JP2008160302A - Transmission rate control method, transmission rate controller, and transmission rate control program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent transmission rate control from greatly pressurizing the communication of actual packets and applying large loads to a communication network. <P>SOLUTION: When transmitting the actual packets through a packet communication network, a transmission side router 18 notifies a reception side router 22 of the information of a transmission rate and transmits the actual packets to the reception side router 22 at the notified transmission rate. The reception side router 22 compares the notified transmission rate with the reception rate of the actual packets, and notifies the transmission side router 18 of the reception rate when a difference between both rates becomes larger than a prescribed value. The transmission side router 18 receives the notice, lowers the setting value of the transmission rate, notifies the reception side router 22 of the information of the new transmission rate, and transmits the actual packets to the reception side router 22 at the notified new transmission rate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a transmission rate when transmitting a real packet (packet of actual data) from a transmission side to a reception side via a packet communication network, and a transmission rate control program. The rate control prevents the actual packet communication between the transmission and reception from being greatly stressed and applying a large load to the communication network.

  In an environment where the effective bandwidth (effective throughput, effective transfer rate) fluctuates, such as the Internet, as a so-called QoS (Quality of Service) control, the transmission rate (shaping rate) of packets transmitted from the transmission side according to the effective bandwidth of the communication network is set. A method of controlling has been conventionally proposed. For example, in Patent Document 1 below, a plurality of ping packets (ICMP echo request packets using a ping command) are periodically transmitted from the transmission side to the reception side, and returned from the reception side to the transmission side in response to the ping packet. It is described that the transmission rate is changed according to the number of response packets (response rate) (that is, the transmission rate is lowered when the response rate is lowered).

In addition, the transmission rate that has been put into practical use in the applicant's router is listed on the applicant's website "http://www.rtpro.yamaha.co.jp/RT/docs/bandwidth-measuring/index.html". A control method is disclosed. In this method, a plurality of bandwidth measurement packets are periodically transmitted from the transmission side to the reception side, received by the reception side, and based on the average value of the reception intervals of the bandwidth measurement packets at the reception side and the number of packet losses. The effective bandwidth of the communication network is measured, and the transmission rate is controlled according to the measurement result.
JP 2004-343227 A

  According to the conventional transmission rate control method, since a plurality of ping packets or bandwidth measurement packets are periodically transmitted from the transmission side to the reception side, real packets cannot be transmitted during that period, and communication of real packets is greatly reduced. There was a problem to do. In addition, since a plurality of ping packets or band measurement packets are periodically transmitted from the transmission side to the reception side, there is a problem that the band measurement packets place a large load on the communication network.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described points, and a transmission rate control method that prevents transmission rate control between transmission and reception from greatly pressing communication of real packets between transmission and reception or from applying a heavy load to the communication network. And a transmission rate control apparatus and a transmission rate control program.

  In the transmission rate control method of the present invention, when transmitting a real packet from the transmission side to the reception side via the packet communication network, the transmission side notifies the reception side of the set value of the transmission rate, and the notified transmission rate The actual packet is transmitted to the receiving side, and the receiving side measures the reception rate of the actual packet while receiving the actual packet transmitted from the transmitting side, and determines the notified transmission rate and the measured reception rate. In contrast, when the difference (difference, ratio, etc.) between the transmission rate and the reception rate becomes larger than a predetermined reference value, the transmission side is notified of the reception rate or the difference between the transmission rate and the reception rate. Then, the transmission side receives the notification, reduces the transmission rate setting value according to the reception rate or the difference between the transmission rate and the reception rate, notifies the reception side of the reduced transmission rate, and Notification transmission rate It is obtained so as to transmit to the receiver the real packet.

  According to this, a decrease in the reception rate at the reception side can be detected by using an actual packet, and the transmission rate can be decreased according to the reception rate. It is not necessary to transmit a ping packet or a bandwidth measurement packet. In addition, the amount of control information such as information on the transmission rate transmitted from the transmission side to the reception side, information on the reception rate transmitted from the reception side to the transmission side, or information on the difference between the transmission rate and the reception rate can be small. . Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the transmission rate control from greatly pressing the communication of the actual packet and applying a large load to the communication network.

  In the present invention, when the transmission side receives a notification of the reception rate or the difference between the transmission rate and the reception rate, for example, the difference between the current transmission rate and the reception rate is larger than a predetermined reference value determined by the transmission side. It is possible to execute the control for reducing the set value of the transmission rate on the condition that the transmission rate has changed. Alternatively, it is possible to execute control for reducing the set value of the transmission rate without judging the condition when the notification is received.

  Also, in the present invention, the reception rate to be compared is, for example, the reception rate at the reception interface of the reception device (router or the like) on the reception side, or the reception rate including (including) processing at a higher layer of the reception device. Or a reception rate including (added to) processing at a terminal connected to the receiving apparatus. That is, if the reception rate to be compared is the reception rate at the reception interface of the reception device on the reception side, the transmission rate can be controlled to a speed according to the effective bandwidth of the communication network. Also, if the reception rate to be compared is a reception rate including processing at a higher layer of the receiving device, for example, traffic from a plurality of bases (transmission side) to the center (reception side) is concentrated and the reception side When processing in the upper layer of the receiving apparatus becomes unable to follow, the transmission rate can be controlled to a speed corresponding to the processing speed in the upper layer (speed reflecting the resource consumption status of the receiving apparatus). . Further, if the reception rate to be compared is a reception rate including processing at the terminal connected to the receiving apparatus, when the load on the terminal becomes large and the processing at the terminal cannot follow, the transmission rate Can be controlled to a speed according to the processing speed of the terminal (speed reflected to the resource consumption status of the terminal).

  In the transmission rate control method of the present invention, when the control for lowering the transmission rate does not occur continuously for a predetermined time, the transmission side notifies the reception side of a transmission rate that is appropriately higher than the current rate. The actual packet can be transmitted to the receiving side at the transmission rate. According to this, it is possible to perform control for increasing the transmission rate in addition to control for decreasing the transmission rate.

  The transmission rate control device of the present invention executes the transmission rate control method of the present invention. The transmission rate control program of the present invention causes a processing device to execute the transmission rate control method of the present invention.

Embodiment 1
An embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 shows a communication system and a system configuration in the router in this embodiment. This communication system is configured by connecting LANs 10 and 12 (internal network) to each other via an external network 14 (packet communication network) such as the Internet. The external network 14 is configured as a best effort line in which the effective speed always changes. The terminal 16 in the LAN 10 is connected to the external network 14 via a router 18 (gateway). The terminal 20 in the LAN 12 is connected to the external network 14 via a router 22 (gateway). Here, the case of controlling the data transmission rate of the router 18 in the same direction in the direction of data transmission from the terminal 16 to the terminal 20 with the LAN 10 (for example, the base) as the transmission side and the LAN 12 (for example, the center) as the reception side will be described. To do.

  The configuration in the routers 18 and 22 will be described. The actual packet sent from the terminal 16 is sent via the interface module 24 of the router 18, the packet management module 26 that performs transmission / reception queue management, the routing module 28 that performs routing, the packet management module 30 that performs transmission / reception queue management, and the interface module 32. To the external network 14. The sent real packet is received by the router 22 and supplied to the terminal 20 via the interface module 34, the packet management module 36, the routing module 38, the packet management module 40, and the interface module 42 of the router 22. The bandwidth control modules 44 and 46 of both routers 18 and 22 are connected to execute transmission rate control according to the present invention.

  A processing flow of transmission rate control with the configuration of FIG. 2 is shown in FIG. Prior to starting transmission of the actual packet, the transmitting router 18 notifies the receiving router 22 of the initial value of the transmission rate (that is, transmits a control packet notifying the initial value of the transmitting rate to the receiving router 22. (S1). When receiving the initial value of the transmission rate, the receiving side router 22 stores the initial value of the transmission rate and returns a response indicating that the transmission rate has been confirmed (transmission rate confirmation response) to the transmitting side router 18 (that is, the transmission rate). A control packet that returns an acknowledgment is transmitted to the transmitting router 18) (S2). If the transmission side router 18 does not receive the transmission rate confirmation response within a predetermined time after transmitting the transmission rate notification, the transmitting side router 18 retransmits the transmission rate notification. When the transmission side router 18 receives the transmission rate confirmation response, the transmission side router 18 is ready to transmit the actual packet with the notified transmission rate initial value. When receiving the actual packet addressed to the receiving router 22 from the subordinate terminal 16, the transmitting router 18 transmits the actual packet to the receiving router 22 at the initial transmission rate (S3).

  While receiving the actual packet, the receiving router 22 measures the reception rate (average value of appropriate time) constantly or periodically, and compares the notified transmission rate initial value with the reception rate. When the reception rate decreases and the difference between the two rates exceeds a predetermined value, the reception rate is notified to the transmitting router 18 (that is, a control packet for notifying the receiving rate is transmitted to the transmitting router 18). (S4). FIG. 3 shows an example of processing contents of the receiving router 22 at this time. The transmission rate 48 notified from the transmission side router 18 and the reception rate 50 measured by the reception side router 22 are subtracted 52. The subtraction value is compared 56 with a predetermined reference value 54, and when “transmission rate−reception rate> reference value”, the reception rate is notified 58 to the transmission side router 18.

  The “reception rate” measured by the reception side router 22 is, for example, the reception rate at the reception interface of the reception side router 22, the reception rate including processing at a higher layer of the reception side router 22, or the reception side router The reception rate can include the processing at the terminal 20 connected to the terminal 22. That is, if the “reception rate” is the reception rate at the reception interface of the reception side router 22, the transmission rate can be controlled to a speed that matches the effective bandwidth of the external network 14. Further, if the “reception rate” is a reception rate including processing at a higher layer of the reception side router 22, traffic is concentrated from the plurality of networks including the transmission side router 18 to the reception side router 22, so that the reception side router 22 When the processing in the upper layer of 22 becomes unable to follow, the transmission rate can be controlled to a speed suitable for the processing speed in the upper layer. In addition, if the “reception rate” is a reception rate including processing at the terminal 20 connected to the receiving router 22, when the load on the terminal 20 increases and the processing at the terminal 20 cannot follow. The transmission rate can be controlled to a speed suitable for the processing speed in the terminal 20.

  In FIG. 1, when receiving the reception rate notification, the transmission side router 18 newly determines whether or not the difference between the current transmission rate and the reception rate is a level at which the transmission rate of the QoS setting should be changed. When the level is to be changed (in the case of “transmission rate−reception rate> reference value determined by the transmission side router 18”), the transmission rate of the QoS setting is a rate that matches the notified reception rate ( The transmission rate is changed (decreased) to be equal to or lower than the reception rate, and a transmission rate notification for notifying the changed transmission rate is transmitted to the receiving router 22 (S5). On the other hand, if the level is not to be changed (“transmission rate−reception rate ≦ reference value determined by the transmitting router 18”), the transmission level is not changed.

  The processing content when determining whether or not to change the transmission rate when the transmission side router 18 is notified of the reception rate is, for example, the same as the processing content in the reception side router 22 described in FIG. be able to. That is, the transmission rate 48 and the reception rate 50 notified from the receiving router 22 are subtracted 52. The subtracted value is compared 56 with a predetermined reference value 54 (reference value determined by the transmission side router 18). When “transmission rate−reception rate> reference value determined by the transmission side router 18”, the transmission rate setting value is set. The received transmission rate is notified 58 to the receiving side router 22.

  Note that, instead of the above-mentioned control, the transmitting router 18 immediately determines the transmission rate of the QoS setting without receiving another determination as to whether or not the transmission rate should be changed when receiving the reception rate notification. Is changed (decreased) to a rate suitable for the transmission rate (a transmission rate equal to or lower than the reception rate), and a transmission rate notification for notifying the changed transmission rate is transmitted to the receiving router 22 (S5). You can also.

  When receiving the changed transmission rate value from the transmission side router 18, the reception side router 22 stores the transmission rate value and returns a transmission rate confirmation response to the transmission side router 18 (S6). If the transmission side router 18 does not receive the transmission rate confirmation response within a predetermined time after transmitting the transmission rate notification, the transmitting side router 18 retransmits the transmission rate notification. When receiving the transmission rate confirmation response, the transmission side router 18 switches to the changed transmission rate and continues transmission of the actual packet (S7). Thereafter, the above operation (S4 to S7) is repeated every time the difference between the transmission rate and the reception rate becomes larger than a predetermined value.

  The operations of the transmission side router 18 and the reception side router 22 for realizing the processing of FIG. 1 will be described. First, the operation of the transmitting router 18 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 shows an initial setting operation of the transmission side router 18. In this initial setting, destination information (IP address of the receiving router 22), initial value of transmission rate, etc. are set (S11). The set transmission rate initial value is reflected in the QoS control setting (S12), and transmission is performed at this transmission rate initial value at the beginning of actual data transmission. The initial transmission rate value at the beginning of transmission can be set to a predetermined fixed value (fixed initial set value), for example. Alternatively, it is also possible to measure the bandwidth between the routers 18 and 22 prior to the start of transmission of actual data, and set the initial transmission rate value at the beginning of transmission based on the measurement result.

  FIG. 5 shows a transmission process of the transmission side router 18. The transmission side router 18 connects the packet to be transmitted to the transmission queue (S21). When a plurality of packets to be transmitted to the receiving router 22 are accumulated in the transmission queue (“Yes” in S22) and the transmission rate is notified to the receiving router 22 (“Yes” in S23), the transmission queue The packet is sent to the receiving router 22 (S25) (operation corresponding to S3 and S7 in FIG. 1). If a plurality of packets to be transmitted to the receiving router 22 are accumulated in the transmission queue (“Yes” in S22), but the transmission rate is not notified to the receiving router 22 (“No” in S23), the transmission rate The notification is sent in advance to the receiving router 22 (S24) (operation corresponding to S1 and S5 in FIG. 1), and then the packet in the transmission queue is sent to the receiving router 22 (S25) (S3, S7 in FIG. 1). Corresponding action). When a plurality of packets to be transmitted to the receiving router 22 are not accumulated in the transmission queue (“No” in S22), that is, when there is only one packet in the transmission queue, transmission with controlled transmission rate (from the previous packet transmission to the transmission rate) Since the process of waiting for the corresponding waiting time and sending the next packet cannot be performed, this one packet is sent as it is (S25).

  FIG. 6 shows a reception process of a transmission rate confirmation response sent from the reception side router 22 as a response to the transmission rate notification from the transmission side router 18 to the reception side router 22. When receiving the transmission rate confirmation response, the transmission side router 18 sets the transmission rate notified (sets a transmission rate notified flag) (S32).

  FIG. 7 shows the reception process of the reception rate notification sent from the receiving router 22. Upon receiving the reception rate notification (S41) (operation corresponding to S4 in FIG. 1), the transmission side router 18 compares the current transmission rate with the reception rate (S42), and the difference between them is the QoS setting transmission rate. Is determined to be a level to be changed (S43). When the difference is a level at which the transmission rate should be changed (when “transmission rate−reception rate> reference value determined by the transmission side router 18”) (“Yes” in S43), the transmission rate of the QoS setting Is changed (decreased) to a rate suitable for the notified reception rate (a transmission rate equal to or lower than the reception rate) (S44), and a transmission rate notification for notifying the changed transmission rate is received by the receiving side. The data is transmitted to the router 22 (S45) (operation corresponding to S5 in FIG. 1). On the other hand, if the difference is not a level at which the transmission rate should be changed (“transmission rate−reception rate ≦ reference value determined by the transmitting router 18”) (“No” in S43), the transmission level is changed. No (the actual packet transmission continues at the current transmission rate).

  In this way, by comparing and determining the transmission rate and the reception rate at the reception side router 22 and the transmission side router 18, respectively, there is an advantage that the reception side router 22 and the transmission side router 18 can be controlled by individual policies. For example, the reference value A of the rate difference is set in the receiving router 22 and the reference value B of the rate difference is set in the transmitting router 18, and the rate difference exceeds the reference value A in the receiving router 22. Although the reception rate is notified, the transmission side router 18 can ignore it because it does not exceed the reference value B (A <B). In this case, if an attempt is made to change the overall operation, it is possible to cope with the change only by changing the reference value B of the transmission side router 18. In this way, there is a merit that the entire operation can be changed only by the setting of the transmitting router 18 regardless of the setting of the receiving router 22.

  As described above, the transmitting router 18 receives the reception rate notification, and immediately compares the transmission rate of the QoS setting with the notified reception rate without comparing (S42, S43) with the transmission rate. The transmission rate can be changed (decreased) to (a transmission rate equal to or lower than the reception rate).

  Next, the operation of the receiving router 22 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 shows an initial setting operation of the receiving router 22. In this initial setting, destination information (IP address of the sending router 18) and the like are set (S51).

  FIG. 9 shows transmission rate notification reception processing. When receiving the transmission rate notification sent from the transmission side router 18 (S61) (operation corresponding to S1 and S5 in FIG. 1), the reception side router 22 returns a transmission rate confirmation response to the transmission side router 18 (S62). (Operations corresponding to S2 and S6 in FIG. 1).

  FIG. 10 shows the reception process of the receiving router 22. When receiving the packet (S71), the receiving side router 22 determines whether or not the packet is from the transmitting side router 18 which is opposite (that is, subject to transmission rate control) (S72). As a result, if the packet is from the opposite transmitting router 18 (“Yes” in S72), if the transmission rate notification has been received (“Yes” in S73), the reception rate of the received packet is calculated ( S74). Further, the calculated reception rate is compared with the notified transmission rate (S75), and if the difference exceeds the reference level set as the level to be notified to the transmitting side router 18 (in S76, “ Yes "), the calculated reception rate is notified to the transmitting router 18 (S77). On the other hand, if the difference does not exceed the level to be notified to the transmitting router 18 (“No” in S76), nothing is notified. Further, when the received packet is not a packet from the opposite receiving router 22 (“No” in S72), or the received packet is a packet from the opposite transmitting router 18 (“Yes” in S72), If the transmission rate notification has not been received (“No” in S73), nothing is done.

  According to the transmission rate control of the first embodiment described above, the reception router 22 notifies the reception router 18 of the reception rate when the reception rate decreases, and the transmission router 18 changes the transmission rate. Sometimes, the transmission rate after the change is notified to the receiving router 22 to control the transmission rate, so that it becomes unnecessary to periodically transmit a plurality of ping packets and bandwidth measurement packets as in the conventional method. In addition, the amount of control information such as information on the transmission rate transmitted from the transmitting router 18 to the receiving router 22 and information on the receiving rate transmitted from the receiving router 22 to the transmitting router 18 can be small. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the transmission rate control from greatly pressing the communication of the actual packet and applying a large load to the communication network. In addition, the transmission rate is decreased following the decrease in the effective bandwidth of the external network, the increase in the load on the receiving side router 22, and the decrease in the processing speed due to the increase in the load on the receiving side terminal 20. Discard can be prevented.

<< Embodiment 2 >>
Another embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the first embodiment, the transmission rate is changed to be lowered. In the second embodiment, a mechanism for actively increasing the transmission rate is added to the first embodiment. The system configuration in the communication system and the router can be the same as that shown in FIG.

  FIG. 11 shows a processing flow of transmission rate control in the second embodiment. The transmission side router 18 transmits a transmission rate notification to the reception side router 22 prior to starting transmission of the actual packet (S81). When receiving the transmission rate notification, the reception side router 22 stores the transmission rate value based on the notification and returns a transmission rate confirmation response to the transmission side router 18 (S82). If the transmission side router 18 does not receive the transmission rate confirmation response within a predetermined time after transmitting the transmission rate notification, the transmitting side router 18 retransmits the transmission rate notification. When the transmission side router 18 receives the transmission rate confirmation response, the transmission side router 18 enters a state where transmission of the actual packet can be performed at the notified transmission rate. When receiving the actual packet addressed to the opposing router 22 from the subordinate terminal 16, the transmitting router 18 transmits the actual packet to the opposing router 22 at the transmission rate (S83).

  While receiving the actual packet, the receiving router 22 measures the reception rate (average value of appropriate time) constantly or periodically, and compares the notified transmission rate with the reception rate. As a result of the comparison, when the difference between the two rates is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value, the reception rate is not notified from the reception side router 22 to the transmission side router 18, and the transmission rate is not changed. The processing so far is the same as in the first embodiment.

  If there is no change in the transmission rate for a predetermined time, the transmission side router 18 notifies the reception side router 22 of a transmission rate that is higher by a predetermined amount (for example, 30% higher) than the present (S84). When receiving the notification, the receiving router 22 returns a transmission rate confirmation response to the transmitting router 18 (S85). Upon receiving this transmission rate confirmation response, the transmission side router 18 continues data transmission at this new transmission rate (S86). This control for increasing the transmission rate is repeatedly executed at predetermined intervals unless the transmission / reception rate difference becomes large and the reception router 22 notifies the reception rate (S77 in FIG. 10).

  When the difference between the transmission rate and the reception rate becomes larger than a predetermined value, the operation is the same as in the first embodiment. That is, the reception side router 22 notifies the reception side router 18 of the reception rate (S87). When receiving the notification of the reception rate, the transmission side router 18 again determines whether or not the difference between the current transmission rate and the reception rate is a level at which the QoS setting transmission rate should be changed. , Change (decrease) the transmission rate of the QoS setting to a rate (transmission rate equal to or lower than the reception rate) that matches the notified reception rate, and send the changed transmission rate to the receiving router 22 Notification is made (S88). Alternatively, the transmitting router 18 receives the notification and immediately matches the transmission rate setting value with the notified reception rate without comparing with the transmission rate (a transmission rate equal to or lower than the reception rate). ), And notifies the receiving router 22 of the changed transmission rate (S88).

  When receiving the new transmission rate notification (S88) from the transmission side router 18, the reception side router 22 stores the new transmission rate value based on the notification and returns a transmission rate confirmation response to the transmission side router 18 (S89). . If the transmission side router 18 does not receive a transmission rate confirmation response within a predetermined time after transmitting the notification of the new transmission rate, it retransmits the new transmission rate. Upon receiving the transmission rate confirmation response, the transmission side router 18 switches to the new transmission rate and continues transmission of the actual packet (S90). Thereafter, every time the difference between the transmission rate and the reception rate becomes larger than a predetermined value, a transmission rate lowering operation (S87 to S90) is executed. If the transmission rate does not change continuously for a predetermined time, the transmission rate is changed every predetermined time. A transmission rate increasing operation (S84 to S86) is performed.

  The operations of the transmission side router 18 and the reception side router 22 for realizing the processing of FIG. 11 can be applied as they are in FIGS. 4 to 10 shown in the first embodiment. Further, the transmission side router 18 executes the operation of FIG. 12 in order to notify a transmission rate higher than the current rate. That is, when the transmission rate is not changed continuously for a predetermined time (S91), a transmission rate higher than the current amount by a predetermined amount is notified to the receiving router 22 (S92) (operation corresponding to S84 in FIG. 11).

  According to the transmission rate control of the second embodiment described above, the same effects as in the first embodiment can be obtained, and when the effective speed of the communication network increases or the load on the receiving router 22 or the terminal 20 is reduced. The transmission rate can be increased.

  In each of the above embodiments, the receiving router 22 notifies the transmitting router 22 of the receiving rate itself, but instead notifies the rate difference between the transmitting rate and the receiving rate (that is, the rate difference is notified by the notification 58 in FIG. 3). Notification). In this case, the transmission side router 18 can use this rate difference (the rate difference notified from the reception side can be used instead of subtracting 52 from the transmission rate 48 and the reception rate 50 in FIG. 3) and the reference value of the rate difference. Whether or not the transmission rate should be changed can be determined from the comparison with the above. In this case, if it is necessary to know the reception rate, the reception rate can be calculated from “transmission rate−rate difference”. In each of the above embodiments, the transmission rate is changed depending on whether or not the “difference” between the transmission rate and the reception rate is greater than a predetermined level. However, the “ratio” between the transmission rate and the reception rate is It is also possible to change the transmission rate depending on whether or not it has become larger than a predetermined level. Further, although cases have been described with the above embodiments where the transmission rate is controlled in the direction of transmission from the LAN 10 to the LAN 12, the transmission rate can be similarly controlled in the direction of the LAN 12 to the LAN 10.

It is a figure which shows the processing flow of the transmission rate control in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure in the communication system and router in Embodiment 1, 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the processing content of the receiving side router 22 when the receiving rate in Embodiment 1, 2 of this invention falls. 6 is a flowchart showing an initial setting operation of the transmission side router 18 in the first and second embodiments. 10 is a flowchart showing a transmission process of the transmission side router 18 in the first and second embodiments. 10 is a flowchart showing a reception process by the transmission side router 18 of a transmission rate confirmation response notified from the reception side router 22 to the transmission side router 18 in the first and second embodiments. 10 is a flowchart showing a reception process by the transmission side router 18 of a reception rate notification notified from the reception side router 22 to the transmission side router 18 in the first and second embodiments. 6 is a flowchart showing an initial setting operation of the receiving side router 22 in the first and second embodiments. 10 is a flowchart showing a transmission rate reception process in the reception side router 22 in the first and second embodiments. 6 is a flowchart showing reception processing of the reception side router 22 in the first and second embodiments. It is a figure which shows the processing flow of the transmission rate control in Embodiment 2 of this invention. 10 is a flowchart showing a process for notifying a transmission rate higher than the current one of the transmission side router 18 in the second embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10,12 ... LAN, 14 ... External network (packet communication network), 16, 20 ... Terminal, 18, 22 ... Router (receiver, transmission rate control device of packet communication network), 44, 46 ... Band control module.

Claims (6)

When sending an actual packet from the sending side to the receiving side via the packet communication network,
The transmission side notifies the reception side of the set value of the transmission rate, transmits the actual packet to the reception side at the notified transmission rate,
The reception side measures the reception rate of the actual packet while receiving the actual packet transmitted from the transmission side, and compares the notified transmission rate with the measured reception rate, and the transmission rate and the reception rate When the amount of difference of becomes larger than a predetermined reference value, the transmission side is notified of the difference between the reception rate or the transmission rate and the reception rate,
Upon receiving the notification, the transmission side decreases the transmission rate setting value according to the reception rate or the difference between the transmission rate and the reception rate, notifies the reception side of the decreased transmission rate, and notifies A transmission rate control method that transmits actual packets to the receiver at the transmission rate.   When the transmission side is notified of the reception rate or the difference between the transmission rate and the reception rate, the difference between the current transmission rate and the reception rate is larger than a predetermined reference value determined by the transmission side. 2. The transmission according to claim 1, wherein control for reducing the set value of the transmission rate is executed according to a condition, or control for reducing the set value of the transmission rate is performed without judging the condition when receiving the notification. Rate control method.   The reception rate to be compared is the reception rate at the reception interface of the reception device on the reception side, the reception rate including processing at a higher layer of the reception device, or the processing at the terminal connected to the reception device The transmission rate control method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transmission rate is a reception rate including   When the control for decreasing the transmission rate does not occur continuously for a predetermined time, the transmission side notifies the reception side of a transmission rate that is appropriately higher than the present time, and sends the actual packet to the reception side at the notified transmission rate. The transmission rate control method according to claim 1, wherein transmission is performed.   The transmission rate control apparatus which performs the transmission rate control method as described in any one of Claim 1 to 4.   The transmission rate control program which makes a processing apparatus perform the transmission rate control method as described in any one of Claim 1 to 4.

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