System for monitoring states of components of same kind incorporated into information processing apparatus

A state monitoring system, comprising:

• a plurality of objects of the same kind monitored by the state monitoring system, each object outputting a respective monitor signal indicating a current state of the object as operative or malfunctioning;
• at least two monitors;
• a consolidating unit receiving the respective monitor signal outputs of said plurality of objects and consolidating same and producing corresponding notification signal outputs respectively indicating operative or malfunctioning states of an individual object and of said plurality of objects, a number of notification signal outputs being less than a number of the plurality of objects, said consolidating unit, when receiving notifications of malfunctions from n (where n denotes an integer of 1 or larger) objects among said plurality of objects, notifying said at least two monitors of an occurrence of n faults, using an n fault occurrence notification signal, and, when receiving notifications of a malfunction from m (where m denotes an integer of 2 or larger) or more objects among said plurality of objects, notifying said at least two monitors of an occurrence of m faults, using an m fault occurrence notification signal;
• and
• said at least two monitors simultaneously and in parallel receiving the notification signal outputs of the consolidating unit and determining the current state of a plurality of states of the plurality of objects, the plurality of states of the plurality of objects being a smaller number than the plurality of objects.

A state monitoring system, comprising:

• plural monitored objects, of a common type and arranged in respective, separately identified groups, each group comprising a first, common number of plural, respectively associated objects, each object producing a corresponding monitor signal output indicating a monitored state of the object;
• logic circuits receiving and processing the corresponding monitor signal outputs of the plural monitored objects and producing, for each separately identified group of objects, a corresponding set of a second number of logic processed output signals indicating respective, monitored states of the plural objects of the respective group, the second number being less than the first number;
• and
• first and second monitors, each redundant of the other, commonly receiving the respective logic processed output signals for the separately identified groups of objects and judging the corresponding states of the respective groups of objects, each monitor monitoring its own state and each monitor further comprising a communications unit communicating the respective monitored state thereof to the other monitor and receiving from the other monitor the respective monitored state thereof.