JP7428358B2 - Servers, communication systems, communication methods and programs - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a server, a communication system, a communication method, and a program.

Patent Document 1 discloses a group communication server that can suppress the processing load on the group communication server even in large-scale group communication with a large number of users in the group. According to this document, this group communication server manages group communication sessions between communication terminals existing within the communication system in a communication system that establishes group communication sessions using a session initiation protocol (hereinafter referred to as SIP). Then, this group communication server (PoC server 41) sends a SIP message for starting a group communication session, including a media description used for multicasting from the own server to the communication terminal, which is information written in SIP. generate. The document also states that this group communication server (PoC server 41) transmits the SIP message to communication terminals that are members of the group communication.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-212777

The following analysis is provided by the present invention. The number of users (number of terminals that can be accommodated) per group communication server described in Patent Document 1 and the like is determined according to the physical capacity (memory amount, etc.) of the group communication server. If the number of users to be accommodated is large, it is necessary to prepare a considerable number of group communication servers.

As described above, when configuring a communication system that performs group communication using a plurality of group communication servers, users belonging to different group communication servers will communicate with each other. In this case, while communication is occurring, sessions for the number of target terminals are required between the relevant group communication servers, and the bandwidth consumption (transmission path capacity) between the group communication servers depends on the frequency and scale of group communication. There is a problem that the usage amount increases.

Furthermore, the increase in the number of sessions results in an increase in the resources used by servers and the like inside the system, and an increase in TAT (Turn Around Time) until a terminal is connected (connection delay). The increase in bandwidth consumption (transmission path capacity usage), resources, etc. described above becomes more significant as the number of users (terminals) and groups that communicate simultaneously increases.

The present invention contributes to suppressing the increase in bandwidth consumption (transmission path capacity usage) between servers when multiple servers, such as the above-mentioned group communication server, are prepared and one-to-polymorphic communication is performed. The purpose is to provide servers, communication systems, communication methods, and programs that can.

According to the first viewpoint, a group management unit that manages a terminal group that establishes sessions with a plurality of servers and performs one-to-polymorphic communication using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol); a session management unit that establishes a session for each terminal group between the terminal and another server with which a session has been established; A server is provided that includes a packet transfer unit that transfers packets to a terminal.

According to a second viewpoint, a communication system is provided that includes the above-described server (first server) and a second server that operates as the other above-mentioned server.

According to the third viewpoint, the server includes a group management unit that manages a group of terminals that establish sessions with a plurality of servers and perform one-to-many type communication using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). Establishing a session for each terminal group between a terminal belonging to the terminal group and another server with which a session has been established, and transmitting packets from the terminal belonging to the terminal group received from the other server to the terminal group. A communication method is provided, including the step of transmitting the information to a terminal belonging to the terminal. The method is tied to a specific machine, a server, which implements communication between terminals belonging to a terminal group.

According to the fourth viewpoint, the server is equipped with a group management unit that manages a group of terminals that establish sessions with a plurality of servers and perform one-to-many type communication using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). Establishing a session for each terminal group between a terminal belonging to a terminal group and another server with which a session has been established; A program is provided that executes the process of transferring data to a terminal belonging to the . Note that this program can be recorded on a computer-readable (non-transitory) storage medium. That is, the present invention can also be implemented as a computer program product.

According to the present invention, it contributes to suppressing increases in bandwidth consumption (transmission path capacity usage), etc. between servers when multiple servers, such as group communication servers, are prepared and one-to-polymorphic communication is performed. It becomes possible to do so.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of terminal group information held by the server according to the first embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the communication system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure for explaining the effect of the 1st embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is another diagram for explaining the effects of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is another diagram for explaining the effects of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is another diagram for explaining the effects of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a communication system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of terminal group information held by a server according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the communication system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a computer that constitutes a server of the present invention.

First, an overview of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the drawing reference numerals added to this summary are added to each element for convenience as an example to aid understanding, and are not intended to limit the present invention to the illustrated embodiment. Furthermore, connection lines between blocks in the drawings and the like referred to in the following description include both bidirectional and unidirectional connections. The unidirectional arrows schematically indicate the main signal (data) flow, and do not exclude bidirectionality. Also, ports or interfaces are provided at the input/output connection points of each block in the figure, but they are not shown.

In one embodiment, the present invention can be realized by a first server 100a that includes a group management section 101, a session management section 102, and a packet transfer section 103, as shown in FIG.

More specifically, the group management unit 101 uses SIP to establish sessions with a plurality of servers (100a, 200a in FIG. 1) and perform one-to-polymorphic communication with a terminal group (terminal group in FIG. 1). A) Manage.

The session management unit 102 establishes a session (900a in FIG. 1) for each terminal group between a terminal belonging to the terminal group and another server (second server 200a in FIG. 1) with which a session has been established.

Further, the packet transfer unit 103 transfers a packet from a terminal belonging to the terminal group received from the other server (second server 200a in FIG. 1) to a terminal belonging to the terminal group.

According to the present invention configured as described above, the number of sessions between a plurality of servers (100a, 200a in FIG. 1) accommodating terminal groups that perform one-to-polymorphic communication is reduced to the minimum necessary number per terminal group. It is possible to reduce the number of This not only reduces the bandwidth consumption (transmission line capacity usage) between servers, but also reduces the resources used by the servers (100a and 200a in Figure 1), and reduces TAT until the terminal connects to the server. It becomes possible to contribute to the reduction.

[First embodiment]
Next, a first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a PoC service will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a communication system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a configuration in which a server A 200 is located at base A, a server B 100 is located at base B, and they are connected by an inter-base network 900. In a more desirable form, such a PoC communication system using a plurality of servers is also adopted as, for example, a PS-LTE (Public Safety LTE) architecture. The challenge in this case is to reduce the amount of bandwidth consumed by the inter-site network 900. The server A200 and the server B100 of this embodiment operate as application servers that provide services to PS-LTE terminals that connect to base stations using predetermined public frequencies, and provide a solution. . Note that LTE is an abbreviation for Long Term Evolution.

Server B100 (corresponding to the first server) includes a group management unit 101, a session management unit 102, and a packet transfer unit 103, and provides PoC services to terminals UE_B and UE_C located in the service area of base B. provide.

Group management unit 101 manages a terminal group that establishes a session with either server B 100 or server A 200 and performs one-to-polymorphic communication. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of terminal group information managed by the group management unit 101. In the example of FIG. 3, a table is shown in which users (terminals) belonging to each group and their connection servers can be identified for each group. In the following description, as shown in FIG. 3, it is assumed that a group A to which users (terminals) UE_A, UE_B, and UE_C belong is provided.

In addition, in this embodiment, the PoC service will be explained as being provided by a pre-setting method in which users (terminals) who wish to make a call are set in advance, but an ad-hoc method, etc., in which terminal groups are created at any time, etc. may also be used. can. In this case, a group management server for managing terminal groups as shown in FIG. 3 may be added.

The session management unit 102 establishes sessions with terminals UE_B and UE_C located in the service area of base B. Further, when the session management unit 102 receives a group communication start request (SIP_REFER) from either of the terminals UE_B and UE_C that have established the session, the session management unit 102 refers to the group management unit 101 and determines whether group communication between servers is necessary. Determine whether or not. If it is determined that group communication between servers is necessary, the session management unit 102 transmits a session establishment request (SIP_INVITE) to the server A 200.

When the packet transfer unit 103 receives a packet belonging to a group communication from the server A 200, the packet transfer unit 103 copies the packet a necessary number of times to the terminals of the corresponding communication group, and transfers the copy to each terminal.

The server A200 (equivalent to a second server or another server) includes a group management unit 201, a session management unit 202, and a packet transfer unit 203, and provides PoC to the terminal UE_A located in the service area of base A. provide services; The group management unit 201, session management unit 202, and packet transfer unit 203 of the server A200 are equivalent to the group management unit 101, session management unit 102, and packet transfer unit 103 of the server B100, respectively, and therefore the description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the communication system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, according to the preset session method, terminal A (UE_A) establishes a session with server A 200 (step S001). Terminal B (UE_B) and terminal C (UE_C) similarly establish sessions with server B 100 (steps S002 and S003). Note that in the example of FIG. 4, sessions are established in the order of terminal A (UE_A), terminal B (UE_B), and terminal C (UE_C), but sessions may be established in any order.

The following example will be described assuming that a calling operation is performed at terminal A (UE_A) (step S004).
1) When a call operation is performed, terminal A (UE_A) transmits a group communication start request (SIP_REFER) to terminal B (UE_B) and terminal C (UE_C) (step S005).
2) Upon receiving the group communication start request, the server A 200 refers to the information in the group management unit 201 and determines whether the communication is a group communication between multiple servers. Here, it is assumed that the terminals belonging to group A are set to connect to multiple servers, as shown in FIG. In this case, the server A200 transmits a session establishment request (SIP_INVITE) to the server B100 that accommodates the terminal B (UE_B) and the terminal C (UE_C) (step S006).
3) Server B100 establishes a session with server A200 (step S007). From then on, user packets between terminal A (UE_A), terminal B (UE_B), and terminal C (UE_C) are transferred between server A 200 and server B 100 using this session until the group communication ends.
4) After that, terminal A (UE_A) transmits a user packet (RTP Media) containing the contents of the call to server A 200 (step S011). The server A 200 uses the session generated in step S007 to transmit a user packet (RTP Media) containing the contents of the call to the server B 100 (step S012).
5) The server B 100 copies the packet according to the number of destinations of the packet received from the server A 200, and transmits it to the terminal B (UE_B) and the terminal C (UE_C), respectively (step S013).

Note that in step S006 above, if the request to start group communication is received and it is determined by referring to the group management unit 201 that the group communication is not group communication between multiple servers but group communication within the same server, step S006 ~S007 becomes unnecessary. Further, although omitted in the above example, it is of course possible to release the corresponding session after the group communication ends. In that case, steps S005 to S007 will be performed again after the call operation at terminal A (UE_A) or the like.

Next, the effects of this embodiment will be explained. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the effects of the first embodiment of the present invention. First, in this embodiment, the success in reducing the number of sessions between servers will be described. In the 1:1 communication of the comparative example in FIG. 5, one session between the server A 200 and the server B 100 is sufficient. In the 1:M communication of the comparative example in FIG. 5, the number of sessions between the server A 200 and the server B 100 is M, resulting in an increase in bandwidth consumption (transmission path capacity usage) between the servers.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, as described above, sessions are generated on a group-by-group basis, so it is possible to reduce bandwidth consumption (transmission path capacity usage) between servers.

In this embodiment, a description will be given of the success in reducing traffic between servers. FIG. 6 is another diagram for explaining the effects of the first embodiment of the present invention. In the 1:1 communication of the comparative example in FIG. 6, one packet is sufficient for transmission between the server A 200 and the server B 100. In the 1:M communication of the comparative example in FIG. 6, there are M sessions between the server A 200 and the server B 100, so the number of transmitted packets (the number of inter-site packets) is also M.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, as described above, a configuration is adopted in which the server B 100 copies the required number of packets. Therefore, the number of packets transmitted between the server A 200 and the server B 100 (the number of packets between bases) is only one.

The above effect becomes greater as the number of communication groups and the number of terminals belonging to the communication group increases. For example, as shown in Figure 7, if N x M terminals (users) belong to a communication group, if sessions are established individually, the number of sessions will be N x M. In embodiments, sessions may be aggregated into one.

Furthermore, the above effect becomes greater as the number of communication groups increases. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, if there is a communication group A with the number of terminals (number of users) N x M and a communication group B with the number of terminals P x Q, if a session is established individually, , the number of sessions is N×M+P×Q. In this embodiment, one session is created for each group, so the number can be limited to two.

[Second embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment in which the present invention is applied to inter-device communication called M2M (Machine to Machine) communication and IoT (Internet of Things) communication will be described. Since the basic functions of the servers 100 and 200 are the same as those in the first embodiment, the differences will be mainly explained below.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the configuration of a communication system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2 is that in addition to the terminal, the terminal group includes device M_A and device M_B, and instead of PoC communication, M2M communication and IoT system control information and sensors This is the point of multicasting data.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of terminal group information managed by the group management unit 101. The example of FIG. 10 differs from the communication group information of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3 in that devices M_A and M_B are added as users (terminals).

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the communication system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The C-Plane control in FIG. 11 is similar to the session establishment process of the preset session method shown in steps S001 to S007 of the first embodiment. Specifically, terminal UE_A, device M_A, device M_B, and terminal UE_B establish sessions with server A200 and server B100, respectively.

The subsequent operations are also similar to the first embodiment. For example, terminal A (UE_A) transmits a user packet (RTP Media) containing data to server A 200 (step S111). The server A 200 uses the session between the servers B 100 to transmit a user packet (RTP Media) containing data to the server B 100 (step S112).

The server B100 copies the packet according to the number of destinations of the packet received from the server A200, and transmits it to the devices M_A, M_B, and terminal B (UE_B), respectively (step S113).

As described above, the present invention can be applied not only to PoC services using multiple servers, but also to data multicast (broadcast communication services) in M2M communication and IoT systems.

Although each embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and may be further modified, replaced, or adjusted without departing from the basic technical idea of the present invention. can be added. For example, the network configuration, the configuration of each element, and the form of message expression shown in each drawing are examples to help understand the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the configuration shown in these drawings. Furthermore, in the following description, "A and/or B" is used to mean at least one of A and B. Also, ports or interfaces are provided at the input/output connection points of each block in the figure, but they are not shown.

Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, the server A 200 on the calling terminal side refers to the information in the group management unit 201 to determine whether or not it is group communication between multiple servers. may be performed on the server B100 side. In this case, the session management unit 102 on the server B 100 side refers to the information in the group management unit 201 to determine whether the communication is group communication between multiple servers and whether a session has been established.

Further, the procedures shown in the first and second embodiments described above can be realized by a program that causes a computer (9000 in FIG. 12) that functions as the servers 100 and 200 to realize the functions as the servers 100 and 200. . Such a computer is exemplified by a configuration including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 9010, a communication interface 9020, a memory 9030, and an auxiliary storage device 9040 in FIG. That is, the CPU 9010 in FIG. 12 may execute the session establishment program and the packet transfer program.

That is, each part (processing means, function) of the servers 100 and 200 shown in the first and second embodiments described above performs each of the above-described processes using the processors installed in these servers. This can be realized by a computer program to be executed.

Finally, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be summarized.
[First form]
(Refer to the server from the first perspective above)
[Second form]
In the group management section of the server described above, server information to which terminals belonging to the terminal group connect is registered,
The session management unit may be configured to refer to the group management unit and determine whether or not to establish a session for each terminal group.
[Third form]
The above server is
If there are multiple terminals to which packets received from the other servers are to be sent, a configuration may be adopted in which multicasting is performed to the multiple terminals.
[Fourth form]
The above server is
The number of terminals that have established a session with the own device is M, the number of terminals that have established a session with the other server is N, and the number of packets between M×N terminals belonging to a predetermined communication group is a predetermined number ( For example, it is possible to adopt a configuration in which information is sent and received in one (1) session.
[Fifth form]
The group management section of the server mentioned above is
Manages terminal groups that perform PoC (Push to talk over Celler) communication,
A configuration can be adopted in which the PoC service is provided to the terminals belonging to the terminal group in cooperation with the other server.
[Sixth form]
The group management section of the server described above manages terminal groups that include devices that perform machine-to-machine communication that have been set in advance.
5. The server according to claim 1, wherein the server cooperates with the other server to provide a broadcast communication service to terminals belonging to the terminal group.
[Seventh form]
The above server can operate as an application server that provides services to PS-LTE (Public Safety LTE) terminals that connect to a base station using a predetermined public frequency.
[Eighth form]
(Refer to the communication system from the second viewpoint above)
[Ninth form]
(Refer to the communication method from the third viewpoint above)
[Tenth form]
(Refer to the program from the fourth perspective above)
Note that the eighth to tenth forms described above can be developed into second to seventh forms similarly to the first form.

Furthermore, the disclosures of the above patent documents are incorporated into this book by reference. Within the scope of the entire disclosure of the present invention (including the claims), changes and adjustments to the embodiments and examples are possible based on the basic technical idea thereof. In addition, various combinations or selections (parts) of various disclosed elements (including each element of each claim, each element of each embodiment or example, each element of each drawing, etc.) within the framework of the disclosure of the present invention are also available. (including deletion) is possible. That is, it goes without saying that the present invention includes the entire disclosure including the claims and various modifications and modifications that a person skilled in the art would be able to make in accordance with the technical idea. In particular, numerical ranges stated herein should be construed as specifically stating any numerical value or subrange within the range, even if not otherwise stated.

100 Server B
100a First server 101 Group management section 102 Session management section 103 Packet transfer section 200 Server A
201 Group management unit 202 Session management unit 203 Packet transfer unit 200a Second server 900a Session 900 Inter-site network 9000 Computer 9010 CPU
9020 Communication interface 9030 Memory 9040 Auxiliary storage device UE_A~UE_C Terminal M_A~M_B Equipment

Claims (8)

a group management unit that manages a group of terminals that are logically managed as the same group and performs one-to-polymorphic communication by establishing sessions with a plurality of servers using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol);
a session management unit that establishes a session for each terminal group between a terminal belonging to the terminal group and another server that has established a session;
a packet transfer unit that transfers a packet from a terminal belonging to the terminal group received from the other server to a terminal belonging to the terminal group,
Let M be the number of terminals that have established a session with the own device, and let N be the number of terminals that have established a session with the other server. Give and receive at
registered in the group management unit in association with server information to which terminals belonging to the terminal group connect;
The session management unit refers to the group management unit in response to a group communication start request, and determines whether to establish a session for each terminal group;
A server featuring: 2. The server according to claim 1, wherein when there are multiple terminals to which packets received from the other server are sent, the server performs multicasting to the multiple terminals. The group management unit manages a terminal group that performs PoC (Push to talk over Celler) communication,
The server according to claim 1, which provides PoC services to terminals belonging to the terminal group in cooperation with the other server. The group management department is
Manage a group of devices containing pre-configured machine-to-machine communication devices,
3. The server according to claim 1 , wherein the server cooperates with the other server to provide a broadcast communication service to terminals belonging to the terminal group. 4. The server according to claim 1, which operates as an application server that provides services to PS-LTE (Public Safety LTE) terminals that connect to a base station on a predetermined public frequency. a group management unit that manages a group of terminals that are logically managed as the same group and performs one-to-polymorphic communication by establishing sessions with a plurality of servers using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol);
a session management unit that establishes a session for each terminal group between a terminal belonging to the terminal group and another server that has established a session;
a packet transfer unit that transfers a packet from a terminal belonging to the terminal group received from the other server to a terminal belonging to the terminal group,
Let M be the number of terminals that have established a session with the own device, and let N be the number of terminals that have established a session with the other server. Give and receive at
In the group management unit, each server is registered in association with server information to which terminals belonging to the terminal group connect,
The session management unit refers to the group management unit in response to a group communication start request and determines whether to establish a session for each terminal group.
a first server;
a second server that operates as the other server;
communication systems, including; Equipped with a group management unit that manages terminal groups that are logically managed as the same group and performs one-to-polymorphic communication by establishing sessions with multiple servers using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). A server,
In the group management unit, each server is registered in association with server information to which terminals belonging to the terminal group connect,
determining whether or not to establish a session for each terminal group by referring to the group management unit in response to a group communication start request;
Establishing a session for each terminal group between a terminal belonging to the terminal group and another server with which a session has been established;
forwarding a packet from a terminal belonging to the terminal group received from the other server to a terminal belonging to the terminal group;
Let M be the number of terminals that have established a session with the own device, and let N be the number of terminals that have established a session with the other server. The step of giving and receiving with
communication methods, including Equipped with a group management unit that manages terminal groups that are logically managed as the same group and performs one-to-polymorphic communication by establishing sessions with multiple servers using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). A server,
In the group management unit, each server is registered in association with server information to which terminals belonging to the terminal group connect,
a process of determining whether or not to establish a session for each terminal group by referring to the group management unit in response to a group communication start request;
a process of establishing a session for each terminal group between a terminal belonging to the terminal group and another server with which a session has been established;
a process of forwarding a packet from a terminal belonging to the terminal group received from the other server to a terminal belonging to the terminal group;
Let M be the number of terminals that have established a session with the own device, and let N be the number of terminals that have established a session with the other server. The process of sending and receiving with
A program to run.

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