JPH07162517A - Message retransmission control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a scale of an application section small by relieving a processing load of the application section of a 1st equipment in the case of message re-transmission between the 1st equipment (e.g. computer) and a 2nd equipment (e.g. PBX). CONSTITUTION:When an application section AP generates a request message, an application manager section APMG gives a request message to a PBX (S10-S11). The PBX gives a re-transmission object reply message to the APMG. The APMG gives the reply message to the AP (S13). The APMG discriminates the presence of re-transmission to the PBX and gives a retransmission request message to the PBX, as required (S15). When a retransmission non-object reply message is given from the PBX (S19), the APMG gives a reply message to the AP.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a message resend control method, and can be applied to, for example, message resend control in a system in which a computer and a processing device work together (or work together).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, digital PBXs (private branch exchanges) have been required to have more sophisticated applications and multimedia support as the core of advanced enterprise information and communication networks. Therefore, for example, it is desired to provide a variety of advanced services by linking or linking the PBX and the computer.

Therefore, for example, a message retransmission control method between the PBX and the application on the computer in the interlock between the PBX and the computer will be briefly described below. In addition, this application is, for example,
These include call processing control and statistical processing. This statistical processing includes, for example, statistical processing of the number of outgoing calls and incoming calls,
Examples include statistical processing of the number of unanswered incoming calls. Furthermore, examples of the message include a call control message and a call message.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a time sequence in message transmission / reception between a conventional PBX and a computer (for example, a personal computer). In FIG. 2, in the conventional interlocking (or cooperating) system of the PBX 1 and the computer 2, a request message (S) from the computer side application unit to the PBX 1 is sent.
In 1), the application manager unit on the computer 2 side transfers the data via the PBX communication control unit or the like (S2).

However, when a response refusal message is returned (S3 to S4) in response to the request message (S2) to the PBX 1 by the application on the computer 2 side, each application unit individually resends the request message. The presence or absence is judged (S5), and the message is retransmitted.

[0006]

Therefore, in the above-mentioned technique of the message re-sending method, the response of the message sent to the PBX 1 must be judged by the processing of the application program of the computer 2 to determine the presence / absence of resending. However, the method of exchanging messages between the computer application program and the PBX1 becomes complicated,
Moreover, it is necessary for the application program to construct a mechanism (algorithm) or the like that can determine the presence / absence of retransmission, and the content of the application program is very complicated and the scale is large.

For example, a computer of a system realized by the cooperation of the PBX 1 and the computer 2 as described above is not limited to one application program, but a plurality of application programs are often incorporated. For example, as an application program, a call processing application program for operating a PBX can be roughly classified, a statistical processing application program, and a log acquisition application program.

If each of these application programs is formed so as to have the above-described mechanism for retransmitting a message, the contents of the program are very complicated and the program scale is large.

Further, there is a problem that the application program provided in the computer must monitor and be aware of the sequence of message transmission / reception (transmission / reception) by performing processing for message retransmission.

Therefore, there is a demand for a mechanism capable of retransmitting a message as needed with a simpler mechanism without the application program individually determining whether or not to retransmit a message.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its object is to provide a first device (for example,
A computer device PBX) and a second device (eg P
To provide a message retransmission control method that can reduce the processing load on the application unit of the first device and can reduce the size of the application unit when performing the operation of message re-transmission with the BX). .

[0012]

The message retransmission control method of the present invention is realized by the following characteristic configuration in order to achieve the above object.

That is, the first device is at least the second device.
Application unit for providing a processing request message to the second device as needed, and an application manager unit for transferring the processing request message from the application unit to the second device. The second device includes a message processing unit that determines the processing request message from the first device, generates a response message, transfers the response message to the application manager unit, and performs necessary processing. In preparation, the application manager unit judges the content of the response message when the response message is given from the message processing unit of the first device,
A request message having the same content as the request message is retransmitted to the first device according to the response content, and the application unit is notified of the response message as necessary. And

[0014]

In the message retransmission control method of the present invention,
The second device described above can be applied to various devices such as a PBX, a transmission device, a file server device, and a power supply device. Further, as the above-mentioned first device, for example, various devices such as a personal computer, a workstation, a small general purpose computer or more, and a dedicated control device can be applied.

In this way, the first device and the second device cooperate or work together to exchange messages. For example, the number of the second device is not limited to 1, and a plurality of systems are configured. It can also be applied. In this case,
A configuration in which the first device and the plurality of second devices are connected by a system bus is desirable.

If the second device is a PBX, the application program of the first device may be, for example, a call processing program or a statistical processing program. The statistical processing program includes, for example, information gathering on the number of outgoing calls and the number of incoming calls.

When the second device is a PBX,
Examples of the above-mentioned processing request message include a call processing message and a call control message.

In response to the processing request message from the first device, the content of the response message from the second device is judged, and if the response message is acceptable, then the subsequent processing request message is sent from the application section. Can be instructed to occur. However, in the case of a response message of rejection of acceptance, the application manager unit determines whether or not this response message is a retransmission target.

For example, depending on the congestion status of the PBX,
In the case where the acceptance is rejected, it is necessary to retransmit after some time elapses. Therefore, in such a case, the application manager unit retransmits the processing request message as a retransmission target, and the second device (for example, , PBX).

Further, when it is determined by the content judgment for the above-mentioned response message that the response message is a non-retransmission response message that does not require retransmission, the application manager section gives a rejection response message to the application section without performing retransmission. .

In this way, since the application section is notified of only the response message as needed, the application section has a conventional mechanism for judging the necessity of retransmission. You don't have to.

That is, as compared with the prior art, the application section can contribute to downsizing and simplification of the application section by providing each application with only a function section excluding the function of determining the necessity of message retransmission. Further, the processing load on operation can be reduced.

Also, by leaving the common message re-transmission determination function for each application processing to the application manager section, a systematic duplicated function configuration is adopted as compared with the case where each application has a function. Without this, a simplified functional layout can be realized.

[0024]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the present invention applied to a PBX-computer cooperation system will be described with reference to the drawings. In the PBX-computer cooperation system of this embodiment, the application manager in the computer is configured to determine whether or not the message is retransmitted. Then, instead of sending an affirmative or negative response message to the application program, the application manager instead retransmits the message to the PBX and realizes an environment in which the sequence of the retransmitted message is guaranteed for the retransmitted message. Is what you are trying to do.

In the PBX-computer cooperation system of this embodiment, the hardware comprises the PBX and the computer. The computer is, for example, a personal computer. In addition, PBX is iOX1 manufactured by Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
000E Digital PBX etc.

(Software Function of Computer 3):
FIG. 3 is a software functional block diagram of the computer 3 of this embodiment. In FIG. 3, the software of the computer 3 is the application manager section AP.
It is composed of an MG and an application section AP. Further, the application unit AP further includes a message / event reception unit EVR, a traffic collection processing unit TRF, an office line incoming call routing control unit ROT,
It is composed of a call processing unit RCP.

The message / event accepting unit EVR of FIG. 3 accepts messages and events and distributes them to the station line incoming call routing control unit ROT and the call processing unit RCP. Then, the traffic collection processing unit TRF
Collects statistical information (for example, the number of outgoing / incoming calls and the number of outgoing / incoming calls) of the reception group and the reception desk, and notifies the supervision desk. Then, the station line incoming call routing control unit ROT
It controls the distribution of incoming calls from the central office line to the reception desk. Then, the call processing unit RCP of FIG. 3 traces the call status of the reception board and manages the vacancy or blockage of the reception board. In addition, the display is displayed on the reception desk.

The computer 3 is realized as a personal computer in terms of hardware. That is, C
It is composed of a PU unit, a display unit, a magnetic disk device, an internal storage unit, an input / output unit, and the like. The application manager unit APMG and the application unit AP described above are loaded from the magnetic disk device into the internal storage unit and operated.

(Software Functional Configuration of Application Manager Section APMG): FIG. 6 is a software functional block diagram of the application manager section APMG described above. In FIG. 6, the application manager unit APMG includes a communication control unit ULP, an application interface unit API, a screen control unit APM,
A screen switching unit APM2, a printer output control unit PRT,
It is composed of a fault management unit FLT.

The ULP controls communication between the PBX 1 and the API (server). And the API
Is for performing message transmission / reception control between APMG and AP (EVR), message retransmission control, and the like. The APM and the APM 2 perform screen control and screen switching. The FLT is for fault management. The PRT controls the output of a printer or the like.

Then, the message retransmitting process is performed by the API. Then, the API queues a message (registration type message) that may need to be retransmitted when the message is received from the message / event reception unit EVR in a dedicated queue. The cue is preferably a chain method cue, for example. Then, when the response message is received from the PBX, the content of the message is determined and the following queuing operation is performed.

That is, when the response message is normal, the corresponding message is released from the dedicated queue. Then, when the response message is rejected (the reason for rejection is that retransmission is unnecessary), the corresponding message is released from the dedicated queue. Then, when the response message is rejected (the reason for rejection is retransmission, PBX processing congestion), the corresponding message in the dedicated queue is retransmitted to PBX1.

(Registration related message): Requesting the release and stop of the service to the PBX 1 is called service registration and registration cancellation. A message for registering and deregistering the service is called a registration message.

(Service that can be registered): An example of the service that can be registered is a monitor service.
This monitor service monitors the PBX connection terminal. Then, as examples of registration-related messages, a monitor start request message (from the API server to the PBX, FIG. 7), a monitor start response message (from PBX to the API server, FIG. 8), and a monitor start refusal message (from the PBX). There is one for the API server, FIG. 9), and the like.

(Preconditions for message transmission / reception processing): The application manager APMG is PBX1.
The condition for retransmitting to PBX1 is that the message is retransmitted to PBX1 so that a positive acknowledgment message may be returned from PBX1 (eg P
When a registration rejection message with a BX congestion status etc.) is received from PBX1, the message is retransmitted to PBX1.

The queuing to the message retransmission queue (Queue, queue) in APMG is
Perform at the end of the queue. Then, the retransmission order is performed from the retransmission queue at the head of the queue, released from the queue at each retransmission, and re-queued at the end.

(Time Sequence of Message Transmission / Reception Processing): FIG. 1 is a time sequence diagram of message transmission / reception processing in the PBX-computer cooperation system of one embodiment. In this time sequence diagram, first, when a request message is generated in the application section AP of the computer 3, the application manager section APMG
(Step S10). Next, APMG
The given request message is transferred to the application interface unit API of the PBX 1 (S1
1).

Next, the PBX 1 of FIG. 1 determines whether the given request message is accepted or not, and whether or not the request message is to be retransmitted. For example, if the PBX 1 rejects the acceptance due to the congestion state of the PBX 1, A rejection response message is generated and transferred to the APMG of the computer (S1
2). Next, the APMG of the computer 3 gives the transferred acceptance rejection response message to the AP (S13).
Then, the APMG determines whether or not the message needs to be retransmitted, and if the message needs to be retransmitted, a timer is used for a predetermined time (S14), and then the request message is retransmitted to the API of the PBX1. And transfer (S15).

Next, P receiving the re-request message of FIG.
The BX 1 determines acceptance and whether it is a re-request message to be retransmitted. If the acceptance is rejected again due to congestion of the PBX 1, for example, a rejection response message is generated and the APMG of the computer 3 is notified. Forward. Next, the APMG that has received the acceptance / rejection response message determines whether to make a re-request, and if a re-request is made after a predetermined time (S17) using a timer,
A re-request message is generated and transferred again to the API of PBX1 (S18).

Next, in response to this re-request message, P
The BX 1 makes an acceptance decision and a decision as to whether or not to retransmit or not to retransmit. For example, if it is determined to be non-retransmission target, this time a response message that is not retransmission target is generated and transferred to the APMG of the computer 3 ( S19). The APMG which has received this retransmission non-target response message gives this response message to the AP.

By the time sequence of the message transmission / reception process as described above, the retransmission process for the request message from the AP to the PBX 1 is performed. As mentioned above, AP
Let MG decide whether to retransmit between AP and PBX1,
Since the AP itself does not need to judge whether or not the PBX 1 needs to be retransmitted, the processing load on the AP is greatly reduced.

(Operation flow of the application manager APMG): FIGS. 4 and 5 show the computer 3 of one embodiment.
3 is an operation flowchart of an application manager unit APMG in FIG. In FIG. 4 (No. 1), first,
APMG receives a request message from the application part AP (S30). Then, the APMG determines whether or not the message is a registration-type (registration-managed by the APMG in advance) message (S31). If it is determined in this determination that the message is not a registration-related message, the process proceeds to S36 in FIG. However, if it is determined that the message is a registration type message, then it is confirmed whether or not the same request message exists in the queue configured in the application interface section API in the APMG (S32).

When it is determined in S32 of FIG. 4 that the same request message exists in the queue, the old request message information in this queue is removed from the queue, and the new request message information is replaced. Queuing to this queue (S33). Then, the process proceeds to S36 of FIG. 5 (No. 2).

However, in the above-described confirmation in S32 of FIG. 4, if it is determined that the same request message does not exist in the API queue, then it is determined whether a message type obtained by inverting the request message exists in the queue. It is confirmed whether or not (S34). If it is determined by this confirmation that the inverted message does not exist, then the request message information is queued in the API queue (S35). If it is confirmed in S34 described above that the message type obtained by inverting the request message is present in the queue, the process proceeds to S36 in FIG. 5 (part 2).

Next, referring to FIG. 5 (part 2), the APMG
Sends a request message to PBX1 (S
36). Then, it waits for the arrival of the response message from the PBX and receives it (S37). Next, the received PBX1
It is confirmed whether the response message from is a registration system message (S38). If it is determined in this confirmation that the response message is not registered, the process proceeds to S43. However, if it is determined in S38 that the response message is a registration-related message, A
It is confirmed whether or not a message of the same message type exists in the PI queue (S39).

Next, in S39 of FIG. 5, the API
If it is determined that the same message type does not exist in the queue, then it is confirmed whether the message type obtained by inverting the response message from the PBX 1 exists in the queue (S40). If it is determined by this confirmation that the reverse message type does not exist, the process proceeds to S43.
However, if it is determined in S40 that the reverse message type exists, then it is determined whether or not the request message needs to be retransmitted (S41).

When it is determined in S41 of FIG. 5 that the request message is not retransmitted for some reason, the message information queued in the API queue is released from the queue. (S4
2). Then, the APMG transmits a response message from the PBX 1 to the AP (S43).

According to the processing flow of FIGS. 4 and 5 described above,
The APMG processes the request message for the PBX1 requested by the AP, and the APMG plays a central role in the resend process when the PBX1 sends a response to the computer 3 to reject the request. The burden can be greatly reduced.

(Reversal of transmission / reception sequence): In the above-described processing shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 to 5, more specifically, a response to the application section AP when the application manager section APMG retransmits data will be described. The message transmission sequence may be reversed. This is, for example, when the sequence of the acknowledgment message from the PBX1 is no longer guaranteed when the stop request message for the service is transmitted while the start request message for some service is being retransmitted. That is. The following method is adopted to prevent such sequence inversion.

(Prevention of reverse transmission / reception sequence):
A monitor start request message and a monitor stop request message will be described as an example of a registration-related message for which the transmission / reception sequence must be maintained. First, APMG
Queues all the information regarding the registration type message received from the AP in the message retransmission queue.
Then, when the APMG receives the monitor stop request message, it searches whether the monitor stop request message has already been queued in the message retransmission queue.

Then, when the same message is queued, the old queue is released, new message information is queued instead, and the request message is transmitted to the PBX 1.

If not queued, the queue is searched by a monitor start request for the message type. Then, if the monitor start request is not queued, the information of the monitor stop request, which is the original message, is queued in the message retransmission queue, and the message is transmitted to the PBX 1.

When the monitor start request is queued, this message information is released from the queue,
Instead, queue the monitor stop request message,
A message is sent to PBX1. Then, even if the APMG receives the response message after the monitor start message has already been transmitted, the message information is not left in the message retransmission queue. Therefore, the APMG does not retransmit, and the APMX sends the message to the AP. Send a reply message.

The same processing is performed when the monitor start request message is received. Since the order of the response messages from the PBX 1 is guaranteed, the sequence of the monitor start and monitor stop messages is guaranteed by performing the above processing.

FIG. 7 shows the format of the monitor start request message. In FIG. 7, the monitor start request message is composed of a message type (monitor start request) portion, a monitor object portion, and a monitor type portion. The monitor object portion includes an information element type (device type) portion, an information length portion, a device type (extension, outside line, relay stand, office line trunk, leased line trunk, etc.) portion, and a terminal number. It is composed of parts and. Further, the monitor type part is composed of an information element type part, an information length part, and a monitor event type part.

FIG. 8 shows the format of the monitor start response message. In FIG. 8, the monitor start response message is composed of a message type (monitor start response) portion and a cross reference number portion. In the cross-reference number portion, the same data as that of the monitor object portion of FIG. 7 described above is set and is returned from the PBX 1.

FIG. 9 shows the format of the monitor start refusal message. 9, the monitor start refusal message in FIG. 9 includes a message type (minimum start refusal) portion and an error reason portion. In this error reason part, congestion status information of the PBX 1 and parameter error information are set, and
It is given to the API from BX1.

(Effect of One Embodiment): In the PBX-computer cooperation system of the above one embodiment, the application manager section APMG in the computer 3 is provided.
Then, the application manager section APMG does not send an affirmative or negative response message to the application (program) section AP, but instead the application manager section APMG sends a message to the PBX1. By performing the above, message transmission / reception can be performed while guaranteeing the sequence for the retransmitted message. Therefore, as compared with the related art, the AP can be easily created, the scale can be reduced, and the processing load on the AP can be greatly reduced.

Therefore, the AP can retransmit the message without paying attention to the message transmission / reception sequence at the time of retransmitting the message.

(Other Embodiments) (1) It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned one embodiment and can be implemented in various embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. For example,
Although the computer of the above-described embodiment has been described as a personal computer, it may be a workstation, a general computer of medium or larger size, a dedicated computer device, or the like.

(2) Further, in the software function block of the computer of FIG. 3, for example, the application section AP is provided with another system failure control section, a mode (for example, an incoming call mode) control section, and the like. Good.

(3) Furthermore, the PBX of the above-mentioned embodiment is
Alternatively, it may be a transmission device, a message processing device, a file server device, a power supply device, or the like.

(4) Furthermore, the queue system configured in the application interface API of the application manager APMG shown in FIG.
A FIFO (Fast In Fast Out) type may be used.

(5) Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment,
Although it was a PBX1 cooperation system for the computer 3, in addition to this, for example, one computer has a plurality of PBXs.
It can also be applied to a system in which a message is transferred to a BX via a system bus and controlled.

[0065]

As described above, according to the message retransmission control method of the present invention, the application manager section is provided with the first device and at least one or more second devices, and the response message is the first message. When given from the message processing unit of the device, the contents of the response message are judged, the processing request message having the same contents as the processing request message is retransmitted to the first device according to the response contents, and the application unit By notifying only the response message as necessary, the processing load on the application unit of the first device can be reduced, and the program scale of the application unit can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a processing time sequence diagram of a PBX-computer cooperation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a processing time sequence diagram of a conventional PBX-computer cooperation system.

FIG. 3 is a software functional block diagram of a computer according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an application manager section (AP
It is an operation | movement flowchart (the 1) of MG).

FIG. 5 is an application manager unit (AP according to one embodiment.
It is an operation | movement flowchart (2) of MG).

FIG. 6 is an application manager unit (AP according to one embodiment.
It is a software functional block diagram of MG).

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a monitor start request message according to an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a monitor start response message according to an embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a monitor start refusal message according to an embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... PBX, 3 ... computer, AP ... application section, APMG ... application manager section.

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Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first device comprises at least an application program for performing a process by the second device, and generates a processing request message to the second device when necessary, and an application part. And an application manager unit for transferring the processing request message from the first device to the second device, and at least one or more second devices determines the processing request message from the first device and generates a response message. And a message processing unit for performing necessary processing while transferring the response message to the application manager unit. When the response message is given from the message processing unit of the first device, the application manager unit determines the content of the response message. However, depending on the content of the response, the processing requirement of the same content as the above processing request message is required. And re-transmission of the message to the first device, the said application portion, message retransmission control method and notifies the response message as needed.