KR100331752B1 - Network Service System And its Method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A network service system and a method therefor are provided to perform a seamless network service and perform a network service of high quality. CONSTITUTION: A plurality of resource controllers(220A-220E) perform a protocol for processing a network service. A network storage(230) stores data associated with the process of the network service. The network storage(230) has a disk array for storing data, and a resource management processor for having a function which writes or reads the data in the disk array and performing a communication function with a plurality of resource controllers(220A-220E). A communication network(221) is combined with a plurality of resource controllers(220A-220E) and the network storage(230). A front end switch(210) is combined between a switch(104) and a plurality of resource controllers(230). The front end switch(210) has a system state management memory(211) for storing states of a plurality of resource controllers(230), and distributes a call of a subscriber terminal to a resource controller with the least load with reference to the system state management memory(211).

Description

Network service system and its method

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a resource processing unit, and more particularly, to a duplicated resource processing unit for providing a seamless on-line service.

1 is a diagram illustrating a general network service system. Referring to FIG. 1, user terminals 101A, 101B, 101C,..., Such as a mobile telephone, are coupled to the exchange 104 via a public network 103. The exchange 104 is coupled to a plurality of resource processor units 107A, 107B,..., And the resource processor units 107A, 107B, ... have their own reservoirs 109A, 109B,... The exchange 104 and each resource processor unit 107A, 107B, ... are connected by respective communication lines 106A, 106B, ....

In Fig. 1, the exchange 104 collects call basic information for a call between user terminals 101A, 101B, 101C, ... and performs an exchange function. The resource processor units 107A, 107B,..., For example, perform network services such as voice mailboxes, and are in charge of providing the service in combination with a storage where voice messages and the like related to a particular subscriber are stored. For example, a process of performing an additional service on a network is described below. First, when the subscriber stations 101A, 101B, 101C, ... (hereinafter referred to as 'request terminal') make a call, the exchange 104 responds to another required subscriber terminal (hereinafter referred to as 'required terminal'). Forward the call. If the called terminal does not answer or is in an unreceived area, the exchange 104 verifies with the service controller 105 whether the called terminal is a voice mailbox service subscriber. When the requested terminal is a voice mailbox service subscriber, the service controller 105 causes a channel to be established between the resource processor unit and the requesting terminal related to the requested terminal. When such a channel is established, the resource processor unit transmits the announcement broadcast, receives a voice message from the terminal, and stores it in the storage 109A,...

In this case, information related to a specific subscriber's voice mailbox service, for example, a voice message, a user's own beep message, and the like are stored in only one storage. Thus, in this type of network service system, one resource processor unit performs network services such as voice mailbox service while accessing only one store.

However, such a conventional network service system is, for example, the communication line 106A or 106B between the switch 104 and the resource processor unit 107A is disconnected or the function of any one of the resource processor units 107A, 107B,... In this case, the problem arises that the voice mailbox service of the subscriber stored in the storages 109A, 109B, ... corresponding to the resource processor unit in which the function is stopped is not performed at all.

In order to solve this problem, a method of sharing a storage where voice messages are stored has been proposed, which is illustrated in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 2, the resource processor units 107A, 107B,... Are all coupled to a shared memory 111. When the shared storage 111 performs voice mailbox service while accessing a portion corresponding to each of the resource processor units 107A, 107B, ... normally, when one resource processor unit fails, another resource processor unit fails. This is to take over the function of the resource processor unit and continue performing the service.

However, in such a network service system, there is a problem that one of the resource processor units fails and there is a downtime for the other resource processor unit to take over the function. Downtime usually takes a few minutes and sometimes takes 20-30 minutes. This length of downtime actually causes network service outages. In addition, although there are a plurality of resource processor units 107A, 107B,…, a bottleneck may occur in which only a specific resource processor unit 107A, 107B,… is loaded, thereby degrading service quality. .

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a network service system capable of seamless network service.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a network service system capable of performing a higher quality network service.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method for performing seamless high quality network service.

1 and 2 are diagrams for explaining a general network service system.

3 is a diagram showing one preferred embodiment of a network service system according to the present invention;

4 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a network repository shown in FIG. 3;

Figure 5 is a flow chart showing a preferred embodiment of a network service method according to the present invention.

6 to 8 show other preferred embodiments of the network service system according to the present invention.

9 is a flowchart illustrating another preferred embodiment of a network service method according to the present invention.

10 to 13 are schematic diagrams showing still another preferred embodiment of the network service system according to the present invention.

14 illustrates an example of a protocol performed to provide a network service between a subscriber station and an intelligent peripheral device (IP).

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of step 507 in FIG. 14 in detail. Particularly, in the case where the network service command transmitted in step 506 of FIG. 14 is a PRM, the network service providing protocol between the subscriber station and the intelligent peripheral device (IP) is performed. Figure specifically showing an example.

FIG. 16 illustrates another embodiment of step 507 of FIG. 14 when the network service command according to the present invention is a PRM. In particular, FIG. 16 illustrates a method performed when a temporary memory is included in the resource controller 220. FIG.

17 and 18 are flow charts respectively showing a main thread and a transmission thread executed in a resource controller to execute the method shown in FIG.

19 is a diagram for describing redundancy of the network storage 230 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

20 is a diagram for describing redundancy of the network storage 230 according to another embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings>

101A, 101B, 101C... Subscriber terminal

103... Public network

104... Exchanger

105... Service controller

109A, 109B. Storage

107A, 107B... Resource processor unit

111... Shared storage

210... Front end switch

211A, 211B, 211C, 211D, 211E... Digital trunk

211... System state management memory

220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E... Resource controller

231... Resource management processor

233... Disc array

240... Main controller

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention to achieve the above objects, a network service coupled to an exchange for performing call control between a plurality of subscriber stations on a network to perform at least one network service required from subscribers through the network. A system, comprising: a plurality of resource controllers for performing a protocol for network service processing; A network storage for storing data related to the network service processing; A communication network commonly coupled to the plurality of resource controllers and the network repository; A front end switch coupled between the switch and the plurality of resource controllers for distributing a call of subscriber stations input through the switch to the plurality of resource controllers, wherein the front end switch comprises the plurality of resource controllers; A network service system is provided, including a system state management memory indicative of the status of the subscriber station, for distributing a call of the subscriber station with reference to the system state management memory.

According to a preferred embodiment, the network storage comprises: a disk array for data storage; And a resource management processor having a function of writing or reading data in the disk array and performing a communication function with the plurality of resource controllers. The front end switch checks the status of the plurality of resource controllers by periodically sending a query for status monitoring to the plurality of resource controllers and checking the response therefrom to update the contents of the system state management memory. Further, the network service system is coupled to the network and the front end switch, and periodically sends a query for status monitoring to the plurality of resource controllers, and examines the response from the status of the plurality of resource controllers. It may further include a main controller for checking the, and transmits the state check result to the front end switch. In this case, the front end switch may update the contents of the system state management memory according to the state check result input from the main controller.

The communication network connecting between the plurality of resource controllers and the network storage may be implemented in a LAN, and the plurality of resource controllers and the front end switch may be connected to a digital trunk such as E1 or T1.

The network service includes at least a voice mailbox service, and the plurality of resource controllers each include a temporary memory for buffering data to be transmitted to or received from a subscriber terminal in connection with the network service.

In a preferred embodiment, a resource controller selected by the front end switch for a call of a particular subscriber station of the plurality of resource controllers is configured to send data associated with the call to the network service expected upon receipt of the call. Preload from the store into the temporary memory. In addition, the plurality of resource controllers transmit the data buffered in the temporary memory to the network storage through the communication network, and measure the load of the communication network to transmit the buffered data when the communication network load is less than or equal to a predetermined value. do. In this case, the allowable value of the network load level that can be transmitted may be increased step by step as time passes from when the data is stored in the temporary memory. In addition, the plurality of resource controllers impart an urgency rating to the data buffered in the temporary memory, and the urgency rating is gradually increased from the time point at which the data is buffered in the temporary memory so that the plurality of resource controllers are urgent. If the grade level is above a certain level, the buffered data may be transmitted to the network storage through the communication network regardless of the load level of the communication network.

According to another embodiment, the network storage includes: a plurality of disk arrays for storing data; A plurality of resource management processors having a function of writing or reading data to the corresponding disk array and performing a communication function with the plurality of resource controllers, wherein only one resource management processor is among the plurality of resource management processors; It is designated active and the rest is designated standby, and the function of transmitting data to the resource controller via the communication network is performed only by the resource management processor designated as active. According to another embodiment, the disk array included in the network storage may be implemented in a shared type accessed by a plurality of resource management processors.

The plurality of resource management processors send and receive mutual status monitoring packets, and the status monitoring packets include serial numbers for identifying operations performed by the plurality of resource management processors, and switching of the active resource management processors due to a failure. When switching, refer to the serial number in the most recently received health monitoring packet.

According to another embodiment, the network service system further comprises a service controller coupled between the switch and the front end switch to perform logic related to network services and to transmit a call from a subscriber station to the front end switch. .

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, in a network service system capable of performing a network service coupled to an exchange that performs a switching function of a public network including a plurality of subscriber stations, data related to the network service is provided. A network repository for storing; At least one resource controller performing a service protocol for performing the network service; At least one temporary memory coupled to the resource controller; And a communication network connected to the at least one resource controller and the network resource, wherein the resource controller stores data received from the subscriber station through the exchange in the temporary memory when the resource controller performs the service protocol. A network service system is provided which transmits data buffered by a thread separate from a thread performing a service protocol to the network storage through the communication network.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, in a network service system capable of performing a network service coupled to an exchange that performs a switching function of a public network including a plurality of subscriber stations, data related to the network service is provided. A network repository for storing; At least one resource controller performing a service protocol for performing the network service; At least one temporary memory coupled to the resource controller; And a communication network connected to the at least one resource controller and the network resource, wherein the resource controller, when receiving a call from the subscriber station through the switch, performs the network service expected with respect to the received call. A network service system is provided which loads necessary data from the network storage into the temporary memory in advance through the communication network.

In order to achieve the above object, according to another aspect of the present invention, in a method for performing a network service required from a plurality of subscriber stations on a network, a switch for performing call control between the plurality of subscriber stations on the network Inputting a call from a predetermined subscriber station to the front end switch via; Selecting one available resource controller from among a plurality of resource controllers coupled thereto at the front end switch; Sending the input call from the front end switch to the selected resource controller; A network service method is provided, comprising performing a protocol related to the network service using a predetermined resource in the selected resource controller.

According to a preferred embodiment, the network service method further comprises checking at the front end switch whether the entered call is a call of a network service subscriber station. The selecting may be performed by referring to states of a plurality of resource controllers stored in a system state management memory included in the front end switch. In addition, the selected resource controller further comprises preloading the data necessary to perform the expected network service from the network storage coupled thereto upon receiving the input call from the front end switch into a temporary memory contained therein in advance. do. In this case, the data preloaded in the temporary memory is deleted when the network service ends.

In a preferred embodiment, the selected resource controller further includes temporarily storing data received from the subscriber station in a temporary memory included therein while performing the network service protocol. Data temporarily stored in the temporary memory may be deleted after being stored in the network storage coupled to the resource controller. The storing of the data temporarily stored in the temporary memory in the network storage may be executed by a thread separate from a thread performing a protocol for providing the network service in the resource controller.

Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 illustrates a network service system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, the same parts as in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

Referring to FIG. 3, the network service system includes a front end switch 210, a plurality of resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E,..., And a network storage 230. The front end switch 210 includes a system state management memory 211. The system state management memory 211 stores information on whether network service is possible using the plurality of resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E,... Specifically, whether communication lines 211A, 211B, 211C, 211D, 211E, ... are normally connected and whether the plurality of resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E, ... are operating normally. . To this end, the front end switch 210 periodically checks and checks the states of the plurality of resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E, ... and the communication lines 211A, 211B, 211C, 211D. 211E, ... According to the result, the contents of the system state management memory 211 are updated.

According to another embodiment, the resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E,..., Transmit their state information to the front end switch 210 and the front end switch 210 sends the received state information to the system state. It may be stored in the management memory 211.

The plurality of resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E, ... are coupled to the network storage 230 via the communication network 221. In a preferred embodiment, the resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E,... And the network storage 230 transmit and receive messages using the TCP / IP protocol of Ethernet.

In FIG. 3, between the front end switch 210 and the plurality of resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E, ..., respectively, corresponding physical lines 211A, 211B, 211C, 211D, 211E, ...), or may be connected to a LAN. According to a specific embodiment, the communication lines 211A, 211B, 211C, 211D. 211E, ... may be implemented as a digital trunk such as an E1 or D1 line. In addition, when the front end switch 210 and the plurality of resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E, ... are configured as LANs and the communication network 221 is configured as LANs, they use one LAN router. It is also possible to implement.

One preferred embodiment of the network repository 230 comprises a resource management processor 231 and a disk array 233 as shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 4, the resource management processor 231 has a communication function with a plurality of resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E,..., And writes data to the disk array 233 coupled thereto. Or read data from it. According to a preferred embodiment, the resource management processor 231 and the disk array 233 are connected by SCSI.

5 illustrates a preferred embodiment of a network service method in a network service system having such a configuration.

Referring to FIG. 5, a call related to a network service is introduced to the front end switch 210 in step 301. When such a network service call is received, the front end switch 210 refers to the system state management memory 211 in step 302 to distribute a predetermined number of resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E,... According to the algorithm, one of the resource controllers with the least load is selected. Then, at step 303, the front end switch 210 sends the received call to the selected resource controller. The resource controller selected in step 304 is connected to the terminal to process the requested service. For example, it handles services such as recording request announcements and recording customer voices.

6 is yet another implementation for checking the status of the resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E, ... in order to update the contents of the system state management memory 211 included in the front end switch 210. An example is shown.

Referring to FIG. 6, the main controller 240 is coupled to the communication network 221 and periodically checks the status of the plurality of resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E, ... through the communication network 221. Transmits a query for the query, receives a response from the resource controller, analyzes it, and checks whether the resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E, ... are operating normally, and front-ends the result. Transfer to switch 210. The front end switch 210 receives this information and updates the contents of the system state management memory 211.

Meanwhile, in the case of such a network service system, although the load is distributed to each resource controller 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E, ..., a bottleneck may occur in the communication network 221. The quality of the same network service may be lowered. 7 and 8 illustrate preferred embodiments of a network service system in consideration of such a problem.

In FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the same components as in the previous drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

7 and 8, the plurality of resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E, ... each include temporary memories 221A, 221B, 221C, 221D. It is composed. Temporary memories 221A, 221B, 221C, 221D.... Temporarily store subscriber network service related data such as voice messages that should ultimately be stored in network storage 230, or read in advance from network storage 230. Temporarily store the network service related data. Here, pre-fetching is done before a request for a specific network service from the terminal. Specifically, if a terminal dials out a call and sends a call, even if the terminal does not request a specific network service, the network service related files related to the terminal are transferred from the network storage 230 to a temporary memory in the specific resource controller selected. Load it. Network service related data such as voice messages stored in the temporary memory are sent to the terminal or transmitted to the network storage 230 and then deleted.

Such a network service providing method will be described with reference to FIG. 9.

9, the call of the terminal is input to the front end switch 210 in step 401. Then, in step 402, the front end switch 210 determines whether the terminal associated with the call is a network service subscriber, and terminates if it does not subscribe to the network service, otherwise proceeds to step 403. In this case, the information about whether the terminals subscribe to the network service may be stored in a predetermined memory space in the front end switch 210 or may be stored in a memory in the main controller 240 as shown in FIG. 8. Further, step 402 may not be performed at the front end switch 210 but may be performed at the selected resource controller after step 404 is performed.

Subsequently, in step 403, the front end switch 210 selects one resource controller available from the plurality of resource controllers 220A, 220B, 220C, 220D, 220E, ... with reference to the system state management memory 211, In step 404, the call is transmitted to the selected resource controller. Meanwhile, the selected resource controller may determine whether the corresponding terminal is a network service subscriber. In this case, the information about whether to subscribe to the network service may be stored in a storage accessible by the resource controller, for example, the network storage 230, and stored in a memory in the main controller 240 as shown in FIG. 8. May be When stored in the memory in the main controller 240, whether or not the network service subscription can be determined by sending a query from the selected resource controller to the main controller 240 and receiving a response from the main controller 240.

On the other hand, the resource controller receiving the call, in step 405 loads the voice mailbox-related data of the terminal. Here, the voice mailbox data of the terminal may include voice mailbox information and voice message indicating how many voice messages have been received. Both voice mailbox information and voice messages may be stored in a network store, and the voice mailbox information may be stored in a memory in the main controller 240 shown in FIG. 8, all of which are accessible through the communication network 221. Where it is stored. This step 405 may be omitted as necessary. For example, if the call is expected to merely be a voice message recording request, for example, a call is made from the request terminal to the requested terminal, step 405 may be omitted. In step 406, the selected resource controller performs network service related announcement. The announcement may be, for example, information on what services are available, the number of voice messages received, and the time. It may be omitted according to the step 406 or the type of network service provided. Subsequently, the network service request is received from the subscriber in step 407, and branches according to the type of network service requested in step 408. If the requested network service is a voice transmission, i.e., a listening service of the received voice message, step 409 Proceed to The resource controller selected in step 409 transmits the voice message already loaded in the temporary memory to the terminal through the established communication channel. Subsequently, when the network service related to voice transmission is terminated in step 410, contents stored in the temporary memory are deleted.

On the other hand, when the voice recording service is requested, the resource controller selected in step 411 records the voice message in the temporary memory, and transmits the voice message stored in the temporary memory to the network storage through the communication network 221 in step 412. To be stored in a network repository. In addition, when other network services are required, the selected resource controller may store the contents once in the temporary memory and later transmit corresponding data or commands to the network storage 230 through the communication network 221.

10 to 13 illustrate a network service system according to another embodiment of the present invention, and further include a service controller 105 as compared to the network service system illustrated in FIGS. 3, 6, 7, and 8, respectively. Doing.

In Figures 10-13 the exchange 104 collects call basic information and performs the exchange function, the service controller 105 has service logic and data in charge of service control, and the intelligent peripheral (IP) is a special resource. Providing information through a guide broadcast, collecting user information, and processing. In a preferred embodiment, between the exchange 104 and the service controller 105 or between the service controller 105 and the intelligent peripheral device (IP) may be implemented to use the INAP and ISUP protocols above the TCAP. 11 and 13, the front end switch 210 and the main controller 240 may be integrated into one.

14 illustrates an example of a protocol performed to provide a network service between a subscriber station and an intelligent peripheral device (IP).

Referring to FIG. 14, in step 501 the subscriber station transmits a service request to the exchange 104. The exchange 104 transmits an initial DP—which requests intelligent network service processing—to the service controller 105 in step 502, and in response, the service controller 105 sends an ETC (temporary connection establishment) in step 503. This connects the bearer channel in step 504. In step 505 an assistant command request is sent from the intelligent peripheral device (IP) to the service controller 105. The service controller 105, which receives the request for an auxiliary command, according to the intelligent network service logic, prompts (PA: Play Announcement), collects user information (PCUI: Prompt & Collect User Information), and records a message (PRM: Prompt & Receive). Send network service commands such as Message (ER), Erase Message (EM), etc. to Intelligent Peripherals (IP). Upon receiving the network service command, the intelligent peripheral device (IP) executes a corresponding network service providing protocol with the subscriber station in step 507. For example, an intelligent peripheral device (IP) sends an announcement to a subscriber terminal and collects digits (DTMF tones) from the subscriber terminal or records a message. After this protocol is completed, the intelligent peripheral device (IP) transmits the network service processing result to the service controller 105 in step 508.

FIG. 15 specifically illustrates an example of step 507 in FIG. 14. In particular, FIG. 15 illustrates a network service providing protocol performed between a subscriber station and an intelligent peripheral device (IP) when the network service command transmitted in step 506 of FIG. 14 is a PRM. One example is shown in detail.

Referring to FIG. 15, in step 601, when the front end switch 210 transmits a PRM execution request to a selected resource controller, the resource controller 220 broadcasts a recording request announcement for performing PRM to a subscriber station. For example, run a announcement such as "Record when you hear a beep and hang up when you are finished." In response, the subscriber station records voice at step 603. The voice message transmitted from the subscriber station is received in the selected resource controller 220 and transmits the voice message to the resource management processor 231 via the communication network 221 in step 604. The resource management processor 231 stores the received voice message in the disk array 233 in step 605. When the storage is completed, the resource management processor 231 notifies the resource management processor 231 of the completion of the voice message storage. (Step 606). In response, the resource management processor 231 notifies the resource controller 220 of the completion of the voice message transmission in step 607, and the resource controller 220 transmits the PRM processing result to the front end switch 210 in step 608.

16 illustrates another embodiment of step 507 of FIG. 14 when the network service command according to the present invention is a PRM. In particular, FIG. 16 illustrates a method performed when the temporary memory is included in the resource controller 220. Referring to FIG.

Referring to FIG. 16, in step 701, the front end switch 210 transmits a PRM execution request to the selected resource controller 220 based on a predetermined distribution algorithm, and in step 702 the selected resource controller 220 is sent to the subscriber station. In step 703, the subscriber station transmits a voice message to be recorded to the resource controller 220. At this time, unlike in FIG. 15, the resource controller 220 stores the received voice message in the temporary memory included therein in step 704 and receives the voice message delivery completion notification in step 705, and then, in step 706, the PRM processing result. To the front end switch 210. Accordingly, it can be seen that the PRM processing result is transmitted to the front end switch 210 more quickly than in FIG. 15. On the other hand, as a background process, steps 707 to 713 are performed. In operation 707, the load of the communication network 221 is monitored, and if the load is less than or equal to a certain amount, the voice message stored in the temporary memory is transmitted to the resource management processor 231 at step 708, and the resource management processor 231 at step 709. This is stored in the disk array 233. On the other hand, if the load of the communication network 221 is more than a certain amount in step 707 and proceeds to step 710 to check the urgency of the voice message. Thus, if it is determined that there is an urgency, the process proceeds to step 711 and the voice message stored in the temporary memory is transmitted to the resource management processor 231, and the resource management processor 231 transmits the voice message to the disk array 233 in step 712. Store in The disk array 233 stores the voice message and then, in step 713, notifies the resource management processor 231 of the completion of the voice message storage. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 710 that the message is not urgent, the process proceeds to step 707 again. Thus, the voice message stored in the temporary memory in the selected resource controller 220 is stored in the network storage when it is recognized that the load of the communication network 221 is below a certain amount or urgent.

The process performed by the selected resource controller 220 to execute the method described with reference to FIG. 16 includes a main thread for recording a voice and buffering the voice message into a temporary memory, and a voice message buffered in the temporary memory. By using this operation, the transmission thread transmitted to the disk array 233 is divided. This is shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, respectively.

Referring to FIG. 17, when a PRM is received from the front end switch 210 in step 801, each parameter included therein is analyzed in step 802. The maximum recording time is read from the parameters to calculate the required memory size and the corresponding temporary memory is allocated (step 803). After setting the address of the allocated memory and the parameters required for recording by the voice board driver (step 804), the voice board driver is instructed to record the bearer channel. The voice board driver records the voice message received from the subscriber station according to the set parameter value (step 805). When the subscriber terminal finishes recording, the voice board driver detects this and raises a specific event to notify the main thread that the recording is complete. After detecting the end of recording event, the main thread measures the size of the actual recorded message, reallocates temporary memory (step 806), informs the sending thread that a new voice message has been created (step 807), and receives the next PRM. Wait

Meanwhile, an example of a transmission thread for recording the voice message buffered in the temporary memory to the disk array 233 through the communication network 221 will be described with reference to FIG. 18.

Referring to Fig. 18, the sending thread waits until a voice message to be processed occurs, as shown in step 901. If a voice message to be processed is generated (step 902), flow proceeds to step 903 to initialize the urgency of the voice message. The urgency of the voice message indicates how long it has been since the voice message was generated. For example, the urgency level of the voice message may be determined as shown in Table 1 below.

In determining the urgency of the voice message, it is preferable to design in consideration of the time that the subscriber terminal makes a call to listen to the recorded voice message. Table 1 above is designed to assume that the voice message is left and the time required to make a call to listen to the voice message takes about 2 minutes. Therefore, the recorded voice message must be stored in the disc array 233 within 2 minutes.

In step 904, the load of the communication network 221 is measured and the load level is determined. For example, the load measurement of the communication network 221 transmits a packet of 64 bytes in size to the resource management processor 231 consecutively, and then calculates the return time in msec as the current communication load value. By setting, you can measure the amount of data that can be transmitted at the present time. In addition, it is determined where the measured communication load value corresponds to the load level of the communication network. Here, the load level of the communication network may be divided into a plurality of classes, an example of which is shown in Table 2 below.

The classification class shown in Table 2 is based on the data transmission rate of 20Mbits / sec, which is the measured value for the 100Mbps LAN, and the level of the network 221 is very stable at level 1-level 3. Can be seen, level 4-level 6 can cause overload, level 7-level 9 can be regarded as just before overload, and level 10 is voice message because network 221 is already overloaded. Only other communication network 221 packets may be regarded as acceptable.

Then, in step 905, it is determined whether the network load level is below the allowable value. The allowance of the network load level can be determined as, for example, level 3. Thus, if the network load level is below the allowable level, the process proceeds to step 912 where the voice message in the temporary memory is stored in the network storage via the network 221. That is, when the network load is light, the voice message is stored in the network storage regardless of the urgency of the voice message. On the other hand, if the network load level is greater than the allowable value in step 905, the flow advances to step 906 to check whether the voice message is urgent. That is, as the elapsed time of the voice message elapses, the urgency level increases. If the urgency level is greater than a predetermined value, the process proceeds to step 912 where the voice message is stored in the network storage 230. For example, if the urgency rating is 9, then it can proceed to step 912 unconditionally.

If there is no urgency of the voice message in step 906, the flow proceeds to step 907. In step 907, the allowable value of the network load level is increased, which may be omitted in some cases.

The urgency of the voice message is then increased in step 908 and the timer is started in step 909. The timer is for measuring the time between urgency classes. For example, if the current urgency rating is 1, 10 seconds have elapsed. Therefore, an additional 10 seconds must be added to become an urgency rating 2. Thus, a timer that can measure 10 seconds is activated. After the timer is started, the controller polls until a signal according to the end of the timer is received in step 910, and is fed back to step 904 when the signal is received in step 911.

Therefore, the transmission thread stores the voice message stored in the temporary memory in the resource controller 220 in the network storage 230 through the communication network 221 in consideration of the load of the communication network and the time elapsed after the voice message is generated. .

19 is a diagram for describing redundancy of the network storage 230 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 3, 6, 7, 8, and 10-13, network storage can be redundant or multiplexed as shown in FIG. Redundancy refers to one of the two resource management processors as the active resource management processor (231A) and the other as the standby resource management processor (231B), and multiplexing refers to one of the three or more resource management processors as the active resource management processor Is a standby resource management processor. Here, only redundancy is described, but it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present description is applied to multiplexing.

Referring to FIG. 19, the active resource management processor 231A and the standby resource management processor 231B are coupled through a dedicated line 235. Through the dedicated line 235, the active resource management processor 231A and the standby resource management processor 231B exchange status monitoring packets (also commonly referred to as 'heartbits') at regular intervals, whereby the other party operates normally. Monitor for presence. Thus, when the active resource management processor 231A is down, the standby resource management processor 231B is switched to active. Here, the active resource management processor 231A and the standby resource management processor 231B may also exchange data through the communication network 221 instead of providing a dedicated line 235 for exchanging status monitoring packets. The status monitoring packet may be transmitted at regular intervals.

In addition, only the resource management processor 231A in an active state among the plurality of resource management processors transmits data through the communication network 221, and reception of data through the communication network 221 is performed by the active resource management processor 231A and the standby resource. It is executed in both the management processor 231B. Each resource management processor has unique disk arrays 233A and 233B and performs writing and reading of the received data.

20 is a diagram for describing redundancy of the network storage 230 according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 20, unlike FIG. 19, instead of the plurality of disk arrays, a shared disk array 233C accessible by both the active resource management processor 231A and the standby resource management processor 231B is included.

The resource management processor configured as active in the network storage performs the function as described above. That is, the data input through the communication network 221 is stored in the corresponding section of the shared disk array 233C, for example, the section A- of the corresponding shared disk array 233C when the resource management processor 231A is active. When a specific data request is received through the communication network 221, the data is read from the corresponding section of the shared disk array 233C and transmitted through the communication network 221. Meanwhile, the standby resource management processor 231B receives data input through the communication network 221 and stores the data in the corresponding section of the shared disk array 233C, but transmits the data to the resource controller through the communication network 221. It does not perform the function. This is to make it look like only one resource management processor is running externally.

In addition, the status monitoring packet between the active resource management processor 231A and the standby resource management processor 231B may be transmitted at regular intervals through the dedicated line 235 as in FIG. 19, or may be transmitted through the communication network 221. May be sent. According to a more preferred embodiment, the status monitoring packet includes a sequence number. The serial number is a number for identifying a task to be processed by the resource management processor, each resource management processor transmits a serial number related to the job currently being processed to the counterpart. When both of the resource management processors operate normally, the active resource management processor and the standby resource management processor process both jobs having the same serial number in parallel. However, the resource management processor in the standby state does not perform only data transmission work through the communication network 221.

In such a redundant network storage, when an active resource management processor fails, switching of the resource management processor occurs. In other words, the standby resource management processor becomes active. At this time, the serial number included in the most recently received status monitoring packet is referred to to determine how far the failed resource management processor is performing. By doing in this way, downtime according to switching can be minimized.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and many variations are possible by those skilled in the art within the spirit of the present invention.

As described above, the network service system according to the present invention has an advantage of improving the problems related to the load of the communication network and the delay of the network service processing time. Thus, there is an effect that the communication network can accommodate the network services of more subscriber stations. In addition, by introducing the concept of redundancy into the network storage, network services can be provided more reliably. Furthermore, in the duplication, by transmitting the serial number related to the work to the counterpart about the progress of the work processed by the counterpart, there is an advantage of minimizing the time taken during takeover due to duplication. Thus, the network service system according to the present invention has an effect that higher quality of network services such as voice mailboxes can be achieved.

Claims (35)

A network service system, coupled to an exchange that performs call control between a plurality of subscriber stations on a network, performs at least one network service required from subscribers through the network. A plurality of resource controllers performing a protocol for processing the network service; A network storage for storing data related to the network service processing, the network storage having a disk array for data storage and a function of writing or reading data to the disk array and performing communication with the plurality of resource controllers; Includes a resource management processor; A communication network commonly coupled to the plurality of resource controllers and the network repository; And A resource coupled to the switch and between the plurality of resource controllers, the system state management memory representing a state of the plurality of resource controllers, and having the least load on the call of the subscriber station with reference to the system state management memory. Front end switch for distribution to the controller Network service system comprising a. A network service system, coupled to an exchange that performs call control between a plurality of subscriber stations on a network, performs at least one network service required from subscribers through the network. A plurality of resource controllers performing a protocol for processing the network service; Network storage for storing data related to the network service processing; A communication network commonly coupled to the plurality of resource controllers and the network repository; And A resource coupled to the switch and between the plurality of resource controllers, the system state management memory representing a state of the plurality of resource controllers, and having the least load on the call of the subscriber station with reference to the system state management memory. A front end switch for distributing to a controller-The front end switch checks the state of the plurality of resource controllers by periodically sending a query for status monitoring to the plurality of resource controllers and checking the response therefrom, thereby providing the system state. Update the contents of the management memory Network service system comprising a. A network service system, coupled to an exchange that performs call control between a plurality of subscriber stations on a network, performs at least one network service required from subscribers through the network. A plurality of resource controllers performing a protocol for processing the network service; Network storage for storing data related to the network service processing; A communication network commonly coupled to the plurality of resource controllers and the network repository; A resource coupled to the switch and between the plurality of resource controllers, the system state management memory representing a state of the plurality of resource controllers, and having the least load on the call of the subscriber station with reference to the system state management memory. A front end switch for distributing to a controller, the front end switch updating contents of the system state management memory according to the state check result input from the main controller; And It is coupled to the communication network and the front-end switch, and checks the status of the plurality of resource controllers by periodically sending a query for status monitoring to the plurality of resource controllers, and check the response therefrom, and check the status Main controller to send results to the front end switch Network service system comprising a. A network service system, coupled to an exchange that performs call control between a plurality of subscriber stations on a network, performs at least one network service required from subscribers through the network. A plurality of resource controllers performing a protocol for processing the network service; Network storage for storing data related to the network service processing; A communication network of a LAN commonly coupled to the plurality of resource controllers and the network repository; And A resource coupled to the switch and between the plurality of resource controllers, the system state management memory representing a state of the plurality of resource controllers, and having the least load on the call of the subscriber station with reference to the system state management memory. Front end switch for distribution to the controller Network service system comprising a. A network service system, coupled to an exchange that performs call control between a plurality of subscriber stations on a network, performs at least one network service required from subscribers through the network. A plurality of resource controllers performing a protocol for processing the network service; Network storage for storing data related to the network service processing; A communication network commonly coupled to the plurality of resource controllers and the network repository; And A resource coupled to the switch and between the plurality of resource controllers, the system state management memory representing a state of the plurality of resource controllers, and having the least load on the call of the subscriber station with reference to the system state management memory. Front end switch for distribution to the controller Including; And the plurality of resource controllers and the front end switch are each coupled to a digital trunk. A network service system, coupled to an exchange that performs call control between a plurality of subscriber stations on a network, performs at least one network service required from subscribers through the network. A plurality of resource controllers performing a protocol for processing the network service; Network storage for storing data related to the network service processing; A communication network commonly coupled to the plurality of resource controllers and the network repository; And A resource coupled to the switch and between the plurality of resource controllers, the system state management memory representing a state of the plurality of resource controllers, and having the least load on the call of the subscriber station with reference to the system state management memory. Front end switch for distribution to the controller Including; And said network service comprises at least a voice mailbox service. A network service system, coupled to an exchange that performs call control between a plurality of subscriber stations on a network, performs at least one network service required from subscribers through the network. A plurality of resource controllers for performing a protocol for processing the network service, the plurality of resource controllers each including a temporary memory for buffering data to be transmitted to or received from a subscriber terminal in connection with the network service; Network storage for storing data related to the network service processing; A communication network commonly coupled to the plurality of resource controllers and the network repository; And A resource coupled to the switch and between the plurality of resource controllers, the system state management memory representing a state of the plurality of resource controllers, and having the least load on the call of the subscriber station with reference to the system state management memory. Front end switch for distribution to the controller Network service system comprising a. The method of claim 7, wherein A resource controller selected by the front end switch for a call of a particular subscriber station of the plurality of resource controllers is further configured to transmit data associated with the call from the network store to process an expected network service upon receipt of the call. Network service system, characterized in that the preload. The method of claim 7, wherein And the plurality of resource controllers transmit the data buffered in the temporary memory to the network storage when the load of the communication network is equal to or less than a predetermined value. The method of claim 9, The network service system, characterized in that the allowable transmission of the network load of the communication network increases with time. The method of claim 9, The plurality of resource controllers assign an urgency rating to the data buffered in the temporary memory, but the urgency rating is gradually increased from the time point at which the data is buffered in the temporary memory. In the case of more than the predetermined time, the network service system, characterized in that for transmitting the data buffered regardless of the load level of the communication network to the network storage via the communication network. The method of claim 7, wherein The plurality of resource controllers assign an urgency rating to the data buffered in the temporary memory, but the urgency rating is gradually increased from the time point at which the data is buffered in the temporary memory. If it is more than the predetermined time, the network service system, characterized in that for transmitting the buffered data to the network storage via the communication network. A network service system, coupled to an exchange that performs call control between a plurality of subscriber stations on a network, performs at least one network service required from subscribers through the network. A plurality of resource controllers performing a protocol for processing the network service; A network storage for storing data related to the network service processing-a plurality of disk arrays for data storage and a function of writing or reading data to and from the corresponding disk arrays and performing communication with the plurality of resource controllers A plurality of resource management processors; A communication network commonly coupled to the plurality of resource controllers and the network repository; And A resource coupled to the switch and between the plurality of resource controllers, the system state management memory representing a state of the plurality of resource controllers, and having the least load on the call of the subscriber station with reference to the system state management memory. Front end switch for distribution to the controller Including, Among the plurality of resource management processors, only one resource management processor is designated as active and the other is designated as standby, and the function of transmitting data to the resource controller through the communication network is performed only by the resource management processor designated as active. Network service system characterized by. The method of claim 13, And said plurality of resource management processors exchange status monitoring packets with each other. The method of claim 14, The status monitoring packet includes a serial number for identifying a task performed by the plurality of resource management processors, and a serial number in a status monitoring packet recently received upon switching of an active resource management processor due to a failure. Network service system, characterized in that for referring to. A network service system, coupled to an exchange that performs call control between a plurality of subscriber stations on a network, performs at least one network service required from subscribers through the network. A plurality of resource controllers performing a protocol for processing the network service; A network storage for storing data related to the network service processing-a shared disk array for storing data, and a plurality of data storage modules, each having a function of writing or reading data into the shared disk array, and performing communication with the plurality of resource controllers; A resource management processor for; A communication network commonly coupled to the plurality of resource controllers and the network repository; And A resource coupled to the switch and between the plurality of resource controllers, the system state management memory representing a state of the plurality of resource controllers, and having the least load on the call of the subscriber station with reference to the system state management memory. Front end switch for distribution to the controller Including, Only one resource management processor of the plurality of resource management processors is designated as active and the other is designated as standby, and the function of transmitting data to the resource controller through the communication network is performed only by the resource management processor designated as active. Network service system, characterized in that. The method of claim 16, And the plurality of resource management processors exchange status monitoring packets at regular intervals. The method of claim 17, The status monitoring packet includes a serial number for identifying a task performed by the plurality of resource management processors, and a serial number in a status monitoring packet recently received upon switching of an active resource management processor due to a failure. Network service system, characterized in that for referring to. A network service system, coupled to an exchange that performs call control between a plurality of subscriber stations on a network, performs at least one network service required from subscribers through the network. A plurality of resource controllers performing a protocol for processing the network service; Network storage for storing data related to the network service processing; A communication network commonly coupled to the plurality of resource controllers and the network repository; A resource coupled to the switch and between the plurality of resource controllers, the system state management memory representing a state of the plurality of resource controllers, and having the least load on the call of the subscriber station with reference to the system state management memory. A front end switch for distributing to a controller; And A service controller coupled between the exchange and the front end switch to perform logic related to network services and to transmit a call from a subscriber station to the front end switch Network service system comprising a. A network service system capable of performing a network service by being coupled to an exchange that performs an exchange function of a public network including a plurality of subscriber stations, Network storage for storing data related to the network service; At least one resource controller performing a service protocol for performing the network service; At least one temporary memory coupled to the resource controller; And A communication network connected to the at least one resource controller and the network resource Including, In performing the service protocol, the resource controller stores data received through the exchange from the subscriber station in the temporary memory and stores data that was buffered by a thread separate from a thread performing the service protocol. Network service system, characterized in that for transmitting to the network storage. The method of claim 20, And the resource controller transmits data buffered in the temporary memory to the network storage when the network load of the communication network is equal to or less than a predetermined value. The method of claim 21, The network service system, characterized in that the allowable value of the transmittable level of the network load increases with time. The method of claim 21, The resource controller assigns an urgency grade to the data buffered in the temporary memory, but causes the urgency grade to gradually increase from the time point at which the data is buffered in the temporary memory. And transmit the data to the network storage through the communication network. A network service system capable of performing a network service by being coupled to an exchange that performs an exchange function of a public network including a plurality of subscriber stations, Network storage for storing data related to the network service; At least one resource controller performing a service protocol for performing the network service; At least one temporary memory coupled to the resource controller; A communication network connected to the at least one resource controller and the network resource Including, When the resource controller receives a call from the subscriber station through the exchange, the resource controller loads data necessary for performing network service expected in connection with the received call from the network storage to the temporary memory in advance through the communication network. Network service system, characterized in that. In the method for performing a network service required from a plurality of subscriber stations on a network, Inputting a call from a predetermined subscriber station to a front end switch through a switchboard that performs call control between the plurality of subscriber stations on the network; Selecting one available resource controller among a plurality of resource controllers coupled thereto at the front end switch; Sending the input call from the front end switch to the selected resource controller; And Performing a protocol related to the network service by using a predetermined resource in the selected resource controller Network service method comprising a. The method of claim 25, Checking whether the input call is a call of a network service subscriber station in the front end switch; Network service method further comprising. The method of claim 25, The selecting may include selecting a resource controller by referring to states of a plurality of resource controllers stored in a system state management memory included in the front end switch. The method of claim 25, The resource controller selected through the selecting step, upon receiving the input call from the front end switch, preloads the data necessary to perform the expected network service from the network storage coupled thereto to the temporary memory included therein. Network service method further comprises. The method of claim 28, The data preloaded in the temporary memory is deleted as the network service terminates. The method of claim 25, The resource controller selected through the selecting step temporarily stores data received from the subscriber station in a temporary memory included therein while performing the network service protocol. Network service method further comprises. The method of claim 30, The data temporarily stored in the temporary memory is stored in the network storage coupled to the resource controller and then deleted. The method of claim 31, wherein The storing of the data temporarily stored in the temporary memory in the network storage is performed by a thread separate from a thread performing a protocol for providing the network service in the resource controller. . 33. The method of claim 32, The network storage and the resource controller are coupled through a predetermined communication network, and in the step of storing data temporarily stored in the temporary memory in the network storage, the network service is performed in consideration of the load level of the communication network. Way. The method of claim 33, wherein The resource controller transmits the data to the network storage when the load level of the communication network is less than or equal to a predetermined allowable value, and the allowable level of the network load increases as time passes from the time when the data is stored in the temporary memory. Network service method. The method of claim 34, wherein The resource controller assigns an urgency rating to the data buffered in the temporary memory, but the urgency rating is gradually increased from the time point at which the data is buffered in the temporary memory, so that the urgency rating is constant for the plurality of resource controllers. In this case, the buffered data is transmitted to the network storage through the communication network.