CN1968266B - A resource management system and method for a media resource server - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a resource management system and method of a media resource server. The system includes: a media resource server (MRS), a media resource manager (MRM), and a media processing entity. The MRM updates the MRS resource according to the stored MRS resource status, The media processing entity requests the MRM to allocate appropriate resources. The MRM selects the determined MRS according to the request information and the preset policy, and allocates the address information of the selected MRS to the media processing entity. The media processing entity requests to establish a resource with the MRS based on the address information. The connection is used for communication, and after the media processing entity finishes using the resources, the MRS releases the allocated resources so that these resources can be used again.

Description

Resource management system and method for a media resource server

technical field

The invention relates to the field of voice applications, in particular to a resource management system and method of a media resource server. the

Background technique

In recent years, with the great success of the CRBT business, service providers have become more and more aware that developing services based on the traditional telephone infrastructure can bring greater profits, but the facts have proved that both in terms of quality and scope , the developed services will be limited by the limited resources of traditional switches, or even the capabilities of switches. In order to expand and maintain the user base, service providers have no choice but to provide users with more competitive services. the

Therefore, service providers inevitably adopt dedicated media resource servers, such as Interactive Voice Response System (IVR), Text-to-Speech Synthesis (TTS), and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). Among them, the TTS and ASR servers can control the use of resources by limiting the number of purchased licenses. In this case, it is inevitable for service providers to use load sharing on limited available resources to increase the average income of each channel, and this will damage the interests of users. Some manufacturers have solved this problem in other ways , but due to the lack of an open and standardized resource management system, the TTS and ASR servers of different vendors cannot be smoothly integrated, which makes it impossible for service providers to conveniently use media resource servers of different vendors to carry out large-scale value-added services. A new resource management framework is needed to manage media resource servers of different manufacturers reasonably. the

In fact, there is no established open resource management framework in the existing voice service network, and the existing framework cannot flexibly use media resources on different servers. The media processing entity can be bound to a media resource server, and then use the resources on it, as shown in Figure 1, there are two MRS, they have similar capabilities, and any one can process speech synthesis or speech recognition The current problem is that the two MRS cannot be selected. Since the selection of resources depends on the local policy of the media processing entity, one server will be busy while the other servers are idle. This problem will be more prominent when multiple media processing entities share media server resources. . the

When multiple media processing entities are connected to the MRS, the MRS will perform speech synthesis or speech recognition, which requires a large amount of speech processing, which will occupy a large amount of CPU resources and limit the ability of the server to process many requests at the same time. However, each media resource server can only handle a certain number of requests at the same time, which leads to the problem of low resource utilization. Therefore, there is a need for an allocation method to allocate resources reasonably, so as to avoid waste of resources.

Contents of the invention

In view of this, the object of the present invention is to provide a resource management system and method for a media resource server. The system and method provide a reasonable allocation of resources, and realize the flexible use of media resources on different servers by users, so that Media resources achieve load balancing, thereby improving the utilization rate of media resources. the

In order to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the object of the present invention is achieved through the following technical solutions. The present invention provides a resource management system of a media resource server, which system includes: a media resource manager (MRM), a media processing entity, and a media resource server (MRS), where:

MRM is used to store the resource status of MRS and the preset strategy based on resource allocation; judge whether the stored MRS resource status is consistent with the current MRS resource status; Reachable, if yes, update the resources of MRS, otherwise discard the relevant resource information of the MRS; monitor and maintain the status of the MRS, and select the status of the MRS as an idle MRS address allocation according to the request of the media processing entity and the selected strategy to the media processing entity;

The media processing entity is configured to send a resource allocation request to the MRM, receive the address information of the MRS allocated by the MRM, and establish a connection with the MRS according to the address information. the

Preferably, the system further includes a backup MRM connected to the MRM, and allocates MRS resources when the MRM is unavailable. the

Preferably, the MRS periodically publishes resource information to the MRM or publishes resource information when the MRM inquires. the

Preferably, a Media Resource Control Protocol (MRCP) is used between the media processing entity and the MRS. the

The present invention also relates to a resource management method of a media resource server, the method comprising:

The MRM judges whether the stored MRS resource status is consistent with the current MRS resource status, and if not, determines that the MRS resource needs to be updated; MRM judges whether the MRS is reachable, and if so, updates the MRS resource, otherwise discards the MRS resource information ; Monitor and maintain the state of the MRS. The MRM selects the MRS address whose MRS state is idle and allocates it to the media processing entity according to the resource allocation request sent by the media processing entity to the MRM and the preset strategy stored by the MRM. the

Preferably, the method further includes: the media processing entity sends a connection request to the MRS according to the address information allocated by the MRM, and establishes a connection for communication. the

Preferably, the method further includes: after the resource is used, the media processing entity requests the MRS to release the resource and sends a resource release request to the MRM at the same time, and the MRM releases the allocated resource in the database after receiving the request. the

Preferably, the MRM performs security authentication on the allocation request of the media processing entity. the

Preferably, the MRS performs security authentication on the connection request of the media processing entity. the

As can be seen from the above technical solutions, since the present invention adds a new network element device, the media resource manager, to the prior art, the resource management of the media resource server is realized, thereby bringing the following beneficial effects :

1. MRM selects the MRS address information resource according to the preset strategy and assigns it to the media processing entity, which completes the reasonable allocation of resources, avoids the situation that one server is busy and the other is idle, and realizes resource sharing and load balancing. the

2. The present invention adopts the existing standard protocol among the selected interfaces, realizes the connection between TTS and ASR of different manufacturers, and establishes a standard and open resource management system, so that service providers can conveniently use the TTS of different manufacturers. MRS conducts value-added services. the

3. The present invention also introduces a new media resource business model. Telecom service providers can manage media resource services and rent resources to enterprises. In this way, enterprises do not need to master the technology of maintaining media resource servers, and only need to pay for the rented resources. Yes, so the cost of maintenance and management is reduced; for service providers, this business model provides a new source of profit, and through effective sharing and load balancing, the average profit can be increased. the

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a structure of a media processing entity and a media resource server in the prior art. the

Fig. 2 is a system structure diagram of media resource management in the present invention. the

Fig. 3 is a working flowchart of media resource management in the present invention. the

Detailed ways

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. the

As shown in Figure 2, it is a system structure diagram of the present invention, and the present invention relates to a resource management system of a media resource server, the system includes: a media resource manager (MRM), a media processing entity, and a media resource server (MRS), wherein :

MRM stores the resource information of the current MRS and the preset strategy when allocating resources. MRM is responsible for managing the media resource server, monitoring the status of the MRS, and maintaining the idle or busy state permission of the MRS;

Among them, when the MRS resource state is in the idle state, the MRM will record the current state of the MRS. When encountering a request from the media processing entity, the MRM will select the MRS address in the idle state and assign it to the media processing entity. During the resource use process, the MRM will Record the MRS status as busy, and when the resource usage is completed, the MRM will record the MRS status as idle. the

The media processing entity sends a resource allocation request to the MRM, and selects resources through the MRM;

Among them, when the user needs to use resources, the media processing entity will send a request to the MRM according to the user's request. The request information includes the user's request permission, and the MRM will perform security authentication on the user for the request permission. If the permission is passed, the MRM will Receive the request of the media processing entity; otherwise, reject the request of the media processing entity. the

MRS is used to update its own resource information to MRM, publish its resource capabilities and available information to MRM regularly or when MRM inquires, and mark resources as free after media processing entities use them, so that resources can be used again . the

Among them, the MRS regularly releases the current resource information of the MRS to the MRM or publishes the current resource information of the MRS when the MRM inquires. After receiving the request, the MRM compares the resource status of the pre-stored MRS with the resource status of the current MRS. It needs to be updated. When the resource information is different, the MRM will update the resource information of the MRS to keep it consistent with the current MRS information. The information released by the MRS to the MRM includes the capability type of the MRS. For example, the MRS has the ability to process TTS, and the user requests to process TTS and ASR, at this time the MRM will update the capability type of the MRS. the

The media processing entity sends a resource allocation request to the MRM, and the MRM selects an appropriate MRS according to a preset policy, and allocates the address information of the MRS to the media processing entity, and the media processing entity requests to establish a connection with the MRS for communication based on the address information. the

Among them, the media processing entity requests to establish a connection with the MRS according to the address information, and the MRS needs to perform security authentication on the connection request of the media processing entity. If the authentication is passed, the media processing entity establishes a connection with the MRS to communicate, and if not, rejects the media processing entity. connection request. the

It can be seen from Fig. 2 that the system includes an active MRM and a standby MRM, wherein the standby MRM stores all data of the active MRM, and when the active MRM fails, the system will automatically switch to the standby MRM. the

The connection between each unit in the present invention uses following protocol:

The information exchange between MRM and MRS needs to use a protocol similar to TRIP, which supports the encryption of sensitive information. the

The interface between the media processing entity and the MRS has a standard open protocol Media Resource Control Protocol (MRCP), which is used to manage the speech recognition server on the distributed system architecture. This protocol has been adopted by mainstream suppliers in the field of voice communication, media The resource control protocol is responsible for managing the operation of the client/server data flow between the input device/board and the speech recognition host. After adopting this protocol, independent software vendors and application developers only need to write programs for the MRCP interface, without taking into account the differences in speech recognition and its telephony applications. the

The interface between the media processing entity and MRM adopts the resource query protocol, in which the media processing entity will use more common SIP as the bearer protocol of MRCP, so this can be regarded as a query protocol between the media processing entity and MRM. the

The following is a detailed description of the process of implementing resource management in this system:

As shown in Figure 2, the media processing entity 101 sends a request for TTS distribution to the MRM, and the MRM will judge whether the request information permission has passed the security authentication, if the request permission cannot pass the authentication, then reject the request, if so, the MRM will follow the preset strategy Select the media resource server 201 that can handle TTS, and distribute the address information of this server to the media processing entity 101, the media processing entity 101 sends the request of setting up connection to the media resource server 201 according to the address information, and the media resource server 201 then Request information to carry out security authentication, if this connection request permission can not pass authentication, then reject this request, if this connection request permission passes authentication, then media processing entity 101 establishes connection with media resource server 201 and communicates, at this moment MRM will media resource server 201 is marked as a busy state, when the use of resources is completed, the media processing entity 101 requests to disconnect from the media resource server 201, and the media resource server 201 releases the resources. At this time, the MRM marks the resource server 201 as an idle state, so that the resources can be used again use. the

The media processing entity 102 sends a request for assigning an ASR to the MRM, and the MRM will judge whether the request information permission has passed the security authentication. If the request permission cannot pass the authentication, the request will be rejected. capable media resource server 202, and distribute the server address information to the media processing entity 102, the media processing entity 102 sends a request to establish a connection to the media resource server 202 according to the address information, and the media resource server 202 then performs security on the request information Authentication, if the connection request permission cannot pass the authentication, then reject the request, if the connection request permission passes the authentication, then the media processing entity 102 establishes a connection with the media resource server 202 to communicate, and at this moment, the MRM marks the media resource server 202 as busy state, when the resource usage is completed, the media processing entity 102 requests to disconnect from the media resource server 202, and the media resource server 202 releases the resource. At this time, the MRM marks the resource server 202 as an idle state, so that the resource can be used again. the

It can be seen from Figure 2 that the MRM operates in hot backup mode, and the MRM is the core component of the system. Any problem with this component may cause the interruption of the operation of the entire system. Therefore, MRM is divided into two types: one is the active mode; the other is the standby mode. The standby MRM stores all the resources of the active MRM. During the running time, the media processing entity must maintain the state of the active media resource manager in order to send a resource allocation request to the current active MRM. When the active MRM fails, The system will automatically switch to the standby MRM, all calls will be put on hold, and all new requests may be rejected during the switchover. the

The above is the system structure and connection of the present invention. The present invention also relates to a resource management method of a media resource server. The method of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 3 . the

Figure 3 is a work flow diagram of the present invention, the present invention relates to a resource management method of a media resource server, the method specifically includes:

301-304 is the process of the MRS of the present invention updating its own resource capabilities through the MRM;

301: MRS sends a request to update its resource capabilities to MRM;

Among them, MRS updates its own resource capabilities to MRM through appropriate protocols, see Table 1. The information released by MRS to MRM includes but is not limited to the following:

Table 1 1 resource server number 2 Ability type 3 Number of Licenses/Channels Supported 4 Supported text encodings 5 Supported Voice Formats ... ...

As shown in Table 1, the information released by the MRS to the MRM includes the capability type of the MRS. For example, if the MRS has the capability to process TTS, and the user requests to process TTS and ASR at the same time, then the MRM will update the capability type of the MRS. Make the capability type of the current MRS consistent with the capability type of the MRS stored on the MRM. In addition, the MRM can also be updated according to the number of licenses/channels, text encoding, and voice format supported by the MRS. the

302: After the MRM receives the request from the MRS, it compares the resource status of the MRS pre-stored on the MRM with the resource status of the current MRS. If the status is inconsistent, go to step 303;

Wherein, the MRS resource status pre-stored by the MRM includes the content in Table 1, that is, the MRM stores the MRS server number, capability type, supported license/channel number, text encoding, voice format, etc. the

303: MRM judges whether the MRS is reachable, if yes, go to step 305; if not, go to step 304;

Among them, the MRS may lose contact with the MRM due to a network failure or its own failure, and the MRS cannot be reached at this time. the

304: When MRM finds that a certain media resource server is unreachable, MRM discards the relevant resource information of this server;

305: MRS publishes its own resource capabilities to MRM after being reachable, and MRM updates MRS resources according to the resource status;

The resource capability of the MRS includes server number, capability type, supported license/channel number, text encoding, voice format, etc. the

306-308 are the process of resource selection by the media processing entity through MRM in the present invention;

306: MRM obtains a request for media processing entity resource allocation;

Among them, MRM needs to perform security authentication on the request information before obtaining the request from the media processing entity, MRM judges whether the permission of the request information is passed, if yes, then receives the request information, and enters 307; if not, then rejects the media Handle the entity's request. the

307: The MRM selects the determined MRS according to the preset strategy;

Among them, as shown in Table 2, the preset strategy on which the MRM is based includes but is not limited to the following content. When performing resource selection, each media processing entity performs a single point of contact with the MRM. After receiving the request from the media processing entity, the MRM For example, if the media processing entity needs an MRS capable of processing TTS, the MRM will select the MRS according to the resource capability of the MRS. The MRM can also select resources based on other factors. For example, the MRM can select the address information of a relatively low-cost MRS to allocate to the media processing entity, or according to the CPU usage, the MRM selects the MRS with the lowest CPU usage for allocation. the

Table 2 1 Media Resource Server Capabilities 2 calling number 3 cost factor 4 QoS provided 5 time 6 load sharing 7 CPU usage

308: The MRM allocates the selected resources to the media processing entity;

Wherein, the MRM allocates resources according to the configured strategy, and the MRM will select a best MRS resource, and the resource information allocated by the MRM to the media processing entity includes the address information of the selected MRS. the

309: The media processing entity establishes a connection with the MRS through the resources returned by the MRM to communicate;

Among them, the media processing entity sends a connection request to the MRS according to the address information of the MRS, and the MRS performs security authentication on the request information. If the permission request of the media processing entity is passed, a connection is established and an appropriate protocol such as MRCP is used to communicate with the media processing entity. communication; otherwise, the MRS rejects the media processing entity's request. the

310: After the media processing entity finishes using the resource, the MRS releases the resource;

The media processing entity sends a resource release request to the MRS, and the MRS responds to the media processing entity's request and releases the resource; then the media processing entity sends a request to cancel resource allocation to the MRM, and the MRM responds to the media processing entity's request; the MRM Release the allocated resources in the database; MRS marks the allocated resources as free, so that these resources can be used again. the

The resource management system and method of a media resource server provided by the present invention have been introduced in detail above. In this paper, specific examples are used to illustrate the principle and implementation of the present invention. The description of the above embodiments is only for helping understanding The method of the present invention and its core idea; at the same time, for those of ordinary skill in the art, according to the idea of the present invention, there will be changes in the specific implementation and scope of application. In summary, the content of this specification should not be construed as a limitation of the invention. the

Claims (9)

1. the resource management system of a Media Resource Server is characterized in that, comprising: managing medium resource device MRM, medium processing entity, Media Resource Server MRS, wherein:

MRM is used for the strategy that presets of the resource status of store M RS and Resources allocation time institute foundation; Whether the MRS resource status of judging storage consistent with the resource status of current MRS, if inconsistent, then determine need renewal MRS resource, and judge whether MRS can arrive, if then upgrade the resource of MRS, if otherwise the related resource information of this MRS is abandoned; Monitor and safeguard the state of MRS, according to the request and the selected strategy of medium processing entity, the state of selecting MRS is that idle MRS address assignment is given medium processing entity;

Medium processing entity is used for sending resource allocation request to MRM, receives the MRS address information that MRM distributes, and connects according to this address information and MRS.

2. the resource management system of Media Resource Server according to claim 1 is characterized in that, described system further comprises the standby MRM that is connected with above-mentioned MRM, carries out the distribution to the MRS resource when above-mentioned MRM is unavailable.

3. the resource management system of Media Resource Server according to claim 1 is characterized in that, described MRS regularly issues resource information or issue resource information when MRM inquires to MRM.

4. the resource management system of Media Resource Server according to claim 1 is characterized in that, adopts media resource control protocol MRCP between described medium processing entity and the MRS.

5. the method for managing resource of a Media Resource Server is characterized in that, described method comprises:

MRM judges whether the MRS resource status of storage is consistent with the resource status of current MRS, if inconsistent, then definite resource that needs to upgrade MRS; MRM judges whether MRS can arrive, if then upgrade the MRS resource, if otherwise the resource information of this MRS is abandoned; Monitoring and safeguard the state of MRS, MRM sends the strategy that presets of the request of Resources allocation and MRM storage according to medium processing entity to MRM, and the state of selecting MRS be that idle MRS address assignment is to medium processing entity.

6. the method for managing resource of Media Resource Server according to claim 5 is characterized in that, described method also comprises: medium processing entity sends connection request according to MRM addresses distributed information to MRS, and connects and communicate.

7. the method for managing resource of Media Resource Server according to claim 6, it is characterized in that, described method further comprises: after resource is used to complete, medium processing entity request MRS discharges resource and sends the request that discharges resource to MRM simultaneously, after MRM receives request, in database, discharge the resource that dispenses.

8. the method for managing resource of Media Resource Server according to claim 5 is characterized in that, MRM carries out safety certification to the request for allocation of medium processing entity.

9. the method for managing resource of Media Resource Server according to claim 6 is characterized in that, MRS carries out safety certification to the connection request of medium processing entity.

Images