JP2006311585A - Radio terminal and radio communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To save the power of a radio terminal, improve the communication quality of communication applications such as voice communications for which real time is required, and reduce a transmission waiting time easily caused in the case that a plurality of radio terminals exist. <P>SOLUTION: An operation mode determining section 310 decides whether or not there is a real-time request for communication application from a communication application unit 300. When there is a real-time request, a PS-Poll of a control packet for urging the delivery to a radio base station is transmitted at a variable transmission timing regardless of a beacon interval after transmitting are received data from the communication application and packets buffered in the radio base station. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless terminal device and a wireless communication system including the wireless terminal device, in particular, a wireless base station connected to the wireless terminal device using wireless as a transmission medium is a LAN (Local Area Network) line or a WAN (Wide Area Network). The present invention relates to a wireless communication system connected to a line.

  In a conventional wireless LAN system using radio as a transmission medium, the power saving operation of a radio terminal device is used by intermittently receiving beacons from radio base stations and for receiving broadcast packets (multicast and broadcast). At least received a beacon with DTIM.

  That is, when the power saving mode is set, the wireless terminal device acquires a beacon transmitted from the wireless base station and expands each information element, and includes a beacon interval and a delivery traffic indication map (Delivery Traffic Indication Map, hereinafter included in the beacon). Intermittent reception is performed based on a beacon interval with “DTIM”.

  The radio terminal device operating in the power save mode notifies the radio base station of the operation using the frame control field, and the radio base station transmits the packet addressed to the radio terminal device operating in the power save mode to the memory in the radio base station. Buffer and notify the wireless terminal device that the packet is buffered in a traffic indication map (hereinafter referred to as “TIM”) in the beacon.

  As described above, the wireless terminal device operating in the power save mode intermittently receives the beacon from the wireless base station, and after receiving the received beacon, expands the information element, and the packet addressed to itself is buffered by the TIM. If the wireless base station recognizes that the wireless base station is being transmitted, a control packet (hereinafter referred to as “PS-Poll”) that prompts the wireless base station to deliver the packet is transmitted to the wireless base station. Receive the packet.

  Also, broadcast packets (multicast and broadcast) to the wireless terminal device are transmitted after the beacon with DTIM, and the wireless terminal device receives a beacon including at least DTIM in order to receive the broadcast packet.

  However, the power saving of the wireless terminal device is achieved by increasing the interval of receiving beacons from the wireless base station when there is no traffic. However, if the reception interval is increased, the TIM is generated when a packet addressed to itself is generated. Acquisition is delayed, and there is a problem that a delay occurs in receiving a packet addressed to itself.

  In addition, since the radio base station buffers packets addressed to the radio terminal device operating in the power save mode in the memory, if the reception interval of the radio terminal device operating in the power save mode is increased, the packet addressed to the radio terminal device is not delivered. It was necessary to keep the delay in the memory of the radio base station for a long time.

  Furthermore, when the wireless terminal device in power save mode repeats transmission / reception in real-time communication such as voice and video, if it operates at a long reception interval, packets addressed to the wireless terminal device are once buffered in the wireless base station, and the next reception cycle There is a problem that the packet is delayed. In particular, in communications that perform real-time delivery because they are voice and moving images, a delay occurs in the received packets, which may cause problems in data reproducibility.

  Since the wireless terminal device operating in the power save mode receives intermittently according to the transmission timing of the beacon with DTIM transmitted by the wireless base station, there is a problem that the intermittent reception timing cannot be determined on the wireless terminal device side.

  When a plurality of wireless terminal devices are connected to one wireless base station and each wireless terminal device operates in the power save mode, each wireless terminal device has the same intermittent reception timing, that is, the transmission timing of a beacon with DTIM. However, there is a problem that only intermittent reception is possible.

  Further, since the broadcast packet is transmitted after the beacon with DTIM, the wireless terminal device operating in the power saving mode with a long reception interval ignoring the beacon with DTIM, for example, occurs when the broadcast packet cannot be received. When a physical address resolution protocol message (ARP) for inquiring the physical address of a wireless terminal device operating in the save mode is generated in the network, a delay occurs in distribution to the wireless terminal device operating in the power save mode, There was a problem of bandwidth compression due to retransmission.

  In wireless LAN communication, a CSMA / CA (carrier sense multiple access protocol with collision avoidance) procedure is executed to avoid collision at the time of data transmission. In order to receive packets buffered in the radio base station during operation, all PS-Polls that send packet transmission requests to the radio base station use the same DIFS (Distributed Interframe space). For example, in communication that requires real-time performance, such as voice communication, there is a problem that it is not possible to suppress transmission delay as much as possible and to give priority to transmission rights.

  Furthermore, since a back-off algorithm is used to transmit after waiting for a certain random time until transmission is actually possible after transmission right is granted, it waits for a random time regardless of the content of the transmission data. Therefore, there is a problem that even in the case of communication that requires real-time performance such as voice communication, it is impossible to suppress the delay as much as possible.

  In order to solve these problems, the present inventors have previously proposed the following wireless terminal device and a wireless communication system using the same, and have filed a patent application (Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-291063). This wireless communication system is composed of a wireless terminal device, a wireless base station connected to a LAN line or a WAN line, and a terminal device also connected to the LAN line or the WAN line. This will be described with reference to the 14th time chart.

  In the figure, radio terminal apparatuses 610, 620, and 630 belong to the radio base station 600, and the radio base station 600 temporarily buffers a packet for the radio terminal apparatus performing the intermittent reception operation. When PS-Poll (control packet for prompting delivery to the radio base station) is received from the apparatus, an operation for transmitting the packet to the radio terminal apparatus is performed.

  Each of the wireless terminal devices 610, 620, and 630 performs an intermittent reception operation at different intervals in synchronization with multiples of beacons periodically transmitted by the wireless base station 600 at regular intervals. The intermittent reception intervals of the wireless terminal devices 610, 620, and 630 are set according to the operation mode of the communication application operating on each wireless terminal device. For example, the wireless terminal device 610 is a web browser, the wireless terminal device 620 is a chat, and the wireless terminal device 630 is a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). The intermittent reception interval is selected from the common divisors of the beacon interval with DTIM between the beacon interval and the beacon interval with DTIM (Delivery Traffic Indication Map). That is, the shortest is the beacon interval, and the longest is the beacon interval with DTIM. Thereby, since the intermittent reception interval of the wireless terminal device can be changed in cooperation with the operation mode of the communication application, the power saving control of the wireless terminal device can be finely performed.

Also, the wireless terminal devices 610, 620, and 630 can hold the priority of PS-Poll to be transmitted to the wireless base station 600. This priority is set according to the operation mode of the communication application operating on the wireless terminal device. Thereby, since packets of real-time communication such as voice can be preferentially transmitted, voice quality can be improved by reducing delay.
JP-A-9-162798 (FIGS. 14 and 20)

  However, in this prior art, PS-Poll is transmitted to the radio base station using beacon reception as a key, and a packet addressed to the own radio terminal device is received. Therefore, a plurality of radio terminal devices are provided in one radio base station. When a communication application such as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) that is connected and requires real-time operation is operating on a plurality of wireless terminal devices, PS-Poll is transmitted from the plurality of wireless terminal devices for each beacon. As a result, the transmission right is obtained, and there is a high possibility that the waiting time increases until the transmission is actually performed. As a result, the problem that the delay becomes large and affects the voice quality is unavoidable.

  The present invention particularly relates to a radio terminal in a radio communication system in which a radio base station connected to a radio terminal apparatus using radio as a transmission medium is connected to a LAN (Local Area Network) line or a WAN (Wide Area Network) line. It is possible to both reduce the power consumption of devices, improve the communication quality of communication applications that require real-time performance such as voice communication, and reduce the transmission waiting time that tends to occur when multiple wireless terminal devices exist. An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless terminal device and a wireless communication system.

  The present invention relates to a wireless terminal device that operates in the power save mode and receives a packet buffered in the wireless base station by transmitting a control packet that prompts the wireless base station to deliver the wireless terminal. Communication application operation mode determining means for determining an operation mode of a communication application operating in the apparatus, and control packet variable means capable of varying the transmission timing of the control packet regardless of the beacon interval according to the determined operation mode And a communication control unit for transmitting the control packet at the transmission timing by the control packet variable means after data transmission from the communication application.

Preferably, the following form is adopted.
The communication control unit can select whether or not to transmit a control packet according to the operation mode determined by the communication application operation mode determination means.

  When transmitting a control packet, the communication control unit makes a power-on request to the power control unit.

  The communication control unit makes a power-off request to the power control unit after receiving data by the control packet.

  The wireless network system according to the present invention is configured by the wireless terminal device and the wireless base station as described above.

The first effect is that power consumption can be suppressed to the maximum even when a communication application is communicating. For this reason, it becomes possible to extend the utilization time of a radio | wireless terminal apparatus.
This is because the transmission timing of the control packet can be varied on the wireless terminal device side according to the communication application operation mode regardless of the beacon interval.

The second effect is to reduce the concentration of transmission data immediately after a beacon that is likely to occur when there are multiple wireless terminal devices operating communication applications such as VoIP that require real-time performance in one wireless base station. There is to be able to do. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the deterioration of the voice quality in a voice call or the like that requires real-time characteristics.
The reason for this is that in the method using beacons as a key to inform the radio base station that the packet addressed to itself has been buffered, when a plurality of radio terminal devices are connected to the radio base station, they are concentrated immediately after the beacon. However, in the present invention, the possibility of a collision can be reduced because of the generation timing of transmission data in the wireless terminal device. This is because the waiting time during data transmission can be reduced.

A third effect is that, when there are a plurality of wireless terminal devices connected to one wireless base station, each wireless terminal device can perform different intermittent operations. For this reason, the intermittent operation interval can be changed without being influenced by other wireless terminal devices connected to the same wireless base station.
The reason for this is that the intermittent operation interval during the intermittent operation of the present invention can be freely changed regardless of the radio base station only by setting on the wireless terminal device side.

A fourth effect is that no special radio base station is required. For this reason, it is possible to use a wireless base station that is widely used at present.
The reason for this is that the intermittent operation interval during the intermittent operation of the present invention can be freely changed regardless of the radio base station only by setting on the wireless terminal device side.

The fifth effect is that the packet delay during communication can be suppressed by operating in the intermittent operation of the present invention rather than operating in the intermittent reception mode synchronized with the normal beacon with DTIM. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the deterioration of the voice quality in a voice call or the like that requires real-time characteristics.
The reason for this is that, before transmitting PS-Poll to the radio base station using the beacon as a key, in many cases, in order to transmit PS-Poll from the wireless terminal device side, the packet addressed to itself is quickly received. Because it can.

  Briefly describing the present invention with reference to FIG. 1, the radio base station 100 once buffers a packet for the radio terminal devices 110 and 120 belonging to the radio base station 100 and performing an intermittent reception operation. Upon receiving a transmission request from the wireless terminal device 110 or 120, an operation of transmitting a packet to the wireless terminal device is performed.

  The wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 determine whether or not to transmit the control packet regardless of the beacon interval according to the operation mode of the communication application operating on each wireless terminal device. A control packet (hereinafter referred to as “PS-Poll”) for requesting a packet buffered in the radio base station 100 after transmitting the transmission data generated in each radio terminal apparatus in synchronization with the timing of the transmission data. ”) Is transmitted continuously. At this time, if a packet addressed to the own radio terminal apparatus is buffered in the radio base station 100, the buffered data is received. Turn off the power after receiving the data. Here, the timing of transmission data generated in a communication application operating on each wireless terminal device follows a timer value that is not related to the beacon interval when performing communication that requires real-time performance, such as VoIP. Since packets are generated at intervals, for example, when packets are generated at intervals of 20 msec, PS-Polls are transmitted at intervals of 20 msec.

  Therefore, in the method using intermittent reception synchronized with the beacon periodically transmitted by the radio base station 100, it is necessary to set the beacon interval finely such as 20 milliseconds, or the interval becomes large such as the beacon interval 200 milliseconds. Thus, there is a high possibility that a delay in reception occurs, but according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate those influences as much as possible. Further, in the method of transmitting PS-Poll in synchronization with beacon reception, PS-Poll that prompts delivery from a plurality of wireless terminal devices is generated at the same time as reception immediately after the beacon, so the possibility of waiting for transmission increases. The possibility of waiting for transmission is reduced by transmitting PS-Poll simultaneously with transmission data in the own wireless terminal device. Thereby, the voice quality in real-time communication such as voice can be improved by reducing the delay.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
1 is a transmission / reception timing chart according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a network system configuration diagram, FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram viewed from the function of a wireless terminal device, and FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart.

  FIG. 2 shows a network system in which a wireless terminal device and a wireless base station connected to a LAN line or a WAN line are arranged to provide communication such as voice and moving images. This network system includes a radio base station 100, radio terminal devices 110 and 120 according to the present invention, and a terminal device 130 connected to a LAN line or a WAN line.

  The radio base station 100 recognizes that the radio terminal apparatuses 110 and 120 have shifted to the power save mode by receiving the control packet, and thereafter, packets addressed to the radio terminal apparatuses 110 and 120 are buffered in the memory in the radio base station 100. The beacon TIM is notified.

  The wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 can communicate with the terminal device 130 connected to the LAN line or the WAN line via the wireless base station 100 using the Internet protocol (IP). The wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 perform connection negotiation using the wireless physical layer with the wireless base station 100, and operate as one terminal of this network. Then, after the negotiation is completed, a beacon from the radio base station 100 is received, and further, each information element is expanded to acquire a beacon interval, and then operates in an intermittent reception operation mode at a beacon interval with DTIM.

  FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 according to the present invention. Each wireless terminal device includes a communication application unit 300, an operation mode determination unit 310, a PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320, a timer control unit 330, a power supply control unit 340, a communication control unit 350, and a wireless communication interface. Part 360.

  The communication application unit 300 indicates a communication application that is operating on the wireless terminal device. That is, the communication application unit 300 indicates that n applications (n is an integer of 2 or more) from the communication applications 301 to 30n are activated, or there is no application that is operating at all. is there. When started, the communication application unit 300 sets parameters necessary for the communication application in the operation mode determination unit 310. The communication application unit 300 notifies the operation mode determination unit 310 of the start / disconnection of communication and the end of the application. Data transmitted by the communication application unit 300 is passed to the communication control unit 350, and received data is received from the communication control unit 350.

  The operation mode determination unit 310 stores the activated communication application and parameters for the communication application, and their values are set by the communication application unit 300. The operation mode determination unit 310 sets appropriate values in the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320 and the timer control unit 330 from the set values using the application in communication as a key.

  The PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320 stores the PS-Poll transmission timing corresponding to the currently operating communication application, and is used by the communication control unit 350. The value of the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320 is determined and set by the operation mode determination unit 310.

  The timer control unit 330 operates when there is no real-time request from the communication application, acquires the intermittent reception interval provided from the operation mode determination unit 310, and continues to provide a timer value to the power supply control unit 340 at the given interval. Further, it has a function of correcting the timer value according to the beacon reception timing from the communication control unit 350. The communication control unit 350 changes the presence / absence of a real-time request from the communication application, that is, changes in the timing of operating as a timer.

  The power control unit 340 repeats turning on / off the power of the wireless communication interface unit 360 in accordance with the turn-on / off request from the communication control unit 350. Further, the power control unit 340 turns on the wireless communication interface unit 360 according to the timer value from the timer control unit 330 and turns off the power supply of the wireless communication interface unit 360 according to the disconnection request from the communication control unit 350. Repeat to do.

  The communication control unit 350 performs control for transmitting data from the communication application unit 300 from the wireless communication interface unit 360, and performs control for passing data received by the wireless communication interface unit 360 to the communication application unit 300. Also, negotiation processing with the radio base station 100 is performed. Further, when receiving the transmission data from the communication application unit 300, the communication control unit 350 notifies the power control unit 340 of a power-on request for the wireless communication interface unit 360. In addition, after transmitting all the data received from the communication application unit 300, the communication control unit 350 determines whether to transmit the PS-Poll based on the information in the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320. The power supply control unit 340 is notified of a power-off request of the wireless communication interface unit 360. When transmitting, PS-Poll is transmitted from the wireless communication interface unit 360, and after receiving all the packets corresponding to PS-Poll, a power-off request of the wireless communication interface unit 360 is notified to the power control unit 340. Further, the communication control unit 350 determines the presence / absence of the real-time request from the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320, and requests the timer control unit 330 to start the timer when the real-time request is changed from the presence to the absence. Request to stop the timer when it is changed from None to Present.

  The wireless communication interface unit 360 performs processing for wirelessly transmitting data received from the communication control unit 350. In addition, a process of passing the received data to the communication control unit 350 is performed. The wireless communication interface unit 360 is turned on / off by the power supply control unit 340.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG.
The wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 negotiate with the wireless base station 100 after activation, and no communication application is operating after the completion of the negotiation. At this time, since “no real-time request” is set as a default value in the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320, a normal power saving operation, that is, an intermittent reception operation is performed at a DTIM interval.

  When a communication application operates, the communication application unit 300 notifies the operation mode determination unit 310 with the AP-ID that is a unique number assigned to the communication application and the presence / absence of a real-time request as parameters. Here, the AP-ID is uniquely assigned to each communication application.

  Next, when communication is actually started, the communication application unit 300 notifies the operation mode determination unit 310 that communication of the communication application has started. When the operation mode determination unit 310 receives a notification of a communication change from the communication application unit 300, the operation mode determination unit 310 searches and acquires the presence / absence of all real-time requests for the currently operating communication application.

  Next, if there is any real-time request from the acquired real-time requests, the operation mode determination unit 310 determines that the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 have real-time requests and stores them in the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320. To do. On the contrary, when there is no real-time request, the wireless terminal apparatuses 110 and 120 determine that there is no real-time request and store it in the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320.

  The timer control unit 330 is instructed to start the timer when the communication control unit 350 is switched without a real-time request, and is instructed to stop the timer when the switching is performed with a real-time request. When there is no real-time request and the start of timer control is instructed, a timer value is given to the power supply control unit 340 based on the value instructed from the operation mode determination unit 310. For this reason, when the real time request is changed from the presence of the real time request due to the start of communication of the communication application, the intermittent reception interval when there is no real time request of the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 is changed correspondingly.

  Further, when the communication of the communication application that has been connected so far is disconnected, the operation mode determination unit 310 is notified that the communication of the communication application has been disconnected. When the operation mode determination unit 310 receives a notification from the communication application unit 300 that the communication is disconnected, the operation mode determination unit 310 determines that the communication is disconnected, and deletes the passed AP-ID from the communicating application. After the deletion, the operation mode determination unit 310 searches again and acquires the presence / absence of all real-time requests for the currently communicating application.

  The subsequent processing is the same as described above, and if there is any real-time request from the acquired real-time request, the operation mode determination unit 310 determines that the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 have a real-time request, and PS- The data is stored in the poll transmission timing storage unit 320. On the contrary, when there is no real-time request, the wireless terminal apparatuses 110 and 120 determine that there is no real-time request and store it in the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320.

  The operation mode determination unit 310, when receiving a notification from the communication application unit 300 that communication has been disconnected, deletes all of the applications being communicated from the communication application storage unit 310, AP− given as an initial value. Since only the value of “0” remains, there is no real time request, and the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 operate in the normal power save mode, that is, at the DTIM interval, as in the operation after the negotiation is completed. Perform intermittent reception.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow when transmitting data addressed to the other terminal apparatus 130 connected to the LAN line or the WAN line from the wireless terminal apparatuses 110 and 120 according to the present invention.

  When receiving the transmission data addressed to the other terminal device 130 from the communication application unit 300, the communication control unit 350 notifies the power supply control unit 340 of a power-on request for the wireless communication interface unit 360 (step B1). When notified of a power-on request for the wireless communication interface unit 360 from the communication control unit 350, the power control unit 340 turns on the power of the wireless communication interface unit 360 (step B2). When the wireless communication interface unit 360 is powered on by the power control unit 340, the wireless communication interface unit 360 can transmit and receive data. The communication control unit 350 transmits data when data transmission / reception is enabled, and completes data transmission by receiving a response signal (ACK), which is a data arrival confirmation packet, from the radio base station 100 (step B3). .

  Next, the communication control unit 350 acquires the presence / absence information of the real-time request stored from the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320 (step B4). If there is no real-time request, the process proceeds to step B8, where the communication control unit 350 notifies the power control unit 340 of a power-off request for the wireless communication interface unit 360, and turns off the power of the wireless communication interface unit 360 (step). B8).

  In step B4, when there is a real-time request, the communication control unit 350 transmits PS-Poll (step B5). When a response signal (ACK) from the radio base station 100 is received for the transmitted PS-Poll and a packet addressed to the own radio terminal apparatus is buffered in the radio base station 100, the buffered data is continued. Receive (step B6). If the packet addressed to the own radio terminal apparatus is not buffered in the radio base station 100, the NULL data is continuously received (step B6). When a packet addressed to the own radio terminal apparatus is received, the received data contains information indicating whether the packet addressed to the own radio terminal apparatus is still buffered in the radio base station 100. If it is buffered, PS-Poll is further transmitted (from step B7 to B5 again). When there is no more data buffered in the radio base station 100 and when NULL data is received, the communication control unit 350 notifies the power control unit 340 of a power-off request of the radio communication interface unit 360, and the radio communication interface The power supply of the unit 360 is turned off (step B8).

Furthermore, a specific operation example of the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 will be described in detail with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG.
FIG. 1 is a time chart of the radio base station 100, the radio terminal device 110 in which the “VoIP” application is operating, and the radio terminal device 120 in which the “VoIP” application is also operating. Each of the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 has completed negotiation with the wireless base station 100, and the wireless base station 100 has been notified that it is operating in the power save mode.

  The radio base station 100 transmits a beacon at regular intervals and transmits a beacon with DTIM at a certain beacon interval. Packets of the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 operating with power saving after the completion of the negotiation are temporarily buffered in the memory of the wireless base station 100, and a transmission request (PS− that prompts delivery from the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120) Poll), the buffered packet is transmitted once.

Each of the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 represents a state in which a communication application with a real-time request is operating.
It is assumed that the wireless terminal device 110 is operating “VoIP” with a real-time request and is in communication. In this wireless terminal device 110, when the AP-ID is set to “1” and the real-time request is present from the communication application unit 300 to the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320, the operation mode determination unit 310 performs the real-time request. Set to Yes.

  In the wireless terminal device 110, when transmission data is generated, the wireless communication interface unit 360 is powered on, and data transmission / reception is enabled, and transmission data S1 is transmitted. After transmission, since this wireless terminal device 110 is in a state where there is a real-time request as described above, PS-Poll (PS1) is transmitted following transmission data S1. At this time, since the packet addressed to the wireless terminal device 110 has arrived at the wireless base station 100 and is in a buffered state, when the PS-Poll (PS1) from the wireless terminal device 110 is received, The wireless terminal device 110 receives the packet P1. When there are no more packets buffered in the radio base station 100, the radio communication interface unit 360 is turned off, and data transmission / reception is disabled.

  Subsequently, when transmission data is generated in the wireless terminal device 110, the wireless communication interface unit 360 is turned on to transmit the data S3 as described above. Here, since there is a real-time request, PS-Poll (PS3) is transmitted after transmitting data S3, and packet P3 buffered in radio base station 100 is received. After receiving all the packets buffered in the radio base station 100, the radio communication interface unit 360 is turned off as described above.

  For example, if the operating communication application is VoIP and the sampling interval for packetization is 20 milliseconds, transmission data is generated every 20 milliseconds and every 20 milliseconds. An operation to get up intermittently (transmitting PS-Poll and receiving a packet) is performed. In this way, an intermittent operation that does not depend on the beacon period is possible, and the influence of delay at the time of data reception can be reduced.

  When wireless terminal device 110 is set to have no real-time request, PS-Poll is not transmitted after data transmission, and after data transmission, the power of wireless communication interface unit 360 is turned off and synchronized with a beacon with DTIM. Intermittent reception is performed.

  The other wireless terminal devices 120 also show the same operation as the wireless terminal device 110. If the transmission data generation intervals in the wireless terminal apparatuses 110 and 120 are the same, there is no dependency on the generation timing of the respective transmission data (S1 and S2), so there is a high possibility that they do not overlap as shown in the figure.

  Therefore, in the method synchronized with the beacon reception as in the conventional method, it is possible to reduce the rate of collision at the time of transmission that has occurred due to the concentrated transmission of PS-Poll immediately after receiving the beacon, and delay accordingly. Will decrease. Further, even when the transmission data generation intervals are different, it is possible to reduce the rate of collision during transmission in the same manner, and to reduce the influence of delay.

  In the first embodiment, one communication application communicates on the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120. Such an operation is performed even when a plurality of communication applications are operating on the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120. The operation mode determining unit 310 determines the operation mode in the wireless terminal device, and performs an operation (packet delivery request) linked to the operation mode of the communication application. Further, even when a plurality of wireless communication terminal devices are connected to the same wireless base station 100, different intermittent operations can be performed according to the communication of the communication application operating on each wireless terminal device. is there.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Referring to FIG. 3, the second embodiment is partially different from the first embodiment in the operations of the communication application unit 300 and the communication control unit 340 in the first embodiment shown in FIG.

  Unlike the operation in the first embodiment, the communication application unit 300 passes data to the communication control unit 350 when transmission data is generated after the operation of the communication application. At the same time, the presence / absence of a real-time request is added to the transmission data. Pass as information. At this time, presence / absence of a real-time request is determined by the communication application unit 300. For example, in the case of a communication application that requires real-time characteristics such as VoIP, it is passed to the communication control unit 350 together with the transmission data in which there is a real-time request, and real-time characteristics are not required like a WEB browser. In the case of a communication application, “no real-time request” is passed to the communication control unit 350 together with the transmission data.

  The communication control unit 350 is partially different in operation from the first embodiment. That is, in the first embodiment, after transmitting the transmission data received from the communication application unit 300, it is determined whether to transmit the PS-Poll by looking at the information in the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320. In Example 2, information on whether or not to transmit PS-Poll is received simultaneously with the transmission data received from communication application unit 300, and whether or not PS-Poll is transmitted after transmitting the received data based on the received information. decide.

The operation of the second embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a part of the operation of the communication control unit 350 according to the second embodiment.

  When the transmission data is generated, the communication application unit 300 adds information indicating the presence / absence of a real-time request to the communication control unit 350 and passes it along with the transmission data (step F1). When receiving transmission data addressed to another terminal device from the communication application unit 300, the communication control unit 350 notifies the power control unit 340 of a power-on request for the wireless communication interface unit 360. When the power control unit 340 is requested by the communication control unit 350 to turn on the wireless communication interface unit 360, the power control unit 340 turns on the power of the wireless communication interface unit 360 (step F2). When the wireless communication interface unit 360 is powered on by the power control unit 340, the wireless communication interface unit 360 can transmit and receive data. The communication control unit 350 transmits data when data transmission / reception is enabled, and completes data transmission by receiving a response signal (ACK), which is a data arrival confirmation packet, from the radio base station 100 (step F3). .

  Next, the communication control unit 350 determines the presence / absence of a real-time request from the real-time request presence / absence information received from the communication application unit 300 together with the transmission data, and performs the following processing (step F4).

  If there is no real-time request, the communication control unit 350 notifies the power control unit 340 of a power-off request for the wireless communication interface unit 360, and turns off the power of the wireless communication interface unit 360 (step F8).

  If there is a real-time request, the communication control unit 350 transmits PS-Poll to the radio base station (step F5). A response signal (ACK) is received from the radio base station 100 to the transmitted PS-Poll, and if the packet addressed to the own radio terminal apparatus is buffered in the radio base station 100, the buffered data is continuously received. (Step F6). When the packet addressed to the own radio terminal apparatus is not buffered in the radio base station 100, the NULL data from the radio base station 100 is continuously received. When a packet addressed to the own radio terminal apparatus is received, the received data contains information indicating whether the packet addressed to the own radio terminal apparatus is still buffered in the radio base station 100. If it is buffered, PS-Poll is further transmitted (return to step F5). When there is no data buffered in the radio base station 100 and when NULL data is received, the communication control unit 350 notifies the power control unit 340 of a power-off request of the radio communication interface unit 360, and the radio communication interface unit The power source of 360 is turned off (step F8).

  The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that transmission data is passed to the communication control unit 350 in the communication application unit 300 and information on the presence / absence of a real-time request corresponding to the data is also passed. For this reason, when the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 have a WEB browser that does not require real-time property and a communication application with different real-time requirements such as VoIP that requires real-time property, PS-Poll is transmitted after data transmission when there is a real-time request without determining whether the data is from the other communication application. In the second embodiment, after the transmission data from the communication application with a real-time request, Since only PS-Poll is transmitted, the PS-Poll is not transmitted unnecessarily, so that the operation time can be further reduced, and as a result, it can be used for a long time.

Next, Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described.
Referring to FIG. 3, the third embodiment is partially different from the first embodiment in the operations of the operation mode determination unit 310 and the communication control unit 340 in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

  In addition to the functions in the first embodiment, when the operation mode determination unit 310 is notified of switching of an application in communication from the communication application unit 300, the communication control unit 350 switches the application in communication. It is different in that it is notified. In addition, the operation mode determination unit 310 holds an intermittent operation interval when a real-time request is made. This intermittent operation interval is used by the timer control unit 330.

  The communication control unit 350 performs control for transmitting data from the communication application unit 300 from the wireless communication interface unit 360, and performs control for passing data received by the wireless communication interface unit 360 to the communication application unit 300. When receiving transmission data from the communication application unit 300, the communication control unit 350 requests the power supply control unit 340 to turn on the wireless communication interface unit 360. The communication control unit 350 transmits all data received from the communication application unit 300. The operations so far are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  In the third embodiment, after all the data is transmitted, a request for powering off the wireless communication interface unit 360 is requested to the power control unit 360. The communication control unit 350, when notified from the operation mode determination unit 310 that there is a switching of the application during communication, acquires the presence / absence of the real-time request from the PS-Poll transmission timing determination unit 320, and acquires The following operations are performed depending on the value.

  If there is no change from the real-time request to the presence again, or the real-time request to the absence again, nothing is done. When switching from “no real time request” to “present”, the timer control unit 330 is requested to give a timer value to the communication control unit 350 regardless of the beacon interval based on the value from the operation mode determination unit 310. To do. When switching from the real-time request to the absence, the timer control unit 330 is requested to give the timer value synchronized with the beacon interval to the power supply control unit 340 based on the value from the operation mode determination unit 310. This is different from the first embodiment.

The operation of the third embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a part of the operation of the communication control unit 350 according to the third embodiment.

  When notified of the start or disconnection of communication from the communication application unit 300, the operation mode determination unit 310 notifies the communication control unit 350 that the application being communicated has been switched (step D1).

  When the communication control unit 350 is notified by the operation mode determination unit 310 that the application being communicated has been switched, the communication control unit 350 acquires the presence / absence of a real-time request from the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320, and the acquired value Different operations are performed according to (Step D2).

  In step D3, if there is no change from the real-time request to the presence again or the real-time request to the absence, the current operation is continued (step D9).

  In step D4, when switching from no real-time request to presence is made, the communication control unit 350 is requested to give a timer value regardless of the beacon interval based on the value from the operation mode determination unit 310 (step D5). Thereafter, the communication control unit 350 performs power on and data transmission / reception by requesting the power supply control unit 340 to turn on the power of the wireless communication interface unit 360 in synchronization with the timer value from the timer control unit 330. And the operation of transmitting PS-Poll is repeated. Details of the operation at this time are shown below.

  In step D4, when the real-time request is switched to the absence, the operation mode determination unit 310 requests the communication control unit 350 to provide a timer value synchronized with the beacon interval with DTIM (step D7). The communication control unit 350 makes a data transmission / reception enabled state by making a power-on request of the wireless communication interface unit 360 to the power control unit 340 in synchronization with the timer value from the timer control unit 330, and transmits a beacon with DTIM. The operation of performing intermittent reception is repeated by receiving (step D8).

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of the operation of the communication control unit 350 when there is a real-time request.

  When there is a real-time request, the communication control unit 350 requests the power supply control unit 340 to turn on the power of the wireless communication interface unit 360 according to the timer value from the timer control unit 330, and sets the data transmission / reception enabled state (step C1). Next, the communication control unit 350 transmits PS-Poll (step C2). A response signal (ACK) is received from the radio base station 100 to the transmitted PS-Poll, and if the packet addressed to the own radio terminal apparatus is buffered in the radio base station 100, the buffered data is continuously received. (Step C3). Even when a packet addressed to the own radio terminal apparatus is not buffered in the radio base station 100, NULL data is continuously received (step C3).

  When a packet addressed to the own radio terminal apparatus is received, the received data contains information indicating whether the packet addressed to the own radio terminal apparatus is still buffered in the radio base station 100. If it is buffered, PS-Poll is further transmitted (from step C4 to C2 again). When there is no more data buffered in the radio base station 100 and when NULL data is received, the communication control unit 350 notifies the power control unit 340 of a power-off request of the radio communication interface unit 360, and the radio communication interface unit The power source of 360 is turned off (step C5).

  The communication control unit 350 performs the intermittent reception operation in synchronization with the beacon with DTIM in the same manner as in the first embodiment when no real-time request is made.

  In the third embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, the communication control unit 350 transmits the PS-Poll at the time of the real-time request at the interval linked with the communication application without synchronizing with the transmission data and the beacon. The operation of transmitting PS-Poll to is performed. For this reason, even in communication that requires real-time characteristics when communication is not vertically symmetric, there is a high possibility of collision caused by PS-Poll concentration after beacon that is highly likely to occur when synchronized with a beacon. A reduction in received packet delay and an improvement in communication quality can be obtained. In the third embodiment, the operation mode determination unit 310 holds the intermittent operation interval at the time of the real-time request in advance, but may be transferred from the communication application unit 300 to the operation mode determination unit 310. . The third embodiment can be used in combination with the first and second embodiments.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.
Referring to FIG. 8, in the fourth embodiment, the configuration example of the operation mode determination unit 310 in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3 includes a communication application storage unit 311, a parameter storage unit 312, and a timer value storage unit. 313, the application communication management control part 317, and the parameter determination part 318 are different from Example 1. The fourth embodiment is a case where the configuration of the operation mode determination unit 310 in the first embodiment is a detailed functional configuration.

  When the communication application unit 300 is activated, it sets necessary parameters in the parameter storage unit 312. At the end, the parameters set at the time of activation are deleted from the parameter storage unit 312. The communication application unit 300 is different from the first embodiment in that the application communication management control unit 317 is notified of start / disconnection of communication.

  The communicating application storage unit 311 stores an application currently being communicated, and is set by the application communication management control unit 317. For example, referring to FIG. 9, the communicating application storage unit 311 stores in advance, when the AP-ID is “0”, a value when no communication application is being executed, that is, an initial value. (410). The communicating application storage unit 311 holds a uniquely determined value corresponding to the communication application being executed. That is, it stores that the communication application whose AP-ID is “1” and AP-ID is “3” is currently communicating.

  The parameter storage unit 312 stores information on the presence / absence of a real-time request corresponding to the currently operating communication application, and is set by the communication application unit 300. For example, referring to FIG. 9, the parameter storage unit 312 stores in advance as “no real-time request” when the AP-ID is “0” (411).

  The parameter storage unit 312 stores a power saving ratio corresponding to the currently operating communication application, and is set by the communication application unit 300. For example, referring to FIG. 9, when the AP-ID is “0”, the parameter storage unit 312 stores in advance that the power saving ratio is 100% (411), that is, any communication application is activated. If not, the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 are performing intermittent reception operation at beacon intervals with DTIM.

  Further, the parameter storage unit 312 also stores the priority corresponding to the currently operating communication application, and is set by the communication application unit 300. For example, referring to FIG. 9, when the AP-ID is “0”, the parameter storage unit 312 stores the priority as “low” in advance (411), that is, no communication application is activated. If not, the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 operate with a priority of “low”.

  The content stored in the timer value storage unit 313 includes a Wake-Up timer value 314, an IFS (Interframe space: no communication monitoring period) timer value 315, and a random backoff time range 316. The Wake-Up timer value 314, the IFS timer value 315, and the random backoff time range 316 are determined by the parameter determination unit 318, and values are set by the parameter determination unit 318. As for the Wake-Up timer value 314, the DTIM interval obtained by acquiring a beacon after completion of negotiation with the radio base station 100 is set in advance by the parameter determination unit 318. Further, the timer value storage unit 313 uses a DIFS (Distributed Interframe space) value and a random backoff time used when the radio terminal apparatuses 110 and 120 transmit PS-Poll to the radio base station 100 or transmit data. Remember the range.

  The application communication management control unit 317 is notified of the AP-ID given by the communication application unit 300 and the start / disconnection of the communication, and the communication application storage unit 311 adds the AP-ID of the application in communication by the start of communication. Alternatively, the AP-ID is deleted by disconnecting the communication. In addition, the parameter determination unit 318 is notified of switching of the application in communication.

  When the application communication management control unit 317 notifies the switching of the application being communicated, the parameter determination unit 318 acquires the AP-ID of the currently communicating application from the communicating application storage unit 311, and the communicating application Recognize The parameter determination unit 318 acquires from the parameter storage unit 312 whether or not there is a real-time request for the application in communication. If there is even one real-time request, “real-time request is present”, and if there is no real-time request, “No real time request” is set in the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320.

  Also, the parameter determination unit 318 obtains the power saving rate of the application in communication from the parameter storage unit 312 and obtains the minimum power saving rate from the obtained rate. From the obtained ratio, the intermittent reception interval of the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 is actually obtained using the DTIM interval and the TIM interval given from the communication control unit 350, and the Wake-Up timer value 314 of the timer value storage unit 313 is set. . At the same time, the parameter determination unit 318 obtains the priority of the application in communication from the parameter storage unit 312 and obtains the highest priority among them. Based on the obtained priority, the timer value and random back-off time range of the DIFS when the wireless terminal apparatuses 110 and 120 actually transmit data or PS-Poll is obtained, and the IFS is stored in the timer value storage unit 313. A timer value 315 and a random backoff time range 316 are set.

  The PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320 stores the PS-Poll transmission timing corresponding to the currently operating communication application, and is used by the communication control unit 350. The value of the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320 is determined and set by the parameter determination unit 318.

  The timer control unit 330 operates when there is no real-time request from the communication application unit 300, acquires an intermittent reception interval from the Wake-Up timer value 314, and performs power supply control at TIM intervals corresponding to the number of Wake-Up timer values 314. The timer value is continuously given to the unit 340. In addition, the timer control unit 330 starts giving a timer value based on reception of a beacon with DTIM. Further, the timer value is corrected according to the beacon reception timing from the communication control unit 350. The communication control unit 350 changes the presence / absence of a real-time request from the communication application unit 300.

Next, the operation of the fourth embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 8, FIG. 9, and FIG.
The wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 negotiate with the wireless base station 100 after activation, and no communication application is operating after the completion of the negotiation. At this time, since “no real-time request” is set in the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320, a normal power saving operation, that is, an intermittent reception operation is performed at a DTIM interval.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow from a communication application operating on the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 to determining whether a real-time request is present or absent.

  When the communication application unit 300 operates, the parameter storage unit 312 stores the AP-ID corresponding to the communication application and the presence / absence information of the real-time request. Here, the AP-ID is uniquely assigned to the communication application. For example, AP-ID “1” is assigned to the operated communication application, and a real-time request is stored (411). At the same time, the power saving ratio and communication priority are stored in the parameter storage unit 312. For example, the power saving ratio is stored as “10%” and the priority is stored as “low” (411). Next, when communication is actually started, the communication application unit 300 notifies the application communication management control unit 317 that communication of the communication application has started. For example, it notifies that communication of AP-ID “1” has started.

  Upon receiving a notification from the communication application unit 300 that the communication has started, the application communication management control unit 317 determines that the communication has started (step A1), and transfers the passed AP-ID to the communicating application storage unit. 311 is added (step A2) (402). After adding the AP-ID, the application communication management control unit 317 notifies the parameter determination unit 318 that communication has been switched.

  When the parameter determination unit 318 receives a notification of a communication change from the application communication management control unit 317, the parameter determination unit 318 searches and acquires the currently communicating application from the communicating application storage unit 311 (step A3). Next, the presence / absence of all real-time requests for the AP-ID of the acquired communicating application is searched and acquired (step A4). For example, in the example shown in FIG. 9, if the AP-ID of the communicating application acquires “0”, “1”, “3”, the respective real-time requests are “none”, “present”, “none”. It becomes.

  Next, when there is at least one real-time request from the acquired real-time request, the parameter determination unit 318 determines that the real-time request is present and stores it in the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320. (Step A5, 6). For example, in the case of the above example, the respective real-time requests are “none”, “present”, and “none”, so that “present” is determined and set.

  At the same time, when the parameter determination unit 318 receives a notification of a change in communication from the application communication management control unit 317, the parameter determination unit 318 searches and acquires the currently communicating application from the communicating application storage unit 311 and then acquires the AP of the acquired communicating application. -Search and obtain the ratio of all power savings to ID. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 9, if the AP-ID of the application in communication acquires “0”, “1”, “3”, the power saving ratio of each AP-ID “0” is “100”. % ", AP-ID" 1 "is" 10% ", AP-ID" 3 "is" 100% "

  Next, the parameter determination unit 318 determines a minimum value ratio from the acquired power saving ratio, and obtains an intermittent reception interval from the ratio. As an example of obtaining the intermittent reception interval, the following method is used. The parameter determination unit 318 obtains the common divisor from the DTIM interval, divides the ratio by the number of the common divisor at equal intervals, and uses the intermittent reception interval of the section that matches the power saving ratio. For example, if the DTIM interval is “8”, the common divisors are four, “1”, “2”, “4”, “8”. If the ratio is divided at equal intervals, it is 0% to 25%. Up to "1", 26% to 50% is "2", 51% to 75% is "4", and 76% to 100% is "8". If the power saving ratio is 10%, the intermittent reception interval is determined to be “1”. The intermittent reception interval determined in this way is stored as a Wake-Up timer value.

  The timer control unit 330 is instructed to start the timer when the communication control unit 350 is switched without a real-time request, and is instructed to stop the timer when the switching is performed with a real-time request. When there is no real-time request and timer control start is instructed, the TIM interval is always multiplied with the value of the Wake-Up timer value 314 of the timer value storage unit 313 as a reference, and the power supply control unit 340 is referred to with the multiplied value as a reference. When the Wake-Up timer value 314 is changed due to the start of application communication in order to give a timer value, the intermittent reception interval when there is no real-time request of the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 is changed in conjunction therewith.

  When the parameter determination unit 318 receives a notification of a change in communication from the application communication management control unit 317, the parameter determination unit 318 searches for and acquires the currently communicating application from the communicating application storage unit 311 and then acquires the acquired communicating application. Search and obtain all priorities for the AP-ID. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, if the AP-ID of the application in communication acquires “0”, “1”, “3”, the priority is “0” when the AP-ID is “0”. “Low”, AP-ID “1” indicates “high”, and AP-ID “3” indicates “medium”. Next, the parameter determination unit 318 determines the highest priority from the acquired priorities, and obtains the DIFS value and the range of the random backoff time from the priorities. The following method is used as an example for obtaining the range of the DIFS value and the random backoff time.

  The parameter determination unit 318 uses DIFS to set the IFS timer value to DIFS-2t when the priority is “high”, DIFS-t when “medium”, and DIFS when “low”. Here, the value of t is arbitrary. Further, when the range of the random backoff time is R, the maximum value of the normal random backoff time is R, 0 to 0.5R when the priority is “high”, 0 to 0.75R when the priority is “medium”, When “low”, 0 to R. If the priority is “high”, the IFS timer value is DIFS-2t, and the range of the random back-off time is determined to be 0 to 0.5 R, which is the narrowest. The timer value storage unit 330 stores the IFS timer value and the random backoff time determined in this way.

  When the timer control unit 330 requests the DIFS timer value and the random back-off range from the communication control unit 350, the timer control unit 330 always controls the power supply based on the values of the IFS timer value 332 and the random back-off range 333 of the timer value storage unit 313. Since the timer value is given to the unit 380, when the IFS timer value 315 and the random backoff range 316 are changed by the start of communication of the communication application, the timer value of the DIFS when the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 transmit data and The DIFS timer value and random backoff range at the time of PS-Poll are changed in conjunction therewith.

  In step A1, when the communication of the communication application that has been connected so far is disconnected, the application communication management control unit 317 is notified that the communication of the communication application has been disconnected. When the application communication management control unit 317 receives a notification from the communication application unit 300 that the communication has been disconnected, the application communication management control unit 317 determines that the communication has been disconnected (step A1), and receives the passed AP-ID from the communicating application storage unit 311. The corresponding AP-ID storage is deleted (step A7). After the deletion, the application communication management control unit 317 notifies the parameter determination unit 318 that the communication has been switched. The subsequent processing is the same as described above, and the process proceeds to step A3.

  In step A7, when all applications in communication are deleted from the communication application storage unit 311, only the value “0” remains as the AP-ID given as the initial value. If there is no application, the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 perform an intermittent reception operation at a DTIM interval, which is an operation in the normal power save mode, and the communication control unit 360 uses the normal DIFS value and the random backoff range. Perform transmission processing.

The flow when transmitting data addressed to the other terminal device 130 from the wireless terminal devices 110 and 120 in the fourth embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment.
In the fourth embodiment, the timer value storage unit 313 has an IFS timer value 315 and a random backoff range 316 that are used during data transmission or used during PS-Poll. For this reason, the priority can be set by the application in communication, and the effect that the influence of delay can be reduced in communication requiring real-time performance such as voice call can be obtained.

Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Referring to FIG. 8, the fifth embodiment is similar to the functional configuration in the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 8, but the difference similar to the difference in operation between the first and third embodiments is the fourth embodiment. This is a different point of operation. That is, referring to FIG. 8, the fifth embodiment is partially different from the fourth embodiment in the operations of the parameter determination unit 318, the timer control unit 330, and the communication control unit 350 in the fourth embodiment shown in FIG.

  In addition to the functions in the fourth embodiment, the parameter determining unit 318 is notified of the switching of the application in communication by the application communication management control unit 317, and the communication control unit 350 is switched to the application in communication. It is different in that it is notified.

  The timer control unit 330 gives the timer value synchronized with the beacon interval based on the Wake-Up timer value 314 to the power supply control unit 350, or the communication control unit regardless of the beacon interval based on the Wake-Up timer value. The fourth embodiment is different from the fourth embodiment in that whether a timer value is given to 350 is changed by a request from the communication control unit 350.

  The communication control unit 350 performs control for transmitting data from the communication application unit 300 from the wireless communication interface unit 360, and performs control for passing data received by the wireless communication interface unit 360 to the communication application unit 300. Furthermore, a negotiation process with the radio base station 100 is also performed. When receiving transmission data from the communication application unit 300, the communication control unit 350 requests the power supply control unit 340 to turn on the wireless communication interface unit 360. The communication control unit 350 transmits all data received from the communication application 300.

  The operations so far are the same as those in the fourth embodiment. In the fifth embodiment, after all the data is transmitted, a request for powering off the wireless communication interface unit 360 is requested to the power control unit 350. When notified by the parameter determining unit 318 that there is a switching of the application during communication, the communication control unit 350 obtains the presence / absence of the real-time request from the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320 and does not exist When switching to, the timer control unit 330 is requested to give the timer value to the communication control unit 350 regardless of the beacon interval based on the Wake-Up timer value, and switched from presence to absence. In this case, the second embodiment is different from the fourth embodiment in that the timer controller 330 is requested to give the timer value synchronized with the beacon interval to the power controller 340 based on the Wake-Up timer value. That is, the communication control unit 350 is the same as the operation in the third embodiment.

The operation of the fifth embodiment will be described.
Referring to FIGS. 8, 9, and 10, the only difference from the fourth embodiment is the processing in parameter determination unit 318, timer control unit 330, and communication control unit 350.

  The determination means of the PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 320 and the timer value storage unit 313 for the communication application 300 is the same as in the fourth embodiment. The operation of the communication control unit 350 in the fifth embodiment is the same as that in the third embodiment.

  In the fifth embodiment, as in the fourth embodiment, the timer value storage unit 313 has an IFS timer value 315 and a random backoff range 316 used at the time of data transmission or PS-Poll. For this reason, the priority can be set by the application unit 300 during communication, and the effect that the influence of delay can be reduced in communication requiring real-time performance such as voice call can be obtained.

  In the fifth embodiment, unlike the fourth embodiment, the communication control unit 350 transmits the PS-Poll at the time of the real-time request at the interval linked with the communication application without synchronizing with the transmission data and the beacon. The operation of transmitting PS-Poll to is performed. For this reason, even in communication that requires real-time characteristics when communication is not vertically symmetric, there is a high possibility of collision caused by PS-Poll concentration after beacon that is highly likely to occur when synchronized with a beacon. A reduction in received packet delay and an improvement in communication quality can be obtained. In addition, this embodiment can be used in combination with Embodiment 1 or Embodiment 2 and Embodiment 4.

Next, a sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described.
Referring to FIG. 11, the sixth embodiment is different from the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 8 in that it further includes a battery remaining amount detection unit 500 and a parameter limit value storage unit 510. In the sixth embodiment, the determination unit of the operation mode determination unit 310 of the first, second, and third embodiments shown in FIG. 3 and the parameters of the fourth and fifth embodiments shown in FIG. The determining means of the determining unit 318 is different from the determining means of the parameter determining unit 318 shown in FIG.

  When the battery remaining amount detection unit 500 receives a battery remaining amount detection request from the parameter determination unit 318, the battery remaining amount detection unit 500 measures the battery remaining amount and sends it to the parameter determination unit 318.

  As shown in detail in FIG. 12, the parameter limit value storage unit 510 stores the power saving ratio limit values 521 and 531 and the priority ratios 522 and 532 during communication according to the remaining battery ratios 520 and 530. Is stipulated. These values are stored in advance. The value in the parameter limit value storage unit 510 is read from the parameter determination unit 318.

  The parameter determination unit 318 is different from the operation mode determination unit or the parameter determination unit according to the first to fifth embodiments in that each value of the timer value storage unit 313 is provided with a limit value for each value depending on the remaining battery level.

The operation of the sixth embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13, the only difference from the previous embodiment is the processing in the parameter determination unit 318, so only the processing part of the parameter determination unit 318 will be described.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 13, steps E54, E55, E56, E57, E58, and E61 are added. The steps up to the stage of determining each value of the timer value storage unit 313 determined in the fourth and fifth embodiments are step E53. In the sixth embodiment, the battery remaining amount ratio is acquired from the battery remaining amount detecting unit 500 (step E54), and the current timer value is stored from the parameter limit value storing unit 510 based on the acquired battery remaining amount ratio. The limit value of each value set in the unit 313 is acquired (step E55). Each value determined in step E53 is compared with the limit value acquired in step E55 (step E56).

  Next, whether to use the value determined in step E53 or the value acquired in step E55 is determined based on the comparison result. The branch according to the comparison result differs depending on each value in the timer value storage unit 313. For example, when determining the power saving ratio, if the ratio determined in step E53 is greater than or equal to the limit value, the ratio determined in step E53 is used (step E58), and if the ratio is smaller, the limit value is used ( Step E61). On the other hand, when determining the priority ratio, if the priority determined in step E53 is equal to or higher than the limit value, the priority determined in step E53 is used (step E58), and if it is lower, the limit value is used. (Step E61).

  As a result, when the remaining battery level is less than a certain value as set in the parameter limit value storage unit 510, the intermittent reception operation is performed so as not to be performed at intervals shorter than the intermittent reception interval determined by the limit value. In addition, it is possible to normally perform termination processing of the communication application, which is to increase the priority.

  In the sixth embodiment, a battery remaining amount detection unit 500 and a parameter limit value storage unit 510 are provided. As a result, it is possible to adjust the battery so that it can be used for as long as possible when the remaining battery level is low, and it is possible to communicate normally before being disconnected unexpectedly during application communication. The effect of promoting the termination of is obtained.

  Further, the remaining battery level detection unit 510 may have a function of notifying the parameter determination unit 318 when the range of the remaining battery level changes from the parameter limit value storage unit 500. In that case, the parameter determination unit 318 can respond to a change in the remaining battery level during communication by updating each value stored in the timer value storage unit 313 when notified. it can.

  Further, the sixth embodiment can be used in combination with the third, fourth, or fifth embodiment.

  In the above-described example, the case of communication with the terminal device 130 connected to the LAN line or the WAN line has been described, but the same operation is performed with other wireless terminal devices connected to the same wireless base station 100.

  As an operation when there is a real-time request, an operation of receiving a beacon with DTIM may be performed in addition to the intermittent operation according to the present invention. By such a method, it is possible to prevent the broadcast packet from being missed.

  Further, in the above-described example, the manner in which the “VoIP” application is operating on the wireless terminal device according to the present invention has been described. It works similarly in communication applications.

  Furthermore, in the above-described example, the parameter is set in the operation mode determination unit from the communication application. However, the parameter may be stored in advance in the operation mode determination unit, or the communication content of the data is discriminated and automatically You may make it change automatically.

It is a transmission / reception timing chart of Example 1 of this invention. 1 is a configuration diagram of a wireless network system of Example 1. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram viewed from a function of a wireless terminal device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a flowchart of the operation. It is the flowchart which showed a part of operation | movement of the communication control part in Example 2 of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed a part of operation | movement of the communication control part in this Example 3 of this invention. In Example 3, it is a flowchart which shows the detail of operation | movement of the communication control part at the time of real-time request | requirement. It is the block diagram seen from the function of the radio | wireless terminal apparatus of Example 4 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the memory | storage form of the communicating application memory | storage part and parameter memory | storage part in FIG. In Example 4, it is a flowchart which shows the flow until it determines with / without presence of a real-time request | requirement from a communication application. It is the block diagram seen from the function of the radio | wireless terminal apparatus of Example 6 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the memory | storage form of the parameter limit value memory | storage part in FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a part of the operation of the sixth embodiment. It is a timing chart of transmission and reception in the prior art.

Explanation of symbols

100 wireless base station 110, 120 wireless terminal device 130 terminal device 300 communication application unit 310 operation mode determination unit 320 PS-Poll transmission timing storage unit 330 timer control unit 340 power supply control unit 350 communication control unit 360 wireless communication interface unit 311 communicating Application storage unit 312 Parameter storage unit 313 Timer value storage unit 314 Wake-Up timer value 315 IFS timer value 316 Random backoff range 317 Application communication management control unit 318 Parameter determination unit 500 Battery remaining amount detection unit 510 Parameter limit value storage unit 520・ 530 Battery power ratio 521 and 531 Power saving ratio limit value

Claims (5)

  Operates in the wireless terminal device by operating in the power save mode and transmitting a control packet that prompts the wireless base station to deliver the packet buffered in the wireless base station. A communication application operation mode determining means for determining an operation mode of the communication application; a control packet variable means capable of changing the transmission timing of the control packet regardless of the beacon interval according to the determined operation mode; A wireless terminal apparatus comprising: a communication control unit that transmits a control packet at a transmission timing by the control packet variable means after data transmission from an application.   The wireless terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the communication control unit can select whether or not to transmit the control packet according to the operation mode determined by the communication application operation mode determination means.   The wireless terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the communication control unit makes a power-on request to the power control unit when transmitting the control packet.   3. The wireless terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the communication control unit makes a power-off request to the power control unit after receiving data by the control packet.   A wireless network system comprising the wireless terminal device according to claim 1 and a wireless base station.

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