JPH0210960A - Line number and reception terminal number control system, and incoming call distribution system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To keep the utilizing efficiency of a line and a reception terminal equipment even if an outgoing/incoming traffic unit changes and to distribute its incoming call even if the incoming call exceeds the processing capability by providing a means monitoring the incoming/outgoing traffic unit and number of operating reception terminal equipments. CONSTITUTION:Exchange systems X1, X2 are connected to a communication network, each system always monitors all incoming/outgoing traffic units passing through accommodated line lcx, ldx and number of operating reception terminal equipments TM11- TM1h, TM21-TM2k and in the case of unbalanced state, increase/decrease request information of incoming traffic unit is sent to a communication network. When the incoming/outgoing traffic unit in excess of, e.g., the total capacity of number of lines in the system X1 takes place, the incoming call with respect to the system X1 is controlled to be shared to other system X2 through an adjustment station G and a control station E. Thus, number of lines accommodated in each exchange system and number of operating reception terminal equipments are controlled automatically in matching with the incoming/outgoing traffic unit on each occasion, and overflowed incoming calls are bypassed to other exchange system, where the calls are subject to incoming processing and the load between plural systems is balanced.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention is designed to control the number of incoming lines and receiving terminals in operation at any given time in a switching system that accommodates a relatively large number of incoming lines and receiving terminals. This invention relates to a system that automatically increases or decreases the volume of calls in response to the amount of outgoing and incoming calls, and a system that distributes incoming calls to another switching system when the amount of outgoing and incoming calls exceeds the processing capacity of this switching system.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION This invention is utilized for the reception of a service request by telephone or data communication, such as a seat reservation of transportation facilities, number guidance, and a telephone reception of mail-order sales.

[Summary] According to the present invention, one or more switching devices are connected to a communication network equipped with a traffic control station, and the switching device accommodates a plurality of reception terminals and lines from the communication network, and connects the communication network to the communication network. In a communication system that connects incoming calls to a reception terminal, the switching equipment is provided with means for increasing or decreasing the number of reception terminals according to the volume of outgoing and received calls, and means for requesting the communication network to increase or decrease the volume of incoming calls. We control the increase/decrease in the number of lines and reception terminals, and
In addition, when there is an imbalance in the volume of calls made and received between multiple switching devices, the distribution of incoming calls in the communication network is changed and controlled to be distributed to different switching devices, thereby improving the line efficiency of the switching devices. The purpose is to improve the usage efficiency of reception terminals, reduce the number of waiting calls, and balance the load between switching devices.

[Conventional technology]

For example, in a switching system such as a telephone exchange equipment installed for processing reception at a travel agency or a mail order company that answers and accepts calls from many customers, the number of lines that can be accommodated, reception desks, telephones, etc. A large number of terminals is required.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Therefore, in order not to degrade the service provided to customers, the number of accommodated lines and the number of reception terminals are set to a number commensurate with the estimated maximum call volume.

However, in reality, the amount of calls made and received varies over time, and incoming calls in particular tend to concentrate in a short period of time. When set, when the amount of calls made and received decreases,
The number of lines and the usage efficiency of reception terminals decrease. In particular, when viewed from the communication network side, a decrease in line usage efficiency means a decrease in line efficiency, which poses the problem of waste in the line configuration of the communication network.

In addition, if the number of operating reception terminals begins to decrease for some reason, and the number of lines remains large, the volume of incoming and outgoing calls will exceed the total processing capacity of all reception terminals in operation, and the number of incoming and outgoing calls will exceed the processing capacity. However, there was a problem with extremely long waiting times and service deterioration.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and provides a method for controlling the number of lines and the number of reception terminals, and a processing capacity that can suppress a decline in the usage efficiency of the lines and reception terminals even if the volume of calls made and received changes. To provide an incoming call distribution method capable of sorting out concentrated incoming calls so as not to degrade the service for incoming calls exceeding the number of incoming calls.

[Means for solving problems]

In the present invention, at least one switching device is connected to a communication network equipped with a traffic control station, and this switching device accommodates a plurality of receiving terminals and a line from the communication network, and receives incoming calls from the communication network. in a communication system that connects a terminal to a reception terminal, the switching device includes a means for monitoring the volume of incoming and outgoing calls passing through the line housed in the switching device and the number of operating terminals of the plurality of reception terminals; If there is an imbalance between the number of lines in use and the number of operating reception terminals with the current volume of incoming and outgoing calls, the information requesting an increase or decrease in the amount of incoming calls is sent to the traffic control station of the communication network, and the number of incoming calls is accommodated. The present invention is characterized by comprising means for increasing/decreasing the number of operating reception terminals in operation to a number suitable for the above-mentioned call volume.

Furthermore, a second configuration of the present invention includes means for monitoring call volume information between a plurality of switching devices and a communication network, and determining the necessity of adjusting the distribution of call volume between the plurality of switching devices; A coordination station device is connected to the communication network, and includes means for causing each of the switching devices to send request information for increasing or decreasing the amount of incoming calls to the communication network when there is an imbalance in the amount of incoming and outgoing calls between the switching devices. It is characterized by:

[Effect]

Communication networks built for communication between an unspecified number of people, such as public telephone networks, have systems that monitor the amount of calls passing through the network and control the amount of traffic on the line according to increases or decreases in the amount of calls. Additionally, when the call volume in one direction increases dramatically, a so-called traffic control function is provided to divert the calls to the other route.

The present invention utilizes the fact that the communication network itself is equipped with this traffic control function.

That is, in the first configuration of the present invention, a switching system is operated by being connected to this communication network, and the switching system calculates the total number of calls that pass through lines accommodated in this switching system and the number of operating reception terminals. It constantly monitors, and if the number of lines in use and the number of reception terminals in operation at that time are unbalanced with the volume of incoming and outgoing calls, it sends increase/decrease request information to the communication network requesting an increase or decrease in the volume of incoming calls. , the number of lines connected to the network and the number of operating reception terminals are controlled so that they match the total number of calls made and received at that time.

In the second configuration of the present invention, when the amount of calls to and from a switching system exceeds the total capacity of the number of lines in the switching system, the communication network side transfers the incoming calls to the switching system to another switching system. At the same time, a coordination station is connected to the communication network, and the coordination station monitors the call volume between multiple switching systems and adjusts the distribution of call volume between the switching systems. Based on the information, each switching system sends request information to increase or decrease the amount of incoming calls to the communication network so that the loads among the switching systems are balanced.

In this way, the number of lines accommodated in the switching system and the number of operating reception terminals are automatically controlled to a number commensurate with the volume of outgoing and incoming calls at the time, and overflowing incoming calls are diverted to other switching systems. Since incoming calls are processed, it is possible to balance the load between multiple switching systems, and service does not deteriorate.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of constructing a communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a switching system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, the configuration of the communication network will be explained with reference to FIG.

This communication network includes network A that accommodates subscribers alsa2 and al in area A, network B that accommodates subscribers s0, b2, and bJ in area B, and switching system XI shown in Figure 2. There is a connected network C, a network to which switching system x2 is also connected, and a network F to which switching system L, which will be described later, and a coordination station G that adjusts the amount of calls made and received between X2 are connected. , between these networks A, B, C, and D, the line
They are connected by ads 1b, , lbd. In addition,
There are also lines that connect networks A and B and between networks C and C, but these lines are not shown and omitted because they are not required for the operation of this embodiment.

In addition, this communication network monitors the volume of calls passing through networks A, B, and CSD, controls the traffic volume between the networks according to the volume of calls, and controls call distribution by setting detours. A control station E is provided for performing the following operations. Between this control station E and the networks A, B, C, and D, there are line connections 1, f! . I f! , are combined.

Furthermore, a coordination station G is provided to monitor the traffic of the switching systems L and X2 and adjust the traffic distribution between the switching systems L and X2. β,. , β1. is connected to network C and the network by.

The switching system x1 accommodating a plurality of reception terminals TM, to TM, h is connected to the communication network C constructed as described above via a line lcX, and the reception terminals TM2. ~T M 2 *
A switching system x2 accommodating is coupled to the network by line β,8.

Note that the lines β86 and l that connect the networks of this communication network are
eb-+ LCs 1@ds 1fCS lrd, l
CX and io include not only telephone lines but also data communication lines, and the above-mentioned communication networks are integrated service digital networks (I
It is called SDN network. ) is also included. Also, network A1B
, C, and D are configurations that include central office switching equipment that accommodates subscriber lines in one area, and are also one network configuration that also includes a circuit switching network for data communication that performs circuit switching in one area.

Next, according to FIG. 2, the exchange systems X1 and X2 of this embodiment
I will explain about it.

As shown in FIG. 2, the switching system It is accommodated. Then, the exchange system X is the above line 1X.
An interface with l-n-, line 42XIW
Trunk (TRK) provided for each xa1. ．．
1□, 1. and reception terminals TM, , TM21. -,
, TM, , the reception terminal T
Terminal connection unit provided for each M+ to TM) (
TCU)2. ．． 2°, 2, and a communication path switch 3, and a central processing unit (CC) 4 that controls the communication path switch 3, and connects the line R, 2, and a plurality of receiving terminals TM+ to TM. It is equipped with This central processing unit 4 has lines IK, M+j! , , a line memory (LM) 41 that stores status data of , and reception terminals T M + to T
Terminal memo IJ (TM
M) Contains 42.

Next, the operation of the exchange system X of this embodiment will be explained.

Indicates that the line β is one of the lines β, (1, . . . , 14).

Hereinafter, similar symbols refer to the trunk 1, terminal connection unit 2, and reception terminal TM. )
When there is an incoming call, the central processing unit 4 detects the incoming call via the trunk 1- of the line β8, and sends the call to the vacant reception terminal TM.
- is identified based on the blockage data in the terminal memory 42, the corresponding terminal connection unit 2- is activated, the incoming call is displayed on the free reception terminal TM-, and the communication path switch 3 is controlled to activate the corresponding terminal connection unit 2-. A communication path is formed between the terminal connection unit 2- and the terminal connection unit 2-. Through the above operations, the line is connected to the reception terminal TM-, and telephone calls or data communications are possible between the two.

Further, when a call is made from the receiving terminal TM-, the central processing unit 4 uses the vacant line L- based on the vacant line data in the line memory 41.
This is possible by selecting the line A, -, and then sending a dial signal from the receiving terminal TM-, which makes the call, to the line β8-.

Lines β81 to NXff accommodated in exchange system X
1, all of them are not always available, but are controlled by the central processing unit 4 so that only the number commensurate with the volume of calls made and received at any given time is made available. The number of incoming calls to the switching system X is controlled by the control station E of the communication 21 to a number commensurate with the number of lines made usable by the control of the central processing unit 4. Further, the number of operating reception terminals TM and -TM is similarly set by the central processing unit 4 to a number commensurate with the volume of calls made and received at any given time.

The line that is currently receiving calls to exchange system X (however,
Here, it refers to a line in which a call is received but no call is made. ), and there are N free reception terminals in operation, when M=N, any reception terminal TM- can respond to all incoming calls, so This state is a state in which the call volume, the number of available lines, and the number of operating reception terminals are balanced.

Now, assuming that M>H, in this state,
Among the incoming lines, it is not possible to respond immediately to (M-N) lines, and the calls are waiting, resulting in a shortage of operating reception terminals. When this state is reached, the central processing unit 4 sends blockage information to the trunk 1- of the line M, -M, which is free at this point, in order to reject any further incoming calls. The reception terminal TM in question is blocked, and the line blockage data is stored in the line memory 41. Also, in order to deal with an increase in incoming calls, the blocked receiving terminal TM is blocked based on the terminal blockage data in the terminal memory 42. Among them, (MN) units are unblocked and transferred to the operation acceptance terminals, and the terminal blockage data in the terminal memory 42 is rewritten accordingly.

In addition, the central processing unit 4 sends request information in the area of the number of incoming calls to the control station E of the communication network, and the network to which the switching system is connected, for example, the switching system
, then sends to network C blockage instruction information for the line corresponding to the above-mentioned line area. Assuming that the request information for the number of incoming calls and the line blocking instruction information are sent from, for example, switching system X, the request information is for line β.

8. Network C1 line! , C to the control station E, and the control station E controls the number of incoming calls to the network C based on the request information in the incoming call number area, and controls the number of incoming calls to the network C. The usable number of CMs is substantially reduced. As a result, the amount of calls arriving at switching system XI via network C is reduced, and the number of lines between network C and switching system X1 is reduced due to the above-mentioned blockage instruction information.

By the above control, the number of waiting calls in the switching system x1 is reduced. Note that calls exceeding the current processing capacity of switching system X will not reach switching system x1 because the number of lines βc, 4 is reduced.
The caller is given a busy tone, or the call is controlled to arrive at another switching system, for example X2, by the incoming call distribution process in the communication network, which will be described later.

Next, assuming that M<N, in this state, among the operating reception terminals, (NM) reception terminals are always on. In this state, further (N-M) incoming calls can be accepted, so the central processing unit 4 determines whether the blocked lines L, I or Among them, (N-M) are unblocked to increase the usable number, and in the same way as above,
Request information on the number of incoming calls is sent to the control station E of the communication network. It also sends line block release instruction information corresponding to the line increase to the network to which switching system X is connected. This increases the number of incoming calls that can be accepted by switching system x1 via network C, for example.

As described above, the communication network side controls the number of lines that can be used for the exchange system X based on the number of operating acceptance terminals in the exchange system X. When all of the available lines are used for outgoing or incoming calls, no further incoming calls can be accepted by the switching system x1, and under normal processing, the overflow incoming call is In this case, a busy tone is returned to the caller. However, for example, if the same company has multiple exchange systems By distributing possible incoming calls to other switching systems, it is possible for the same company to accept the calls, which is convenient for the caller.

The present invention is also configured to control the distribution of incoming calls from the communication network side using the control station E, and its operation will be explained with reference to the configuration shown in FIG.

Now, incoming calls are processed so that calls from subscribers a1 to a in area A arrive at switching system X, and calls from subscribers b1 to b in area B arrive at switching system x2. shall be subject to change.

In this example, for example, in the order reception system of a mail order company, the reception area of the store where exchange system Xl is installed is in area A, and the area of reception of the store where exchange system It is assumed that

Now, exchange system X from subscribers a1 to ai in area A
Transmissions to I are concentrated and exchange system X.

It is assumed that there are more incoming calls than the number of available lines on the line nax at that time.

The control station E of the communication network stores the number of usable lines of the line 1ell, and determines the overflow state of incoming calls to the switching system xI. When the control station E enters this overflow state, the control station E
, it sends to network A instruction information for causing calls to exchange system X to arrive at exchange system X2.

As a result, for example, a call made by subscriber al to switching system
The call arrives at exchange system x2 via dx.

As a result, exchange system X2 with sufficient line capacity can accept calls from subscribers in other areas.
Even if calls from one region are concentrated on one switching system, the incoming calls can be distributed to other switching systems with sufficient capacity.

By the way, in the incoming call distribution control by the control station E described above, the control station E performs call volume control for each of the switching systems L and X2 (this control controls the number of usable lines of the switching system). However, it does not monitor the relationship between exchange systems XI and X2, so for example, if the traffic volume of exchange system X is close to the maximum available capacity at that time, and the traffic volume of exchange system There may be a load imbalance between the switching systems X, , and X2, such that less than half of the usable capacity of the switching systems X, X2. For this reason, in the present invention, a regulating station G that monitors the mutual loads of the exchange systems X, X2 and performs load adjustment is connected to the communication network, and performs load adjustment between the exchange systems X1 and X2. That is, the current call volume information in the switching systems x1 and x2 is the line network C1 line l. , network F1 line 11. It is sent to the coordination station G via the line l dKz network D1 line j2 fd, network F, and line βf9. Coordination station G is monitoring the sent call volume information and has determined that the sent information has caused an imbalance in the loads on both exchange systems x1 and x2, and that it is necessary to adjust the call volume distribution. Sometimes, call volume adjustment information is sent to each switching system Xx2.

Based on the call volume adjustment information from the adjustment station G, the switching systems X, , and X2 each send increase/decrease request information requesting the control station to increase or reduce the number of incoming calls through the above-mentioned outgoing/incoming call volume control. do. As a result, control station E uses line l. Since the amount of incoming calls to X and line fdM is increased or decreased in the same manner as described above, it is possible to balance the mutual loads between switching system X and switching system x2. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the load from being concentrated on only one exchange system, and to balance the load among the plurality of exchange systems in the case of telephone guidance, etc., which is answered by multiple exchange systems.

In the above embodiment, when the communication network is composed of an 15DN network or a data communication line, the above-mentioned incoming call number increase/decrease request information, line blockage instruction information, or switching system call volume information, etc. It can be sent and received via that data channel.

Furthermore, in the above embodiments, two switching systems have been described, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to a case where two or more switching systems are connected to a communication network, and in particular, coordination. When station G performs call volume adjustment among a plurality of switching systems, the effect becomes greater as the number of switching systems increases.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, based on the total call volume occurring in the switching system connected to the communication network,
The number of operating reception terminals and the number of lines in use are automatically controlled to an appropriate number, and when incoming calls occur that cannot be handled within the controlled range, they are distributed to other switching systems. Furthermore, since the adjustment station is used to balance the load among multiple switching systems, the line efficiency of the communication network and switching system and the usage efficiency of reception terminals are increased, and the number of waiting calls is reduced. ,
Further, an effect can be obtained in which the load can be balanced among the exchange systems.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of constructing a communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exchange system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 11-1. ... Trunk (TRK), 21-2.
. ...Terminal connection unit (TCU), 3...Call path switch (SW), 4...Central processing unit (CC),
41... Line memory (LM), 42... Terminal memory (TMM), A, B5C5D, F... Network, E.
...Control station, G...Adjustment station, X, L, X2
...exchange system, TM, ~TMh, TM, I~TM
+h, M21-TM2k...Reception terminal.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. At least one switching device is connected to a communication network including a traffic control station, and this switching device accommodates a plurality of reception terminals and lines from the communication network, and connects to a communication network including a traffic control station. In a communication system for connecting an incoming call to a reception terminal, the switching device includes means for monitoring the amount of outgoing and incoming calls passing through the line housed in the switching device and the number of operating terminals of the plurality of reception terminals; If there is an imbalance between the number of lines in use and the number of reception terminals in operation with the current volume of outgoing and incoming calls, send request information to increase or decrease the amount of incoming calls to the traffic control station of the communication network. A method for controlling the number of lines and the number of reception terminals, comprising: a means for increasing/decreasing the number of operating reception terminals accommodated above to a number that matches the number of outgoing/incoming calls; 2. A plurality of switching devices are connected to a communication network equipped with a traffic control station, and each switching device accommodates a plurality of reception terminals and lines from the communication network, and accepts incoming calls from the communication network. It is a communication method that connects to a terminal, and the switching device includes a means for monitoring the volume of incoming and outgoing calls passing through the line housed in the switching device and the number of operating terminals of the plurality of reception terminals, and the use of the line. If there is an imbalance between the number of lines and the number of operating reception terminals with the current volume of incoming and outgoing calls, information requesting an increase or decrease in the volume of incoming calls is sent to the traffic control station of the communication network, and the number of incoming calls is accommodated. monitoring and exchanging call volume information between the plurality of switching devices and the communication network; means for determining the necessity of adjusting the distribution of call volume among the plurality of switching equipment; An incoming call distribution system characterized in that a coordination station device equipped with means for transmitting volume increase/decrease request information is connected to the communication network.