JP2004248068A - Voice communication system, voice communication method, communication terminal, router, and outer edge router - Google Patents

Abstract

In a voice communication using an information communication network such as an IP network, good voice communication can be used even in a state where packet delay fluctuates greatly.
A plurality of outer edge routers (103, 104) to which wireless base stations (105, 106) having IP terminals (107, 108) are connected via a wireless medium (100b), and a router (102) connected to a control terminal (101) by wire communication. In the IP network 100 connected by the medium 100a, the router 102 transmits a control message to the IP terminals 107 and 108 according to its own load state determined based on the threshold set by the control terminal 101, and , 108 perform voice communication by switching to communication suppression, half-duplex communication, or full-duplex communication according to the control message, thereby performing full-duplex communication at low load and packet delay at high load. When is large, half-duplex communication or communication suppression is performed, so that good voice communication can be used without being affected by the load state.
[Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a voice communication system, a voice communication method, a communication terminal, a router, and a peripheral router, and more particularly to a technology that is effective when applied to a voice communication technology using an IP (Internet Protocol) network or the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the rapid spread and large capacity of the Internet, voice communication using IP packets used on the Internet, so-called VoIP (Voice over IP) has come to be used. As long as users can connect to the Internet, they can use the Internet free of charge and make very cheap calls.
[0003]
Also, compared to the cost of building and maintaining a circuit-switched network, the construction of an IP network can be inexpensive. Are entering.
[0004]
Along with the spread of the Internet, the development of wireless mobile communication has also been remarkable. With the spread of mobile phones, data communication has begun to be provided from services that were initially voice-only. It is anticipated that the weight of data communication will further increase in the future, and it is anticipated that the wireless system will also have an IP network.
[0005]
By using IP, a network in which data and voice are mixed can be realized, and the maintenance cost of the communication infrastructure can be reduced. However, while the circuit-switched network can reliably secure the communication band, the IP network is a packet-switched network. Therefore, the problem of packet delay due to network congestion has been pointed out. The IP network is composed of a relay station called a router. When packets concentrate on the router beyond the processing capability, packet distribution delay increases, and further, packet loss occurs without performing packet distribution.
[0006]
Particularly, in the case of VoIP in which voice is converted into data and transmitted and received as continuous small IP packets, the influence of packet delay is serious. Generally, it is said that ordinary conversation is difficult if the delay time until the voice reaches the other party exceeds 200 msec. In many VoIP products, IP packets are buffered with a margin of about 200 msec to absorb fluctuations in packet delay. Is treated as noise.
[0007]
Several schemes have been proposed so that packet transmission without delay tolerance such as voice can be performed even when the load on the router is increased, such as Resource Reservation Setup Protocol (RSVP), which secures the bandwidth in advance through a router, or IP. Diffsrv (Differentiated Services) for giving a processing priority to a packet is known, but a problem is solved by arranging a router having sufficient processing capability.
[0008]
There is also an idea that a half-duplex voice call is restricted in order to cope with the delay. It would be possible for the user to understand that alternating calls would be able to withstand much greater voice delays than full duplex. As a conventional half-duplex communication, for example, a transmission method in which a half-duplex voice packet is relayed by a plurality of radio stations is known. In this case, the number of radios is larger than the number of time slots, and Are repeatedly used in a section in which the intervals of the predetermined time intervals are equal to or more than a predetermined value (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[0009]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-9-36916 (page 5, FIG. 5)
[0010]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, with the development of the Internet, VoIP for performing voice communication by IP is becoming widespread, but there is a problem in guaranteeing a communication band, and attempts have been made to solve the problem. In addition, it has been explained that the use of IP is being studied not only in a wired system but also in a wireless system.
[0011]
By the way, a communication carrier using the current IP network provides a system with a sufficient margin, thereby avoiding problems of delay time and communication band guarantee by IP. However, it is expected that it is difficult for the system to function at the time of a disaster in which traffic increases. For example, at the time of the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, traffic was 50 times larger than usual. In addition, it is required that emergency services such as administration, police, firefighting, medical services, etc. be reliably provided in a disaster more than usual.
[0012]
In the case of a circuit switching system, it is possible to secure a line for emergency communication by means such as incoming call restriction, or to set a limit on the talk time so that the line can be more fairly given to the user. In the case of an IP network, there is a technical problem that connection management is performed between terminals, and connection management on the IP network side is difficult.
[0013]
In addition, when performing transmission and reception by VoIP in an overload state, there is a technical problem that delay fluctuations become severe and the voice communication becomes useless.
[0014]
An object of the present invention is to solve such a technical problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a voice communication technology capable of accurately managing traffic resources in voice communication using an information communication network such as an IP network.
[0015]
It is another object of the present invention to provide a voice communication technology that enables good voice communication to be used even in a state where packet delay fluctuates greatly in voice communication using an information communication network such as an IP network. I do.
[0016]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
An audio communication system according to the present invention includes an information communication network based on the Internet protocol configured by connecting a wired communication medium or a wireless communication medium via a plurality of path control devices, and a plurality of communication networks connected to the information communication network. A voice communication system for performing voice communication among the plurality of communication terminals, wherein the path control device includes: a measuring unit that measures a communication load in the information communication network; Transmission means for transmitting a control message to the communication terminal in response to the control message, wherein the communication terminal switches communication control to one of half-duplex communication and half-duplex communication in response to the control message. It has a function.
[0017]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a configuration of an information communication network to which a voice communication system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is applied.
[0018]
In the present embodiment, an IP network 100 using the Internet protocol will be described as an example of an information communication network. Further, IP version 6 is applied to IP network 100 of the present embodiment.
[0019]
The IP network 100 according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of outer edge routers (first route control devices) 103 and outer edge routers (first route control devices) 104, other routers (second route control devices) 102, and It comprises a wired communication medium 100a to be connected. A control terminal 101 operated by a system administrator is connected to a control interface of the router 102. The outer edge router 103 and the outer edge router 104 are connected to a wireless base station 105 and a wireless base station 106, respectively.
[0020]
Under each of the radio base station 105 and the radio base station 106, for example, an IP terminal (communication terminal) 107 and an IP terminal (communication terminal) 108, which are radio communication terminals, are connected via a radio medium 100b such as radio waves. In addition, IP communication is performed on the IP network 100 via each of the wireless base station 105 and the wireless base station 106 on a wireless system having a CSMA / CA type MAC function adopted for the wireless LAN. A paging / signaling mechanism is provided in the wireless system, and the individual IP terminals 107 and 108 can call each other by specifying the IP address of the partner terminal.
[0021]
FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of each router according to the present embodiment. There is no difference in the functional configuration between the outer edge routers 103 and 104 and the router 102.
Each of the outer edge routers 103 and 104 and the router 102 includes a control interface 201, a control message transmitting / receiving unit 202, a permission / authorization key generation unit 203, a priority address database 204, a load measurement unit 205, a queue management unit 206, and an authorization key / timer check. 207 and a packet filter 208.
[0022]
The control interface 201 is an interface program with the control terminal 101 connected to the IP network 100 to which the router is connected. The control interface 201 can receive a command from the control terminal 101 operated by the administrator and perform control such as limiting the number of voice communication sessions.
[0023]
The control message transmission / reception unit 202 performs transmission / reception processing of control messages, such as communication suppression, full-duplex communication, and half-duplex communication recommendation, which are issued to the IP terminals 107 and 108. When each of the outer edge routers 103 and 104 and the router 102 relay a control message to the IP terminals 107 and 108 and other routers, the control message transmitting / receiving unit 202 relays the message and sends the control message to its own device. To take in.
[0024]
By the way, the meaning of the half-duplex communication used in the present embodiment is to operate the voice packet transmission / reception by the terminal in a half-duplex manner (executing by alternately switching between transmission and reception). Thereby, the half-duplex communication can tolerate a large voice packet delay as compared with the full-duplex voice communication (transmitting and receiving are performed simultaneously).
[0025]
The permission / authorization key generation unit 203 gives permission of the voice communication session to the IP terminals 107 and 108, and performs generation management of an authorization key (authorization information) attached to the voice communication packet.
[0026]
The priority address database 204 is a database in which the IP addresses of the IP terminals 107 and 108 for which priority processing is to be performed are registered, and the priority registered IP terminals are preferentially given permission for voice communication sessions.
[0027]
The load measuring unit 205 measures the processing load of the router, and measures the number of processing packets per unit time separately for a real-time queue and a normal queue (non-real-time queue) described later. Particularly in the real-time queue, the load measuring unit 205 also measures the processing delay time.
[0028]
The queue management unit 206 manages each of the real-time queue and the normal queue according to a dynamically or statically given management policy.
[0029]
The authorization key / timer check 207 checks the authorization key attached to the packet and checks the expiration date given to the authorization key. If the authorization key verification has failed or the authorization key has expired, the authorization key / timer check 207 notifies the requesting IP terminals 107 and 108 and does not perform queuing of the packet.
[0030]
The packet filter 208 is a filter for excluding in advance IP packets that are not suitable for the purpose of use of the IP network 100.
[0031]
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration example of a voice communication function of IP terminals 107 and 108 according to the present embodiment.
Each of the IP terminals 107 and 108 includes a control GUI 301, a SIP control unit 302, a control message processing unit 303, a voice communication application 304, a full-duplex / half-duplex voice packet generation unit 305, and a full-duplex / half-duplex packet buffer. A ring 306, an authorization key management unit 307, and a packet transmission / reception function 308 are provided.
[0032]
The control GUI 301 is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for confirming the status information indicating whether or not voice communication is possible and for inputting and displaying a call button control when half-duplex voice communication is selected.
[0033]
The SIP control unit 302 is a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) control application that controls a voice communication session using IP. The SIP control unit 302 operates as a server program, and receives a voice communication request using an IP packet. Also, in the case of the present embodiment, a mode selection command is added to the session control procedure to support half-duplex voice communication and is extended.
[0034]
The control message processing unit 303 processes control messages from the outer edge routers 103 and 104. That is, control messages from the outer edge routers 103 and 104 are received, and the state of voice communication such as communication suppression, full-duplex communication, and half-duplex communication is managed. The voice communication application 304 controls generation / reproduction and transmission / reception of voice data.
[0035]
The full-duplex / half-duplex voice packet generation unit 305 generates a voice data packet in accordance with the currently applied full-duplex or half-duplex voice communication mode. The generated voice data packet is passed to the packet transmission / reception function 308 via an authorization key assignment control given from a router of the authorization key management unit 307, which will be described later.
[0036]
When the packet transmission / reception function 308 receives the voice data packet, the full-duplex / half-duplex packet buffering 306 absorbs the delay fluctuation depending on the voice communication mode applied.
[0037]
Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described.
When the user tries to use voice communication from the control GUI 301 at the IP terminal 107 or the IP terminal 108, the voice communication application 304 operates according to the logic shown in the flowchart of FIG.
[0038]
First, the voice communication status is checked in step ST401. The voice communication status is currently supplied from an outer edge router under which the terminal is subordinate. Depending on the state of the IP network, a state of communication suppression / full duplex / half duplex is given. If the latest state is communication inhibition (step ST402), an error report is sent to the user indicating that communication is not possible, and the process is terminated (step ST410).
[0039]
Further, in step ST403, it is checked whether full-duplex communication is permitted. If full-duplex communication is permitted, establishment of a full-duplex voice communication session is attempted in step ST404 using a protocol shown in FIG. If a session can be established (step ST405), communication is executed in step ST406.
[0040]
If only half-duplex communication is permitted, a session for half-duplex voice communication is attempted in step ST407 according to the user's decision. If a session can be established (step ST408), a half-duplex voice communication session is executed in step ST409.
[0041]
An example of a procedure for establishing a full-duplex voice communication session will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. Now, IP terminal 107 is about to call IP terminal 108. The authorization key management unit 307 of the IP terminal 108 sets the priority in the IP packet header to real time and sends a session start request packet without an authorization key in step ST501.
[0042]
The flowchart in FIG. 6 is an example of the logic executed by the router 102 in the relay path between the IP terminals 108 and 107, in which the packet control mechanism according to the present embodiment functions. Now, upon receiving a session start request packet from IP terminal 107, it checks in step ST601 whether the state is a load state or a restricted state set by an operation of a system administrator. If there is enough space, the packet is directly queued in the real-time queue, and the packet passes through the router 102. However, when a priority packet that has not been registered in the real-time queue is queued, a session is registered.
[0043]
If there is a restriction, the router 102 further checks whether the packet is a priority packet (step ST602). If the packet is not a priority packet, the packet is queued in a non-real-time queue that does not guarantee a delay time (step ST609). Packets queued in the non-real-time queue are always transmitted, though delayed. If the load is too high to be processed even by the queue having no delay requirement, the router 102 broadcasts a message transmission suppression message. Load measurement and status message transmission will be described later.
[0044]
Further, in step ST603, it is checked whether authorization data (authorization key) is attached to the packet. If there is no authorization data, an authorization registration process is performed in step ST606. Router 102 transmits a packet transmission refusal notice to IP terminal 107 on the calling side in step ST502. The packet transmitting / receiving function 308 of the IP terminal 107 retransmits the priority packet transmission permission request message using its own IP address and the authorization data (step ST503).
[0045]
Upon receiving the transmission permission request message from the IP terminal 107, the authorization registration process of the router 102 searches the priority address database 204 from the IP address and the authorization data stored in the transmission permission request message, and determines whether the authorization data is the priority address. If the priority of the IP terminal that matches the registration information in the database 204 and is given in advance is within the currently applied communication restriction level and should be authorized, the time at which the authorization was issued The generated authorization data is registered together with the time stamp data, and the authorization data is transmitted to the IP terminal 107 in step ST504.
[0046]
Upon receiving the authorization data from router 102, IP terminal 107 transmits a session start request packet to IP terminal 108 with the authorization data again (step ST505). This time, it is determined in step ST606 that there is authorization data, and since the elapsed time from the time stamp is within the range of the set value (step ST604), the packet is queued in the real-time queue (step ST605). It passes through the router 102.
[0047]
Receiving the session start request packet, receiving-side IP terminal 108 returns the port number to requesting IP terminal 107 (step ST506). The IP terminal 108 uses the attached authorization data as it is. Further, with the transmission of an acknowledgment (ACK) message from IP terminal 107 (step ST507), a full-duplex voice communication session is established. Thereafter, voice communication data is exchanged in step ST508, and the session is terminated by voice communication applications on both IP terminals 107 and 108 by a user operation (step ST509).
[0048]
During the exchange of voice communication data (step ST508), if the authorization time limit in the router 102 has elapsed (step ST604), the router 102 sends the packet to the source and destination IP addresses in the packet. A transmission rejection notification is transmitted (step ST607, step ST608). When receiving a packet transmission rejection message during execution of a full-duplex voice communication session, IP terminals 107 and 108 cancel the session.
[0049]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, a control message is transmitted from router 102 to each of IP terminals 107 and 108 according to the magnitude of the load on IP network 100, and the IP terminals 107 and 108 transmit low-level control messages. In the case of load, full-duplex voice communication is performed, and in the case of high load, switching to half-duplex voice communication or communication suppression causes problems such as inability to hear voice at high load. Therefore, it is possible to perform optimal communication according to the load fluctuation.
[0050]
Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the control terminal 101 is IP-connected to the router 102, and has a control GUI 700 shown in FIG. 7 connected to the control interface 201 of the router 102 on the control terminal 101. Control application is deployed. The control GUI 700 includes a load state display unit 700a for displaying a load state of a connected router (in this case, the router 102), and an effective limit value display for displaying various thresholds for load limitation currently set in the router 102. And a setting unit 700c for providing an input interface for setting various thresholds.
[0051]
The load status display unit 700a of the control GUI 700 periodically inquires of the control interface 201 of the router 102 about the load status, and the control interface 201 obtains the load status information from the load measurement unit 205 of the router 102. The load measuring unit 205 reports the number of valid real-time sessions and the latest average value of the length of the non-real-time queue. The load state display unit 700a displays that there are 30 real-time sessions and that the non-real-time queue length is 40%, where the queue length that can be processed without discarding packets is 1.
[0052]
The effective limit value display section 700b displays, as threshold values for load limitation, that the real-time session starts limiting at 50 and that the non-real-time queue is limited at 80% in length. The router 102 changes its own status according to the thresholds, thereby transmitting a control message to the IP terminals 107 and 108 or the outer routers 103 and 104 and restricting communication.
[0053]
The system administrator can not only check the operation state of the router 102 via the control terminal 101 but also control a threshold value, a time limit of voice communication, a blockage of the router 102, and the like. That is, the setting unit 700c can set the limit threshold value of the real-time queue of the router and the limit threshold value of the non-real-time queue. The time limit of the real-time session can be set by the setting unit 700c. For example, when the check box is checked, the router 102 can be closed regardless of the load state of the router 102. Note that the time limit is input in the setting unit 700c in seconds, and -1 means no limit.
[0054]
On the basis of the load limit threshold value (value displayed on the effective limit value display unit 700b) controlled by the system administrator via the control terminal 101, the router 102 periodically updates, for example, every 10 seconds as shown in FIG. The control logic shown in the flowchart of FIG. In the load measurement in step ST801, the load is measured with the number of valid sessions for the real-time queue, and the queue length is measured for the non-real-time queue.
[0055]
If the number of valid sessions in the real-time queue does not exceed the threshold value (step ST802), it is further checked whether the current state is a restricted state (step ST803). If the state is the restriction state, a restriction release message is transmitted (step ST804), and the current state is set to the non-restriction state (step ST805).
[0056]
If the number of valid sessions in the real-time queue exceeds the threshold but the load on the non-real-time queue is less than the threshold (step ST806), a message is sent to the effect that only half-duplex sessions are permitted (step ST807). ), And register the restriction state of the real-time session (step ST808).
[0057]
Further, if the load of the non-real-time queue also exceeds the threshold, a message of communication suppression is transmitted (step ST809), and the state of being suppressed is registered as a state (step ST810).
[0058]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, traffic resources can be arbitrarily managed in voice communication using an information communication network such as the IP network 100 by intervention of a system administrator via the control terminal 101.
[0059]
Therefore, for example, by setting a high priority to the addresses of the IP terminals 107 and 108 of the government, police, medical institutions, etc. in the priority address database 204, even when traffic suddenly increases in a disaster or the like, Thus, emergency voice communication can be reliably ensured in preference to general voice communication.
[0060]
Further, as shown in FIG. 1, in the IP network 100 to which the present invention is applied, the operation of the outer edge routers 103 and 104 which are arranged at the outer edge of the wired IP network and connect the wireless system will be described. The transmission of the control message from the router 102 according to the present invention, which has been described above, is realized by broadcast. The outer edge routers 103 and 104 connected to the IP network 100 can all receive.
[0061]
The control message receiving process in the outer edge routers 103 and 104 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. Control message transmitting / receiving section 202 of outer edge routers 103 and 104 waits for the arrival of a control message in step ST901. Then, upon receiving a control message which is an ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) message, it checks whether or not the content of the control message is a communication suppression request (step ST902). If so, the communication to the transmission source router 102 is suppressed in step ST903. Specifically, the router address is registered as a suppressed state, and all packets passing through the router 102 are discarded.
[0062]
In step ST904, the state according to the control message is recorded. The outer-edge routers 103 and 104 periodically transmit to the subordinate wireless terminals (IP terminals 107 and 108) mask information of the IP address passing through the outer-edge routers 103 and 104 together with full-duplex, half-duplex, and suppression. The control message is delivered in the form of an IPv6 router advertisement.
[0063]
As described above, the IP terminals 107 and 108 receive control messages supplied in the form of router advertisements from the outer edge routers 103 and 104, and perform state control of full-duplex communication, half-duplex communication, and communication suppression. Is performed.
[0064]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, traffic resources can be accurately managed in voice communication using the information communication network such as the IP network 100.
[0065]
Next, operations of the IP terminal 107, the IP terminal 108, and the outer edge routers 103 and 104 to which each IP terminal connects when the half-duplex voice communication is applied will be described. Again, the significance of the half-duplex operation of the voice communication application in IP voice communication will be described. In the case of real-time voice communication by IP, if a packet that cannot be rescued by delay buffer control or a packet drop occurs in a route router, it must be treated as a lost packet, and the voice becomes silent for the lost packet.
[0066]
The effect of packet loss on important conversations is significant, especially in emergency situations when traffic increases, which tends to cause packet loss. Half-duplex communication requires the user to withstand half-duplex control and a large communication delay, but the received one voice message is guaranteed for its integrity (no data loss), and important words There is no such thing as a consonant being skipped to make it meaningless.
[0067]
At the time of half-duplex communication, the user operates switching between transmission (transmission) and reception (reception) at the IP terminals 107 and 108 using the call button, as in the case of using the transceiver. This call button may be realized by either hardware (specific operation keys) in the IP terminals 107 and 108 or operation keys of software display by GUI. In the embodiment to which the present invention is applied, voice data collected while the talker presses the talk button of the IP terminals 107 and 108 is generated as one IP packet and transferred through the IP network. .
[0068]
However, in the IP communication stack, one data transmission request is generally divided into a maximum transfer size called an MTU (Maximum Transfer Unit) defined by a communication medium. In particular, in some wireless systems, the MTU is often set relatively small. Each of the IP terminals 107 and 108 according to the present embodiment attaches an IPv6 fragment header to a given voice message, divides the message, and transmits the divided voice message to the outer edge routers 103 and 104.
[0069]
A sufficiently large MTU is applied to the wired IP network 100 (portion using the wired communication medium 100a) of the IP audio system according to the present embodiment. The outer edge routers 103 and 104 transmit the packet-divided voice messages from the IP terminals 107 and 108 divided into MTUs of the wireless system including the wireless base stations 105 and 106 and the wireless terminals (IP terminals 107 and 108). Upon receipt, the control logic shown in the flowchart of FIG. 10 reconstructs (integrates) one larger IP packet.
[0070]
If an IP packet is received in step ST1001, it is determined in step ST1002 whether or not the packet is a half-duplex packet, that is, a voice message fragment packet. In fact, since only half-duplex voice messages are transmitted as fragment packets, the processing may be uniform for fragment packets.
[0071]
The fragment packet is buffered in step ST1003. When all the buffering of the fragmented packet is completed (step ST1004), the fragmented packet is reassembled into one IP packet (step ST1005) and transferred to the next hop route (step ST1006). As a result, although a slight delay occurs when using half-duplex communication, the user can use a voice message with no loss.
[0072]
In addition, the use of the MTU having the optimal size in each of the priority IP network 100 and the wireless systems constituting the portion thereof can improve communication efficiency.
[0073]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, in voice communication using IP network 100, traffic adjustment of IP network 100 becomes possible, and even in a situation where traffic suddenly increases, such as at the time of disaster, individual communication can be performed. Priority communication, secure communication quality, and fairly distribute communication time in the IP terminals 107 and 108.
[0074]
In addition, if the present invention is applied to the IP network 100 including a wireless system based on IP, the IP terminal 107 is composed of the wireless base station 105, the wireless base station 106, and the wireless communication terminals under its control, the IP terminal 108, and the like. Thus, a more reliable mobile communication system can be realized.
[0075]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the measuring means on the communication control device measures the communication load of the communication network, the transmitting means transmits a control message to the terminal according to the magnitude of the load, and the terminal Since communication is switched in response to this control message, it is possible to properly manage traffic resources in voice communication using the information communication network, and to perform good voice communication even when packet delays fluctuate greatly. it can.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an information communication network to which a voice communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of each router according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a configuration of a voice communication function of an IP terminal according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of control logic of a voice communication function of the IP terminal according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for establishing a voice communication session in the first embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of control logic of a voice communication function of the router according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a control GUI of a control terminal in the voice communication system according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of control logic of a router according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of control logic of an outer edge router according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of control logic of the outer edge router according to the first embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
100 IP network, 100a wired communication medium, 100b wireless medium, 101 control terminal, 102 router, 103 outer edge router, 104 outer edge router, 105 wireless base station, 106 wireless base station, 107 IP terminal, 108 IP terminal, 201 control interface, 202 control message transmission / reception unit, 203 permission / authorization key generation unit, 204 priority address database, 205 load measurement unit, 206 queue management unit, 207 authorization key / timer check, 208 packet filter, 301 control GUI, 302 SIP control unit, 303 Control message processing unit, 304 voice communication application, 305 full-duplex / half-duplex voice packet generation unit, 306 full-duplex / half-duplex packet buffering, 307 authorization key management unit, 308 packet transmission / reception function, 700 control GUI, 7 00a Load state display section, 700b Effective limit value display section, 700c Setting section.

Claims (19)

Including an information communication network configured by connecting a communication medium via a plurality of path control devices and a plurality of communication terminals connected to the information communication network, performing voice communication between the plurality of communication terminals A voice communication system,
The path control device has a measurement unit that measures a communication load in the information communication network, and a transmission unit that transmits a control message to the communication terminal according to the magnitude of the communication load,
The voice communication system according to claim 1, wherein the communication terminal has a communication control function of switching to communication suppression, half-duplex communication, or full-duplex communication in response to the control message. The path control device includes a control interface connected to a control terminal operated by a system administrator, and to the communication terminal according to the level of the communication load by an intervention operation of the system administrator via the control terminal. The voice communication system according to claim 1, wherein load control is performed by transmitting a control message. The plurality of route control devices include a first route control device connected to an outer edge of the information communication network and connected to the communication terminal under the first route control device, and a second route control device not connected to the outer edge. 2. The voice according to claim 1, wherein the first route control device receives the control message from the route control device, and performs information transfer control from the communication terminal to the information communication network according to the control message. Communications system. A function of integrating the plurality of first half-duplex voice communication packets received from the communication terminal and transmitting a larger second half-duplex voice communication packet to the information communication network; The voice communication system according to claim 3, further comprising: The route control device has a function of, when starting communication between the plurality of communication terminals, giving a communication permission together with the authorization information to the communication terminal, and permitting only the packet with the authorization information to pass through the route control device. The voice communication system according to claim 1, further comprising: 6. The voice communication system according to claim 5, wherein the path control device has a function of granting the communication permission according to a priority assigned to each communication terminal in advance. The voice communication system according to claim 5, wherein the path control device has a function of setting a time limit and giving the communication permission to the communication terminal. 2. The voice communication system according to claim 1, wherein the path control device has a function of using broadcast as the method of transmitting the control message to the communication terminal. The path control device separately manages a half-duplex communication queue in which the half-duplex communication data is buffered and a full-duplex communication queue in which the full-duplex communication data is buffered. The voice communication system according to claim 1, further comprising a function. Including an information communication network configured by connecting a communication medium via a plurality of path control devices and a plurality of communication terminals connected to the information communication network, performing voice communication between the plurality of communication terminals A voice communication method,
The path control device measures a communication load in the information communication network, and transmits a control message to the communication terminal according to the magnitude of the communication load,
The communication terminal switching to one of communication suppression, half-duplex communication, and full-duplex communication in response to the control message. A communication terminal connected to an information communication network configured by connecting communication media via a plurality of path control devices, and having a voice communication function, according to a control message received from the path control device, A communication terminal comprising a communication control function for switching a state of a voice communication function to one of communication suppression, half-duplex communication, and full-duplex communication. 12. The communication terminal according to claim 11, further comprising a call button for switching between transmission and reception when the state of the voice communication function is switched to the half-duplex communication. The information communication network is an IP network, and the communication terminal is a wireless communication terminal that performs voice communication on the IP network via a wireless base station under the control of the path control device. Item 12. The communication terminal according to item 11. A router configuring an information communication network via a communication medium, comprising: a measuring unit for measuring a communication load in the information communication network; and performing voice communication on the information communication network according to the magnitude of the communication load. A transmission unit for transmitting a control message to a communication terminal. A control interface connected to a control terminal operated by a system administrator is provided. By an intervention operation of the system administrator via the control terminal, a control message is transmitted to the communication terminal according to the magnitude of the communication load. The router according to claim 14, wherein load control is performed. At the start of communication between the plurality of communication terminals, a communication permission is given to the communication terminal together with the permission information, and a function of permitting only the packet with the permission information to pass through the path control device is provided. The router according to claim 14, wherein An outer edge router to which an information communication network is configured by interposing a communication medium together with a router and a communication terminal performing voice communication using the information communication network is connected,
A function of receiving a control message according to the magnitude of the communication load in the information communication network from the router, and controlling information transfer from the communication terminal to the information communication network in the voice communication according to the control message. Outer edge router featuring. The information communication network is an IP network, has a wireless base station under its control, and performs half-duplex voice communication or full-duplex communication on the IP network by the communication terminal as a wireless communication terminal via the wireless base station. The outer edge router according to claim 17, wherein voice communication is performed. A function of integrating a plurality of first half-duplex voice communication packets received from the communication terminal and transmitting the first half-duplex voice communication packets to the information communication network as a larger second half-duplex voice communication packet. The outer edge router according to claim 18.

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