WO1999008190A1 - Process control monitor system and method - Google Patents
Process control monitor system and method Download PDFInfo
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- WO1999008190A1 WO1999008190A1 PCT/US1998/015857 US9815857W WO9908190A1 WO 1999008190 A1 WO1999008190 A1 WO 1999008190A1 US 9815857 W US9815857 W US 9815857W WO 9908190 A1 WO9908190 A1 WO 9908190A1
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- processing environment
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- G—PHYSICS
- G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
- G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
- G05B19/00—Programme-control systems
- G05B19/02—Programme-control systems electric
- G05B19/04—Programme control other than numerical control, i.e. in sequence controllers or logic controllers
- G05B19/042—Programme control other than numerical control, i.e. in sequence controllers or logic controllers using digital processors
- G05B19/0421—Multiprocessor system
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
- G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
- G05B2219/00—Program-control systems
- G05B2219/20—Pc systems
- G05B2219/24—Pc safety
- G05B2219/24181—Fail silent nodes, replicated nodes grouped into fault tolerant units
Definitions
- the present invention relates to the field of process management, and more particularly to systems and methods to monitor processes to improve fault tolerance in distributed systems.
- data In various processing environments, data must be replicated to alternative storage databases at various times to ensure that the data is not lost. Processors in many stringent environments, such as telephone networks, have very specific data integrity requirements, which significantly increase the replication burden.
- For asynchronous data replication data is replicated periodically from one database to another. If one database fails, data is available from the other database.
- a replication interval is defined to control how frequently replication is performed.
- the invention includes a method of replicating data, executed by a processor, including the steps of marking data with a time-stamp corresponding to a time the data is generated or modified, periodically identifying data having a time-stamp later than a predetermined time, writing the identified data to a first replication database, and periodically writing the identified data from the first database to a second database.
- the invention further includes a method of monitoring processes in a first processing environment, including the steps of marking data with a time-stamp corresponding to a time the data is generated or modified, periodically identifying data having a time-stamp later than a predetermined time, writing the identified data to a first database associated with the first processing environment, periodically writing the identified data from the first database to a second database associated with a second processing environment, determining at the secondary processing environment whether the time-stamps of any of the identified data correspond to a predetermined time interval, and if the time-stamps of any of the identified data do not correspond to the predetermined time interval, initiating action to correct any problems in the primary processing environment.
- the invention further includes a method of monitoring processes in a first processing environment, including the steps of marking data with a time-stamp corresponding to a time the data is generated or modified, periodically identifying data having a time-stamp later than a predetermined time, writing the identified data to a first database associated with the first processing environment, periodically writing the identified data from the first database to a second database associated with a second processing environment, determining at the secondary processing environment whether the time-stamps of any of the identified data correspond to a predetermined time interval, if the time-stamps of any of the identified data do not correspond to the predetermined interval, determining whether the primary processing environment is on-line, if the primary processing environment is not on-line, initializing processes in the secondary processing environment and taking over processing functions of the primary processing environment at the secondary environment.
- the invention further includes systems and devices for performing similar processing functions.
- Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a process control monitoring system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention
- Fig. 2 is a process flow diagram of the operation of a primary processing environment to provide process control monitoring in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
- Fig. 3 is a process flow diagram of the operation of a secondary processing environment to provide process control monitoring in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a process control monitoring system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
- a process control monitoring system in accordance with the present invention is distributed across a primary processing environment 102 and a secondary processing environment 104.
- Processing environments 102 and 104 may correspond to a computer, processor, or network component that processes information and replicates that information.
- Primary processing environment 102 includes a plurality of processes or applications 106a-106n, a primary process control monitor (“PCM”) 108 is connected to each of the processes 106, and a shared memory 110.
- PCM primary process control monitor
- primary PCM 108 monitors processes 106 and determines whether each should be running, brought-up, and/or shut-down. It further detects which processes are "hung-up.” For example, at predetermined time intervals, each process 106 writes status information to primary PCM 108, which then stores the status information in shared memory 110.
- the information in shared memory 110 can be used to monitor processes 106 and other applications (not shown).
- the content of shared memory 110 is periodically replicated to primary database 112. This replication process may be performed as described, for example, in co-pending U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 08/907,705, filed concurrently, which is incorporated by reference.
- secondary processing environment 104 includes secondary PCM 114 for monitoring individual processes 116a-l 16n. Secondary processing environment 104 also includes a shared memory 118 for storing any process data from processes 116a-116n. In addition, secondary processing environment 114 is connected to a secondary database 120 to replicate data for efficiency and fault tolerance.
- Secondary PCM 114 differs from primary PCM 108, however, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, in that secondary PCM 114 monitors primary processing environment 102 at the process or application level. As described in more detail below, in accordance with the present invention, process data stored in primary database 112 is periodically replicated to secondary database 120. Secondary PCM 114 uses this replicated data to monitor the process performance of primary processing environment 102 and take over processing where necessary.
- Fig. 2 is a process flow diagram of the operation of primary processing environment
- primary PCM 108 monitors the operation of processes 106 at a predetermined interval. Thus, primary PCM 108 initially determines whether monitoring interval Tj has expired (step 200). If not, the primary PCM 108 continues to monitor. If time Ti has expired, primary PCM 108 checks each process (step 202) and determines whether it is malfunctioning (step 204). If a malfunction exists, primary PCM 108 preferably restarts or corrects the process (step 206). If no malfunctions exist, primary PCM 108 determines whether it is time to replicate the shared memory 110 data to primary database 112.
- primary PCM 108 determines whether a preselected replication time interval T 2 has expired (step 208). If not, primary PCM 108 continues to wait. Once T 2 has expired, primary PCM 108 writes the process data from shared memory 110 to primary database 112 (step 210). In one embodiment of the present invention, this replication process writes all data to primary database 112. However, in accordance with another embodiment of the invention, primary PCM 108 only writes predetermined portions of the data. For example, the replication process may be based on time-stamped data as described in the incorporated co- pending U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 08/907,705. To enable additional process monitoring, in accordance with the present invention, data from primary database 112 is further replicated to secondary database 120.
- primary PCM 108 determines whether it is time to replicate data from primary database 112 to secondary database 120. Specifically, primary PCM 108 determines whether a third preselected time interval T has expired.
- T 3 is configurable and is preferably selected to ensure accuracy in a fault-tolerant design depending on the system or network configuration and corresponding application. For example, in a telecommunication environment such as the telephone network where certain standards require very strict fault-tolerance, this time period T 3 would be relatively short, for example twenty seconds.
- primary PCM 108 determines that T 3 has not expired, it continues other steps of its normal processing. However, when primary PCM 108 determines that time T 3 has expired, it replicates the primary database information to the secondary database (step 214). In a preferred embodiment, this data replication process is also performed based on the time- stamped data, much like the data replication between shared memory 110 and primary database 112. In other words, only data whose status has been changed or updated since the beginning of the replication interval T 3 is replicated from primary database 112 to secondary database 120. In accordance with the present invention, secondary PCM 114 uses the replicated data stored in secondary database 120 to monitor the processes of the primary processing environment 102. For example, secondary PCM 114 may monitor the time-stamp information corresponding to each operation.
- the replicated data includes time-stamps corresponding to the most recent replication interval T 3 , then processes 106 of primary processing environment 102 are functioning properly and the replication process is functioning properly. However, if the time-stamps are old, then a problem exists in either the processes 106 or the replication process.
- Fig. 3 is a process flow diagram of a process executed by a secondary PCM 114 to provide process control monitoring in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
- Secondary PCM 114 periodically monitors the time-stamps of data replicated to secondary database 120.
- the time interval T 4 for this monitoring step is also configurable, and again, in networks or systems requiring strict fault tolerance, this interval would be shortened. For example, in telephone networks, the interval might be every 20 seconds.
- Secondary PCM 114 initially determines whether the time interval T 4 has expired (step 300). If not, it continues to monitor. If time interval T 4 has expired, secondary PCM 114 checks the time-stamps on the replicated data in secondary database (step 302). Secondary PCM 114 then determines whether any time-stamps correspond to the most recent replication interval T 3 (step 304). If they are, the processes 106 and the replication process are working properly and secondary PCM 114 continues normal monitoring until the next interval T . However, if the secondary PCM 114 determines that none of the time-stamps correspond to the most recent replication interval T 3 , then a problem exists in either the processes 106 or the replication process.
- secondary PCM 114 determines whether the primary processing environment 102 is still "alive" (functioning properly and/or on-line) (step 306). If it is, secondary PCM 114 preferably requests help (step 308). Because primary processing environment 102 is still alive but the updated information is not accurate, certain problems can be presumed. For example, certain processes 106 may be down. In one embodiment, secondary PCM 114 may take steps to automatically reinitialize various processes 106 based on these presumptions or based on various data from additional diagnostic tools or initialize certain automatic diagnostic procedures. Alternatively, secondary PCM 114 may provide an alarm indication and request manual intervention to further diagnose problems at the primary processing environment 102.
- Secondary processing environment 104 takes over the processes of primary processing environment 102 (step 310).
- Secondary processing environment 104 is preferably configured to include the same processes and functionality as primary processing environment 102 for fault tolerance and backup purposes.
- primary processing environment 102 goes down, secondary processing environment 104 initializes the processes or applications necessary and substitutes itself and the corresponding processes for that of the downed primary processing environment 102.
- secondary processing environment 104 continues performing the processes of primary processing environment 102 until primary processing environment 102 comes back on-line. In this manner, fault tolerance is highly improved as both processes and machine state are ultimately monitored.
Abstract
In a primary computer (102), a process control monitor (108) processes and replicates data to a primary database (112). Periodically, the data from the primary database is further replicated to a secondary database (120) associated with a secondary computer (104). The secondary computer (104) includes information in the data replicated to the secondary database (120). Based on that information, a secondary process control monitor (114) may request help to fix certain processes in the first computer (102) or determine whether the primary processing environment (102) is alive. If it is not alive, the secondary processing environment (104) may take over all processes until the primary processing environment (102) comes back on-line.
Description
PROCESS CONTROL MONITOR SYSTEM AND METHOD
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of process management, and more particularly to systems and methods to monitor processes to improve fault tolerance in distributed systems.
Background of the Invention
In various processing environments, data must be replicated to alternative storage databases at various times to ensure that the data is not lost. Processors in many stringent environments, such as telephone networks, have very specific data integrity requirements, which significantly increase the replication burden. For asynchronous data replication, data is replicated periodically from one database to another. If one database fails, data is available from the other database. A replication interval is defined to control how frequently replication is performed.
Conventional replication approaches use a log to track data. For example, for each database operation (such as insert, update, or delete) on a table to be replicated, a log is created, updated, or deleted to keep track of the operation. This approach results in the overhead of database operations due to the additional manipulation of the log. In addition, the size of the log is proportional to the number of operations. For instance, if there are several updates on a record, there will be the same number of logs even though only the last update may need to be replicated. This approach results in significant replication overhead. Thus, conventional asynchronous data replication techniques are limited by both operations and replication overhead.
To meet strict fault tolerance requirements, conventional systems also employ mechanisms to monitor and control application processes, databases, and machines, ensuring no interruption of services. Distributed systems running on heterogeneous platforms must include mechanism that provide failure-detection, fail-over, switch-over, and switch-back processes.
Conventional approaches provide proprietary solutions only for hardware failures with operating system and hardware supports. These systems are useful in that they monitor certain hardware operations, but they do not monitor application level failures. Nor are they portable to heterogeneous environments.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages and drawbacks of conventional monitoring systems and techniques.
Description of the Invention
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposes of the invention, as embodied and broadly described, the invention includes a method of replicating data, executed by a processor, including the steps of marking data with a time-stamp corresponding to a time the data is generated or modified, periodically identifying data having a time-stamp later than a predetermined time, writing the identified data to a first replication database, and periodically writing the identified data from the first database to a second database. The invention further includes a method of monitoring processes in a first processing environment, including the steps of marking data with a time-stamp corresponding to a time the data is generated or modified, periodically identifying data having a time-stamp later than a predetermined time, writing the identified data to a first database associated with the first processing environment, periodically writing the identified data from the first database to a second database associated with a second processing environment, determining at the secondary processing environment whether the time-stamps of any of the identified data correspond to a predetermined time interval, and if the time-stamps of any of the identified data do not correspond to the predetermined time interval, initiating action to correct any problems in the primary processing environment. The invention further includes a method of monitoring processes in a first processing environment, including the steps of marking data with a time-stamp corresponding to a time the data is generated or modified, periodically identifying data having a time-stamp later than a predetermined time, writing the identified data to a first database associated with the first processing environment, periodically writing the identified data from the first database to a second database associated with a second processing environment, determining at the secondary processing environment whether the time-stamps of any of the identified data correspond to a predetermined time interval, if the time-stamps of any of the identified data
do not correspond to the predetermined interval, determining whether the primary processing environment is on-line, if the primary processing environment is not on-line, initializing processes in the secondary processing environment and taking over processing functions of the primary processing environment at the secondary environment.
The invention further includes systems and devices for performing similar processing functions.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
Brief Description of the Drawings
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate presently preferred implementations of the invention and, together with the general description given above and the detailed description of the preferred implementations given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a process control monitoring system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a process flow diagram of the operation of a primary processing environment to provide process control monitoring in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; and
Fig. 3 is a process flow diagram of the operation of a secondary processing environment to provide process control monitoring in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention
Reference will now be made in detail to the construction and operation of preferred implementations of the present invention which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
The following description of the preferred implementations of the present invention is only exemplary of the invention. The present invention is not limited to these implementations, but may be realized by other implementations.
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a process control monitoring system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, a process control monitoring system in accordance with the present invention is distributed across a primary processing environment 102 and a secondary processing environment 104. Processing environments 102 and 104 may correspond to a computer, processor, or network component that processes information and replicates that information. Primary processing environment 102 includes a plurality of processes or applications 106a-106n, a primary process control monitor ("PCM") 108 is connected to each of the processes 106, and a shared memory 110. In accordance with the present invention, primary PCM 108 monitors processes 106 and determines whether each should be running, brought-up, and/or shut-down. It further detects which processes are "hung-up." For example, at predetermined time intervals, each process 106 writes status information to primary PCM 108, which then stores the status information in shared memory 110. The information in shared memory 110 can be used to monitor processes 106 and other applications (not shown). To improve fault tolerance, the content of shared memory 110 is periodically replicated to primary database 112. This replication process may be performed as described, for example, in co-pending U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 08/907,705, filed concurrently, which is incorporated by reference.
The configuration of secondary processing environment 104 is similar to that of primary processing environment 102. Specifically, secondary processing environment 104 includes secondary PCM 114 for monitoring individual processes 116a-l 16n. Secondary processing environment 104 also includes a shared memory 118 for storing any process data from processes 116a-116n. In addition, secondary processing environment 114 is connected to a secondary database 120 to replicate data for efficiency and fault tolerance.
Secondary PCM 114 differs from primary PCM 108, however, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, in that secondary PCM 114 monitors primary processing environment 102 at the process or application level. As described in more detail below, in accordance with the present invention, process data stored in primary database 112 is periodically replicated to secondary database 120. Secondary PCM 114 uses this replicated data to monitor the process performance of primary processing environment 102 and take over processing where necessary. Fig. 2 is a process flow diagram of the operation of primary processing environment
102 to provide process control monitoring in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As described above, primary PCM 108 monitors the operation of processes 106 at
a predetermined interval. Thus, primary PCM 108 initially determines whether monitoring interval Tj has expired (step 200). If not, the primary PCM 108 continues to monitor. If time Ti has expired, primary PCM 108 checks each process (step 202) and determines whether it is malfunctioning (step 204). If a malfunction exists, primary PCM 108 preferably restarts or corrects the process (step 206). If no malfunctions exist, primary PCM 108 determines whether it is time to replicate the shared memory 110 data to primary database 112.
Specifically, primary PCM 108 determines whether a preselected replication time interval T2 has expired (step 208). If not, primary PCM 108 continues to wait. Once T2 has expired, primary PCM 108 writes the process data from shared memory 110 to primary database 112 (step 210). In one embodiment of the present invention, this replication process writes all data to primary database 112. However, in accordance with another embodiment of the invention, primary PCM 108 only writes predetermined portions of the data. For example, the replication process may be based on time-stamped data as described in the incorporated co- pending U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 08/907,705. To enable additional process monitoring, in accordance with the present invention, data from primary database 112 is further replicated to secondary database 120. Accordingly, primary PCM 108 then determines whether it is time to replicate data from primary database 112 to secondary database 120. Specifically, primary PCM 108 determines whether a third preselected time interval T has expired. T3 is configurable and is preferably selected to ensure accuracy in a fault-tolerant design depending on the system or network configuration and corresponding application. For example, in a telecommunication environment such as the telephone network where certain standards require very strict fault-tolerance, this time period T3 would be relatively short, for example twenty seconds.
When primary PCM 108 determines that T3 has not expired, it continues other steps of its normal processing. However, when primary PCM 108 determines that time T3 has expired, it replicates the primary database information to the secondary database (step 214). In a preferred embodiment, this data replication process is also performed based on the time- stamped data, much like the data replication between shared memory 110 and primary database 112. In other words, only data whose status has been changed or updated since the beginning of the replication interval T3 is replicated from primary database 112 to secondary database 120.
In accordance with the present invention, secondary PCM 114 uses the replicated data stored in secondary database 120 to monitor the processes of the primary processing environment 102. For example, secondary PCM 114 may monitor the time-stamp information corresponding to each operation. If the replicated data includes time-stamps corresponding to the most recent replication interval T3, then processes 106 of primary processing environment 102 are functioning properly and the replication process is functioning properly. However, if the time-stamps are old, then a problem exists in either the processes 106 or the replication process.
Fig. 3 is a process flow diagram of a process executed by a secondary PCM 114 to provide process control monitoring in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Secondary PCM 114 periodically monitors the time-stamps of data replicated to secondary database 120. The time interval T4 for this monitoring step is also configurable, and again, in networks or systems requiring strict fault tolerance, this interval would be shortened. For example, in telephone networks, the interval might be every 20 seconds.
Secondary PCM 114 initially determines whether the time interval T4has expired (step 300). If not, it continues to monitor. If time interval T4 has expired, secondary PCM 114 checks the time-stamps on the replicated data in secondary database (step 302). Secondary PCM 114 then determines whether any time-stamps correspond to the most recent replication interval T3 (step 304). If they are, the processes 106 and the replication process are working properly and secondary PCM 114 continues normal monitoring until the next interval T . However, if the secondary PCM 114 determines that none of the time-stamps correspond to the most recent replication interval T3, then a problem exists in either the processes 106 or the replication process.
In a preferred embodiment, secondary PCM 114 then determines whether the primary processing environment 102 is still "alive" (functioning properly and/or on-line) (step 306). If it is, secondary PCM 114 preferably requests help (step 308). Because primary processing environment 102 is still alive but the updated information is not accurate, certain problems can be presumed. For example, certain processes 106 may be down. In one embodiment, secondary PCM 114 may take steps to automatically reinitialize various processes 106 based on these presumptions or based on various data from additional diagnostic tools or initialize certain automatic diagnostic procedures. Alternatively, secondary PCM 114 may provide an alarm indication and request manual intervention to further diagnose problems at the primary processing environment 102.
If primary processing environment 102 is not alive (step 306), secondary processing environment 104 takes over the processes of primary processing environment 102 (step 310). Secondary processing environment 104 is preferably configured to include the same processes and functionality as primary processing environment 102 for fault tolerance and backup purposes. When primary processing environment 102 goes down, secondary processing environment 104 initializes the processes or applications necessary and substitutes itself and the corresponding processes for that of the downed primary processing environment 102. Although not shown in Fig. 3, secondary processing environment 104 continues performing the processes of primary processing environment 102 until primary processing environment 102 comes back on-line. In this manner, fault tolerance is highly improved as both processes and machine state are ultimately monitored.
While there has been illustrated and described what are at present considered to be preferred embodiments and methods of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made, and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the true scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular element, technique or implementation to the teachings of the present invention without departing from the central scope of the invention. Therefore, it is intended that this invention not be limited to the particular embodiments and methods disclosed herein, but that the invention include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A method of replicating data, executed by a processor, comprising the steps of : marking data with a time-stamp corresponding to a time the data is generated or modified; periodically identifying data having a time-stamp later than a predetermined time; writing said identified data to a first replication database; periodically writing said identified data from said first database to a second database.
2. A method of monitoring processes in a first processing environment, comprising the steps of : marking data with a time-stamp corresponding to a time the data is generated or modified; periodically identifying data having a time-stamp later than a predetermined time; writing said identified data to a first database associated with said first processing environment; periodically writing said identified data from said first database to a second database associated with a second processing environment; determining at said secondary processing environment whether said time- stamps of any of said identified data correspond to a predetermined time interval; if said time-stamps of any of said identified data do not correspond to said predetermined time interval, initiating action to correct any problems in said primary processing environment.
3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said initiating step includes at least one selected from the group of requesting manual intervention, diagnosing problems automatically, or initiating routines to restart one or more processes.
4. A method of monitoring processes in a first processing environment, comprising the steps of : marking data with a time-stamp corresponding to a time the data is generated or modified; periodically identifying data having a time-stamp later than a predetermined time; writing said identified data to a first database associated with said first processing environment; periodically writing said identified data from said first database to a second database associated with a second processing environment; determining at said secondary processing environment whether said time- stamps of any of said identified data correspond to a predetermined time interval; if said time-stamps of any of said identified data do not correspond to said predetermined interval, determining whether said primary processing environment is on-line; if said primary processing environment is not on-line, initializing processes in said secondary processing environment and taking over processing functions of said primary processing environment at said secondary environment.
5. A method of monitoring processes in a primary processing environment, comprising the steps, executed by a processor at a secondary processing environment, of: monitoring time-stamp information of data that has been replicated to a database associated with said secondary processing environment; if said time-stamp information of any of said data does not correspond to a predetermined time interval, initiating action to correct any problems in said primary processing environment.
6. A method according to claim 4, wherein said initiating step includes at least one selected from the group of requesting manual intervention, diagnosing problems automatically, or initiating routines to restart one or more processes.
7. A method of monitoring processes in a primary processing environment, comprising the steps, executed by a processor at a secondary processing environment, of: monitoring time-stamp information of data that has been replicated to a database associated with said secondary processing environment; if said time-stamps of any of said identified data do not correspond to said predetermined interval, determining whether said primary processing environment is on-line; if said primary processing environment is not on-line, initializing processes in said secondary processing environment and taking over processing functions of said primary processing environment at said secondary environment.
8. A process control monitor for monitoring processes in a primary processing environment, comprising: a database; means for periodically storing data from said primary processing environment into said database; means for monitoring time-stamp information of said stored data; means for initiating action to correct any problems in said primary processing environment when said time-stamp information of said stored data does not correspond to a predetermined time interval.
9. A process control monitor for monitoring processes in a primary processing environment, comprising: a database; means for periodically storing data from said primary processing environment into said database; means for monitoring time-stamp information of said stored data; means for determining whether said primary processing environment is online if said time-stamps of any of said identified data do not correspond to said predetermined interval; means for initializing processes in said secondary processing environment and taking over processing functions of said primary processing environment at said secondary environment if said primary processing environment is not on-line.
10. A process control monitoring system, comprising: a primary processing environment including a first database; means for marking data with a time-stamp corresponding to a time the data is generated or modified; means for periodically identifying data having a time-stamp later than a predetermined time; means for writing said identified data to said first database; a second processing environment including a second database; means for periodically receiving said identified data from said first database and storing said identified data in said second database means for determining whether said time-stamps of any of said identified data correspond to a predetermined time interval; and means for initiating action to correct any problems in said primary processing environment if said time-stamps of any of said identified data do not correspond to said predetermined time interval.
11. A process control monitoring system, comprising: a primary processing environment including a first database; means for marking data with a time-stamp corresponding to a time the data is generated or modified; means for periodically identifying data having a time-stamp later than a predetermined time; means for writing said identified data to said first database; a second processing environment including a second database; means for periodically receiving said identified data from said first database and storing said identified data in said second database means for determining whether said time-stamps of any of said identified data correspond to a predetermined time interval; means for determining whether said primary processing environment is on-line if said time-stamps of any of said identified data do not correspond to said predetermined interval; means for initializing processes in said secondary processing environment and taking over processing functions of said primary processing environment at said secondary environment if said primary processing environment is not on-line.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US90864197A | 1997-08-07 | 1997-08-07 | |
| US08/908,641 | 1997-08-07 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| WO1999008190A1 true WO1999008190A1 (en) | 1999-02-18 |
Family
ID=25426060
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US1998/015857 WO1999008190A1 (en) | 1997-08-07 | 1998-07-30 | Process control monitor system and method |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| WO (1) | WO1999008190A1 (en) |
Cited By (1)
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| US6732144B1 (en) * | 1999-11-19 | 2004-05-04 | Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba | Communication method for data synchronization processing and electronic device therefor |
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