JP2997235B2 - Communication method and communication system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention enables line connection between a calling terminal device and a called terminal device via a communication network of a plurality of telecommunications carriers (hereinafter referred to as "communications carriers"). The present invention relates to a communication system and a communication method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a call setting method in a communication system capable of connecting a line between a calling terminal device and a called terminal device only through a communication network of a single communication carrier according to a demand amount. There has been proposed a method of maximizing the utility of the entire user and the profit of the telecommunications carrier by changing the price (for example, prior art document 1 “S. Jordan et.
al. , “Connection establishment”
ment in high-speed network
ks ", IEEE Journal on Select
ted Areas in Communicatio
ns, Vol. 13, No. 7, pp. 1150-11
61, September 1995 ". ). In the first conventional example, a communication carrier dynamically sets a communication price in accordance with a resource utilization rate and a demand, and a calling terminal device sets a communication price displayed by the communication carrier. After the required resource amount is determined based on, the call is actually made.

[0003] Further, it has been shown that even when a plurality of network resources are present, the use rate of the plurality of resources can be averaged while improving the utility of each user by using a similar pricing mechanism ( For example, in the prior art document 2 “Y. Nishibe et a
l. , "Distributed channel a
ll location in ATM network
s ", Proceedings of GLOBECO
M'93, 12.2, pp. 417-423, 1993
November and December ". ). In this second conventional example, a communication carrier dynamically sets a communication price in accordance with a resource utilization rate or a magnitude of demand, and a calling terminal device sets a communication price displayed by each communication carrier. After selecting one communication carrier to use based on the price, the call is actually made. According to this method, the utility of each user can be maximized and the load on each communication carrier can be equalized.

[0004]

In the first conventional example, the overall utility of the user and the profit of the communication carrier can be maximized. However, this method is applicable when there are a plurality of communication carriers. Can not. Further, in the second conventional example, a plurality of telecommunications carriers set prices in cooperation with each other, and further, individual users select a telecommunications carrier that can enhance their own utility, thereby achieving the expected value. You have achieved your goal. However, in the case of a plurality of telecommunications carriers competing with each other, it is impossible to set prices cooperatively.

An object of the present invention is to provide a communication method and a communication system capable of solving the above problems, equalizing the load on each communication carrier to some extent, and improving the profit of each communication carrier. It is in.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A communication method according to the present invention is directed to a communication system capable of connecting a line between a calling terminal device and a called terminal device via communication networks of a plurality of carriers. Transmitting, by the calling terminal device, a message indicating that a call is to be made together with the requested resource amount information to the communication networks of all the communication carriers, and in response thereto, the communication network of each of the communication carriers. According to the communication price and the resource, it is possible to set up the call only when the rate of return obtained by connecting the called call is equal to or higher than a threshold determined according to the amount of unused resources. Transmitting to the calling terminal device together with information on the congestion status of the
In response to this, the calling terminal device can use the calling terminal device based on the information on the communication price and the resource congestion status displayed by the communication network of each of the communication carriers capable of setting a call. After selecting a communication network of one carrier that maximizes the following, actually calling the called terminal device via the communication network of the selected carrier. .

In the communication method, the rate of return is preferably a value obtained by subtracting the cost of the resources of the communication network of the communication carrier from the communication price of the called call. , Is a value obtained by dividing by the requested resource amount from the calling terminal device.

Further, the communication system according to the present invention is a communication system in which a line can be connected between a calling terminal device and a called terminal device via communication networks of a plurality of carriers. The apparatus transmits to the communication networks of all the carriers the request to make the call together with the requested resource amount information, and in response thereto, the communication networks of the respective carriers connect the outgoing calls. The calling terminal device, together with information on the communication price and resource congestion status, indicates that a call can be set up only when the rate of return obtained by this method is equal to or greater than a threshold determined according to the amount of unused resources. In response to this, the calling terminal device, based on the information on the communication price and the resource congestion status displayed by the communication network of each of the communication carriers capable of setting a call, performs the calling operation. Maximize utility of terminal devices After selecting one of the carrier's communication network, actually through the communication network of the selected telecommunications carrier, characterized in that a call to the called terminal device.

In the communication system, preferably, the rate of return is a value obtained by subtracting the cost of resources of the communication network of the communication carrier from the communication price of the called call. , Is a value obtained by dividing by the requested resource amount from the calling terminal device.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a timing chart showing a call setting process in the communication system of FIG. It is a chart.

[0012] In the above-mentioned conventional example, the telecommunications carrier needs a mechanism capable of selecting a call setting request that can increase its own profit. When the user makes a mutual selection,
A call setup that is beneficial to both parties is made possible. In the present embodiment, a communication system including a call setting method that enables such mutual selection based on the concept of the contract net protocol is disclosed. In addition, in the conventional example, since the communication price must be set in cooperation with a plurality of communication carriers,
Not applicable when multiple carriers compete with each other.

[0013] communication system of the present embodiment, between the calling terminal 1 and the called terminal device 2, in line connectable communication system via the communication network N ₁ to N _M of the plurality of operators , the calling terminal device 1 transmits the fact to be a call with the request resource amount information to the communication network N ₁ to N _M of all operators, in response thereto, the communication network N ₁ of each carrier information to N _M only if the rate of return obtained by connecting the call to the call is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, it is possible call setup, regarding congestion status of the communication cost and resources together transmitted to the calling terminal 1, in response thereto, the calling terminal 1, communication congestion price and resource displayed by the communication network N ₁ to N _M of each carrier can be call setup Based on information about the situation, communication prices are low and congestion After selecting the communication network of one of the communication carriers, the communication network of the actually selected communication carrier (N
_{1 to} N _M ) to make a call to the called terminal device 2. Here, the rate of return is preferably a value obtained by subtracting the cost of the resources of the communication network of the communication carrier from the communication price of the outgoing call,
This is a value obtained by dividing by the requested resource amount from the calling terminal device 1.

[0014] communication system of FIG. 1, the calling terminal 1 and the called terminal device between the 2, a plurality of M communication carrier network N line connectable communication system via a ₁ -N _M of It is. The calling terminal device 1 is a communication network N of a plurality of M communication carriers.
Comprising a telecommunications carrier selection unit 1a for selecting operators should call from among ₁ -N _M. Calling terminal device 1, local exchange via the operator's switch 3a of the communication network 3 a plurality of M carrier's communication network N ₁ to N _M and the terminal selection device T
While being connected to S _{1 to} TS _M , the communication networks N _{1 to} N _M of the plurality M of communication carriers are connected to the communication network 4 of another local communication carrier.
Is connected to the called terminal device 2 through the exchange 4a.

[0015] In the above a communications system configured in accordance with a message sequence shown in FIG. 2, performing the negotiation between the calling terminal device 1 and a plurality of communication networks N ₁ to N _M carriers Performs a call setting process. The processing procedure in the call setting processing is as follows.

[0016] <Step S1> calling terminal operators selection device 1a of the device 1, the terminal selecting device TS ₁ through TS _M of the communication network N ₁ to N _M of each carrier, for the call setup A call setting inquiry message is transmitted with call attribute information including requested resource amount information added. Here, the requested resource amount information is information on a communication bandwidth required for setting up the call. Terminal selecting device TS ₁ through TS _M of the communication network N ₁ to N _M of <Step S2> each carrier calculates a predetermined rate of return based on the received call attribute information, the threshold there is return If the value is higher than the value, a call settable message including the resource congestion information and the communication price information is returned to the calling terminal device 1. <Step S3> Operator selection device 1a of calling terminal device 1
Maximum, based on the free band information and rate information, the resulting user's utility was calculated, the utility of the user from the communication network N ₁ to N _M carriers came to return the call configurable message One to be converted, and sends a call request message to the communication network of the selected communication carrier. Here, the utility of the user refers to, for example, a value obtained by subtracting the communication price related to the call from the settable quality satisfaction of the call. Thus, the calling terminal 1, based on the information on the congestion status of the communication cost and resources displayed by the communication network N ₁ to N _M of each carrier can be call setup, communication cost cheaper and congested Select the communication network of one carrier that has not been established. <Step S4> When the call setup is completed, the communication network of the selected communication carrier returns a call setup completion message to the calling terminal device 1.

Steps S2 and S3 enable mutual selection. This procedure, prior to a conventional call setup procedure, will interact one round trip messages between the communication network N ₁ to N _M of the calling terminal device 1 and the communication service provider. Thus, although correspondingly connection setup time is increased by sufficiently reducing the processing start period of the communication network N ₁ to N _M side, up to about message transfer delay time of the pure one reciprocation, possible to suppress an increase in the time Can be.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the communication networks N _{1 to} N _M of the communication carriers are connected to the calling terminal device 1.
By transmitting the congestion information to, even without using the setting mechanism of cooperative communication price, to some extent equalize the load on the communication network N ₁ to N _M of each carrier. By the communication network N ₁ to N _M of each carrier is provided with a mechanism capable of selecting the calling terminal device 1 can improve the profitability in the communication network N ₁ to N _M of each carrier.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing a call setting process in a communication system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In the second embodiment,
The calling terminal device 1 in the first embodiment is replaced with a user agent UA, and the communication networks N _{1 to} N _M of the communication carrier are replaced.
Which is a network agent NA ₁ to the communication system is replaced with NA _M.

In the second embodiment, connection is set up by negotiating between the user agent UA and a plurality of network agents NA _{1 to N} AM in accordance with the message sequence shown in FIG. Processing procedure in each agent UA and NA ₁ to NA _M is as follows.

<Step SS1> User agent U
A, for each network agent NA ₁ to NA _M, sends a connection request message by adding the connection attribute information. <Step SS2> Each network agent NA ₁
ＮＡNA _M calculates the rate of return using the connection attribute information, and if the rate of return is higher than a certain threshold, returns a bid message including free bandwidth information and rate information to the user agent UA. <Step SS3> The user agent UA calculates the obtained utility based on the available bandwidth information and the fee information,
Network agents NA ₁ through NA _M who have bid
One that maximizes the utility is selected from among the above, and a successful bid message is sent to the selected network agent. <Step SS4> When the connection setting is completed, the selected network agent returns a successful bid confirmation message to the user agent UA.

Steps SS2 and SS3 enable mutual selection. In this processing procedure, one round trip message is exchanged between the user and the network before the conventional connection setting procedure. Therefore, the connection setting time increases accordingly, but by making the processing start cycle on the network side sufficiently small,
Up to about one round trip message transfer delay time,
An increase in time can be suppressed. The second embodiment configured as described above has the same functions and effects as the first embodiment.

[0023]

EXAMPLES In order to evaluate the effects of the above-described embodiment, the present inventor evaluated the call setting method as follows. Consider a multimedia connection consisting of three media, each encoded in three layers. FIG. 4 shows the required bandwidth and communication fee of the stream corresponding to each coding layer.
For simplicity, it is assumed that the communication fee is the same between all carriers or network carriers. Therefore, the rate of return of the network depends only on the resource cost, and the utility of the calling terminal or user depends only on the available bandwidth.

The stream required by each connection (call) is determined using random numbers. The average required bandwidth of each connection is 20.5. The connection request (call request) is randomly generated with an average of 100 milliseconds, and the communication time follows a negative exponential distribution with an average of 300 seconds. It is assumed that the number of network operators is 5 and each has 14000 bandwidths. The resource cost per unit band is given by a uniform random number of 0 to 1 for each combination of the connection and the network operator. Here, each network operator determines whether or not to bid, using the rate of return and the threshold value given by the following equation.

[0025]

## EQU1 ## (Profit rate) = (Profit) / (Requested bandwidth) = ((Communication fee)-(Resource cost)) / (Requested bandwidth)

(Threshold value) = min (α × (resource unused rate) + β, 0.7)

Here, the profit is the amount of profit obtained by connecting the connection in each network (the communication network of the communication carrier), and the resource cost is actually the connection cost of the connection. This is the equipment cost of all resources required to perform the operation, and the resource unused rate is the ratio of the available bandwidth to the total bandwidth in the network operator. Also, preferably,
α = 5.0 and β = −0.32.

FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show the evaluation results when the way of setting the threshold is changed. However, the measurement cycle of the free bandwidth in each network operator is 10 seconds. From FIG. 5, it is possible to increase the profit per company by increasing the threshold value as a whole. If the threshold is set higher, the connection (calling) with a higher required rate and a smaller required bandwidth is connected preferentially, and the probability of losing the successful bid message is reduced. The probability of not receiving a bid from a business increases. The call blocking rate is determined by a balance between the two, and in the case of FIG.
When β = 0.34 or less, the call blocking rate is kept at 0.001 or less.

FIG. 6 shows the profit per operator when the value of α is changed while keeping the call loss rate at 0.001 or less. When the free bandwidth is large, there is a high possibility that a bid will be awarded. Therefore, it is possible to increase profits by raising the threshold to some extent compared to when the free bandwidth is small. From FIG. 6, by setting α = 5.0 and β = −0.32, 21% compared with the case where no threshold value is provided.
The degree of profit is improved. That is, in the present embodiment, a call setting method that enables mutual selection between a network operator and a user when a plurality of network operators are competing is disclosed.

[0029]

As described above in detail, according to the communication method of the present invention, a line can be connected between a calling terminal device and a called terminal device via a communication network of a plurality of carriers. In the communication method for a communication system, a step of transmitting, by the calling terminal device, a call request together with the requested resource amount information to the communication networks of all the communication carriers; By the communication network of the person, only when the rate of return obtained by connecting the called call is equal to or more than a threshold determined according to the amount of unused resources, it is possible to set up a call, Transmitting to the calling terminal together with information on the communication price and the state of resource congestion, and in response thereto, by the calling terminal,
On the basis of the communication price and the information on the congestion status of the resources displayed by the communication networks of the respective communication carriers capable of setting up the call, the communication network of one communication carrier maximizing the utility of the calling terminal device is established. After the selection, actually calling the called terminal device via the communication network of the selected communication carrier. Here, the rate of return is preferably a value obtained by subtracting the cost of the resources of the communication carrier's communication network from the communication price of the outgoing call,
This is a value obtained by dividing by the requested resource amount from the calling terminal device. Therefore, by transmitting the congestion information to the calling terminal device by the communication network of each communication carrier,
Even without using a cooperative communication price setting mechanism, the load on the communication network of each communication carrier can be equalized to some extent. By providing a mechanism that allows each communication carrier's communication network to select a calling terminal device, profits in each communication carrier's communication network can be improved as compared with the conventional example.

Further, according to the communication system of the present invention, in the communication system in which a line can be connected between a calling terminal device and a called terminal device via communication networks of a plurality of communication carriers, The call terminal transmits to the communication networks of all the telecommunications carriers a request to make a call together with the requested resource amount information,
In response to this, the communication network of each of the above-mentioned telecommunications carriers, if the rate of return obtained by connecting the outgoing call becomes equal to or greater than a threshold determined according to the amount of unused resources. Only the call setting is transmitted to the calling terminal together with information on the communication price and the congestion status of the resource, and in response to this, the calling terminal transmits the call After selecting one communication carrier's communication network that maximizes the utility of the calling terminal device based on the information on the communication price and the state of resource congestion displayed by the communication network of the carrier, A call is made to the called terminal device via the communication network of the designated communication carrier. here,
Preferably, the rate of return is a value obtained by subtracting the cost of the resources of the communication network of the communication carrier from the communication price of the called call, and calculating the requested resource from the calling terminal device. It is the value obtained by dividing by the amount. Therefore,
By transmitting the congestion information to the calling terminal device by the communication network of each communication carrier, the load on the communication network of each communication carrier can be equalized to some extent without using a cooperative communication price setting mechanism. it can. By providing a mechanism that allows each communication carrier's communication network to select a calling terminal device, profits in each communication carrier's communication network can be improved as compared with the conventional example.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart showing a call setting process in the communication system of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing a call setting process in a communication system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a table showing a required bandwidth of each stream in the embodiment, and FIG. 4B is a table showing a communication fee of each stream in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a profit per operator and a call blocking rate with respect to a value of β in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the profit per business operator and the value of β with respect to the value of α in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Calling terminal equipment, 1a ... Communication carrier selection apparatus 1a, 2 ... Calling terminal equipment 2, 3, 4 ... Communication network of local communication carrier, 3a, 4a ... Exchange of local communication carrier, N ₁ to N _M ... carrier's communication network, TS ₁ to TS _M ... terminal selecting device, UA ... user agent, NA ₁ to NA _M ... network agent.

Continuation of front page (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04M 15/00-15/38 H04M 3/00 H04M 3/42

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] Claims: 1. A communication system between a calling terminal device and a called terminal device,
In a communication method for a communication system that can be connected to a line via a communication network of a plurality of communication carriers, the calling terminal device informs all communication carrier communication networks that a call is to be made together with requested resource amount information. Transmitting, and in response thereto, a threshold determined according to the amount of unused resources by the communication network of each of the carriers to determine the rate of return obtained by connecting the called calls. Transmitting a call setup possible to the calling terminal together with information on the communication price and the state of resource congestion only when the value is equal to or more than the value; and in response to this, the calling terminal A communication network of one communication service provider that maximizes the utility of the calling terminal device based on information on the communication price and resource congestion status displayed by the communication network of each communication service provider that can be set. After selecting a communication method characterized by comprising the steps of a call to the called terminal device through actually the communication network of the selected telecommunications carrier. 2. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the rate of return is calculated based on a communication price of the called call.
A communication method characterized in that it is a value obtained by dividing a value obtained by subtracting the cost of the resources of the communication network of the communication carrier by the amount of resources requested from the calling terminal device. 3. The communication between a calling terminal device and a called terminal device,
In a communication system that can be connected to a line via a communication network of a plurality of communication carriers, the calling terminal device transmits to the communication networks of all the communication carriers a request to make a call together with the requested resource amount information. In response, the telecommunications network of each telecommunications carrier will only respond if the rate of return obtained by connecting the outgoing calls is greater than or equal to a threshold determined according to the amount of unused resources, The fact that the call can be set is transmitted to the calling terminal together with information on the communication price and the state of congestion of resources, and in response to this, the calling terminal transmits to each of the communication carriers capable of setting a call. After selecting one communication carrier's communication network that maximizes the utility of the calling terminal device based on the information on the communication price and the resource congestion status displayed by the communication network of Telecommunication carrier network Communication system, characterized in that a call to the called terminal device through. 4. The communication system according to claim 3, wherein the rate of return is calculated based on a communication price of the called call.
A communication system characterized by being a value obtained by dividing a value obtained by subtracting a cost of resources of a communication network of a communication carrier by a resource amount requested from the calling terminal device.