System and method for message communications in a distributed telecommunications switch

• US 6,049,545 A
• Filed: 10/03/1997
• Issued: 04/11/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel USA Sourcing L.P. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Blanchard, Alfred J., Hill, David L., Pullen, Steve M., Stephenson, R. Keith
• Primary Examiner(s): NGO, RICKY QUOC
• Application Number:
  US08/943,436
• Time in Patent Office: 921 Days
• Field of Search: 370/216, 370/225, 370/228, 370/386, 370/389, 370/395, 370/396, 370/400, 370/422, 370/423, 370/424, 370/429, 370/522, 370/410, 370/221, 370/222, 370/223, 370/257, 370/258 , 370/438, 370/439, 370/440, 379/219, 379/220, 379/229, 379/230
• US Class Current: 370/410
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/042 comprising distributed management centres cooperatively managing the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0407 using a stored programme control
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13103 Memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13106 Microprocessor, CPU
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13107 Control equipment for a part of the connection, distributed control, co-processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1316 Service observation, testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13166 Fault prevention
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13167 Redundant apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13345 Intelligent networks, SCP
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13349 Network management
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13389 LAN, internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13396 Signaling in general, in-band signalling
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/5455 Multi-processor, parallelism, distributed systems

Abstract

A communications system in a distributed telecommunications switch having a service unit and at least one delivery unit is provided. The system includes a plurality of network controllers residing in the at least one delivery unit, and at least two network controllers residing in the service unit. An administration network is coupled to a first one of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers and to a first one of the two service unit network controllers. The administration network transporting messages having administration information between the service unit and delivery unit. A call processing network is coupled to the remaining of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers and to the second one of the two service unit network controllers. The call processing network transporting messages having call processing information between the service unit and delivery unit.

Claims

1. A communications system in a distributed telecommunications switch having a service unit and at least one delivery unit, comprising:

a plurality of delivery unit network controllers residing in the at least one delivery unit;

at least two service unit network controllers residing in the service unit;

an administration network coupled to a first one of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers and to a first one of the two service unit network controllers, the administration network transporting messages having administration information between the service unit and the at least one delivery unit; and

a call processing network coupled to the remaining of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers and to the second one of the two service unit network controllers, the call processing network transporting messages having call processing information between the service unit and the at least one delivery unit, wherein the first one of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers and the first one of the two service unit network controllers are not coupled to the call processing network.

11. The system, as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a heartbeat message being sent between the two service unit network controllers and the Plurality of delivery unit network controllers.

2. A communications system in a distributed telecommunications switch having a service unit and at least one delivery unit, comprising:

a plurality of network controllers residing in the at least one delivery unit;

at least two network controllers residing in the service unit;

an administration network coupled to a first one of the Plurality of delivery unit network controllers and to a first one of the two service unit network controllers, the administration network transporting messages having administration information between the service unit and delivery unit; and

a call processing network coupled to the remaining of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers and to the second one of the two service unit network controllers, the call processing network transporting messages having call processing information between the service unit and delivery unit, wherein each of the two service unit network controllers has at least one redundant copy thereof, each of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers has at least one redundant copy thereof, the administration network has at least two segments thereof, and the call processing network has at least two segments thereof.

3. The system, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the administration network comprises first and second independent segments thereof, the first administration network segment being coupled to the first one of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers and to the first one of the two service unit network controllers, and the second administration network segment being coupled to a redundant copy of the first one of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers and to a redundant copy of the first one of the two service unit network controllers.

4. The system, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the call processing network comprises first and second independent segments thereof, the first call processing network segment being coupled to the remaining ones of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers and to the second one of the two service unit network controllers, and the second call processing network segment being coupled to a redundant copy of the remaining ones of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers and to a redundant copy of the second one of the two service unit network controllers.

5. The system, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the service unit comprises:

a plurality of service unit applications executing thereon;

a service element serving as a communications interface between the plurality of service unit applications and the two service unit network controllers.

6. The system, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the at least one delivery unit comprises:

a plurality of delivery unit applications executing thereon;

a message handler serving as a communications interface between the plurality of delivery unit applications and the plurality of delivery unit network controllers.

7. The system, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the at least one delivery unit comprises:

at least one administration delivery unit application executing thereon;

at least one call processing delivery unit application executing thereon;

an administration message handler serving as a communications interface between the at least one administration delivery unit application and the first one of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers; and

a call processing message handler serving as a communications interface between the at least one call processing delivery unit application and the remaining ones of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers.

8. The system, as set forth in claim 7, wherein the message having administration information includes a message header specifying a device identifier, process identifier, and process type of the service unit and the at least one administration delivery unit application the administration message is being transported between.

9. The system, as set forth in claim 7, wherein the message having call processing information includes message header identifying a device identifier, process identifier, and process type of the service unit and the at least one call processing delivery unit application the call processing message is being transported between.

10. The system, as set forth in claim 2, further comprising at least four service unit network controllers residing in the service unit, each network controller having a redundant copy thereof, and a first service unit network controller and its redundant copy both being coupled to a first segment of the administration network, a second service unit network controller and its redundant copy both being coupled to a second segment of the administration network, a third service unit network controller and its redundant copy both being coupled to a first segment of the call processing network, and a fourth service unit network controller and its redundant copy both being coupled to a second segment of the call processing network.

13. The system, as set forth in claim 6, further comprising a registration message built by one of the Plurality of delivery unit applications and sent to the message handler for registering desires to communicate with the service unit.

12. A communications system in a distributed telecommunications switch having a service unit and at least one delivery unit, comprising:

a plurality of network controllers residing in the at least one delivery unit;

at least two network controllers residing in the service unit;

an administration network coupled to a first one of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers and to a first one of the two service unit network controllers, the administration network transporting messages having administration information between the service unit and delivery unit; and

a call processing network coupled to the remaining of the plurality of delivery unit network controllers and to the second one of the two service unit network controllers, the call processing network transporting messages having call processing information between the service unit and delivery unit, wherein the service unit comprises;

a plurality of service unit applications executing thereon;

a service element serving as a communications interface between the plurality of service unit applications and the service unit network controllers;

a registration message built by one of the plurality of service unit applications and sent to the service element for registering desires to communicate with the at least one delivery unit.

14. The system, as set forth in claim 12, further comprising a delivery unit registration table recording those of the plurality of service unit applications that have registered for communications with the service unit.

15. The system, as set forth in claim 12, wherein the registration message comprises a receive exchange name and a receive exchange identifier.

16. The system, as set forth in claim 12, wherein the registration message comprises a specification for the number of buffers and a maximum message size.

17. The system, as set forth in claim 16, wherein the registration message comprises a request for notification when buffer usage reaches a predetermined high water mark.

18. The system, as set forth in claim 16, wherein the registration message comprises a request for notification when buffer usage reaches a predetermined low water mark.

19. The system, as set forth in claim 12, wherein the registration message comprises a request for notification when a particular one of the plurality of service unit applications in communications with the at least one delivery unit has become inaccessible.

20. A method for communications in a distributed telecommunications switch having a service unit and at least one delivery unit, comprising the steps of:

registering a first delivery unit application residing on a first delivery unit with a first message handler;

registering a service unit application residing on the service unit with a service element;

building a message identifying the service unit application as the destination with a message header by the delivery unit application;

sending the message to the first message handler;

sending the message over an ethernet network and a redundant segment thereof to the service unit;

receiving the message at the service element; and

sending the message to the service unit application.

21. The method, as set forth in claim 20, further comprising the step of sending the message between a network controller residing on the delivery unit and a redundant copy thereof and a network controller residing on the service unit and a redundant copy thereof.

22. The method, as set forth in claim 20, further comprising the steps of:

registering a second delivery unit application residing on a second delivery unit with a second message handler;

building a message identifying the first delivery unit application as the destination with a message header by the second delivery unit application;

sending the message to the second message handler;

sending the message over an ethernet network and a redundant segment thereof to the first delivery unit;

receiving the message by the first message handler; and

sending the message to the second delivery unit application.

23. The method, as set forth in claim 20, further comprising the steps of:

including in the registration message a request to be notified when the number of buffers used between the first delivery unit application and the service unit application has reached a specified high water mark;

detecting the buffer usage reaching the high water mark;

sending an initiate throttling notification message in response thereto to the first delivery unit application; and

stop sending messages to the service unit application in response to receiving the initiate throttling notification message.

24. The method, as set forth in claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

including in the registration message a request to be notified when the number of buffers used between the first delivery unit application and the service unit application has reached a specified low water mark after reaching the high water mark;

detecting the buffer usage reaching the low water mark;

sending a stop throttling notification message in response thereto to the first delivery unit application; and

start sending messages to the service unit application in response to receiving the stop throttling notification message.

25. The method, as set forth in claim 20, further comprising the steps of:

including in the registration message a request to be notified when the service unit application becomes inaccessible due to network failure;

detecting the inaccessibility of the service unit application;

sending a pipeline down notification message in response thereto to the first delivery unit application; and

stop sending messages to the service unit application in response to receiving the pipeline down notification message.

26. The method, as set forth in claim 25, further comprising the steps of:

detecting the service unit application becoming accessible again;

sending a pipeline up notification message in response thereto to the first delivery unit application; and

start sending messages to the service unit application in response to receiving the pipeline up notification message.