JPH0879257A - Communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide communication equipment with improved efficiency and high flexibility by setting virtual paths not passing through other exchanges among all the optional exchanges and setting different inter-exchange connection for respective information media to be transferred or services. CONSTITUTION: This equipment is provided with the plural exchanges 1-1-1-5 for performing switching with a VC(virtual channel) as a unit, cross-connection devices 2 for switching the direction with a VP(virtual path) as the unit, transmission lines 3 for physically connecting the exchanges 1-1-1-5 and the cross- connection device 2 and then, an operation system 4 for setting a VP network for logically connecting the plural exchanges 1-1-1-5 on the transmission lines 3 and setting a VC network for logically connecting subscribers on the VP network. Then, the operation system 4 is provided with the program means of free VP setting and inter-exchange connection setting.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is used in an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) communication network. In particular, it relates to a technique for realizing a plurality of exchange connection topologies for each service on one physical network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 8 and 9 show two conventional communication network configurations. FIG. 8 shows a communication network used for telephones, for example, subscriber exchanges 11 and 13 accommodating subscriber lines, relay exchanges 12 and subscriber exchanges 11 and 13 that connect these subscriber exchanges 11 and 13 to each other. And a cross-connect switch 21. On the other hand, in the data type communication represented by Ethernet, as shown in FIG. 9, the cross-connect switch 22 and the transmission path 32 are connected in one loop or bus, and are used for branching and inserting information. A drop-and-insert device 41 is provided.

[0003]

In the conventional communication network configuration, two communication networks are required to have different topologies for the above-mentioned two services. The reason is that in a service such as a telephone, each call is CBR (Constant Bit-rate), occupies a resource with a relatively long connection time, and traffic is distributed over a wide area. The trunk exchange is required because of the necessity of concentrating lines for long-distance communication. On the other hand, the data is VB in which the traffic itself is burst.
R (Variable Bit-rate) is the center, the peak rate is high-speed but the traffic is slow on average, and since it allows a certain amount of delay, there is a topology network in which one resource, a bus or loop, is shared. Used.

As described above, since services having different traffic characteristics use physical communication networks having different topologies,
Every time new services and media emerge in the era of multimedia, the optimal topology changes and there is a problem that several communication networks are required. In other words, the number of services required coaxial cables and fibers, which lacked flexibility.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a highly efficient and highly flexible communication device.

[0006]

A communication apparatus according to the present invention comprises a plurality of exchanges that perform switching in units of virtual channels (VC), and a cross-connect apparatus that switches the routes in units of virtual paths (VP). A transmission line that physically connects the exchange and the cross-connect device, and a V that logically connects a plurality of exchanges on this transmission line.
In a communication device having a P network and a host unit for setting a VC network for logically connecting subscribers on this VP network, the host unit is a switch between any switches and other switches. It is characterized in that it includes means for setting a virtual path that does not go through and connecting different exchanges for each information medium or service to be transferred.

The setting means may include means for allocating a different virtual path for each medium or service of information to be transferred. In this case, the exchange may include means for performing priority control between virtual paths having the same destination.

The setting means can also include means for allocating a plurality of media or services having the same destination to one virtual path.

[0009]

In order to realize an ideal topology for each media or service on one physical communication network, an arbitrary exchange (virtual channel handler, VC, etc.) is used in an ATM network composed of a VC network and a VP network.
H) is provided with a VP network that can be directly and directly connected (without the need for a transit switch), and the VP is changed for each medium or service. The connection of VPs realizes a free logical exchange connection topology.

[0010]

1 is a block diagram showing a communication apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus of this embodiment includes a plurality of exchanges 1-1 to 1-5 that perform switching in units of VC.
, A cross-connect device 2 that switches the route in units of VP, a transmission line 3 that physically connects the exchanges 1-1 to 1-5 and the cross-connect device 2, and a plurality of exchanges on this transmission line 3. An operation system 4 is provided for setting a VP network that logically connects 1-1 to 1-5 and setting a VC network that logically connects subscribers on this VP network. Here, the feature of this embodiment is that a VP which does not pass through other exchanges is set in the operation system 4 between all arbitrary exchanges,
It is to include a program means for setting a connection between different exchanges for each information medium or service to be transferred.

The exchanges 1-1 to 1-5 are arranged in various areas, and arbitrary exchanges can be directly connected to each other via a VP network. The connection between the exchanges may pass through the cross-connect device 2, but this cross-connect device 2 does not require switching in VC units and is generally simpler than the exchanges 1-1 to 1-5. It operates at high speed with hardware. Therefore, the VP network in which the path route is switched by the cross-connect device 2 is a high-speed, high-quality network with less cell loss.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a logical network topology for each service that can be realized by the present invention. Category 1 of (1) is a star topology represented by a telephone, category 2 of (2) is a loop topology represented by e-mail and data, and category 3 of (3) is an online banking that requires particularly reliability. It is a mesh topology used for.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration for realizing the plurality of topologies shown in FIG. 2 on one physical network. In category 1, the exchange 1-5 is a transit exchange, and the exchanges 1-1 to 1
-4 is the subscriber exchange. Exchange 1-5 and exchange 1-
1 to 1-4 are virtual paths VP1-1 to VP1-4
And all traffic between the exchanges 1-1 to 1-4 can be connected via the exchange 1-5. The category 2 is completely independent of the category 1 VP, and the loop topology is realized by the virtual paths VP2-1 to VP2-5. In the case of category 3, virtual paths VP3-1 to 3-1 are independent of categories 1 and 2.
A zero realizes a mesh topology. in this way,
The exchanges are connected using VP so that the desired topology is established. In these topologies, for example, exchanges 1-5 are transit exchanges in category 1 and category 2
Functions as a branch exchange / addition, and category 3 functions as a subscriber exchange.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the exchange. This exchange has a service distribution unit 5 that distributes cells of the same destination.
And a shaper 6 for temporarily storing the distributed cells and sending them to different VPs for each category. In each exchange, VP is divided for each service, and shaping is performed at a required speed for each service category.
The VP is set for each destination, that is, each destination exchange, and each service.

FIG. 5 shows another structural example of the exchange. In addition to the configuration shown in FIG. 4, this exchange includes a read control unit 7 that controls the read of the shaper 6.
The read control unit 7 performs read control by giving priority or non-priority to each service category within the same destination range. For example, when there is a large amount of real-time telephone traffic, the bandwidth of the corresponding VP is expanded to wait for other categories of traffic that can be waited. FIG. 6 shows the appearance of each VP on the transmission line 3.

Such priority control is a priority control within the same destination, and efficiently controls a plurality of qualities of service (delay and cell loss) by a switch without affecting resource management in the VP network. can do.

In the above embodiment, the case where different VPs are assigned to each medium, that is, to each service category has been described, but a plurality of media having the same destination can be assigned to one VP. The exchange configuration in such a case is shown in FIG.

The exchange shown in FIG. 7 has a shaper 6-1 for each category, a VP shaper 6-2 for each destination,
The read control unit 7 that controls the reading of the shaper 6-1 is provided. The shaper 6-1 controls the quality of service for each category. The VP shaper 6-2 sends the cells read from the shaper 6-1 for each category to the common VP. In this case, for example, category 1 is virtual channel identifier VCI "1" to "100", and category 2 is VCI "10".
It is divided into groups such as "1" to "200". VPs for each destination are provided on the transmission path, the number of VPs can be reduced, and a communication network can be realized with a small cross-connect device.

[0019]

As described above, the communication device of the present invention can realize an ideal network topology with one physical network for each service and medium. In addition, since the quality of service can be controlled for each service as needed, multimedia can be handled economically and flexibly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing a communication device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a logical network topology for each service.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration for realizing a plurality of topologies on one physical network.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an exchange.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the exchange.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining each VP on a transmission path.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the exchange.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional communication network.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another conventional communication network configuration.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1-1 to 1-5 Switch 2 Cross-connect device 3 Transmission line 4 Operation system 5 Service distribution unit 6, 6-1 Shaper 6-2 VP shaper 7 Read control unit 11, 13 Subscriber switch 12 Relay switch 21, 22 Cross Connect switch 31, 32 Transmission line 41 Drop-and-insert device

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of exchanges that perform switching in units of virtual channels (VC), a cross-connect device that switches the routes in units of virtual paths (VP), and a plurality of the exchanges and the cross-connect devices. A transmission path that is physically connected and a virtual path network (VP network) that logically connects the plurality of exchanges to each other are set on this transmission path, and subscribers are logically connected on this virtual path network. In a communication device including a higher-order means for setting a virtual channel network (VC network), the upper-order means sets a virtual path between all arbitrary exchanges without passing through other exchanges and transfers the information. A communication apparatus comprising means for setting different inter-exchange connection for each media or service. 2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the setting means includes means for allocating a different virtual path for each medium or service of information to be transferred. 3. The communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the exchange includes means for performing priority control between virtual paths having the same destination. 4. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the setting means includes means for allocating a plurality of media or services having the same destination to one virtual path.