JP2003037627A - Multicast communication apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multicast communication apparatus capable of billing charges in a two-way IP multicast communication. SOLUTION: A multicast transmitter receives a unicast IP packet transmitted from each of terminals 5a-5f, and transfers the IP packet after the address is rewritten in corresponding multicast IP address. At the same time, information such as receiving date, transmitting source IP address, receiving destination IP address and packet capacity is internally stored. From this information, transmission billing information to a terminal, which transmits or receives contents, is prepared.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multicast communication device for controlling communication in a network for bidirectional communication by multicast.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, IP represented by the Internet
The development of networks is remarkable, and IP is provided as a communication function to efficiently use network resources in order to provide a service for distributing large-capacity stream data such as video.
The multicast function has been realized. The IP multicast function realizes one-to-many terminal communication by copying an IP packet at each router and configuring a tree-structured distribution route.

In addition to the one-to-many stream data distribution service of the television broadcasting format, IP multicast is also considered to be applied to many-to-many communication services such as viewer participation type programs, multipoint video conferences and multiplayer competitive games. Has been done.

When applying the IP multicast service, a charging method different from the IP unicast service (one-to-one communication) is being studied.

As a conventional technique of this charging system, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-65684 discloses "additional service charging system and additional service communication system". In this conventional technique, a transmission device is provided between a provider device and a subscriber device, and in this transmission device, a charge value measuring cell is generated according to a cell volume of a supplementary service cell storing content information for each subscriber device. Then, the charge value measuring cell is transmitted to the provider apparatus and the subscriber apparatus via the transmission path. The provider device counts the charge value measurement cells for each subscriber device to calculate the charge value of each subscriber device. Further, the subscriber device can also calculate and display the billing value of the subscriber device by counting the billing value measuring cells. According to this conventional technique, in the transmission device, the charge value measuring cell and the additional service cell are multicast to a plurality of subscriber devices, and the charge value measuring cell is measured for each subscriber device after the multicasting. It is possible to easily measure the charge value for each subscriber at the time of multicast / broadcast of the service.

As another conventional technique, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-2000
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 78196 discloses "IP network charging system". In this conventional technique, the IP communication network is composed of a communicator, a communication service provider, and a communication network connecting them. When performing communication between one-to-many correspondents, in order to ensure resources of the communication network, the correspondent sends a resource reservation control packet requesting the reservation of communication resources to the service provider. The resource reservation control packet includes billing information necessary for calculating the usage fee. When the resource securing control packet is received, the communication node and the communication partner on the service provider side refer to the billing information to confirm the agreement with the billing target person, and then perform the resource securing process if the resource can be secured. At the same time, the communication node records the communication history and the billing information of the recipients who participate in / leave the communication at an arbitrary time. This makes it possible to charge.

As another conventional technique, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-2000
Japanese Patent No. 349818 discloses "information communication system, information providing device, information relay device, and information communication method". In this conventional technique, an information relay device stores distribution permission information indicating identification information of a client permitted to distribute, and based on the distribution permission information, multicast data received from a server is permitted to be distributed to clients. Deliver only to. Further, at the time of distribution, the information relay device stores distribution history information for each client and creates billing information based on this history information.

[0008]

In the case of IP multicast, the transmitted IP packets are copied in the middle of the distribution tree at the request of the receiver, and the number of IP packets increases regardless of the sender's intention. In the case of charging only the receiver in the IP multicast, the above conventional technique can be applied, but it is necessary to charge both the sender and the receiver, or only the sender. In some cases, the conventional technology cannot cope.

In the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-65684, "Charging method for supplementary service and supplementary service communication system", since the transmission apparatus transmits the charge value measuring cell for each subscriber apparatus, the transmission source is not charged. Even if it can be done, it cannot handle the billing to the receiver. Further, since the transmission device and the subscriber device handle the charge value measuring cell, there is a problem that a general-purpose device cannot be applied.

Further, in the "IP network charging system" of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-78196, since each of a plurality of communication nodes records the communication participation history of the receiver, the receiver can be charged. We are not able to handle the charges of the sender.
In addition, since the communication node requires a billing information recording function, there is a problem that general-purpose equipment cannot be used.

Further, in "Information communication system, information providing device, information relay device and information communication method" of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-349818, each of a plurality of relay devices stores distribution permission information for a client, Since the information is stored, this can also handle only the charge to the receiver. Moreover, since it is necessary to record the distribution permission information and the history information in the relay device, there is a problem that a general-purpose device cannot be used.

An object of the present invention is to provide a multicast communication device capable of performing necessary charging in multicast communication.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, the multicast communication device of the present invention is connected to a network for transmitting contents from a terminal to one address. The storage means stores the multicast address information in association with the identification information for identifying the content. The receiving means receives the packet including the content transmitted from the terminal. The detection unit refers to the storage unit and detects the multicast address information corresponding to the identification information of the content received by the reception unit. The rewriting unit rewrites the address information of the packet containing the content received by the receiving unit with the multicast address information detected by the detecting unit. The transmitting means transmits the packet containing the content whose address information has been rewritten by the rewriting means. The generating means generates predetermined charging information about the content received by the receiving means. As a result, since the multicast communication device rewrites to the multicast address, it is possible to collectively generate the billing information.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In Figure 1,
The whole network block diagram in this Embodiment is shown. Further, FIG. 2 shows an explanatory view of the address correspondence table provided in the address management device.

In the present embodiment, a plurality of terminals are connected by a router, and bidirectional multicast communication is realized in an operating network in which a unicast IP address is assigned in advance for each content. Therefore, the multicast IP address is assigned in association with each piece of content identification information and the unicast IP address. The multicast IP address indicates the destination of a group to which a plurality of terminals on the receiving side that receives the multicast IP address belongs, and is registered in advance in association with the content identification information corresponding to the source of the content. Therefore, a terminal group that is distributed in advance for each content is assigned in advance. Further, in the present embodiment, it is possible to charge the sender and / or the receiver of the content.

In FIG. 1, the terminal management device 1 transmits a unicast IP address corresponding to content identification information in response to a request from the terminal. Address management device 2
Holds a multicast IP address in association with each content identification information and unicast IP address. The multicast transmission device 3 uses the multicast I
The IP packet storing the content information is copied to the P address and transferred. The billing device 10 receives information required for billing from the multicast transmission device 3 and the terminal device 1, and performs billing processing. The routers 4a to 4e are general-purpose routers and have a transfer function for connecting the consumer terminals 5a to 5f, respectively.

The address management device 2 holds an address correspondence table 201 as shown in FIG. Figure 2
FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the address correspondence table 201 showing the multicast IP address corresponding to each content identification information and unicast IP address. As shown in FIG. 2, a multicast IP address and a unicast IP address are assigned in advance to each content distributed by IP multicast.

Further, when the multicast transmission device 3 holds a copy of all or part of the address correspondence table 201 held by the address management device 2 and receives an IP packet addressed to a unicast IP address, the address correspondence table Instruct the router to transfer the IP packet to the corresponding multicast IP address.

The billing device 10 stores billing information as shown in FIG. FIG. 7 shows a specific example of the billing information. In FIG. 7, the billing information includes a sending terminal, a receiving terminal, a content name, a data capacity, a communication time, and the like. The billing device 10 performs billing processing from billing information as shown in FIG. 7 as necessary. For example, for content that charges only to the sender, the sending terminal, data capacity,
Charge processing is performed from the communication time and the charge is notified to the transmitting terminal. In addition, for the content charged only to the receiving source, the charging process is performed from the receiving terminal / data capacity / communication time and the fee is notified to the receiving terminal. Further, the fee system may be different for each content.

Next, referring to FIG. 6, the terminal 5a that holds the content delivers the content and the other terminals 5f and 5f.
A sequence between the respective devices until the content is received will be described with reference to g. FIG. 6 shows a sequence diagram between each device.

The terminal 5a that distributes content by IP multicast accesses the terminal management device 1 and transmits the content name (content identification information) to be distributed (S101). Upon receiving the content name, the terminal management device 1 inquires of the address management device 2 about the unicast IP address for the received content name (S102). The address management device 2 retrieves the unicast IP address corresponding to the content name from the address correspondence table 201 and notifies the terminal management device 1 (S103). The terminal management device 1 notifies the terminal 5a of the unicast IP address corresponding to the content name (S104). The terminal 5a uses the designated unicast I
The content to be delivered to the P address is shaped into an IP packet, and the unicast IP address is transmitted as the destination address (S105).

When receiving the IP packet transmitted from the terminal 5a, the multicast transmitter 3 detects the unicast IP address contained in the IP packet, refers to the address correspondence table 201, and refers to the unicast IP address.
The multicast IP address corresponding to the address is searched, the unicast IP address is rewritten to the multicast IP address, and the multicast IP address is transferred (S106). Further, when the unicast IP packet is received from the terminal 5a, the multicast transmission device 3 transfers the charging information such as the reception date / time, the transmission source IP address, the reception packet capacity, and the reception source IP address to the charging device 10. The billing device 10 creates transmission billing information for the terminal that has transmitted the content from this billing information.

IP transmitted by the multicast transmitter 3
The packet is sent to the terminal 5e participating in the group of the multicast IP address via the routers 4e, 4c and 4d.
-Transfer to 5f (S107).

As described above, the content transmitted from the terminal 5a is distributed by IP multicast.

Next, a case where the terminal 5e receives desired contents by IP multicast will be described.

The terminal 5e accesses the terminal management device 1 and transmits the desired content name (S108). The terminal management device 1 inquires the multicast IP address corresponding to the address management device 2 using the transmitted content name as a key (S109). Address management device 2
Searches the address correspondence table for the multicast IP address corresponding to the content name, and the terminal management device 1
To the multicast IP address (S11
0). The terminal management device 1 notifies the terminal 5e of the multicast IP address corresponding to the content name (S11).
1). The terminal 5e can receive the selected content by receiving the IP packet of the designated multicast IP address (S112).

Further, the terminal management device 1 transmits the content name, reception time, etc. transmitted by each terminal to the billing device 10 together with the terminal identification number. The billing device 10 calculates the information fee received by the terminal by collecting the packet capacity corresponding to the content name, the received terminal identification number, and the reception time, and creates the reception billing information.

According to this embodiment, a general-purpose router is used in bidirectional IP multicast communication,
It is possible to create billing information for both reception and transmission.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the source of the IP multicast is limited to the multicast transmitter 3, so that the routing tables of the routers 4a to 4e become small and the search time at the router is shortened. There is also an effect that efficient IP multicast communication can be provided.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, 6 is a rendezvous point, and other points are the same as in FIG.

In FIG. 3, the rendezvous point (R
P) 6 is a PIM-SM (Protocol Independent Multi).
cast-Sparse Mode) is a type of router defined by.
PIM-SM is a kind of multicast routing protocol standardized as RFC2362 by IETF. In the second embodiment, a mode in which there is a rendezvous point (RP) will be described.

A shared tree is constructed from RP6 to each receiving terminal, and an IP multicast packet is distributed according to the shared tree. Each transmitting terminal individually forms a tree up to the RP.

In this embodiment as well, bidirectional multicast can be realized by processing in the same sequence as in the first embodiment. In FIG. 3, the PIM-SM is operating on the routers 4a to 4d. The multicast transmission device 3, which is the only multicast packet transmission source in this network, is connected to the RP 6. The multicast packet transmitted from the multicast transmitter 3 is transmitted from the RP 6 to the terminals 5a to 5f.
It is distributed according to the shared tree formed by PIM-SM.

According to the second embodiment, the tree extending from the multicast transmission device 3 to the RP 6 is unnecessary, and efficient IP multicast communication can be provided.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG.
Reference numeral 7 is a router management device, and the others are the same as those in FIG. FIG. 5 is an address correspondence table 501. Third
In the embodiment, a case where a plurality of multicast transmission devices are provided will be described.

In FIG. 4, the multicast network has two multicast transmitters 3a and 3b. In FIG. 5, a common multicast IP address 224.3.0.2 is used for distribution of the content 2, and the multicast transmission device 3a is a unicast IP address.
The address 192.168.0.2 and the multicast transmission device 3b are unicast IP addresses 172.6.1.
Each is assigned 0.10.

The router management device 7 accesses the routers 4a to 4e, collects the network configuration information collected by the routers 4a to 4e by the routing protocol, and generates the address information of the entire network.

When the terminal 5c attempts to deliver the content 2, the terminal management device 1 sends the address management device 2 a unicast of the multicast transmission device in charge of the content 2 as described in the first embodiment. Request an IP address. As shown in FIG. 5, there are two unicast IP addresses corresponding to the content 2.
The address management device 2 selects one and selects the terminal management device 1
To notify. At that time, the address management device 2 collects the address information of the network from the router management device 7, and the terminal 5 which requests the transmission among the multicast transmission devices 3a and 3b according to the routing scale such as cost and metric.
Select the multicast transmitter 3a closer to c,
Its unicast IP address 192.168.0.2
To the terminal management device 1. Subsequent processing is performed as in the first embodiment.

According to the present embodiment, a plurality of multicast transmitting devices can be installed, and congestion due to load concentration on the multicast transmitting devices can be prevented. Further, there is also an effect of reducing the use of network resources by designating a multicast transmission device closer to the transmission terminal.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 shows a network configuration diagram in the fourth embodiment. The fourth embodiment exemplifies a case where a single multicast communication device is provided with the functions of the terminal management device 1, the multicast transmission device 3, and the billing device 10 shown in the first embodiment.

Multicast communication device 800 shown in FIG.
FIG. 10 shows the hardware configuration of the above. In FIG.
The multicast communication device 800 is configured by an information processing device, and includes a CPU 402, a memory 410 that stores a program indicating the content of processing, a network interface unit 401 having a communication function, an input unit 411 such as a keyboard that receives an input, and the like. Display unit 4 such as a display
12 and.

The multicast communication device 800 stores the address correspondence table 201 holding the multicast IP address in the memory of the storage means in association with each content identification information and unicast IP address shown in FIG. Further, the multicast communication device 800 refers to the receiving means for receiving the packet including the content transmitted from the terminal and the address correspondence table 201, and detects the multicast IP address information corresponding to the unicast address information received by the receiving means. And a rewriting unit for rewriting the unicast address information of the packet containing the content received by the receiving unit to the multicast address information detected by the detecting unit, and a packet containing the content whose address information is rewritten by the rewriting unit. It comprises a transmitting means for transmitting and a generating means for generating predetermined charging information for the content received by the receiving means. The multicast communication device 800 transmits the unicast IP address corresponding to the content identification information in response to the request from the terminal, and further transfers the IP packet storing the content information to the multicast IP address. Further, the multicast communication device 800 accumulates information necessary for billing and performs billing processing.

FIG. 9 shows a sequence diagram in this embodiment.

In FIG. 9, the terminal 5a that distributes content by IP multicast accesses the multicast communication device 800 and transmits the name of the content to be distributed (content identification information) (S901). When the multicast communication device 800 receives the content name,
The unicast IP address corresponding to the content name is searched from the address correspondence table 201, and the unicast IP address corresponding to the content name is notified to the terminal 5a (S902). The terminal 5a shapes the content to be delivered to the designated unicast IP address into an IP packet, and transmits the IP packet as the destination address (S903).

The multicast communication device 800 includes the terminal 5
When the IP packet transmitted from a is received, the address correspondence table 201 is referred to and the destination unicast I
Search the multicast IP address corresponding to the P address and set the unicast IP address to the multicast IP
The address is rewritten and transferred (S904). In addition, in the multicast communication device 800, when a unicast IP packet is received from the terminal 5a, accounting information such as reception date / time, source IP address, received packet capacity, and source IP address is accumulated, and from this accounting information, Create transmission charge information for the terminal that transmitted the content.

The IP packet transmitted by the multicast communication device 800 is transferred to each of the terminals 5e and 5f participating in the group of the multicast IP address via the routers 4e, 4c and 4d (S905).

When the terminal 5e receives the desired content by IP multicast, the terminal 5e accesses the multicast communication device 800 and transmits the desired content name (S906). The multicast communication device 800 searches the address correspondence table for the multicast IP address corresponding to the transmitted content name, and notifies the terminal 5e of the multicast IP address corresponding to the content name (S907). Terminal 5e
Can receive the selected content by receiving the IP packet of the designated multicast IP address (S908).

Further, the multicast communication device 800 is
The information fee received by the terminal is calculated by accumulating the content name, reception time, etc. sent by each terminal together with the terminal identification number, and adding up the packet capacity corresponding to the content name, the terminal identification number received, the reception time, etc. Then, the reception billing information is created.

According to the fourth embodiment, in bidirectional IP multicast communication, it is possible to create billing information for both reception and transmission while using a general-purpose router. Further, since the multicast communication device 800 performs necessary processing, it is possible to reduce the transmission / reception sequence between the devices as compared with the first embodiment.

[0050]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY According to the present invention, in bidirectional IP multicast communication, it is possible to create charging information for both reception and transmission while using a general-purpose router. Further, there is an effect that efficient IP multicast communication is possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a bidirectional multicast communication network according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an address correspondence table according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a bidirectional multicast communication network according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a bidirectional multicast communication network according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an address correspondence table according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of billing information in the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a bidirectional multicast communication network according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a hardware configuration diagram of a multicast communication device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Terminal management device, 2 ... Address management device, 3 ... Multicast transmission device, 4a-4e ... Router, 5a-5f ...
Consumer terminal, 6 ... Rendezvous point, 7 ... Router management device.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Masato Hino             216 Totsuka Town, Totsuka Ward, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture             Ceremony Company Hitachi Ltd. Communication Division (72) Inventor Hiroyasu Kimura             216 Totsuka Town, Totsuka Ward, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture             Ceremony Company Hitachi Ltd. Communication Division (72) Inventor Makoto Mita             216 Totsuka Town, Totsuka Ward, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture             Ceremony Company Hitachi Ltd. Communication Division (72) Inventor Akio Masuda             2-3-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Inside Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Kiyoshi Ueda             2-3-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Inside Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Juno Miyazaki             2-3-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Inside Telegraph and Telephone Corporation F term (reference) 5K030 HA08 HB08 HD09 KA05 LD02

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A multicast communication device connected to a network for transmitting from a terminal a packet containing unicast address information indicating the address of one destination terminal and the content, wherein the unicast address information corresponding to the content is used. Storage means for storing multicast address information in association with each other, receiving means for receiving packets transmitted from the terminal, and the multicast address corresponding to the unicast address information received by the receiving means by referring to the storage means Detecting means for detecting information; rewriting means for rewriting the unicast address information of the packet received by the receiving means to multicast address information detected by the detecting means; and transmitting a packet in which the address information is rewritten by the rewriting means Do Multicast communication apparatus characterized by comprising a signal means, and generating means for generating a predetermined charging information about the packet received by the receiving unit. 2. The multicast communication device according to claim 1, wherein the generating means uses at least one of a case of charging a source terminal and a case of charging a receiving terminal as the charging information. A multicast communication device characterized by the above. 3. The multicast communication device according to claim 1, further comprising a transmitting unit that transmits the charging information generated by the generating unit to a charging device connected to a network. . 4. The multicast communication device according to claim 1, wherein a transmission request receiving unit that receives a transmission request for unicast address information of the content from the terminal, and the unicast address corresponding to identification information of the content. A multicast communication device further comprising unicast storage means for storing cast address information, and address transmitting means for transmitting the unicast address information when the transmission request is received by the transmission request receiving means.