JP3222213B2 - Line multiplexer in network system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a line multiplexer in a network system. 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of network systems, line multiplexing devices have been required to not only efficiently and quickly transmit information, but also to function to cope with various failures.

Therefore, when a transmission line connecting between line multiplexers fails, a line multiplexer capable of efficiently and properly switching a line in the failed transmission line to a normal transmission line is demanded. Have been.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, when a transmission line is switched, it has been performed for each transmission line by an operation of an operator.

[0004] This is performed by allocating a line or a time slot of a switching source transmission line in which a failure has occurred to a vacant line setting portion or a vacant time slot setting portion of a normal switching destination transmission line.

[0005] When there is not enough free space for allocating a line or a time slot in the transmission path to be switched,
Unimportant lines or time slots of the switching destination transmission line are released, and the line or time slot of the switching source transmission line is set at this release point.

[0006]

In the above-described transmission line switching method, when the switching source transmission line in which a failure has occurred is switched to a normal switching source transmission line, an operator inputs a line number or a time slot number using a keyboard. Since switching is performed in units of lines or in units of time slots while designating by such operations, there is a problem that the operation is complicated and rapid switching cannot be performed.

Another problem is that accurate switching cannot always be performed due to erroneous recognition or erroneous operation by the operator. Further, when a predetermined line or time slot of the switching destination transmission line is released, and a line or time slot of the switching source transmission line is set at the release point, even if the failure is recovered, the switching destination transmission line released earlier is restored. Since the line or the time slot is not restored, the operator has to set again and there is a problem that efficient switching cannot be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and enables automatic switching of a transmission line regardless of an operator's operation when a failure occurs in the transmission line, thereby quickly switching the transmission line. It is an object of the present invention to provide a line multiplexer in a network system capable of performing accurate switching and efficient switching.

[0009]

FIG. 1 shows the principle of the present invention. This figure shows a configuration of a network system using the line multiplexer of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a first line multiplexer, and 12 denotes a second line multiplexer for multiplexing lines, all of which have the same configuration. A and B are connected. A1 and a3 of the transmission line A indicate lines, a5 indicates a monitoring line between devices, and b1 and b1 of the transmission line B
b3 indicates a line, and b5 indicates a monitoring line between devices.

The first line multiplexer 11 includes a plurality of terminal interface units 13 and 14, a plurality of voice channel conversion units 15 (only one is shown in the figure),
It comprises a plurality of transmission line interface means 16, 17, a control means 18, and a storage means 19.

The components in the second line multiplexer 12 are the same as those in the first line multiplexer 11 in the upper right corner.
The same reference numerals are added, and the description will be replaced with the description of the components of the first line multiplexer 11.

The terminal interface means 13 and 14 are connected to the terminals 21 and 22 such as telephones, and deliver signals between the first line multiplexer 11 and the terminals 21 and 22.

The voice channel conversion means 15 is a terminal
Analog signals (for example, audio signals) sent from the terminals 1 and 22 via the terminal interface means 13 and 14 are converted into digital signals and compressed to convert them into codes that can be transmitted on a transmission path. The multiplexed code is output. In addition, a process for transmitting signals transmitted from the transmission line interface means 16 and 17 to the terminals 21 and 22 is also performed.

The transmission line interface means 16 and 17 are:
The transmission paths A and B are connected, and convert the code output from the voice channel conversion means 15 into a signal that can be transmitted to the transmission paths A and B. In addition, transmission paths A and B
The signal sent through the voice channel conversion means 15
It also performs processing that can be transmitted to

The control means 18 and the storage means 19 are characteristic elements of the present invention. The control means 18 performs a normal communication
Terminal interface means 13 and 14, voice channel conversion means 15, and transmission line interface means 16 and 17
And when the transmission path failure occurs, the storage means 19
The switching control of the transmission path is performed by using the respective tables stored in the.

Each table stored in the storage means 19 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the time slot switching definition table.

This time slot switching definition table 30
Are used when the transmission path is switched in units of time slots. The switching source transmission path number 31, the switching source time slot number 32, and the switching destination transmission path number 33
And a switching destination time slot number 34.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of the line switching definition table. The line switching definition table 36 is used when the transmission line is switched on a line basis.
It is composed of a switching source transmission line number 37, a switching source line number 38, a switching destination transmission line number 39, and a switching destination line number 40.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of the time slot information management table. The time slot information management table 43 manages time slot information for each transmission line, and includes a transmission line number 44 and an address number 45.
And information 49 on a number of time slots T1 to information 49 on a number of time slots T24. However, the address number 45 indicates the address of the plurality of transmission line interface means 16 and 17.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of the line management table 51. The line management table 51 manages lines for each transmission line, and includes a line number 52, an address number 53 and a channel number 54 of the terminal interface units 13 and 14, an address number 55 and a It comprises a channel number 56, an address number 57 of the transmission path interface means 16 and 17, a time slot number 58, and usage information 59 within a time slot.

However, the channel number 54 indicates the signal input / output unit of the terminal interface means 13 specified by the address number 53, for example. Other channel number 56
Also indicates a signal input / output unit.

The in-time slot use status information 59 indicates where in the time slot specified by the time slot number 58 is used. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of the switching factor definition table 61.

The switching factor definition table 61 includes monitoring line disconnection information 62 and X. 50 frames out of synchronization information 63
, Maintenance signal disconnection information 64, and hardware failure information 65.

This table 61 is referred to when an alarm occurs due to some kind of trouble. When the alarm corresponds to any of the information defined in the table 61, the table 61 is used for each time slot or line. The switching is performed.

The monitoring line disconnection information 62 indicates that the transmission line has been disconnected. X. The 50-frame out-of-synchronization information 63 conforms to X.50 defined in CCITT on the transmission path.
This indicates that the synchronization of 50 frames has been lost.

The maintenance signal cutoff information 64 indicates that the maintenance signal has been cut off or that an alarm or the like conforming to CCITT has been sent. Hardware failure information 6
Reference numeral 5 indicates that a failure has occurred in the transmission line interface means 16, 17.

When an alarm is generated due to some kind of trouble, the control means 18 and 18 'transmit the alarm to the control means of the first line multiplexer (activation source apparatus) 11 and the second line multiplexer (activation destination apparatus) 12. If the received alarms correspond to any of the information 62 to 65 defined in the switching factor definition table 61 shown in FIG. When processing start information for executing the transmission path switching processing is transmitted and received by the boot destination apparatus 12, the boot source apparatus 1
1 and returns the received response information to the boot source device 1 when the boot source device 11 receives the received response information.
1 and the activation destination device 12 start the switching operation according to the tables shown in FIGS.

However, the first and second line multiplexers 11,
Twelve activation source devices / activation destination devices are arbitrarily defined at the time of initialization.

[0030]

According to the present invention described above, the transmission path (for example, A)
When a failure occurs in the system, the control means 18 or 18 'automatically switches the failed transmission path A to the normal transmission path B based on the switching information stored in the storage means 19 or 19'.

Therefore, when a failure occurs in the transmission line, the transmission line can be switched quickly, accurately, and efficiently automatically without depending on the operation of the operator.

[0032]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the configuration of the line multiplexer in the network system according to the present embodiment is the same as the principle diagram of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 described above.

As shown in FIG. 7, at the time of initialization, the first line multiplexer 11 is activated by the first line multiplexer 11 and the second line multiplexer 12
Is defined as a boot destination device. As shown in FIG. 7, an alarm 70 is generated due to some failure, and the alarm 70 is transmitted to the control unit 18 of the activation source device 11 and the activation destination device 12.
18 'has received it.

If the received alarm 70 corresponds to any of the information 62 to 65 defined in the switching factor definition table 61 shown in FIG. To boot device 12
Process start information 71 is sent out.

When the boot destination device 12 receives the information 71, the reception response information 72 is returned to the boot source device 11, and when the boot source device 11 receives the information 72, the boot source device 11 and the boot destination device 11 12 starts the switching operation.

First, a case where switching is performed in units of time slots will be described. In this case, since a failure has occurred in the transmission path A, the time slot switching definition table 30 set as shown in FIG. 8 from the storage means 19, 19 'and the time slot before switching shown in FIG. Switching is performed by reading and referring to the information management table 43 by the control means 18 and 18 '.

In the table 30 shown in FIG. 8, the numbers A, A, and A of the transmission lines A are set in the switching source transmission line numbers 31. The switching source time slot numbers 32 are time slot numbers T1, T2, and T24. However, the numbers B, B, and B of the transmission lines B are set in the switching destination transmission line number 33, and the time slot numbers T3, T4, and T5 are set in the switching destination time slot number.

That is, the time slot T1 of the transmission line A is transferred to the time slot T3 of the transmission line B, and the time slot T2 of the transmission line A is replaced with the time slot T4 of the transmission line B.
, Transfer the time slot T24 of the transmission path A to the time slot T5 of the transmission path B.

The definition contents of this table 30 are those which have been performed in advance. In addition to this example, there are a plurality of time slot switching definition tables which are applied when a failure occurs in another transmission line B.

The number A of the transmission line A and the number B of the transmission line B are set in the transmission line number 44 of the table 43 before switching shown in FIG.
And the address number 0x32 of the transmission line interface means 16 and 16 'connecting the transmission line B and the address number 0x32 of the transmission line interface means 17 and 17' connecting the transmission line B are set. In the information field of each time slot T1 to T24, the time slot information AT1 to AT
24 and time slot information BT1 to BT2 of the transmission path B
4 is set.

That is, before the failure described above occurs,
The contents of this table 43 are the address numbers 0x30 and 0x
That is, the transmission line interface means 32 is set and communication has been performed.

The control means 18, 18 'rewrites the contents of the table 43 of FIG. 9 as shown in FIG. 10 according to the contents of the table 30 of FIG. By this rewriting, FIG.
, The information of the time slot T1 of the transmission path A is BT3, and the information of the time slot T3 of the transmission path B is AT1.
And the information of the time slot T2 of the transmission path A is BT
4. The information of the time slot T4 of the transmission path B is AT2, the information of the time slot T24 of the transmission path A is BT5, and the information of the time slot T5 of the transmission path B is AT24.

The contents of the rewritten table 43 shown in FIG.
The setting of the transmission line interface means 32 completes the switching of the transmission line. The rewritten table 43 shown in FIG.
9 '.

By the above-described switching, the contents of the time slots of the transmission path A and the transmission path B are exchanged as shown in FIG. However, this time slot is 64 Kb / s, which is determined to enable efficient data transmission.
It is in s units.

Next, a case where switching is performed on a line basis will be described. A line switching definition table 36 set as shown in FIG. 12 from the storage means 19, 19 ';
Switching is performed by reading and referring to the line management table 51 before switching shown in FIG. 13 by the control means 18 and 18 '.

In the table 36 shown in FIG. 12, the number A of the transmission line A is set in the switching source transmission line number 31, the line number 1 is set in the switching source line number 38, and the switching destination transmission line number 3 is set.
9 is set to the number B of the transmission line B, and the switching destination line number 40 is set to the line number 3.

In other words, the content indicates that the line 1 of the transmission line A is transferred to the line 3 of the transmission line B. In actual transfer, the transmission line interface boards 16 and 16 ′ connected to the line 1 are connected to the line 3.

The definition contents of this table 36 have been performed in advance. In addition to this example, there are a plurality of line switching definition tables applied when a failure occurs in another transmission line B.

The table 51 before switching shown in FIG.
The line number 52 is set with the line numbers 1 and 3, and the address number 53 is set with the terminals 21 and 21 '.
The address numbers 0x10 of the terminal interface means 13 and 13 'connecting the terminals 22, and the address numbers 0x of the terminal interface means 14 and 14' connecting the terminals 22 and 22 '.
12 is set. In the channel number 54, number 1 indicating the signal input / output unit of the terminal interface unit having the address number 0x10 and number 2 indicating the signal input / output unit of the terminal interface unit having the address number 0x12 are set.

In the address number 55, the address numbers 0x20 and 0x20 of the voice channel converting means 15 and 15 'are set, and in the channel number 56, the number 1 indicating the signal input / output unit with the terminal interface means and the transmission line interface means. And 2 are set. Address number 57
The transmission line interface means 1 for connecting the transmission line A
6, 16 'and the address number 0x32 of the transmission line interface means 17 and 17' for connecting the transmission line B are set.

The in-time slot usage information 59 includes:
Information 0x000 indicating which of the T1 and T2 time slots indicated by the time slot number 58 is used.
0000, 0x00000001 is set.

That is, before the above-described failure occurs, the contents of this table 51 are stored in the address numbers 0x10 and 0x1.
2, the terminal interface means, the voice channel conversion means indicated by the address number 0x20, and the transmission line interface means indicated by the address numbers 0x30, 0x32 have been set, and communication has been performed.

This is because the terminal 21 communicates with the terminal 21 ′ via the line a 1 or a 3 -line 1 in the line 1-line A, and the terminal 22 communicates with the line b 1 in the line 3- line B. Or, it means that the terminal 22 'has been communicated via the b3-line 3 .

The control means 18, 18 'converts the contents of the table 51 of FIG. 13 according to the contents of the table 36 of FIG.
Rewrite as shown in 4. By this rewriting, as shown in FIG. 14, the address number 0x32 of the transmission line interface means moves to the line 1, and the address number 0x30 moves to the line 3.

Then, the contents of the rewritten table 43 shown in FIG. 10 are set in the terminal interface means, the voice channel converter, and the transmission path interface means, thereby completing the transmission path switching.

That is, the terminal 21 is communicated with the terminal 21 'through the line b1 or b3-line 1 in the line 1-transmission line B. However, in this case, it is assumed that a line 3 is selected that is not important and does not need to be used temporarily until a failure is recovered.

According to the above-described line multiplexing apparatus of the present invention, the transmission line can be automatically switched. Therefore, when the switching source transmission line in which a failure has occurred is switched to the normal switching source transmission line, the conventional transmission line switching method can be used. As described above, the operator performs switching on a line basis or on a time slot basis while designating a line number or a time slot number by operating a keyboard or the like, so that the operation is complicated and rapid switching cannot be performed. . That is, quick switching can be performed.

Further, since an operator operation is not required,
Since there is no erroneous recognition, erroneous operation, or the like of the operator as in the related art, accurate switching can be performed. Furthermore, since an insignificant line or time slot of the boot destination transmission line is set to an empty switching source transmission line by transferring from the switching source transmission line to the boot destination transmission line, as in the related art, When the predetermined line or time slot of the switching destination transmission line is released and the line or time slot of the switching source transmission line is set at this release point, even if the failure is recovered, the line or time slot of the switching destination transmission line released earlier is restored. The time slot is not restored, the operator must set the time slot again, and the efficient switching cannot be performed. That is, efficient switching can be performed.

[0059]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the transmission path can be automatically switched regardless of the operation of the operator when a failure occurs in the transmission path, the transmission path can be quickly switched, accurately switched, and efficiently switched.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a time slot switching definition table for explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a line switching definition table for explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a time slot information management table for explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a line management table for explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a switching factor definition table for explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an operation of switching a transmission line by the line multiplexer of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a setting example of a time slot switching definition table.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a setting example of a time slot information management table before transmission line switching.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a setting example of a time slot information management table after a transmission line is switched.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the contents of a transmission path in time slot units after transmission path switching.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a setting example of a line switching definition table.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a setting example of a line management table before switching a transmission line.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a setting example of a line management table after transmission line switching.

[Explanation of symbols]

11, 12 line multiplexer 13, 14, 13 ', 14' terminal interface means 15, 15 'voice channel conversion means 16, 17, 16', 17 'transmission path interface means 18, 18' control means 19, 19 ' Storage means 21, 22, 21 ', 22' Terminal A, B Transmission line 1, 3, a1, a3, b1, b3 Line a5, b5 Monitoring line

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-57528 (JP, A) JP-A-4-154328 (JP, A) JP-A-63-269637 (JP, A) (58) Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04J 3/00-3/26 H04L 5/22-5/26 H04L 29/14

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A terminal interface means to which a terminal is connected via a line, and an audio channel converter for converting an analog signal transmitted from the terminal via the terminal interface means into a digital signal, compressing the digital signal, and coding the digital signal. Means,
A transmission path interface means for outputting a signal from the voice channel conversion means to a transmission path, and connecting these apparatuses to each other by connecting the transmission path interface means to the transmission path. Control means for detecting alarm information generated when a failure occurs in a transmission line system and switching the transmission line of the failed system to a normal transmission line in a line multiplexer in a network system capable of communication And storage means for storing switching information to be referred to when the control means switches the transmission path, wherein the storage means has monitoring line disconnection information indicating a disconnection state of the monitoring line in the transmission path. And X.100 conforming to CCITT in the transmission path. X. 50 indicates that the synchronization of 50 frames has occurred.
50 frame out-of-synchronization information, maintenance signal disconnection information indicating that a maintenance signal for managing the state of the transmission path network has been disconnected, and hardware failure information indicating that a failure has occurred in the transmission path interface means. Switching factor definition table that defines the switching , and each switching source time slot of the switching source transmission line
The switching destination transmission line indicating the switching destination and the switching destination transmission line
Time slot switching setting that defines the switching destination time slot
And the allocation table for each time slot of each transmission line.
A time slot information management table for storing hit information and a control means of the boot source apparatus and boot destination apparatus arbitrarily determined at the time of system startup. Upon detecting a failure corresponding to the above, the first boot source device transmits processing start information for executing the transmission path switching process to the first boot device, and when the first boot device receives this process start information, the first boot device The reception response information is returned to the device, and when the activation source device receives the reception response information ,
Switching of the switching source time slot of the defined switching source transmission line
To the destination transmission line and the destination time slot of the destination transmission line.
Update the time slot information management table based on the
Wherein the boot source device and the boot destination device switch a faulty transmission path to a normal transmission path.