JP2002185610A - High speed communication system and method for renting communication band by hour - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the using efficiency of a line by varying services to be provided in a high speed communication system. SOLUTION: A subscriber terminal 2 equipped with subscriber devices 1 to be used by subscribers is connected through subscriber lines 3 and a preliminary line 6 to an accomodation station 4 in which the subscriber devices 1 are housed, and the connection destination of the subscriber device 1 to the accomodation station 4 is switched from the subscriber line 3 being a normal line to the preliminary line 6 by an optical layer switch 10 being a switching means so that when there is any idle communication band, the communication band can be temporarily assigned.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a high-speed communication system and a communication system comprising a subscriber terminal provided with a subscriber unit and an accommodation station accommodating each subscriber unit, wherein a communication band can be temporarily used. It relates to the time lending method of the band.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a subscriber terminal having a subscriber unit such as a telephone, a facsimile, a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as "PC") used by a subscriber, and a subscriber connected to each subscriber unit. 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a high-speed communication system that includes an accommodation station that accommodates a subscriber device via a line (telephone line) and realizes high-speed communication using a high frequency band.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-355435 describes an example of a conventional high-speed communication system. In the conventional high-speed communication system, as shown in FIG. 6, each subscriber receives a service. Terminal 2 having a plurality of subscriber units 1 used for the communication, and a high-speed communication service comprising a switching unit 7, a processor 8 and a transmission unit 9 for accommodating each subscriber unit 1 via a subscriber line 3, respectively. And an accommodation station 4 of an operator (hereinafter referred to as a “communications operator”). The subscriber terminal 2 and the accommodation station 4 are in a one-to-one relationship, and each subscriber line 3 is a normally used line (hereinafter, referred to as a "normal line").

When a redundant configuration is realized in such a high-speed communication system, a line is generally duplicated by providing a spare line in addition to a normal line. Here, the “standby line” is provided in preparation for occurrence of an abnormality such as a failure,
Unusual or commonly used lines,
A line whose priority is so low that it cannot be used in the event of an error.

[0005]

However, even if the line is duplicated, in the conventional high-speed communication system, first, when each subscriber receives the provision of the communication service through the subscriber unit 1, the communication There is a problem that the content of the communication service is fixed, and a time-lending system of a communication band in which the communication band can be temporarily used cannot be easily realized. This is because all the lines are fixedly connected.

[0006] As a second problem, when the line is duplicated, the use efficiency of the line is reduced by the spare line which is not normally used, and the line network (optical fiber network) is used efficiently. There was no problem. This is due to the fact that all lines (optical wiring) are fixedly connected while the line is being duplexed in normal times when no spare line is used.

[0007] The present invention has been proposed to solve such problems of the conventional technology, and a connection destination of a line so as to diversify communication services that can be provided to subscribers. To provide a high-speed communication system capable of temporarily using a communication band, and a line having a normal line and a protection line (in this manner, a line in which a line is duplicated is referred to as a “redundant line”). To provide a method of lending a communication band on a time basis when a subscriber terminal and an accommodation station are connected by a redundant line. Aim.

[0008]

To achieve the above object, a high-speed communication system according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a subscriber terminal having a subscriber unit used by a subscriber, and the subscriber unit. In a high-speed communication system having a configuration in which the accommodation station accommodating is connected by a redundant line, the connection destination of the subscriber device to the accommodation station is switched from a normal line forming the redundant line to a protection line, A switching unit for connecting the subscriber unit to the accommodation station is provided.

According to the high-speed communication system of the present invention having such a configuration, when a temporary use request is issued from a subscriber, the connection destination of the subscriber device used by the subscriber to the accommodation station is determined. Switching can be performed by the switching means, and the subscriber device can be connected to the accommodation station.

[0010] In the high-speed communication system according to claim 2 of the present invention, the switching means has an optical layer switch and a control interface, and the optical layer switch responds to a control signal received by the control interface. The connection destination of the subscriber device to the accommodation station is switched.

[0011] The control interface may be configured to receive the control signal from wireless communication means. Further, the control interface may be configured to receive the control signal from a wired communication unit.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a high-speed communication system for monitoring a control signal received by the control interface to accumulate billing information, and calculating an amount of consideration from the billing information accumulated by the means. And means for performing such operations.

According to the high-speed communication system of the present invention having such a configuration, when the communication line is temporarily used in response to the temporary use request from the subscriber, the amount of the price according to the temporary use is reduced. It can be easily calculated.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a time lending method for a communication band, wherein a subscriber terminal having a subscriber device used by a subscriber and an accommodation station accommodating the subscriber device are redundant. In the case of being connected by a line, if there is a free space in the communication band of the redundant line connected to the subscriber device used by the subscriber making a temporary use request, the subscriber station of the subscriber device is sent to the accommodation station. Is switched from the normal line forming the redundant line to the protection line to connect the subscriber unit to the accommodation station and temporarily use the communication band.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a time lending method for a communication band, wherein a subscriber terminal having a subscriber device used by a subscriber and an accommodation station accommodating the subscriber device are redundant. In the case where connection is made by a line, if there is a free space in the communication band of the redundant line connected to the subscriber device used by the subscriber who makes a temporary use request, the subscriber device is switched by an optical layer switch. The connection destination to the accommodation station is switched from a normal line forming the redundant line to a protection line to connect the subscriber unit to the accommodation station and temporarily use a communication band.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION [First Embodiment] Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out a high-speed communication system and a method for lending a communication band according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. explain. Parts corresponding to those in the conventional example shown in FIG. 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

A high-speed communication system according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, uses a telephone, a facsimile,
Each subscriber device 1 is accommodated via a subscriber terminal 2 having a plurality (n) of subscriber devices 1 such as personal computers and a subscriber line (telephone line) 3 connected to each subscriber device 1. The subscriber station 2 and the accommodation station 4 are mainly constituted by the accommodation station 4, and the subscriber terminal 2 and the accommodation station 4 are in a one-to-one relationship via an optical layer switch (hereinafter referred to as an “optical layer switch”) 10 which is switching means described later. It is connected.

A subscriber line 3 connected to each subscriber device 1
Are lines used as normal lines. Each subscriber device 1 and the accommodation station 4 have an n-to-one relationship, and each subscriber device 1 communicates with the accommodation station 4 for normal telephone voice and data.

A protection line 6 is connected to the subscriber terminal station 2 in preparation for a line failure. The optical line switch 10 having a control interface 13 is switching means for switching a connection destination to the protection line 6. It is connected.

The optical layer switch 10 switches the connection destination of each subscriber device 1 to the accommodation station 4 from each subscriber line 3 to the protection line 6 to switch the path (path) of a signal (optical signal). For example, a fiber moving optical switch (robot type, motor drive type), MEMS (Micr
o Mechanical Machine Syst
em) It can be constituted by an optical switch, a waveguide type optical switch, or the like. Then, the optical layer switch 10
Each subscriber device 1 is connected via a port 11 and via a control interface 13 to a communication management device 5 to be described later. The operation will be described later.

The accommodating station 4 comprises an exchange 7 accommodating each subscriber line 3, a processor 8 for controlling the exchange 7, and a transmission device 9
Is provided. The exchange 7 is connected to a protection line 6 in addition to each subscriber line 3. Further, a communication management device 5 having a control interface 12 for outputting a control signal for controlling the optical layer switch 10 is connected to the accommodation station 4. The communication management device 5 mainly has a function of outputting a signal for controlling the optical layer switch 10 and monitoring the signal. In addition, the communication management device 5 monitors a line use state, collects a line use state, and performs statistical processing on the line use state. It has functions such as display by a computer and a graph, and device diagnosis.

In the high-speed communication system having the above-described configuration, a communication carrier normally provides a high-speed communication service to each subscriber through a subscriber line 3, and the subscriber line 3 Is provided as a normal line used by each subscriber at normal times by a telecommunications carrier.

Further, in the case where each subscriber is moving into an office building to form a subscriber group or the like, one or two or more spare lines 6 are provided in preparation for a line failure. This is used when the subscriber line 3 cannot be used due to a line failure or the like. Therefore,
The protection line 6 is normally an unused unused line.

In the high-speed communication system configured as described above, a communication band time lending system that can temporarily use the communication band can be realized.
Then, the operation of the high-speed communication system when each subscriber requests a temporary use of the communication band (hereinafter, referred to as “temporary use request”) will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. I do. Here, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure of processing executed on the accommodation station 4 side, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the operation content of the entire system. In addition,
S in FIG. 2 is an abbreviation of a step, and 1a in FIG. 3 indicates the subscriber device of the subscriber who has made a temporary use request among the subscriber devices 1 shown in FIG.

In the conventional high-speed communication system, the service contents are fixed, so that it is difficult to realize a time-lending system for the communication band. The operation is performed as follows to secure the time, and a time lending system for the communication band can be easily realized.

Normally, each subscriber communicates with the accommodation station 4 by telephone voice through the subscriber line 3 and receives a high-speed communication service from a communication carrier. In this case, first, in step 1, the exchange 7 receives a request from each subscriber through communication means (not shown) such as a telephone or an e-mail,
In the following step 2, the processor 8 determines whether or not the received request is a temporary use request. If the request is not a temporary use request, the process returns to the step 1, but if it is a temporary use request, the process proceeds to the step 3. In step 3, the exchange 7 selects a line group related to the subscriber who has requested the temporary use from among the connected line groups, and in step 4, the processor 8 determines whether the communication group has an available communication band for the line group. Check the situation. At this time, if there is a vacancy in the communication band, the process proceeds to step 5; otherwise, the process ends.

In the following step 5, an instruction is sent from the accommodation station 4 to the communication management device 5, and a line connection instruction for instructing connection to an empty line is transmitted from the control interface 12 to the optical layer switch 10. The process ends. Then, the optical layer switch 10 receives a line connection instruction via the control interface 13 and executes switching processing for connecting the protection line 6 to the port 11a connected to the subscriber line 3 for which the temporary use was requested. Then, the subscriber device 1a of the subscriber who has requested the temporary use is connected to the exchange 7.

Since the connection of this line is performed by using the spare line 6 which is not normally used and is idle, by executing the switching processing by the optical layer switch 10 as described above, the idle state which is not normally used is obtained. Of the backup line 6 can be used effectively, and the line use efficiency can be improved. In addition, since the subscriber who has made the temporary use request can temporarily use the communication band of the protection line 6, the communication service provider can provide a different communication service through the protection line 6 and the communication service provider can provide a different communication service. The content of the provided communication service will be diversified.

However, since the communication service corresponding to the temporary use request is performed using the spare line 6 which is not normally used, if a failure or the like occurs in the subscriber line 3 which is a normal line, the spare line 6 is used. 6 must be used in place of the normally used subscriber line 3. In this case, the optical layer switch 10 is operated to activate the protection line 6.
In this case, the connection between the subscriber unit 1 and the exchange 7 which has been connected to the network must be cut off to suspend the provision of the provided communication service, and the restoration of the normally used subscriber line 3 must be given priority.

On the other hand, the telecommunications carrier, as described above,
When a new communication service is provided to a subscriber in response to a request for temporary use, a fee may be collected from the subscriber using the service to obtain a fee. By doing so, the telecommunications carrier can be compensated for the provision of the service, while the subscriber only needs to pay for the temporary use of the communication line, without having to make useless payments. This can be done as follows.

When providing a new communication service in response to a request for temporary use, the control interface 13 of the optical layer switch 10 transmits a wireless communication (for example, PHS: persona).
A control signal for instructing connection to the protection line 6 is received from the control interface 12 of the communication management device 5 through a communication means such as a handy phone system or a wired (general public telephone line or dedicated line). . Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, this control signal is monitored to accumulate charging information necessary for calculating the charge, and a charge to be charged based on the charging information accumulated by the storage means 13a. Value calculation means 1 for calculating the amount of money
By providing the control interface 3b and the control interface 3b, the above-described value can be calculated. In addition,
The price to be charged may be calculated based on the usage time of the communication band to be used temporarily.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment of a high-speed communication system and a communication band time lending system according to the present invention will be described. Also in this second embodiment,
Other system configurations including the optical layer switch 10 include:
This is the same as in the first embodiment. The high-speed communication system according to the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a restoration line described later is regarded as a normal line and the subscriber temporarily uses the restoration line.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the high-speed communication system according to the present invention, the communication carrier provides the high-speed communication service to the subscriber who is the recipient of the communication service through the subscriber line 3. In some cases, the subscriber has concluded a contract to use a plurality of lines with a communication carrier, and the capacity of the contracted line is larger than the capacity of a normal line normally used. In this case, the surplus line (surplus line) exceeding the capacity of the normal line is given a lower priority than the normal line and is regarded as a bypass line in the event of an abnormality such as a line failure. May be in a state equivalent to an idle spare line that is not used in a normal use state. By renting out the bandwidth of the surplus free line to the subscriber himself or another subscriber in order to temporarily use the line, the line utilization efficiency can be improved.

Next, the operation of the high-speed communication system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In FIG. 5, the same steps as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same step numbers, and the description thereof is omitted or simplified. In the high-speed communication system shown in FIG. 1, it is assumed that a request to use a band larger than a band normally used inside a subscriber who subscribes to a plurality of lines is made.

In this case, first, in step 1, a request from the subscriber is received in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and in subsequent step 2, it is determined whether the received request is a temporary use request. If it is not a use request, the process returns to step 1; otherwise, the process proceeds to the subsequent step 3. In step 3, a line group related to the subscriber who has made a temporary use request is selected from the line group connected to the exchange 7, and in step 6, the communication band of the surplus line is determined for the line group. Is checked to see if there is a free line. At this time, if there is a vacancy, the process proceeds to step 7; otherwise, the process is terminated.

In the following step 7, the communication management device 5 transmits a connection instruction to the surplus line from the control interface 12 to the optical layer switch 10, and ends the processing. Then, the optical layer switch 10 receives the connection instruction via the control interface 13 and executes a switching process in response to the connection instruction. As a result, the surplus line is connected to the subscriber unit 1a of the subscriber who has requested the temporary use, and the subscriber unit 1a is connected to the exchange 7.

By this line connection, a subscriber who requests temporary use of a surplus line can temporarily use the surplus line. Therefore, since the surplus line that is not normally used can be effectively used, the line utilization efficiency can be improved as in the case of the first embodiment. In addition, since the subscriber who has made a temporary use request can temporarily use a band with a surplus line, the communication carrier can provide another communication service, and thus the service contents provided can be diversified. become.

However, since this line uses a surplus line, in the unlikely event that a failure occurs in the telephone line which is normally used, the surplus line is used instead of the subscriber line 3 which normally uses the surplus line. This is the same as in the first embodiment in that the restoration of the normally used subscriber line 3 must be given priority.

When providing a new communication service according to the above-mentioned temporary use request, the communication carrier may obtain a fee from a subscriber who uses the new communication service. The configuration of the control interface 13 of the optical layer switch 10 required for that is the same as in the first embodiment.

That is, when providing a new communication service in response to the temporary use request, the control interface 13 of the optical layer switch 10 transmits the surplus from the control interface 12 of the communication management device 5 through another communication means, wireless or wired. Since the control signal for instructing connection to the line has been received, the storage unit 13a and the price calculation unit 1
3b may be provided in the control interface 13. Then, as in the case of the first embodiment, it is possible to calculate the amount of consideration to be charged.

[0041]

According to the present invention, in a high-speed communication system, a line can be allocated to a request for temporary use of a communication band.
Lines not normally used can be used effectively. In addition, services that can be provided to subscribers are diversified, and time leasing of a communication band can be easily realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an entire high-speed communication system in first and second embodiments according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a process executed on an accommodating station configuring the high-speed communication system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing operation contents of the entire high-speed communication system in the first and second embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part inside a control interface of the optical layer switch.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a process executed on an accommodating station configuring the high-speed communication system according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a system configuration diagram of an entire conventional high-speed communication system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 1a Subscriber device 2 Subscriber terminal 3 Subscriber line 4 Containment station 5 Communication management device 6 Protection line 7 Switch 8 Processor 9 Transmission device 10 Optical layer switch 11 Port 12, 13 Control interface

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5K002 BA04 BA06 EA33 5K019 AA01 AA08 BA52 BA54 BA62 BA65 EA29 5K030 GA11 HB08 HC01 JL06 JL08 KX20 MD02 5K051 BB01 BB02 BB03 CC01 DD11 EE07 FF16 HH02 HH15

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A high-speed communication system having a configuration in which a subscriber terminal provided with a subscriber device used by a subscriber and an accommodation station accommodating the subscriber device are connected by a redundant line. A high-speed communication system, comprising: switching means for switching a connection destination of a device to the accommodation station from a normal line forming the redundant line to a protection line, and connecting the subscriber device to the accommodation station. . 2. The switching means has an optical layer switch and a control interface, and in response to a control signal received by the control interface, the optical layer switch determines a connection destination of the subscriber device to the accommodation station. The high-speed communication system according to claim 1, wherein the high-speed communication system is configured to switch. 3. The high-speed communication system according to claim 2, wherein said control interface is configured to receive said control signal from wireless communication means. 4. The high-speed communication system according to claim 2, wherein said control interface is configured to receive said control signal from a wired communication means. 5. The high-speed communication system according to claim 2, wherein said means for monitoring a control signal received by said control interface and accumulates charging information, and comprising: A high-speed communication system, comprising: means for calculating the amount of consideration. 6. A subscriber for making a temporary use request when a subscriber terminal having a subscriber unit used by the subscriber and an accommodation station accommodating the subscriber unit are connected by a redundant line. When there is a vacancy in the communication band of the redundant line connected to the subscriber device used by the subscriber, the connection destination of the subscriber device to the accommodation station is changed from the normal line forming the redundant line to the backup line. In which the subscriber device is connected to the accommodation station, and the communication band is temporarily used. 7. A subscriber requesting temporary use when a subscriber terminal having a subscriber unit used by a subscriber and a accommodation station accommodating the subscriber unit are connected by a redundant line. When there is a vacancy in the communication band of the mayor line connected to the subscriber device used by the subscriber, an optical layer switch is used to form a connection destination of the subscriber device to the accommodation station, forming the redundant line. A method of lending a time for a communication band in which the subscriber device is connected to the accommodation station by switching from a normal line to a protection line and the communication band is temporarily used.