阅读说明：本技术 终端借出系统 (Terminal lending system ) 是由 丸山伸 于 2019-11-20 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供一种能够高效地实施借出管理业务及维护业务的终端借出系统。采用的结构为,具有：预约管理服务器,其对终端的库存或借出预约信息进行管理；终端管理服务器,其向所述终端分发操作系统的盘映像或更新数据；供电控制服务器,其根据所述借出预约信息、与所述终端的充电状态及盘映像或更新数据的分发状态相关的信息,对所述终端的系统状态和供电状态进行管理。(The invention provides a terminal lending system capable of efficiently implementing lending management service and maintenance service. The adopted structure is as follows: a reservation management server which manages inventory or loan reservation information of the terminal; a terminal management server that distributes a disk image or update data of an operating system to the terminal; and a power supply control server for managing a system state and a power supply state of the terminal based on the lending reservation information and information related to a charging state of the terminal and a distribution state of the disk image or the update data.)

1. A terminal lending system comprising:

a reservation management server which manages inventory or loan reservation information of the terminal;

a terminal management server that distributes a disk image or update data of an operating system to the terminal;

and a power supply control server for managing a system state and a power supply state of the terminal based on the lending reservation information and information related to a charging state of the terminal and a distribution state of the disk image or the update data.

2. The terminal lending system of claim 1, wherein,

the charging and distribution of the disk image or update data to the terminal are performed via a single interface having both a charging function and a two-way communication function.

3. The terminal lending system according to claim 2, wherein,

the power supply control server determines whether or not charging is required for each terminal by checking the charging state of all terminals to which the cable is connected when the cable is connected via the interface during storage of the terminal,

and a power supply control means for determining whether or not to start power supply based on the maximum power that can be consumed by each terminal when the terminal is activated, and starting power supply based on the determination, without immediately performing charging, so that the total of power consumption required when the terminal is activated does not exceed a preset maximum power supply.

4. The terminal lending system of claim 3, wherein,

the power supply control server also has a function of managing a terminal locker having a plurality of terminal storage sections for locking and storing terminals and a function of managing a locked state of the terminals.

5. The terminal lending system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein,

the terminal further has a function of determining whether or not the memory of the terminal needs to be updated by checking the state of the memory of the terminal to which the cable is connected, and updating the memory of the terminal determined to be needed.

6. The terminal lending system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein,

and the reservation management server calculates the charging completion time according to the judgment result of whether charging is required or not, and determines the loanable date and time.

7. The terminal lending system of claim 5, wherein,

and the reservation management server calculates the charging completion time and the updating completion time of the memory according to the judgment result of whether charging is required and the judgment result of whether the memory is required to be updated, and determines the loanable date and time.

8. The terminal lending system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein,

the system is provided with an information display part which is used for displaying the lending information of the terminal and the charging information of the returned terminal or the updating information of the memory.

9. The terminal lending system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein,

the reservation management server sets only a terminal stored in the terminal storage unit, to which the distribution of the disk image or the update data of the charging and operating system is completed, as a lending target.

10. The terminal lending system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein,

the reservation management server has a function of updating the state of the memory of the terminal before the lending time, based on information about the operation environment of the terminal specified by the user at the time of reservation.

11. The terminal lending system according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein,

the terminal management server has a function of backing up a disk image of an operating system at the time of return.

12. The terminal lending system of claim 11, wherein,

the terminal management server further has a unit that holds a disk image of a terminal lending system returned from a user, and records lending information based on the user in association with information on an action environment,

the server also has a means for preparing to restore the terminal of the stored disk image before the lending date and time when the reservation server accepts a reservation for the next lending.

13. The terminal lending system of claim 4, wherein,

terminal management boxes are arranged in parallel in the terminal storage portions, and the cables hang down from the upper portions of the terminal management boxes.

14. The terminal lending system of claim 4, wherein,

the power supply control server locks the terminal housing unit after detecting that the cable is properly connected to the terminal when the terminal is returned to the terminal housing unit.

15. The terminal lending system of claim 4, 13 or 14, wherein,

the power supply control server unlocks the terminal housing unit after detecting that the cable is properly detached from the terminal when the terminal is taken out of the terminal housing unit.

16. The terminal lending system of claim 4, 13, 14 or 15, wherein,

the terminal housing part can adjust the housing space according to the size of the stored terminal.

17. A terminal lending system is characterized in that,

the determination as to whether charging is required in claim 3 or updating of the memory is required in claim 5 is repeatedly performed according to a predetermined schedule.

18. A terminal lending system according to claim 4, 13, 14, 15 or 16, characterized in that,

the frame of the terminal locker is provided with a rail-shaped tray which can be pulled out to the outside of the frame under the state that the terminal is placed.

19. The terminal lending system according to any one of claims 1 to 18,

the terminal lending system authenticates the user at the time of lending and identifies the terminal at the time of return, thereby not asking whether to implement lending or return.

20. The terminal lending system according to any one of claims 1 to 19,

the terminal lending system has a voice guidance function for guiding lending operation and returning operation of the terminal.

21. The terminal lending system according to claim 4, 13, 14, 15, 16 or 18, wherein,

the terminal lending system includes a light emitting unit that guides lending operation and return operation of the terminal near the terminal storage unit.

22. The terminal lending system of claim 21, wherein,

the terminal lending system urges the terminal storage section of an appropriate size to be stored in accordance with the size of the terminal when the terminal is returned by the light emitting section.

23. The terminal lending system according to any one of claims 1 to 22,

and the terminal lending system implements the starting and stopping actions of the operating system when returning.

24. The terminal lending system according to any one of claims 1 to 23,

and starting the terminal at least once during returning of the terminal, and immediately shutting down the terminal after the system is confirmed to be normally started.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a terminal lending system that provides a system for lending a terminal to a plurality of users.

Background

Various systems are known which comprehensively manage a plurality of computers (patent documents 1, 2, and the like). These systems are actually used in a terminal management server, and can always keep an operating system and security software in the latest state and start each terminal from an arbitrary set state.

The terminal management server is originally a device developed for efficiently managing a plurality of computers (client terminals) such as schools and enterprises, but if a computer to be managed is applied to a "battery-mounted and easily portable computer" (hereinafter, referred to as a "terminal" in the present specification) such as a notebook computer and a tablet computer, a usage mode in which the terminal is lent to a plurality of users for a fixed period and returned after use can be realized.

Prior art documents

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent No. 6072352;

patent document 2: japanese patent No. 4808275.

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

Therefore, a system has been devised in which one terminal is housed in each terminal housing section that is a housing device housing a plurality of terminals and is divided into housing spaces with locks such as lockers, for example, and the system has a function of managing a lending state that is being lent or being returned, and can automatically perform updating and charging of an operating system and the like during a standby period from returning to the next lending. Further, problems that arise on the premise of this system are as follows.

First, the terminal is activated or charged with heat. Therefore, if a plurality of terminals are activated at once, the amount of heat generation naturally increases. For example, with regard to a typical notebook computer in recent years, the maximum power consumption per 1 station sometimes reaches 100W in order to cope with quick charging. In this case, for example, in order to safely use the terminal within 1500W (100V, 15A) which is one circuit of the commercial power supply, the number of terminals which can be simultaneously started or charged must be limited to 15 or less. In particular, there is a risk of fire if the space is closed, such as a locker. However, the use of a large cooling mechanism also increases the cost, which is not practical.

Further, it is known that when a rechargeable battery is repeatedly charged, the performance of the battery deteriorates and the life (the number of repeated charging and discharging) decreases. Thus, although the terminal is not fully charged, it is not necessarily charged.

That is, when viewed from the entire storage device, it is essential that:

monitoring the charging state of each terminal in standby, and safely stopping power supply after charging is completed;

an upper limit is set for the number of terminals being charged, and a standby state is set without energizing terminals exceeding the upper limit.

The above is an important element particularly when the power required to supply a plurality of terminals exceeds the supply amount of the available commercial power supply, for example, when a plurality of storage devices are installed in a place where only one commercial power supply circuit can be used.

Then, when the returned terminal is directly lent to the next user, there is a possibility that a problem such as information leakage may occur. Therefore, when the terminal is returned, at least the operation of returning (restoring) to the state before lending is required. Further, when it is necessary to change the state of the memory after the return (specifically, for example, when updating of an operating system, security software, or the like, rollback to an initial state, or the like is considered), it is necessary to sequentially perform this operation in this case.

However, unlike a terminal fixedly installed in a state of always being connected to a network, in the case of a terminal provided as a lending terminal, system update is not easy. The reason for this is that the terminal in the non-powered state must be remotely and selectively activated. Further, in the case of interfacing with a network in a wireless manner, the network bandwidth tends to be insufficient, and the connection also tends to become unstable. In the case of wired connection, it is necessary to reliably connect a LAN cable or the like to the terminal.

In this regard, for example, if only the operating system is updated, it is sufficient to start the operating system and patch the operating system only by turning on the terminal. However, when the patching is repeated for each terminal, each terminal becomes a different disk state after the update, and therefore, the application is not suitable for stably operating a plurality of terminals. That is, the "update of the system" is a broad concept including not only "update of the OS and change of the setting," but also "installation of the OS," a job in which the states of a plurality of terminal disks are unified by deletion (restoration job) of the use history of the previous user, "and the like.

Therefore, as a problem in practical operation, cables and the like required for returning are accurately and reliably connected to the terminal. This is because charging cannot be started if the charging cable is not connected correctly, and system update cannot be performed if the communication cable is not connected correctly. Further, in the case where the charging cable and the communication cable are independently separated, it is necessary to connect a plurality of cables, thereby placing an excessive burden on the user. The risk of the user forgetting to connect inadvertently or the connection being unreliable cannot be ignored. During repeated connection, cables, connectors, and the like may be damaged. These problems are the main cause of the long-term unmanned operation. On the other hand, as described above, from the viewpoint of the power supply circuit and heat generation, it is necessary to avoid a system in which all terminals connected to the charging cable are immediately switched to the charging state or the conducting state.

Further, a system with high scalability capable of lending more terminals is preferable. The scalability here includes a system in which a plurality of terminals can be lent from one site, and a system capable of coping with the installation of a plurality of such sites.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a main object thereof is to solve at least one of the above problems, and more particularly, to provide a terminal lending system capable of efficiently performing a lending management service and a maintenance service.

Means for solving the problems

The terminal lending system of the invention comprises:

a reservation management server which manages inventory or loan reservation information of the terminal;

a terminal management server that distributes a disk image or update data of an operating system to the terminal;

and a power supply control server for managing a system state and a power supply state of the terminal based on the lending reservation information and information related to a charging state of the terminal and a distribution state of the disk image or the update data.

With this configuration, the power supply control server can limit the number of terminals that can be charged simultaneously and the number of terminals that can be activated simultaneously, and has an advantage that the amount of heat generated by the terminals can be suppressed to a safe level by limiting the total power consumption viewed as the entire system. In addition, in the case of performing unattended management, the power supply control server may be configured to have a "terminal locker having a terminal storage unit for locking and storing the terminal", and in this case, the power supply control server may be configured to manage the locked state of the terminal storage unit. The function of the locker is to physically secure the terminal, i.e. to prevent unintentional removal. In this regard, for example, if a storage place of the terminal and a minimum number of hands for loan return management can be secured, as in a bookshelf of a library and a library manager, there is no need for a physical storage device such as a locker or a configuration of a "locker control server" for managing only the locked state thereof.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

According to the terminal lending system of the present invention, a terminal lending system capable of efficiently performing lending management service and maintenance service can be provided. The term "high efficiency" means that the burden on the system administrator side, which is mainly the lender, can be minimized.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a terminal lending system.

Fig. 1-2 are examples (embodiment 1) of constructing the present system by arranging a plurality of terminal lockers 20 side by side.

Fig. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the terminal locker 20.

Fig. 2-2 is a photograph of a sample of the end locker 20 taken from above the front.

Fig. 2-3 are photographs taken from above with the top cover of the sample of the end locker 20 removed.

Fig. 3(a) is a perspective view showing a state in which the terminal C is stored in the terminal housing section 21 of the terminal locker 20. Fig. 3(B) is a perspective view showing a state in which the terminal C is detached (i.e., being lent).

Fig. 3-2(a) is a schematic configuration diagram showing a modified terminal housing section (single body). Fig. 3-2(B) is a view showing a state in which the terminal tray 21a of the terminal housing section 21 is pulled out.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of the terminal locker control part 28.

Fig. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the terminal management box 22.

Fig. 5-2 shows an actual configuration example of the block diagram shown in fig. 5.

Fig. 6 is a functional block diagram showing a data signal system related to the terminal locker control unit 28.

Fig. 7 is a functional block diagram related to the power supply system of the terminal locker control part 28.

Fig. 8 is a process flow diagram of the terminal management box.

Fig. 8-2 is a photograph for explaining the processing flow of the lending step.

Fig. 9 is a process flow diagram of the return step.

Fig. 9-2 is a photograph for explaining the flow of processing of the return step.

Fig. 10 is a process flow diagram of the investigation step.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart of the charging and management steps.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart of the lending process.

Fig. 13(a) is a processing flowchart at the time of power supply standby. Fig. 13(B) is a process flowchart at the time of power supply release.

Fig. 14 is a process flowchart of the loan standby step.

Fig. 15 shows another example (example 2) of the terminal lending system 10 described in the first embodiment.

Detailed Description

First embodiment

(Overall Structure)

Fig. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a terminal lending system. In this example, the terminal lending system 10 is mainly configured by the terminal lending management apparatus 100 and the terminal locker 20. The terminal lending management device 100 includes a reservation management server 50, a power supply control server 60, a terminal management server 70, and the like. The terminal locker 20 is connected to each other via the control ethernet switch 1 and the communication ethernet switch 2 via a lan. As another configuration, an operation unit 12 having a touch panel display unit 12a, a card reader 12b, a camera 12C for reading a QR code (registered trademark) attached to the terminal C, a speaker (not shown) for providing a voice guidance function, and an access node 13 of a wireless LAN for performing access to the internet may be provided.

The terminal locker 20 performs a function of physically storing the terminals C (locking and restricting the taking out as indicated by letters), and also performs control of switching whether or not to perform energization for each terminal even when a charging cable is connected in order to prevent a load on a power supply circuit due to one start-up or charging of a plurality of terminals. The terminal locker 20 connects each terminal to an external network (internet or the like) via a network switch, and is connected to the reservation management server 50, the power supply control server 60, the terminal management server 70, and the like via a network.

In the terminal lending management apparatus 100 shown in fig. 1, all the servers (i.e., the terminal management server 70, the power supply control server 60, and the reservation management server 50) are installed in the vicinity of the terminal locker 20 (in a physical local area network), but may be installed in a place different from the terminal locker, such as a cloud or other site, if sufficient network bandwidth and reliability can be ensured.

(terminal lock cabinet)

Fig. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the terminal locker 20. The terminal locker 20 is a device for storing the terminals C therein, and includes a plurality of terminal receiving portions 21. The terminal management box 22 is disposed adjacent to the terminal housing portion 21. Further, one terminal locker control part 28 binds one terminal locker 20. However, one terminal locker control unit 28 may control a plurality of terminal lockers 20. The terminal locker control unit 28 functions as a distribution board for distributing power to supply power to each terminal, and as a switching hub for branching a LAN cable. The branched LAN cables and power lines are sent to the respective terminal management boxes 22, where they are connected to the terminals in combination with one cable.

Fig. 2 to 3 show the terminal locker control unit 28 photographed by removing the top plate of the trial terminal locker 20. The switching hub 53 is a device seen from the lower side of the drawing, and a switchboard 54 is provided for a device seen from the upper side of the drawing. The switching hub 53 also functions as both the control ethernet switch 1 and the communication ethernet switch 2 shown in fig. 1 and 1-2 in one device. The size of one trial-manufactured terminal locker 20 is, for example, about 900mm in width, 450mm in height, and 450mm to 500mm in depth.

Fig. 2-2 is a photograph of a sample of the end locker 20 taken from above the front. An operation unit 12 having a display unit 12a, a card reader 12b, a camera 12c, and the like is provided on the top plate of the terminal locker 20, and a speaker, not shown, is connected to the terminal locker 20.

Whether or not a plurality of terminal lockers 20 are associated with one terminal locker control unit 28 becomes an important consideration in terms of efficiently lending to many users in a short time. This is because, when an excessive number of terminals are stored in one terminal locker, there is a possibility that a user may queue up and wait for the terminals to be lent and returned.

With respect to the terminal management box 22

In general, for example, a public locker which can be charged for IC card authentication used in a station or the like, one key, a key sensor, and a cable (a cable is mainly a signal line of a sensor, an LED, a key control signal, or the like) are required for one person's locker. In the case of a typical locker, at least 10 (5 pairs) cables are required for one-person lockers, which is mostly an example of setting a plurality per 20 persons or per 50 persons in groups. In this way, in order to avoid the wiring from becoming complicated due to a large number of cables, signal lines are generally collected and organized by using a "terminal block" for distributing various signal lines to a plurality of terminals. However, even if the "terminal block" is used, the number of signal lines is large, and there is a disadvantage that maintenance is reduced and cost is easily increased.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, by providing one terminal management box 22 for each terminal, a configuration is adopted in which signal lines are collected without a terminal board. Hereinafter, referring to fig. 5 and 5-2, the structure of the terminal management box 22 will be explained. The terminal management box 22 is used and the terminal management box 22 controls each locker, so that a terminal board is not required and the degree of freedom of the structure is increased. In addition, the structure of the terminal management box 22 is greatly simplified since no terminal board is required. Further, since the terminal locker control unit 28 does not have a function other than the power line and LAN cable branching, and the terminal management box 22 can be directly controlled by the power supply control server 60 via a network (LAN), there is an advantage that the functions of the power supply control server 60 and the terminal locker control unit 28 can be separated.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the terminal locker control unit 28.

The terminal locker control section 28 includes a power tap 31, a UPS32, an AC/DC converter 33, an nfb (no Fuse breaker)34, a control ethernet switch 35, a communication ethernet switch 36, a terminal management box control power supply 37, and a power supply circuit section 30.

The power supply circuit unit 30 is a power supply circuit for supplying power to the terminal C via the terminal management box 22, and may use an AC adapter attached at the time of terminal purchase, and may provide one or more dedicated power supply circuits in the terminal locker control unit 28, and distribute and supply the power to each terminal management box 22. The main function of the terminal locker control unit 28 is to branch the power lines and LAN wiring to the number of terminal management boxes 22, and therefore the power supply circuit may be provided outside the terminal locker control unit 28.

In the power supply circuit portion 30, a relay circuit such as ssr (solid State relay) is preferably provided in series with the power supply circuit.

In this way, the advantage of disposing a relay circuit such as an SSR in the power supply circuit is that a surge current at the time of connection of the commercial power supply can be suppressed.

On the other hand, when power is uniformly supplied to all terminals, there is a possibility that heat is generated and the capacity of the power supply circuit becomes excessively large, and therefore it is necessary to switch on and off for each terminal while confirming the power supply state of the terminal. This control is performed not by the "terminal locker control unit 28" associated with a plurality of terminals but by the terminal management boxes 22 of the power supply control server 60 adjacent to the terminal storage units 21. The terminal management box 22 has an advantage of being able to remotely boot a terminal using the Wake on Power Supply function even in a case where the terminal cannot be booted through the wol (Wake on lan) via the network. Hereinafter, the structure and operation of the terminal management box 22 will be described with reference to fig. 5.

All the cables (1, control network, 2, communication network, 3, terminal power supply, 4, SSR control signal, 5, power supply control unit power supply) in the terminal locker control unit 28 are connected to a plurality of terminal management boxes 22 (fig. 2 and 3) disposed directly below the terminal locker control unit 28, and both the 2, communication network and 3, terminal power supply are connected to the terminals via the cables 23.

The power supply circuit section 30 shown by a broken line in fig. 4 is disposed adjacent to the terminal locker control section. In this example, the power supply circuit section 30 is arranged on the bottom surface of the terminal locker control section 28, and the plurality of terminal management boxes 22 are arranged directly below it. The terminal management box control power supply 37 is a distribution circuit of a DC power supply for power distribution, and various switching hubs (ethernet switches 1 and 2 for control and communication) to which power is supplied from there, and power supplies to devices (a power supply control unit, an electronic lock, and the like) in each terminal management box 22 are backed up by a UPS 32. Therefore, according to the configuration of the embodiment, key management can be performed for a fixed time even in the event of a power failure. Although the necessity of connecting the ethernet switch for communication 2 to the UPS32 is low, the power input portion of the ethernet switch for communication 2 and the like are connected to the terminal locker control unit 28 so as to take out dc power.

Fig. 6 is a functional block diagram relating to a data signal system of the terminal locker control section 28. The terminal management box 22 is connected to the control ethernet switch 1 and the communication ethernet switch 2, respectively.

Fig. 7 is a functional block diagram related to the power supply system of the terminal locker control part 28. The power supply branched by the power tap 31 is converted into a dc power supply via the power circuit unit 30, and is sent to each terminal via each terminal management box 22. Whether or not to conduct the current is determined based on a relay control signal (SSR control signal) transmitted from the terminal management box 22 (specifically, a power supply control unit 41 described later).

With respect to the terminal management box 22

Fig. 5 shows functional blocks of the terminal management box 22. The left side of the drawing shows five power lines or data lines connected to the terminal locker control unit 28. In other words, the numbers indicated by the signal lines in the drawing correspond to the numbers of the five cables described in fig. 4 (1. control network, 2. communication network, 3. terminal power supply, 4.SSR control signal, 5. power supply control unit power supply).

The power supply line 3 for termination supplied from the power supply circuit is connected to a current meter 40. The ammeter 40 is connected to the power supply control unit 41, and the measured value is sent to the power supply control unit 41. The power supply control unit 41 is a so-called IoT control device (such as a microcomputer) that incorporates Linux (registered trademark), an embedded OS, and the like, and is provided with an IP address for controlling power supply to the terminal C stored in the terminal storage unit 21 arranged in parallel beside the terminal management box 22. Data necessary for control is exchanged with other terminal management boxes and various servers via a control network (signal line 1). The PD controller 42 has a function of controlling an interface of the terminal C in addition to controlling the power-on state of the terminal C.

Specifically, the power consumption required for activating the terminal C is calculated by examining the state of charge of the terminal C to which the charging cable is connected. Each terminal management box 22 is provided with a power supply control unit 41, and an IP address is given to each power supply control unit 41. Since the PD controller 42 activates the terminal C to acquire the charged state of the terminal C and performs a power consumption survey, the power supply control server 60 can control the power consumption of the terminal C as the entire system by surveying and grasping the states of all the terminals through all the terminal management boxes 22. In this way, a power supply control means is constituted which, when each terminal is activated, determines whether or not to start power supply based on the maximum power that can be consumed by the terminal, and starts power supply based on the determination. When power is supplied to the cable connected to the terminal C, charging of the terminal C is started only when the terminal-side inspection means determines that charging is necessary.

Further, regarding the start of power supply of the terminal C, it is preferable to be conditioned on both "power supply by control of the SSR" and "power supply set by the PD controller 42". The reason is that the former is mainly intended to prevent surge power supply when the commercial power supply is connected, whereas the latter is mainly intended to prevent total power consumption from exceeding a predetermined value, and therefore the contents and purposes of control are different. Then, the power supply control server 60 controls the maximum power supply so as not to exceed the maximum power supply by whether or not to issue a permission in response to the request of the power supply control unit 41.

As described above, the main function of the power supply control unit 41 is to perform control such that the power supply control unit 41 further performs control such that the terminal housing unit 21 cannot be locked until it is detected that the connector 23a at the tip end of the cable 23 is properly connected to the terminal C when the terminal C is returned to the terminal housing unit 21. In this way, the user does not forget the connection of the cable by mistake and cannot connect correctly. Similarly, at the time of lending, that is, at the time of taking out the terminal C from the terminal housing section 21, the terminal housing section 21 may be unlocked after detecting that the cable is appropriately taken out from the terminal C. When the lock is unlocked before the cable is removed, the cable may be damaged, but such human error can be prevented.

The power line 5 shown in fig. 5 is a dc power supply supplied from the terminal management box control power supply 37, and is a power line for supplying power to the power supply control unit 41.

The temperature sensor 43 may be provided in either the terminal housing section 21 or the terminal management box 22 to monitor the temperature of the terminal C, and the contact sensor 44 may detect whether or not the terminal C is housed in an appropriate position.

The terminal management box 22 may be provided with a lock mechanism 24 for setting a state of restricting the removal of the terminal C, a movable bar 25(25a, 25b) for adjusting the depth and height according to the size of the terminal C, and an information display unit 26 for displaying various information (for example, a charging state, an update state, presence or absence of a reservation, etc.) related to the terminal C stored in the adjacent terminal storage unit 21.

Structural example-

Fig. 5-2 shows an actual configuration example of the block diagram shown in fig. 5. In the case of USB-TypeC, the data is represented as Tx/Rx and D +/D-, the power supply is represented as Vcc, and the control signals are represented as CC1/CC 2. The LED is provided on a substrate or the like inside the terminal management box 22, and the light emitting portion is disposed so as to be exposed from the housing of the terminal management box 22 and visible from the outside. To illustrate this, in fig. 5-2, the LEDs are located on the border line of the terminal management box 22.

The power supply control unit 41 in fig. 5 is configured using a small-sized board computer called NanoPi in fig. 5-2. Since Linux (registered trademark) is mounted and a network interface capable of high-speed communication is mounted, the power supply control unit 41 can function. The position of the ammeter 40 differs between fig. 5 and fig. 5-2 because it is arranged on the dc power supply side in the first design step as shown in fig. 5, and on the TypeC cable side in the trial machine as shown in fig. 5-2. The configuration in which the current flowing into the power supply control section 41 is measured and the power supply is controlled by the PD controller is not changed, and it is finally considered that any configuration is adopted.

With respect to the terminal accommodation part 21

When the terminal C is stored in the terminal storage unit 21, the terminal C can be locked, that is, the terminal C can be restricted from being taken out. Note that the "terminal C" may be a "computer that is easily portable with a battery" as described above. As a typical example, it corresponds to a notebook computer, a tablet computer, or the like. The terminal locker 20 needs at least 1 terminal lending system 10 in one site, but as shown in fig. 1, it is possible to increase the number of terminals that can be lent in one site by providing a plurality of terminals. Further, in each terminal housing section 21, a cable 23 for distributing a disk image of a charging and operating system or update data thereof is disposed from the terminal management box 22.

Fig. 3(a) is a perspective view showing a state in which the terminal C is stored in the terminal housing section 21 of the terminal locker 20. As shown in the drawing, the terminal management boxes 22 are arranged adjacent to the terminal storage units 21. The terminal housing portions 21 and the terminal management boxes 22 correspond one-to-one, and the number of the terminal housing portions and the number of the terminal management boxes are the same. In this way, by attaching a label or the like to the terminal management box 22, it is easy to clearly indicate where the cable 23 should be connected to the terminal C, and therefore management becomes very easy. The cable 23 may be suspended from the upper portion of the terminal management box 22, and the connector 23a at the end of the cable 23 may be connected to the terminal C.

Fig. 3(B) is a perspective view showing a state in which the terminal C is detached (i.e., being lent). As shown in the drawing, the cable 23 can hang down from the upper part of the terminal management box 22 in a state where the connector 23a is detached from the terminal C. With this configuration, even when the plurality of terminal storage units 21 are provided, the cable 23 does not become an obstacle when the terminal C is stored, and the use is very convenient. As another method, the cable 23 may be wound.

Here, the cable 23 preferably has an interface based on the "USB3.1PD" standard connected by a "USB-type c" type connector 23a, for example. This is because, according to this interface, both charging and bidirectional data communication are possible, and there is no need to separately connect a charging cable and a data communication cable (for example, a LAN cable). That is, the cable is preferably a cable connected by a single interface, such as a USB-type C cable (hereinafter also referred to as "USB-C cable"), which is connectable to USB3.1PD or an interface compatible therewith or which is similar to the interface that can be charged for power and data communication.

The letters of the PD included in the "USB3.1PD" interface mean the first two letters of the Power Delivery. The maximum power curve of a USB-PD is capable of providing up to 100W (typically 20V/5A) of power. Therefore, quick charging can be handled as well. Further, it is possible to sequentially and efficiently perform charging while monitoring the charging state and the number of charging stations of the terminal to be managed.

In the USB3.1PD interface, the power supply of the terminal can be turned on by external control to start the operating system, and data communication with the outside can be performed after the start. It is important that charging, updating of the operating system, and the like necessary for the next loan are all performed while the terminal C is being stored by connecting one cable.

However, immediately after each user uses each terminal, the state of the hard disk is changed to a normal state with respect to the state before lending through the use of the terminal. In such a state, when a patch is applied to the operating system of each terminal, security software update is performed, and the like, the state of the hard disk differs for each terminal. Thus, "update" includes a restore operation. For example, the case where data added by the user using the terminal is deleted before the update is included.

In addition, in the case of a terminal not equipped with a usb3.1pdtypec cable, it is sometimes necessary to separately connect a cable for charging a battery and a cable connected to an interface for data communication (for example, a LAN cable). Further, after the terminal is started, necessary work (such as updating of an operating system) is performed by remote connection, and then the terminal can be turned off by remote connection, but in order to turn on the power supply at an arbitrary timing by remote access from the outside, Wake-on-LAN (Wake-on-LAN) or the like needs to be set, and at least two cables (a power supply cable and a LAN cable) need to be connected. Further, since the monitoring of the state of charge is performed only in a state where the operating system is started, it is possible to perform the monitoring, but the monitoring is inefficient. As an interface for data communication, an external interface such as USB2.0 or e-SATA may be considered, but it is not practical because it is generally impossible to turn on a power supply through the interface, and a large amount of work is required for a user due to connection of a cable or the like.

(improvement of terminal storage part 21)

In the initial development, the external shape of the locker in which the terminal C is stored is assumed to be the shape shown in fig. 2, 3(a) and 3(B), but in this configuration, when the terminal C is taken out from the casing, the initial operation is a one-handed operation such as "pinch the terminal C and pull it out", and thus it is difficult to carefully operate the terminal C with both hands. When the terminal C is pulled out entirely by one hand, a downward force based on the entire load of the terminal C is applied entirely to the fingers that are not stably pinched by one hand when the terminal C is pulled out from the housing, and the terminal C may fall and be damaged.

Therefore, the track system shown in fig. 3-2(a) and 3-2(B) is improved.

Fig. 3-2(a) is a schematic configuration diagram showing a modified terminal housing section (single body). Fig. 3-2(B) is a diagram showing a state in which the terminal tray 21a of the terminal housing section 21 is pulled out.

That is, a plurality of rail-type trays are provided in the housing of the terminal locker, and the rails can be locked in a state of being accommodated in the housing. According to this configuration, when the terminal C is taken out of the locker, the user first pulls out the guide rail horizontally as the first action, and then naturally causes the "two-stage (2 Way)" action of lifting up the terminal C with both hands firmly holding the terminal C as the second action.

(reservation management server)

The reservation management server 50 manages lending reservation information of the terminal C stored in the terminal storage unit 21. For example, the lendable date and time is calculated based on information related to the charge state of each terminal acquired by the terminal locker 20, the progress of distribution of a disk image of the operating system of each terminal or distribution of update data thereof, and the like, in addition to information necessary for reservation management acquired from the user via the internet.

In the present invention, "reservation management" includes not only a reservation for loan but also user authentication at the time of loan and processing operations at the time of return. Conversely, when only the "remaining number of stations" that can be lent is managed, the reservation management is also handled as "reservation management". The "reservation management server" is a system that provides a configuration for authenticating a user at the time of lending, and does not necessarily need to operate via a network such as the internet or an intranet. If the free terminal is immediately loaned after the on-the-spot reservation, the individual can also be authenticated on-the-spot at the time of the loaning. The user authentication may be performed using an existing authentication system, for example, an authentication system using an existing IC card using NFC (near field communication) technology, such as a student certificate or a transportation system card, or may be performed using a user name and a password. However, since authentication using only an IC card cannot be performed by another IC card, a known multiple authentication method such as authentication using a password, a mail, and/or a short message may be added in advance to improve security.

However, in relation to "reservation management", it is extremely important to manage "who" the terminal is lent to at the time of lending, whereas it is not particularly important to return the lent terminal at the time of return, "who" performed the return operation. That is, the system may authenticate the user at the time of loan and identify the terminal at the time of return. For example, the "terminal" is identified by attaching a QR code (registered trademark) to a main body surface portion of the terminal, and providing a QR code (registered trademark) reading device on an operation terminal or the like of the locker. In this way, at the time of return, regardless of the person who returned the terminal, it is possible to identify at least which of the terminals that returned the loan. The user does not need to carry the IC card when returning, or can entrust other people to return. In this way, asymmetry may also exist in personal authentication and terminal identification at the time of loan and at the time of return. Note that, as the configuration of the identification terminal, an example of a QR code (registered trademark) is given, but a label such as a label may be attached to the terminal itself, or a barcode may be read by an infrared sensor or the like. In this case, the "reservation management server 50" has a structure for authenticating an individual (e.g., an IC card reader) and a structure for identifying a terminal (e.g., a QR code (registered trademark) reader). Furthermore, in order to efficiently lend and return to a large number of users, it is preferable to provide one for each terminal locker 20 or one for a group of a small number of terminal lockers. Thus, the "reservation management server" does not need to be configured by only one server, and includes a system in which a reservation management server and an operation terminal for performing personal authentication and terminal identification at the time of reservation are provided for each locker.

Guide function

In this system, at the time of lending, before the terminal is taken out from the terminal locker 20 by releasing the lock of the terminal and after the cable 23 connected to the terminal C is pulled out, it is necessary to perform an operation of pulling out and taking out the terminal from the locker. In addition, when returning, on the contrary, a series of operations, which are troublesome and time-consuming, are required to identify the terminal, pull out the rail, place the terminal thereon, push the rail back to the locker, and lock the rail, and then connect the cable 23 to the terminal C. As described above, in the preferred embodiment of the present system, the cables 23 are collectively simplified as one USB-TypeC cable having both the charging and data communication functions, but when the lockers of a plurality of terminals C are stored in parallel, it is necessary to avoid erroneous connection of adjacent cables 23. Therefore, it is preferable that the user who performs the first operation also have a structure for appropriately guiding the next operation step.

Therefore, the reservation management server 50 is configured to have a voice guidance function for guiding the lending operation and the returning operation of the terminal by voice, and to provide one or more light emitting portions for each terminal housing portion 21 to turn on, turn off, and blink. Since the individual is authenticated at the time of lending, a user-friendly system can be constructed by selecting a language or voice of voice guidance in advance according to the preference of the user. Further, the user is not confused when performing a lending operation or a returning operation by blinking the light emitting unit in conjunction with the voice guidance. In particular, the two most important points that must be noted in return are: (1) correctly returning the cable to the terminal housing unit, and (2) correctly connecting the cable.

In this regard, an appropriate operation method can be guided to the user by voice guidance, blinking of the light emitting section, or the like. Further, the light emitting unit can indicate the state of the terminal (during charging, during maintenance, lending), and the like. According to the above configuration, it is possible to manage lending to returning of a plurality of terminals in an unmanned manner in a short time, and it is possible to provide an easily understandable interface that accurately instructs a next action to be performed for a user who accepts lending of a terminal.

In addition, as a guide when returning, there is another aspect that should be considered. In the case of the present system, although it is theoretically possible to return to a locker different from that at the time of lending, if a degree of freedom is excessively given, the terminals are concentrated on a place where they are gathered, and the burden of rearrangement at the system provider side becomes large, as in the case of a problem that may occur in a lending bicycle that can be returned anywhere. Therefore, if the system is provided in a locker which is close to a locker or the like which is directly adjacent to the locker, the operation of the system can be freely performed for a return destination different from the selection of lending, which is advantageous for both the user and the system administrator.

On the other hand, in the present system, since there is no difference in the terminals of different sizes (for example, 13 inches, 15 inches, and the like) from the viewpoint of charging and maintenance of the operating system, they can be stored in a locker of the same housing in a mixed manner. However, from the viewpoint of theft prevention, it is needless to say that in a locker for keeping a small-sized terminal, metal parts such as an adjuster for restricting improper removal of the terminal when the locker is locked are required. However, even when the lock cabinet is returned to a different locker from the one at the time of lending, there is a possibility that the user may be inconvenienced by the presence of a clear space but the regulator is not suitable and the return cannot be performed. In response to such a problem, guidance by voice guidance and a light emitting unit is very useful for guiding a user to a returnable locker in the vicinity.

(Power supply control Server)

The power supply control server 60 provides a function of controlling power supply to the terminal C so as not to exceed the maximum power supply in response to a request from the power supply control unit 41. The system also has a function of managing the locked state of the terminal storage unit 21 based on the lending reservation information and information relating to the charging state of the terminal C and the distribution state of the disk image or its update data. The power supply control server 60 checks and grasps the states of all the terminals through all the terminal management boxes 22, and controls the power consumption of the terminals in the entire system.

The power supply control server 60 may also have a function of managing the locking of the terminal storage 21 in the terminal locker 20 by, for example, issuing a control signal for controlling the locking mechanism 24 provided in the terminal management box 22.

In the above-described specification of the USB-PD interface, when the cable is connected, the PD controller 42 and the terminal C mutually perform authentication and/or negotiation, and mutually negotiate and determine information such as "which side is the power supply side and which side is the power receiving side", and "voltage value and current value at the time of power supply". Therefore, the consumed power at the time of charging is determined not by the AC adapter to which the terminal is attached but by the result of mutual communication based on the USB-PD specification at the time of cable connection. In the present invention, for example, when 500W is set to be consumable as the whole of one terminal locker, when power supply is started with a setting that 60W is already consumed by 8 terminals, negotiation before power supply is started such as "if 15W (5V/3A), power supply is possible" is performed for the 9 th terminal. (note that the power value at the time of power supply is predetermined in a number of settings, and cannot be extracted with any power). For example, there are adapters set to "5V/3A (15W)," 9V/3A (27W), "15V/3A (45W)," 20V/2.25A (45W), "and the like. In this case, it is assumed that the controller is controlled to actually perform the power supply control in two stages of "the SSR is brought into the energized state in the step of receiving the power distribution request" and "when it is determined that the terminal should be charged (the reason for this is that, in some cases, the terminal is set to be activated only by energization as described above).

That is, the power supply control server 60 determines whether or not permission is issued for the request of the power supply control unit 41, and controls so as not to exceed the maximum power supply.

(terminal management server)

The terminal management server 70 distributes a disk image of an operating system and update data thereof to the memory (hard disk, SSD, or the like) of each terminal C stored in the terminal storage unit 21. The update data refers to change data for the memory, such as differential data from the original disk image or incremental data from the latest loan time. The update data includes data generated by the user during the loan, update of the operating system (security update), update of virus pattern data of security software, addition and update of other application software, and other change data for the entire memory of each terminal. Further, the update includes "restoration".

When the terminal management server 70 distributes update data, it is preferable to install at least one terminal management server 70 at each site. However, if sufficient network bandwidth and reliability can be ensured, the terminal locker may be installed in a place different from the terminal locker, such as a cloud or other site. Alternatively, in order to increase the number of terminals to be managed, one or more relay servers may be provided in each site. Such scalability enables direct use of the characteristics of the terminal management server 70. Conversely, when "restore only" is sufficient, distribution is not necessary, and therefore the terminal management server 70 can be omitted.

Further, other servers (the reservation management server 50 and the power supply control server 60) constituting the terminal lending management device may be installed in a place different from the terminal locker, such as a cloud or other locations.

As described above, according to the configuration of the above embodiment, distribution of the disk image of the charging and operating system and the update data thereof can be implemented without manual work, and the loan management service and the maintenance service can be stably implemented for a long period of time.

(example 1)

Fig. 1-2 show an example of the present system being constructed with a plurality of terminal lockers 20 arranged side by side. In this example, one operation unit 12 is provided for each terminal locker 20. The operation unit 12 includes a touch panel type display unit 12a, a card reader 12b, a camera 12C for reading a QR code (registered trademark) attached to the terminal C, a speaker (not shown) for providing a voice guidance function, and the like.

The terminal locker 20 has a terminal receiving portion of 5 stages. The terminal locker 20 has terminal receiving sections 21 and terminal management boxes 22, the number of which is the same as the number of the storage units, arranged in parallel. Further, one terminal locker 20 has one terminal locker control unit 28, and is connected to the reservation management server 50, the power supply control server 60, the terminal management server 70, and the like via the switching hubs 1 and 2 via the network.

As described above, the terminal management box 22 has the power supply control section (41 in fig. 5 and 5-2), and can perform power supply control by communicating with the power supply control server 60. Therefore, theoretically, a structure having more terminal housing portions is also possible. However, when the terminal locker 20 has a structure to accommodate too many units, first, congestion may occur at the time of lending or returning. Secondly, since the load becomes excessively large with respect to the power supply capacity, the waiting time for charging by the power supply control function may become long. Since the network load is also the same, the waiting time for the maintenance job may become long. Then, if the number of the units is small, it is needless to say that the units can be manufactured at low cost. These may be designed in consideration of actual installation environments and applications (for example, how many people are given and what usage is assumed) such as a power supply and a network.

(example 2)

The main function of the terminal housing unit 21 is to perform the loan management service of the terminal C (i.e., to manage the storage and loan of the terminal C) without manual operation, but the loan management service of the terminal C may be an operation performed manually. In a use environment where the locked state does not need to be systematically managed (for example, it is assumed that the management is performed manually in a window), the above-described "terminal locker having a terminal storage unit for locking and storing the terminal" and "locker control server for controlling the locked state of the terminal storage unit" are not essential. By omitting these structures, there is an advantage that the overall cost of the system can be significantly reduced. In this case, a resident manager or the like is required to perform the loan management service of the terminal C, but even in such a case, the maintenance service may be performed by merely pulling out the plug-in cable from the terminal C, and even if the maintenance service is performed manually such as "system update", a highly specialized and long-time troublesome operation is not required at all. That is, the workload on the system administrator side is very small.

For example, fig. 15 shows another example (second embodiment) of the terminal lending system 10 described in the first embodiment. The terminal locker 20 does not exist, and various servers (the reservation management server 50, the power supply control server 60, and the terminal management server 70) are concentrated on one server. Further, the switching hub is also originally preferably configured to separate the ethernet switch 1 for control from the ethernet switch 2 for communication, but a general-purpose configuration is adopted. In this way, by removing unnecessary components according to the purpose, integrating a plurality of server functions, switching hubs, and the like appropriately, the entire system can be greatly simplified and the cost can be reduced.

Second embodiment

Next, the processing flow of each configuration will be described.

Fig. 8 shows a processing flow of the terminal management box 22. In this figure, the terminal C is in a locked state from the completion of the "return step" to the entry into the "lending process", and is supplied with power only during the "survey step" and the "charge management step".

First, when the lending process is performed, the lock mechanism 24 operates by receiving a signal from the power supply control server 60, and the lock mechanism 24 is unlocked by pulling out the cable. In lending, the lending is displayed on the information display section 26, and the reservation management server 50 records the terminal as the state in lending.

Next, when the terminal C is returned to the terminal housing section 21, the process proceeds to a return step. The power supply control unit 41 first enters a power supply standby state (power supply stop state). Then, the power supply control unit 41 checks the power supply state of the other terminal C (checking step), and then sets the power supply cancellation state. The charging state of the terminal C is confirmed by the PD controller 42.

Further, as an option function in the specification of the USB3.1PD interface, the state of charge can be monitored even in a state where the power supply of the terminal is turned off. Even in the return step of returning the terminal C in a state where the power supply of the terminal C is off, when the state of charge can be detected by using the off-line state of charge monitoring function, the state of charge is directly investigated without turning on the power supply. When the terminal cannot be used, the terminal C is temporarily started, and the power supply state may be checked by the function of the operating system.

When it is determined that charging is necessary or the operating system needs to be updated, the charging-necessary flag or the updating-necessary flag is set to 1, and power supply is started.

Fig. 8-2(a) to (D) are photographs for explaining the flow of processing in the lending step. First, the personal authentication of the user is performed by placing the IC card on the card reader 12b (fig. 8-2 (a)). As shown in fig. 8-2B, it is considered that guidance prompting the user to perform the next operation is displayed on the display unit 12a, and the user does not understand the operation even if the speaker and a light emitting unit (both not shown) provided in the terminal management box 22 are colored or flickered. When the connector 23a at the tip of the cable 23 is pulled out in accordance with the guide, the lock of the terminal C is released and the terminal tray 21a is pulled out (fig. 8-2(C), (D)).

Fig. 9 is a process flow diagram of the return step. As shown in this processing flowchart, "when the cable is connected without storing the terminal in an appropriate place, the locking mechanism of the terminal is not operated, and it is considered that the return processing is not performed".

Fig. 9-2 is a photograph for explaining the flow of processing of the return step. The terminal C is configured to uniquely identify the terminal C by the QR code (registered trademark) when the QR code (registered trademark) uniquely identifying the terminal is attached and placed in the camera 52 of the terminal locker 20. When the terminal C is recognized, the lock is released, and the tray is pulled out in the arrow direction, so that the terminal C can be housed (fig. 9B). Next, when the connector 23a located at the tip of the cable 23 is connected to the terminal C after the terminal C is returned to the tray and the rail is pushed back to the terminal housing section 21, the return processing is completed, and this is displayed on the display section 12a and is notified by the voice guidance function.

Fig. 10 is a process flow diagram of the investigation step.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart of the charging and management steps.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart of the lending process. Here, the control as the trigger for releasing the terminal locker locking mechanism is performed by detaching the cable.

Fig. 13(a) is a processing flowchart at the time of power supply standby. Fig. 13(B) is a flowchart of processing at the time of power supply cancellation.

Fig. 14 is a process flowchart of the loan standby step.

Here, the processing of "lending a terminal in a standby state" will be described. If the terminal C is housed in the terminal locker 20, the battery is consumed by natural discharge. In addition, in a terminal that temporarily determines that "no memory update is necessary", it may be necessary to perform the distribution later due to a change in the situation such as "reservation is changed" or "a new version is available for distribution" thereafter.

In view of this, in fig. 14, based on a predetermined schedule, for example, "charging state", "presence or absence of new disk, change of reservation", and the like are checked at fixed time intervals, and when it is determined that a certain job is necessary, a process of charging and updating is performed.

-with respect to the return step-

It is important to provide a structure for confirming whether or not the terminal is damaged at the time of return. However, the "damage of the terminal" includes software damage such as physical damage (for example, a keyboard is detached, a housing, and a screen are damaged) in which an operating system is not started and a system file is destroyed. The more time it takes for all of these checks, the longer the waiting time of the user, and the longer the time required for return, and therefore cannot be said to be a user-friendly system. Further, when it is assumed that no human operation is performed, the physical damage must be checked by the user at the time of return, and it is also assumed that a damaged part is overlooked or a false report is made, or that a human determines the degree of damage even if there is no malicious intent.

As a method for solving such a problem, a method is considered in which the terminal is started only once at the time of return of the terminal, and is immediately shut down after confirming that the system is normally started. This is because, if the system is normally started, the disk image can be distributed again from the server even if a part of the file that does not affect the system startup is damaged or erased, and therefore, the disk image can be repaired later. Further, if the startup and shutdown are performed immediately after the cable connection, the waiting time required for the return processing by the user is suppressed to a minimum. On the other hand, a method is considered in which the physical damage is not checked at the time of return but checked at the time of loan. That is, when there is a physical damage that can be visually confirmed at the time of lending, another terminal may be returned immediately and lent. This is because even with a relatively small damage such as a crack or a defect of the housing, which does not hinder the actual use, the user does not want to use the damaged terminal, and from such a psychological viewpoint, it is expected that a physically damaged terminal is more positively reported.

Description of reference numerals

C, terminal;

100 terminal lending management device;

10 terminal lending system;

20, locking the cabinet at the terminal;

50 a reservation management server;

60 a power supply control server;

70 a terminal management server;

1 controls the Ethernet switch;

2 an Ethernet switch for communication;

11 a card reader;

12 an operation section;

12a display unit;

12b a card reader;

12c a camera;

13 an access point of a wireless LAN;

21a terminal housing part;

21a terminal tray;

22 a terminal management box;

23a cable;

23a connectors;

24 a locking mechanism;

25(25a, 25b) a movable bar;

28 terminal lock cabinet control part;

30 power supply circuit part (AC adapter + SSR);

31 a power tap;

32UPS；

33 an AC/DC converter;

34NFB(No Fuse Breaker)；

35 control Ethernet switch;

36 an ethernet switch for communication;

37 the terminal management box controls the power supply;

41 a power supply control unit;

a 42PD controller;

43 a temperature sensor;

44 contact sensors and the like (various sensors);

53 switching hub;

54 panel.