JP2001237992A - Device for selecting communication service - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To select a communication service capable of selecting the most inexpensive communication service while satisfying quality requested by the user, or selecting the communication service satisfying the second best communication quality when the communication service which satisfies quality requested by the user does not exist. SOLUTION: Information showing the communication charge of each communication service and information showing the communication quality of each communication service are held in a database 12 to be made correspond to originating condition. A service selecting part 11 retrieves information in the database 12 based on the given originating condition and the requested communication quality, selects the communication service which satisfies the requested communication quality and also which is inexpensive in charge from the communication services satisfying the originating condition and outputs it. In this case, the part 11 selects the communication service being closest to the communication quality requested by the user unless the communication service satisfying the quality requested by the user is provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication environment in which a plurality of communication services, for example, lines of a plurality of carriers, and different line types such as packet communication and line communication can be selected. The present invention relates to a communication service selection device for selecting a communication service realized at a lower cost.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, LCR (Least Cost Routing) for automatically selecting a communication carrier with the lowest communication charge according to transmission conditions such as communication ground and time zone, weekday / holiday division, and the like.
And ACR (Automatic Carrier Routing).

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional communication service selection device. When there is an outgoing call request by a user's dial operation or the like, information on outgoing call conditions is input to the service selecting unit 1. Here, “weekday / holiday division”, “day / night division”, and “ground” are used as transmission conditions. The service selection unit 1 searches for a corresponding record in the charge table 2 based on these transmission conditions.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the structure of the charge table 2. In each record, a communication charge per unit time for each applicable communication service is recorded. To select the cheapest service and output this as the service selection result.

For example, if the transmission conditions are “weekday”, “night”, and “ground 4” (that is, A in the table of FIG. 6), the service 2 with the lowest communication fee per unit time is selected.

[0006]

In the conventional communication service selection apparatus as described above, the lowest cost communication service can always be selected even if the communication service that realizes the lowest charge differs depending on the transmission conditions. In a conventional telephone service based on circuit switching, there is little difference between communication services related to communication quality (for example, sound quality and transmission delay time), so that there is no problem in selecting a communication service by the conventional device as described above. Was.

However, end-to-end communication quality is not always guaranteed in recent IP networks, frame relay networks, and the like, and the required quality of the user may not be ensured depending on transmission conditions. Therefore, development of an apparatus for selecting a communication service in consideration of communication quality is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a communication service which satisfies the communication quality required by a user and can select the cheapest communication service. Another object of the present invention is to provide a communication service selecting device capable of selecting a communication service that achieves the communication quality closest to the communication service when there is no communication service satisfying the communication quality required by the user.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a feature of the first aspect of the present invention is to display information indicating a communication fee of each communication service and communication quality of each communication service in accordance with transmission conditions. A storage unit for holding information, and searching information in the storage unit based on a given transmission condition and a required communication quality, and selecting a service satisfying the required communication quality from communication services satisfying the transmission condition. A communication service selecting apparatus, comprising: selecting means for selecting and outputting a communication service having the lowest communication charge when call charges of the communication service are different from each other. It is characterized by further comprising a low fee selection means.

[0010] The service selecting means according to the second aspect of the present invention, when there is no communication service satisfying the required communication quality among the communication services satisfying the transmission condition, the service selection means having the highest communication quality among these communication services. Choose a high communication service.

[0011] A feature of the invention according to claim 3 is that the quality measurement means for measuring the communication quality of the communication service during communication, and the storage means retains the communication quality based on the communication quality measured by the quality measurement means after the communication is completed. And updating means for updating information indicating the communication quality of each communication service.

The parameters representing the communication quality include subjective quality (communication quality perceived by humans), one-way transmission delay time, transmission error rate (percentage of transmitted bits that were not correctly received), and IP / It is characterized in that at least one of a packet / cell / frame loss rate (a ratio of correctly transmitted packets / cells / frames) in ATM / frame relay is used.

[0013] According to the above invention, for all communication services, information on charges and communication quality corresponding to transmission conditions is stored as a database, and the database is searched based on the transmission conditions and required communication quality of the user.
Select the cheapest communication service while satisfying the required communication quality or, if there is no communication service satisfying the required communication quality, select a communication service that realizes the communication quality closest to the required communication quality (transmission condition If there is no communication service that satisfies the required communication quality among the communication services that satisfy the above, the same as selecting the communication service with the highest communication quality among these communication services).

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the communication service selection device of the present invention.

The communication service selection device includes a service selection unit 11 as means for selecting a communication service based on a transmission condition and a user's required communication quality relating to the communication, and a unit for each communication service corresponding to the transmission condition. The system includes a database 12 for storing information on charges and communication quality.

FIG. 2 is a table showing an example of the configuration of the database 12 shown in FIG. In this example, “holiday / weekday classification”, “day / night classification” and “ground” are set as transmission conditions, “communication bill per unit time” is set as fee information, and voice communication quality ( Average opinion score (MOS: Mean O) quantifying subjective quality from 1 to 5 points
pinion Score).

The service shown in the table of FIG. 2 is an example in which a so-called “Internet telephone service” using an IP network is used, and the user bears only the access fee to the Internet telephone gateway device regardless of the destination. As a result, there is no difference in fares depending on the ground.

Next, the operation of the apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described by taking as an example a case where the following is given as input information to the service selection unit 11. First, it is assumed that a transmission condition is given on weekdays, nights, and ground 2 and a required quality is MOS ≧ 2.5.

In response to this, the service selecting unit 11 accesses the database 12 to search a corresponding line (part B in the table) in the table of FIG. Of services 3 and 4 that satisfy the required communication quality,
Select service 3 with a low communication fee per unit time,
The result of this selection is output.

Here, assuming that the transmission conditions are the same as above and that MOS ≧ 3.5 is given as the required communication quality, the corresponding row (the B section in the table) in the table of FIG. There is no communication service that satisfies the required communication quality. In such a case, the service selection unit 11 selects the communication service of the quality closest to the required communication quality, selects and outputs the service 4. That is, this selection is the same as selecting the service having the highest communication quality from the shaded portion in the above table.

According to the present embodiment, the provision of the database 12 for storing information on transmission conditions and communication quality enables selection of a communication service that takes communication quality into consideration in addition to transmission conditions. As a result, it is possible to select the communication service with the lowest price among the communication services that satisfy the required communication quality.

If there is no communication service satisfying the required communication quality among the communication services satisfying the transmission conditions in the database 12, the communication service of the quality closest to the required communication quality is selected. Thus, communication can be performed with a quality as close to the required communication quality as possible.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the communication service selection device of the present invention.

The communication service selection device includes a service selection unit 21 as a means for selecting a communication service based on a transmission condition and a quality required by a user regarding the communication.
A database 22 for holding information on unit charges and communication quality for each communication service corresponding to the transmission conditions;
After the communication is completed, a communication quality measuring unit 23 that acquires information about communication quality, and a database updating unit 2 that updates the database 22 based on the acquired communication quality.
4 is provided.

FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of the configuration of the database 22 shown in FIG. In this example, “holiday / weekday classification”, “day / night classification” and “ground” are used as transmission conditions, “communication fee per unit time” is used as fee information, and end-to-end one-way transmission delay time is used as communication quality information. .

Next, the operation of the apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described by taking as an example a case where the following is given as input information to the service selection unit 21. Transmission conditions include weekday, noon, and ground 3 as required quality, one-way transmission delay time ≦ 100 ms
ec is given.

The service selecting unit 21 retrieves a corresponding row (C in the table) of the table of FIG. 4 from the given transmission conditions, and among the services 2, 3 and 4 satisfying the required quality, The service 2 with a low communication fee per unit time is selected, and the selection result is output.

On the other hand, during communication, the communication quality measuring unit 23 measures the end-to-end one-way transmission delay time by a predetermined method, and notifies the database updating unit 24 of the measurement result after the communication is completed.

The database updating unit 24 updates the communication quality information of the database 22 based on the measurement history of the entry so far and the new measurement result obtained from the communication quality measuring unit 23. For example, if the number of measurements for obtaining the current value (47 msec) is N and the current measurement result is X msec, the new value (D) is D = (47 * N + X) / (N + 1).

According to this embodiment, in addition to the transmission conditions,
A communication service taking communication quality into consideration can be selected, and the communication quality measuring unit 23 and the database updating unit 24 are provided, so that the communication quality of each communication service is measured to show the latest communication quality. The data in the database 22 can be updated to hold the data.

If there is no communication service satisfying the required communication quality among the communication services satisfying the transmission conditions in the database 22, the communication service having the quality closest to the required communication quality is selected. Thus, communication can be performed with communication quality as close as possible to the required communication quality.

In both of the above embodiments, the subjective quality (communication quality perceived by humans), the one-way transmission delay time, and the transmission error rate (the number of transmitted bits that are not correctly received) Percentage), I
Packet / Cell / P / ATM / Frame Relay
The same effect can be obtained by using any one or more of the frame loss ratios (the ratio of correctly transmitted packets / cells / frames).

[0033]

As described above in detail, according to the communication service selecting apparatus of the present invention, information indicating the communication charge of each communication service and information indicating the communication quality of each communication service corresponding to the transmission conditions are provided. The storage means to be held and the information in the storage means are searched based on the given transmission conditions and the required communication quality, and the required communication quality is satisfied from the communication services satisfying the transmission conditions and the communication fee is the lowest. Service selection means for selecting and outputting the most suitable communication service, it is possible to select the cheapest communication service that satisfies the quality required by the user. Alternatively, when there is no communication service that satisfies the user's required quality, a communication service that achieves the communication quality closest to this can be selected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a first embodiment of a communication service selection device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a table showing an example of a configuration of a database shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a second embodiment of the communication service selection device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of the configuration of the database shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional communication service selection device.

FIG. 6 is a table showing a configuration example of a charge table shown in FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

 11, 21 Service selection unit 12, 22 Database 23 Communication quality measurement unit 24 Database update unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5K025 AA08 BB04 BB05 BB06 BB07 EE04 EE05 FF26 5K027 AA03 BB03 KK02 5K036 AA12 BB04 DD11 DD25 EE13

Claims (3)

[Claims] A storage unit for storing information indicating a communication charge of each communication service and information indicating a communication quality of each communication service in correspondence with a transmission condition; Selecting means for searching information in the storage means and selecting a service satisfying the required communication quality from communication services satisfying the transmission conditions, and a communication service selecting apparatus comprising: A communication service selecting apparatus, further comprising a low charge selecting means for selecting and outputting a communication service with the lowest communication charge when the communication charge of the communication service is not uniform. 2. When there is no communication service satisfying the required communication quality among the communication services satisfying the transmission condition, the service selection unit selects the communication service having the highest communication quality among these communication services. 2. The communication service selection device according to claim 1, wherein the communication service selection device selects: 3. A quality measuring means for measuring a communication quality of a communication service during communication, and a communication quality of each communication service held by said storage means based on the communication quality measured by said quality measuring means after the communication is completed. 3. The communication service selection device according to claim 1, further comprising: updating means for updating the information indicating: