JP2013143019A - Radio relay device and radio communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a radio relay device that restarts using an update to a maximum extent when the update itself is non-defective, and provide a radio communication method.SOLUTION: A radio relay device 10 relating to the invention is a radio relay device 10 that relays data to be transmitted and received between a radio base station and a radio terminal, and comprises: a base station side communication part 22 that transmits and receives the data to and from the radio base station; a terminal side communication part 32 that transmits and receives the data to and from the radio terminal; and control parts 24 and 34 that download an update for updating the radio relay device 10 from the radio base station through the base station side communication part 22 and use the update to restart the radio relay device 10. Before reaching the predetermined number of times, the control parts 24 and 34 repeat downloading of the update and restart of the radio relay device 10 through the use of the update, until the radio relay device 10 succeeds in network entry.

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless relay device and a wireless communication method.

  In order for a wireless terminal to communicate with a wireless base station, the wireless terminal needs to be located in a range (service area) where wireless radio waves from the wireless base station can reach. However, there are areas where it is difficult for radio waves to reach because there are many obstacles in urban areas where mountainous areas and high-rise buildings are lined up. In order to cover such a region where radio waves do not reach, a radio relay device (repeater) that relays radio waves between the radio base station and the radio terminal is required.

  Firmware that is software for controlling the wireless relay device is incorporated in the wireless relay device. Since the firmware is normally written in a rewritable memory, for example, when there is a defect, it is possible to update by new firmware. When receiving the notification that the firmware update is necessary from the network server, the wireless relay device updates the firmware by downloading the firmware update data from the wireless base station and restarting.

  In addition, the wireless relay device sets the use frequency, transmission power, base station ID, and the like by system setting values (system parameters). When receiving a notification from the network server that these values need to be updated to different values, the wireless relay device downloads system setting value update data from the wireless base station and updates the system setting value.

  However, there may be a defect in the downloaded update data. In this case, as a result of restarting the wireless relay device with the downloaded update data, the wireless relay device may not be able to perform network entry (network connection).

  In such a case, whether or not the device itself has a defect in the update data so that the device itself can automatically restore the network connection without dispatching a worker to the site and manually restoring it. An invention is known in which, when diagnosed and there is a defect in the update data, rebooting is performed using a firmware before update that has a track record (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2008-299709 A

  If there is a defect in the update data downloaded by the wireless relay device, there are two possible causes. One is a case where the update data itself has a defect, and the other is a case where the update data itself has no defect but the update data could not be downloaded normally due to a problem of wireless communication.

  In the case of a wireless communication problem, the problem is often temporary rather than stationary. Therefore, in this case, it is highly possible that update data can be downloaded normally by executing download again.

  However, according to the invention described in Patent Document 1, when there is a defect in the acquired update data, the process always returns to the data before update regardless of the cause. Therefore, even if the update data cannot be acquired normally due to a wireless communication problem, the firmware is restored to the firmware before the update.

  An object of the present invention made in view of such a point is to provide a wireless relay apparatus and a wireless communication method that are restarted by using update data as much as possible when there is no defect in the update data itself.

The invention of the wireless relay device according to the first aspect of achieving the above object is as follows:
A wireless relay device that relays data transmitted and received between a wireless base station and a wireless terminal,
A base station side communication unit for transmitting and receiving data to and from the wireless base station;
A terminal-side communication unit that transmits and receives data to and from the wireless terminal;
A controller that downloads update data for updating the radio relay apparatus from the radio base station via the base station side communication unit, and restarts the radio relay apparatus using the update data;
The controller repeats downloading the update data and restarting the radio relay device using the update data until the radio relay device succeeds in network entry until the predetermined number of times is reached. Features.

  The invention according to a second aspect is the invention according to the first aspect, wherein the control unit performs downloading of the update data and restarting the wireless relay device using the update data. If the wireless relay device does not succeed in the network entry even after repeated times, the wireless relay device is restarted with the data before update.

  The invention according to a third aspect is the invention according to the first or second aspect, wherein the update data is firmware or a system setting value.

  As described above, the solution of the present invention has been described as an apparatus. However, the present invention can be realized as a method, a program, and a storage medium storing the program, which are substantially equivalent thereto, and the scope of the present invention. It should be understood that these are also included.

For example, the invention of the wireless communication method according to the fourth aspect of realizing the present invention as a method is as follows:
A wireless communication method of a wireless relay device that relays data transmitted and received between a wireless base station and a wireless terminal, the wireless relay device comprising:
A base station side communication unit for transmitting and receiving data to and from the wireless base station;
A terminal-side communication unit that transmits and receives data to and from the wireless terminal, and the wireless relay device includes:
(A) downloading update data for updating the radio relay apparatus from the radio base station via the base station side communication unit;
(B) restarting the wireless relay device using the update data,
The wireless relay device repeats steps (a) and (b) until a predetermined number of times is reached.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, when there is no malfunction in update data itself, the radio relay apparatus and radio | wireless communication method which can be restarted using update data as much as possible can be provided.

1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a functional block diagram which shows schematic structure of the radio relay apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process restarted using update data in the wireless relay apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The wireless communication system includes a wireless base station, a wireless terminal, and a wireless relay device 10. The wireless relay device 10 relays data transmitted and received between the wireless base station and the wireless terminal.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the wireless relay device according to the embodiment of the present invention. The wireless relay device 10 includes a donor node 20 and a service node 30.

  First, functional blocks of the donor node 20 will be described. The donor node 20 includes a base station side communication unit 22, a base station side control unit 24, and a storage unit 26.

  The base station side communication unit 22 transmits and receives data to and from the radio base station via an antenna. For the downlink data, the base station side communication unit 22 receives a radio signal from the radio base station, down-converts it to convert it into a baseband signal, and then outputs it to the terminal side communication unit 32. As for the uplink data, the base station side communication unit 22 receives the baseband signal from the terminal side communication unit 32, up-converts the converted data into a radio signal, and transmits the radio signal to the radio base station.

  The base station side control unit 24 controls the entire donor node 20 including the base station side communication unit 22. The base station side control unit 24 is configured as software executed on an arbitrary suitable processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), or a dedicated processor specialized for each process (for example, DSP (Digital Signal Processor)). Can also be configured.

  When the base station side control unit 24 receives notification from the network server that the firmware or the system setting value needs to be updated, the base station side control unit 24 stores the data before the update in the storage unit 26.

  In addition, when receiving a notification from the network server that the firmware or system setting value needs to be updated, the base station side control unit 24 updates the wireless relay device 10 and updates the firmware or system setting value update data. Download from the radio base station via the base station side communication unit 22.

  When the base station side control unit 24 downloads the update data of the firmware or the system setting value, the base station side control unit 24 restarts the wireless relay device 10 using the update data. Thereby, the wireless relay device 10 can operate with the updated firmware or the updated system setting value.

  When the wireless relay device 10 is restarted using the update data, the base station side control unit 24 determines whether or not the network entry of the wireless relay device 10 is possible in the state where the wireless relay device 10 is restarted using the update data.

  The base station side control unit 24 enables the wireless relay device 10 to make a network entry when the wireless relay device 10 becomes unable to make a network entry as a result of restarting the wireless relay device 10 using the update data. Data before update with network entry results is read from the storage unit 26, and the wireless relay device 10 is restarted using the data before update.

  When the base station side control unit 24 restarts the wireless relay device 10 using the update data, the cause of the wireless relay device 10 being unable to enter the network is considered to be a defect of the downloaded update data. There are two possible causes for the malfunction of the update data downloaded by the base station side control unit 24. When there is a problem with the update data itself and when there is no problem with the update data itself, but there is a problem with the wireless communication between the wireless relay device 10 and the wireless base station, and the update data cannot be downloaded normally. is there.

  Since the base station side control unit 24 may not be able to enter the network as a result of restarting the wireless relay device 10 using the update data, the update data itself may not have a problem. Until the number of restarts using the update data reaches a predetermined number of repetitions, the download of the update data and the restart of the wireless relay device 10 using the update data are repeated.

  The base station side control unit 24 determines that the update data itself is defective if the wireless relay device 10 does not succeed in the network entry even if the wireless relay device 10 is restarted a predetermined number of times using the update data. Then, the wireless relay device 10 is restarted with the data before update.

  The storage unit 26 stores pre-update data when the base station control unit 24 restarts the wireless relay device 10 using the update data. The pre-update data stored in the storage unit 26 is the firmware and system setting values before the update with a track record of the network entry when the wireless relay device 10 becomes unable to enter the network after the restart due to a defect in the update data. In order to return to the state, it is read by the base station side control unit 24.

  Subsequently, functional blocks of the service node 30 will be described. The service node 30 includes a terminal side communication unit 32 and a terminal side control unit 34.

  The terminal side communication unit 32 receives the downlink data from the base station side communication unit 22 as a baseband signal for the downlink data, up-converts it, converts it into a radio signal, and transmits it to the radio terminal.

  The terminal side communication unit 32 receives the uplink data from the wireless terminal as a radio signal, converts the uplink data into a baseband signal by down-converting it, and outputs it to the base station side communication unit 22.

  The terminal side control unit 34 controls the entire service node 30 including the terminal side communication unit 32. The terminal-side control unit 34 can be configured as software executed on any suitable processor such as a CPU, or can be configured by a dedicated processor (for example, DSP) specialized for each process. In this embodiment, each of the donor node 20 and the service node 30 includes a control unit such that the donor node 20 includes the base station side control unit 24 and the service node 30 includes the terminal side control unit 34. Although described as a configuration, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, the donor node 20 and the service node 30 can be controlled by a single control unit.

  When the terminal-side control unit 34 receives a notification from the base station-side control unit 24 to restart the wireless relay device 10, the terminal-side control unit 34 restarts the service node 30.

  Processing for restarting the wireless relay device 10 using the update data will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When receiving a notification that the firmware or system setting value needs to be updated from the network server, the wireless relay device 10 starts a process of updating the firmware or system setting value.

  The base station side control unit 24 stores the firmware or system setting value pre-update data in the storage unit 26 (step S101).

  The base station side control unit 24 downloads update data of firmware or system setting values from the radio base station (step S102). The base station side control unit 24 restarts the wireless relay device 10 using the downloaded firmware or the update data of the system setting value (step S103).

  After restarting using the update data, the base station side control unit 24 determines whether or not the wireless relay device 10 succeeds in the network entry. When the wireless relay device 10 succeeds in the network entry, the base station side control unit 24 ends the restart process using the update data (step S104).

  When the wireless relay device 10 does not succeed in network entry in step S104, the base station side control unit 24 reads the pre-update data from the storage unit 26 (step S105). The base station side control unit 24 restarts the wireless relay device 10 using the read pre-update data (step S106).

  After restarting using the pre-update data, the base station side control unit 24 determines whether or not the wireless relay device 10 succeeds in the network entry (step S107). In addition, when the base station side control unit 24 restarts the wireless relay device 10 using the pre-update data, the wireless relay device 10 is restarting with the firmware and system setting value with a track record of network entry. Device 10 should have a successful network entry. However, for example, when a large amount of noise is mixed from the outside during the restart of the wireless relay device 10, the wireless relay device 10 may fail in network entry with a very low probability.

  When the wireless relay device 10 fails in the network entry in step S107, the base station side control unit 24 returns to step S106 and restarts the wireless relay device 10.

  In step S107, when the wireless relay device 10 succeeds in the network entry, the base station side control unit 24 determines whether the number of restarts using the update data is equal to or less than a predetermined number. Here, the predetermined number of times is a predetermined number of times at the time of factory shipment or when the wireless relay device 10 is installed.

  When the number of restarts using the update data is equal to or less than the predetermined number, the base station side control unit 24 returns to step S102 and downloads the update data again from the radio base station. When the number of restarts using the update data exceeds a predetermined number, the base station side control unit 24 determines that the update data itself is defective and ends the update process of the firmware or system setting value. (Step S108).

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a wireless relay device and a wireless communication method that are restarted using update data as much as possible when there is no problem with the update data itself.

  In addition, if there is a problem with the update data itself, the wireless relay device is restored by automatically restarting with the data before the update, so there is no need to send a worker to the site and restore it manually. Can be reduced.

  In addition, it is possible to provide a wireless relay device and a wireless communication method that are restarted using data before update only when there is a defect in the update data itself of the firmware or system setting value.

  Although the present invention has been described based on the drawings and examples, it should be noted that those skilled in the art can easily make various modifications and corrections based on the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these variations and modifications are included in the scope of the present invention. For example, functions included in each member, each means, each step, etc. can be rearranged so as not to be logically contradictory, and a plurality of means, steps, etc. can be combined or divided into one. Is possible.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the wireless relay device 10 is restarted using firmware or update data of the system setting value has been described as an example. However, the wireless relay device 10 is not necessarily restarted. Good. For example, when the system setting value is updated, it may be possible to update the changed value by simply changing the system setting value.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Radio relay apparatus 20 Donor node 22 Base station side communication part 24 Base station side control part 26 Storage part 30 Service node 32 Terminal side communication part 34 Terminal side control part

Claims (4)

A wireless relay device that relays data transmitted and received between a wireless base station and a wireless terminal,
A base station side communication unit for transmitting and receiving data to and from the wireless base station;
A terminal-side communication unit that transmits and receives data to and from the wireless terminal;
A controller that downloads update data for updating the radio relay apparatus from the radio base station via the base station side communication unit, and restarts the radio relay apparatus using the update data;
The controller repeats downloading the update data and restarting the radio relay device using the update data until the radio relay device succeeds in network entry until the predetermined number of times is reached. A wireless relay device.   2. The wireless relay device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit repeats downloading the update data and restarting the wireless relay device using the update data a predetermined number of times. A wireless relay device, wherein if the relay device does not succeed in network entry, the wireless relay device is restarted with data before update.   3. The radio relay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the update data is firmware or a system setting value. A wireless communication method of a wireless relay device that relays data transmitted and received between a wireless base station and a wireless terminal, the wireless relay device comprising:
A base station side communication unit for transmitting and receiving data to and from the wireless base station;
A terminal-side communication unit that transmits and receives data to and from the wireless terminal, and the wireless relay device includes:
(A) downloading update data for updating the radio relay apparatus from the radio base station via the base station side communication unit;
(B) restarting the wireless relay device using the update data,
The wireless relay apparatus repeats steps (a) and (b) until a predetermined number of times is reached.

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