DE102022202230A1 - Method for specifying at least one transport protocol for communication via a mobile radio network - Google Patents

Abstract

Method for specifying at least one transport protocol (34) for communication between a first mobile user and a second user via a mobile radio network, a route to be traveled by the first mobile user taking into account an electronic horizon (20) of the mobile user is selected, the selected route is subdivided into at least one route section, and each of the route sections is assigned at least one transport protocol (34) from the at least one transport protocol (34).

Description

The invention relates to a method for specifying at least one transport protocol for communication between a first mobile user and a second user via a mobile radio network and an arrangement for carrying out the method.

State of the art

The mobile network is the technical infrastructure on which the transmission of signals for mobile communications takes place. The exchange of data and information via the mobile network typically takes place between two participants. If communication takes place between a client and a server, this is referred to as server-client or server-client communication. In such a communication, the client usually requests a service from a server, which is provided by the server.

• TCP ist ein verbindungorientiertes Protokoll. Vor dem Datenaustausch wird ein Verbindungsaufbau durchgeführt, bei dem sich ein Klient und ein Server synchronisieren. Er wird dabei sichergestellt, dass der Empfänger die Daten korrekt empfängt, indem diese durchnummeriert werden. Der Empfänger quittiert den korrekten Empfang der Daten. Falls keine Bestätigung empfangen wird, werden die Daten erneut gesendet. Die empfangenen Daten werden außerdem auf Richtigkeit überprüft.

So-called transmission control protocols or transport protocols are used to define the manner in which data is exchanged between the participants. Currently, either TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) or UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is typically used as the transport protocol for server-client communication via a mobile radio network. The following features distinguish both protocols:

• TCP is a connection-oriented protocol. Before data is exchanged, a connection is established, during which a client and a server synchronize. It is thereby ensured that the recipient receives the data correctly by numbering them consecutively. The recipient acknowledges the correct receipt of the data. If no acknowledgment is received, the data is resent. The received data is also checked for correctness.

UDP is a connectionless protocol in which data is exchanged between a client and a server without first establishing a connection. There is no check as to whether the packet was received correctly. The dispatch and the completeness of the data are therefore not guaranteed. However, this has the advantage that the fastest possible communication can be ensured by dispensing with the test procedure. A major disadvantage of UDP is that the packet size is limited to 64 kB. However, some applications require the exchange of data that is several hundred kB in size, despite data compression.

The decision is mostly made during the application specification depending on the application type. While TCP is used for applications that require high reliability, UDP is used for time-critical applications such as streaming. In principle, it is possible to switch back and forth between the two protocols and also use them in parallel, i. H. at the same time to use.

In many regions, e.g. H. a mobile phone signal of different strengths. A so-called a priori prognosis or a prognosis of the mobile phone coverage on a specific route is very helpful for a large number of types of application, especially in the automotive sector. A priori means that the prognosis is made independently of experience, from reason through logical reasoning.

Methods are known that map cell phone coverage using a so-called crowd-sourcing approach in order to be able to use the resulting cell phone coverage map to make a statement about the cell phone quality, preferably for each cell phone provider, in a specific geographic region. Using this cellular coverage map when choosing a protocol, such as TCP, UDP or another transport protocol, enables reliable data transmission between the client and the server even in areas or regions where cellular coverage is limited or not fully available is. Crowdsourcing is the outsourcing of an organization's internal tasks to a group of users outside the organization.

Disclosure of Invention

Against this background, a method according to claim 1 and an arrangement according to claim 9 are presented. Embodiments emerge from the dependent claims and from the description.

A method for specifying at least one transport protocol for communication between a first mobile user and a second user via a mobile radio network is presented. The specification step means that at least one transport protocol is selected from a set of possible transport protocols. A route that is to be driven by the first mobile participant or that the first mobile participant will drive, taking into account an electronic horizon of the mobile participant elected. The selected route is then divided into at least one route section. At least one transport protocol is assigned to each of these route sections by the at least one transport protocol.

At the end there is a route divided into at least one route section, with each of the route sections being assigned at least one transport protocol. If more than one transport protocol is assigned to a route section, communication takes place via two protocols in this route section.

If client-server communication takes place, the first mobile participant is typically the client and the second participant is the server, which is usually stationary.

In the step of dividing the route into at least one route section, a quality of the mobile radio network is taken into account in one embodiment. Information on the quality of the cellular network can be obtained from a cellular network coverage map, for example. This coverage map describes the capabilities, e.g. the signal strength, of one or more providers depending on the location in the map. The selected route is then on this map.

It can then be determined how the quality of the mobile network is on the route depending on the position of the first mobile subscriber on this route, i. H. also how this quality changes when driving down the route. The route is then suitably subdivided into route sections, so that at least one suitable protocol can be specified for each of the route sections.

A route with route sections is thus determined, with at least one suitable transport protocol being assigned to each route section. This information can be made available to both participants. However, it is also sufficient if one of the two participants is aware and then informs the other participant of the valid transport protocol as part of the communication, i. H. possibly announces a change in the transport protocol.

The communication between the two participants can then be carried out on the basis of the specified transport protocols.

What is important is that an electronic horizon is determined and this electronic horizon of the first mobile participant describes the route on which the first participant will move in the future. Suitable transport protocols or a sequence of transport protocols are specified for this route.

The method described here thus increases the reliability of a communication, in particular a client-server communication. To this end, the method can be used in situations in which the mobile radio coverage has a changing communication quality. In one embodiment, the method uses the a priori knowledge of the communication capability or the communication performance in order to design the selection of the transport protocols, TCP, UDP or another transport protocol, in particular dynamically. This ensures that if a mobile client, for example a vehicle or a mobile phone in the vehicle, is in an area with poor mobile phone coverage, data exchange with a server, for example, is guaranteed without errors. For this purpose, a card, e.g. B. a cell phone coverage map is used, with which the cell phone quality can be queried in the backend for geographic positions and regions. In addition, a so-called horizon provider, which can predict the horizon of the client in advance, is necessary.

The horizon is defined as the route, among other possible routes, that is most likely to be driven by the client. The electronic horizon thus predicts the driving route of the motor vehicle in particular in the near future.

The driver's future choice of route can be determined, for example, based on his input for route guidance of a navigation system. Without route guidance, a "most likely route" is usually also transmitted, which is determined using the underlying road classes or using statistics on routes already driven. Optionally, the horizon provider determines alternative routes that the driver could also choose.

Another possible method described in the publication DE 10 2009 028 070 A1 is described, provides that the current position of the motor vehicle is determined and the electronic horizon is generated using a heuristic based on map information of the road network in the vicinity of the current position of the motor vehicle. In this case, a probability analysis of the heuristic for generating the electronic horizon is carried out, with a probability of the heuristic being true being determined.

With the knowledge of the condition of the mobile network, the reliability of the data is about transmission between the participants, e.g. the client and the server. The transport protocol is selected by the application in such a way that data is still securely transmitted between the client and the server in regions such as country roads, motorways, train traffic, with changing mobile network coverage. This increases the likelihood that data transfer between the client and the server will be guaranteed with low latency by using a connectionless protocol.

Intelligent switching between different transport protocols enables application reliability to be increased without generating additional data overhead and without increasing communication costs.

Further advantages and refinements of the invention result from the description and the accompanying drawings.

It goes without saying that the features mentioned above and those still to be explained below can be used not only in the combination specified in each case, but also in other combinations or on their own, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Brief description of the drawings

• 1 shows a schematic representation of the structure of a system for carrying out the method presented on a server.
• 2 shows an electronic horizon with route sections with changing cell phone quality.
• 3 shows a possible course of data exchange between a client and a server.

Embodiments of the invention

The invention is shown schematically in the drawings using embodiments and is described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

1 Figure 1 shows a system 12 running on a server 10, comprising a cellular coverage map 14, an electronic horizon provisioning unit 16, ie a horizon provider, and an arrangement 18, which is claimed herein and is also referred to as a decision unit. The provision unit 16 supplies the horizon 20 with all attributes to the mobile radio coverage map 14. This expands the horizon 20 with further attributes, such as data rate and latency. This expanded horizon 22 is sent to the array 18 . Based on the delivered data rate and the latency, the extended horizon 22 is partitioned by the arrangement 18 by quantifying these route sections based on the mobile radio quality. It will appear in this context 2 referenced The breakdown of the quality can be arbitrarily classified depending on the application.

An application 30 then chooses between different transport protocols 34, in this case between TCP 36, UDP 38 and another suitable transport protocol 40, depending on information 32 provided by the arrangement 18.

2 shows a schematic representation of a horizon 50 that describes or defines a route 54 ahead. The representation also shows a motor vehicle 52 that will drive the route 54 according to the horizon 50 . This route 54 is divided into a first area 56, in which TCP is used as the protocol, a second area 58, in which UDP is used as the protocol, and a third area 60, in which TCP is used as the protocol. The route is divided into first route sections 62 with good connection quality, second route sections 64 with mediocre connection quality and third route sections 66 with poor connection quality.

A possible approach or way of working is based on 3 illustrated, in which two participants, namely a client 100 and a server 102 are shown.

situation 1

Initially, TCP is used for the connection between the client 100 and the server 102 with TCP (104, 106). As soon as there is an area with changing mobile radio quality on the client's route, an S1 message is sent from the server 102 to the client 100 (arrow 106), TCP also being used here. The S1 message informs the client 100 that the next data is to be transmitted with UDP and, as already mentioned, is transmitted with TCP. The server 102 thus announces a switch from TCP to UDP. Data is then exchanged with UDP (arrows 108, 110). The area with changing mobile radio quality is indicated with bracket 112.

An S2 message is in turn used for switching from UDP to TCP (arrow 114). With this message, the server 102 announces a switchover from UDP to TCP. An area with good and/or stable mobile radio quality then follows, which is illustrated with brackets 116 . In this data is again exchanged via TCP (arrows 118, 120)

situation 2

If a client starts in an area with changing cell phone quality, in this case a cell phone gap, data is exchanged between the server and the client with UDP, since it is more likely to arrive in this way than with TCP. Due to the low data rate available, it is still more likely that part of the transmission will get through. TCP is only used again once the cell phone gap has been overcome.

• Um die Zuverlässigkeit des Systems unter wechselnder Mobilfunkqualität zu erhöhen, ist es denkbar, TCP und UDP auch ohne die Nutzung einer Abdeckungskarte parallel zu nutzen. Jedes gesendete Paket wird dupliziert und mit TCP und parallel mit UDP übertragen. Sobald ein Paket bei dem Empfänger erfolgreich eintrifft, wird die Kopie des Pakets vom Empfänger verworfen. Somit erhöht sich die Chance, dass ein Paket über eines von beiden Transportprotokollen erfolgreich empfangen wird. Um ein originales Paket von seiner Kopie zu unterscheiden, muss jedes Paket vor dem Senden durchnummeriert werden. Auf diese Weise werden Daten unabhängig von der Mobilfunkqualität doppelt übertragen. Dadurch erhöht bzw. erhöhen sich das Datenvolumen bzw. die Kommunikationskosten.

An alternative way of working provides:

• In order to increase the reliability of the system under changing mobile radio quality, it is conceivable to use TCP and UDP in parallel without using a coverage map. Each packet sent is duplicated and transmitted with TCP and in parallel with UDP. Once a packet successfully arrives at the recipient, the copy of the packet is discarded by the recipient. This increases the chance that a packet will be successfully received via one of the two transport protocols. In order to distinguish an original package from its copy, each package must be numbered before it is sent. In this way, data is transmitted twice, regardless of the mobile network quality. This increases or increases the data volume or communication costs.

QUOTES INCLUDED IN DESCRIPTION

This list of documents cited by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Patent Literature Cited

• DE 102009028070 A1 [0020]

Claims (10)

A method for specifying at least one transport protocol (34) for communication between a first mobile subscriber and a second subscriber via a mobile radio network, wherein - a route (54) to be driven by the first mobile participant is selected taking into account an electronic horizon (20, 50) of the mobile participant, the selected route (54) into at least one route section (62, 64, 66) is subdivided, and each of the route sections (62, 64, 66) is assigned at least one transport protocol (34) from the at least one transport protocol (34). procedure after claim 1 , in which a client-server communication is carried out. procedure after claim 1 or 2 , in which a quality of the mobile network is taken into account when the route (54) is divided into at least one route section (62, 64, 66). procedure after claim 3 , in which information about the quality of the cellular network is obtained from a cellular coverage map (14). Procedure according to one of Claims 1 until 4 , in which a transition from a route section (62, 64, 66) to a next route section (62, 64, 66) causes a change in the transport protocol (34). procedure after claim 5 , in which one of the two participants announces the change to the other of the two participants. procedure after claim 5 or 6 , in which there is a switch between TCP (36) and UDP (38). Procedure according to one of Claims 1 until 7 wherein communication between the first mobile user and the second user is performed according to the specifications while the first mobile user is moving along the selected route (54). Arrangement for specifying at least one transport protocol (34) for communication between a first mobile subscriber and a second subscriber via a mobile radio network, the arrangement (18) for carrying out a method according to one of Claims 1 until 8th is set up. Arrangement according to Claim 9, which is set up to be arranged in a server (10, 102), the server (10, 102) communicating with a client (100) and the communication being designed as server-client communication.

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