KR100294708B1 - Method and apparatus for controlling network interface card - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a network interface card control apparatus and method capable of simultaneously supporting various types of protocols by integrating various interface cards into one and providing a standardized interface to a higher application layer. The apparatus for controlling a network interface card according to the present invention implements a desired network interface by switching a digital highway according to the type of service and a plurality of protocol processing units each supporting various types of protocols for providing an arbitrary communication service. Exchanges information with the upper application layer using a plurality of network interface units occupying an empty relay line, and a standard interface indicating whether or not any protocol processing request and result of the required protocol processing are performed. Irrespective of the call processing control unit for controlling the network interface unit and the protocol processing unit.

Description

Apparatus and method for controlling a network interface card {Method and apparatus for controlling network interface card}

The present invention relates to a network interface card, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for controlling a network interface card capable of simultaneously supporting various types of protocols by providing a standardized interface card to an upper application layer.

In the conventional network interface system, since the trunk interface unit and the protocol processing unit are physically separated, the interface cards constituting the system differ depending on the protocol.

That is, the interface card is classified into a digital highway switching card, a channel association signaling (CAS) protocol processing card, a common channel signaling (CCS) protocol processing card, and a trunk line interface card according to a function.

In addition, the system for providing the actual service by using the network interface includes a voice processing card that provides a voice service (Voice Mailbox Service Internet Phone Service) and a main work card that controls the connection and release of calls by controlling these cards. need.

In particular, the main working card controls each card through the system bus, with each card connected to a PCM digital highway. The relay line interface card can connect one or several E1 or T1 grade relay lines.

In the conventional network system, as shown in FIG. 1, since each card that is responsible for the network interface 30, 30 ', 40, 40', 60, 60 'is separated into a plurality of cards, the central processing unit (the main work on the drawing) The application programs of the card 10 directly control each card to provide a service in association with a network.

That is, if the system uses the CAS protocol processing method and the CCS protocol processing method, each application program controls each network interface card to connect a call as follows to connect a single call.

First, in the case of the CAS protocol processing method, the application program instructs the trunk line interface card 60 (60 ') to occupy the line via the system bus 80. The application program controls the digital highway switching card 50 to connect the digital highway 70 between the occupied line and the CAS protocol processing card 40, 40 '.

Subsequently, the application program sends a call number to the CAS protocol processing card 40 (40 '), and if each call is answered in the partner network 90 after the call number transmission is completed, the CAS protocol processing card 40 (40') is transmitted. Reports this to the application.

The application program commands the digital highway switching card 50 again to connect the digital highway 70 between the line and the voice processing card 20, 20 'that provides the service.

Then, the partner network 90 and the voice card 20 and 20 'are connected to each other through the digital highway 70, thereby providing voice service.

On the other hand, the CCS method is as follows.

First, the application program of the main work card 10 initially controls the digital highway switching card 50 to connect between the relay signal channel and the CCS protocol processing card 30, 30 'by the digital highway 70, The application sends a setup message to the CCS protocol processing card 30 (30 ').

Then, the CCS protocol processing card 30 (30 ') transmits a response signal of the network to the application program.

When the network responds to the call, the CCS protocol processing card 30 (30 ') passes the response to the application, and the application instructs the digital highway switching card 50 to provide the line and the service answered. The digital highway 70 is connected between the voice processing cards 20 and 20 '. And voice service is started.

2 shows a call setup procedure in a conventional NIC for an R2 signal in the case of a CAS protocol processing method and an ISDN protocol for a CCS protocol processing method.

In this case, the forward tone indicates information generated from the calling party to the called party, and the backward tone indicates information generated from the called party to the calling party.

And I-X, II-X... Means group 1 and group 2 delivering subscriber addresses, respectively; And the like represent groups A and B that convey exchange information (e.g., information indicating subscriber class or billing required by the exchange).

Thus, the forward tone (1-x) indicates the transmission group for the subscriber address generated from the calling party to the called party, and the backward tone (A1) indicates the transmission group for the subscriber address generated from the called party to the calling party. .

However, in the conventional network system, the application program mounted on the upper main work card intervenes throughout the call connection procedure, and includes a plurality of different call processing processes according to each protocol.

Therefore, if an application directly controls various protocols when accepting various types of protocols, the structure of the application is complicated because the application must be able to support the functions of each protocol. Each time the internal registers change frequently according to the function of each protocol.

As a result, as the number of cards related to the network interface increases, the system load increases, making it difficult to expand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described prior art, and provides a network interface card control apparatus and method which can be set to have a simple structure and low cost by providing an integrated hardware card that supports interfaces of various protocols. It is to provide.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, the network interface card control apparatus includes a plurality of protocol processing units each supporting various types of protocols for providing any communication service, and according to the type of the service Switching the digital highway to implement the desired network interface, a number of network interface units occupying an empty relay line, and a standard interface indicating whether or not any protocol processing request and success of the required protocol processing result. And a call processing control unit which controls the network interface unit and the protocol processing unit regardless of the protocol type.

Preferably, between the upper application layer and the call processing control unit, the system interface unit for interfacing a command issued from the upper application layer and the plurality of protocol processing units with an initialization command issued from an upper application layer through the system interface unit. A system initialization unit for initializing the network interface unit and the call processing control unit simultaneously is further provided.

In addition, the call processing control unit manages the line management of the network interface card and the call progress state for a desired protocol.

According to another feature of the present invention for achieving the other object as described above, the network interface card control method checks the initialization message from the upper application layer according to the ready state of the network interface card, each network interface unit and protocol processing unit Initiating, and determining the type of call processing requested by a standard interface from a higher application layer, requesting the call processing unit from a corresponding protocol processing unit, and performing call processing according to the response; And reporting the execution result of the call processing to a higher application layer using a standard interface, and then changing / recording the call processing state in its database.

1 is a block diagram showing a conventional network interface system.

2 is a signal flow diagram illustrating a call setup procedure executed in a conventional network interface system.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing a network interface card control apparatus according to the present invention.

4 is a block diagram illustrating a network interface card control apparatus accommodating the CAS protocol processing method and the CCS protocol processing method according to the present invention;

FIG. 5A is a flowchart illustrating an initialization process of an interface card executed in a higher application layer shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 5B is an operation flowchart showing a setup process executed by the network interface card shown in FIG. 4; FIG.

6 is a signal flow diagram illustrating a call setup procedure according to a network interface card control method of the present invention.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

100: main work card

200, 200´: network interface

300, 300´: sound processing card

Hereinafter, a configuration and an operation according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a network interface system according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, a main work card 100 loaded with a higher level application program, a network interface card 200 (200 ') controlled by the main work card, and a function (voice processing) card 300 (300) ').

At this time, the function of the network system of the present invention is determined according to the function cards 300 and 300 '.

Since the function cards 300 and 300 'use the same sound processing card as the conventional system, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

4 is a block diagram of a network interface card that accommodates a CAS protocol processing method and a CCS protocol processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the present invention provides a digital highway switching unit 203, a digital relay unit 207, and a CAS which individually handle network interface and protocol processing in order to configure the network interface and the protocol processing apparatus in one card. The protocol processing unit 206 and the CCS protocol processing unit 206 are integrated into one board 200 and configured.

At this time, regardless of each protocol type of the network interface and the protocol processing apparatus, a standardized interface indicating an arbitrary protocol processing request and success or failure of the processing result is provided to the upper application layer 100 through the system bus, and the higher application layer. The call processing control unit 204 further configured to simultaneously support various types of protocols between the network interface and the protocol processing apparatus and the upper application layer 100 using the standard interface received from the 100.

Here, the call processing control unit 204 manages call progress for line management and CAS / CCS protocol of each network interface card (hereinafter, abbreviated as NIC), and also assigns relay channels and A control logic is provided therein to control the release and to control the switching operation with respect to the digital highway.

In addition, according to the present invention, the NIC initialization command interface and the NIC application command from the upper application layer 100 and the upper application layer 100 are transferred from the upper application layer 100 and the call processing control unit 204 according to the ready state of the NIC. The system interface 201 may be further provided for interfacing the command, and the CCS protocol processing unit 205 may be a NIC initialization command issued from the upper application layer 100 through the system interface 201 according to the ready state of the NIC. And a system initialization unit 202 for simultaneously initializing the CAS protocol processing unit 206, the digital relay unit 207, and the call processing control unit 204.

Here, the application program of the upper application layer 100 uses a standard interface provided by the NIC 200 in controlling each call of the NIC and providing a service.

In this case, the standard interface may be provided in the form of a function or a message, and by maintaining a shape that is as independent as possible from the types of protocols such as CAS and CCS, the expansion of the system and the addition of new protocols or various types of protocols in one MIC Can be used.

FIG. 5A is a flowchart illustrating a NIC initialization process executed in a higher application layer shown in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 5A, a first process (S41-S46) of initializing each network interface unit and a protocol processor by checking an initialization message received from an upper application layer according to a ready state of a NIC is illustrated.

FIG. 5B is a flowchart illustrating a setup process performed by the network interface card shown in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 5B, when there is a call processing request using a standard interface (the example of setup request in the drawing) from a higher application layer, the requested call processing type is determined and a corresponding protocol processing unit is requested. And reporting the second process (S51-S57, S59-S61) to perform the call processing according to the response of the corresponding protocol processing unit and the call processing result to the upper application layer using the standard interface, and then call processing state. The third process (S58, S62, S63) of changing / recording the data into its own database is shown.

When described in detail with respect to the operation and effect of the present invention made of each step as follows.

First, the operation of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5A and 5B. A process of generating a call in an application program using a standard interface provided by the network interface card 200 will be described below.

First, the application program 100 commands the network interface card 200 to set a call in common to the CCS protocol processing unit 205 and the CAS protocol processing unit 206 through the system interface unit 201.

The network interface card 200 then occupies a line that is not currently used, sends a setup message or line occupancy signal and waits for a response signal from the network system.

When the network system answers each call, the NIC 200 transmits a response signal to the application program.

The application program receives the response signal from the network system and controls the voice processing cards 300 and 300 'through the line occupied by the network interface card.

In this way, the application program controls the voice processing cards 300 and 300 ', so that the voice service is performed.

For example, the CCS protocol is almost the same as the CAS protocol, but if the NIC 200 occupies the line and waits for a response signal from the network system, the network system receives the busy message and sends the message to the application program. The delivery process is additionally performed.

In order to add this process performed by the CCS protocol processing unit 205, the software of the NIC 200 needs the call processing control unit 204.

The call processing control unit 204 controls and manages the progress status of the call with respect to the CAS protocol processing unit 205 and the CCS protocol processing unit 206.

In addition, the call processing control unit 204 manages resources such as circuits of the NIC, and manages call and line states of relay lines and channels, and performs allocation and release of relay line channels as necessary.

In addition, by performing the function to handle the switching operation of the digital highway, it is possible to simultaneously support several types of protocols.

6 is a signal flow diagram illustrating a call setup procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, a standard interface provided between a call processing control unit and a higher application layer indicates that a new call is requested from a network and a setup request requesting call setup from a higher application layer to a network interface card. Setup ind. (Indication) to report to the upper application layer from the interface card, alert req. And network interface card to notify the network that the upper application layer is calling to the network interface card. An alert ind. That reports that a busy signal has been received from the network to a higher application layer, a connect request requesting a call connection to the network interface card at a higher application layer, and a higher application at the network interface card. A layer that reports that the network has answered a call Connect ind., Release req. Requesting a call release from the upper application layer to the network interface card, and release ind. Reporting that the call has been released from the network interface card to the upper application layer. A reset request requesting initialization of a call (state) from the upper application layer to the network interface card, and a reset indication reporting that the call (state) has been initialized from the network interface card to the upper application layer. And a block request requesting a channel block from the upper application layer to the network interface card, and a block ind. Interface reporting the channel block from the network interface card to the upper application layer.

According to the present invention as described above, unlike the conventional network interface card by integrating the four network interface cards into one can increase the density of the system, the application program is less load on call processing to provide more services than the conventional can do.

In addition, even if a separate protocol is added, there is an advantage that the system can be easily changed since the application program is not greatly changed.

Claims (8)

A plurality of protocol processing units each supporting several types of protocols for providing arbitrary communication services; A plurality of network interface units which occupy an empty relay line by implementing a desired network interface by switching digital highways according to the type of service; Call processing to control the network interface unit and the protocol processing unit regardless of the protocol type by exchanging information with a higher application layer using a standard interface indicating an arbitrary protocol processing request and success or failure of the requested protocol processing result. Network interface card control device, characterized in that configured as a control unit. The method according to claim 1, wherein between the upper application layer and the call processing controller, And a system interface unit for interfacing a command issued from the upper application layer. The network interface card according to claim 2, further comprising a system initialization unit which initializes the plurality of protocol processing units, the network interface unit, and the call processing control unit simultaneously by an initialization command issued from an upper application layer through the system interface unit. controller. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the call processing controller manages line management of the network interface card and a call progress state for a desired protocol. The method of claim 1, wherein the standard interface for CAS and CCS protocol processing provided between the call processing control unit and a higher application layer, A setup request for requesting a call setup from a higher application layer to a network interface card and a setup indication for reporting a new call from the network to a higher application layer; A connection indication for requesting a call connection from the upper application layer to the network interface card and a connection indication reporting that the network has answered the call from the network interface card to the upper application layer; A release request requesting a call release from a higher application layer to a network interface card and a release indication reporting that the call was released from a network interface card to a higher application layer; A reset indication requesting a call initialization from a higher application layer to a network interface card and a reset indication reporting that the call has been initiated from a network interface card to a higher application layer; And a block request interface for requesting channel blocks from a higher application layer to a network interface card and a block indication interface for reporting channel blocks from a network interface card to a higher application layer. Initializing each network interface unit and protocol processing unit by checking an initialization message received from an upper application layer according to a ready state of the network interface card; Determining the type of call processing requested by a standard interface from a higher application layer, requesting the call processing unit from a corresponding protocol processing unit, and performing call processing according to whether or not a response is made; And reporting the execution result of the call processing to a higher application layer by using a standard interface, and then changing / recording the call processing state in its own database. The method of claim 6, wherein the initializing step, Checking a ready state of the network interface card; Searching for an initialization file when the ready state of the network interface card is checked; Performing initialization of the network interface card and the protocol processing card using the searched initialization file and waiting for an initialization completion signal from the network interface card; And transmitting a start command to the initialized network interface card to determine a start confirmation, and ending the initialization operation according to the determination result. The method of claim 6, wherein the call processing step, Determining whether there is a call processing request by the standard interface from a higher application layer; If there is no error in the requested call processing, checking a call processing type and requesting the call processing unit for the corresponding protocol processing unit; And performing call processing according to whether the protocol processor responds.