JP2000059463A - Communication controller and data communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a communication controller and the data communication method by which many continuous real-time data such as dynamic images are transmitted at a high efficiency. SOLUTION: This communication device is provided with a protocol general- purpose processing means 25 which consists of a processor that sends/receives general-purpose data, an exclusive protocol processing means 26, that combines header information changed fixedly or in a fixed form with transmission data to configure a packet and adopts a configuration for proper selection of a protocol processing means. Through the configuration, either of the protocol processing means 25, 26 is selected based on data transferred with transmission data and in the case of sending much continuous data such as dynamic images in parallel with conventional data communication, the protocol exclusive processing means 26 is used. Thus, data are transmitted efficiently without increasing the load on a processor that conducts the protocol processing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a communication control device and a data communication method for continuously transmitting a large amount of data such as a moving image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a communication control device and a data communication method, when a large amount of continuous data such as a moving image is transmitted to a network, a fixed header is defined in advance, and moving image data is added to the header. A method of continuously generating packets and sending the packets to a network is adopted.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a conventional data transmission system.

[0004] First, an application (hereinafter, also referred to as an AP) 51 for transmitting a moving image or the like transmits fixed header information based on a transmission protocol to a header information holding unit 53 and transmits moving image data to be transmitted to a packet forming unit 52. . The packet configuration unit 52 includes a header information holding unit 53
A packet to be actually transmitted to the network 55 is generated from the header information received from the server and the moving image data received from the AP 51, and is continuously transmitted to the network 55 using the packet transmission / reception control means 54.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, only a simple fixed header can be set as header information, and it cannot be applied to a complicated protocol in which header information changes depending on a packet. When transmitting general-purpose data such as control information at the same time as transmitting a moving image, the header information must be set again when transmitting the moving image data and when transmitting the general-purpose data. Therefore, it cannot be operated efficiently.
Further, when a network for transmitting data is of a best effort type, when handling real-time data such as a moving image, it is difficult to transmit the data while maintaining a correct bit rate.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a communication control device and a data communication method for efficiently transmitting a large amount of continuous real-time data such as a moving image.

[0007]

The present invention adopts the following constitution in order to solve the above problems.

The communication control apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention forms a packet by combining header information and transmission data by fixedly determining or changing the header information in a fixed manner, and appropriately controls a protocol processing means according to the transmission data. The selection reduces the protocol processing load on the processor when continuously processing a large amount of data, and enables transmission and reception of general-purpose data.

With this configuration, a protocol processing means is selected according to data to be transmitted, and a dedicated processing means for transmitting a large amount of continuous data in parallel while performing normal data communication is used. This reduces the load on the processor when transmitting a large amount of continuous data such as moving images, and enables efficient data transmission.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention relating to a communication control apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention relates to a protocol processing means constituted by a processor for transmitting and receiving general-purpose data, and a header in which header information is fixed or fixedly changed. By appropriately selecting a protocol processing means dedicated to combining information and transmission data to form a packet and a protocol processing means depending on transmission data, a load of the protocol processing on the processor when continuously processing a large amount of data is reduced. And a protocol processing selecting means for reducing transmission and enabling transmission and reception of general-purpose data.

With this configuration, the protocol processing means is selected according to the data to be transmitted according to the data to be transmitted, and the dedicated processing means is used when a large amount of continuous data such as a moving image is transmitted in parallel while performing normal data communication. Is used.
This enables efficient data transmission without increasing the load on the processor.

[0012] In the second aspect of the present invention, the protocol-specific processing means includes a network protocol header generating means for fixedly defining or changing the header information in a fixed manner, and a packet combining the header information and the transmission data. And a packet configuration unit that configures

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the communication control device, when transmitting the transmission data to the protocol processing means,
A configuration further including a rate control means for adjusting the amount of transfer data per unit time is employed. With this configuration, the rate control unit operates by transmitting an appropriate transfer amount per unit time to the protocol processing unit during continuous data transmission. This makes it possible to transfer real-time data at a correct bit rate.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the communication control device includes a statistical information collecting unit that collects statistical information of the protocol processing unit, and a parameter setting unit that sets appropriate parameters based on the collected statistical information. Are further provided. With this configuration, the parameter setting unit resets appropriate parameters for each operation module based on the collected statistical information, so that the entire communication control device can operate efficiently.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a configuration is adopted in which an appropriate state can be maintained autonomously by setting appropriate parameters. With this configuration, based on the statistical information collected by the parameter setting unit, when an error occurs in the protocol processing unit, the protocol processing selection unit is reset to select a normally operating protocol. This makes it possible to perform transmission processing without delay.

In the invention according to claim 6, a plurality of processing means for the above-mentioned protocol are provided, and an optimum protocol processing means is selected in accordance with the operation status of each protocol processing means. Thus, a configuration is adopted in which the entire protocol processing can be executed without delay.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data communication method comprising: a protocol process configured by a processor for transmitting and receiving general-purpose data; and a header information and transmission data in which header information is fixed or fixedly changed. And a dedicated protocol dedicated process for combining
A protocol processing selection that reduces the load of the protocol processing on the processor when continuously processing a large amount of data and enables transmission and reception of general-purpose data by appropriately selecting a protocol processing according to transmission data. Take.

With this configuration, a protocol processing method is selected according to data to be transmitted according to data to be transmitted, and a special processing procedure is used when a large amount of continuous data such as a moving image is transmitted in parallel while performing normal data communication. Is used.
This enables efficient data transmission without increasing the load on the processor.

In the invention described in claim 8, the protocol-specific processing includes generating a header of a network protocol for fixedly defining or changing the header information in a fixed manner;
A configuration having a packet configuration that combines the header information and transmission data to form a packet is adopted.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the above data communication method employs a configuration further provided with a rate control for adjusting a transfer data amount per unit time when transmitting the transmission data to the protocol processing. With this configuration, the rate control operates by transmitting an appropriate transfer amount per unit time to the protocol processing during continuous data transmission. This makes it possible to transfer real-time data at a correct bit rate.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the data communication method includes a step of collecting statistical information for collecting protocol processing statistical information and a step of setting an appropriate parameter based on the collected statistical information. Further, a configuration is provided. With this configuration, the parameter setting resets parameters appropriate for each operation module based on the collected statistical information. This allows the entire data communication method to operate efficiently.

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, an appropriate state can be autonomously maintained by setting the appropriate parameters. With this configuration, based on the statistical information collected by the parameter settings, when an error occurs in the protocol processing, the protocol processing selection is reset to select a normally operating protocol, thereby enabling transmission processing. Can be performed without delay.

According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of protocol processes are provided, and an optimum protocol process is selected according to the operation status of each protocol process. Thus, a configuration is adopted in which the entire protocol processing can be executed without delay.

Next, a communication control device and a data communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 are diagrams for explaining a configuration of a communication control device and a data communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a communication control device and a data communication method of the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a header configuration of continuous data transmitted to a network. FIGS. 4A and 4B show a simplified language expressing header configuration information.

FIG. 1 shows a host 11 for sending continuous data, a host 12 for receiving continuous data, and a network 13 used for data communication.

In FIG. 2, an application 21 for transmitting normal data (hereinafter also referred to as AP1), an application 22 for transmitting continuous data (AP2), and
Rate control means 2 for controlling the bit rate of transmission data
3. Protocol processing selecting means 24 for selecting a protocol processing means to be used for transmission, protocol general processing means 25 for transmitting and receiving normal data, protocol dedicated processing means 26 for continuous data transmission, protocol general processing means 25 or protocol A packet transmission / reception control unit 27 for transmitting the packet generated by the dedicated processing unit 26 to the network, and a statistical information collecting unit 2 for collecting information indicating an operation status of the protocol processing unit (protocol general processing unit 25, protocol dedicated processing unit 26).
8. Parameter setting means 29 for setting parameters for each operation module; header processing means 262 for generating a header inside the protocol-specific processing means 26; And packet constructing means 261 for constructing a packet based on data received from the protocol processing selecting means 24.

FIG. 3 shows a packet structure when continuous data is transmitted using Ethernet (registered trademark) and UDP / IP. A white field indicates a fixed area which does not change for each packet by hatching. The present field indicates an area where the value varies for each packet. FIG.
2 shows a simplified language 41 for expressing header configuration information.

(Embodiment 1) In this embodiment, an application transmits real-time continuous data such as a moving image.
Ethernet is used as a best-effort network, and UDP /
Consider an example of transferring using the IP protocol.

First, when the application 21 which intends to transmit normal data passes the transmission data to the rate control means 23, the rate control means 23 passes the data as it is to the protocol processing selection means 24. Protocol selection means 24
Has not received the information for selection, and passes this data to the protocol general-purpose processing means 25 as default processing. The protocol general-purpose processing unit 25 performs a normal protocol process by the processor, and sends the packet to the network using the packet transmission / reception control unit 27.

Next, the application 22 intending to transmit a large amount of continuous data transmits the protocol header configuration information to be used to the parameter setting means 29. The parameter setting means 29 transmits the used protocol processing means to the protocol processing selection means 24 and the header configuration information 41 to the header generation means 262 based on the information, and sets each functional module. As a result, the protocol processing selecting means 24 selects the protocol exclusive processing means 26, and the header generating means 262 selects the header configuration information 41.
The header is generated based on.

The header configuration information 41 is a simple language for expressing how the header is generated, and indicates that a predetermined position of the header is set to a specified fixed value or a value determined by calculation. In the header configuration information 41, length indicates the data length to be added to this header, increm
ent is a value obtained by increasing the specified value by one for each packet,
checksum represents a value obtained by calculating a checksum for data in a specified range. Thereby, the header generating means 262 forms the header information of the continuous transmission data in the format as shown in FIG.
The packet composing means 261 packetizes the continuous transmission data.

When the application 22 passes the continuous transmission data to the rate control means 23, the rate control means 23 passes the data as it is to the protocol processing selection means 24. Since the protocol processing selecting means 24 is set to use protocol means, the transmission data is transferred to the protocol processing means 26. The protocol dedicated processing means 26 generates continuous transmission data without involving the processor by the above-described mechanism, and sends out the continuous transmission data to the network using the packet transmission / reception means 27.

(Embodiment 2) In this embodiment, an example in which the application 23 transmits real-time continuous data such as a moving image in Embodiment 1 will be considered.

The application 23 informs the parameter setting means 29 of the bit rate of the real-time data in addition to the first embodiment. The parameter setting unit 29 sets the bit rate of the transmission data in the rate control unit 23 so that, during real-time continuous data transmission, the rate control unit 23 selects the protocol processing while maintaining the transmission amount per unit time determined by the designated bit rate. By passing the data to the means 24, the real-time continuous data is transmitted.

(Embodiment 3) In the present embodiment, an example in which the application 22 attempts to transmit continuous data using the protocol general-purpose processing means 25 in Embodiment 2 will be considered.

When the load of the routine processing increases due to the processing of a large amount of data by the protocol general-purpose processing means 25, this is detected by the statistical information collecting means 28, and the parameter setting means 29 determines the parameters suitable for the routine processing. Is set in the header generating means 262, and the protocol processing selecting means 2
In step 4, the setting is again made to use the protocol-specific processing means 26. As a result, when the load on the protocol general-purpose processing unit 25 increases, the operation is performed by resetting its own operation parameter so that the protocol-specific processing unit 26 is used.

(Embodiment 4) In the present embodiment, in addition to the above-described Embodiment 3, a case will be considered in which some abnormality occurs in the protocol general-purpose processing means 25 and transmission processing cannot be performed.

If any abnormality occurs in the protocol general-purpose processing means 25, the statistical information collecting means 28 detects this, and the parameter setting means 29 sets the protocol processing selecting means 24 to select another protocol processing means 210. cure. Thereby, the protocol general-purpose processing means 25
Even if an abnormality occurs, the transmission data is continuously transmitted without delay.

[0039]

As is clear from the above description, claim 1
According to the communication control device of the invention described in (1) or the data communication method of the invention described in (7), a packet is formed by combining header information in which header information is fixedly or fixedly changed and transmission data. Then, the protocol processing means is appropriately selected according to the transmission data. This reduces the load of protocol processing on the processor when continuously processing a large amount of data, and enables transmission and reception of general-purpose data. Therefore, the load on the processor at the time of transmitting a large amount of continuous data such as a moving image during normal data communication is reduced, and efficient data transmission becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view showing an embodiment using a communication control device and a data communication method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a communication control device and a data communication method according to the present invention.

Fig. 3 Structure of data packet using Ethernet and UDP / IP

FIG. 4 is an example of header configuration information when transmitting continuous data in a simple language.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a conventional communication control device and a data communication method.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Host which transmits real-time continuous data 12 Host which receives real-time continuous data 13 Network which transmits real-time continuous data 21 Application which transmits normal data 22 Application which transmits real-time continuous data 23 Rate control means 24 Protocol processing selection means 25 Protocol general-purpose processing means 26 Protocol-specific processing means 27 Packet transmission / reception control means 28 Statistical information collecting means 29 Parameter setting means 41 Simple language representing header configuration information 210 Separate protocol processing means 261 Packet configuration means 262 Header generation means

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat II (reference) H04N 7/081 H04N 7/13 Z 5K034 7/24 F term (reference) 5B089 GA04 GA11 GA21 GB03 HA01 JB04 KA06 KC30 5C059 KK11 PP04 RB02 RB09 TA71 TC18 TC37 5C063 AB03 AB07 CA09 CA23 CA34 DA13 5K030 GA01 HB02 HB18 HB28 HB29 JA01 JA05 JA07 5K033 AA01 AA03 BA02 BA15 CC02 5K034 AA01 AA07 CC02 CC06 EE11 FF01 FF02 HH01 H12MMHHMMH

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A protocol processing means comprising a processor for transmitting and receiving general-purpose data, and a dedicated processor for combining the header information with fixedly defined or fixed header information and transmission data to form a packet. Protocol dedicated processing means, and by appropriately selecting the protocol processing means according to transmission data, it is possible to reduce the load of protocol processing on a processor when continuously processing a large amount of data, and to enable transmission and reception of general-purpose data. A communication control device comprising: a protocol processing selecting unit. 2. The protocol-specific processing means includes: a network protocol header generation means for fixedly or fixedly changing the header information; and a packet configuration for combining the header information and transmission data to form a packet. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein the communication control device includes: 3. The communication control device according to claim 1, further comprising a rate control unit that adjusts an amount of transfer data per unit time when transmitting transmission data to the protocol processing unit. 3. The communication control device according to 2. 4. The communication control device further includes: a statistical information collecting unit that collects statistical information of the protocol processing unit; and a parameter setting unit that sets an appropriate parameter based on the collected statistical information. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein: 5. The communication control device according to claim 4, wherein an appropriate state can be maintained autonomously by setting the appropriate parameter. 6. A plurality of protocol processing means are provided, and by selecting an optimum protocol processing means in accordance with the operation status of each protocol processing means, the entire protocol processing can be executed without delay. The communication control device according to claim 4 or 5, wherein: 7. A special-purpose packet processing unit configured to form a packet by combining a protocol process constituted by a processor for transmitting and receiving general-purpose data and the header information in which header information is fixedly or fixedly changed and transmission data. Protocol-specific processing, and by appropriately selecting the protocol processing according to transmission data, a protocol processing selection that reduces the load of the protocol processing on the processor when continuously processing a large amount of data and enables transmission and reception of general-purpose data A data communication method, comprising: 8. The protocol-specific processing includes generating a header of a network protocol that fixedly or routinely changes the header information, and a packet configuration that combines the header information and transmission data to form a packet. The data communication method according to claim 7, wherein the data communication method is configured to include: 9. The data communication method according to claim 7, further comprising a rate control for adjusting a transfer data amount per unit time when transmitting transmission data to the protocol processing. Data communication method described. 10. The data communication method further comprises: collecting statistical information for collecting statistical information of the protocol processing; and setting parameters for setting appropriate parameters based on the collected statistical information. The data communication method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein 11. The data communication method according to claim 10, wherein an appropriate state can be autonomously held by setting the appropriate parameter. 12. A plurality of protocol processes are provided, and by selecting an optimal protocol process according to the operation status of each protocol process, the entire protocol process can be executed without delay. The data communication method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein: