 2302, and the worker 520 repairs the slave device 2302.

[0026] After the repair of the handset 2302 by the worker 520 is completed, for example, the aggregation device 221 detects that the handset 2302 has recovered from the malfunction and transmits this to the base device 211, and the handset 2302 resumes wireless communication normally.

[0027] The above describes the monitoring system 1 based on the underlying technology. In this monitoring system 1, radio waves cannot reach the area covered by the faulty device until the repair is completed by the worker 520, and wireless communication services are temporarily unavailable.

[0028] [Embodiment] Next, a monitoring system 2 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the monitoring system 2. The monitoring system 2 differs from the monitoring system 1 in that the monitoring server 100 includes a failure response database 110. In the following description, components that are the same as or equivalent to those in the above-described monitoring system 1 are designated by the same reference numerals, and their description will be simplified or omitted.

[0029] <Failure Response Database> The failure response database 110 is a database that stores countermeasures for mitigating the impact of a failed terminal device as changed values, which are the settings of the terminal device. Here, the countermeasures are measures that can mitigate the impact of a failed terminal device so that services can continue throughout the system by changing the settings of terminal devices other than the terminal device where the failure occurred.

[0030] For example, in the monitoring system 2, when a malfunction occurs in the monitored device 200, the monitoring server 100 detects the terminal device in which the malfunction has occurred and checks the malfunction content and the corresponding countermeasures for the malfunction situation in the malfunction response database 110. The checked countermeasures are displayed on the monitoring terminal 300, and the monitor 510 determines whether or not the countermeasures can be applied.

[0031] When the monitoring terminal 300 receives an input indicating that a countermeasure has been decided to be applied, the countermeasure is transmitted to the setting change device of the monitored device 200. Specifically, the countermeasure is transmitted to the target terminal device 200 by changing the settings of the terminal device other than the terminal where the failure occurred, as indicated on the monitoring terminal 300. The setting change device changes the settings based on the countermeasure. This allows the service to continue until the repair of the failed device is completed by the worker 520.

[0032] <Structure of the Failure Response Database> Next, an example of the failure response database 110 will be described with reference to Figures 4 and 5. The failure response database 110 can include, for example, a first database 111 indicating the relationship between failure cases and failure response patterns, and a second database 112 describing failure response patterns and the details of failure responses.

[0033] First, an example of the first database 111 will be described with reference to Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the first database 111. In the first database 111, fault cases are shown in row 1111, and corresponding patterns are shown in a table format in columns 1112 to 1116. In this embodiment, each fault case is described in row 1111, and each fault response pattern is described in columns 1112 to 1116 and subsequent columns. Furthermore, the number of rows included in row 1111 and the number of columns included in columns 1112 to 1116 can be set to any number of rows and columns.

[0034] (Failure Case) Here, a failure case means the type and condition of the failure that occurred in the faulty device, and is indicated, for example, as "the building is a hospital, and the slave device 2301 fails during the day due to a power supply abnormality."

[0035] (Failure Response Patterns) The failure response patterns in columns 1112 and onward indicate possible countermeasures, the contents of which will be explained later with reference to FIG.

[0036] In the first database 111, the failure response patterns that can be taken when a failure case occurs are marked as "applicable," and a response is selected from the failure response patterns marked as "applicable." For example, failure case No. 2 indicates that the response patterns 1 and 3 can be taken. Also, the number of selectable responses is not limited to one; for example, in the above case, both failure response patterns 1 and 3 can be selected.

[0037] It is desirable that the failure cases cover all types of failures and failure situations that may occur in the monitored device 200, but this does not have to be the case. In this case, if a failure that does not fall under any of the failure cases occurs, the monitoring system 2 displays on the monitoring terminal 300 that a failure has occurred, and notifies the monitor 510.

[0038] Furthermore, the monitor 510 does not necessarily have to apply the countermeasure displayed on the monitoring terminal 300. In this case, the monitor 510 can set the countermeasure himself.

[0039] Next, the second database 112 will be described with reference to Fig. 5. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of the second database 112. The second database 112 shows failure response patterns in a column 1121, and responses in a table format in a column 1122.

[0040] Column 1122 lists, for example, the contents of a countermeasure corresponding to the failure response pattern in column 1121. For example, failure response pattern No. 1 listed in column 1121 lists the contents of the countermeasure "increase the radio wave output of the slave device 2301 by 1%."

[0041] As described above, the failure response patterns stored in the second database 112 can apply multiple failure response patterns to handle a single failure case. For example, in failure case No. 2 in Fig. 4, multiple failure response patterns may be applied to a single failure case, as in the case where failure response patterns 1 and 3 are applied. Also, in failure response patterns 45 and 64 in Fig. 5, for the same slave unit 2301, different degrees of rotation of the antenna direction may be applied to a single failure case.

[0042] <Failure Response in the Monitoring System of the Present Disclosure> Next, a failure response in the monitoring system 2 will be described with reference to Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the failure response process in the monitoring system 2 of the present disclosure. In the following description, as with the flowchart in Fig. 2, it is assumed that the slave device 2302 has failed due to a power supply abnormality, but the same applies to cases where other devices have failed. For example, the same applies to cases where a different slave device 2306 has failed or where the aggregation device 220 has failed.

[0043] (Steps S101 to S103) Steps S101 to S103 are the same as the failure handling process in the technology underlying FIG. 2, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted.

[0044] (Step S201) In step S201, the monitoring server 100 checks the failure case against the first database 111 of the failure response database 110, and identifies a failure response pattern that matches the failure case.

[0045] (Step S202) In step S202, the monitoring server 100 transmits the countermeasure identified in step S201 to the monitoring terminal 300 and displays it so that the monitor 510 can confirm the countermeasure.

[0046] (Step S203) In step S203, the monitor 510 determines whether or not to apply the countermeasure displayed on the monitoring terminal 300. If the displayed countermeasure is to be applied, the process proceeds to step S204, and if not, the process ends.

[0047] (Step S204) In step S204, the monitoring server 100 transmits the countermeasure decided to be applied by the monitor 510 to the setting change device.

[0048] (Step S205) In step S205, the device to which the countermeasure has been transmitted executes the countermeasure and changes the settings based on the countermeasure.

[0049] (Step S206) In step S206, the monitoring server 100 cancels the setting change of the setting change device based on the countermeasure after the repair of the broken device by the worker 520.

[0050] <Actions and Effects> The monitoring system 2 according to the embodiment has been described above. The monitoring system 2 of the present disclosure mainly includes a monitoring server 100, monitored devices 200, and a failure response database 110. Even if a failure occurs in the monitored devices 200 and one of the devices becomes a failed device, the operation of the failed device can be compensated for by changing the settings of the setting change device. This allows the service to be used continuously even if a failure occurs in the monitored device 200.

[0051] The present invention can also take the following forms. (Aspect 1) A monitoring system in which a plurality of terminal devices and a monitoring server that monitors the terminal devices are connected via a network, the monitoring server having a failure response database, and in the event of a failure in one of the terminal devices, changing the settings of the terminal devices other than the failed terminal device according to the setting values ​​of the terminal device stored in the failure response database. (Aspect 2) The monitoring system according to Aspect 1, in which the failure response database stores changed setting values ​​of the terminal devices other than the failed terminal device according to the failure content and failure situation of the failed terminal device. (Aspect 3) The monitoring system according to Aspect 1 or 2, in which the monitoring server detects a failed terminal device from the terminal devices being monitored, identifies the content of the failure, queries the failure response database, and displays the changed setting values ​​of the terminal devices other than the failed terminal device on the monitoring terminal, and changes the settings of the terminal devices other than the failed terminal device after approval for the change of the setting values ​​is obtained from the monitoring terminal. (Aspect 4) The monitoring system according to Aspect 3, wherein the failure response database stores at least two or more changed values ​​of the settings corresponding to the type of failure, and the monitoring terminal can select one from the at least two or more changed values ​​of the settings. (Aspect 5) The monitoring system according to any one of Aspects 1 to 4, wherein the monitoring method comprises: a first step in which the monitoring server detects a terminal device in which a failure has occurred from among the terminal devices being monitored and identifies the type of failure; a second step in which the monitoring server queries the failure response database and displays on the monitoring terminal the changed values ​​of the setting of terminal devices other than the terminal device in which the failure has occurred; and a third step in which the monitoring server changes the setting of the terminal device other than the terminal device in which the failure has occurred after approval for the change of the setting value is obtained from the monitoring terminal.

[0052] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

[0053] 1, 2: monitoring system, 100: monitoring server, 110: failure response database, 111: first database, 112: second database, 200: monitored device, 211: parent device, 220, 221 to 224: aggregation device, 2300, 2301 to 2316: child devices, 300: monitoring terminal, 400: network, 510: monitor, 520: worker

Claims

1. A monitoring system in which a plurality of terminal devices and a monitoring server that monitors the terminal devices are connected via a network, the monitoring server having a failure response database, and in the event of a failure in one of the terminal devices, changing the settings of the terminal devices other than the terminal device in which the failure occurred according to the settings of the terminal device stored in the failure response database.

2. A monitoring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the failure response database stores change values ​​for settings of terminal equipment other than the terminal equipment in which a failure has occurred, according to the type of failure and the failure status of the terminal equipment in which the failure has occurred.

3. A monitoring system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the monitoring server detects a terminal device which has experienced a fault among the terminal devices being monitored, identifies the nature of the fault, queries the fault response database and displays on the monitoring terminal the changed settings of the terminal devices other than the terminal device which has experienced the fault, and, after approval for the change of the changed values ​​is obtained from the monitoring terminal, changes the settings of the terminal devices other than the terminal device which has experienced the fault.

4. A monitoring system as described in claim 3, wherein the failure response database stores at least two or more changed values ​​of the settings corresponding to the type of failure, and the monitoring terminal is capable of selecting one of the changed values ​​of the at least two or more settings.

5. A monitoring method according to claim 1, comprising: a first step in which the monitoring server detects a terminal device that has experienced a failure from among the terminal devices being monitored and identifies the nature of the failure; a second step in which the monitoring server queries the failure response database and displays on the monitoring terminal the changed settings of terminal devices other than the terminal device that has experienced the failure; and a third step in which the monitoring server changes the settings of terminal devices other than the terminal device that has experienced the failure after approval for the change in settings is obtained from the monitoring terminal.

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