JP5827716B2 - Line selection apparatus and line selection method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a line selection technique in SDP (Service Delivery Platform).

Conventionally, an API (Application Programming Interface) is used as a technique for a Web service developer to use a line provided by a communication carrier. The service developer uses an API called Parlay-X, for example.
By using Parlay-X, a service developer can use a carrier's communication network (for example, a public switched telephone) based on plain knowledge about API even if knowledge about SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is insufficient. Services on the network (Public Switched Telephone Networks) and NGN (Next Generation Network) can be developed. The communication network of the communication carrier is a communication network owned, owned or managed by the communication carrier. Hereinafter, the communication network of the communication carrier is simply referred to as “communication network”.

4th Draft ES 202 504-2 Parlay X 3.0 (20077.8)

  There is SDP as a platform serving as a development environment for Web services. Service developers can implement various Web services by using SDP.

A service developer using SDP needs to specify a caller telephone number, a callee telephone number, and line conditions (number of channels, bandwidth, etc.) when implementing call control in an application. When the phone number and the line condition that can be used in the application are fixed, the service developer may specify the fixed telephone number and the line condition.
However, when available telephone numbers and line conditions are fixed for each application, telephone numbers and line conditions cannot be dynamically assigned to a plurality of applications in SDP. For this reason, telephone numbers and line conditions that are not used by any application cannot be used effectively.

  As one means for solving such a problem, it is conceivable to dynamically assign telephone numbers and line conditions that can be used in an application without fixing them. However, in such a design, an application that dynamically responds to changes in available telephone numbers and line conditions must be designed.

  However, the application cannot grasp the telephone number and line conditions used by other applications. Therefore, it has been difficult for service developers to design an application that dynamically responds to changes in available telephone numbers and line conditions.

  The present invention has been made in view of the problems as described above, and a line selection device capable of easily designing an application even when a telephone number and a line condition that can be used in the application change dynamically. The object is to provide a line selection method.

  One aspect of the present invention is a line selection device that selects a line used for communication via an SDP (Service Delivery Platform) between an application and a communication network, from among a plurality of lines managed by the SDP, A line selection unit that selects a line that satisfies the resource requested by the application;

  In the aspect of the invention, the line selection unit selects the line based on an available bandwidth in the plurality of lines.

  Further, according to one aspect of the present invention, when a resource used for one application exceeds an upper limit, a transmission side filter that rejects use of a new resource of the application is further provided.

  In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a line selection device that selects a line used for communication via an SDP (Service Delivery Platform) between an application and a communication network, the communication being connected to the communication network An application selection unit is provided that selects an application that receives the call notification from the plurality of applications based on the SDP side telephone number and the communication terminal side telephone number included in the call notification from the terminal.

Moreover, in one aspect of the present invention, a call-side filter that rejects the call notification when the resource used for one application exceeds the upper limit is further provided.
In one aspect of the present invention, the communication network is a public switched telephone network or an NGN (Next Generation Network).

  One embodiment of the present invention is a line selection method for selecting a line used for communication via an SDP (Service Delivery Platform) between an application and a communication network, and a plurality of lines managed by the SDP. To selecting a line satisfying the resource required by the application.

  Another aspect of the present invention is a line selection method for selecting a line used for communication between an application and a communication network via an SDP (Service Delivery Platform), the communication terminal connected to the communication network Based on the SDP-side telephone number and the communication terminal-side telephone number included in the outgoing notification from the application, the application selecting step of selecting the application that receives the outgoing notification from the plurality of applications.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to easily design an application even when a telephone number and a line condition that can be used in the application change dynamically.

It is a conceptual diagram which shows the connection state of the circuit | line selection apparatus which shows one aspect | mode of this invention, and a public switched telephone network. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the mode of the line selection by a line selection apparatus. It is a figure which shows the sequence image showing the specific example of the flow of a process of the line selection system containing a line selection apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a line selection apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of a line | wire use condition table. It is a figure which shows an example of a service ID-IP address correspondence table. It is a figure which shows an example of a service-resource table. It is a figure which shows an example of a line service table. It is a figure which shows an example of a line utilization condition table. It is a figure which shows an example of a service ID specific table. It is a figure which shows an example of an endpoint specific table. It is a figure which shows an example of a media condition table. It is a flowchart which shows the specific example of the flow of a process of a selection part. It is a flowchart which shows the specific example of the flow of a process of an application selection part.

[1. About SDP]
SDP plays a role of introducing a service developed using Web service technology into a communication network. The communication network includes a public switched telephone network or NGN. The line accommodated by the SDP may be, for example, an application server-network interface (SNI) line, a user-network interface (UNI) line, or another line. The line accommodated by the SDP may be a mixture of SNI lines and UNI lines. Hereinafter, the present embodiment will be described using a public switched telephone network as a representative example of communication networks used for SDP sessions. Protocols such as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and REST (REpresentational State Transfer) are used for instructions to the SDP.

[2. Usage of this device]
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a connection state between a line selection device 10 and a public switched telephone network showing one aspect of the present invention. In FIG. 1, applications (APL1, APL2,..., APLn) provide various services such as information processing, communication, and broadcasting. The application is realized, for example, by executing a program in the information processing apparatus.

The line selection device 10 is connected to applications (APL1, APL2,..., APLn). The line selection device 10 is connected to a public switched telephone network via SDP. Note that n represents an integer of 2 or more.
The SDP and the public switched telephone network are connected by lines (line 1, line 2,..., Line m). Note that m represents an integer of 2 or more.
A plurality of communication terminals (not shown) are connected to the public switched telephone network. Each communication terminal is assigned one or more telephone numbers.

  In FIG. 1, when the APL 1 instructs the SDP to make a call to a communication terminal, the line selection device 10 executes line distribution. By this line distribution, one or a plurality of lines (for example, line 1 and line 2) are selected from a plurality of lines (line 1, line 2,..., Line m) between the SDP and the public switched telephone network. Selected. The line distribution is a function of selecting a telephone number and a line to be used from a plurality of telephone numbers and a plurality of lines when making a call from the SDP to the communication terminal.

  On the other hand, when the communication terminal transmits a call notification to the SDP, the line selection device 10 executes APL distribution. By this APL distribution, one or a plurality of applications are selected from a plurality of applications (APL1, APL2,..., APLn). APL sorting is a function of selecting an application that receives a call notification from a plurality of applications when a communication terminal sends a call to the SDP.

  FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a state of line selection by the line selection device 10. Each APL1-n provides services 1-n, respectively. In FIG. 2, line 1 is a dedicated line for service 1. Line 2 is a dedicated line for service 2 and service 3. Line 3 and line 4 are dedicated lines for services 2 to 5, respectively.

  FIG. 2 shows how the APL 2 accesses the public switched telephone network. In this case, the line selection device 10 selects a line to be used from the lines 2 to 4 associated with the service 2. Unlike the lines 3 and 4, the line 2 has insufficient bandwidth. Therefore, the line selection device 10 selects either the line 3 or the line 4 (line 3 in the case of FIG. 2) as a line used by the APL2.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a sequence image representing a specific example of the processing flow of the line selection system including the line selection device 10. The line selection system includes an application, a line selection device 10, an SDP, and a communication terminal.

  The process flow shown in FIG. 3 will be described. First, the application transmits a call instruction to the line selection device 10. The transmission instruction is data for instructing the SDP to perform transmission using a line. When receiving a call instruction from the application, the line selection device 10 transmits the call instruction to the SDP. When the SDP receives a call instruction from the line selection device 10, the SDP transmits a call notification to the communication terminal. The SDP transmits an OK notification to the line selection device 10 after transmitting the outgoing notification. The OK notification is data for reporting that the transmission notification has been transmitted to the communication terminal without any problem. When the line selection device 10 receives an OK instruction from the SDP, the line selection device 10 transmits an OK notification to the application.

  The communication terminal transmits an incoming call notification to the SDP in response to the outgoing call notification. The incoming call notification is data indicating that the communication terminal responds to the outgoing notification received from the SDP. When the SDP receives an incoming call notification from the communication terminal, the SDP transmits the incoming call notification to the line selection device 10. When the line selection device 10 receives an incoming call notification from the SDP, the line selection device 10 transmits the incoming call notification to the application. When receiving an incoming call notification from the line selection device 10, the application transmits an OK notification to the line selection device 10. This OK notification is data indicating receipt of the incoming notification. When the line selection device 10 receives the OK notification from the application, the line selection device 10 transmits the OK notification to the SDP. Note that the communication performed between the SDP and the communication terminal described above is a general SIP process.

  As described above, the session between the application and the communication terminal is established. The session establishment sequence in the present invention is not limited to the sequence image shown in FIG.

[3. Line selection device]
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the line selection device 10. The line selection device 10 includes a line use management API interface 11, an APL side SDP-API interface 12, an SDP-API interface 13, and a control unit 20.

  The APL side SDP-API interface 12 is an SDP standard interface (an interface compliant with Parlay-X). The APL side SDP-API interface 12 transmits / receives data to / from the control unit 20. The APL side SDP-API interface 12 receives data including an IP address from an application. The APL side SDP-API interface 12 confirms whether or not the IP address included in the received data is registered in a service ID-IP address correspondence table to be described later. When the IP address is registered, the APL side SDP-API interface 12 adds a service ID corresponding to the IP address to the data received from the application, and outputs the data to the control unit 20. On the other hand, when the IP address is not registered, the APL side SDP-API interface 12 discards the data received from the application without outputting it to the control unit 20.

  The line use management API interface 11 is an SDP interface. The line use management API interface 11 transmits and receives data to and from the control unit 20. The line use management API interface 11 is an interface configured to further handle information including a service ID and an IP address with respect to the above-described SDP standard interface. The line use management API interface 11 receives data including a service ID and an IP address from the application. The line use management API interface 11 confirms whether the combination of the service ID and the IP address included in the received data is registered in a service ID-IP address correspondence table described later. The line use management API interface 11 outputs the data received from the application to the control unit 20 when the combination is registered. On the other hand, if the combination is not registered, the line usage management API interface 11 discards the data received from the application without outputting it to the control unit 20. As described above, it is possible to confirm the validity of the application by confirming whether or not the combination of the service ID and the IP address is registered. Note that it is not always necessary to check whether the IP address is registered.

  The SDP-API interface 13 transmits and receives data between the control unit 20 and the SDP. The SDP-API interface 13 passes the data received from the control unit 20 to the SDP. The SDP-API interface 13 passes the data received from the SDP to the control unit 20.

  Next, the configuration of the control unit 20 will be described. The control unit 20 includes a transmission side filter 21, a reception side filter 22, a selection unit 23, a storage unit 24, and a common function processing unit 25.

  When receiving a transmission instruction from the line use management API interface 11, the transmission side filter 21 instructs the selection unit 23 to distribute the line to the APL that is the transmission source. The transmission side filter 21 notifies the SDP-API interface 13 of the telephone number assigned by the selection unit 23 and the destination telephone number.

  When receiving a call notification from the SDP via the SDP-API interface 13, the incoming filter 22 instructs the selection unit 23 to distribute APL for the incoming call accompanying the call notification. The incoming filter 22 notifies the APL selected by the selector 23 to the APL SDP-API interface 12.

  The selection unit 23 executes line distribution processing and APL distribution processing. In order to execute such processing, the selection unit 23 includes a line usage status management unit 23a, a line selection unit 23b, and an APL selection unit 23c.

  The line usage status management unit 23a acquires information indicating the usage status of a plurality of lines managed by the SDP. The line usage status management unit 23a updates the line usage status table stored in the storage unit 24 based on the acquired information.

  The line selection unit 23b performs line distribution processing. Specifically, it is as follows. The line selection unit 23b acquires information (resource information) related to the line resource requested by the APL by referring to the transmission instruction transmitted from the APL. The line selection unit 23b refers to the table stored in the storage unit 24, and selects a line according to the request of the APL that is the transmission source of the call instruction from the plurality of lines managed by the SDP.

  The APL selection unit 23c performs APL distribution processing. Specifically, it is as follows. The APL selection unit 23c acquires information related to the service requested by the communication terminal by referring to the transmission notification transmitted from the communication terminal. The APL selection unit 23c refers to the table stored in the storage unit 24, and selects an APL corresponding to the requested service from a plurality of APLs.

The storage unit 24 is configured using a storage device such as a magnetic hard disk device or a semiconductor storage device. The storage unit 24 stores a plurality of tables used by the selection unit 23. The storage unit 24 stores, for example, a line usage condition table, a service ID-IP address correspondence table, a service resource table, a line service table, a line usage status table, a service ID identification table, an endpoint identification table, and a media condition table.
The common function processing unit 25 executes each process of the common function. Specific examples of common functions include an authentication function, a log management function, and a charging function.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a line use condition table. A plurality of records are registered in the line use condition table. Each record has a representative number, a telephone number, an allowable band, an allowable channel number, and a media permission type value. Each record represents a use condition for each line. Hereinafter, each value registered in the record will be described.

  Each value of the representative number and telephone number represents the representative number and telephone number assigned to the line. The telephone number functions as a line identifier. The representative number is, for example, a telephone number used as the SDP side telephone number when making a call from the SDP to the communication terminal. The telephone number indicates a telephone number used for actual transmission. Note that the telephone number designated as the SDB side telephone number is not necessarily a representative number, and a telephone number may be designated. The representative number may be used for actual transmission.

The allowable bandwidth represents an allowable bandwidth in the line represented by the telephone number of the same record. The allowable bandwidth has three values, that is, an outgoing / incoming available bandwidth, outgoing, and incoming.
The value of the available bandwidth for outgoing / incoming calls can be used for the bandwidth that can be used in sessions established by outgoing calls (calls from APL to communication terminals) and in sessions that are established by incoming calls (calls that APL receives from communication terminals). This represents the upper limit of the sum of the bandwidth. The outgoing value represents an upper limit value of a bandwidth that can be used in a session established by outgoing call. The incoming call value represents the upper limit value of the bandwidth that can be used in the session established by the incoming call. At the time of outgoing call, it is necessary to satisfy two conditions of an outgoing / incoming available band and an allowable outgoing band. When receiving an incoming call, it is necessary to satisfy the two conditions of the incoming / outgoing available bandwidth and the incoming allowable bandwidth.

  The allowable number of channels represents the number of allowable channels in the line represented by the telephone number of the same record. The number of allowable channels has three values: the number of channels that can be used for outgoing / incoming calls, outgoing calls, and incoming calls.

  The value of the number of channels that can be used for outgoing / incoming calls represents the upper limit of the total number of channels that can be used in a session established by outgoing call and the number of channels that can be used in a session established by incoming call. The value of outgoing call represents the upper limit value of the number of channels that can be used in a session established by outgoing call. The incoming call value represents the upper limit value of the number of channels that can be used in the session established by the incoming call. At the time of outgoing call, it is necessary to satisfy two conditions of the number of available outgoing and incoming channels and the allowable number of outgoing channels. When receiving an incoming call, two conditions must be satisfied: the number of channels that can be used for outgoing and incoming calls and the number of allowable channels for incoming calls.

  The media permission type represents the type of media that can be used on the line represented by the telephone number of the same record. The media permission type has a value indicating whether or not it can be used for each combination of outgoing and incoming calls and media types (for example, video, audio, and data). In the example of FIG. 5, it has a value of “TRUE” when it is available, and has a value of “FALSE” when it is unavailable.

A specific example shown in the line usage condition table of FIG. 5 will be described.
A telephone number “0333333334” is defined in association with the representative number “0333333333”. Telephone numbers “0355555556” and “0355555557” are defined in association with one representative number “0355555555”.

  For the line with the telephone number “03333334”, 120M, 100M, and 50M are defined as the outgoing / incoming usable bandwidth, the outgoing bandwidth upper limit value, and the incoming bandwidth upper limit value, respectively. Note that the unit of the band in FIG. 5 is bps (bit per second).

  The sum of the outgoing bandwidth upper limit value and the incoming bandwidth upper limit value is larger than the value of the outgoing / incoming available bandwidth. Therefore, when 100M is already used in the session established by the outgoing call, the upper limit value of the bandwidth that can be used in the session established by the incoming call is (120M−100M = 20M).

For the line of the telephone number “0333333334”, 35, 20, and 20 are defined as the number of available outgoing / incoming channels, the upper limit of the number of outgoing channels, and the upper limit of the number of incoming channels, respectively.
The sum of the upper limit value of the number of outgoing channels and the upper limit value of the incoming channel number is larger than the value of the number of available outgoing and incoming channels. Therefore, when 20 channels are already used in a session established by outgoing call, the upper limit value of the number of channels available in the session established by incoming call is (35-20 = 15).

  TRUE, TRUE, FALSE, FALSE, FALSE, and FALSE are defined as the incoming video, incoming voice, incoming data, outgoing video, outgoing voice, and outgoing data for the line of the telephone number “0333333334”. With this definition, video, audio, and data cannot be used in a session established by calling from APL on the line with the telephone number “0333333334”, and video and audio are used in a session established by receiving an APL. Yes, data is not available.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a service ID-IP address correspondence table. A plurality of records are registered in the service ID-IP address correspondence table. Each record has a service ID and an IP address value. Each record indicates a correspondence relationship between a service ID of a service provided by the APL and an IP address assigned to the APL.

A specific example shown in the service ID-IP address correspondence table of FIG. 6 will be described.
IP addresses “10.XX25” and “10.XX26” are defined in association with one service ID “conference”. Therefore, it can be seen that the service of “conference” is provided by the APL with the IP addresses “10.XX25” and “10.XX26”. Also, an IP address “192.168.X.30” is defined in association with the service ID “fax”. Therefore, it can be seen that the service of “Fax” is provided by the APL with the IP address “192.168.X.30”. The service ID “conference” indicates a telephone conference service, and the service ID “fax” indicates a facsimile transmission service.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a service-resource table. A plurality of records are registered in the service-resource table. Each record has values of service ID, allowable bandwidth, allowable channel number, and media permission type. Each record represents a line resource that can be used by each service. In the service-resource table of FIG. 7, an allowable bandwidth, an allowable number of channels, and a media permission type are shown as specific examples of line resources.

The allowable bandwidth represents an allowable bandwidth in the service represented by the service ID of the same record. The allowable bandwidth has three values, that is, an outgoing / incoming available bandwidth, outgoing, and incoming.
The outgoing / incoming available bandwidth value represents the upper limit of the sum of the bandwidth that can be used in a session established by outgoing call and the bandwidth that can be used in a session established by incoming call. The outgoing value represents an upper limit value of a bandwidth that can be used in a session established by outgoing call. The incoming call value represents the upper limit value of the bandwidth that can be used in the session established by the incoming call. At the time of outgoing call, it is necessary to satisfy two conditions of an outgoing / incoming available band and an allowable outgoing band. When receiving an incoming call, it is necessary to satisfy the two conditions of the incoming / outgoing available bandwidth and the incoming allowable bandwidth.

  The allowable channel number represents the allowable channel number in the service represented by the service ID of the same record. The number of allowable channels has three values: the number of channels that can be used for outgoing / incoming calls, outgoing calls, and incoming calls.

The value of the number of channels that can be used for outgoing / incoming calls represents the upper limit of the total number of channels that can be used in a session established by outgoing call and the number of channels that can be used in a session established by incoming call. The value of outgoing call represents the upper limit value of the number of channels that can be used in a session established by outgoing call. The incoming call value represents the upper limit value of the number of channels that can be used in the session established by the incoming call. At the time of outgoing call, it is necessary to satisfy two conditions of the number of available outgoing and incoming channels and the allowable number of outgoing channels. When receiving an incoming call, two conditions must be satisfied: the number of channels that can be used for outgoing and incoming calls and the number of allowable channels for incoming calls.
The media permission type represents the type of media that can be used in the service represented by the service ID of the same record. The media permission type has a value indicating whether or not it can be used for each combination of outgoing and incoming calls and media types (for example, video, audio, and data). In the example of FIG. 7, it has a value of “TRUE” when it can be used, and has a value of “FALSE” when it cannot be used.

A specific example represented in the service-resource table of FIG. 7 will be described.
In the service “conference”, 120M, 100M, and 50M are defined as outgoing / incoming available bandwidth, outgoing bandwidth upper limit value, and incoming bandwidth upper limit value, respectively. Note that the unit of the band in FIG. 7 is bps.

  The sum of the outgoing bandwidth upper limit value and the incoming bandwidth upper limit value is larger than the value of the outgoing / incoming available bandwidth. Therefore, when 100M is already used in the session established by the outgoing call, the upper limit value of the bandwidth that can be used in the session established by the incoming call is (120M−100M = 20M).

In the service “conference”, 35, 20, and 20 are defined as the number of available outgoing / incoming channels, the upper limit of the number of outgoing channels, and the upper limit of the number of incoming channels, respectively.
The sum of the upper limit value of the number of outgoing channels and the upper limit value of the incoming channel number is larger than the value of the number of available outgoing and incoming channels. Therefore, when 20 channels are already used in a session established by outgoing call, the upper limit value of the number of channels available in the session established by incoming call is (35-20 = 15).
The service “conference” defines TRUE, TRUE, FALSE, TRUE, TRUE, and FALSE as incoming video, incoming voice, incoming data, outgoing video, outgoing voice, and outgoing data, respectively. With this definition, in the service “conference”, video, audio, and data cannot be used in a session established by calling from APL, and video and audio can be used in a session established by incoming APL. The data is not available.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a line service table. A plurality of records are registered in the line service table. Each record has a telephone number, a service ID, and a priority value.
The telephone number represents a telephone number assigned to the line.

The value of the service ID represents a service that can be used on the line represented by the telephone number of the same record.
The priority value indicates the priority in which the service represented by the service ID of the same record is provided on the line represented by the telephone number of the same record. The priority is expressed in two or more stages. In the example of FIG. 8, the priority is represented by numbers 1 to 5. In the following description, the larger the numerical value, the higher the priority.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a line usage status table. A plurality of records are registered in the line usage status table. Each record has values of telephone number, communication terminal side telephone number, outgoing / incoming call type, bandwidth used, number of channels used, service ID, media type being used, usage start time, and usage end time. Each record represents the usage status for each line. The line usage status table may be configured to hold a record related to a session that has already been used for a certain period. Hereinafter, each value registered in the record will be described.
The telephone number value represents the telephone number assigned to the currently used line.

The value of the communication terminal side telephone number represents the telephone number of the communication terminal using the line represented by the telephone number of the same record.
The value of the outgoing / incoming call type is a session established by calling from the communication terminal, whether the session using the line represented by the telephone number of the same record is a session established by outgoing from the SDP (ie, APL) It is a value indicating whether or not.

The used bandwidth value represents the bandwidth used in the line represented by the telephone number of the same record.
The value of the number of used channels represents the number of channels used in the line represented by the telephone number of the same record.

The value of the service ID represents a service provided on the line represented by the telephone number of the same record.
The value of the media type being used represents the media type used in the line represented by the telephone number of the same record. In the example of FIG. 9, it has a value of “TRUE” when it is used, and has a value of “FALSE” when it is not used.

The value of the use start time represents the date and time when the session using the line represented by the telephone number in the same record was established (the date and time when use was started).
The value of the use start time represents the date and time when the session using the line represented by the telephone number in the same record was released (the date and time when the use was completed).

A specific example shown in the line usage status table of FIG. 9 will be described.
A session established between the communication terminal side telephone number “02222222222” and the APL using the line having the telephone number “0333333334” is a session established by transmission from the APL. In this session, the bandwidth used is 2M, and the number of channels used is two. The service used is “conference”, and the media type used is video and audio. For example, such a media type is defined when a video conference service is used. This service started to be used at 10:23:45 on October 5, 2012 and is still in use.

  The session established between the communication terminal side telephone number “02222222223” and the APL using the line having the telephone number “0355555556” is a session established by the transmission from the APL. In this session, the bandwidth used is 0.048M, and the number of channels used is one. The service used is “conference”, and the type of media used is voice. For example, such a media type is defined when a telephone conference service is used. This service started to be used at 10:24:14 on October 5, 2012 and ended at 10:45:21 on October 5, 2012.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the service ID identification table. A plurality of records are registered in the service ID identification table. Each record has a telephone number, a communication terminal side telephone number, and a service ID value. In the service ID identification table, a service ID of a service to be provided is defined for each combination of a telephone number and a communication terminal side telephone number. A so-called wild card (for example, “*” in FIG. 10) may be defined as the value of the communication terminal side telephone number in the service ID identification table. A record for which a wild card is defined is a call made to the telephone number defined in that record, regardless of the communication terminal side telephone number. This indicates that a specific service defined in the record (record with a wild card set) is provided.
For example, in the specific example of FIG. 10, when the incoming call is “0333333333” and the transmission source number is “02222222222”, the service ID is “conference” because it corresponds to the top record. It is judged. In the specific example of FIG. 10, when the incoming call is “0333333333” and the transmission source number is “02222222224”, the service ID is “fax” because it corresponds to the second record from the top. Is judged. On the other hand, if there is an incoming call at “0333333333” and the source number is neither “02222222222” or “02222222224”, there is no other applicable record, so a record with a wild card set (4th record from the top) is referred to, and the service ID is determined to be “conference”.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of the endpoint identification table. A plurality of records are registered in the endpoint identification table. Each record has a service ID and a notification destination IP value. In the end point specifying table, the correspondence between the service ID and the notification destination IP (end point) is defined. The notification destination IP is the IP address of the APL that provides the service represented by the service ID of the same record. Note that the endpoint may be expressed in the form of a URL such as “http://10.10.10.10:8080/conference_end”.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of the media condition table. A plurality of records are registered in the media condition table. Each record has values of media type, bandwidth, and number of channels. In the media condition table, a band and the number of channels necessary for using each media type are defined.

A specific example represented in the media condition table of FIG. 12 will be described. The following is defined in the media condition table of FIG.
When voice is used as the media type, a bandwidth of 0.048M and one channel are required. When video is used as the media type, a 2M band and one channel are required. When data is used as the media type, a 2M band and one channel are required.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the processing flow when a call instruction is received from the APL in the processing of the line selection device 10. With reference to the flowchart of FIG. 13, the flow of processing when a call is transmitted from the APL to the communication terminal will be described.
First, the transmission instruction transmitted from the APL is received by the line use management API interface 11 (S1). The received call instruction includes a service ID specified by APL in addition to each value specified by Parlay-X representing the communication terminal side telephone number and media type. The line use management API interface 11 passes the received call instruction to the control unit 20 and requests a call instruction for the SDP. When receiving the transmission instruction for the SDP from the line usage management API interface 11, the transmission side filter 21 of the control unit 20 instructs the selection unit 23 to distribute the line to the APL that is the transmission source.

  When receiving a line distribution instruction, the line selection unit 23b of the selection unit 23 refers to the line service table (FIG. 8) and acquires all records having the value of the service ID specified by the APL. Next, the line selection unit 23b refers to the line use condition table (FIG. 5), and acquires all records corresponding to each telephone number included in the record acquired from the line service table. The acquired information represents the condition regarding each line.

Next, the line selection unit 23b refers to the service resource table (FIG. 7), and acquires a record having a service ID value specified by the APL. The acquired information represents a condition regarding a service to be used.
Next, the line selection unit 23b refers to the line usage status table (FIG. 9) and acquires all the records having the service ID value designated by the APL. The acquired information represents the current usage status of each line or service.

  Through the above processing, the current usage status and usage conditions are acquired (S2). Next, the line selection unit 23b selects a line assigned to the service of the APL that is the transmission source based on the acquired information. Specifically, the line is selected by the following processing.

  The line selection unit 23b calculates the total value of the use band and the number of use channels of the records acquired from the line use status table. The line selection unit 23b determines whether the sum of the calculated total value and the resources (usage band and number of channels) newly allocated to the service of the APL that is the transmission source is the admissibility of the record acquired from the service resource table. It is determined whether or not the bandwidth and the allowable number of channels are smaller than the value of the available bandwidth for outgoing and incoming calls (conditions are satisfied). The resource newly allocated to the service of the APL that is the transmission source is acquired by referring to the media condition table according to the media type included in the transmission instruction.

In addition, the line selection unit 23b selects only the record whose outgoing / incoming call type value is “SDP originated” from the records acquired from the line usage status table, and determines the usage band and the number of used channels of the selected record. Calculate the total value. The line selection unit 23b determines whether the sum of the calculated total value and the resources (usage band and number of channels) newly allocated to the service of the APL that is the transmission source is the admissibility of the record acquired from the service resource table. It is determined whether or not the bandwidth and the number of allowable channels are smaller than the transmission values (conditions are satisfied).
In addition, the line selection unit 23b determines whether or not all the media types included in the received call instruction are available in the line usage condition table (the conditions are satisfied).

  When both conditions are satisfied, the line selection unit 23b determines that the condition regarding the service is satisfied. When the condition regarding the service is satisfied, the line selection unit 23b determines the condition regarding the line.

  The line selection unit 23b refers to the record having the highest priority value among the records acquired from the line service table, and acquires the telephone number value. The line selection unit 23b selects a record having the telephone number value acquired from the line service table from among the records acquired from the line usage status table. The line selection unit 23b calculates the total value of the use band and the number of use channels of the selected record. The line selection unit 23b obtains the sum of the calculated total value and the resource (usage band and number of channels) newly allocated to the APL service that is the transmission source in the record obtained from the line use condition table. It is determined whether or not the allowable bandwidth and the allowable number of channels are smaller than the values of the available bandwidth for outgoing and incoming calls (conditions are satisfied).

  In addition, the line selection unit 23b selects only the record whose outgoing / incoming call type value is “SDP originated” from the records acquired from the line usage status table, and determines the usage band and the number of used channels of the selected record. Calculate the total value. The line selection unit 23b obtains the sum of the calculated total value and the resource (usage band and number of channels) newly allocated to the APL service that is the transmission source in the record obtained from the line use condition table. It is determined whether or not the allowable bandwidth and the number of allowable channels are smaller than the transmission values (conditions are satisfied).

  When both conditions are satisfied, the line selection unit 23b determines that the condition regarding the line is satisfied. When the number of lines determined to satisfy the condition matches the number of lines to be selected, the line selection unit 23b selects the line determined to satisfy the condition as a line to be allocated to the service (S3). The line selector 23b notifies the caller filter 21 of the telephone number of the selected line. The transmission side filter 21 transmits a transmission instruction including the telephone number of the selected line to the SDP (S4). If the number of lines determined to satisfy the condition is larger than the number of lines to be selected, it is necessary to select more lines from the lines determined to satisfy the condition. Such processing will be described later.

On the other hand, when the line selection unit 23b determines that the condition regarding the line is not satisfied, the record with the next highest priority value is referred to among the records acquired from the line service table, and the condition regarding the line is satisfied. It is determined whether or not. If the condition regarding the line is not satisfied even if the determination is made based on all the records acquired from the line service table, the line selection unit 23b notifies the calling side filter 21 that the use of the service is not permitted. To do.
In addition, in the process of S1, when a call instruction transmitted from the APL is received by the APL side SDP-API interface 12, the following process is performed. The received call instruction does not include the service ID. The APL-side SDP-API interface 12 passes the received call instruction to the control unit 20 and requests a call instruction for the SDP. When receiving a transmission instruction for SDP from the APL side SDP-API interface 12, the transmission side filter 21 of the control unit 20 instructs the selection unit 23 to distribute the line to the APL that is the transmission source.
When the line selection unit 23b of the selection unit 23 receives the line distribution instruction, the service ID associated with the IP address of the transmission source included in the transmission instruction is referred to the service ID-IP address correspondence table (FIG. 6). Is determined to be a service ID provided by the APL as the transmission source. Next, the line selection unit 23b refers to the line service table (FIG. 8) and acquires all the records having the service ID value specified by the APL. The subsequent processing flow is as described above.

The process when the number of lines determined to satisfy the condition in the process of S3 described above is larger than the number of lines to be selected will be described in detail. In this case, the line selection unit 23b may be configured to select a line that satisfies a plurality of conditions that can be specified in the APL from a plurality of lines that are determined to satisfy the condition regarding the line. By performing such processing, the number of lines that are large is narrowed down to the number of lines to be selected. Hereinafter, a process using the first condition and the second condition will be described as a specific example of a plurality of conditions that can be specified in the APL.
The first condition is a condition for selecting a line candidate. From the candidates that satisfy the first condition, one line is selected based on the second condition. Values representing the first condition and the second condition may be stored, for example, in a field that stores a caller telephone number (phone number on the SDP side) in a call instruction.

  The first condition includes, for example, four kinds of conditions such as “Landing designation”, “Line designation”, and “Telephone number designation”. In the following, each condition will be described in the order of “Landing designation”, “Line designation”, and “Telephone number designation”.

"Let us specify"
In "Let's leave"
・ SDP phone number that can use all specified media ・ Outgoing channel / band must remain ・ Use with application service ID is allowed Is done. “Let's specify” may be represented by a character string “any”, for example.

"Line designation"
In “line designation”, a representative number to be used is designated as a condition. in this case,
-A line with a designated representative number-There must be a remaining channel / bandwidth-Usage with the service ID of the application is permitted A line candidate is selected on the condition described above. The “line designation” may be represented by, for example, a designated representative number value.

"Specify phone number"
In “telephone number designation”, a telephone number to be used is designated as a condition. in this case,
-The line of the telephone number specified by the application A line candidate is selected on the condition described above.
However,
-When the channel / bandwidth is insufficient-When the media is not permitted-When the application service ID is not permitted In either case, the line selection is rejected. The “telephone number designation” may be represented by, for example, a designated telephone number value.

Next, a specific example of the second condition will be described. The second condition includes, for example, two conditions of “channel priority” and “band priority”. Note that the second condition is effective when the first condition is left to be specified or a line is specified.
Hereinafter, each condition will be described in the order of “channel priority” and “bandwidth priority”.

"Channel priority"
“Channel priority”
-The number of channels used with the same service ID is the smallest among the multiple lines determined to satisfy the conditions for the line (the number of channels used for outgoing calls is the largest of the telephone numbers available for the service) The smallest number of channels)
-The number of channels used for outgoing calls is the smallest among the multiple channels that are determined to satisfy the conditions related to the line, in proportion to the maximum number of channels in the telephone number that can be used for the service. As described above, one line is selected from a plurality of line candidates determined to satisfy the conditions regarding the line. “Channel priority” may be represented by a character string “ch”, for example.

  Regarding the above conditions, whether to use an absolute number or a ratio may be specified by APL, or may be specified in advance as a setting value of the line selection device 10. Further, the number of channels used may be the number of channels currently used by the corresponding service, or may be the total number of channels used within a specific period. Whether to use an absolute number or a ratio may be dynamically determined according to the service ID.

  By selecting a line based on channel priority conditions in this way, for example, a line that has outgoing restrictions (for example, if there are restrictions on 3 outgoing calls in 2 seconds, the outgoing call is restricted) can be sent from SDP. When transmitting to communication terminals all at once, it is possible to transmit by distributing the lines.

"Bandwidth priority"
“Bandwidth priority”
-The bandwidth used with the same service ID is the smallest among the multiple lines determined to satisfy the conditions related to the line (the outgoing bandwidth is the maximum bandwidth among the telephone numbers available for the service). Smallest among them)
-Out of the multiple lines that are determined to satisfy the conditions related to the line, the outgoing bandwidth is the smallest in proportion to the maximum bandwidth of the telephone number that can be used for the service.-Available media On the condition described above, one line is selected from among a plurality of line candidates determined to satisfy the condition regarding the line. “Bandwidth priority” may be represented by a character string “bw”, for example.

  Regarding the above conditions, whether to use an absolute number or a ratio may be specified by APL, or may be specified in advance as a setting value of the line selection device 10. Further, the use band may be a band currently used by the corresponding service, or may be a total use band used within a specific period. Whether to use an absolute number or a ratio may be dynamically determined according to the service ID.

  Thus, by selecting a line based on the band priority condition, a line with a small band but a large number of channels or a line with a large band but a small number of channels is allocated to a specific APL. Bandwidth priority is used for services that use bandwidth, such as conferences, and for channels that use a large number of channels, such as audio conferences, the channel number priority is used so that lines can be used effectively in APL. It becomes possible to control.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a specific example of processing when a call notification is received from a communication terminal in the processing of the line selection device 10. The flow of processing when an incoming call from a communication terminal is received will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the outgoing notification transmitted from the communication terminal is received by the SDP-API interface 13 (S11). The received call notification includes the SDP side telephone number specified by the communication terminal and the communication terminal side telephone number. The SDP-API interface 13 passes the received call notification to the control unit 20 and requests relay of the call notification to the APL. Upon receiving an instruction for relaying an outgoing notification from the SDP-API interface 13 to the APL, the incoming side filter 22 of the control unit 20 instructs the selection unit 23 to distribute the APL for the incoming call accompanying the outgoing notification.

  When receiving the APL distribution instruction, the APL selection unit 23c of the selection unit 23 acquires the SDP side telephone number and the communication terminal side telephone number included in the outgoing notification (S12). Then, the APL selection unit 23c refers to the service identification table (FIG. 10), and acquires the service ID associated with the combination of the SDP side telephone number and the communication terminal side telephone number specified by the communication terminal. Next, the APL selection unit 23c refers to the endpoint identification table (FIG. 11), and acquires the notification destination IP associated with the acquired service ID. That is, the APL selection unit 23c specifies the APL that is the relay destination of the outgoing notification (S13).

  Next, the APL selection unit 23c refers to the line use condition table (FIG. 5) and acquires a record having the value of the telephone number on the SDP side included in the outgoing notification. The acquired information represents the condition regarding the line to be used.

  Next, the APL selection unit 23c refers to the service resource table (FIG. 7), and acquires a record having the service ID value acquired from the service ID identification table. The acquired information represents a condition regarding a service to be used.

  Next, the APL selection unit 23c refers to the line usage status table (FIG. 9), and acquires all the records having the service ID value acquired from the service ID specifying table. The acquired information represents the current usage status regarding the line or service to be used.

  Through the above processing, the current usage status and usage conditions are acquired. Next, the APL selection unit 23c determines whether it is possible to provide a service according to the received call notification based on the acquired information.

  The APL selection unit 23c calculates the total value of the used bandwidth and the number of used channels of the records acquired from the line usage status table. The APL selection unit 23c is a record in which the sum of the calculated total value and the resource (usage band and number of channels) newly allocated to the service to the communication terminal that is the transmission source is acquired from the service resource table It is determined whether or not the allowable bandwidth and the allowable number of channels are smaller than the values of the available bandwidth for outgoing and incoming calls (conditions are satisfied). Note that a resource newly assigned to a service to a communication terminal that is a transmission source is acquired by referring to the media condition table according to the media type corresponding to the specified service ID. Moreover, when the information regarding a resource is contained in the transmission notification, APL selection part 23c may perform a process using the information contained in the transmission notification, without performing the process mentioned above.

  In addition, the APL selection unit 23c selects only the records whose outgoing / incoming call type value is “SDP arrival” from the records acquired from the line usage status table, and sets the usage band and the number of channels used for the selected record. Calculate the total value. The APL selection unit 23c is a record in which the sum of the calculated total value and the resource (usage band and number of channels) newly allocated to the service to the communication terminal that is the transmission source is acquired from the service resource table It is determined whether the allowable bandwidth and the number of allowable channels are smaller than the incoming values (conditions are satisfied).

  When both conditions are satisfied, the APL selection unit 23c determines that the condition regarding the service is satisfied. When the condition regarding the service is satisfied, the APL selection unit 23c notifies the receiving-side filter 22 that the condition is satisfied and the notification destination IP. The incoming side filter 22 transmits an outgoing notification including the notified destination IP to the APL side SDP-API interface 12. The APL side SDP-API interface 12 transmits the outgoing notification received from the incoming side filter 22 to the APL indicated by the notification destination IP (S14).

  On the other hand, if the APL selection unit 23c determines that the condition regarding the line or service is not satisfied, the APL selection unit 23c notifies the incoming filter 22 that the service cannot be received. In response to this notification, the incoming filter 22 notifies the SDP that it cannot receive service via the SDP-API interface 12. In this case, the service request from the communication terminal is rejected.

  According to the line selection device 10 of the present embodiment, a common line can be used for different services. Therefore, the sleep time of the SDP line can be reduced and the line can be used efficiently. Specifically, it becomes possible to flexibly allocate a necessary period, a necessary bandwidth, and a necessary channel according to the use status of the line by the service.

  Further, the line selection device 10 according to the present embodiment assigns an available line to the application according to the line status. Therefore, the application does not need to specify the line to be used. Therefore, the service developer does not need to design the application to cope with the change even when the telephone numbers and line conditions available in the application change dynamically. As a result, service developers can design applications more easily.

Hereinafter, this effect will be described in more detail.
As described above, the application connected to the line selection device 10 of this embodiment does not need to specify the line to be used. Therefore, when generating a call instruction (invite request), the application need not dynamically specify the SDP side telephone number (from attribute) as an argument and give it to the call instruction. The application may give a predetermined character string (for example, “any-bw”) to the SDP side telephone number.

  The selection unit 22d of the line selection device 10 that has received the transmission instruction generated in this way selects an appropriate line, and sets the transmission instruction character string “any-bw” to the telephone number corresponding to the selected line. Replace and send to SDP. Therefore, the application designer does not need to implement the logic for selecting the SDP side telephone number on the application, and can design the application more easily.

  In addition, according to the line selection device 10 of the present embodiment, it is possible to allow a specific application to use a specific line, channel, band, and telephone number in response to a request from an SDP administrator.

  In the above description, the mode in which the line selection device 10 is connected to the SDP as a separate device is shown, but the line selection device 10 may be designed as a part of the SDP.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes designs and the like that do not depart from the gist of the present invention. Needless to say, the above-described embodiment and a plurality of modifications can be combined within a range in which the contents do not conflict with each other. Further, in the above-described embodiment and modification, the structure of each part has been specifically described. However, the structure and the like can be variously changed within a range that satisfies the present invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Line selection apparatus, 11 ... Line use management API interface, 12 ... APL side SDP-API interface, 13 ... SDP-API interface, 20 ... Control part, 21 ... Transmission side filter 21, 22 ... Incoming side filter, 23 ... Selection unit, 23a ... Line usage status management unit, 23b ... Line selection unit, 23c ... APL selection unit, 24 ... Storage unit, 25 ... Common function processing unit

Claims (4)

A line selection device that selects a line used for communication between an application and a communication network via SDP (Service Delivery Platform),
An application selection unit that selects an application that receives the call notification from a plurality of applications based on an SDP-side telephone number and a communication terminal-side telephone number included in a call notification from a communication terminal connected to the communication network; Line selection device provided. The line selection device according to claim 1 , further comprising a called-side filter that rejects the call notification when a resource used for one application exceeds an upper limit. The communication network is, the line selection device according to claim 1 or 2 is a public switched telephone network or NGN (Next Generation Network) network. A line selection method for selecting a line used for communication between an application and a communication network via SDP (Service Delivery Platform),
An application selection step of selecting an application that receives the call notification from a plurality of the applications based on an SDP side telephone number and a communication terminal side telephone number included in the call notification from the communication terminal connected to the communication network; Having a line selection method.

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