JPH07245660A - Line automatic changeover device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain the connection to a line optimum to a job by selecting a line via a job dependent line selection section having a connection condition setting section and a line operating state monitor section or the like so as to select the line automatically. CONSTITUTION:A job depending line selection section receiving job identification information from terminal communication equipments 2a-2c decides an optimum line to connect the equipments 2a-2c to a line such as a private line 3a, an ISDN 3b or a telephone network 3c selected and decided via a connection changeover section 8. In this case, a line class registration section 7 registering cross reference among a line utilizing form, a job. class and utilization priority and a line selection condition and a line utilizing form registration section 8 cross-referencing a job name with the utilizing form or the like are referenced via a connection condition setting section 12 and a result of monitor by a line utilizing state monitor section 13 is referenced to allow a line selection section 11 to select and decide a line optimum to the job. Thus, the line optimum to the job is automatically selected.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a line automatic switching device which accommodates a plurality of types of lines and controls the selection of a line for connecting a communication device, and is particularly suitable for a job in which data to be transferred is processed. The present invention relates to an automatic line switching device suitable for connection by a line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Communication devices such as telephones, facsimiles and data processing devices are used for leased lines, public networks and ISDN.
(Integrated Services Digi
As a technology for connecting a plurality of types of lines such as talNetwork and integrated service digital communication network), a private branch exchange (PBX: Pri) for connecting a private network and an external line.
Vate Branch eXchange) and those described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-153228. Particularly, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-153228, switching of connected lines is controlled based on the attributes (data capacity and distance) of data to be transmitted, and the cost is optimized from a plurality of types of lines. You can automatically select the appropriate line.

However, for example, in the case of transmitting a large amount of data in ordering business, etc., the user wants to complete the transmission immediately even if the communication fee is high. In the technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-153288, since only the communication charge is focused, a line with a low communication charge is selected even at a low speed, and as a result, it takes a long time to transmit. May result.

[0004]

The problem to be solved is that, in the prior art, it is not possible to automatically select the optimum line according to various jobs having different processing time requirements for data transfer. It is a point. The object of the present invention is to solve these problems of the prior art, to select a high-speed line such as a dedicated line in ordering business that requires the rapid transmission of a large amount of data, and to transmit a small amount of data. It is an object of the present invention to provide a line automatic switching device that can select a low-speed line with a low communication charge such as a public telephone network and improve the line utilization efficiency.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the automatic line switching apparatus 1 of the present invention comprises (1) a communication apparatus 2
a) to 2c, the identification information (hereinafter referred to as a business name) of the business whose data to be transferred is to be processed is received, and the line corresponding to the received business name is changed to a plurality of types of lines 3a to 3c. It is characterized in that it is provided with a work-corresponding line selecting unit 5 to be selected from among, and a connection switching unit 6 for connecting the lines 3a to 3c selected by the work-corresponding line selecting unit 5 and the communication devices 2a to 2c. (2) In the automatic line switching apparatus 1 described in (1) above, the work-corresponding line selection unit 5 associates each usage pattern of the lines 3a to 3c with each other in usage priority order, and each usage pattern. From each of the communication devices 2a to 2c, a line type registration unit 7 that registers selection conditions for using each line, a line usage pattern registration unit 8 that registers the identification information of each business in association with the usage pattern of each line, Business name reading unit 9 for reading the business name of
A usage pattern reading unit 10 that reads the usage pattern of each line corresponding to the business name read in step 1 by referring to the line usage pattern registration unit 8, and a type of each line that corresponds to the usage pattern read by the usage pattern reading unit 10. Is read out by referring to the line type registration unit 7, and the use status of each read line is detected in the order of the use priority order registered in the line type registration unit 7, and the highest available priority order is detected. And a line selection unit 11 that selects a line with a high communication rate. (3) In the automatic line switching device described in (2), the upper limit of the utilization rate of each line is used as a selection condition for using each line of each usage pattern of the line type registration unit 7. And (4) In the automatic line switching device according to (2) or (3) above, the priority of use and selection conditions of each usage pattern of the line registered in the line type registration unit 7, and The connection condition setting unit 12 is provided for setting the correspondence between each business name registered in the line usage pattern registration unit 8 and the usage pattern of each line based on the input from the operator. (5) In the automatic line switching apparatus according to any one of (2) to (4) above, a line usage status monitoring unit 13 that monitors the usage status of each type of line, and this line usage status monitoring unit 13 It is characterized in that a line use status registering unit 14 referred to when the line is selected from the line selecting unit 11 is provided by registering the monitoring result of the above.

[0006]

In the present invention, the work-corresponding line selection unit selects the optimum line according to the work related to the ordering system using the line. Also, by the connection condition setting unit,
The user can arbitrarily set and change the conditions (line selection order, line utilization rate, etc.) for line selection. In addition, the line usage monitoring unit constantly monitors the line usage status,
Select the line by referring to the usage status. By this,
If the line user sets the line usage pattern for each business and the selection order and conditions of the line according to the usage pattern in advance, the line corresponding to the started business is automatically selected. When a line is selected, the usage status of each line is referred to, so the line most suitable for the business that uses the line is selected.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a configuration according to the present invention of an automatic line switching apparatus of the present invention. In this figure, 1 is an automatic line switching device according to the present invention, 2a
2c are communication devices such as a host computer and various terminals and telephones and facsimiles, 3a to 3c are dedicated lines and ISs.
It is a line for networks such as a DN network and a public network. The present embodiment constitutes an ordering system for the distribution business. For example, the communication devices 2a and 2b serve as terminals of the ordering system, and perform sequential ordering processing of products and monthly ordering processing.
Transfers sales data. At this time, the communication device 2
A and 2b transmit the business name as identification information of each business such as a sequential ordering process of products, a monthly ordering process, and a sales data transfer process to the automatic line switching apparatus 1. still,
The communication device 2c performs communication processing for telephone and facsimile.

The automatic line switching device 1 of this example is a communication device 2.
a to 2c and the transmission control unit 4 that controls data transmission between the lines 3a to 3c, and the lines corresponding to the types of the communication devices 2a to 2c, particularly the business names notified from the communication devices 2a and 2b. A business-corresponding line selecting unit 5 according to the present invention for selecting a line from a plurality of types of lines 3a to 3c, and lines 3a to 3c selected by the business-corresponding line selecting unit 5 and a communication device 2a.
.. to 2c, and a connection switching unit 6 for switching the connection. The transmission control unit 4 temporarily stores call signals and dial signals from the communication devices 2a to 2c, and the business-compatible line selection unit 5
After connecting the line of the connection switching unit 6 based on the line selection, the calling, dialing and transmission control are performed via the connected line.

The business correspondence line selection unit 5 includes a line type registration unit 7, a line usage pattern registration unit 8, a business name reading unit 9, a usage pattern reading unit 10, a line selection unit 11, a connection condition setting unit 12, and a line usage status. Monitoring unit 13, line usage status registration unit 1
4 and. In the line type registration unit 7, the use priority order for each type of use of each of the lines 3a to 3c entered by the user using an input device (not shown) and selection conditions for using each line of each use form. However, as shown in FIG. 2, it is registered in advance via the connection condition setting unit 12. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, in the line type registration unit 7, “online”, “file transfer (A)”,
The selection order (1 to 4) and usage rate (%) of each usage mode of “file transfer (B)” and “normal communication” are “dedicated line”,
It is associated with each line type of "ISDN (circuit switching)", "ISDN (packet switching)", and "public network". For example, when the line usage mode is "online", the selection priority of "dedicated line" is "1", and the "usage rate (%)" that is the upper limit of the usage rate as a selection condition is "7".
0% ", the upper limit of the utilization rate of" ISDN (circuit switching) "of" 2 "is" 80% ", and the" ISDN of priority "3"
The upper limit of the utilization rate of "(packet exchange)" is "80%", and the upper limit of the utilization rate of "public network" with the priority "4" is "30%". The selection order and line utilization rate are arbitrarily set by the user based on performance measurement and past performance or experience.

Further, in the line use form registration unit 8, the correspondence between each business name and the use form of each line 3a to 3c is registered in advance via the connection condition setting unit 12 as shown in FIG. There is. As shown in FIG. 3, in the line usage pattern registering unit 8, the line usage mode of "online" is for the business of the business name "product serial ordering process""File transfer (A)", "File transfer (B)" for "Sales data transfer processing" and "Normal communication" for "Telephone / FAX business" The line usage pattern is set.

The business name reading unit 9 has a function of discriminating the type (ordering system terminal, telephone, facsimile, etc.) of each of the communication devices 2a to 2c that the PBX generally has, and, for example, the communication devices 2a and 2b. Read the business name related to the ordering system of the distribution business notified from. The usage pattern reading unit 10 refers to the line usage pattern registration unit 8 to read the usage pattern of each of the lines 3 a to 3 c corresponding to the type and the job name read by the job name reading unit 9. For example, when the business name reading unit 9 reads the business name “product serial ordering process”, the usage pattern reading unit 10 determines the business name “product serial ordering process” based on the registration content of the line usage pattern registration unit 8 illustrated in FIG. "Online" corresponding to the work of
Read the usage pattern of.

The line selection unit 11 is a usage pattern reading unit 1
The type of each of the lines 3a to 3c corresponding to the usage pattern read at 0 is read with reference to the line type registration unit 7, and
The usage status of the read lines 3a to 3c for each type is
The line type registration unit 7 determines the order of use priority of registration, and selects the highest available line from the lines 3a to 3c. For example, when the usage pattern reading unit 10 reads the "online" usage pattern, in the registration content of the line type registration unit 7 shown in FIG. 2, in the "online" line usage pattern, "dedicated line" is the selection priority. “1” has the highest priority, and the “utilization rate (%)” is “70%”. The line selection unit 11 first selects the “private line” with the selection priority of “1”. Determine the usage status,
If the usage rate is "70%" or less, select "dedicated line",
If the usage status of the “dedicated line” is “70%” or more, the usage status of the next priority “ISDN (circuit switching)” is determined.

The line usage status monitoring unit 13 monitors the usage status of each of the various types of lines 3a to 3c, and the monitoring result is registered in the line usage status registration unit 14 as shown in FIG. Each of the lines 3a to 3 registered in the line usage registration unit 14
The usage status of c is referred to by the line selection unit 11 when a line is selected. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, in the line use status registration unit 14, "dedicated line", "ISDN (line switching)", "ISDN (packet switching)", "public network".
The line status of each line type is indicated by items such as "open status", "utilization rate (%)", "work in use", and "backup line selection order". In this example, each line type can be used in a state in which all lines are open, and the current usage rate is "0%" for "dedicated line" and "90%" for "ISDN (line switching)". "ISDN (packet exchange)" is "0%" and "public network" is "30%". In addition, the usage rate of "90%" and "30%" is "I".
Businesses that use SDN (line switching) and "public network"("businesses in use") are "sales data transfer processing" and "FAX" (facsimile). ("ISDN (circuit switching)", "public network")
The line for backing up is set to "public network" for "ISDN (circuit switching)" and "private line" and "ISDN (circuit switching)" for "public network". ing.

When a line is selected by the line selecting unit 11, the work-corresponding line selecting unit 5 sends a control signal to the connection switching unit 6, and the connection switching unit 6 sends a communication requesting a connection request based on this control signal. The device is connected to the line selected by the line selection unit 11. When the connection is completed, the automatic line switching device 1
The transmission control unit 4 makes a call to the selected line, dialing, and transmission control. In this way
The line automatic switching apparatus 1 accommodating a plurality of lines 3a to 3c of different types can perform selection and connection control of the lines 3a to 3c corresponding to the types of the communication devices 2a to 2c and jobs.

Hereinafter, the line 3a by the line automatic switching device 1
The automatic selection operation of 3c will be described with reference to FIG. Figure 5
3 is a flowchart showing an example of processing operation of the automatic line switching apparatus in FIG. 1 according to the present invention. When the work is started (step 101), this work name acquisition process is performed (step 102). In this example, it is assumed that the “commodity serial ordering process” is acquired. Figure 1 with this business name as a key
The usage pattern reading unit 10 searches the line usage pattern registration unit 8 to acquire the usage pattern of the network for the "commodity serial ordering process" (step 103). In this example, “online” is acquired. Using the thus obtained usage pattern (“online”) as a key, the line selection part 11 in FIG. 1 searches the line type registration part 7 to find the type of each line used in the “online” usage pattern (“dedicated” "Line", "ISDN (line switching)", "ISDN (packet switching)", "public network") and the selection order and selection conditions (upper limit of utilization rate) are read (step 104). Then, first, the current utilization factor of the line having the highest priority in the selection order is compared with the selection condition to determine whether or not the line can be used (step 105).

In this example, the line selection unit 11 shown in FIG. 1 uses the line type registration unit 7 shown in FIG. 2 in the utilization rate (%) and the line usage status registration unit 14 shown in FIG. 4 in the utilization rate (%). This is done by comparing with. For example, in the line usage status registration unit 14 shown in FIG. 4, the usage rate of the “dedicated line” is “0” (%), and in the “online” in the line type registration unit 7 shown in FIG. The upper limit of the usage rate when using is "70" (%), and a "dedicated line" can be used here. in this way,
If the line can be used, the connection process with the line having the highest priority in the selection order is performed (step 106). However, if the line cannot be connected because the line failure or the utilization rate of the line is extremely high and the line cannot be used, it is judged whether there is a line of the next priority and its selection (steps 107 and 108). ) Is performed, and it is determined in step 105 whether or not the device can be used. In step 107, if there is no line with the next priority, that is, if all lines cannot be connected, error processing is performed and the user is notified (step 109).

In this way, the optimum line corresponding to the business name is automatically selected and connected. Incidentally, step 106
When the communication line connection process is performed, the line whose selection order is later than the connected line is made to correspond to the business name in use of the line, and the line use status registration unit shown in FIG. 4 is used as backup line information. It is registered in “Backup line selection order” of the item “Line status” of 14. However, in this case, since it is a backup line, the same "line state"
The "Usage rate" of the item is not set.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5, in the line automatic switching apparatus according to the present embodiment, the line utilization operation is performed in accordance with conditions such as a preset line selection order and utilization rate. Automatically connect to the line best suited for your business. As a result, the user can perform communication using the network without being aware of the usage status of the line when starting work. The information in each table can be arbitrarily set by the user, and the user can set the optimum line selection condition according to the business. The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the line switching device may be combined with the PBX to remove the transmission control unit. In this case, the type of each communication device 2a to 2c (ordering system terminal, telephone, facsimile, etc.) is
Since the PBX is used, the business name reading unit 9 in FIG. 1 only needs to read the business name from the communication device 2a or the like as the ordering system terminal.

[0019]

According to the present invention, it is possible to automatically select an optimum line according to various jobs having different processing time requirements for data transfer, and it is necessary to quickly send a large amount of data. Select a high-speed line such as a leased line for ordering business, etc., and select a low-speed, low-cost line such as a public telephone network to send a small amount of data such as facsimile information to improve the efficiency of line use. It is possible to improve.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a configuration according to the present invention of an automatic line switching device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of registered contents of a line type registration unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of registration contents of a line usage pattern registration unit in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of registration contents of a line usage status registration unit in FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing an example of processing operation according to the present invention of the automatic line switching apparatus in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Automatic line switching device, 2a to 2c: Communication device, 3a to
3c: Line, 4: Transmission control unit, 5: Business correspondence line selection unit, 6: Connection switching unit, 7: Line type registration unit, 8: Line usage pattern registration unit, 9: Business name reading unit, 10: Usage pattern Read-out unit, 11: Line selection unit, 12: Connection condition setting unit, 13: Line usage status monitoring unit, 14: Line usage status registration unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An automatic line switching device that accommodates a plurality of lines of different types and selects the line to be connected to a communication device, and processes transfer target data notified from the communication device. Received the identification information of the business
Provided is a business-corresponding line selecting means for selecting a line corresponding to the received business identification information from the plurality of lines, and a connection switching means for connecting the line selected by the business-corresponding line selecting means to the communication device. An automatic line switching device characterized in that 2. The automatic line switching device according to claim 1, wherein the business-corresponding line selecting means associates each usage pattern of the line with each type of the line in usage priority order, and Line type registration means for registering selection conditions for using each line, line usage pattern registration means for registering the identification information of each business in association with the usage pattern of each line, and business for communication from the communication device A business name reading means for reading the identification information; a usage pattern reading means for reading the usage pattern of each line corresponding to the business identification information read by the business name reading means by referring to the line usage pattern registration means; The type of each line corresponding to the usage pattern read by the usage pattern reading unit is read with reference to the line type registration unit, and the usage status of each read line Line switching means for detecting the status in the order of the use priority order registered in the line type registration means, and selecting the available line with the highest priority order. . 3. The automatic line switching device according to claim 2, wherein the upper limit of the utilization rate of each line is used as a selection condition for using each line of each of the above-mentioned usage forms of said line type registration means. Automatic line switching device. 4. The automatic line switching apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the usage priority order and selection condition of each usage pattern of the line registered in the line type registration means, and A line characterized by providing connection condition setting means for setting the correspondence between the identification information of each business registered in the line use form registration means and the use form of each line based on an input from an operator. Automatic switching device. 5. The automatic line switching device according to claim 2, wherein a line usage status monitoring unit that monitors usage status of each of the various types of lines, and a monitoring of the line usage status monitoring unit. An automatic line switching device, characterized in that a line use status registering unit for registering a result and being referred to by the line selecting unit when selecting the line is provided.