JP2010268230A - Wireless base station apparatus, communication system, and wireless transmitting and receiving operation control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wireless base station apparatus that minimizes the power consumption of a wireless transmission and reception circuit and in which a terminal side does not have to include a dedicated wireless transmission module or circuit. <P>SOLUTION: The wireless base station apparatus provided with a wireless transmission and reception circuit for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal to/from a terminal includes a CPU 10 for instructing stop of the wireless transmission and reception circuit when determining that there is no terminal in a cell area formed by the self-device, and a start/stop control unit 20 for stopping the operation of the wireless transmission and reception circuit on the basis of instructions of the CPU. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a small base station mainly placed in a general household, for the purpose of reducing or reducing power consumption and radio wave interference between adjacent wireless base stations (small base station and outdoor large base station), The present invention relates to a radio base station apparatus, a communication system, and a radio transmission / reception operation control method for dynamically controlling stop and activation of a radio transmission / reception circuit of a small base station.

  In conventional radio base stations, techniques for reducing reception standby power are being studied. For example, in the technology described in Non-Patent Document 1 below, a wake-up packet transmitted from a wake-up module of a terminal (transmitting device) is operated at a standby power level of a base station (receiving device). This is detected by the radio wave detector of the receiving wakeup module. When the radio wave detection unit detects the wake-up packet, it turns on the data reception circuit of the wake-up module on the receiving side. When the data reception circuit of the receiving wakeup module matches the ID of its own device with the destination device ID (IDentifier) included in the received wakeup packet, the data communication module is changed from the sleep state to the active state. To start communication using a radio channel for data communication with the terminal.

Ishida et al., “Hierarchical Wakeup Mechanism for Low Receiving Standby Power Wireless Communication” B-5-112, 2008 IEICE General Conference

  However, according to the above-described conventional technology, standby power for constantly operating the radio wave detection unit is required. For this reason, there is a problem that power consumption related to wireless transmission / reception cannot be made zero. In addition, it is necessary to provide a dedicated wireless transmission module (wake-up module) for waking up the base station on the terminal side, and there is a problem that the function of the terminal increases and the cost increases.

  In addition, when the base station transmits radio waves when the terminal is not in the cell area of the base station, radio interference with the adjacent radio base station may occur. There has been a problem that a method of avoiding interference by controlling transmission is not mentioned.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and is capable of minimizing power consumption related to wireless transmission / reception, and a wireless base station device that does not require the terminal side to include a dedicated wireless transmission module or circuit, It is an object to obtain a communication system and a wireless transmission / reception operation control method. It is another object of the present invention to avoid unnecessary radio transmission from a base station and to minimize radio interference with an adjacent radio base station.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the present invention provides a radio base station apparatus including radio transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving a radio signal to / from a terminal, and a cell formed by the own apparatus A control unit that instructs to stop the wireless transmission / reception unit and a start / stop control unit that stops the operation of the wireless transmission / reception unit based on an instruction from the control unit when it is determined that there is no terminal in the area; It is characterized by that.

  According to the present invention, when it is detected that there is no terminal connected to the small base station, the wireless transmission / reception circuit is stopped, so that the power consumption of the wireless transmission / reception circuit can be minimized, There is an effect that it is not necessary for the terminal side to include a dedicated wireless transmission module or circuit. Furthermore, there is an effect that unnecessary radio transmission of the base station can be avoided and radio interference with the adjacent radio base station can be suppressed to the maximum.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a communication system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the small base station. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation sequence of the communication system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation sequence of the communication system according to the second embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a communication system according to the third embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation sequence of the communication system according to the third embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation sequence of the communication system according to the fourth embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation sequence of the communication system according to the fifth embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the implementation of the small base station according to the sixth embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a short-range wireless communication device built in a terminal.

  Embodiments of a radio base station apparatus, a communication system, and a radio transmission / reception operation control method according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a first embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system according to the present embodiment includes small base stations 1-1 and 1-2, a terminal 2 wirelessly connected to the small base stations 1-1 and 1-2, and a small base station 1 -Home NodeB gateway (HNB-GW) 4 that accommodates -1, 1-2, SGSN (Serving GPRS Serving Node) 5 that accommodates Home NodeB gateway 4 and radio base station controller 8, and SGSN 5, GGSN (Gateway GPRS Serving Node) 6 having a gateway function with the Internet, a base station 7 which is a base station having a wider radio coverage area than the small base station 1, and a base station 7 and a terminal 2 which are large radio base stations And a radio base station controller (RNC: Radio Network Controller) 8 that controls radio channel settings between the two. The subscriber lines 3-1 and 3-2 are lines that connect the Home NodeB gateway 4 and the small base station 1-1 and the Home NodeB gateway 4 and the small base station 1-2, respectively.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the small base station 1. The small base stations 1-1 and 1-2 have the same configuration, and are represented as the small base station 1 as a representative in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the small base station 1 of the present embodiment includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10, a network interface 11, a clock unit 12, a termination processing unit 13, a baseband TX (transmitting unit) 14, A baseband RX (reception unit) 15, a radio wave transmission unit 16, a radio wave reception unit 17, a TX (transmission) antenna 18, an RX (reception) antenna 19, and a start / stop control unit 20 are configured.

  The CPU 10 is a control unit that performs control of the entire small base station 1, and executes software that terminates the control protocol with the Home NodeB gateway 4, SGSN 5, and the terminal 2. The network interface 11 communicates with the Home NodeB gateway 4 using the IP (Internet Protocol) protocol via the subscriber lines 3-1 and 3-2. The clock unit 12 supplies a clock to the components in the small base station 1. The termination processing unit 13 terminates the user plane protocol of the radio layers 2 and 3 (media access control, scheduling, retransmission control, and radio data unit disassembly / assembly function).

  The baseband TX14 performs digital modulation processing on the signal to be transmitted, and the baseband RX15 performs digital demodulation processing on the received signal. The radio wave transmission unit 16 converts the digital signal digitally processed by the baseband TX 14 into an analog signal, places it on a carrier wave, and transmits it via the TX antenna 18. The radio wave receiver 17 digitally converts a radio signal received via the RX antenna 19 and outputs the digital signal to the baseband RX 15. In some cases, the TX antenna 18 and the RX antenna 19 are physically one antenna. The start / stop control unit 20 controls the stop and start of the operation of each component of the clock unit 12, the termination processing unit 13, the baseband TX 14, the baseband RX 15, the radio wave transmission unit 16, and the radio wave reception unit 17.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation sequence of the communication system according to the present embodiment centered on the small base station 1. The small base station 1 is the small base station 1-1 or the small base station 1-2 in FIG. The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. When the terminal 2 detects the small base station 1-1, the terminal 2 sets a radio control channel with the small base station 1-1 and establishes a wireless connection with the small base station 1 (step S11). Although not shown in the figure, when the radio control channel is set, terminal registration, authentication, exchange of encryption key designation information, and the like are performed with respect to the SGSN 5. Thereafter, the small base station 1 sets the ID (terminal identification number) and IP address of the terminal 2 and the ID of the small base station 1 as a set, and registers them in the HNB-GW 4 (step S12). Specifically, the small base station 1 sets the ID and IP address of the terminal 2 and the ID of the small base station 1 as a set, and transmits it as a registration message to the HNB-GW 4. In the HNB-GW 4, the information is transmitted to the terminal. Stored as base station information.

  Thereafter, when the terminal 2 does not transmit any of voice, packet, and short message, the radio control channel is temporarily released (step S13). The terminal 2 detects that the broadcast channel periodically transmitted from the small base station 1 does not reach (broadcast channel not received) due to the movement of the location (step S14), and performs a cell search to detect neighboring base stations. Explore. In the example of FIG. 3, the broadcast channel of the base station 7 is received by searching for nearby base stations (step S15). The terminal 2 transmits a wireless connection request in order to set a wireless control channel with the base station 7 (step S16). At this time, it is assumed that the wireless connection request includes the ID of the small base station 1 that is the movement source of the terminal 2 (the terminal 2 is registered).

  The radio base station controller 8 (RNC: Radio Network Controller) that has received the radio connection request from the terminal 2 instructs the base station 7 to perform radio connection setting for radio connection with the terminal 2 (step S17). The wireless connection completion is transmitted to the terminal 2 (step S18).

  Further, when the wireless base station control device 8 performs wireless connection setting, the context information (encryption key, terminal capability / attribute) of the terminal 2 is transmitted to the HNB-GW 4 accommodating the small base station 1 that is the movement source of the terminal 2. ), And the HNB-GW 4 transfers the context information to the radio base station controller 8 according to the request (step S19). Note that the radio base station control device 8 holds the correspondence between the small base station 1 and the HNB-GW 4 that accommodates the small base station 1.

  Further, when the HNB-GW 4 receives the context information transfer request, the HNB-GW 4 grasps the small base station 1 corresponding to the terminal 2 based on the held terminal base station information, and is connected to the small base station 1. The number of terminal IDs that have been searched is searched. Then, as a search result, the HNB-GW 4 has lost the number of terminals in the cell area of the small base station 1 due to the movement of the small base station 1 of the terminal 2 (the number of terminal IDs corresponding to the small base station 1). When it is detected that the wireless transmission / reception function has been turned off, a wireless OFF instruction message is transmitted to the small base station 1 (step S20).

  When receiving the wireless OFF instruction message, the CPU 10 of the small base station 1 shown in FIG. 2 determines that there is no terminal connected to itself, and instructs the activation / deactivation control unit 20 to stop the operation. The start / stop control unit 20 transmits a signal for stopping the operation to the clock unit 12, the termination processing unit 13, the baseband TX14, the baseband RX15, the radio wave transmission unit 16, and the radio wave reception unit 17, respectively. Each of the components that have received the signal stops circuit input / output and processing.

  1 shows an example in which the small base stations 1-1 and 1-2 are accommodated in the HNB-GW 4, but the number of small base stations accommodated in the HNB-GW 4 is not limited to this. Even with the above, the same operation as in the present embodiment can be performed.

  In the present embodiment, the clock unit 12 of the small base station 1 is also the target of operation stop, but the clock unit 12 may be excluded from the operation target. The clock unit 12 includes a crystal oscillator and an electronic circuit that corrects the oscillation. When the operation of the clock unit 12 is stopped, the crystal oscillator continues to operate autonomously while the operation of the electronic circuit Since it stops, the mechanism for correcting the deviation of the clock does not work. Therefore, by continuing the operation of the clock unit 12 and operating the clock deviation correction mechanism, the accuracy of the clock can be kept constant. In this case, the other radio transmission / reception circuits can resume operation with an accurate clock. Note that the operation of the clock unit 12 that is not related to the clock deviation correction mechanism may be stopped.

  As a method of correcting the clock deviation, a method of extracting the clocks of the subscriber lines 3-1 and 3-2 and control information (NTP: Network Time) transferred on the subscriber lines 3-1 and 3-2 are used. There is a correction method using Protocol), a correction method based on synchronization data having an accurate period transmitted on the subscriber lines 3-1 and 3-2, and any correction method may be used. .

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the HNB-GW 4 manages the correspondence between the terminal and the small base station to which the terminal is connected, and when there is no terminal connected to the small base station 1, the small base station When the wireless base station 1 receives the wireless OFF message, the small base station 1 receives the wireless OFF message, that is, a wireless transmission / reception circuit, that is, a clock unit 12, a termination processing unit 13, a baseband TX14, a baseband RX15, a radio wave transmission unit 16, and a radio wave. The circuit input / output and processing of the receiving unit 17 are stopped. For this reason, functions other than the CPU 10 and the network interface 11 in the small base station 1, that is, the circuit operation of the wireless transmission / reception circuit can be stopped, and the power consumption can be greatly reduced.

  In general, there are many commercially available CPUs having a sleep mode, and the CPU 10 has a sleep mode as well. Therefore, except for processing time such as a periodically operating timer, the power consumption of the CPU 10 can be minimized when most of the circuits of the small base station 1 are stopped. Therefore, power consumption can be greatly reduced as compared with a state where the circuit of the entire small base station 1 is activated and idled. In particular, the small base station 1 is placed in the home, and it suppresses wasteful power consumption during long days such as holidays, summer / winter holidays, Golden Week, etc. where there are many opportunities to go out with the family during the daytime when there are many absentees. be able to.

  In addition, since the wireless transmission output is stopped, it is possible to prevent interference with nearby small base stations and base stations 7 due to wireless outputs that are not actually used. -2 can be reduced when a large amount is installed.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an operation sequence of the communication system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of the communication system according to the present embodiment is the same as the communication system according to the first embodiment except that an SMS (Short Messaging Server) server having a function of receiving a short message from the terminal 2 and searching for and transmitting a destination is added. This is the same as the communication system of the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the operation sequence of the present embodiment is basically the same as the sequence of FIG. 3 described in the first embodiment. The same operations as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same step numbers, and the description thereof is omitted. Hereinafter, differences from the first embodiment will be described. First, after performing Steps S11 to S19 in the same manner as in the first embodiment, the terminal 2 notifies that it has moved from the small base station 1 to the base station 7, that is, moves out of the range of the small base station 1. A short message indicating this has been transmitted to the HNB-GW 4 (step S21). Specifically, the short message (notification of movement outside the service area) transmitted from the terminal 2 arrives at the SMS server via the base station 7, the radio base station control device 8, SGSN5, and GGSN6. Then, the SMS server obtains the transmission destination (HNB-GW4) from the destination ID of the received short message, and transfers the short message to the HNB-GW4.

  When the HNB-GW 4 receives the short message (notification of movement outside the service area), the HNB-GW 4 extracts the terminal ID (the terminal ID of the terminal 2 of the transmission source) and the base station ID (the base station ID of the small base station 1) included therein. Then, the number of terminal IDs connected to the small base station 1 corresponding to the base station ID is searched. Then, when it is detected that there is no terminal in the cell area of the small base station 1 as the small base station 1 moves out of service area, the wireless base station 1 transmits a wireless OFF instruction message to the small base station 1 (step S22). ).

  The operation of the small base station 1 when receiving the wireless OFF instruction message is the same as in the first embodiment.

  Note that the terminal context transfer request (transmitted in step S19) sent from the radio base station controller 8 to the HNB-GW 4 is not necessarily transmitted. For example, when the automatic connection destination change from the small base station 1 to the base station 7 is not permitted, the terminal context transfer request is not transmitted. Even in such a case, in order to transmit the wireless OFF instruction message to the small base station 1 in response to the out-of-service movement of the terminal 2, the terminal 2 explicitly sends out-of-service movement to the small base station 1 to the HNB-GW 4. Need to be notified.

  The short message transmission of the terminal 2 is preferably automatically transmitted by software installed in the terminal 2, but may be manually transmitted by a user operation. The address of the HNB-GW 4 is exchanged at the time of setting a radio control channel with the small base station 1 (step S11), or terminal registration / authentication with the SGSN 5 (not shown), exchange of encryption key designation information, etc. Sometimes, the small base station 1 notifies the terminal 2.

  In this embodiment, the terminal 2 notifies the HNB-GW 4 of out-of-service movement, the HNB-GW 4 transmits a wireless OFF instruction message to the small base station 1, and the small base station 1 operates the wireless transmission / reception circuit. However, if the terminal 2 notifies the small base station 1 of the out-of-service movement, and the small base station 1 receives the notification, the terminal 2 is not connected to itself. The operation of the wireless transmission / reception circuit may be stopped.

  Thus, in the present embodiment, when the terminal 2 moves out of the small base station 1 and connects to another base station 7, the movement out of the area is notified to the HNB-GW 4 by a short message. Therefore, even when the automatic change of the connection destination to the base station 7 is not permitted, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the third embodiment of the communication system according to the present invention. The communication system according to the present embodiment accommodates small base stations 1-1 and 1-2 in the communication system according to the first embodiment, and HNB- via subscriber lines 3-1 and 3-2, respectively. Similar to the communication system of the first embodiment, except that home gateway devices (HGW) 9-1 and 9-2 that communicate with the GW 4 and have a short-range wireless communication device (for example, BlueTooth (registered trademark)) are added. It is. In the present embodiment, the terminal 2 is equipped with a short-range wireless communication device (for example, BlueTooth (registered trademark)), and short-range wireless communication is performed between the terminal 2 and the HGWs 9-1 and 9-2. Do. A communication path 30 in FIG. 5 is a communication path when the terminal 2 and the HGW 9-1 perform short-range wireless communication.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation sequence of the communication system according to the present embodiment. First, assuming that the terminal 2 is under the control of the small base station 1 (small base station 1-1 or small base station 1-2), steps S11 to S13 similar to those in the first embodiment are performed. The HGW 9 (HGW 9-1 when the terminal 2 is under the control of the small base station 1-1, HGW 9-2 when the terminal 2 is under the control of the small base station 1-2) is close to BlueTooth (registered trademark) or the like. A session is set up with the terminal 2 by distance wireless, and short-distance wireless connection is established (step S31). HGW 9 is a message for notifying that the time when the control message from terminal 2 is not received continues for a period of a predetermined threshold or more, or that the terminal 2 explicitly moves out of service area (including the schedule) from near-field radio. (Step S32), the small base station 1 to which it is connected is notified of the out-of-service movement of the terminal 2 (step S33).

  When the small base station 1 receives notification of the out-of-service movement of the terminal 2 from the HGW 9 to which the small base station 1 is connected, the small base station 1 notifies the HNB-GW 4 of the movement of the terminal 2 out of the service area (step S34). When the HNB-GW 4 receives the notification, the HNB-GW 4 refers to the terminal base station information, and detects that there is no terminal in the cell area of the small base station 1 due to the movement of the small base station 1 of the terminal 2 out of range. Then, a wireless OFF instruction message is transmitted to the small base station 1 (step S35). The operation of the small base station 1 when receiving the wireless OFF instruction message is the same as in the first embodiment.

  Note that the wireless OFF instruction message from the HNB-GW 4 to the small base station 1 may be transmitted after a certain period of time has elapsed since the notification of the movement of the terminal 2 to the outside of the range is received, or to the small base station 1 The wireless OFF instruction message may be transmitted including the time until the actual wireless stop (timer value), and the wireless stop instruction may be instructed to stop after the timer value has elapsed.

  In the present embodiment, the HGW 9 transmits the movement of the terminal 2 out of the range to the HNB-GW 4 via the small base station 1, but the HGW 9 directly moves the terminal 2 out of the range. The movement may be notified to the HNB-GW 4.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when the terminal 2 is compatible with short-range wireless such as BlueTooth (registered trademark), the terminal 2 is connected to the small base station in the HGW 9 that accommodates the small base station 1 by short-range wireless communication. The station 1 is notified of the out-of-service movement, and the HGW 9 transmits the notification to the HNB-GW 4. Therefore, the wireless transmission / reception circuit can be stopped based on the information obtained from the short-range wireless communication without depending on the communication between the access network devices or the control message from the terminal 2, and as in the first embodiment. Reduction of power consumption and interference with surrounding base stations can be realized.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an operation sequence of the communication system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of the communication system of the present embodiment is the same as that of the third embodiment. In the third embodiment, the operation when the terminal 2 moves out of the communication range of the small base station 1 has been described. However, in the present embodiment, the case where the terminal 2 moves into the communication range of the small base station 1 is described. The operation will be described.

  First, the HGW 9 establishes a session with the terminal 2 by short-range wireless such as BlueTooth (registered trademark) (performs connection by short-range wireless: step S41). When the HGW 9 detects that a short-range wireless communication session with the terminal 2 has been established, or when it receives a message indicating movement within a range that is manually transmitted by a user operation of the terminal 2, or device detection by site scanning It is assumed that a message for notifying movement to the area that is automatically sent out is received (step S42). In this case, the HGW 9 transmits, to the small base station 1, a terminal area movement detection notification for notifying that the terminal 2 has moved into the small base station 1 area (step S43).

  When the small base station 1 stops the operation of the wireless transmission / reception circuit by the wireless OFF instruction message as described in the first to third embodiments, the small base station 1 turns on the operation of the wireless transmission / reception circuit (step S44). Specifically, the CPU 10 receives a movement detection notification within the terminal area and instructs the activation / deactivation control unit 20 to activate. The start / stop control unit 20 instructs the clock unit 12, the termination processing unit 13, the baseband TX 14, the baseband RX 15, the radio wave transmission unit 16, and the radio wave reception unit 17 to start circuit operation. Thereafter, the small base station 1 sets a radio control channel with the terminal 2 and notifies the HNB-GW 4 of the set of the ID of the terminal 2 and the ID of the small base station 1 (step S45). The operations of the present embodiment other than those described above are the same as those of the third embodiment.

  Here, the HGW 9 transmits the terminal area movement detection notification to the small base station 1, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the terminal area movement detection notification may be transmitted to the HNB-GW 4. In this case, when the HNB-GW 4 receives the movement detection notification within the terminal area, the small base station 1 corresponding to the notification starts operation (the ID registration number of the terminal corresponding to the small base station 1 is 1 or more). It may be determined whether or not the small base station 1 is instructed to start the operation when the operation is stopped.

  In addition, when the terminal 2 dynamically activates the short-range wireless device, for example, the terminal 2 grasps its current position information based on GPS (Global Positioning System) information, and holds a small base in advance. The case where it is detected that the distance between the position information of the station 1 and itself is within a certain range is conceivable. Moreover, it may be activated by a user operation or may be always activated.

  In the present embodiment, when the small base station 1 stops wireless transmission / reception, when the HGW 9 establishes a short-distance wireless communication connection with the terminal 2, the small base station 1 is instructed to resume the wireless transmission / reception operation. Can do. Therefore, the same effect as in the third embodiment can be obtained, and furthermore, the small base station 1 in a state where wireless transmission / reception is stopped (deep sleep mode state) can be quickly activated (waked up).

Embodiment 5 FIG.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an operation sequence of the communication system according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of the communication system of the present embodiment is the same as that of the second embodiment or a configuration in which an SMS server is added to the configuration of the third embodiment. In the present embodiment, an operation when the terminal 2 moves from the subordinate of the base station 7 to the subordinate of the small base station 1 will be described.

  When the terminal 2 approaches the small base station 1 while being accommodated in the base station 7, that is, when it can be predicted that the terminal 2 will move to the subordinate of the small base station 1, the terminal 2 is automatically small by a user operation. It is determined to instruct to start the operation of the base station 1 (power ON) (step S51). As a case of automatically transmitting a message, for example, the own base station 1 and the small base station 1 based on the current position information of the base station grasped based on the GPS information and the position information of the small base station 1 held in advance. An example of transmission when it is detected that the distance to the terminal is within a certain range can be considered. In addition, an example of transmission when it is detected that the small base station 1 has reached a point (the nearest station such as a home or office) that is known in advance as a nearby location is also conceivable.

  And the terminal 2 transmits the short message which instruct | indicates the operation | movement start of the small base station 1 addressed to HNB-GW4 (step S52, 53). Specifically, the short message transmitted from the terminal 2 is transferred to the SMS server via the base station 7, the radio base station controller (RNC) 8, the SGSN 5, and the GGSN 6 (step S52). A transfer destination (HNB-GW4) is determined based on the destination of the short message, and the short message is transferred to the HNB-GW4 (step S53). This short message includes the ID of the small base station 1 and the ID of the terminal 2. Here, the terminal 2 transmits an instruction to start the operation of the small base station 1 by a short message. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the terminal 2 may notify the HNB-GW 4 by another method. Further, the HNB-GW 4 transmits a context transfer request of the terminal 2 to the RNC 8, and the RNC 8 transfers the context of the terminal 2 to the HNB-GW 4 (Step S54).

  When the HNB-GW 4 receives the short message transferred in step S53, the HNB-GW 4 is registered corresponding to the base station ID (the ID of the small base station 1) included in the short message with reference to the terminal base station information. If the number of terminal IDs is 0, the small base station 1 is instructed to start operation (operation ON) (step S55). When the small base station 1 receives the operation start instruction, the small base station 1 starts the operation of the wireless transmission / reception circuit that has been stopped, as in the case where the terminal area movement detection notification is received in the fourth embodiment. Thereafter, the terminal 2 and the small base station 1 are wirelessly connected (step S56), and the ID and IP address of the terminal 2 and the ID of the small base station 1 are set and registered in the HNB-GW 4 (step S57). Subsequent operations are the same as those in the first embodiment, the second embodiment, or the third embodiment.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when the user approaches the small base station 1, a short message instructing the start of operation of the small base station 1 is notified to the HNB-GW 4 by a user operation or automatically. When the GW 4 receives the notification, when the small base station 1 stops the transmission / reception operation, the operation start is instructed. Therefore, even when the terminal 2 is not under the control of the small base station 1, the operation of the small base station 1 can be resumed, and the person holding the terminal 2 is small before the person arrives near the small base station 1. The base station 1 can be connected to the terminal 2.

Embodiment 6 FIG.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the sixth embodiment of the small base station according to the present invention. In the configuration of the communication system of the present embodiment, the small base station 1 of the first embodiment is replaced with the small base station 1a of the present embodiment, and a terminal charging cradle (charger) 21 for charging the terminal 2 is added. Except for this, the communication system is the same as that of the first embodiment. The terminal charging cradle 21 may be a component of the small base station 1a.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the small base station 1a of the present embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except that a short-range wireless communication device 22 and a terminal load detection circuit 23 are added to the small base station 1 of the first embodiment. The same as the small base station 1 of FIG. The near field communication device 22 is a device that performs near field communication such as Felica (registered trademark) and BlueTooth (registered trademark). The terminal load detection circuit 23 is connected to the terminal charging cradle 21 and detects the load when the terminal 2 is placed on the terminal charging cradle 21 or detects that the hook has been pressed. From the above, it is detected that the terminal 2 is placed in the terminal charging cradle 21.

  In the present embodiment, terminal 2 includes a short-range wireless communication device. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of short-range wireless communication devices 24-1 and 24-2 built in the terminal 2. In the example of FIG. 10, the short-range wireless communication device 24-1 is a device that performs extremely short-range communication, such as Felica (registered trademark), and the short-range wireless communication device 24-2 is BlueTooth (registered). A communication device that reaches about 10 m.

  The short-range wireless communication device 22 of the small base station 1 performs the session setting with the short-range wireless communication device 24-1 or the short-range wireless communication device 24-2 of the terminal 2, or the terminal 2 When a wireless signal from the short-range wireless communication device 24-1 or the short-range wireless communication device 24-2 is detected, the CPU 10 is notified. Upon receiving the notification, the CPU 10 instructs the activation / deactivation control unit 20 to activate the circuit when the wireless transmission / reception circuit is determined to be deactivated, and the activation / deactivation control unit 20 receives the clock unit 12, The termination processing unit 13, the baseband TX 14, the baseband RX 15, the radio wave transmission unit 16, and the radio wave reception unit 17 are instructed to start circuit operation. When the clock unit 12 is stopped, after the clock correction of the clock unit 12 is completed, the termination processing unit 13, the baseband TX14, the baseband RX15, the radio wave transmission unit 16, and the radio wave reception unit 17 are processed. Instructs circuit operation start.

  When the terminal 2 is placed on the terminal charging cradle 21, the terminal load detection circuit 23 detects that the terminal 2 is placed on the terminal charging cradle 21 and notifies the CPU 10. When the CPU 10 determines that the wireless transmission / reception circuit is in a stopped state, the CPU 10 instructs the start / stop control unit 20 to start the circuit, and the start / stop control unit 20 causes the clock unit 12, the termination processing unit 13, the baseband. Instructs the TX 14, the baseband RX 15, the radio wave transmitter 16, and the radio wave receiver 17 to start circuit operation. When the clock circuit 12 is stopped, after the clock correction of the clock circuit 12 is finished, the termination processing unit 13, the baseband TX14, the baseband RX15, the radio wave transmission unit 16, and the radio wave reception unit 17 are processed. Instructs circuit operation start. The operations of the present embodiment other than those described above are the same as those of the first embodiment.

  In the configuration example of FIG. 9, the small base station 1a is provided with both the short-range wireless communication device 22 and the terminal load detection circuit 23. However, it is not necessary to provide both, and only one is required. When both are provided as backups, one is set as a priority detection circuit and the other is set as a backup circuit, and operates according to the priority order.

  In the present embodiment, the small base station 1 is replaced with the small base station 1a in the same communication system as in the first embodiment. However, in the same communication system as in the second or third embodiment. The small base station 1 may be replaced with the small base station 1a. Even in that case, the operation of the present embodiment can be similarly performed.

  Thus, in the present embodiment, the small base station 1a includes the short-range wireless communication device 22 and performs a short-range wireless communication session setting with the terminal 2, or a radio signal from the terminal 2 The wireless transmission / reception circuit is made to operate when it is detected. Further, the small base station 1 a includes a terminal load detection circuit 23 that detects that the terminal 2 is placed on the terminal charging cradle 21, and the terminal load detection circuit 23 places the terminal 2 on the terminal charging cradle 21. The wireless transmission / reception circuit is made to operate when it is detected.

  Therefore, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained, and when the terminal 2 is placed in the terminal charging cradle 21, the wireless transmission / reception operation of the small base station 1 can be automatically restarted. The small base station 1 can be reliably activated without depending on the control sequence between the radio access network devices and message transmission from the terminal. In addition, when using short-range wireless as in the fourth embodiment, there is a possibility that startup failure may occur due to the terminal 2 being outside the reach range of short-range wireless communication. However, by providing the terminal load detection circuit 23, The small base station 1 can be activated reliably.

  As described above, the radio base station apparatus, the communication system, and the radio transmission / reception operation control method according to the present invention are useful for a communication system including a small base station, and in particular, between power consumption reduction and adjacent radio base stations. For the purpose of suppressing or avoiding radio wave interference, it is suitable for a communication system that dynamically controls stop and activation of a radio transceiver circuit of a small base station.

1, 1-1, 1-2, 1a Small base station 2 Terminal 3-1, 3-2 Subscriber line 4 HNB-GW
5 SGSN
6 GGSN
7 Base station 8 RNC
9,9-1,9-2 HGW
10 CPU
11 Network Interface 12 Clock Unit 13 Termination Processing Unit 14 Baseband TX
15 Baseband RX
16 Radio wave transmission unit 17 Radio wave reception unit 18 TX antenna 19 RX antenna 20 Start / stop control unit 21 Terminal charging cradle 22, 24-1, 24-2 Short-range wireless communication device 23 Terminal load detection circuit

Claims (16)

A radio base station apparatus comprising radio transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving radio signals to / from a terminal,
Control means for instructing to stop the wireless transmission / reception means when it is determined that there is no terminal in the cell area configured by the own device;
Start / stop control means for stopping the operation of the wireless transmission / reception means based on an instruction of the control means;
A radio base station apparatus comprising: A clock means for supplying a clock to the wireless transmission / reception means, and for correcting the clock;
Further comprising
The radio base station apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the clock unit performs the correction process while the radio transmission / reception unit is operating and when the operation is stopped.   When the control means receives a wireless operation stop instruction instructing to stop the operation of the wireless transmission / reception means from a control apparatus that controls the own apparatus, the control means determines that there is no terminal in the cell area configured by the own apparatus. The radio base station apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that:   The control means receives an out-of-range movement notification indicating that the terminal has moved out of service from a terminal connected to the own apparatus, and a terminal connected to the own apparatus other than the terminal that transmitted the out-of-service movement notification 3. The radio base station apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when it is determined that there is no terminal, it is determined that there is no terminal in a cell area configured by the own apparatus. When the control means receives a wireless operation start instruction for instructing start of the operation of the wireless transmission / reception means from the control device while the operation of the wireless transmission / reception means is stopped, the control means starts the wireless operation start to the start / stop control means. Direct,
The start / stop control means starts operation of the wireless transmission / reception means based on an instruction to start wireless operation.
The radio base station apparatus according to claim 3. The control means stops the activation when receiving a within-range movement notification notifying that the terminal has moved into the range of the own apparatus from the home gateway accommodating the own apparatus while the operation of the wireless transmission / reception means is stopped Instruct the control means to start wireless operation,
The start / stop control means starts operation of the wireless transmission / reception means based on an instruction to start wireless operation.
The radio base station apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: A terminal load detecting means for connecting to a charger for charging the terminal and notifying the control means when it is detected that the terminal is placed on the charger;
Further comprising
When the control means receives a notification that the terminal has been placed on the charger from the terminal load detection means, the control means instructs the start / stop control means to start wireless operation,
The start / stop control means starts operation of the wireless transmission / reception means based on an instruction to start wireless operation.
The radio base station apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6. Short-range communication means for determining that a terminal has been detected when a wireless signal is detected by short-range communication from the terminal or when a predetermined setting for short-range communication connection with the terminal is performed;
Further comprising
When the control means determines that the short-range communication means has detected a terminal, the control means instructs the start / stop control means to start wireless operation,
The start / stop control means starts operation of the wireless transmission / reception means based on an instruction to start wireless operation.
The radio base station apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A radio base station apparatus according to claim 3,
A control device that controls the radio base station device and manages correspondence between the radio base station device and a terminal wirelessly connected to the radio base station device;
A large base station apparatus that is a base station apparatus other than the radio base station apparatus;
A large base station control device for controlling the large base station device;
A terminal,
With
The large base station control device is configured such that, as the terminal moves from a subordinate of the radio base station device to a subordinate of the large base station device, the radio base station to which the terminal is connected before the movement is moved from the terminal. When receiving a wireless connection request with the large base station apparatus including the identifier of, after instructing the large base station apparatus to set up a wireless connection with the terminal based on the wireless connection request, Sending a context transfer request for requesting transfer of context information of the terminal to the control device;
When the control apparatus receives the context transfer request and determines that there is no terminal wirelessly connected to the radio base station apparatus other than the terminal corresponding to the context transfer request, the radio base station Transmitting a wireless operation stop instruction that instructs the station device to stop the operation of the wireless transmission / reception means;
A communication system characterized by the above. A radio base station apparatus according to claim 3,
A control device that controls the radio base station device and manages correspondence between the radio base station device and a terminal wirelessly connected to the radio base station device;
A large base station apparatus that is a base station apparatus other than the radio base station apparatus;
A terminal,
With
The terminal moves from a subordinate of the radio base station apparatus to a subordinate of the large base station apparatus, and when the wireless connection with the large base station apparatus is completed, the radio base station apparatus Send out-of-service notification that you ’ve moved from
When the control apparatus receives the out-of-range movement notification and determines that there is no terminal wirelessly connected to the radio base station apparatus other than the terminal corresponding to the out-of-range movement notification, the radio base station Transmitting a wireless operation stop instruction that instructs the station device to stop the operation of the wireless transmission / reception means;
A communication system characterized by the above. A radio base station apparatus according to claim 3,
A control device that controls the radio base station device and manages correspondence between the radio base station device and a terminal wirelessly connected to the radio base station device;
A home gateway accommodating the radio base station device;
A terminal,
With
When the home gateway is connected to the terminal by short-range wireless communication, the home gateway does not receive a control signal by short-range wireless communication for a predetermined period or more from the terminal, or by short-range wireless communication from the terminal. When a notification of moving out of service area is received, an out-of-service movement notification indicating that the terminal has moved out of the communication area of the wireless base station device is transmitted to the control device,
When the control device receives the out-of-service movement notification and determines that there is no terminal wirelessly connected to the wireless base station device other than the terminal corresponding to the out-of-service movement notification, Transmitting a wireless operation stop instruction to instruct the base station device to stop the operation of the wireless transmission / reception means;
A communication system characterized by the above. A radio base station apparatus according to claim 5;
A control device that controls the radio base station device and manages correspondence between the radio base station device and a terminal wirelessly connected to the radio base station device;
A terminal,
With
When the terminal is predicted to move under the radio base station apparatus, the terminal transmits a movement notice for notifying the movement of the radio base station apparatus to the communication area,
The control device transmits a radio operation start instruction to instruct the start of operation of the radio transmission / reception means to the radio base station device corresponding to the movement notice.
A communication system characterized by the above.   The terminal, when the distance from the radio base station apparatus is within a predetermined range based on the position information of the radio base station apparatus and the position information of the radio base station apparatus held in advance, The communication system according to claim 12, wherein the communication system is expected to move under the apparatus.   The communication system according to claim 12, wherein the terminal is expected to move under the radio base station apparatus based on an instruction from a user. A radio base station apparatus according to claim 6,
A home gateway accommodating the radio base station device;
A terminal,
With
When the home gateway receives a control signal by short-range wireless communication from the terminal, or when it receives a within-range movement notification indicating that it has moved into a range by short-range wireless communication from the terminal, the wireless base station Transmitting within-range movement notification to notify the apparatus that the terminal has moved into the range of the radio base station apparatus;
A communication system characterized by the above. A radio transmission / reception operation control method in a radio base station apparatus comprising radio transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving a radio signal to / from a terminal,
A control step for instructing to stop the wireless transmission / reception means when it is determined that there is no terminal in the cell area formed by the device;
A start / stop control step for stopping the operation of the wireless transmission / reception means based on an instruction of the control step;
A wireless transmission / reception operation control method comprising:

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