US 6,549,617 B1Granted

Telephone switch with delayed mail control system

AssigneeInternational Controllers, Inc.

InventorsEnrique J. Abreu, Gary V. Pieper, Neville Colin Mair

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Abstract

A telephone switch in which communication between tasks controlling the switch hardware and the timing of those tasks, including the timing of repeating tasks, is controlled through a mail system in which mail messages are sent between tasks that may be running on separate microprocessors. The mail messages specify the destination task, the function that the task is to perform and any desired delay before the mail is to be delivered to the destination task. Repeating tasks send mail to themselves each time they repeat, specifying in the mail message the task to be repeated and the desired delay interval. A mail task holds the mail for the specified delay interval before it is delivered, and receipt of a mail message causes the task to run.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A telephone switch comprising:

at least one microprocessor adapted for running programming tasks;
a mail task running at sequentially spaced time intervals on the at least one microprocessor and including:
an incoming mail queue for receiving mail messages to be held by the mail task,
an internal delayed mail queue for holding received mail messages for a delay time specified in each mail message;
a mail receiving subtask for removing messages from the incoming mail queue and placing them in the internal delayed mail queue, and
a mail sending subtask for removing delayed mail messages from the internal delayed mail queue after the specified delay time and sending each delayed mail message to a destination application task specified in the mail message;
and
a plurality of application tasks for controlling the operation of the telephone switch, each application task having:
an incoming mail queue for receiving mail messages directed to control the application task,
a mail receiving subtask for removing mail messages from the incoming mail queue and acting upon control information specified in each mail message, and
a mail sending subtask for sending mail messages to the incoming mail queue of the mail task;
each mail message sent to the mail task including a specified destination application task, control information, and a specified delay time.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.