JP3971744B2 - Gateway selection control system in voice communication system - Google Patents

Description

  More particularly, the present invention relates to a voice communication system connected to a packet switching network in a voice communication system in which a packet switching network and a circuit switching network are connected to each other via a gateway. The present invention relates to a gateway selection control system for selecting a gateway used for voice communication from a terminal device to a voice communication terminal device connected to a circuit switching network.

  Conventionally, voice communication has been performed between voice communication terminal devices (telephones) connected to a circuit switching network. In recent years, a voice communication system that performs voice communication between a voice communication terminal device connected to a packet-switched network (for example, LAN) and a voice communication terminal device (phone) connected to a circuit-switched network is disclosed in Patent Literature. 1 is proposed.

This voice communication system is configured as shown in FIG. In FIG. 10, a packet switching network (LAN) 100 to which voice communication terminal devices 120 (1) and 120 (2) are connected and a circuit switching network 200 to which voice communication terminal devices 220 (1) and 220 (2) are connected. Are coupled by the communication server 10. The communication server 10 is assigned a communication address on the packet switching network 100 and a telephone number on the circuit switching network 200. As a result, the voice communication terminal devices 120 (1) and 120 (2) connected to the packet switching network 100 and the voice communication terminal devices 220 (1) and 220 (2) connected to the circuit switching network 200 are Communication with the communication server 10 becomes possible. Then, for example, the voice communication terminal device 120 (1) of the packet switching network 100 and the voice communication terminal device 220 (1) of the circuit switching network 200 perform voice communication via the communication server 10.
JP-A-7-170288

  By the way, in a voice communication system between a voice communication terminal connected to a large packet switching network composed of a plurality of networks such as the Internet and a voice communication terminal connected to a circuit switching network, packet switching is performed. A plurality of gateways (corresponding to the communication server 10) for performing voice communication relay between each network in the network and the circuit switching network are required.

  Also, when looking at the packet switching network and the circuit switching network from the viewpoint of voice communication, each network has different characteristic features.

  A packet switching network such as the Internet generally has a large delay, but a circuit switching network generally has a small delay. In addition, in the circuit switching network, charging is performed for voice communication using a fee system that depends on the distance between communication terminals (communication distance), and in the packet switching network, charging for voice communication is performed using a different charging system. For example, in the Internet (packet switching network), a fee system that does not depend on the communication distance is common.

  Therefore, when voice communication is performed between a packet switching network and a circuit switching network connected by a plurality of gateways as described above, even if the voice communication is performed between the same voice terminal devices, the communication quality and the communication cost. Depends on the gateway (communication path) selected.

  Accordingly, the first problem of the present invention is that, when calling a voice communication terminal device connected for circuit switching from a voice communication terminal device connected to a packet line network, the charge system in the packet switching network is mainly used. It is an object of the present invention to provide a gateway selection control system in which a gateway is selected such that charging for voice communication is possible in a fee system.

  In order to solve the first problem of the present invention described above, the present invention is characterized in that, as described in claim 1, a plurality of networks each connected with a voice communication terminal device are integrated to identify each network. A packet switching network having an address system for identifying a voice communication terminal device by an address including a network address to be connected to the voice communication terminal device, and each voice communication terminal device is identified by a telephone number including a number portion representing a region. A circuit switching network having a specified telephone number system, an address in the packet switching network address system, and a telephone number in the circuit switching network telephone number system are allocated, and between the packet switching network and the circuit switching network. In a voice communication system having a plurality of gateways for relaying voice communication performed, a line is connected from a voice communication terminal connected to the packet switching network. In a gateway selection control system for selecting a gateway to be used for voice communication to a voice communication terminal connected to a switching network, the telephone number assigned to each gateway is connected to the packet switching network. A gateway search table management server that manages a gateway search table that indicates a correspondence relationship between a number part that represents an area and each gateway, and a number part that represents an area included in a telephone number that identifies a voice communication terminal device of a communication partner A search means for searching a plurality of gateways to which a telephone number including a number part representing the same region is assigned, and the search means communicates from a gateway search table managed by the gateway search table management server. Telephone number that identifies the other party's voice communication terminal And means for searching the gateway corresponding to the number portion representing an area that matches the number portion representing an area that is included, the retrieved gateways to choose as a gateway to be used in the voice communication.

  The number portion representing the area included in the telephone number corresponds to a part or all of a series of numbers including a general area code, country code, and the like representing the area. In such a gateway selection control system, a gateway close to the voice communication terminal device of the communication partner connected to the circuit switching network is selected. In this case, a portion in the circuit switching network is small in the communication path to the communication partner voice communication terminal apparatus connected to the circuit switching network via the gateway selected from the source voice communication terminal apparatus. Therefore, the communication cost mainly depends on the charge system of the packet switching network. Further, in such a gateway selection control system, a target gateway can be easily searched.

  As described above, according to the present invention described in claim 1, the communication cost in voice communication via the selected gateway mainly depends on the charge system of the packet switching network. When the charge system in the packet switching network is a charge system in which the communication fee does not depend on the communication distance, for example, as in the Internet, it is possible to reduce the call cost particularly for a remote party.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a voice communication system to which a gateway selection control system of the present invention is applied.

  In FIG. 1, a packet switched network 100 (for example, the Internet) has a plurality of networks 100 (1) and 100 (2). Voice communication terminal devices 120 and 121 are connected to the networks 100 (1) and 100 (2), respectively. The voice communication terminal devices 120 and 121 are configured by providing a voice board on a so-called personal computer, for example. The circuit switching network 200 has a plurality of toll network 200 (1) and 200 (2) managed by the toll office. Voice communication terminal devices (telephones) 220 and 221 are connected to the respective toll office networks 200 (1) and 200 (2), respectively.

  The packet switching network 100 and the circuit switching network 200 are connected via a plurality of gateways 11 and 12. One gateway 11 is connected to the network 100 (1) in the packet switching network 100 and the toll network 200 (1) in the circuit switching network 200. The other gateway 12 is connected to the network 100 (2) in the packet switching network 100 and the toll network 200 (2) in the circuit switching network 200.

  In FIG. 1, for simplification of description, the packet switching network 100 is configured by two networks, and the circuit switching network 200 is configured by two networks corresponding to the toll areas. Yes. However, in an actual system, it is natural that there are more than that number. For the same purpose, in the system shown in FIG. 1, only one voice communication terminal device is connected to each network.

  In the packet switching network 100, an address for specifying each voice communication terminal device is composed of a network address portion and a host address portion, for example, as shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 5A, the network address portion is from the left (from the top) to the second delimiter among the address numbers delimited by “.”. This network address part specifies the network to which the voice communication terminal device is connected.

  In the voice communication system shown in FIG. 1, for example, the following addresses are assigned to the networks 100 (1) and 100 (2) and the voice communication terminal devices 120 and 121 of the packet switching network 100.

Network 100 (1) ... 133.160 (network address)
Network 100 (2) ... 164.70 (network address)
Voice communication terminal device 120 ... 133.160.63.4
Voice communication terminal device 121 ... 164.70.21.233
On the other hand, in the circuit switching network 200, a telephone number for identifying each voice communication terminal device (telephone) is composed of an area code and a local telephone number as shown in FIG. 5B, for example. . This area code is the number part representing the area. When dialing from overseas, the telephone number for identifying each voice communication terminal device (telephone) is added with a country code in addition to the area code and local telephone number, as shown in FIG. 5C, for example. It becomes the composition. In this case, the country code and the area code are the number part representing the area.
In the voice communication system shown in FIG. 1, for example, the following addresses are assigned to the respective toll office networks 200 (1) and 200 (2) and the voice communication terminal devices (telephones) 220 and 221 of the circuit switching network 200. Assigned.

Area code network 200 (1) ... 044 (area code)
Area code network 200 (2) ... 078 (area code)
Voice communication terminal device 220 (telephone) ... 044-754-3821
Voice communication terminal 221 (telephone) ... 078-934-8248
Further, each gateway is assigned an address in the address system in the packet switching network 100 and a telephone number in the telephone number system in the circuit switching network 200. The voice communication system shown in FIG. 1 is connected to a network 100 (1) (network address: 133.160) of a packet switching network 100 and an area network 200 (1) (area code: 044) of a circuit switching network 200. For example, the following addresses and telephone numbers are assigned to the gateway 11.

Gateway 11 ... 133.160.63.1 (Address)
・ ・ ・ 044-777-1111 (phone number)
The gateway 12 connected to the network 100 (2) (network address: 164.70) of the packet switching network 100 and the toll network 200 (2) (city code: 078) of the circuit switching network 200 is, for example, Address and telephone number are assigned.

Gateway 12 ... 164.70.21.200 (address)
・ ・ ・ 078-934-1234 (phone number)
The voice communication terminal devices 120 and 121 connected to the packet switching network 100 of the voice communication system shown in FIG. 1 are configured as shown in FIG. 2, for example.

  In FIG. 2, a CPU 21 that performs overall control, a storage device 22, a display device control unit 23, a keyboard control unit 25, a decoding control unit 27, and an encoding control unit 29 are connected to the bus 20. The storage device 22 stores a table as described later together with various processing programs and data. Further, an address for identifying the voice communication terminal device in the packet switching network 100 is stored in the storage device 22. The display device control unit 23 controls the display device 24 based on a command from the CPU 21. The keyboard control unit 25 performs input control of operation input data from the keyboard 26. The decoding control unit 27 decodes the encoded audio data provided based on a command from the CPU 21. The audio signal obtained by the decoding control unit 27 is provided to the audio output device (speaker) 28. The encoding control unit 29 encodes the audio signal captured from the audio input device (microphone) 30. The audio data obtained by the encoding control unit 29 is processed according to the control of the CPU 21.

  The voice communication terminal device further includes a packet assembly / disassembly control unit 31 and a network interface unit 32. The packet assembling / disassembling control unit 31 assembles voice data to be transmitted in the form of a packet and supplies it to the network control unit 32. Then, the packet including the audio data is sequentially sent from the network interface control unit 32 to the network. Further, when a packet from the network is input via the network interface 32, the packet assembly / disassembly control unit 31 decomposes each packet into audio data.

  The voice communication terminal devices (telephones) 220 and 221 connected to the circuit switching network 200 in the voice communication system shown in FIG. 1 are configured as shown in FIG. 3, for example.

  In FIG. 3, a CPU 41 that performs overall control, a storage device 42, a display device control unit 43, a numeric keypad control unit 25, a decoding control unit 47, and an encoding control unit 49 are connected to the bus 40. The storage device 42 stores various processing programs and data. The display device control unit 43 controls the display device 44 based on a command from the CPU 41. The numeric keypad controller 45 controls the input of operation input data (telephone number, abbreviated number, etc.) from the numeric keypad 46. The decoding control unit 47 decodes the encoded audio data provided based on the command from the CPU 41. The audio signal obtained by the decoding control unit 47 is provided to the audio output device (speaker) 48. The encoding control unit 49 encodes the audio signal captured from the audio input device (microphone) 50. The audio data obtained by the encoding control unit 49 is processed according to the control of the CPU 421. The audio output device (speaker) 48 and the audio input device (microphone) 50 are incorporated in the handset.

  The voice communication terminal device further includes a line interface unit 51. Via this line interface unit 51, an audio signal is transmitted to the network and an audio signal is received from the network.

  The gateways 11 and 12 in the voice communication system shown in FIG. 1 are configured as shown in FIG. 4, for example.

  In FIG. 4, a CPU 61 that performs overall control, a storage device 62, a line control unit 63, an encoding control unit 64, a decoding control unit 65, and a packet assembly / disassembly control unit 67 are connected to the bus 60. The storage device 62 stores various processing programs and data. The line control unit 63 is coupled to the network of the circuit switching network 200 via the line interface unit 66, and performs transmission / reception control of audio signals between the gateway and the voice communication terminal device in the circuit switching network 200. . The audio signal from the circuit switching network 200 received by the line interface unit 66 is encoded by the encoding control unit 64, and as a result, the generated audio data is processed according to the control of the CPU 61. Also, the audio data is decoded into an audio signal by the decoding control unit 65, and the audio signal is transmitted from the line interface 66 to the circuit switching network 200.

  On the other hand, the packet assembling / disassembling control unit 67 is coupled to the packet switching network 100 via the network interface unit 68, and the gateway and voice communication terminal devices in the packet switching network 100 are connected via the network interface unit 68. Audio signal transmission / reception control between the two is performed. That is, the voice data to be transmitted is assembled into a packet, and the packet is sequentially transmitted to the network via the network interface 68. On the other hand, the packet received by the network interface 68 is decomposed into audio data by the packet assembly / disassembly control unit 67.

  Each gateway configured as described above performs a packet communication with the voice communication terminal device in the packet switching network 100 and transmits / receives a voice signal to / from the voice communication terminal device in the circuit switching network 200. And a function to perform. With such a function, each gateway relays voice communication between the voice communication terminal device in the packet switching network 100 and the voice communication terminal device in the circuit switching network 200.

  In the storage device 22 of each of the voice communication terminal devices 120 and 121 in the packet switching network 100, for example, a table as shown in FIG. 6 (hereinafter referred to as a gateway search table). The gateway search table shows the correspondence between each gateway 11 (Gateway # 11) and 12 (Gateway # 12) and the network address, address, area code, and telephone number assigned to each.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 1, when performing voice communication from the voice communication terminal device 121 in the packet switching network 100 to the voice communication terminal device 220 in the circuit switching network 200, the CPU 21 of the voice communication terminal device 121 For example, the process of selecting a gateway is executed according to the procedure shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 7, first, an address for identifying the voice terminal device 121 in the packet switching network 100 is read from the storage device 22 (S1). In this case, the address “164.70.21.233” is read out. Next, the network address is separated from the address thus read (S2). That is, the network address “164.70” from the top of the address “164.70.21.233” to the second partition is separated from the address.

  Using this separated network address “164.70” as a key, the network address column of the gateway search table (see FIG. 6) stored in the storage device 22 is searched (S3). As a result, it is determined whether or not a network address matching the key network address exists in the gateway search table (S4). Here, if a network address matching the key network address exists in the gateway search table, the address of the corresponding gateway is set as a return value in a predetermined register (S5). In this example, a network address matching the key network address “164.70” exists in the gateway search table, and the address “164.70.21.200” of the corresponding gateway 12 (# 12) is set in a predetermined register ( S5).

  In this way, when the gateway address is set in a predetermined register (when the gateway is selected), the voice communication terminal device 121 executes a calling procedure. Specifically, first, a virtual circuit is set up with the gateway 12 specified (selected) by the address set in the register. Thereafter, the telephone number “044-754-3821” of the voice communication terminal device (telephone) 220 as the communication partner is transferred to the gateway 12 through the virtual line. The gateway 12 controls outgoing calls to the voice communication terminal device 220 through the line control unit 63 (see FIG. 4). When the gateway 12 is line-connected to the voice communication terminal device 220, a connection notification is made from the gateway 12 to the caller voice communication terminal device 121, and the communication is in progress.

  In the communication state, in the voice communication terminal device 121 in the packet switching network 100, the voice information input from the voice input device 30 is converted from an analog signal to digital data by the encoding control unit 29, Encoding is performed according to an encoding rule (for example, μ-law). The encoded voice information is packetized by the packet assembly / disassembly control unit 31. The packetized voice information is transmitted from the network interface 32 toward the gateway 12.

  In the gateway 12, packetized voice information received from the voice communication terminal device 121 is sequentially processed by the network interface 68 and the packet assembly / disassembly control unit 67. Then, the processed voice information is decoded by the decoding control unit 65, and the voice signal obtained by the decoding is transmitted from the line interface 66 to the voice communication terminal apparatus 220 of the communication partner.

  The voice signal from the voice communication terminal device 220 in the circuit switched network 200 is transferred to the voice communication terminal device 121 in the packet switched network 100 via the gateway 12 in the reverse procedure to the above procedure. Then, sound based on the sound signal is output from the sound output device 28 (speaker) of the sound communication terminal device 121.

  As a result of the execution of the above procedure, between the voice communication terminal device 121 in the packet switching network 100 and the voice communication terminal device 220 in the circuit switching network 200, the gateway 12 as shown in FIG. A communication path (2) is formed. In this communication path (2), since the gateway 12 to which the same network address as the voice communication terminal device 121 of the packet switching network 100 is assigned is selected, the portion of the packet switching network 100 is short and the portion of the circuit switching network 200 is long. Therefore, the communication quality on the communication path (2) through the gateway 12 mainly depends on the relatively high communication quality in the circuit switching network 200.

  When voice communication is performed from the voice communication terminal apparatus 121 in the packet switching network 100 to the voice communication terminal apparatus 220 in the circuit switching network 200, the CPU 21 of the voice communication terminal apparatus 121 further performs, for example, the procedure shown in FIG. The gateway selection process may be executed according to the above.

  In FIG. 8, when the user inputs the telephone number of the voice communication terminal device (telephone) 220 in the circuit switching network 200 to be a communication partner, the other party telephone number is set in a predetermined register (S11). In this example, the telephone number “044-754-3821” is set in the register. The area code “044” is separated from the set telephone number “044-754-3821” (S12). Then, the area code column of the gateway search table (see FIG. 6) is searched using the area code “044” of the separated partner voice communication terminal device 220 as a key (S13). As a result, it is determined whether or not there is an area code that matches the key area code in the gateway search table (S14). Here, if the area code that matches the key area code is present in the gateway search table, the address of the corresponding gateway is set as a return value in a predetermined register (S5). In this example, the area code that matches the key area code “044” exists in the gateway search table, and the address “133.160.63.1” of the corresponding gateway 11 (# 11) is set in a predetermined register. (S5).

  In this way, when the gateway address is set in a predetermined register (when the gateway is selected), the voice communication terminal device 121 in the packet switching network 100 executes a procedure for making a call to the circuit switching network 200. To do. The specific procedure is the same as that described above.

  In this case, the communication path (1) through the selected gateway 11 from the voice communication terminal device 121 in the packet switching network 100 to the voice communication terminal device 220 in the circuit switching network 200, as shown in FIG. Is formed. In such a communication path (2), since the gateway 11 assigned with the same area code as the voice communication terminal device 220 in the circuit switching network 100 is selected, the portion of the packet switching network 100 is long, and the circuit switching The part of the net 200 is short. Therefore, the communication cost in the communication path (1) via the gateway 11 mainly depends on the communication cost in the packet switching network 100.

  By the way, in the Internet (packet switching network), generally, a fee system that does not depend on the communication distance is determined. Therefore, when performing voice communication from a communication terminal device in a packet switching network such as the Internet to a remote voice communication terminal connected to the circuit switching network 200, as described above, If the gateway is selected so that the Internet portion becomes a long communication path, the communication cost can be reduced.

  7 and 8, when the same network address as the keyed network address is not in the gateway search table, and when the same area code as the keyed area code is not in the gateway search table. The information that there is no corresponding gateway is set in the register as a return value (S6 in FIG. 7, S16 in FIG. 8). In this case, the gateway is selected according to another algorithm (as close as possible to the transmission source, as close as possible to the communication partner).

  As described above, for example, when priority is given to communication quality, a gateway is selected according to the procedure shown in FIG. 7, and for example, when priority is given to communication cost, a gateway is selected according to the procedure shown in FIG. The

  Such cost performance determined by communication quality and communication cost can be freely set according to the user's desire. In this case, the mode setting of either the mode 1 for performing the process 1 according to the procedure shown in FIG. 7 or the mode 2 for performing the process 2 according to the procedure shown in FIG. 8 is made in advance in the initial setting file. Then, before starting the voice communication, the startup process is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 9, for example, when a user inputs a telephone number of a voice communication terminal device (telephone) as a communication partner from the keyboard 26 and performs a start operation, the initial file is moved from a predetermined area of the storage device 22 to a work area. (S21). Then, the mode set in the initial file is determined (S22). As a result of the determination, if it is determined that the mode 1 is set, the process 1 according to the procedure shown in FIG. 7 is selected and activated (S23). On the other hand, if it is determined that the mode 2 is set, the process 2 according to the procedure shown in FIG. 8 is selected and activated (S24). The specific contents of processing 1 and processing 2 are as described above.

  By changing the mode to be set in the initial setting file, the user performs either process 1 for selecting a gateway with priority on communication quality or process 2 for selecting a gateway with priority on communication cost. You can choose.

  In each of the above examples, the gateway search file is stored in the storage device 22 of the voice communication terminal device connected to the packet switching network 100. However, the gateway search file is not limited to this and is connected to the packet switching network 100. The gateway search table can be centrally managed by the selected server.

  Also, in the above example, information indicating whether the user selects communication quality priority processing 1 (see FIG. 7) or communication cost priority processing 2 (see FIG. 8) is set in the initial setting file. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and mode setting may be used by a hardware mechanism such as a dip switch for mode setting.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the audio | voice communication system to which the gateway selection control system concerning this invention is applied. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the voice communication terminal device connected to a packet switching network. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the voice communication terminal device connected to a circuit switching network. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of a gateway. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the telephone number for specifying the address for specifying each voice communication terminal device in a packet switching network, and each voice terminal device in a circuit switching network. It is a figure which shows an example of a gateway search table. It is a flowchart (the 1) which shows an example of the process sequence for selecting a gateway. It is a flowchart (the 2) which shows an example of the process sequence for selecting a gateway. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the starting process of the process 1 and the process 2 for selecting a gateway. It is a figure which shows the conventional audio | voice communication system.

Explanation of symbols

11, 12 Gateway 100 Packet switching network 100 (1), 100 (2) Network 120, 121 Voice communication terminal device 200 Circuit switching network 200 (1), 200 (2) Toll network 220, 221 Voice communication terminal device ( Telephone)

Claims (1)

A packet switching network having an address system for identifying each voice communication terminal device by an address including a network address for identifying each network, and a plurality of networks each having a voice communication terminal device connected thereto, and voice A circuit-switched network having a telephone number system that identifies each voice communication terminal apparatus with a telephone number that includes a number part that identifies a region, to which a communication terminal apparatus is connected, and at least an address in the address system of the packet-switched network is assigned In a voice communication system having a plurality of gateways for relaying voice communication performed between the packet switching network and the circuit switching network, the voice communication terminal device connected to the packet switching network is connected to the circuit switching network. Select a gateway to select the gateway used for voice communication to the voice communication terminal connected to In the control system,
A gateway search table management server that is connected to the packet switching network and manages a gateway search table that indicates a correspondence relationship between a network address included in an address assigned to each gateway and the gateway;
Search means for searching from the plurality of gateways for a gateway to which an address including the same network address as the network address included in the address identifying the voice communication terminal device of the transmission source is assigned,
The search means includes means for searching a gateway corresponding to a network address that matches a network address included in an address for identifying a voice communication terminal device as a transmission source , from a gateway search table managed by the gateway search table management server. And
A gateway selection control system that selects the searched gateway as a gateway to be used for the voice communication.

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