JP3315426B2 - Billing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a charging device for charging to the transfer packet supplied from each terminal, for example, it relates to suitable charging device and applied to a ATM switching system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, wideband ISDN (B-ISDN)
Research and development of a compatible ATM communication system is underway.

For example, various methods for charging a transfer cell in the ATM communication have been studied, and an optimum method has not yet been determined.

For example, as one method, there is a method in which transfer cells supplied from each terminal are taken into an exchange, and the number of transfer cells is counted, and charging is performed according to the number of transfer cells obtained. However, when the transfer cell is supplied via the relay communication device, the transfer cell may be partially damaged, for example, may become an abnormal transfer cell having different contents, or may not be delivered due to loss. Therefore, a method of charging only normal transfer cells and not charging abnormal transfer cells has been studied.

[0005]

In order to realize charging by the above-mentioned method, specifically, a transfer cell supplied from a subscriber terminal or the like is stored once in a frame buffer once, and When the assembly is completed, it is determined whether the frame is normal or not. If the frame is a normal frame having no abnormal transfer cells, the number of transfer cells in the normal frame is counted. There has been a method in which charging information corresponding to the count value is obtained, and then this frame is again decomposed into transfer cells and transferred and output to a transmission path network.

However, once the transfer cells are stored in the frame buffer, the frame is assembled, the frame is checked, and then the cell is again decomposed into transfer cells, so that the processing time becomes longer and the transfer time becomes longer. There was a problem.

In addition, since the number of normal transfer cells is generally larger than the number of abnormal transfer cells among the transfer cells, the count value of the normal transfer cells becomes large, and it is necessary to increase the count capacity of the counter for counting. For example, there is a problem that the number of stages of the counter must be increased, and the hardware scale is increased. Moreover, since the length of the frame is not fixed, it is assumed that the count value of the normal transfer cells becomes extremely large depending on the frame, and there is a problem that it is difficult to determine the counting capacity of the counter.

Further, in practice, it is necessary to individually count the number of normal transfer cells of each subscriber terminal. Therefore, the above-mentioned method has a problem that the hardware scale is further increased.

[0009] The above problem also arises in packet communication in the case where frame information is decomposed into packets and transferred, and the transferred packets are charged.

[0010] Therefore, there has been a demand for a billing apparatus which can be billed with a small-scale configuration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object a simpler configuration than the conventional one, which is adapted to the number of transferred packets of frames (normal frames) that do not include abnormal packets. An object of the present invention is to provide a charging apparatus capable of performing charging.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention, in order to achieve the above object, out of the transfer packets from the terminal (such as a fixed-length packets or variable-length packets or ATM cells), the frame not including the abnormal packet A charging device for charging according to the number of transfer packets to which the transfer packet belongs is configured by the following characteristic means and improved.

[0013] That is, the transfer packet transit number counting means for outputting the count to the transfer packet passing speed information the number of passage of the transfer packet from the terminal, it accommodates a plurality of terminals, a plurality of
Installed in a line concentrator that multiplexes and outputs transfer packets from the terminal.
If the sequence of the transfer packet (for example, continuity of sequence number, segment type, data normality, etc.) from each terminal is monitored on a frame basis and an abnormal packet is detected, the transfer of the frame including the abnormal packet is performed. In order to make all packets non-chargeable packets , the non-chargeable packet number counting means for outputting the number of transfer packets of the frame including the abnormal packet as non-chargeable packet number information exchanges multiplexed transfer packets.
Installed in the connectionless service equipment associated with the switch.
The charging control device associated with the exchange,
For, and performs charging for the number of transfer packets of a frame not including the abnormal packets obtained from the difference between the transfer packet transit number information and the non-charged target packet number information.

[0014]

According to the present invention, the number of transmitted packets supplied from the terminal can be counted by the number-of-transferred-packets-counting means to obtain the information of the number of transmitted packets. The non-charging target packet number information can be obtained by the counting means.

[0015] Since the number of transferred packets of a frame that does not include an abnormal packet is charged based on the difference between the information on the number of transmitted packets and the information on the number of non-charging target packets, the packet is stored in a frame buffer as in the conventional case. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform a frame check, and a counting means having a small normal packet counting capacity can be used, so that the charging apparatus can be realized with a simple configuration.

For example, it is possible to easily cope with the case where this charging device is added to an exchange or the like.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment in the case where the accounting apparatus of the present invention is applied to an ATM switching system will be described with reference to the drawings.

The purpose of this embodiment is to provide a simple configuration
Of the transfer cells supplied from the subscriber terminal to the TM exchange,
An ATM switching system that performs accounting according to the number of transfer cells in a frame that does not include abnormal cells is realized.

In order to realize this object, for example, the number of transfer cells supplied from each terminal is counted in a concentrator for collecting transfer cells supplied from subscriber terminals, and the transfer cell number information (passing cell number) is counted. A number-of-passing-cells counting section for outputting number information is provided, and the number of transferred cells is transferred to the charging control device.

In the ATM exchange, a connectionless service device for performing, for example, connectionless transfer can be added, and each of the multiplexed transfer cells transferred to the ATM exchange in the connectionless service device. For each subscriber, a frame check unit that determines whether or not the frame includes an abnormal transfer cell (abnormal frame), and if the frame is an abnormal frame, obtains the number of cells of the abnormal frame. An abnormal frame cell number counting unit is provided to output cell number information of the abnormal frame and transfer it to the charging control device.

Then, the charging control device performs charging for the transfer cell number obtained from the difference between the transfer cell number information (passing cell number information) and the cell number information of the abnormal frame.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an ATM switching system according to this embodiment.

In FIG . 1, the ATM switching system comprises an ATM switch 3, a concentrator 2 , a connectionless service device 4, and a charging control device 5.

[0024] Then, the concentrator 2, a subscriber interface-safe <br/> Esu portion 21a to 21n, the number of passing cell counter 6a~6
n and a multiplexing unit 22.

The ATM exchange 3 has a switch interface.
Over the face portion 23a, and 23b, is composed of <br/> the ATM switch 24.

The connectionless service device 4
Is composed of frame check units 7a to 7n, abnormal frame cell number counting units 25a to 25n, and a message routing unit 26.

In the concentrator 2 , transfer cells are supplied from the subscriber terminals 1a to 1n to the subscriber interface units 21a to 21n. Subscriber interface units 21a-2
The transfer cells supplied to 1n are supplied to the multiplexing unit 22, where they are multiplexed and transferred to the ATM switch 24 via the switch interface unit 23a of the ATM switch 3. Passing cell number counting units 6a to 6n for counting the number of passing cells for each of the subscriber terminals 1a to 1n are provided. Each of the passing cell number counting units 6a to 6n is specifically a VPI (virtual path identifier: Virtual Path).
Identifier) / VCI (Virtual Channel Identifier: Virtual Channel Identif)
i)), the transfer cells transferred from each subscriber terminal are counted, the information on the number of passing cells for each of the subscriber terminals 1a to 1n is output, and the information is transferred to the charging control device 5 via the ATM exchange 3. Let it.

The frame check units 7a to 7n of the connectionless service device 4 take in the transfer cells from each of the subscriber terminals 1a to 1n from the ATM exchange 3 and check the frame (for example, the sequence of the transfer cells due to loss of the transfer cells, etc.). Check if the numbers are not discontinuous).

Then, the frame check units 7a to 7n
Then, if it is detected that an abnormal cell is included (for example, if it is detected that the transfer cell is lost), the frame is treated as an abnormal frame, and the abnormal frame is set as a non-billing target. For processing, a frame error signal is supplied to the number-of-cells-in-abnormal-frame counting section 25a to 25n, where the number of cells of the abnormal frame in a lost state + the number of cells lost is added. As the non-billing target cell number information. This non-billing target cell number information is stored in each abnormal frame cell number counting section 25a to 25a.
n to the billing control device 5 via the ATM exchange 3.

The frame check units 7a to 7n
The transfer cell of the frame determined to be abnormal in the frame check for each subscriber terminal is discarded here, and the transfer cell of the frame determined to be normal is output and supplied to the message routing unit 26.

The message routing section 26 converts the normal frame supplied to each subscriber terminal into a transfer cell to which routing path information is added in accordance with the destination information of the transfer cell of the normal frame. ATM switch 2
4

The ATM exchange 3 exchanges the multiplexed transfer cells supplied from the concentrator 2 by the ATM switch 24,
And outputs to the other terminal via the switch interface over the face portion 23b, supplies the connectionless server 4. In addition, the passing cell number counting units 6a to 6
The number of passing cells supplied from n is fetched and supplied to the charging control device 5. Also, connectionless server 4 in abnormal frame cell number counting section 25 (25a~25
The information of the number of cells of the abnormal frame (the number of non-charging target cells ) supplied from n) is fetched and supplied to the charging control device 5.

The charging control device 5, the passing cell count information from the concentrator 2, connectionless service abnormal frame cell number information from the device 4 (non-chargeable cell number information)
Is charged for the number of cells obtained by subtracting.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the abnormal frame cell number counting section 25 of the ATM switching system according to this embodiment.

In FIG . 2, an abnormal frame cell number counting section 25 includes a counter 9 and AND gates 11a and 11b.
, An adder 12 and registers 10 and 13.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are operation timing charts of FIG. FIG. 3 is an operation timing chart of the functional blocks in FIG. 2 when no abnormal cell is detected in the frame. FIG. 4 is an operation timing chart of the functional blocks in FIG. 2 when an abnormal cell is detected in a frame.

Next, the operation of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.

Operation when no abnormal cell is detected When a transfer cell is supplied to the frame check unit 7 (FIG. 3).
(A)), stored in the cell buffer 7a, monitors the sequence number of the cell in frame units, identifies whether or not there is a lost cell, and counts up the count-up pulse ( FIG. 3B) is supplied to the counter 9 of the abnormal frame cell number counting unit 25 to count the number of transfer cells (a). If no cells are missing,
Since the frame check unit 7 does not output the frame error signal (FIG. 3C), the value of the counter 9 (the number of transfer cells a) cannot pass through the AND gate 11a (the frame error signal is low level). Therefore, nothing is stored in the register 13. Thus the adder 12 also without executing the <br/> adding operation, the register 10 is also the cumulative addition of the number of cells
No value is stored . That is, the number of non-billing target cells (the number of cells in an abnormal frame) by performing this frame check
Is set to 0, and the read request is sent from the charging control unit 5 to the register 1
When supplied to 0, the value of 0 is read from this register 10 to the charging control device 5 and supplied.

Before starting the frame check of the transfer cell of the next frame, the frame check unit 7 sends a counter 9 a frame end signal (high level) (FIG. 3).
When (D)) is supplied, the count value (a) is reset (0) to be in a state where counting of the number of transfer cells in the next frame can be started.

The transfer cells in the normal frame are output from the frame check unit 7 to the message routing 26.

Then, the subscriber terminal 1 is stored in the charging control device 5.
The passing cell number information (c) for “a” is the passing cell number counting unit 6.
a, the number of cells in abnormal frame information (0)
Is supplied from the number-of-cells-in-abnormal-frame counting section 25a, the number-of-passing-cells information (c) −the number-of-cells-in-abnormal-frame information (0) = the number of cells to be charged. Since this frame is a normal frame, charging is performed according to the number of passing cells (c).

Operation when an abnormal cell is detected When a transfer cell is supplied to the frame check section 7 (FIG. 4).
(A)), the sequence number of the transfer cell stored in the cell buffer 7a is monitored in frame units, and a count-up pulse (FIG.
(B)) and supplies it to the counter 9 to count the number (a) of transfer cells. The frame check unit 7 has a lost cell (the cell in FIG. 4A is lost).
When this is detected, this frame is determined to be an abnormal frame, and the frame error signal is changed from a low level to a high level (FIG. 4C). At the same time, FIG.
Even if it is determined that the lost cell (2) of (A) is actually lost, the count-up pulse (count-up pulse 2 in FIG. It is output and the counter 9 counts. Next, the supply of the cell data (3), which should be supplied after the cell data (2), is stopped. However, it is originally determined that the cell data (3) exists at this timing, and the count-up pulse 3 And makes the counter 9 count.

The error state (high level state) of the frame error signal is maintained until the frame end signal changes from low level to high level (until the frame ends).

Then , as shown in FIG. 4A , cell data 4 to 6 are supplied, and the count-up pulse is changed to 4 to 6.
And, the next time the cell data at the time of the (A) in FIG. 4 (7) is determined to be lost, again frame checking unit 7 outputs a count-up pulse 7 (FIG. 4 (B)) Then, the counter 9 counts.

After the lost cell data (7), even during the period in which the supply of cell data is stopped, count-up pulses 8 to 9 are output assuming that there is cell data, and the counter 9 counts. Let it.

When the number of cells for one frame is counted as described above, the frame end signal is changed from a low level to a high level and supplied to the counter 9 and the AND gates 11a and 11b. At this time, the counter 9
It until the count value a (= 9,. Assuming one frame and 9 cell in this example) not give to the AND gate 11a
You . Since the frame error signal is supplied at a high level to the AND gate 11a and the frame error signal is also supplied at a high level, the count value a (= 9) is passed.
Stored in the register 13. The count value a (= 9) of the register 13 is supplied to the adder 12.

Here , the previous frame is added to the adder 12.
The number of cells in an abnormal frame (d) up to and
And it is supplied Tei Runode adds the current count value (a), and stores and supplies the added value to (d + a) to the register 10. At this point, and supplies the frame check section 7 accounting control unit 5, is supplied a read request of the abnormal frame number of cells, a charging control unit 5 read request count to the register 10. As a result, the register 10 stores the counted value (a + d, the accumulated cells up to the previous frame).
The number of cells in the current frame and the total number of cells in the current frame are output as information on the number of cells in the abnormal frame, and are supplied to the charging control device 5 via the ATM switch 3.

Before starting the frame check of the transfer cell of the next frame, the frame check unit 7 sends a frame end signal to the counter 9 (FIG. 4D ) .
(High level), the count value (a) is reset (0), and the number of transfer cells in the next frame is counted.

If the abnormal frame is the first frame, the result of the previous frame check is
Since the value is not stored in 0, the count value (a) is stored in the resister 10 as a result of the first frame.

When the frame check unit 7 determines that the frame is abnormal, the frame check unit 7 discards the frame. Therefore, the transfer cell is not supplied to the message routing unit 26.

Then, for example, the accounting control device 5 which has received the count value (a) of the register 10 of the first frame as information on the number of cells in the abnormal frame (information on the number of non-billing target cells) passes through the subscriber terminal 1a. Cell number counting unit 6a
Based on the passing cell number information (c) received from, charging is performed for the cell number of the calculated count value (ca). Therefore 1
If the frame is abnormal, c = a, so the number of cells to be charged is zero.

The number of cells in an abnormal frame over several frames is accumulated in the register 10. If it is desired to reset the counted value in a certain frame, the reset supplied from the charging control unit 5 is used. Register signal 1
By taking in 0, the count value can be reset to 0.

According to the above embodiment, the charging is performed on the number of cells obtained by subtracting the information on the number of cells in the abnormal frame from the information on the number of passing cells from the passing cell counting section 6.
Charging can be performed according to the number of cells of a normal frame that does not include the abnormal transfer cell.

The abnormal frame cell number counting section 25a
Since the number of cells in the abnormal frame is cumulatively added to the registers 10 to 25n for each frame, the number of cells in the abnormal frame over a plurality of frames can be totaled.

The abnormal frame cell number counting section 2
In 5a to 25n, instead of counting the number of normal cells as in the conventional case, the number of abnormal frames is stochastically counted as being smaller than the number of normal cells. Therefore, it is possible to employ a counter having a counting capacity smaller than that of the conventional art, which can contribute to downsizing of the circuit.

In the above embodiment, billing is performed for the transfer cell of the normal frame in the ATM switching system as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the same processing can be performed on the transfer packet of the packet switching system, and the present invention can be applied to charging the transfer packet of the normal frame.

In the above embodiment, the connectionless transfer method has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, connection (oriented)
The present invention can also be applied to the type transfer method.

[0058] Further, more abnormal frame cell number counting section of an embodiment, not shall be limited to the functional configuration of FIG. It may be realized by another functional configuration. For example, adder 1
The value obtained by cumulatively adding the number of cells in each abnormal frame by the register 2 and the register 10 is regarded as the number of cells in the abnormal frame. The number of cells to be charged may be obtained from the difference between the number of cells in the abnormal frame over several frames (the number of non-billing cells) and the number of passing cells over several frames. .

In FIG. 2 of the above embodiment,
By monitoring the sequence number of the transfer cell, etc., if a lost cell occurs, it is determined to be an abnormal frame, and counts up even if a lost cell is detected. And the number of supply cells may be separately counted, and then the function may be configured such that the number of lost cells + the number of supply cells is the number of cells in the abnormal frame.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the loss of the cell has been described as an example of the condition for determining an abnormal frame. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the segment type of the transfer cell is monitored, and if a segment type such as undefined is detected, the frame may be regarded as an abnormal frame.
Further, if there is an abnormality by performing a data inspection (CRC check or the like) on the transfer cell, the number of cells in the abnormal frame may be counted as an abnormal frame.

In FIG. 2 of the above embodiment,
Although the cell buffer 7a is provided in the frame check unit 7, a cell buffer may be provided outside the frame check unit 7.

The method of changing the frame error signal shown in FIG. 4 from the low level to the high level in the above embodiment is not limited to this. For example, when the frame end signal (FIG. 4D) goes high, a frame error signal may be output according to whether the frame is abnormal.

In FIGS. 3 and 4 of the above-described embodiment, the number of cells in the frame is 9 as an example, but is not limited to this. For example, since the number of cells is practically larger, it is desirable that the sequence number of each transfer cell is cyclically given in hexadecimal or the like.

[0064]

As described above, according to the present invention, the transfer packet passing number counting means and the non-charging object packet number counting means are provided, and the transfer packet passing number information and the non-charging object packet number are provided. Since billing can be performed for the number of transfer packets of a frame that does not include an abnormal packet obtained from the difference from the information, a billing device can be realized with a simpler configuration than in the related art.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an ATM switching system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of an abnormal frame cell number counting unit of the ATM switching system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation timing chart (part 1) of a frame check unit and an abnormal frame cell number counting unit of the ATM switching system according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an operation timing chart (No. 2) of a frame check unit and an abnormal frame cell number counting unit of the ATM switching system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Terminal, 2 ... Concentrator, 3 ... ATM exchange, 4 ... Connectionless service apparatus, 5 ... Charging control apparatus, 6 ... Passing cell number counting part, 7 ... Frame check part, 25 ... Cell number counting part in abnormal frame .

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kazutaka Hanaki 1-7-12 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-5-122405 (JP, A) JP-A-58-175338 (JP, A) JP-A-4-100435 (JP, A) JP-A-5-199223 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04L 12 / 56

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A charging apparatus for charging according to the number of transfer packets belonging to a frame that does not include an abnormal packet among transfer packets from a terminal. Transfer packet passing number counting means for outputting number information
Accommodates multiple terminals and transfers packets from multiple terminals.
In the line concentrator that multiplexes and outputs packets, the sequence of transfer packets from each terminal is monitored in units of frames, and when an abnormal packet is detected, all transfer packets of the frame including the abnormal packet are regarded as non-chargeable packets . order, a non-chargeable packet counting means for outputting the number of transfer packets of the frame as a non-chargeable packet number information containing the abnormality packets, are multiplexed
Related to the exchange that exchanges the forwarded packet
The charge control device associated with the above exchange is provided for each of the above terminals.
There are, charging device and performs charging for the number of transfer packets of a frame not including the abnormal packets obtained from the difference between the transfer packet transit number information and the non-charged target packet number information.