JP3719601B2 - Packet communication control method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a packet communication control method and apparatus suitable for quickly solving packet congestion caused by a sudden failure of an apparatus and a transmission path in a packet communication network and maintaining communication quality.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Packet communication technology is used for communication of various information such as voice, data, and images in LANs and IP networks. Depending on the information to be communicated, there are cases where packet delay time fluctuation is severe and transmission errors are not allowed. Therefore, in a communication network that performs packet communication, the communication service level is differentiated depending on the content of information to be communicated, and communication quality is maintained.
[0003]
What embodies this is the value of TOS (Type of Service). That is, in the packet communication network, priority processing is performed in order from the packet with the highest TOS value, thereby supporting demanding communication. On the other hand, due to sudden failures in the devices and transmission paths in the communication network, packets are concentrated in one place in the communication network, congestion occurs, packet delay time increases, packet loss occurs, etc. There was a problem.
[0004]
As a means for solving this, there is a method using the TOS described above. In Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-38283 “Packet Communication Control Method, Packet Communication Control Device, and Packet Transfer Service” relating to the applicant's application, the TOS value at the time of new connection is lowered, and the TOS value is increased as the communication duration time becomes longer. Therefore, it is devised to suppress new connections during congestion.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
According to this technology, it is possible to avoid the influence of an already connected connection due to a new connection, and to improve the line quality of the packet communication network. However, even in this technology, under the circumstances such as the sudden failure occurrence, there is a case in which communication with the same high TOS value being connected competes and the communication quality is lowered. It was.
[0006]
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide means for quickly solving congestion caused by a sudden failure of a device and a transmission line in a packet communication network. There is.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, a packet communication control method according to the present invention is a communication control method in packet communication using a packet having TOS in a header, and assigns the TOS value of the packet to a low level at the start of communication, The TOS value is changed to a level based on the content of communication after the initial time has elapsed, and the TOS value is alternately increased or decreased by a predetermined number every time the communication continues for a certain time. It is.
[0008]
Here, in the packet communication control method according to the present invention, the predetermined value when increasing / decreasing the TOS value is preferably a value in a range where the influence of the increase / decrease does not appear in a normal communication state. Preferably, the predetermined value when increasing or decreasing the TOS value is 1.
[0009]
On the other hand, the packet communication control device according to the present invention is a packet communication control device using a packet having TOS in the header, a memory for holding the TOS value of the packet, means for monitoring the start and end of communication, A means for giving a packet TOS value to a low level at the start, a means for presetting an initial time and a predetermined time from the outside, and a TOS value is changed to a level based on the content of communication after the initial time has passed. And means for alternately increasing / decreasing the TOS value by a predetermined number every time the continuation of communication elapses for a certain period of time.
[0010]
Here, in the packet communication control apparatus according to the present invention, the predetermined value when the TOS value is increased / decreased is preferably a value within a range in which the influence of the increase / decrease does not appear in a normal communication state. Preferably, the predetermined value when increasing or decreasing the TOS value is 1.
[0011]
According to the present invention, it is possible to quickly solve congestion caused by a sudden failure of an apparatus and a transmission path in a packet communication network. More specifically, when the communication network is congested, communication is naturally interrupted from communication with a low priority due to the TOS value, so that the number of packets flowing into the communication network is reduced and the congestion is resolved early and the same information Even in the case of communication (for example, voice), there is an advantage that it is possible to prevent quality degradation in all communication, and to maintain communication quality even during congestion when only some of the communication with a high TOS value is congested.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on preferred examples shown in the drawings. In the communication network described below, it is assumed that the initial value of the TOS value is 1 and the upper limit value is 3.
[0013]
1, 2 and 3 are embodiments of a communication network configuration for explaining the outline of the present invention. 1, 2, 3 are packet communication terminals, and 4, 5, 6 are packet communication control devices in the communication network. In FIG. 1, the packet communication terminal 1 and the packet communication terminal 2 are communicating, and the TOS value is 2.
[0014]
When a certain time has elapsed, the TOS value of communication between the packet communication terminal 1 and the packet communication terminal 2 is changed to 3, as shown in FIG. On the other hand, when the packet communication terminal 3 starts communication with the packet communication terminal 2, the TOS value at that time is 1.
[0015]
FIG. 3 shows a case in which a communication path failure occurs between the packet communication control device 4 and the packet communication control device 5 and communication becomes impossible. The communication between the packet communication terminal 1 and the packet communication terminal 2 is packet communication control. This is done via the device 6.
[0016]
For this reason, it is conceivable that the amount of communication between the packet communication control device 6 and the packet communication control device 5 increases and congestion occurs. Since the packet communication control device 6 performs priority processing in descending order of TOS value, communication having a TOS value with a low priority is delayed or not processed, and communication quality is deteriorated or communication is interrupted.
[0017]
Therefore, communication with a low TOS value is naturally deceived, and only communication with a high TOS value remains. However, if congestion continues, the TOS value of communication between the packet communication terminal 1 and the packet communication terminal 2 is level. 3. The TOS value of communication between the packet communication terminal 3 and the packet communication terminal 2 is also level 3, and if they remain as they both compete, quality degradation will occur.
[0018]
However, as described above, since the communication between the packet communication terminal 1 and the packet communication terminal 2 has passed a certain time since the TOS value was changed to level 3, the packet communication control device 4 changes the TOS value to level 2. . This corresponds to the example shown in claim 3 or 6 in which the width of the TOS value to be increased or decreased is 1.
[0019]
Since the packet communication control device 6 preferentially processes the communication between the packet communication terminal 3 and the packet communication terminal 2 holding the TOS value at level 3, the quality is maintained, but the packet communication terminal 1 and the packet communication The communication of the terminal 2 is not processed because the priority is inferior, and the communication quality is severely deteriorated or the communication is interrupted.
[0020]
In this way, communication is naturally interrupted from communication with low priority due to the TOS value at the time of congestion, so the number of packets flowing into the communication network is reduced, congestion is resolved early, and communication with a high TOS value is congested. Communication quality can be maintained sometimes.
[0021]
In the normal communication state, even if the TOS value is incremented by 1 or minus 1, there is no influence on the communication quality.
[0022]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the packet communication control procedure in the present invention. When a packet that requires real-time characteristics such as voice and video starts communication and flows into the network (NW), the edge router assigns the TOS value with the lowest priority as an initial value (step 1). Forward.
[0023]
As the communication time becomes longer, the priority (TOS) given to the packet is increased (step 2). When the priority reaches a preset TOS value (for example, audio = 2, video = 4) according to the application (step 3), the TOS value is decreased by 1 (step 1) after a certain period of time. 4) Add 1 (step 5) and repeat until communication is completed.
[0024]
Note that a low value is assigned to the TOS value assigned to the data packet transferred within the same network so as not to overlap the TOS value assigned to the packet requiring real-time property.
[0025]
[Example 1]
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the packet communication control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a packet receiving unit, 11 is a communication content determining unit, 12 is an initial time timer, 13 is an initial value TOS adding unit, 14 is a TOS value holding memory, 15 is a fixed time timer, and 16 is a TOS value plus 1 or minus 1 17 is a packet distribution unit, 18 is a processing waiting queue group for each priority, 19 is a priority processing mechanism, and 20 is an external device for setting a timer.
[0026]
First, when a packet is input to the packet receiving unit 10, the communication content determination unit 11 determines the start and end of communication and the type of communication information. If communication is started, the initial time timer 12 is started and a TOS initial value is assigned (13). Thereafter, the packet distribution unit 17 distributes the queues to the corresponding queues in the processing queue group 18 for each priority.
[0027]
The priority processing mechanism 19 scans in order from the processing queue with the highest priority, and if there is a packet in the processing queue, it is read and transmitted to the next device. When a packet being transmitted is input to the packet receiving unit 10, the timer is checked, and if the set time 15 is exceeded, the arithmetic circuit 16 looks at the value in the TOS value holding memory 14 and If the TOS value has the highest priority, it is incremented by 1. If the TOS value has the highest priority, it is decremented by 1, and is stored again in the TOS value holding memory.
[0028]
If the timer 15 does not time out, the TOS value set in the TOS value holding memory 14 is added to the packet, sent to the packet distribution unit 17, and sent according to the priority. In this way, the TOS value is incremented by 1 or minus 1 each time a certain time elapses. An arbitrary value can be set from the external device 20 as the value of the fixed time timer.
[0029]
According to the above embodiment, the TOS value is alternately increased / decreased by a predetermined number every time a continuation of communication elapses for a certain time, so that a sudden failure of a device and a transmission path in the packet communication network may occur. The effect that it becomes possible to solve the congestion which generate | occur | produces at an early stage is acquired.
[0030]
In addition, the said Example shows an example of this invention and this invention should not be limited to this, You may perform an appropriate change and improvement in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention. Needless to say.
[0031]
For example, the packet communication control method shown in the above embodiment can be realized by computer program control, and the scope of the right of the present invention is such a program, and further, a record recording this program. Needless to say, it extends to the medium.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, according to the present invention, there is a remarkable effect that congestion caused by a sudden failure of an apparatus and a transmission path in a packet communication network can be solved at an early stage. .
[0033]
More specifically, when the communication network is congested, communication is naturally interrupted from communication with a low priority due to the TOS value, so the number of packets flowing into the communication network is reduced, congestion is resolved early, and the same priority is given. There is an advantage that all packets (packets performing the same information communication) are prevented from deteriorating in quality, and only a part of the packets can be maintained in communication quality.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram (No. 1) showing a configuration example of a communication network for explaining an overview of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a diagram (part 2) illustrating a configuration example of a communication network for explaining the outline of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a diagram (part 3) illustrating a configuration example of a communication network for explaining an overview of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a packet communication control procedure in the present invention.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of a packet communication control apparatus according to an embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
1, 2, 3 Packet communication terminals 4, 5, 6 Packet communication control device 10 in communication network Packet receiving unit 11 Communication content determining unit 12 Initial time timer 13 TOS value setting gate circuit 14 TOS value holding memory 15 Fixed time timer 16 Arithmetic circuit 17 for incrementing TOS value 1 or minus 1 Processing queue group 18 for each priority order Priority processing mechanism 19 External device for setting timer

Claims (6)

A communication control method in packet communication using a packet having TOS in a header,
At the start of communication, the TOS value of the packet is assigned to a low level. After the initial time has elapsed, the TOS value is changed to a level based on the content of communication, and every time the communication continues for a certain time A packet communication control method, wherein the TOS value is increased or decreased by a predetermined number. 2. The packet communication control method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined value when increasing or decreasing the TOS value is a value in a range in which the influence of the increase or decrease does not appear in a normal communication state. 3. The packet communication control method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined value when increasing or decreasing the TOS value is 1. A packet communication control apparatus using a packet having TOS in a header,
Memory for holding the TOS value of the packet, means for monitoring the start and end of communication, means for assigning the TOS value of the packet to a low level at the start of communication, and means for presetting the initial time and fixed time from the outside And means for changing the TOS value to a level based on the contents of communication after the initial time has elapsed, and means for alternately increasing or decreasing the TOS value by a predetermined number every time the communication continues for a certain time. A packet communication control device comprising: 5. The packet communication control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined value when increasing or decreasing the TOS value is a value in a range in which the influence of the increase or decrease does not appear in a normal communication state. The packet communication control apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the predetermined value when increasing or decreasing the TOS value is 1.

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