RU2477934C1 - Method for announcing subscribers of digital telephone network - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: radio engineering, communication.SUBSTANCE: announcing station according to communication plan, stored in its database, selects the direction of one or several geographically dispersed interface devices with the least time of voice message carrying, transmits call signal in selected direction depending upon the time of positive answer receiving or negative answer receiving or receiving no answer to call signal, announcing station communication plan is corrected and the next call signal is transmitted in direction of one of several geographically dispersed interface devices according to new communication plan. In case of subscriber's positive answer to call signal, announcing station switches to phase of voice message transfer and transfers voice message in the selected direction of interface device and waits for the answer to transferred voice message, announcing station saves the received answer in its database and switches to phase of transfer completion and preparation to the next voice message transfer.EFFECT: more efficient use of communication network resources and reduction of announcement time at specified probability of message carrying.6 cl

Description

The invention relates to the field of information technology and can be used in warning systems for bringing voice messages over digital telephone communication networks.

The warning systems are intended for prompt or emergency voice notification of subscribers (officials) on an alarm signal, in connection with an emergency (fire, flood, earthquake, environmental accident, etc.) or due to production needs. Alert systems automatically deliver voice messages to senior staff and management bodies by departmental, city, intercity, cellular and other telephone networks of special or general use for a large group of subscribers (up to 5000 and even up to 15000 subscribers).

The main method for effective and reliable voice communication to a selected group of subscribers in modern warning systems is auto redial. Notification is performed according to pre-prepared lists of notified subscribers using a pre-recorded voice message. Messages are formed by recording through a microphone with the introduction of a text comment. There is also the possibility of the operational formation of a voice message and a list of subscribers. The message is transmitted to each subscriber several times, which ensures high reliability of its communication to the subscriber. For subscribers who did not receive the message after the first attempt, the voice message is repeated for a specified number of times, limited by the specified notification time within no more than 1-3 minutes.

An important direction in improving the efficiency and reliability of alerts is the use of structural redundancy in the communication network. The presence of bypass routes and rocky connections allows you to bring messages in case of violation and failure of lines and nodes of the communication network. In this case, it is advisable to use a fully connected topology of the communication network. Effective is the use of a redundant ring topology, which ensures uninterrupted operation of the system in case of failure of up to 50% of message delivery routes. In practice, an alert can occur on several phones, for example, work, home, mobile. Methods for delivering messages allow you to flexibly respond to the absence of the subscriber by the called phone number. If the subscriber does not receive a call on one telephone number (work), the system starts alerts on other numbers (home or mobile phone). During the notification, the notification station, without the participation of the operator, automatically records the subscriber’s response and saves it in the database, thereby fulfilling the function of reporting on the passage of the telephone traffic of the notification.

Notification is usually carried out on pre-prepared one-dimensional message delivery routes, which vary depending on the state of the lines and nodes of the communication network and the subscriber. A one-dimensional route for delivering a voice message is a set of series-connected communication lines in a point-to-point connection between the message source (or its corresponding control unit) and the subscriber - the recipient of the message. The set of parallel connected independent one-dimensional routes along which it is possible to bring the message to the subscriber is called a multidimensional voice transmission route.

In order to reduce the time of voice communication, to ensure reliability and more evenly distribute the load on telephone nodes or automatic telephone exchanges (PBX), several geographically separated interface units are installed that connect the notification station to different points of the communication network. The presence of several geographically separated interface units provides the opportunity to choose a more rational route for bringing voice messages. The proposed method redistributes the information load between the fastest voice transmission routes and ensures high reliability of their transmission. In modern warning systems, TCP / IP networks using standard VoIP protocols - SIP or H.323, as well as networks using VPN technology of virtual private networks are used for voice messages.

A known method of notifying subscribers of a digital telephone communication network, according to which the notification station first transmits ringing signals. Based on the results of bringing ringing signals to subscribers, they monitor the presence or failure of lines and nodes of the communication network and the readiness of subscribers to receive voice messages. In case of failure of communication lines and nodes, ringing signals are transmitted along the backup transmission routes of the communication network. Call signals are transmitted to each subscriber several times at certain intervals, and the number of repetitions of the call signal is limited by the maximum allowable time for bringing the message. After receiving the ringing signal by the subscriber and establishing a connection, a voice message is transmitted (Black J. Computer networks. Protocols, standards, interfaces. Transl. From English. - M.: Mir, 1990, pp. 55-67).

The disadvantage of this method is the excessively long time for delivering voice messages, due to the fact that the connection of the notification station to the communication network is carried out in one place and when selecting the transmission route, only the presence or failure of communication lines and communication nodes is taken into account, but their quality is not taken into account.

There is also known a method of notifying subscribers of a digital telephone communication network, according to which the notification station at the beginning of a communication session in the phase of establishing a connection transmits ringing signals containing a subscriber address. Having determined his ringing address, the subscriber, depending on his condition, either confirms his willingness to receive a voice message, or sends a negative answer about the unavailability of the subscriber to receive a voice message. Upon receiving a negative response, the notification station makes repeated attempts to transmit ringing signals. In this case, the notification station can produce no more than a predetermined number of transmission of ringing signals. Having received a positive response from the subscriber to the transmission of the ringing signal, the notification station proceeds to the phase of transmission of the voice message and brings this message to the subscriber. After the transmission of the voice message, the notification station enters the phase of completion of the transmission and prepares for the transmission of the next voice message (Protocols of information and computer networks. Handbook. Edited by I. A. Mizin, A. P. Kuleshov. - M.: Radio and communications, 1990, pp. 90-93).

The disadvantages of this method are also the long time of bringing a voice message and the low reliability of bringing this message, due to the fact that the control station uses a connection to the communication network located in only one place, and when choosing transmission routes it does not take into account changes in the state of lines and nodes of the communication network with time.

Closest to the proposed method (prototype) is a method of notifying subscribers of a digital telephone communication network, according to which the notification station at the beginning of a communication session in the phase of establishing a connection, depending on the subscriber’s address, selects the direction of the interface unit, then transmits the direction of the interface unit the ringing signal containing the subscriber’s address, then, depending on his condition, the subscriber, after determining his ringing address, or confirms the readiness for receiving voice messages call, or sends a response about the unwillingness to receive a voice message, when a subscriber receives a positive response to a ringing signal, the notification station enters the phase of voice message transmission and transmits a voice message along the selected direction of the interface unit, and the station receives a response to the transmitted voice message, received response notifications are stored in their database and goes into the phase of completion of the transmission and preparation for transmission of the next voice message, in the case of a negative response from the subscriber or not received After receiving a response at a predetermined time to the ringing signal, the notification station selects a different direction of the pairing unit, again enters the message establishment phase, and the transmission of the ringing signal is repeated in the new direction of the pairing unit, and so on, until a positive response to the ringing signal is received and a voice message will not be transmitted or until the total transmission time of ringing signals and waiting for answers in all selected directions of the interface unit exceeds a predetermined time (E. Soldatenko Build warning systems using the TCP / IP protocol stack. // Communication systems, television and radio broadcasting. No. 1-2, 2004, pp. 14-17).

The disadvantages of this method are the increase in the time of voice communication and the decrease in transmission reliability due to the fact that the notification station is connected to the telephone communication network through the interface unit, geographically located in one place, and the choice of direction of the interface unit is not optimized depending on the state of the lines and subscribers of a communication network.

The purpose of the invention is to reduce the time and increase the reliability of bringing a voice message in a communication network due to the fact that the notification station can transmit a voice message through several geographically separated interface units and the directions of the interface units are selected based on an optimized communication plan, adjusted according to the results of establishing a connection.

To achieve the goal, a method for delivering voice messages to subscribers of a digital telephone communication network is proposed, according to which the notification station at the beginning of the communication session in the connection phase, depending on the subscriber’s address, selects the direction of the interface unit, then transmits a ring signal in this direction of the interface unit containing the subscriber’s address, depending on his condition, the subscriber, after determining his ringing address, either confirms his readiness to receive a voice message or call gives a response about the unavailability to receive a voice message, when a subscriber receives a positive response to a ringing signal, the notification station enters the phase of voice message transmission and transmits a voice message along the selected direction of the interface unit and awaits a response to the transmitted voice message, the received notification station stores in its database and goes into the phase of completion of transmission and preparation for transmission of the next voice message, in the case of a negative response from the subscriber or non-response in the task For a given time for a ringing signal, the notification station selects a different direction of the pairing unit, again enters the message establishment phase, and the transmission of the ringing signal is repeated in the new direction of the pairing unit, and so on, until a positive response to the ringing signal and voice message is received will be transmitted or until the total transmission time of ringing signals and waiting for answers in all selected directions of the pairing unit exceeds a predetermined time. What is new is that there are several geographically separated interface units and the notification station, in the phase of establishing a connection, in accordance with the communication plan stored in its database, selects the direction of one of several geographically separated interface units with the smallest time for bringing a voice message, and only then the selected direction transmits a ringing signal, then depending on the time of receiving a positive response, or receiving a negative response, or not receiving a response to a call the second signal is adjusted by the communication plan of the warning station, and the next ring signal is transmitted in the direction of one of several geographically separated interface units in accordance with the new communication plan. Moreover, the physical connection between the notification station and the territorially spaced pairing units is carried out by dedicated telephone lines, each of the directions of several geographically spaced pairing units is characterized by a weight vector that determines the priority when choosing this direction according to the communication plan, using the gradient descent method to correct the weight vector with a variable step depending on the response time to a ringing signal, the values of the vector of weight coefficients they are linearly ordered by alert time, and the initial value of the vectors of weighting coefficients is determined based on expert estimates.

The proposed method of notifying subscribers of a digital telephone network is implemented as follows.

The source of notification commands or voice messages in the notification system of subscribers of a digital telephone network is a notification station connected via interface units (BS) to digital communication networks based on SDN networks (synchronous digital hierarchy) or to networks based on the TPC / IP protocol stack and technology VPN BSs are an industrial computer with an installed interface board containing one or more digital E1 interfaces. The use of E1 interfaces is more preferable than selected subscriber lines, since when using this connection, voice messages are transmitted over 30 channels to one E1 interface. To ensure reliability and more even distribution of the load on one telephone node or telephone exchange, several geographically separated BSs are installed that connect the notification station to the digital communication network via dedicated IP-VPN communication lines. Dedicated communication lines provide more efficient and reliable transmission of voice messages to geographically separated interface units, as compared to dial-up communication lines. Several geographically dispersed BSs, each of which has up to 30 channels or BS directions, provide a choice of various options for connecting a notification station to the network, depending on the state of the communication lines and the equipment of telephone nodes and telephone exchanges of the communication network. To connect the notification station to the communication network, it is advisable to use BS located geographically closer to the subscriber, with fewer switching lines of communication, and therefore with better conditions for bringing the voice message to the subscriber.

The notification station, in the phase of establishing a connection in accordance with the subscriber’s address and the communication plan stored in its database, selects the transmission direction (E1 interface channel) of one of several geographically separated BSs. From each direction of the BS, it is possible to bring the voice message to any subscriber of the network, however, the probabilistic-temporal characteristics (BBX) of the transmission of voice messages can differ significantly for different directions of the BS. Therefore, in terms of communication of the notification station, it is advisable to store data on the reliability (probability of delivery) and the time of bringing the voice message from the i-th direction of the BS to the j-th subscriber of the network, where j = 1 ... M, M is the number of network subscribers.

Let us assume that the probability of bringing a voice message from a BS to the j-subscriber of the network is p _j , and the time of bringing a voice message from the BS to the jth subscriber of the network is τ _j .

In terms of communication station alerts for the i-th direction of the BS store; weight vector

R _i (p _j , τ _j ), i = 1 ... n, j = 1 ... M,

defining VVH of bringing the voice message from the i-th direction of the BS (channel of the E1 interface) to the j-th subscriber of the network.

The communication plan for each subscriber contains the following fields:

1. Subscriber's address;

2. BS number and direction number of the interface unit;

3. The vector of weight coefficients, which determines the BBX direction of the BS.

для всех i и j. Операторы станции оповещения на основе опыта работы на аппаратуре оповещения различных поколений имеют представление о возможностях доведения речевых сообщений до того или иного абонента. Поэтому операторы станции оповещения могут участвовать в экспертной оценке начальных значений вектора весовых коэффициентов

. При отсутствии достаточного опыта у операторов самым простым подходом будет задание равных начальных значений векторов весовых коэффициентов

.At the beginning of the warning station, the initial values of the weight vector are assigned

for all i and j. The operators of the notification station, on the basis of work experience on the notification equipment of various generations, have an idea of the possibilities of delivering voice messages to one or another subscriber. Therefore, alert station operators can participate in the expert assessment of the initial values of the weight vector

. In the absence of sufficient experience for the operators, the simplest approach will be to set equal initial values of the vectors of weight coefficients

.

в плане связи для каждого абонента линейно упорядочить по величине времени доведения речевого сообщения - τ_j. Сначала расположить вектора с наименьшим временем доведения речевого сообщения, затем с большим временем и так далее. Это позволит быстрее определять БС и направление связи с наименьшим временем оповещения.To simplify the choice of the direction of the BS, it is advisable to vector weights

in terms of communication for each subscriber linearly order by the value of the time of bringing the voice message - τ _j . First, arrange the vectors with the smallest time to bring the voice message, then with the longest time and so on. This will allow you to quickly determine the BS and the direction of communication with the shortest alert time.

, относящуюся к этому абоненту. Поскольку вектора линейно упорядочены, то первый вектор весовых коэффициентов

в этой области дает нам номер БС и его направление i с наименьшим временем доведения речевого сообщения. Вектор весовых коэффициентов

определяет приоритет в выборе направления БС. Одновременно можно получить информацию о вероятности p_j доведения сообщения данного направления БС и при выборе направления БС сравнивать ее с требуемым пороговым значением вероятности доведения сообщения.When there is a request for the transmission of a speech signal to the j-th subscriber, the notification station in the database finds the region of the vectors of weight coefficients

related to this subscriber. Since the vectors are linearly ordered, the first vector of weights

in this area gives us the BS number and its direction i with the shortest time of bringing the voice message. Weight vector

determines the priority in choosing the direction of the BS. At the same time, it is possible to obtain information about the probability p _{j of} bringing the message to a given BS direction and, when choosing the BS direction, compare it with the required threshold value of the probability of bringing the message.

When a request for sending a message appears, choose the direction, the weight vector of which has the smallest value

,

,

where k is the direction number of the i-th BS.

Then, in the selected direction, the notification station transmits a ringing signal containing the subscriber's address. Depending on the time of receiving a positive response, or receiving a negative response, or not receiving a response to a ringing signal, the communication plan of the warning station is adjusted. It is advisable to carry out operational correction of the communication plan based on iterative algorithms such as gradient descent algorithms with variable pitch

,

,

where α (p _j , τ _j ) is a variable step of gradient descent, depending on the time of receiving a response to the ringing signal, for example, if the answer is positive after time Δt, we take α (p _j , τ _j ) = Δt, and if the answer is negative, after time Δt, α (p _j , τ _j ) = - Δt, if you do not receive an answer - α (p _j , τ _j ) = - 1.

- постоянная составляющая приращения вектора весовых коэффициентов ВВХ, определяющая скорость и точность сходимости алгоритма к оптимальному значению. Рекомендуется

,

- a constant component of the increment of the vector of weighting factors VVX, which determines the speed and accuracy of the convergence of the algorithm to the optimal value. Recommended

,

t + 1, t - current and previous time of correction of the communication plan.

After the correction of the vector of weighting coefficients, linear ordering of the vectors of weighting factors is carried out in terms of communication according to the value of the notification time.

If the subscriber responds positively to the ringing signal, the notification station goes into the phase of transmitting a voice message and transmits a voice message along the selected direction of the interface unit and awaits a response to the transmitted voice message, the received notification station stores in its database and goes into the phase of completion of transmission and preparation for transmitting the next voice message.

Upon receiving a negative response or not receiving a response to a ringing signal, the communication plan of the warning station is adjusted, and the next ringing signal is transmitted in the direction of one of several geographically separated BS in accordance with the new communication plan.

The system allows you to flexibly set the parameters that are set to alert the subscriber. Parameters set for the notification system and for the subscriber:

1. The number of attempts to notify the subscriber;

2. Pause between attempts to notify the subscriber, sec.

If several telephone numbers are provided for notifying the subscriber, then for each of them the following parameters can be set:

1. The total number of repetitions on one telephone;

2. The number of repetitions in the "Answer-non-confirmation";

3. Pause between repetitions at "Busy", sec;

4. Pause between repetitions at “Answer-non-confirmation”, sec;

5. Waiting time for an answer, sec;

6. Waiting time for confirmation code, sec.

If necessary, perform a visual display of the notification process and registration (logging) of its results.

At the end of the notification, it is possible to view the results of the notification, print a protocol of the results of the notification, indicating for each subscriber the name, phone number, time of the notification, the result of the notification, if necessary, the operator can further alert the remaining unannounced subscribers. All notification results are stored in the notification station database.

An important indicator of the effectiveness of the notification system is the notification time, which includes the time the voice message is read to the remote subscriber, the time of dialing to the subscriber, the time for determining the actions of the subscriber, the time for determining the position of the handset. The shorter the notification time, the earlier the necessary actions will be taken and the more unlikely the undesirable consequences of an emergency or impending emergency will be prevented.

Achievable technical result of the method of notifying subscribers of a digital telephone communication network is a more efficient use of communication network resources, reducing notification time for a given probability of message delivery and reducing the complexity of the method.

Claims (6)

1. The method of notifying subscribers of a digital telephone communication network, which consists in the fact that the notification station at the beginning of a communication session, in the connection phase, depending on the subscriber’s address, selects the direction of the interface unit, then transmits a ring signal containing the subscriber’s address along this direction of the interface unit depending on his condition, the subscriber, after determining his ringing address, either confirms the readiness to receive a voice message, or sends a response that he is not ready to receive a voice message When receiving a positive response from the subscriber to the ringing signal, the notification station enters the phase of transmitting a voice message and transmits a voice message along the selected direction of the interface unit and awaits a response to the transmitted voice message, the received station stores the received response in its database and goes into the phase of completion of transmission and preparation for the transmission of the next voice message, in the case of a negative response from the subscriber or no response at the specified time to the ringing signal, the notification station will picks up the other direction of the pairing unit, again enters the phase of establishing a connection, and the transmission of the ringing signal is repeated in the new direction of the pairing block, and so on until a positive response to the ringing signal is received and the voice message is transmitted, or until the total transmission time of the ringing rings signals and waiting for answers in all selected directions of the pairing unit will not exceed a predetermined time, characterized in that there are several geographically spaced pairing units and the notification station for the i-th direction of the interface unit stores in the communication plan the vector of weight coefficients R _i (p _j , τ _j ) that determine the probability-time characteristics of bringing the voice message from the i-th direction of the interface unit to the j-th subscriber of the network, and the vector weighting coefficients _{R i (p j, τ j} ) in order of magnitude linearly adjusting time verbal communication τ _j, starting from the vector with the shortest time bringing the voice message, then the thumb and so on, in the phase connection establishment notification station selects a pl no connection first weight vector _{R i (p j, τ j} ), which defines the number of interfacing unit and its direction i with the smallest time adjusting voice message τ _j, while the probability p _j communicating voice messages weight vector R _i (p _j, τ _j ) is compared with the required threshold value for the probability of delivering a voice message, and only then, in the chosen direction, the notification station transmits a ring signal, then depending on the time of receiving a positive response or the time of receiving a negative To answer or not receive a response to the ringing signal, the weighting vectors R _i (p _j , τ _j ) are adjusted based on iterative algorithms, and then linear ordering of the weighting vectors R _i (p _j , τ _j ) is performed according to the amount of time the speech message was delivered τ _j and the next ringing signal are transmitted in the direction of one of several geographically separated interface units in accordance with the new communication plan. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the physical connection between the warning station and geographically spaced blocks of the pair is carried out on dedicated telephone lines. 3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that each of the communication directions of several geographically separated interface units is characterized by a vector of weighting coefficients that determines the priority when choosing this direction. 4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that for the correction and optimization of the vector of weighting coefficients using the gradient descent method with a variable step, depending on the response time of the subscriber to the ringing signal. 5. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the vector of weight coefficients are linearly ordered in the database according to the time of notification. 6. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the initial values of the vector of weights are determined on the basis of expert estimates.