Telephony-support module for a telecommunications switching platform

Abstract

A telephony-support module capable of responding to heartbeat messages and identifying itself as operational over one bus or both buses of a redundant-pair control bus. The module also has a reprogrammable, nonvolatile memory associated with it from which the module can run its operating system. The module can also transfer the operating system into another memory, allowing it to make updates to the operating system stored in the nonvolatile memory without interrupting its execution of its run-time operating code.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A telephony-support module for use in a telecommunications switching platform for switching information channels borne on telecommunications signals connected to telecommunications switching platform, said telephony-support module comprising: a control bus interface connected to a control bus within said telecommunications switching platform;   a controller connected to said control bus interface, said controller operable to communicate with other elements in said telecommunications switching platform through said control bus interface, said controller further operable to receive a primary heartbeat message as a part of said communication with said other elements and to transmit a primary heartbeat response upon receipt of said primary heartbeat message.   
     
     
       2. The telephony-support module of claim 1 wherein said telephony-support module comprises at least one circuit operable to perform a telephony-support function. 
     
     
       3. The telephony-support module of claim 2 wherein said telephony-support function is a function selected from the group consisting of tone generation, DTMF decoding, MFR1 decoding, MFR2 forward decoding, MFR2 backward decoding, audio storage, and audio playback. 
     
     
       4. The telephony-support module of claim 2 wherein said circuit is a digital signal processor. 
     
     
       5. The telephony-support module of claim 4 wherein said digital signal processor comprises an access buffer and wherein said access buffer is addressable through a direct memory address port and wherein said access buffer is accessed by reference to a pointer buffer containing the location of the address buffer and a map indicating where the various fields of said access buffer are stored relative to said pointer buffer. 
     
     
       6. The telephony-support module of claim 1 wherein said primary heartbeat response includes data sufficient to identify said telephony-support module such that said telecommunications switching platform can compare said data to a table of known resources to determine whether the existence of said telephony-support module had previously been detected by said telecommunications switching platform. 
     
     
       7. The telephony-support module of claim 1 wherein said control bus is a pair of redundant control buses comprising a primary control bus and a secondary control bus. 
     
     
       8. The telephony-support module of claim 7 wherein said telephony-support module is further operable to receive through said control bus interface a secondary heartbeat message, which is received by said control bus interface from said secondary control bus. 
     
     
       9. The telephony-support module of claim 8 wherein said telephony-support module is one of a plurality of resources in the telecommunications switching platform, and wherein a first group of said plurality of resources is operable to use one of the redundant control buses as a primary bus and a second group of said plurality of resources is operable to use the other of the redundant control buses as a primary bus, and wherein said telephony-support module is operable to determine which of said primary heartbeat messages are intended for said telephony-support module. 
     
     
       10. The telephony-support module of claim 9 wherein said control bus interface is operable to determine within said telephony-support module which of said primary heartbeat messages are intended for the group to which said telephony-support module belongs. 
     
     
       11. The telephony-support module of claim 9 wherein said controller is operable to determine within said telephony-support module which of said primary heartbeat messages are intended for the group to which said telephony-support module belongs. 
     
     
       12. The telephony-support module of claim 8 wherein said secondary heartbeat message is addressed to only one telephony-support module. 
     
     
       13. The telephony-support module of claim 12 wherein said control bus interface is operable to determine whether said secondary heartbeat message is addressed to said telephony-support module. 
     
     
       14. The telephony-support module of claim 12 wherein said controller is operable to determine whether said secondary heartbeat message is addressed to said telephony-support module. 
     
     
       15. A telephony-support module for use in a telecommunications switching platform for switching information channels borne on telecommunications signals connected to said telecommunications switching platform, said telephony-support module comprising: a control bus interface connected to a redundant pair of control buses within said telecommunications switching platform, said redundant pair of control buses comprising a primary control bus and a secondary control bus; and   a module controller connected to said control bus interface, said module controller operable to communicate with other elements in said telecommunications switching platform through said control bus interface, said module controller further operable: to receive a primary heartbeat message, which was received by said control bus interface from said primary control bus; to transmit a primary heartbeat response upon receipt of said primary heartbeat message; to receive a secondary heartbeat message, which was received by said control bus interface from said secondary control bus; and to transmit a secondary heartbeat response upon receipt of said secondary heartbeat message.   
     
     
       16. The telephony-support module of claim 15 wherein each of said primary heartbeat response and said secondary heartbeat response is sufficient to identify said telephony-module such that said telecommunications switching platform can compare said data to a table of known resources to determine whether the existence of said telephony-support module had previously been detected by said telecommunications switching platform. 
     
     
       17. The telephony-support module of claim 15 wherein said telephony-support module comprises at least one circuit operable to perform a telephony-support function. 
     
     
       18. The telephony-support module of claim 17 wherein said telephony-support function is a function selected from the group consisting of tone generation, DTMF decoding, MFR1 decoding, MFR2 forward decoding, MFR2 backward decoding, audio storage, and audio playback. 
     
     
       19. The telephony-support module of claim 17 wherein said circuit is a digital signal processor. 
     
     
       20. The telephony-support module of claim 19 wherein said digital signal processor comprises an access buffer and wherein said access buffer is addressable through a direct memory address port and wherein said access buffer is accessed by reference to a pointer buffer containing the location of the address buffer and a map indicating where the various fields of said access buffer are stored relative to said pointer buffer. 
     
     
       21. A telephony-support module for use in a telecommunications switching platform for switching information channels borne on telecommunications signals connected to said telephony-support module, said telephony-support module comprising: a nonvolatile memory;   another memory;   a local communications controller operable to communicate with other elements in said telecommunications switching platform through a control bus; and   a module controller connected to said nonvolatile memory, said another memory, and said local communications controller, said module controller operable to control the operation of said telephony-support module, said module controller further operable: to perform operations according to instructions stored in said nonvolatile memory; to effect the transfer of instructions from said nonvolatile memory to said another memory; to perform other operations according to instructions stored in said another memory; and to effect the loading of new operating instructions from the telecommunication switching platform's higher-level applications into said nonvolatile memory through said local communications controller.   
     
     
       22. The telephony-support module of claim 21 wherein said telephony-support module comprises at least one circuit operable to perform a telephony-support function. 
     
     
       23. The telephony-support module of claim 22 wherein said telephony-support function is a function selected from the group consisting of tone generation, DTMF decoding, MFR1 decoding, MFR2 forward decoding, MFR2 backward decoding, audio storage, and audio playback. 
     
     
       24. The telephony-support module of claim 22 wherein said circuit is a digital signal processor. 
     
     
       25. The telephony-support module of claim 24 wherein said digital signal processor comprises an access buffer and wherein said access buffer is addressable through a direct memory address port and wherein said access buffer is accessed by reference to a pointer buffer containing the location of the address buffer and a map indicating where the various fields of said access buffer are stored relative to said pointer buffer. 
     
     
       26. The telephony-support module of claim 21 wherein said module controller is operable to effect said loading of new operating instructions at substantially the same time as said module controller is performing said other operations according to instructions stored in said another memory. 
     
     
       27. The telephony-support module of claim 26 wherein said module controller is operable to effect said loading of new operating instructions substantially without interruption of its operation according to instruction stored in said another memory. 
     
     
       28. A telephony-support module for use in a telecommunications switching platform for switching information channels borne on telecommunications signals connected to said telecommunications switching platform, said telephony-support module comprising: a high-speed bus operable to carry a plurality of said information channels;   a bus demultiplexer connected to said high-speed bus, said bus demultiplexer operable to time-demultiplex said plurality of information channels on said high-speed bus onto a plurality of sub-groups of said information channels;   a plurality of digital signal processors, each processor connected to one of said plurality of sub-groups of said information channels;   a nonvolatile memory;   another memory;   a local communications controller operable to communicate with other elements in said telecommunications switching platform through a control bus; and   a module controller connected to said bus multiplexer, said plurality of digital signal processors, said nonvolatile memory, said another memory, and said local communications controller, said module controller operable to control the operation of said telephony-support module and the components thereof, said module controller further operable: to perform operations according to instructions stored in said nonvolatile memory; to effect the transfer of instructions from said nonvolatile memory to said another memory; to perform other operations according to instructions stored in said another memory; and to effect the loading of new operating instructions from the telecommunication switching platform's higher-level applications into said nonvolatile memory through said local communications controller.   
     
     
       29. The telephony-support module of claim 28 wherein said module controller is operable to effect said loading of new operating instructions at substantially the same time as said module controller is performing said other operations according to instructions stored in said another memory. 
     
     
       30. The telephony-support module of claim 29 wherein said module controller is operable to effect said loading of new operating instructions substantially without interruption of its operation according to instruction stored in said another memory.