JP2000349909A - Virtual multi-processing system by flow definition file - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize multi-processing by dividing a processing group so as to obtain a simple program structure, when executing control of a plurality of lines in a voice reply system. SOLUTION: A line processing group of telephone lines 5 is divided in advance into a minimum possible unit and the result is registered in a flow definition file 73. When a voice control program 71 is started, a flow definition is read by a memory from the flow definition file 73 to initialize all the telephone lines 5. When a concerned line receives an incoming call, the virtual process processing to be conducted next from a current flow state in the concerned line is discriminated from the flow definition. The concerned line executes a line processing about one of reception/transmission/execution of application AP divided in the minimum unit. Then reference of flow definition →discrimination of line executed for the virtual process → execution of line processing is repeated through the loop processing, and the processing is executed for all the telephone lines 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a virtual multi-processing system in which a group of processes to be executed by multi-processing is registered in a flow definition file to perform loop processing, and more particularly, to a plurality of lines in a voice response system. And a virtual multi-processing method using a flow definition file.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a requirement for studying a multi-line control of a voice response system is that a program structure as simple as possible is taken into consideration in consideration of maintainability without deteriorating a response to a service user. To do. " As a method for realizing such requirements, for example, a so-called multi-thread method in which one program is divided into several threads and a plurality of threads are simultaneously executed to perform a multitask, or a so-called multi-thread method, For example, there is a method of performing the processing in units of processing of the voice response menu flow.

[0003]

However, the former multi-thread system has a problem that processing becomes complicated due to sharing of resources. Further, the latter method, which is performed in the processing unit of the voice response menu flow, has a problem that when the processing unit is large, the line occupies the control.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a simple program structure by dividing a processing group when controlling a plurality of lines in a voice response system. An object of the present invention is to provide a virtual multi-processing method using a flow definition file that can realize multi-processing.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, when it is desired to realize a multi-process in a voice response system having a large number of WAIT processes such as waiting for a key input, a group of processes to be executed by the multi-process (hereinafter referred to as a Process unit) is divided into blocks as small as possible (hereinafter, referred to as “process blocks”) and registered in the flow definition file. The virtual multi-processing can be performed by sequentially executing the processing blocks of each virtual process according to the contents of the registered flow definition file by loop processing.

That is, in the virtual multi-processing method using a flow definition file according to the first aspect, a processing group to be executed in multi is registered in a flow definition file, and a loop processing is executed based on the registered flow definition file. In the multi-processing method, a processing group is defined as a virtual process, the processing unit of the virtual process is divided into processing blocks as small as possible, and the divided processing blocks are registered in the flow definition file in advance, and the processing blocks of each virtual process are processed. Are sequentially executed by loop processing according to the contents of the registered flow definition file, and virtual multi-processing is performed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a virtual multi-processing system using a flow definition file according to the first aspect, wherein each processing block of each virtual process is determined one by one with reference to a flow definition extracted from the flow definition file. , A processing block for each virtual process is executed based on a predetermined loop process.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a virtual multi-processing system based on a flow definition file according to the second aspect, wherein the flow definition defined in the flow definition file is processing flow information. It is characterized in that the processing is performed one processing block at a time, based on the information, every time control is transferred.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a virtual multi-processing method based on a flow definition file according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein a large processing requiring a long processing time is executed in each processing block. In such a case, the processing part is implemented as a separate process, and two processing blocks, a processing start request and a processing end monitoring, are implemented on the main side. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the virtual multi-processing method using a flow definition file according to the fourth aspect, the process start request and the process end monitoring are realized by inter-process communication with another process.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a virtual multi-processing system using a flow definition file according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein a plurality of lines in a voice response system are executed by the virtual multi-processing. It is characterized by the following. A virtual multi-processing system using a flow definition file according to claim 7 is the one according to claim 6, wherein the voice response system is a voice response device connected by a plurality of lines by a public network, and voice control in a voice control terminal. The virtual multi-processing is configured by a program, a flow definition file, and a business application, and transmits and receives commands between a voice control program and a voice response device. I do.

The virtual multi-processing method based on the flow definition file according to claim 8 is the method according to claim 7, wherein the voice control program divides the processing unit in the line processing of the telephone line into the smallest possible and defines the flow definition. Register in the file,
By performing virtual multi-processing by loop processing, line processing is sequentially executed according to the contents of the flow definition file. In the virtual multi-processing system based on the flow definition file according to the ninth aspect, the processing block divided into the minimum units by the voice control program includes a command transmission to the voice response device and a command from the response device. Reception and execution of a business application such as a database search are performed, and the virtual multi-processing is performed for each of the divided processing blocks, thereby sequentially executing the line processing.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a virtual multi-processing system using a flow definition file according to any one of the seventh to ninth aspects, wherein the business application requires a long processing time. The process is not a library format but a process separate from the voice control program, and the process is executed by inter-process communication instead of calling an editing function.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a virtual multi-processing method for processing processing blocks of each virtual process according to the contents of a flow definition file according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, first, when a program is started, a predetermined flow definition is read from a flow definition file into a memory (step S1, hereinafter, steps are omitted). After reading the flow definition from the flow definition file, a predetermined loop process is executed. That is, the processing block to be executed by the virtual process 1 is determined with reference to the flow definition read earlier (S2), and the virtual process 1
(S3).

Then, when the execution of the processing block of the virtual process 1 is completed, the processing block to be executed by the virtual process 2 is determined by referring to the previously read flow definition (S4), and the processing block of the virtual process 2 is determined. Is executed (S5). Similarly, when the execution of the processing block of the virtual process (n-1) is completed, the processing block to be executed by the virtual process n is determined with reference to the flow definition read earlier (Sn), and the virtual process n (Sn '). In this manner, a predetermined loop process is executed by repeating “refer to the flow definition” → “determine the processing block to be executed by the relevant virtual process” → “execute the processing block”.

FIG. 2 is a definition image of the processing flow information defined in the flow definition file. That is,
In the flow definition file, processing flow information of an image as shown in FIG. 2 is defined, and the virtual process is executed one processing block at a time every time control is passed.

Referring to FIG. 2, the virtual process executes the initial processing of the processing block 1 when the first control is passed (S11). Subsequently, the processing of the processing block 2 is executed, and a processing request command to another process such as input / output control is transmitted (S12). Then, when the control is passed again, the processing block 3 is executed, but the processing of the processing block 3 is repeated until a processing end command is received from another process. (S13). When the processing end command is received, the processing block 4 is executed, and at the same time, the editing processing function is called (S14). Then, if the return value of the editing processing function of the processing block 4 is OK, the processing block 5 is executed, and the editing processing is performed (S15). In this way, the processing is executed for each processing block. If the return value of the editing function in the processing block 4 is NG in step S14, error processing is executed in the processing block 6 (S1).
6).

If it is desired to execute a large process that requires time in each processing block, that part is implemented as a separate process, and two processing blocks of “processing start request” and “processing end monitoring” are implemented on the main side. I do. As a result, it is possible to avoid a state in which a virtual process that performs a large process occupies control. The “processing start request” and “processing end monitoring” are realized by inter-process communication with another process. As described above, virtual multi-processing is enabled.

Next, a specific example in which a plurality of lines are controlled in the voice response system by the above-described virtual multi-processing will be described. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of the processing of a voice control program of a voice control terminal to which the virtual multiprocessing method of the present invention is applied. In FIG. 3, the public network 1 and the voice response device 3 are connected by a plurality of telephone lines 5. Furthermore, the voice control terminal 7 and the voice response device 3 are RS232C
It is connected at (9). The voice control terminal 7 is
It includes a voice control program 71, a flow definition file 73, and a business application (business AP) 75.

Then, a command is transmitted and received between the voice control program 71 and the voice response device 3 through the RS232C (9), and reference data of a flow definition is transmitted from the flow definition file 73 to the voice control program 71. It has become. Further, the voice control program 7
A function call is made between the service AP 1 and the business AP 75.

According to the configuration shown in FIG. 3, an embodiment of the multi-processing system realized by one process is a voice control program for a voice control terminal. The telephone line 5 is controlled by transmitting and receiving a command between them. As shown in the flow chart of the virtual multi-processing in FIG. 1, the voice control program 71 divides the processing unit in the line processing of the telephone line 5 into the smallest possible unit, registers it in the flow definition file, and registers it in the flow definition file. Thus, the line processing is sequentially executed according to the contents of the flow definition file. At this time, the processing divided into the minimum units by the voice control program 71 includes “command transmission to the voice response device 3”, “command reception from the voice response device 3”, and “execution of the business AP 75 such as database search”. is there.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of virtual multi-processing of the voice control program shown in FIG. Therefore, using the flowchart of FIG.
The flow of the operation of the virtual multi-processing performed by the audio control program will be described in detail. First, when the voice control program 71 is started, the flow definition is read from the flow definition file into the memory (S21). Next, initialization (i = 0) for processing all lines of the telephone line 5 is performed (S22).
Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the line i is receiving a call (S2).
3) If the call is not being received (S23, NO), the process proceeds to the next line.

If an incoming call is received in step S23 (S2
3, YES), a process to be performed next is determined based on the flow definition based on the current flow state of the line i (S2).
4) Is the line i "waiting for command reception?", "Waiting for command transmission?", Or waiting for business AP execution? (S25). In this manner, the line processing is performed by dividing into the minimum units of reception, transmission, and AP execution (S26). If the command has been transmitted from the device 3, the command is received (S26a) .As a specific example, the voice response device 3 receives the push signal input by the service user from the public network 1 and inputs the push signal. The data is transmitted to the voice control program 71 as a command.

If the transmission waiting is selected, the voice control program 71 transmits a command to the voice response device 3 (S26b). As a specific example, a command to transmit the message of the message number 1234 to the service user is transmitted from the voice control program 71 to the voice response device 3. Furthermore, A
When the wait for P execution is selected, the function of the business AP 75 is called, and the business AP 75 is implemented as a function library (S26c). Specific examples include a database search for providing information and the output of a log.

In this manner, when the line is divided into the minimum units and the line processing is performed in step S26, the line number i is set to 1
Increment (that is, i = i + 1) is performed (S27). Then, such a process is repeated, and it is determined whether or not the process has been performed through all the lines of the telephone line 5 (S28). If the processing of all the lines has not been completed yet (S28, YES), step S
Returning to step 23, the process proceeds to the processing of the next line, and this is repeated until the processing of all the lines is completed. If the processing for all the lines has been completed (S28, NO), the processing returns to the line 0. Thereafter, steps S22 to S28 are repeated. In this way, by dividing the processing unit in the line processing into the smallest possible unit and registering it in the flow definition file, and sequentially executing the line processing according to the contents of the flow definition file by the loop processing, the virtual multi-processing is performed. enable.

The embodiment described above is an example for explaining the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention. Of course there is. For example, to describe an example of another embodiment of the present invention, as a function different from the operation of the above-described embodiment, the business AP 75 in FIG. 3 is not a library format but a process different from the voice control program 71. . Thus, step S26c in the flowchart of FIG. 4 can be executed by inter-process communication instead of calling a function.

That is, in the above embodiment,
If it is desired to increase the processing of a certain function of the business AP 75, the line occupies control until the function ends the processing. Therefore, by adopting such another embodiment, a method is adopted in which the business AP is not a library but a separate process from the voice control program, and the process end is monitored by inter-process communication every time control is allocated to the line. By taking this, it is possible to prevent the control from being occupied due to an increase in the processing of the business AP.

[0027]

As described above, according to the virtual multi-processing method using the flow definition file of the present invention, the processing unit in the virtual process is divided into the smallest possible units and registered in the flow definition file, and the loop processing is performed. Is a simple method of sequentially executing the processing of each virtual process according to the contents of the flow definition file. Therefore, when a plurality of lines are controlled, multi-processing can be realized with a simple program structure. Therefore, the maintainability can be improved without lowering the response to the service user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a virtual multi-processing method for processing processing blocks of each virtual process according to the contents of a flow definition file according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a definition image of processing flow information defined in a flow definition file.

FIG. 3 is a diagram to which the virtual multi-processing method of the present invention is applied;
It is a process conceptual diagram of the voice control program of the voice control terminal.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of virtual multi-processing of the voice control program shown in FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Public network, 3 ... Voice response device, 5 ... Telephone line, 7 ... Voice control terminal, 9 ... RS232C, 71 ... Voice control program, 73 ... Flow definition file, 75 ... Business application (business AP)

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A virtual multi-processing method for registering a processing group to be executed by a multi in a flow definition file and executing a loop processing based on the registered flow definition file, wherein the processing group is a virtual process, Is divided into processing blocks as small as possible, and the divided processing blocks are registered in advance in a flow definition file, and the processing blocks of the respective virtual processes are registered in accordance with the contents of the registered flow definition file. A virtual multi-processing method based on a flow definition file, wherein the virtual multi-processing method is configured to be sequentially executed by loop processing and to perform virtual multi-processing. 2. The processing block of each virtual process is determined one by one with reference to the flow definition extracted from the flow definition file, and the processing block of each virtual process is determined based on a predetermined loop process. 3. The virtual multi-processing method according to claim 1, wherein the virtual multi-processing method is executed. 3. The flow definition defined in the flow definition file is processing flow information, and each of the virtual processes executes processing by one processing block each time control is passed based on the processing flow information. 3. A virtual multi-processing method using a flow definition file according to claim 2, wherein 4. When executing a large processing requiring a long processing time in each of the processing blocks, the processing part is mounted as a separate process, and two processing blocks of a processing start request and a processing end monitoring are implemented on the main side. 4. A virtual multi-processing method using a flow definition file according to claim 1, wherein the virtual multi-processing method is implemented. 5. The virtual multi-processing system according to claim 4, wherein the processing start request and the processing end monitoring are realized by inter-process communication with the another process. 6. The virtual multi-processing method using a flow definition file according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of lines are controlled in a voice response system by the virtual multi-processing. 7. The voice response system comprises a voice response device connected by a plurality of lines via a public network, a voice control program in a voice control terminal, a flow definition file, and a business application. 7. The virtual multi-processing according to claim 6, wherein the virtual multi-process executes a plurality of lines control in the voice response system by transmitting / receiving a command between the program and the voice response device. Multi-processing method. 8. The voice control program divides a processing unit in line processing of a telephone line into the smallest possible unit, registers it in the flow definition file, and performs virtual multi-processing by loop processing. 8. The virtual multi-processing system according to claim 7, wherein line processing is sequentially executed according to the contents of the flow definition file. 9. The processing block divided into the minimum unit by the voice control program is a command transmission to the voice response device, a command reception from the response device, and execution of a business application such as a database search. 9. The virtual multi-processing method using a flow definition file according to claim 8, wherein the line processing is sequentially executed by performing the virtual multi-processing for each of the divided processing blocks. 10. When the business application requires a long processing time, the business application is not converted into a library format and is processed as a separate process from the voice control program. 10. The virtual multi-processing system using a flow definition file according to claim 7, wherein the virtual multi-processing is performed.