JP2007158593A - Communication system and communication fault management method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication system capable of reducing a delay in the delivery of a state change caused by a faulty communication management apparatus to the utmost extent and much earlier delivering exchanges of states among communication management apparatuses. <P>SOLUTION: A private communication network 9 connected to general phones 1 and Internet phones 4 is provided in its inside with the communication management apparatuses 10 each having a CTI function, carrying out call distribution control, and distributing calls to extension phones, and a plurality of communication terminals 8 associated with the extension phones. Each communication management apparatus 10 includes in its inside: a state circulation packet transmission control section and a state circulation packet reception control section or the like acting like a state circulation packet transmission reception means; a patrol packet transmission control section and a patrol packet reception control section or the like acting like a patrol packet transmission control means; a circulation path storage section for storing a circulation path state of each packet separately circulated; and a circulation path control section for circulating each packet on the basis of the circulation path state in the circulation path storage section. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication system and a communication failure management method thereof, and more particularly to a communication system suitable as an information processing system using a plurality of communication management apparatuses in a call center system or the like and a communication failure management method thereof.

  In general, a conventional communication system used for a call center or the like includes a local communication network such as a local area network (hereinafter abbreviated as “LAN”) in a center, and a plurality of communication systems such as a public line and an Internet communication line. A communication network is connected. Then, a plurality of communication management devices having a CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) function and a plurality of communication terminals are connected to a LAN in the center that accepts connection requests (hereinafter referred to as “calls”) from these communication lines. Each communication management device distributes and connects call signals from each communication network to a plurality of extension telephones and communication terminals.

  The basic function in this type of communication system is that when a call from a communication network such as a public line network is received by a communication management device having a CTI function, which is a function of private telephone exchange, Call information such as a transfer source number and a name display provided by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) is acquired. Then, using the automatic call distribution function to the extension telephone connected to the communication management apparatus and the communication terminal associated with the extension telephone, the knowledge level of the reception operator, the waiting time from the end of the previous call, the call acquired by the communication management apparatus In consideration of information and the like, a telephone call is distributed to an optimal reception operator and necessary information is displayed on a communication terminal. An example of such a call center system is described in Patent Document 1.

  Regarding call control, the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector Recommendation (hereinafter referred to as “ITU-T”) in Non-Patent Document 1 for exchanging audio, video, and data in real time on an IP (Internet Protocol) network. H.). A call center system implemented using H.323 and SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) are known as other communication methods.

  In particular, ITU-T H.264. In a VolP (Voice over Initiation Protocol) system using H.323, the H.264 of ITU-T, which is a LAN client terminal that provides bidirectional communication, is used. 323 terminal, ITU-T H.323 on IP network. A gateway providing bi-directional communication between a H.323 terminal and a synchronous control network (SCN) of a public or private switched telecommunications network including a narrowband or broadband ISDN (N-Integrated Service Digital Network) ITU-T H.264 in the IP network area of It also defines elements in network communication such as a gatekeeper having functions such as address management between 323 terminals, zone management, admission control, call management and control, and bandwidth management and control. As an example of implementing this, there is a communication system that controls connection of a call by VolP as in Patent Document 2.

  As described above, in a communication system used for a call center or the like that receives calls from both the public line and the Internet communication line, a plurality of communication management devices and Internet conversion devices may be installed for each reception service or reception service. is there. Even when the number of communication terminals increases, a plurality of communication management devices are installed. In this type of configuration, it is necessary to exchange and transmit the call signal distribution state and the state of the communication management device such as an operator between the plurality of communication management devices and manage them as the same state information. A mechanism for exchanging and transmitting status information between communication management devices is required.

Generally, a protocol represented by TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) or UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is used as a communication method for status information exchange transmission. However, in a typical one-to-one communication method, the communication path between the communication management apparatus becomes _n C ₂ present need, also increases the load of the communication management apparatus for controlling an increase and a large amount of communication path communication load become.

  For this reason, if the patrol packet system represented by the American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.4 is adopted, an increase in load can be prevented, but if the patrol packet is interrupted due to a failure, Using general communication control such as timeout control and retry control, the transmission of status information is restored after a certain period of time.

JP-A-11-284746 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-158697 International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector Recommendation H. 323

  However, since a call signal that reaches the communication management device is always generated, when using the above-described general communication control in which the transmission of the status information of each communication management device recovers after a certain time, a certain communication A certain time from the interruption due to the failure of the management device to the recovery causes a delay in transmitting the status information to another communication management device. For this reason, a communication control system that minimizes the delay in transmission of state information is desired.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a communication system that can reduce the delay in transmission of state changes caused by a failed communication management device as much as possible, and can quickly exchange state exchange without increasing the load on each communication management device. It is to provide.

  The present invention connects a general telephone and an Internet telephone to the outside of the local communication network, and has a CTI function on the internal side of the local communication network to control distribution of calls to each extension telephone. In a communication system comprising a communication management device and a plurality of communication terminals associated with each extension telephone, in each communication management device, state circulation packet transmission / reception control means for performing transmission / reception processing of a state circulation packet; A patrol packet transmission / reception control means for performing transmission / reception processing of the patrol packet separately from the state circulation packet, a circulation route storage unit for storing the circulation route state of each packet, and each packet according to the circulation route state of the circulation route storage unit A circulation route control unit for patrol is provided and configured.

  In the present invention, the state circulation packet transmission / reception control means reads a state circulation packet reception control unit and a state circulation packet transmission control unit, a state circulation packet temporary storage unit, and a communication state. The patrol packet transmission / reception control means includes a patrol packet reception control unit 17 and a patrol packet transmission control unit for performing patrol packet transmission / reception processing, and a patrol packet queue control for delivering the received patrol packet. It is characterized by having a part.

  In addition, a general telephone and an Internet telephone are connected to the outside of the local communication network, and a plurality of communication management units that have a CTI function on the internal side of the local communication network and perform call distribution control to each extension telephone. In each communication management device, in each communication management device, a state circulation packet transmission / reception control means for performing transmission / reception processing of a state circulation packet, and a patrol packet for performing transmission / reception processing of a patrol packet separately from the state circulation packet A transmission / reception control unit, a circulation route storage unit that stores a circulation route state of each packet, and a circulation route control unit that circulates each packet according to the circulation route state of the circulation route storage unit are provided. .

  Furthermore, in the communication failure management method for a communication system according to the present invention, a plurality of communication management devices connected to a local communication network separately transmit and receive a status circulation packet and a patrol packet, respectively. By detecting the communication failure in the adjacent communication management device in the communication path by transmitting and receiving the patrol packet in the management device, the state circulation packet is transmitted and received through the communication route that bypasses the communication management device in which the failure has occurred, and each communication It is characterized in that failure recovery of the communication management device is detected by transmission / reception of a patrol packet in the management device, and a state circulation packet is transmitted / received by rejoining the communication path.

  If the communication system is configured as in the present invention, the state circulation packet transmission / reception means and the patrol packet transmission / reception means are provided in each communication management device, so that the state circulation packet and the patrol packet are transmitted from each communication management device to the communication path. It is possible to detect a failure or recovery without increasing the load of the communication management device by transmitting and receiving patrol packets separately, and quickly exchange the status of the communication management device.

  In addition, according to the communication failure management method for a communication system of the present invention, the communication management of the state circulation packet path is performed by circulating and transmitting and receiving the patrol packet through a logical path different from the state circulation packet in each communication management device. Communication failure is detected at the device, and the status circulation packet is sent and received via the bypassed communication route. When the communication management device that caused the communication failure is restored, it can be re-joined to the communication route immediately. The state of the management device can be managed efficiently.

  In the communication system of the present invention, a plurality of communication management devices that have a CTI function and distribute calls to each extension telephone on the inner side of the local communication network connected to the ordinary telephone and the Internet telephone by performing a call distribution control. And a plurality of communication terminals associated with each extension telephone. In each communication management device, a state circulation packet transmission / reception control unit that performs transmission / reception processing of a state circulation packet, a patrol packet transmission / reception control unit that performs transmission / reception processing of a patrol packet, and a circulation route storage unit that stores a circulation route state of each packet And a circulation route control unit that circulates each packet according to the circulation route status of the circulation route storage unit.

  An embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In a communication system such as a call center system, as shown in FIG. 2 as a whole, on the outside of the local communication network 9 such as a LAN, the general telephone 1 is converted to the public line network 2 and the public line network conversion of the PBX (Private Branch eXchange) function. The connection is made via the device 403, and the Internet telephone 4 is connected via the Internet line network 5 and the Internet conversion device 6 having a router function such as destination control.

  Further, a plurality of communication management devices 7 having a CTI function are connected to the inside of the local communication network 9, and calls from a plurality of channels of the general telephone 1 and the Internet telephone 4 are performed by the distribution control of each communication management device 7. Are connected to an extension telephone (not shown), and a plurality of communication terminals 8 associated with each extension telephone are also connected. In the present invention, each communication management device 7 having a CTI function has a special configuration described later with reference to FIG. 1 in order to effectively manage communication failure.

  Each communication management apparatus 10 has a CTI function and, as shown in FIG. 1, a state circulation packet reception control unit 11 that performs reception processing of a state circulation packet from an adjacent communication management apparatus, and a next communication next to the communication management apparatus 10. A state circulation packet transmission / reception unit including a state circulation packet transmission control unit 13 that transmits a state circulation packet to the management device, and a patrol packet reception control unit that performs transmission / reception processing of a patrol packet with each adjacent normal communication management device 17 and a patrol packet transmission / reception means including a patrol packet transmission control unit 19 and the like are provided. Using the status circulation packet and the patrol packet, the communication management device 10 manages the communication failure by performing the transmission / reception separately on the circulation route.

  In the status circulation packet transmitting / receiving means, the status circulation packet temporary storage unit 12 for storing the status circulation packet received from the communication management apparatus before itself, which extension telephone is empty and which is connected, and operator information And a state reading unit 14 that reads the communication state of the device shared by all communication management devices. Further, the patrol packet transmission / reception means includes a patrol packet reception control unit 17 that receives a patrol packet transmitted from a communication management device before itself, and a patrol packet queue control unit 18 that delivers the received patrol packet. .

  Further, each communication management device 10 receives information on the next communication management device adjacent to the state circulation packet and transmits it from the state circulation packet transmission control unit 13, and the next communication adjacent to the patrol packet. The management path information 15 used when receiving the management apparatus information and transmitted / received by the patrol packet transmission control section 19, the path for sequentially circulating all the communication management apparatuses of the status circulation packet, and the transmission / reception path of the patrol packet are stored. A circulation route storage unit 16 is provided.

  In the state circulation packet transmission control unit 13, the state circulation packet from the state circulation packet temporary storage unit 12, the state information of the communication management device read by the state reading unit 14, and the circulation route control unit 15 the circulation route storage unit 16. The information on the next communication management device to be acquired is received, the old state circulation packet is updated to create a new state circulation packet, and this is transmitted to the next communication management device. The status circulation packet is transmitted from the head communication management device in the circulation route stored in the circulation route storage unit 16.

  On the other hand, the patrol packet transmission control unit 19 acquires the first patrol packet from the patrol packet queue control unit 18, receives the next communication management device information acquired by the circulation path control unit 15 from the circulation path storage unit 16, and A patrol packet is transmitted to the next communication management apparatus, and a response from the next communication management apparatus is received. This patrol packet is first transmitted from all the communication management devices.

  The patrol packet transmission control unit 19 defines timeout values and retry values in advance, and controls response reception (reply) to a patrol packet transmitted to the next communication management device using these predefined values. . If it is determined that no response has been received, it is recognized that a failure has occurred in the next communication management device, the circulation route control unit 15 is notified, and the failure information is stored in the circulation route storage unit 16.

  The status circulation packet circulates without knowing the failure information. When the status circulation packet arrives at the communication management device where the failure is found, the circulation route control unit 15 determines the next communication management device information that caused the failure. Acquires the next normal communication management device information from the circulation route storage unit 16 updated and stored, and transmits a state circulation packet bypassing the communication management device in which the failure has occurred.

  The communication management device that has discovered the failure transmits a patrol packet transmitted by a communication management device other than the communication management device in which the failure has occurred to a path that bypasses the failure, and waits for a response. The patrol packet sent by itself is sent only to the communication management device where the failure occurred, waits for a response, and when a response is returned, recognizes that the failure of the next communication management device has been resolved, The fault solution information is stored in the circulation route storage unit 16 and restored to the original circulation route.

  Since the status circulation packet needs to transmit the status of the communication management device as quickly as possible, the response waiting control is excluded. Therefore, in the present invention, in order to prevent the occurrence of the loss of the status circulation packet, when the failure is discovered, The previous state circulation packet stored in the state circulation packet temporary storage unit 12 updates its state again and transmits it. As a result, there is no problem even if a status circulation packet is transmitted while a patrol packet is transmitted and a response is returned.

  Further, by adding the transmitted communication number (hereinafter abbreviated as “serial number”) to the information column that stores the status circulation packet's own status, even if the status circulation packet is circulated redundantly, In this case, it is possible to prevent duplication by discarding it when it is received.

  As described above, patrol packets that are sent and received on a logical route different from the status circulation packet are circulated to detect the failure or recovery of the communication management device on the packet route and quickly bypass or restore the communication route. And the state circulation packet can be circulated efficiently.

  The operations of the patrol packet transmission control unit 19 and the state circulation packet transmission control unit 13 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, each communication management apparatus 10 acquires a patrol packet from the patrol packet queue control unit 18 (step S21). Then, the patrol packet transmission control unit 19 acquires the destination to the next communication management device from the circulation route storage unit 16 via the circulation route control unit 15 (step S22), and the patrol packet is acquired in step S22. The data is transmitted to the destination communication management device (step S23).

  The patrol packet transmission control unit 19 determines whether or not the response reception after the patrol packet transmission exceeds a predetermined timeout value or retry value (step S24). If not, the process returns to step S21, and the next patrol is performed. Continue sending packets. If the specified value is exceeded, it is determined that a failure has occurred, and this information is notified to the circulation route storage unit 16 via the circulation route control unit 15 and stored (step S25).

  Further, in order to transmit the state circulation packet from the state circulation packet transmission control unit 13, the state circulation packet transmitted last time is acquired from the state circulation packet temporary storage unit 12 (step S31), and the serial number of the state circulation packet to be transmitted Is updated (step S32), and the state of the communication management device itself is acquired from the state reading unit 14 (step S33).

  When the next communication management apparatus cannot communicate due to the occurrence of a failure, the next communication management apparatus acquires the destination of the next normal communication management apparatus (step S34), and transmits the status circulation packet to the acquired destination (step S35). Thereafter, the communication management apparatus creates its own patrol packet (step S36), transmits it to the communication management apparatus in which the failure has occurred (step S37), and performs the determination of receiving the response after transmission in the same manner as in step S24 ( Step S38). If it is determined that the failure has been resolved, the failure resolution notification is notified to the circulation route storage unit via the circulation route control unit 15 and stored (step S39). As a result, when a failure occurs or is restored in the communication management device in the circulation path through which each packet circulates, it is possible to quickly bypass or restore the circulation path.

  Further, the operation of the status circulation packet transmission control unit 13 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the state circulation packet is acquired from the state circulation packet temporary storage unit 12 as described above (step S41), and the transmission serial number of the state circulation packet is confirmed (step S42). If it is the same or older than the transmission sequence number stored in the communication management device itself, it is determined that there is an error, and this state circulation packet is discarded (step S43). Subsequently, the serial number to be transmitted is updated and written in the status circulation packet to be transmitted (step S44), the status information of the communication management device itself acquired via the status reading unit 14 is written in the status circulation packet (step S45), and the fault is The destination to the next normal communication management device that has been detoured is acquired from the circulation route storage unit 16 via the circulation route control unit 15 (step S46), and the state circulation packet is transmitted (step S47). Return to step S41. As a result, the status circulation packet transmission control unit can prevent duplication of the status circulation packet due to a failure, bypass the transmission to the communication management device in which the failure has occurred, and perform transmission to the next normal communication management device.

It is a schematic block diagram of the communication management apparatus used for the communication system of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the whole communication system in this invention. It is a flowchart of the data processing in the patrol packet transmission control part of a communication management apparatus. It is a flowchart of the data processing in the state circulation packet transmission control part of a communication management apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... General telephone Internet telephone, 4 ... Internet telephone, 8 ... Communication terminal, 9 ... Private network, 10 ... Communication management apparatus, 11 ... State circulation packet reception control part, 12 ... State circulation packet temporary storage part, 13 ... State Circulation packet transmission control unit, 14 ... Status reading unit, 15 ... Circulation route control unit, 16 ... Circulation route storage unit, 17 ... Patrol packet reception control unit, 18 ... Patrol packet queue control unit, 19 ... Patrol packet transmission control unit .

Claims (4)

  A plurality of communication management devices that connect a general telephone and an Internet telephone to the outside of the local communication network, and have a CTI function on the internal side of the local communication network to control call distribution to each extension telephone; In the communication system comprising a plurality of communication terminals associated with each extension telephone, each communication management device includes a state circulation packet transmission / reception control means for performing a state circulation packet transmission / reception process, and the state circulation Patrol packet transmission / reception control means for performing transmission / reception processing of patrol packets separately from packets, a circulation route storage unit for storing the circulation route status of each packet, and a circulation route for circulating each packet according to the circulation route status of the circulation route storage unit A communication system characterized by comprising a control unit.   2. The state circulation packet transmission / reception control unit according to claim 1, wherein the state circulation packet transmission / reception control unit reads a state circulation packet reception control unit, a state circulation packet transmission control unit, a state circulation packet temporary storage unit, and a communication state. The patrol packet transmission / reception control means includes a patrol packet reception control unit 17 and a patrol packet transmission control unit for performing patrol packet transmission / reception processing, and a patrol packet queue control unit for delivering the received patrol packet. A communication system characterized by comprising:   A plurality of communication management devices that connect a general telephone and an Internet telephone to the outside of the local communication network, and have a CTI function on the internal side of the local communication network to control call distribution to each extension telephone; In each communication management device, a state circulation packet transmission / reception control unit that performs transmission / reception processing of a state circulation packet and a patrol packet transmission / reception control that performs transmission / reception processing of a patrol packet separately from the state circulation packet are included in each communication management device Means, a circulation route storage unit for storing the circulation route status of each packet, and a circulation route control unit for circulating each packet according to the circulation route status of the circulation route storage unit. .   A plurality of communication management devices connected to a local communication network circulate a status circulation packet and a patrol packet separately from each other and perform transmission / reception, and adjacent to each other on a communication path by transmission / reception of patrol packets in each communication management device A communication failure is detected in the communication management device, and a status circulation packet is transmitted / received through a communication path that bypasses the communication management device in which the failure has occurred, and the failure of the communication management device is recovered by transmitting / receiving a patrol packet in each communication management device. A communication failure management method for a communication system, characterized in that a state circulation packet is transmitted and received by re-joining the communication path.

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