Asterisk bridge
Overview
Asterisk bridge 내용정리.
Basic
In Asterisk, bridges can be thought of as a container for channels that form paths of communication between the channels contained within them. They can be used to pass media back and forth between the channels, as well as to play media to the various channels in a variety of ways.
Mixing bridges
In a mixing bridge, Asterisk shares media between all the channels in the bridge. Depending on the attributes the bridge was created with and the types of channels in the bridge, a mixing bridge may attempt to share the media in a variety of ways.
- Direct packet sharing between devices
- When there are two channels in a mixing bridge of similar types, it may be possible to have the media bypass Asterisk completely. In this type of bridge, the channels will pass media directly between each other, and Asterisk will simply monitor the state of the channels. However, because the media is not going through Asterisk, most features - such as recording, speech detection, DTMF, etc, - are not available. The proxy_media attribute or the dtmf_events attribute will prevent this mixing type from being used.
- Native packet sharing through Asterisk
- When there are two channels in a mixing bridge of similar types, but the media cannot flow directly between the devices, Asterisk will attempt to mix the media between the channels by directly passing media from one channel to the other, and vice versa. The media itself is not decoded, and so - much like when the media is directly shared between the devices - Asterisk cannot use many features. The proxy_media attribute or the dtmf_events attribute will prevent this mixing type from being used.
- Two-party mixing
- When there are two channels in a mixing bridge, regardless of the channel type, Asterisk will decode the media from each channel and pass it to the other participant. This mixing technology allow for all the various features of Asterisk to be used on the channels while they are in the bridge, but does not necessarily incur any penalties from transcoding.
- Multi-party mixing
- When there are more than two channels in a mixing bridge, Asterisk will transcode the media from each participant into signed linear, mix the media from all participants together into a new media frame, then write the media back out to all participants.
At all times, the bridge will attempt to mix the media in the most performant manner possible. As the situation in the bridge changes, Asterisk will switch the mixing technology to the best mixing technology available.
Bridges in a Stasis Application
Types
When a bridge is created through ARI, there are a number of attributes that can be specified that determine how the bridge mixes media between its participants.
- mixing: Specify that media should be passed between all channels in the bridge. This attribute cannot be used with holding.
- dtmf_events: Specify that media should be decoded within Asterisk so that DTMF can be recognized. If this is not specified, then DTMF events may not be raised due to the media being passed directly between the channels in the bridge. This attribute only impacts how media is mixed when the mixing attribute is used.
- proxy_media: Specify that media should always go through Asterisk, even if it could be redirected between clients. This attribute only impacts how media is mixed when the mixing attribute is used.
- holding: Specify that the channels in the bridge should be entertained with some media. Channels in the bridge have two possible roles(a participant or an announcer). Media between participant channels is not shared; media from an announcer channel is played to all participant channels.
Depending on the combination of attributes selected when a bridge is created, different mixing technologies may be used for the participants in the bridge. Asterisk will attempt to use the most performant mixing technology that it can based on the channel types in the bridge, subject to the attributes specified when the bridge was created.