JP2010157888A - Communication management device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a redundant configuration technology supposing a state that all power supplies are down in a station building installed in a group of wireless communication gateways. <P>SOLUTION: A communication system 100 is appropriately maintained, even when a situation that the power supplies of the station building in which the wireless communication gateways (14, 16) are installed are down occurs, by executing steps of: periodically performing health check from an EMS 8 to the wireless communication gateways (14, 16) and a BS 7; determining that the power supplies of the station building are down due to abnormalities of all the wireless communication gateways (14, 16) in the station building, from obtained information; and registering the normal wireless communication gateways (14, 16) as destinations into the BS 7 which is put together in the wireless communication gateways which are determined to be abnormal. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication management apparatus, and more particularly to a communication management apparatus that manages a communication base station and a gateway apparatus that functions as a gateway that aggregates the communication base stations and is installed in a building.

  In recent years, in communication systems, networks such as the Internet and LAN (Local Area Network) using various wireless communication systems and wired communication systems are rapidly spreading, and various data transmission / reception techniques using these networks have been developed. Yes. And, at present, the station buildings installed in the wireless communication gateways are equipped with backup power sources such as UPS (Uninterruptible Power Systems), enhanced earthquake resistance, enhanced fire resistance, and redundant so that the wireless communication system does not go down. Has been made.

Various technologies for such redundancy have been proposed. For example, there is a redundancy technology having a function of selectively transferring response packets from a plurality of gateway devices to a user terminal (for example, Patent Document 1). With this technology, it is possible to make the gateway device for connecting the access network to the Internet relay network redundant without installing special software for communication control in the user terminal. In addition, the packet transfer apparatus proposed in this technology is provided with a communication function identification function in the protocol processing unit, so that it can be connected to an access network in the same layer, such as a PPPoE terminal and an EAPOL terminal in IEEE 802.1x. In addition, a plurality of types of user terminals having different communication protocols can be mixed.
JP 2007-335945 A

  By the way, in the conventional technology, backup power sources such as UPS and reinforcement of earthquake resistance are performed in the stations installed in the wireless communication gateway group, but it is assumed that all power sources in the stations will be down. Not. For example, unforeseen circumstances such as direct earthquakes are not expected.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and solves the above-described problems, and provides a redundant configuration technique that assumes a situation where all power supplies are down in a station building where a communication gateway is installed. The purpose is to do.

  An apparatus according to the present invention is a communication management apparatus that monitors a plurality of radio base stations that communicate with a radio terminal and a plurality of gateway apparatuses that function as gateways of the radio base station, the radio base station and the gateway apparatus Health check processing means for executing a health check, and when it is estimated that an abnormality has occurred in the gateway device as a result of the health check, the health check of the radio base station integrated in the gateway device is executed. And an abnormality determining means for determining that an abnormality has occurred in the gateway device when there is a response from the radio base station.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a redundant configuration technique that assumes a situation in which all power supplies are down in a station where a communication gateway is installed.

  Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter simply referred to as “embodiment”) will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. In the embodiment described below, a step of periodically performing a health check from an EMS (Element Management System) to the wireless communication gateway and the wireless communication base station, and all wireless communication in the station from the acquired information It is redundant in the situation that the station where the wireless communication gateway is installed is powered down by the step of judging that the station power is down due to an abnormality in the gateway and the step of registering the wireless communication base station group to the normal wireless communication gateway group A configuration method is provided. As a result, the EMS can manage a managed wireless communication gateway when a station where a wireless communication gateway group is installed is powered down and a gateway failure occurs or when a wireless communication base station is installed or expanded. By providing processing means for automatically allocating the addresses of normal wireless communication gateway devices to the wireless communication base station in light of some conditions from the device group, a redundant configuration can be achieved without increasing the system cost.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a communication system 100 according to the present embodiment. The communication system 100 includes a plurality of wireless communication base stations 7 (hereinafter referred to as “BS7”), an EMS 8, and a plurality of wireless communication gateways 10, and is connected to a wide area Ethernet (registered trademark) network 6.

  BS 7 is connected to a wireless communication terminal (hereinafter referred to as “MS 9”) by wireless transmission path 11. The MS 9 accesses an external network 6b (such as the Internet) connected to the wide area Ethernet network 6 via BS7 and later-described gateways (14, 16) in which BS7 is aggregated.

  The wireless communication gateway 10 includes a switch card 1, a CPU card 2, a management card 3, a power supply 4, and a fan 5, and corresponds to a wireless communication gateway device (14, 16) described later. Since the wireless communication gateway 10 can be realized with a general configuration, detailed description thereof is omitted. The wireless communication gateway 10, the EMS 8, and the BS 7 are connected by a wide area Ethernet network 6 and are connected by an Internet transmission path 12.

  FIG. 2 shows the communication system 100 shown in FIG. 1 as an EMS 8 functional block, a first wireless communication gateway group 13 that functions as a gateway for the BS7 group in the first area A, and a gateway for the BS7 group in the second area B. It is the figure shown paying attention to the 2nd wireless communication gateway group 15 which functions as. As shown in the figure, the first wireless communication gateway group 13 includes a plurality of first wireless communication gateway devices 14. Similarly, the second wireless communication gateway group 15 includes a plurality of second wireless communication gateway devices 16. It is configured. The first wireless communication gateway device 14 and the second wireless communication gateway device 16 are configured by the elements shown by the wireless communication gateway 10 in FIG. 1 to realize the same function. The first wireless communication gateway device 14 and the second wireless communication gateway device 16 aggregate a predetermined number of BSs 7 so that the radio resource management and the MS 9 can enter the communication cover area of another BS 7 beyond the communication cover area of the BS 7. Session management for supporting the handover function is performed, and it is accommodated in a predetermined station.

  The EMS 8 manages the BS 7 and the wireless communication gateway (the first wireless communication gateway device 14 and the second wireless communication gateway device 16). Therefore, the EMS 8 performs a function as a general EMS, and as a characteristic function of the present embodiment, in the station where the first wireless communication gateway device 14 and the second wireless communication gateway device 16 are accommodated. The system detects the occurrence of an abnormality such as a power down in the entire station, and executes a redundant system function that secures communication between BS7 and MS9.

  Therefore, the EMS 8 includes a GW health check unit 81, a BS health check unit 82, an abnormality determination unit 83, a destination setting unit 84, a restart instruction unit 85, a detour route presentation unit 86, and a communication interruption notification unit 87. With. The GW health check unit 81 performs a health check on the first wireless communication gateway device 14 and the second wireless communication gateway device 16 by polling. The BS health check unit 82 performs health check on the BS 7 by polling. Generally, each device connected to a network is provided with a network diagnostic function called PING (Packet Internet Groper) by default, and thus a health check can be realized by using such a function.

  Based on the health check results of the GW health check unit 81 and the BS health check unit 82, the abnormality determination unit 83 sets the first wireless communication gateway device 14, the second wireless communication gateway device 16 and the gateways as gateways. It is determined whether there is an abnormality in the BS 7 that is present. When an abnormality occurs in the gateway (14, 16) of the BS 7, the destination setting unit 84 sends another normal gateway (normal) to the BS 7 collected in the gateway (14, 16) where the abnormality occurred. 14 and 16) are instructed to be set as a new destination. The restart instruction unit 85 instructs the BS 7 to restart when the BS 7 sets another gateway as a new destination. The detour route presentation unit 86 displays the gateway (14, 16) on the predetermined display panel so as to be able to determine whether the gateway (14, 16) is normal or abnormal when an abnormality occurs in the gateway (14, 16), and a new gateway. Display destination candidates to be set as. The communication interruption notification unit 87 notifies the communication interruption to the MS 9 that is transmitting data via the BS 7 that changes the destination gateway.

  Next, processing of the communication system 100 when it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the second wireless communication gateway group 15 will be described based on a flowchart. FIG. 3 is a flowchart relating to the process of changing the gateway of the BS 7 when an abnormality occurs in the second wireless communication gateway group 15. In the flowcharts of FIGS. 3, 4, and 6 below, the gateway device is represented as “GW”.

  First, the GW health check unit 81 of the EMS 8 periodically performs a health check (S21), and determines whether there is a response from all the second wireless communication gateway devices 16 of the second wireless communication gateway group 15 (S22). ). If there is a response from any one of the second wireless communication gateway devices 16 in the second wireless communication gateway group 15 (N in S22), the abnormality determination unit 83 indicates that there is an abnormality in the station that houses the second wireless communication gateway group 15 It is determined that there is not (S23), and the health check for determining an abnormality in the station that accommodates the second wireless communication gateway group 15 ends.

  If there is no response from all the second wireless communication gateway devices 16 of the second wireless communication gateway group 15 in step S22 (Y of S22), the abnormality determination unit 83 of the EMS 8 accommodates the second wireless communication gateway group 15. In response to the determination, the BS health check unit 82 receives the determination, and the second wireless communication gateway device 16 of the second wireless communication gateway group 15 uses the second wireless communication gateway device 16 as a gateway. A health check is performed on the BS 7 in the area B (S24).

  When there is a response from the BS 7 in the second area B (Y in S25), the abnormality determination unit 83 determines that an abnormality such as a power down has occurred in the station housing the second wireless communication gateway group 15. (S26). If it is determined in step S26 that an abnormality such as a power down has occurred, the detour route presentation unit 86 displays a predetermined display of the gateway to which the BSs 7 of the second area B are aggregated for the operator of the EMS 8. Normal or abnormal is displayed on the panel so that it can be discriminated, and destination candidates to be set as new gateways are acquired by designation from the operator (S27). Specifically, the detour route presentation unit 86 presents the detour route and any of “approved”, “not approved”, and “change” for the detour route on the display panel. When the operator approves the presented detour, the process proceeds to the next process. If the operator “does not approve”, the detour route presentation unit 86 presents a new route (not shown) to the operator. When the operator selects “change”, the detour route presentation unit 86 acquires the route change manually from the operator on the detour route presentation screen.

  The detour route presentation unit 86 automatically presents the second area B in the second area B without presenting it to the operator or when there is no instruction for a predetermined period from the operator. You may set the detour of BS7. In the present embodiment, a redundant configuration from the second area B to the first area A will be described. However, depending on the processing status (CPU usage rate, etc.) of the gateway in each area, the destination is sent to the gateway device in another area. Such a redundant configuration will be described later in the second embodiment.

  Then, the destination setting unit 84 of the EMS 8 addresses the BS 7 to the first wireless communication gateway device 14 of the first wireless communication gateway group 13 instead of the second wireless communication gateway device 16 of the second wireless communication gateway group 15. Next, the restart instructing unit 85 instructs the BS 7 to restart (S28). At the same time, the communication interruption notification unit 87 notifies the communication interruption to the MS 9 that is transmitting data via the BS 7 in the second area where the gateway as the destination is changed (S29). When there is no response from the BS 7 in the second area B in step S25 (N in S25), the abnormality determination unit 83 in the EMS 8 manages that the BS 7 in the second area B is not operating. (S30).

  The BS 7 in the second area B starts communication with the first wireless communication gateway device 14 of the first wireless communication gateway group 13 after restarting. As a result, the BS 7 that has been aggregated in the second radio communication gateway device 16 of the second radio communication gateway group 15 is aggregated in the first radio communication gateway device 14 of the first radio communication gateway group 13, so that the second The BS 7 in the area B can normally relay the communication of the MS 9.

  Next, processing when recovering from a gateway failure (station power down) in the second area B will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart related to the processing when the abnormality of the second wireless communication gateway group 15 is recovered.

  The GW health check unit 81 of the EMS 8 periodically performs the same operation as described above for the first wireless communication gateway device 14 of the first wireless communication gateway group 13 and the second wireless communication gateway device 16 of the second wireless communication gateway group 15. A health check is performed (S41).

  The GW health check unit 81 monitors whether there is a response to the health check from the second wireless communication gateway device 16 of the second wireless communication gateway group 15 (S42). If there is no response (N in S42), it is determined that the station abnormality (gateway failure) is continuing, and the state where the gateway of the BS7 in the second area B is changed to the first wireless communication gateway device 14 is maintained. (S43).

  When there is a response from the second wireless communication gateway device 16 (Y in S42), the abnormality determination unit 83 causes the second wireless communication gateway device 16 of the second wireless communication gateway group 15 to aggregate the BSs 7 of the second area B. It is determined that the abnormality such as the power-down of the station where the station is accommodated has been recovered (S44). Then, the detour route presentation unit 86 notifies the operator that the second wireless communication gateway device 16 has been restored, and further presents a change route from the first wireless communication gateway device 14 to the second wireless communication gateway device 16. The instruction from the operator is acquired (S45). Specifically, the same processing as the above-described step S27 is performed, and the detour route presentation unit 86 “approves”, “does not approve”, “changes” the return route and the return route on the display panel. Any of "" is presented to be selectable. When the operator approves the presented detour, the process proceeds to the next process. If the operator “does not approve”, the detour route presentation unit 86 presents a new route to the operator. When the operator selects “change”, the detour route presentation unit 86 acquires the route change manually from the operator on the return route presentation screen. As a change from the first wireless communication gateway device 14 to the second wireless communication gateway device 16, a change route for returning in stages may be presented. That is, instead of issuing a return instruction to all the BSs 7 in the second area B at the same time, the return instructions may be sequentially issued after a predetermined period.

  Then, the destination setting unit 84 of the EMS 8 instructs the BS 7 in the second area B to return the destination setting to the second wireless communication gateway device 16 of the second wireless communication gateway group 15, and then restarts. The instruction unit 85 instructs the BS 7 to restart (S46). At the same time, the communication interruption notification unit 87 notifies the communication interruption to the MS 9 that is transmitting data via the BS 7 in the second area where the gateway as the destination is changed (S47). In this way, when a gateway failure such as a power down of a station is recovered, it is possible to smoothly shift to a normal state before the gateway failure.

<Second Embodiment>
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a communication system 200 according to the present embodiment. This communication system 200 is a modification of the communication system 100 shown in the first embodiment, and includes a third wireless communication gateway group 17 that aggregates BSs 7 in the third area C. The third wireless communication gateway group 17 Is provided with a plurality of third wireless communication gateway devices 18. The configuration and function of the third wireless communication gateway device 18 are the same as those of the wireless communication gateway 10 shown in the first embodiment, and the EMS 8 and BS 7 are also the same as those of the first embodiment. Omitted, the processing when a gateway failure occurs will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart relating to a process of changing the gateway of the BS 7 when an abnormality occurs in the second wireless communication gateway group 15. The processing different from the first embodiment is processing after the abnormality determining unit 83 determines that an abnormality such as a power down has occurred in the station housing the second wireless communication gateway group 15 (S26). Therefore, the subsequent processing will be described here. If it is determined in step S26 that an abnormality has occurred, the detour route presentation unit 86 acquires the CPU operation rates of the first wireless communication gateway device 14 and the third wireless communication gateway device 18 that are operating normally. (S31), the gateway with the lowest CPU operating rate is presented as a bypass route (S32). As with the first embodiment, the detour route is presented in such a manner that “Approve”, “Do not approve”, or “Change” can be selected, and finally obtain the route instructed by the operator. (S33). Here, it is assumed that the third wireless communication gateway device 18 is instructed as a bypass route.

  Subsequently, the destination setting unit 84 of the EMS 8 sends the BS 7 to the third wireless communication gateway device 18 of the third wireless communication gateway group 17 instead of the second wireless communication gateway device 16 of the second wireless communication gateway group 15. Then, an instruction is given to set the gateway as the destination, and then the restart instruction unit 85 instructs the BS 7 to restart (S34). At the same time, the communication interruption notification unit 87 notifies the communication interruption to the MS 9 that is transmitting data via the BS 7 in the second area where the gateway as the destination is changed (S35).

  As described above, even when the number of gateways increases, it is possible to effectively cope with an abnormality such as a power down of a station building. Note that the processing at the time of restoration can be realized by the same processing as in the first embodiment, and thus description thereof is omitted. In step S32, if any of the acquired CPU operating rates exceeds the predetermined operating rate, the CPU operating rate is acquired for each CPU card 2 of the wireless communication gateway 10 constituting the gateway. However, the CPU card 2 having a low operation rate may be caused to function as a bypass route.

  The present invention has been described based on the embodiments. This embodiment is an exemplification, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to combinations of these components, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. The BS 7 under the second area B is divided into two groups, and the divided BS 7 is divided into a first wireless communication gateway 14 in the first area A and a third wireless communication gateway 18 in the third area C. May be switched.

Then, the characteristics of the above-described embodiment are summarized as follows.
A communication management device (8) for monitoring a plurality of wireless base stations (7) communicating with the wireless terminal (9) and a plurality of gateway devices (14, 16, 18) functioning as gateways of the wireless base station (7). When it is estimated that an abnormality has occurred in the gateway device as a result of the health check and health check processing means (81, 82) for executing health check of the wireless base station (7) and the gateway device. When the health check of the radio base station (7) aggregated in the gateway device (14, 16, 18) is executed and there is a response from the radio base station (7), the gateway An abnormality determining means (83) for determining that an abnormality has occurred in the device (14, 16, 18).
Further, the wireless base station (7) that has been aggregated in the gateway device (14, 16, 18) in which the abnormality has occurred is switched to a normal gateway device (14, 16, 18). Re-setting instruction means (84 to 86) for instructing the base station (7) is provided.
The resetting instruction means (84 to 86) obtains the CPU operating rate of the normal gateway device (14, 16, 18) when an abnormality occurs in any of the gateway devices (14, 16, 18). Then, the gateway device (14, 16, 18) having a low CPU operation rate is gatewayed to the wireless base station (7) that has been aggregated in the gateway device (14, 16, 18) in which the abnormality has occurred. Instruct to set.
Also, a communication management device (8) that monitors a plurality of wireless base stations (7) that communicate with the wireless terminal (9) and a plurality of gateway devices (14, 16, 18) that function as gateways of the wireless base station (7). ) Is configured. The wireless base stations (7) are divided into a plurality of groups, and the gateway devices (14, 16, 18) are set as gateways for each group. Further, the communication management device (8) includes health check processing means (81, 82) for performing health checks on the radio base station (7) and the gateway devices (14, 16, 18), and the health check As a result, when there is no response from all the gateway devices (14, 16, 18) in one group, the wireless base stations (7) aggregated in the gateway device (14, 16, 18) An abnormality determination unit that executes a health check and determines that an abnormality has occurred in the group to which the gateway device (14, 16, 18) belongs when there is a response from the wireless base station (7). 83).

1 is a configuration diagram of a communication system according to a first embodiment. It is a block diagram of the communication system shown paying attention to the functional block of EMS based on 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows a process when abnormality generate | occur | produces in the wireless communication gateway based on 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows a process when abnormality of the radio | wireless communication gateway based on 1st Embodiment is recovered | restored. It is a block diagram of the communication system shown paying attention to the functional block of EMS based on 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows a process when abnormality generate | occur | produces in the wireless communication gateway based on 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1 Switch card 2 CPU card 3 Management card 4 Power supply 7 BS
8 EMS
10 wireless communication gateway 13 first wireless communication gateway group 14 first wireless communication gateway device 15 second wireless communication gateway group 16 second wireless communication gateway device 17 third wireless communication gateway group 18 third wireless communication gateway device 81 GW health check Unit 82 BS health check unit 83 abnormality determination unit 84 destination setting unit 85 restart instruction unit 86 detour route presentation unit 87 communication interruption notification unit 100, 200 communication system

Claims (1)

A communication management device that monitors a plurality of radio base stations that communicate with a radio terminal and a plurality of gateway devices that function as gateways of the radio base station,
Health check processing means for performing health checks of the radio base station and the gateway device;
As a result of the health check, when it is estimated that an abnormality has occurred in the gateway device, the health check of the radio base station collected in the gateway device is executed, and there is a response from the radio base station. An abnormality determination means for determining that an abnormality has occurred in the gateway device,
A communication management device comprising:

Images