WO1999005794A2

WO1999005794A2 - Method for displaying fault information relating to peripheral elements

Info

Publication number: WO1999005794A2
Application number: PCT/DE1998/001944
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gerhard Fischer
Original assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 1997-07-22
Filing date: 1998-07-13
Publication date: 1999-02-04
Also published as: DE19731462C1; WO1999005794A3; CN1259266A; EP0997053A2

Abstract

According to the invention, interface module-specific alarm storage areas are set up in a database (DB) for the interface modules (SLM, TM) of a communications system. In the event of an at least partial breakdown of an interface module (SLM, TM), at least one connection unit (AL) connected to said interface module (SLM, TM) and/or at least one communications unit connected to the interface module (SLM, TM) by said connection unit (AL), an alarm identifying the interface module (SLM, TM) is triggered and displayed.

Description

description

Method for displaying peripheral information regarding error information in a communication system

A communication system for the private sector is known from the "Special edition of telecom report and Siemens magazine Com: ISDN in the office - HICOM", Siemens AG, Berlin and Munich, 1985, in particular pages 58 to 75. Communication systems are mono- or multiprocessor systems whose functional scope is essentially determined by the software The software of the known communication system is divided into modules assigned to switching technology, operating technology and security technology.

The operating technology modules implement the tasks required for maintenance and administration of the communication system. Performing maintenance tasks requires knowledge of the current state of the system. To monitor peripheral elements of the communication system, so-called total alarms are output in a maintenance and alarm field in the known communication system when errors occur. A peripheral element can e.g. a physical port of a connection module - a subscriber line module and / or a line set module for exchange and cross traffic -, a connection device connected to the port (e.g. an exchange line or a cross connection to another communication system) and, if applicable, one via the connection device with the connection module pe connected communication device (for example, an internal terminal).

It has also already been proposed to divide alarms into different alarm classes, alarm classes being functionally structured according to the different types of peripheral elements. For example, all internal devices that are connected to the communication system and support a certain service (eg an analog or digital voice service) combined in an alarm class.

Due to the large number of peripheral elements to be monitored, a large number of units are assigned to the individual alarm classes. If an alarm were signaled for each individual failed peripheral element, a defect would be constantly signaled due to the existing failure rates. In order to avoid this problem, the number of errors (threshold value), when an alarm is triggered, has been increased. With some alarm classes, the maintenance and alarm field is only signaled when 50% of the peripheral elements assigned to an alarm class fail. The smallest amounts of failure are no longer signaled.

Another problem with this method is that a functional classification of the alarm classes according to the different types of peripheral elements, in the event of an alarm, means that the peripheral element which triggers the error cannot be identified easily.

The invention is based on the object of specifying a method by means of which a local assignment of an alarm to a peripheral element is possible in a simple manner.

This object is achieved according to the invention with the features of patent claim 1.

An important advantage of the method according to the invention is that no changes to the interfaces to the peripheral elements are required when implementing the alarm concept according to the invention.

Advantageous developments of the invention are specified in the subclaims. By designating the connection module-specific alarm classes with the respective physical addresses of the connection modules in the communication system and displaying the port address of the connection module on which an error has occurred, the alarm can directly position the failed peripheral element in the communication system, e.g. the connection module within it Connection unit can be determined.

An embodiment of the invention is explained below with reference to the drawing.

Show:

1: a structural diagram for the schematic representation of a communication system for implementing the method according to the invention

2: a flowchart to illustrate the procedural steps in setting up alarm

Classes after a further development of the method according to the invention

3 shows a flowchart to illustrate the method steps when checking the peripheral elements after a further development of the method according to the invention

Fig. 4: schematic representation of the alarm classes stored in the database of the communication system

The communication system shown in Fig. 1 consists of a system center PBX with a control unit CC, which can be connected to so-called connection modules and a switching network SN. The connection modules include, in particular, subscriber line circuits SLM11 ... SLMlx, SLM21 ... SLM2x, SLMnl ... SLMnx and so-called line set circuits TM11, TM21, TMnl. The subscriber line circuits SLM are subscriber-oriented device connections, such as, for example, ISDN basic connections for digital mono- and multifunctional terminals, 1-channel connection modules for terminals, such as digital voice terminals and switching terminals, and subscriber connections for analog voice terminals and fax terminals.

The line set circuits TM11, TM21, TMnl are used to connect to public and / or private networks or special devices and are, for example, ISDN basic connections for ISDN exchange traffic (exchange lines ALI, AL2, ALn) and ISDN cross traffic (2 channels at 64 kbit) / s and ISDN signaling), as well as digital interface units ( ^λ digital interface unit '), ie multiplex connections (30 channels, each 64 kBit / s) with the operating modes exchange and cross traffic with ISDN signaling, cross traffic with channel-associated signaling.

Several peripheral modules can be functionally combined to form an LTU connection unit. A controller LTUC1 ... LTUCn is assigned to each connection unit LTU1. The exchange of messages between the peripheral modules and the control CC takes place via a signaling channel, which is identified in the figure by the reference symbol HDLC, in the known HDLC point-to-multipoint method.

The switching network SN is preferably of modular construction and consists, for example, of a non-blocking time stage for 16-voice data multiplex channels.

The control unit CC takes over the processing related processing that arises in accordance with the peripheral structure. It consists of a data processor DP, a processor for signaling control DCL, a clock generator PCG and a database DB, which are connected to one another via a system bus SB. Via an interface device SS is a BT operating terminal connected to the SB system bus. At the BT operating terminal, the alarms are visualized in a maintenance and alarm field. Validation data for the individual connection module-specific alarm classes are stored in the database DB.

2 shows a flowchart with the essential steps for setting up the connection module-specific alarm classes. When the system is started up, the first connection unit LTU in the communication system is determined in a step 8 and the first insertion location of the connection unit LTU is determined in a step 9. Step 10 examines whether this slot contains a configured connection module (SLM, TM). If this is the case, a new alarm class is set up in the database DB of the communication system in a step 11. The alarm class receives the physical address of the slot (e.g. LTU1 / PEN1) as the alarm name.

In a step 12 it is checked whether the current connection unit LTU has another slot. If this is the case, the next slot is determined in a step 13 and the method continues from step 10. If the current connection unit LTU has no further slot, it is checked in a step 14 whether a further connection unit LTU is present in the communication system. If this is the case, the next line unit LTU is determined in a step 15 and the method continues from step 9. If there is no additional LTU connection unit, the alarm classes are terminated.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart with the essential steps for checking the peripheral elements. In a first step 20, the first connection module in the communication system for which an alarm class has been set up is determined and in step 21 a counter ZI and a Counter Z2 set to zero. In a step 22 the first physical port of the current connection module is determined and in a step 23 it is checked whether this port is occupied, ie whether a connection device is connected to the communication system via this port. If this is the case, the counter ZI is incremented by 1 in a step 24. After the method has ended, the counter ZI thus contains the number of peripheral elements which are assigned to the alarm class of the current connection module. In a step 25 it is checked whether the peripheral element assigned to the port is ready for operation, ie whether the physical port, a connected connection device and possibly a connected communication device are ready for operation. If this is not the case, the counter Z2 is incremented by 1 in a step 26. The counter Z2 thus contains the number of non-operational peripheral elements after the method has ended.

In a step 27, it is checked whether the current connection module has a further physical port. If this is the case, the next port is determined in a step 28 and the method continues starting with step 23. If the current connection module has no further physical port, the values of the counter ZI and the counter Z2 are stored in data fields for the relevant alarm class in the database DB in a step 29.

In a step 30 it is checked whether a further connection module is configured in the communication system. If this is the case, the next connection module is determined in a step 31 and the method continues from step 21. If there is no further connection module, the process is ended.

4 schematically shows the alarm classes stored in the database DB of the communication system with associated validation data. For every alarm class In addition to the name of the alarm class, the following validation data are stored in the database DB:

- The total number of peripheral elements assigned to an alarm class is below the data field name

'TOTAL ABSOLUTELY saved'.

- The number of failed peripheral elements assigned to an alarm class is saved under 'ERROR ABSOLUTELY'. - 'ERROR IN%' indicates the ratio of failed to total peripheral elements connected to the connection module.

- The validation times ZEIT1 [SEK] 'and ZEIT2 [SEK]' indicate the time in seconds after which an alarm with a lower priority or an alarm with a high priority is output at the maintenance and alarm field.

- The threshold values SCHW1 IN% 'and SCHW2 IN%' indicate the ratio of failed to a total of peripheral elements connected to the connection module, upon reaching which an alarm of lower priority or an alarm with high priority is output.

Claims

claims

1. A method for displaying peripheral information relating to error elements in a communication system, with an individual alarm memory area being set up in a database (DB) for connection modules (SLM, TM) of the communication system, and that in the event of at least partial failure

- a connection module (SLM, TM), - at least one of connection devices (AL) connected to the connection module (SLM, TM),

- and / or at least one of communication devices connected to the connection module (SLM, TM) via connecting devices, in particular internal terminal devices (EG), the alarm memory area of the relevant connection module (SLM, TM) is selected in the database (DB) , and an alarm identifying the relevant connection module (SLM, TM) is triggered and visualized on a display device.

2. The method of claim 1, d a d u r c h g e k e n n z e i c h n e t that the alarm displays information to identify the ratio of failed to a total of connected to a connection module (SLM, TM) connecting devices or connected to these connecting devices communication devices (EG).

3. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the alarm is used to display information for identifying the physical port of a connection module (SLM, TM) on which an error has occurred.

4. The method as claimed in one of the preceding claims, that a triggering of an alarm takes place as a function of limit values stored in the associated alarm memory area.

5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, that the name of an alarm class assigned to a connection module (SLM, TM) is identical to the physical address of the connection module (SLM, TM) in the communication system.