JP2000324270A - Price setting method and system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the quantity of price setting data, which is necessary for expressing the network information on a domain by storing an object price of the calling charge set among plural ports in a memory as a table, forming a model shown in a single nucleus and spokes connecting the ports to each other and calculating the prices corresponding to the spokes via an arithmetic unit. SOLUTION: An object price of the calling charge set among the ports P1 to P7 is stored in a memory, and a model which is sown in a nucleus 201 and spokes 202 is formed. An arithmetic unit calculates the price corresponding to each of spokes 202, which connect three ports to each other via the nucleus 201 and then calculates the price corresponding to each of spokes 202, which connect other ports to each other on the basis of the spike 202 that is connected to one of these three ports. Then errors are calculated for the object price, and the price corresponding to each spike 202 is adjusted each by ±1, until the errors are reduced down to the prescribed reference value or less. Then the calling charge prices are set among the ports P1 to P7. As a result, the prices can be decided automatically, and the routing computational amounts can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a nucleus and an arrow (Nucleus).
& Spoke) A method and an apparatus for setting a price in a model. In particular, it relates to an advantageous pricing method and system in an autonomous decentralized network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional telephone network, a price is set based on predetermined network data (band, connection configuration, etc.). However, in an autonomous decentralized network that consists of many domains such as the Internet (a range of networks managed by a certain entity) and does not perform unified management, network data can be changed without the understanding of other domains There is.

[0003] In the existing network control method, the data of the own domain is manually changed in response to the change of the network data of another domain, but cannot be applied to a dynamic network such as the Internet.

On the other hand, in the existing Internet, a mechanism for delivering network data to the entire network has been realized (BGP: Border Gateway Protocol, etc.). However, the required capacity for transmitting such information increases as the size of the network increases.

[0005] For this reason, at present, it is used only for relatively fixed information transmission such as a network configuration, and dynamic information propagation such as an empty band is not performed.

[0006] As one method of network management,
Nucleu and arrow (Nucleu)
s & Spoke) model has been proposed.

For example, the ATM Forum PNNI (Private Network-
In the Network Interface, a network is divided into individual sub-networks (in PNNI, this is called a peer group).
And manage them hierarchically. And this Peer Group
Nucleus & Spoke model is applied.

[0008]

Here, it is anticipated that there will be a demand for frequently changing information such as communication charges, and a new information propagation method is required. However, a method of assigning prices using the above Nucleus & Spoke model has not been proposed so far.

For this reason, service quality (QoS: Quali)
It is expected that this will be an obstacle when realizing a guaranteed type service.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for setting a price using a Nucleus & Spoke model when a price between ports is given.

[0011]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method and system for setting a price, which stores a target price of a communication fee between a plurality of ports as a table in a memory.
Then, a model represented by one nucleus, each of the plurality of ports, and an arrow connecting the one nucleus is formed.

An arithmetic unit calculates a price corresponding to an arrow connecting at least three ports via the one nucleus, and sets another port based on an arrow connected to one of the three ports. Calculate the price corresponding to the connecting arrow, and then calculate the error between the calculated price corresponding to each arrow and the target price stored in the memory, and further, the error is equal to or less than a predetermined reference value. Until the above, the calculated price corresponding to each arrow is adjusted by ± 1. By this adjustment, whether the error corresponds to each arrow when the error is equal to or less than a predetermined reference value or the price is determined as the plurality of ports. It is characterized in that a communication charge price is set between them.

[0013] In one embodiment, if the error is not reduced by ± 1 adjustment of the price corresponding to each of the calculated arrows, a bypass that directly connects the ports at the maximum price is provided. The price corresponding to the bypass is set as the target price between the ports, and the price for each arrow is recalculated. Further, the reference value is a minimum value of a target price of communication charges between the plurality of ports.

Further features of the present invention will be apparent from the embodiments of the present invention described with reference to the following drawings.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or similar components are described with the same reference numerals or reference symbols.

FIG. 1 shows an actual network (FIG. 1A) and its corresponding Nucleus & Spoke model representation (FIG. 1B).

In FIG. 1A, one domain boundary 12
0 is the actual network configured in router 100
And a link 110 connecting between them. The router 100 has a domain boundary 1 between the internal router 101 and the outside.
20 is a border router 102.

Nucleus & Spo as shown in FIG. 1B
Expressed in ke model. The port (Port) 200 corresponds to the border router 102 with the outside, and the nucleus (Nucleus) 20
1 is arranged and connected between them by an arrow (Spoke) 202.

An exception is a bypass 203 which directly connects the ports 200. Nucleus & Spok like this
By applying the e-model, there is an effect that the actual topology of the sub-network can be hidden from other providers and the amount of information for network management can be reduced.

The present invention provides a method and system for setting a communication price between ports by applying the Nucleus & Spoke model.

FIG. 2 is a processing flow of a price setting method to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a system in which the price setting method is realized.

In FIG. 3, the arithmetic unit 1 reads out a control program for realizing the processing flow of FIG. Further, the system configuration of FIG. 3 includes a memory 3 for storing a target price, which will be described later, in the form of a table, and an output device 4 for outputting a set price determined by calculation by the calculation device 1. Output device 4
Corresponds to a display device or a printer device.

Now, as shown in FIG.
A plurality of ports P1 to Pn (P1 to P7 in the figure) on 20
Place.

First, three ports (for example, ports P1 to P3) are selected from the ports (step S1), and the value of the arrow is determined based on the price between the three ports (step S1). S2: In this case, since there are three expressions with three variables, they can be uniquely determined.) That is, the ports P1-P obtained from the target price table stored in the memory 3
2, ports P1-P3 and ports P2-P3, respectively.
Assuming x, y, and z, the following three equations are simultaneously established. x = a + b, y = a + c, z = b + c Therefore, the three arrows (spok
The value of e), that is, a, b, c is obtained.

Next, the 3 obtained in step S2 is obtained.
One of the two arrows (spokes) is selected, and the values d, e, and f of the remaining arrows (spokes) are determined based on the selected values (step S3).

Third, the steps S1 and S
Based on the value of the arrow (spoke) determined in step 2, an error between each port and the target price is obtained (step S4). Then, the total value of the errors is compared with a reference value (step S
5). If the sum of the errors is smaller than the reference value, the process ends (step S6). Here, the smallest value among prices between ports is used as a reference value.

When the total value of the errors is larger, the value of each arrow (spoke) is ± 1 (step S7), and it is determined whether the total value of the errors decreases (step S8). When the total value of the errors decreases, the value of the arrow (spoke) is adopted (step S9).

If steps S7 to S8 are repeated, and the value of any arrow is changed, and the total error does not decrease any more, a bypass is set between the ports having the maximum error. Return to S4 (Step S1
0). In order to further increase the accuracy, steps S1, S2
It is also possible to change the port selected in the term, perform the same calculation, and adopt a value with a small total error and the number of bypasses. Then, the set price finally determined is output to the output device 4.

[0029]

Next, a specific example in which the above-described price setting method according to the present invention is applied will be described. FIG. 4 shows an example of a network including five ports of Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka.

Here, the target price is stored in the memory 3 as a value shown in Table 1. Suppose that each spoke (nucleus & Sp)
When the value of FIG. 4 is given as the oke model price, errors shown in Table 1 occur, and the total is 28.

[0031]

[Table 1]

Therefore, according to the method of the present invention, Sendai, Fukuoka and Osaka are selected as three ports (step S).
1). Then, first, the value of the arrow (spoke) connecting each port and the nucleus is calculated from the target price for these ports (step S2).

From the above Table 1, the target price between Sendai and Fukuoka is 1
0, the target price between Sendai and Osaka is 15, and the target price between Osaka and Fukuoka is 13. Therefore, the values of the arrows c, d, and e calculated as shown in FIG. 5 are: Sendai-Fukuoka: c + d = 10 Sendai-Osaka: c + e = 15 Fukuoka-Osaka: d + e = 13 to c = 6, d = 4, e = 9
Becomes

Further, the spoke values a and b of the remaining Tokyo and Osaka are determined based on Sendai (step S).
3).

Sendai-Sapporo: b + c = 16 to b = 10 Sendai-Tokyo: c + a = 9 to a = 3 The accumulated errors in the case of the spoke values a to e calculated in this way are shown in Tables 2 to 19 below.

[0036]

[Table 2]

The accumulated value 19 of the error is compared with the reference value 9 corresponding to the minimum value between the ports (step S5). Since the error is larger, the calculated value in Table 2 is used as an initial value for each arrow (spoke). ) Is made ± 1 (step S7), and the increase / decrease of the error is analyzed (step S8). Table 3 shows the situation.

[0038]

[Table 3]

In the state of Table 3 above, any further arrow
(spoke) also does not reduce the total error. Therefore, in this case, a bypass that directly connects the port having the maximum value (Sapporo-Osaka in the example of FIG. 5) is set as shown in FIG. 6 (step S10).

The size of this bypass is set to 10 in accordance with the target value between Sapporo and Osaka. Further, returning to step S4 and calculating the error, the error after the bypass setting is 10 as shown in Table 4.

[0041]

[Table 4]

However, since the sum of the errors does not fall below the reference value 9, again in step S7, an arrow (spoke)
Is changed by ± 1. Then, when b is changed to 11 as shown in FIG. 7, as shown in Table 5 below,
The sum of the errors is nine. At this time, since the value is below the reference value 9, the process is terminated here (step S6).

[0043]

[Table 5]

As shown in the above embodiment, according to the present invention, five ports (po-po) of Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka
Regarding (rt), the information between ports can be reduced from 10 to 6 (of which one is a bypass).

[0045]

As described above with reference to the drawings, the present invention can reduce the amount of price setting data for expressing network information of a domain. Therefore, the larger the network size and the number of ports, the greater the effect.

Further, it is possible to hide actual network data from other domains. Furthermore, Nu
In the method of price determination using the cleus & Spoke model, it is possible to automatically determine the price of Spoke so that the total error is less than the specified reference value, so the amount of routing calculation is reduced Has the effect of

[Brief description of the drawings]

Fig. 1 Actual network and Nucleus &
Show the Spoke model representation.

FIG. 2 is a processing flow of a price setting method to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of a system in which a price setting method of the present invention is realized.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a network including five ports of Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing values of arrows obtained in step S2 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing values of arrows when a bypass that directly connects a port having a maximum value is set.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the value of an arrow (spoke) based on the error calculation result again after setting a bypass.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100, 101, 102 Router 110 Link 120 Domain Boundary 200 Port 201 Nucleus 202 Arrow 203 Bypass 1 Processing Unit 2 Control Program Storage Memory 3 Target Price Table Storage Memory 4 Output Device

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A method for setting a communication charge price between a plurality of ports of a network configured in a domain, comprising: storing a target price of the communication charge between the plurality of ports as a table in a memory; Forming a model represented by a nucleus, each of the plurality of ports, and an arrow connecting the one nucleus; and a price corresponding to an arrow connecting at least three ports via the one nucleus by an arithmetic unit. Is calculated based on the arrow connected to one of the three ports, and the price corresponding to the arrow connecting the other ports is calculated. Then, the calculated price corresponding to each arrow is stored in the memory. Calculating an error from the calculated target price, and further adjusting the price corresponding to each of the calculated arrows by ± 1 until the error becomes equal to or less than a predetermined reference value. Below the standard value Pricing method and sets the communication fee price between the plurality of ports as determined value either price corresponding to each arrow when. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein if the error is not reduced by ± 1 adjustment of the price corresponding to each of the calculated arrows, a bypass that directly connects the ports having the maximum price is provided. A price to be set as a target price between the ports, and a price for each arrow is recalculated. 3. The price setting method according to claim 1, wherein the reference value is a minimum value of a target price of communication charges between the plurality of ports. 4. A system for setting a communication charge price between a plurality of ports of a network configured in a domain, comprising: a memory for storing a target price of the communication charge between the plurality of ports as a table; Forming a model represented by a nucleus, each of said plurality of ports and an arrow connecting said one nucleus, and calculating a price corresponding to an arrow connecting said at least three ports through said one of said ones; Calculating the price corresponding to the arrow connecting the other ports, based on the arrow connecting to one of the three ports,
Then, an error between the calculated price corresponding to each arrow and the target price stored in the memory is calculated, and further, the error corresponding to each calculated arrow is calculated until the error becomes equal to or less than a predetermined reference value. A computing device that adjusts the price to be performed by ± 1 and sets the communication charge price between the plurality of ports by using the adjustment as a decision value corresponding to each arrow when the error is equal to or less than a predetermined reference value. A price setting system comprising: an output device configured to output a communication charge price between the plurality of ports set by the arithmetic device. 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the arithmetic unit is provided with a bypass directly connecting the ports having the maximum price when the error does not decrease by adjusting the calculated price corresponding to each arrow by ± 1. Setting a price corresponding to the bypass as a target price between the ports, and recalculating the price for each arrow. 6. The price setting system according to claim 4, wherein the reference value is a minimum value of a target price of a communication fee between the plurality of ports. 7. A recording medium storing a program for executing the method according to claim 1 by being executed by said arithmetic unit.