JP2010028495A - Communication quality guarantee request system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a QoS control request on a route has to be set by a user terminal when a user performs communication with a server, etc., in order to perform the QoS control by each one of various data. <P>SOLUTION: A communication protocol for transmitting/receiving quality request control information is stipulated between a communication adapter and a router device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for guaranteeing communication quality in IP network communication.

  With the all-IP network, the conventional fixed telephone service is being integrated into the service provided by the network as an IP telephone. In order to realize a service in which real-time property is important, such as a conventional fixed-line telephone service, it is necessary to guarantee communication quality in an IP network. This requires an operation for transmitting an IP packet for transmitting communication information with higher priority than other IP packets depending on the situation of the communication path. This operation cannot be executed on the user side, and is realized by the IP network operator performing control based on the contract contents and the operation policy. These operations generally refer to the communication contents (for example, communication type, transmission speed, source address, etc.) stored in the IP packet, and operations such as semi-automatically passing the IP packet preferentially are performed. . For example, in video conferencing, IP packets are preferentially transmitted so that real-time communication is possible, and streaming data such as video on demand changes the length (playback time) of the content itself even if there is some delay. If it is not, it can be enjoyed without stress, and therefore operation such as transmission with communication quality that does not require much real-time performance is performed.

  For this reason, in the past, it has not been accepted from the user side to actively make these quality requirements to the network side even if a certain priority or more is set, and no such means has been given. . However, as the integration of legacy services into IP network services progresses and services diversify, the communication quality required for content and services becomes incompatible with the conventional framework.

  Patent Document 1 describes that a QoS request is made from a user, but the content of the QoS service is determined by the server side.

JP 2001-352364 A

  In order to perform QoS control for each of various data, when a user communicates with a server or the like, it is necessary to set a QoS control request on the route by the user terminal.

  As means for solving the above problems, the present invention is characterized in that a communication protocol for transmitting / receiving quality request control information between a communication adapter and a router device is defined.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, even if a user uses the application without a communication quality request | requirement function, it becomes possible to maintain the quality suitable for an application.

  FIG. 1 is a network configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. The home gateway 101 is arranged in the user's house, and is connected to the user's client 1 102, client 2 103, and the like. The home gateway has an interface between the in-home 106 and the edge router 104 located at the entrance of the network 105, and manages communication to the network 105 from, for example, an application operating on the client 1102, and if necessary (set in advance by the user). Communication control) and a quality assurance request to the network 105 (based on the communication control setting information).

  For example, when the video conference application is used in the client 1102, bi-directional real-time communication with video and audio is required. The home gateway 101 sends the communication status information to the edge router 104 as shown in FIG. Require in the contents. The home gateway 101 compares the setting request value held by itself with the response value from the edge router 104 to determine whether the information acquired from the edge router 104 has the required quality. An example of the quality information response from the edge router 104 is shown in FIG. This stores the nexthop information of the router in addition to the source address and destination address, compares the setting request value held by itself with the response result, and if the response result does not satisfy the setting request value, A quality assurance request is made from the home gateway 101 to the router having the address indicated in the nexthop field.

  Packets relating to quality information as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 can be mounted on, for example, RTCP (Realtime Transport Control Protocol). As an example, FIG. 2 shows a quality information request packet and FIG. 3 shows a quality information response packet.

  These information requests / responses are not implemented in conventional devices, and a new mechanism for interpretation and processing by the home gateway 101 and the router 104 is required. When this information is received by the router 104, the quality can be improved by rewriting the TOS information included in the packet, for example, but this quality improvement method is based on an Internet service provider (hereinafter referred to as the following) that operates each network. Service provider) 's operation policy. The service provider prepares a service menu that accepts user guarantee requests within a certain range, and provides services based on the network operation policy using a router that implements this quality assurance mechanism. Will do.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a processing algorithm for requesting quality improvement in the home gateway 101. First, quality information is requested from the edge router (601), and if the quality is not satisfied as compared with the set value held in itself (602), a control request is issued to improve the quality (603). Even when the result is satisfied, when the user feels that the quality is poor (604), the next router indicated by nexthop information is selected by requesting control (605), and an information request is issued. (601). Thereafter, a control instruction is issued to this router.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of setting values relating to quality held by the home gateway 101 itself. This setting value holds an appropriate value according to the application or the service to be used.

  FIG. 6 is a configuration example of the home gateway 101 in which the part of speech guarantee request mechanism according to the present invention is implemented. Transmission / reception data from the client 102 is received by the processing unit 801 via the line 804 and passed to the router 104 via the transmission interface 802. A setting value database 803 holds setting values related to quality information. The processing unit 801 requests quality information about the target flow from the router. The quality information response value from the router is compared with the setting value obtained from the setting value database 803, and if the quality information is not satisfied, a control request is made to the router. Here, the setting value is held in the database, but an implementation in which the setting value is simply held in the memory is also conceivable.

  In addition, when the user feels that the communication quality has deteriorated while using the application, there is an application example in which an application for controlling the home gateway is arranged on the client, and a quality improvement request is made to the network through this. Conceivable. In this case, the home gateway transmits a quality assurance request as shown in FIG. 7 to the router.

  When a router that passes data on the transmission path receives this, if the quality improvement processing for this packet is permitted in the network operation policy, the quality improvement processing such as increasing the priority for the passage of the packet. I do.

  According to the above embodiment, when the quality required for the service used on the user side is not reached, the mechanism for requesting quality improvement up to the quality required for the service with the quality set in the contract content as an upper limit is provided. Is possible.

1 is a network configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. Example of quality information request from home gateway Example of quality information response from router Flowchart of processing algorithm for requesting quality improvement in home gateway Example of setting values related to quality held by the home gateway Block diagram of a configuration example of a home gateway Implementation example of quality setting request packet on RTCP

Explanation of symbols

101 Home gateway 104 that implements an embodiment of the present invention 104 Edge router 105 Backbone network 801 Processing unit 802 Transmission interface 803 Setting value database 804 Transmission / reception data

Claims (2)

A communication method in an IP network,
Data communication between a router connected to the IP network and an information equipment terminal connected to the router,
The information equipment terminal requests quality information from the router and makes a quality improvement request to the router when the obtained quality information does not reach a target quality. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein a QoS request is made in response to the quality improvement request.

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