JP2011205479A - Radio communication system and radio quality measuring method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a radio communication system and radio quality measuring method in which the total radio quality of radio communication can be reported quantitatively to a user of a radio terminal.SOLUTION: In a radio communication system, a radio terminal detects at least one parameter value between a received signal intensity and a carrier level to interference/noise ratio of a radio signal; detects at least one transfer rate information item indicating a rate of data transfer by the radio signal; and measures a delay time of the data transfer by the radio signal. A point corresponding to the detected parameter value and a point corresponding to the detected transfer rate information and a point corresponding to the measured delay time are set, respectively, weighting assigned beforehand for each of the parameter value; the transfer rate information and the delay time is performed on each of the set points; the weighted points are added to calculate a total quality measurement value; and according to the total quality measurement value, the level of the radio quality is outputted.

Description

  The present invention relates to a radio communication system and a radio quality measurement method that include at least a radio terminal and a radio base station and have a function of measuring radio quality between the radio terminal and the radio base station.

  In Patent Document 1, in a wireless communication system including a wireless terminal and a wireless base station, the wireless terminal is provided with a reception electric field strength detection unit or an error rate detection unit, and the wireless base station is based on information detected by the detection unit. A technique for notifying a wireless terminal user by voice together with a base station name is shown.

JP-A-6-253360

  However, in the conventional wireless communication system as described above, the quality of the communication state is merely determined by determining the electric field strength of the wireless signal or the error rate of the digital signal in a plurality of stages. It was not intended to judge the communication status considering quality.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication system and a wireless quality measurement method capable of quantitatively notifying the user of a wireless terminal of the overall wireless quality of wireless communication.

  A radio communication system of the present invention is a radio communication system having a function of measuring radio quality between a radio terminal and a radio base station, wherein the radio terminal receives a received signal strength of a radio signal and other related signals. First detection means for detecting at least one parameter value of parameters, second detection means for detecting at least one transfer rate information indicating a data transfer rate by the radio signal, and delay in data transfer by the radio signal A first measurement means for measuring time; a point corresponding to the parameter value detected by the first detection means; a point corresponding to the transfer rate information detected by the second detection means; and the first measurement Point setting means for setting each point corresponding to the delay time measured by the means, the parameter value, First weighting means for performing weighting assigned in advance for each transfer rate information and the delay time for each point set by the point setting means, and adding points weighted by the first weighting means It is characterized by comprising first summing means for calculating a total quality actual measurement value and output means for outputting the wireless quality level in accordance with the total quality actual measurement value.

  A radio quality measurement method according to the present invention is a radio quality measurement method for measuring radio quality between a radio terminal and a radio base station, wherein the radio signal reception signal strength and other parameters related to the radio signal at the radio terminal are measured. A first detection step for detecting at least one of the parameter values, a second detection step for detecting at least one transfer rate information indicating a data transfer rate by the radio signal, and a delay time for data transfer by the radio signal. A measuring step for measuring, a point corresponding to the parameter value detected in the first detecting step, a point corresponding to the transfer rate information detected in the second detecting step, and the measured in the measuring step A point setting step for setting each point corresponding to the delay time; A weighting step in which the weight assigned in advance for each meter value, the transfer rate information, and the delay time is applied to each point set in the point setting step, and the points weighted in the weighting step are added and totaled A total step of calculating an actual quality measurement value, and an output step of outputting the wireless quality level according to the total quality actual measurement value are provided.

  According to the wireless communication system and the wireless quality measurement method of the present invention, at least one parameter value of the received signal strength of the wireless signal and other parameters related thereto in the wireless terminal, and at least the data transfer rate by the wireless signal are indicated. Since the level of radio quality can be obtained based on one transfer rate information and the delay time of data transfer by radio signal, the total radio quality of radio communication is quantitatively notified to the user of the radio terminal. Can do.

It is a block diagram which shows a radio | wireless communications system as an Example of this invention. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing a radio quality measurement operation of the radio communication system of FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows the acquisition item for every radio | wireless system. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the MSC level in the case of Wi-Fi, a data transfer rate, and a point. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the MSC level in the case of WiMAX, a data transfer rate, and a point. It is a flowchart which shows a user notification information creation operation. It is a figure which shows the example of calculation of a wireless quality degree.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This wireless communication system includes at least a wireless terminal 100, a wireless relay device 110, and a wireless base station 120. A wireless network is formed between the wireless terminal 100 and the wireless relay device 110. Another wireless network is also formed between the wireless relay device 110 and the wireless base station 120.

  The wireless terminal 100 includes, for example, a personal computer device, a relay device side control unit 101 that controls wireless communication with the wireless relay device 110, a user side control unit 104 that controls an input / output interface with a user, data, And a data storage unit 107 for storing the program. The relay apparatus side control unit 101 has a radio control function 102 for controlling transmission / reception of radio signals to / from the radio relay apparatus 110 and a radio quality information acquisition function 103 for acquiring radio quality information described later. The user-side control unit 104 has a site survey function 105 that accepts a survey start operation by the user, and a voice notification function 106 that notifies the user of the radio quality level of the survey result via the speaker 106A. . The relay apparatus side control unit 101 includes first detection means, second detection means, and first measurement means.

  The radio relay apparatus 110 includes a terminal-side control unit 111 that controls radio communication with the radio terminal 100, a base station-side control unit 114 that controls radio communication with the radio base station 120, and a data storage unit that stores data and programs 117. The terminal-side control unit 111 has a radio control function 112 that controls transmission / reception of radio signals to / from the radio terminal 100 and a radio quality information response function 113 that responds to a radio quality information request from the radio terminal 100. The base station side control unit 114 has a radio control function 112 for controlling transmission / reception of radio signals to / from the radio base station 120 and a radio quality acquisition function 116 for acquiring radio quality information. The base station side control unit 114 includes third detection means, fourth detection means, and second measurement means.

  The radio base station 120 includes a relay device side control unit 121 that controls radio communication with the radio relay device 110. The relay apparatus side control unit 121 has a radio control function 122 that controls transmission / reception of radio signals to / from the radio relay apparatus 110 and a radio quality information response function 123 that responds to a radio quality information request from the radio relay apparatus 110. .

  In the wireless communication system having such a configuration, it is assumed that the wireless terminal 100 and the wireless relay device 110 are in a state where a wireless connection is established, and the wireless relay device 110 and the wireless base station 120 are in a state where a wireless connection is established. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, a wireless session 201 is executed between the relay device side control unit 101 and the terminal side control unit 111, and wireless communication is performed between the base station side control unit 114 and the relay device side control unit 121. Session 202 is being executed.

  In this embodiment, a wireless system called Wi-Fi (communication standard IEEE 802.11) is applied to a wireless network between the wireless terminal 100 and the wireless relay device 110, and the wireless relay device 110 and the wireless base station 120 are connected to each other. A wireless system called WiMAX (communication standard IEEE 802.16e) is applied to the wireless network in between.

  As a wireless frame (203) periodically transmitted by the wireless relay device 110 during a wireless session, there are frames such as a beacon frame, a control frame, and a data frame in Wi-Fi. The relay apparatus side control unit 101 acquires signal measurement values and data transfer rates according to these received frames, and stores these data in the data storage unit 107 in time series (203A). As shown in FIG. 3, RSSI (Received Signal Strength) is used as a signal measurement value in Wi-Fi. The RSSI is measured by, for example, a signal level detection unit (not shown) that detects the level of a reception signal of a radio frame received by a reception unit (not shown) in the radio terminal 100. As the data transfer rate, as shown in FIG. 4, a modulation scheme and a coding rate (MCS level) obtained at the receiving unit in the radio terminal 100 are used. The data transfer rate may include a communication method in addition to the modulation method and the coding rate.

  Similarly, as a wireless frame (204) periodically transmitted by the wireless base station 120 during a wireless session, there are frames such as a DCD frame, a control frame, and a data frame in WiMAX. In the base station side control unit 114, the signal measurement value and the data transfer rate are acquired from these received frames by a receiving unit (not shown) in the radio relay apparatus 110, and these data are stored in the data storage unit 117. It is stored in the series (204A). As shown in FIG. 3, RSSI (received signal strength) and CINR (carrier level to interference / noise ratio) are used as signal measurement values in WiMAX, and reception MCS (Modulation and Coding Scheme) and transmission are used as data transfer rates. MCS is used. As shown in FIG. 5, the reception MCS is the downlink transfer rate, the transmission MCS is the uplink transfer rate, and the data transfer rate can be determined if the MSC level is known.

  It is assumed that data acquisition and data writing to the data storage units 107 and 117 are always performed during wireless connection.

  Next, it is assumed that the user performs a survey operation on the wireless terminal 100 (205). Then, a survey start request 207 is output from the user side control unit 104 of the wireless terminal 100 to the relay apparatus side control unit 101. In response to the survey start request 207, the relay apparatus side control unit 101 transmits a base station side radio quality information acquisition request 208 to the base station side control unit 114. The base station side radio quality information acquisition request 208 reaches the base station side control unit 114 via the terminal side control unit 111, for example.

  Upon receiving the base station side radio quality information acquisition request 208, the base station side control unit 114 transmits a transmission delay measurement packet request 209 to the radio base station 120 by pinging. When receiving the transmission delay measurement packet request 209, the relay apparatus side control unit 121 of the radio base station 120 transmits a transmission delay measurement packet response 210 to the base station side control unit 114 in response thereto. When receiving the transmission delay measurement packet response 210, the base station side controller 114 measures the delay time in response to the reception of the transmission delay measurement packet response 210 (210A). This delay time is the round trip time of the radio signal between the radio relay apparatus 110 and the radio base station 120. Then, the base station side control unit 114 reads the radio quality and transfer rate for the period t time between the radio relay apparatus 110 and the radio base station 12 stored in the data storage unit 117 (211A), and the radio The measured transfer delay together with the average values of the quality and the transfer rate are returned to the relay apparatus side control unit 101 via the terminal side control unit 111 in the radio base station side quality acquisition response 211.

  Thereafter, the relay apparatus side control unit 101 transmits a transmission delay measurement packet request 212 to the terminal side control unit 111 by pinging. Upon receiving the transmission delay measurement packet request 212, the terminal side control unit 111 of the wireless relay device 110 transmits a transmission delay measurement packet response 213 to the relay device side control unit 101 in response thereto. When receiving the transmission delay measurement packet response 213, the relay apparatus side control unit 101 measures the delay time in response to the reception of the transmission delay measurement packet response 213 (213A). This delay time is the round trip time of the radio signal between the radio terminal 100 and the radio relay device 110. Then, the relay device side control unit 101 transmits the measured transfer delay together with the average values of the wireless quality and the transfer rate for the period t between the wireless terminal 100 and the wireless relay device 110 stored in the data storage unit 107. Is returned to the user-side control unit 104 in the survey completion response 214. The survey completion response 214 is measured together with the contents of the radio base station-side quality acquisition response 211, that is, the radio quality for the period t time between the radio relay apparatus 110 and the radio base station 12, and the average value of each transfer rate. Includes transfer delay.

Upon receiving the survey completion response 214, the user-side control unit 104 creates user notification information (215). In the user notification information creation, as shown in FIG. 6, items of radio quality information between the radio relay device 110 and the radio base station 12 and radio quality information between the radio terminal 100 and the radio relay device 110 are acquired. Points are set for the values (S301), and the importance of each item is read (S302). S301 corresponds to a point setting means.
The items of the radio quality information between the radio relay apparatus 110 and the radio base station 12 are the delay times due to RSSI, CINR, reception MCS, transmission MCS, and Ping transmission. The items of the radio quality information are RSSI, data transfer rate, and delay time due to Ping transmission. In each of these items, a plurality of ranges are predetermined for the values, and higher points are assigned to ranges of better numerical values as radio quality.

  For example, the allocation of points for the delay time by Ping transmission is 4 points for 10 msec or less, 3 points for 11 to 20 msec, 2 points for 21 to 30 msec, 1 point for 31 to 40 msec, 0 for 41 msec or more It is a point. If the measured delay time is 15 msec, 3 points are set in S301.

  Since the data transfer rate is substantially determined from the MCS level (data modulation scheme and coding rate), the point assignment for the data transfer rate is larger as the MCS level is larger, for example, as shown in FIGS. Will be set.

  The importance is a value from 1 to 3, and is set for each item in advance, and is stored in a storage device such as the data storage unit 107 in the wireless terminal 100. The degree (weighting value) is read out.

  When the importance level is read in S302, the user-side control unit 104 calculates an actual quality value by setting point × importance for each item (S303), and further calculates a maximum quality value by maximum point × importance for each item. (S304). The set point is the point set in S301 above. The maximum point is, for example, 4. S303 corresponds to the first weighting means, and S304 corresponds to the second weighting means.

  When the actual quality measurement value and the maximum quality value are calculated in this way, the total quality actual measurement value of all items calculates the wireless quality level (wireless quality level) according to the total quality maximum value (S305). The wireless quality level is calculated by (total quality actual measurement value / total quality maximum value) × 100. S303 to S305 correspond to the first summing means or the second summing means.

  FIG. 7 exemplifies setting points, importance levels, quality actual measurement values and quality maximum values for each item. As a result, the total quality actual measurement value is 50 and the total quality maximum value is 72, so the wireless quality level is 69. As shown in FIG.

  After calculating the wireless quality level, the user-side control unit 104 notifies the user of the wireless quality level by voice (216). The notification is executed via the voice notification function 106 and the speaker 106A. The above operations 207 to 216 are repeated at a period t. In 210A and 213A, in consideration of the effect of ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) resolution, the measured value of the delay time is measured several times from the second time, and the average value is used as the measured value. In consideration of the effect of ARP solution, the measured value of the delay time may be measured several times from the second time and the average value may be used as the measured value. Further, it is assumed that Wi-Fi priority control is not performed by WMM (Wi-Fi Multimedia) or the like, and further, QoS control of the communication standard IEEE 802.16e is not performed.

  By knowing the wireless quality level, the user can determine how much the wireless environment is at the current installation position of the wireless relay device 110. As a result, the optimum location can be selected while moving the wireless relay device even if only one user moves.

  In the above-described embodiment, the wireless communication system is configured such that the wireless relay device 110 is provided between the wireless terminal 100 and the wireless base station 120, but is not limited thereto. The present invention can be applied to a wireless communication system including at least the wireless terminal 100 and the wireless base station 120 without providing the wireless relay device 110.

  In the above-described embodiment, the wireless quality level is notified to the user by voice, but the present invention is not limited to this. You may notify by displaying a wireless quality level on a display.

  Further, in the first detection means and the third detection means, RSSI (received signal strength) and / or CINR (carrier wave level to interference / noise ratio) are detected, but the present invention is not limited to this. Any means for detecting at least one parameter value of the received signal strength of the radio signal and other parameters related thereto may be used.

  In the above-described embodiments, Wi-Fi and WiMAX are used as wireless systems, but the present invention is not limited to this. Of course, other wireless systems may be used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Wireless terminal 101 Relay apparatus side control part 104 User side control part 110 Wireless relay apparatus 111 Terminal side control part 114 Base station side control part 120 Wireless base station 121 Relay apparatus side control part

Claims (7)

A wireless communication system having a function of measuring wireless quality between a wireless terminal and a wireless base station,
The wireless terminal detects a parameter value of at least one of a received signal strength of a wireless signal and other parameters related thereto;
Second detection means for detecting at least one transfer rate information indicating a data transfer rate by the radio signal;
First measuring means for measuring a delay time of data transfer by the radio signal;
Corresponding to the point corresponding to the parameter value detected by the first detecting means, the point corresponding to the transfer rate information detected by the second detecting means, and the delay time measured by the first measuring means Point setting means for setting each of the points,
First weighting means for performing weighting assigned in advance for each of the parameter value, the transfer rate information, and the delay time for each point set by the point setting means;
First summing means for calculating a total quality actual value by adding the points weighted by the first weighting means;
Output means for outputting the wireless quality level in accordance with the total quality actual measurement value. A wireless relay device that relays wireless communication between the wireless terminal and the wireless base station;
The wireless terminal further comprises means for generating a wireless quality information acquisition request to the wireless relay device;
The wireless relay device detects a parameter value of at least one of the received signal strength of the wireless signal from the wireless base station and other parameters related thereto, and
Fourth detection means for detecting at least one transfer rate information indicating a data transfer rate by a radio signal from the radio base station;
Second measuring means for measuring a delay time of data transfer by a radio signal from the radio base station;
A point corresponding to the parameter value detected by the third detecting means in response to the wireless quality information acquisition request, a point corresponding to the transfer rate information detected by the fourth detecting means, and the second measuring means Means for transmitting to the wireless terminal a wireless quality information acquisition response including the delay time measured by:
The point setting means is measured by the point corresponding to the parameter value detected by the first detection means, the point corresponding to the transfer rate information detected by the second detection means, and the first measurement means. In addition to the point corresponding to the delay time, the point corresponding to the parameter value obtained from the radio quality information acquisition response, the point corresponding to the transfer rate information obtained from the radio quality information acquisition response, The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein points corresponding to the delay times obtained from the wireless quality information acquisition response are set. The output means includes second weighting means for performing weighting assigned in advance for each of the parameter value, the transfer rate information, and the delay time with respect to a maximum point;
Second summing means for calculating a total quality maximum value by adding the maximum points weighted by the second weighting means;
Means for calculating a percentage of the total quality actual measurement value corresponding to the total quality maximum value;
The wireless communication system according to claim 1, further comprising: means for outputting the percentage of the ratio as the wireless quality level.   The wireless communication system according to claim 2, wherein the transfer rate information is a data modulation scheme and a coding rate. The first measuring means measures a round trip time of the radio signal between the radio terminal and the radio relay device as the delay time,
3. The wireless communication system according to claim 2, wherein the second measuring means measures a round trip time of the wireless signal between the wireless relay device and the wireless base station as the delay time.   3. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the other parameter is a carrier level-to-interference / noise ratio. A radio quality measurement method for measuring radio quality between a radio terminal and a radio base station,
A first detection step of detecting at least one parameter value of a received signal strength of a wireless signal and other parameters related thereto in the wireless terminal;
A second detection step of detecting at least one transfer rate information indicating a data transfer rate by the radio signal;
A measuring step of measuring a delay time of data transfer by the radio signal;
Points corresponding to the parameter values detected in the first detection step, points corresponding to the transfer rate information detected in the second detection step, and points corresponding to the delay time measured in the measurement step Point setting step for setting each of
A weighting step of performing weighting assigned in advance for each of the parameter value, the transfer rate information, and the delay time for each point set in the point setting step;
A total step of calculating the total quality actual value by adding the points weighted in the weighting step;
An output step of outputting the level of the radio quality according to the total quality actual measurement value.

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