JP2014103457A - Communication control device and communication control program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide communication by high-throughput communication means from the starting time of communication intended by a user himself.SOLUTION: A communication control device (1) comprises: a spontaneous communication determination unit (6) for determining whether a communication request is a spontaneous communication request performed by a communication terminal; a communication environmental information generating unit (2) for generating communication environmental information indicating the throughput of communication performed using each of multiple communication means if it is a spontaneous communication request; and a selection unit (4) for selecting communication means depending on the communication environmental information.

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication control device and a communication control program.

  In recent years, there are many high-function communication terminals, so-called smartphones, having functions other than calls, such as a function for displaying information in accordance with time and position information. As a communication method of a smartphone, so-called 3G such as WCDMA and CDMA2000 that have been used conventionally, LTE that has started to be used relatively recently, IEEE 802.11 wireless (so-called WirelessLAN, hereinafter referred to as WLAN), and the like are used. In such a situation, many smartphones are designed to select one of the available communication methods when connecting to the Internet using TCP / IP. In addition, with the recent expansion of smartphones, the communication speed is influenced by the congestion of the backbone, not the radio wave environment.

  As described above, as an example of a technique for selecting one of the available communication methods, Patent Document 1 describes communication terminal throughput, the number of simultaneous communication terminals, and radio propagation from each distributed antenna to each terminal antenna. A distributed antenna system that collects channel information and selects a communication mode by comparing a calculated estimated throughput and a required value is disclosed. Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a method for setting the priority order of the wireless communication system during standby based on the expected throughput value.

  In Patent Document 3, the value of the transmission path quality in the communication system in use is derived, the value corresponding to the throughput of the communication system in use, and the throughput of the communication system that can be replaced with the communication system in use. A communication system that is different from the communication system in use is determined based on the determined threshold value and the derived channel quality value. A communication means changing method for switching to a wireless communication system suitable for transmission rate and stability, and a terminal device using the communication means changing method are disclosed. In addition, Patent Documents 4 and 5 also disclose a terminal device similar to Patent Document 3.

JP 2012-114700 A (released on June 14, 2012) JP 2011-166599 A (released on August 25, 2011) JP 2008-118722 A (published May 22, 2008) JP 2008-72730 A (published March 27, 2008) JP 2004-357213 A (released on December 16, 2004)

  However, the conventional technology that measures the throughput during communication as described above and performs Inter RAT handover performs Inter RAT handover even in communication based on a user's communication request. The perceived speed is reduced.

  In addition, the conventional technology that determines the communication method based on the priority created based on the electric field strength as described above does not necessarily correspond to the actual throughput, and the optimum communication method is selected. There is a problem that it may not be possible.

  For example, the distributed antenna system described in Patent Document 1 is a high-cost system that cannot be realized by a terminal alone, and performs inter RAT handover even in communication based on a user communication request to a communication terminal. In addition, the user experience speed decreases.

  In addition, the method for setting the priority order of the wireless communication system at the time of standby based on the expected throughput value described in Patent Document 2 selects the optimum communication method because the electric field strength does not necessarily correspond to the actual throughput. There are cases where it is not possible.

  In addition, since the communication means changing method described in Patent Documents 3 to 5 and the terminal device using the communication means changing method perform Inter RAT handover even in communication based on a user communication request, the communication is temporarily delayed, User experience speed decreases.

  The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide communication by communication means having high throughput from the start of communication intended by the user.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a communication control apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention selects one communication unit from a plurality of communication units included in a communication terminal according to a communication request from the communication terminal. The communication request is a spontaneous communication determination means for determining whether the communication request is a spontaneous communication request made by the communication terminal, and the communication request is a spontaneous communication request. A communication environment information generating unit that measures a throughput of communication performed using each of the plurality of communication units when the determination is made, and generates communication environment information indicating the throughput; and according to the communication environment information Selecting means for selecting one communication means.

  A communication control program according to an aspect of the present invention is a communication control program for selecting one communication unit from a plurality of communication units included in a communication terminal in response to a communication request from the communication terminal. The communication request is a spontaneous communication determination step for determining whether or not the communication request is a spontaneous communication request performed by the communication terminal, and when the communication request is determined to be a spontaneous communication request, A communication environment information generating step for measuring the throughput of communication executed using each of the plurality of communication means and generating communication environment information indicating the throughput, and one communication means according to the communication environment information. A selection step of selecting;

  According to one aspect of the present invention, there is an effect that communication by a high-throughput communication unit can be enjoyed from the start of communication intended by the user himself / herself.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the communication terminal containing the communication control apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention with the structure of the communication facility corresponding to the said communication terminal. It is a flowchart which shows the flow at the time of the communication terminal shown in FIG. 1 responding to a communication request. It is a schematic diagram which shows the table of the communication environment information accumulate | stored in the communication terminal shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the flow at the time of the communication terminal shown in FIG. 1 selecting an optimal communication means.

[Embodiment 1]
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Descriptions of configurations other than those described in the following specific items may be omitted as necessary. However, in the case where they are described in other items, the configurations are the same. For convenience of explanation, members having the same functions as those shown in each item are given the same reference numerals, and the explanation thereof is omitted as appropriate.

[1. About device configuration)
First, based on FIG. 1, the structure of the communication terminal 100 containing the communication control apparatus 1 which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated. FIG. 1 shows a communication terminal 100, base stations 200, 300, and 400 for each communication method (3G, LTE / AXGP, and WLAN) that are communication facilities corresponding to the communication terminal 100, the Internet 500, and a Web server to be communicated. 600 and 700 (domain names are www.inpit.go.jp and www.sharp.co.jp, respectively).

  The communication terminal 100 includes a storage unit 110, a terminal control unit 120, an application execution unit 130, a communication processing unit 140, and a transmission / reception unit 150 that realizes communication means according to each communication method (3G, LTE / AXGP, and WLAN). 160 and 170, and the communication control apparatus 1.

  The storage unit 110 stores communication environment information indicating throughput, and is realized by an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or a flash memory. Details of the communication environment information will be described later.

  The terminal control unit 120 manages the state of the communication terminal 100 in accordance with a user operation on the communication terminal 100. For example, when the user has not operated the communication terminal 100 for a certain period of time, the terminal control unit 120 manages that the communication terminal 100 is in a standby state. In addition, the terminal control unit 120 manages information such as the state of the communication terminal 100, the current time, and position information of the communication terminal 100, and returns information to be managed in response to an inquiry. The terminal control unit 120 is realized as an OS (Operation System) of the communication terminal 100.

  The application execution unit 130 executes various applications such as a Web browser installed in the communication terminal 100, a MUA (Mail User Agent), and an SNS (Social Networking Service) client. The application execution unit 130 may be hardware and software that realize one function of the OS of the communication terminal 100.

  The communication processing unit 140 receives a communication request from the application execution unit 130 and transmits it to the communication control device 1. In addition, the communication processing unit 140 receives a response to the communication request from the communication control device 1 and returns it to the application execution unit 130.

  A detailed configuration of the communication control device 1 will be described below. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication control device 1 includes a communication environment information generation unit 2, a measurement communication execution unit 3, a selection unit 4, a standby state determination unit 5, and a spontaneous communication determination unit 6. . Moreover, since the communication control apparatus 1 is connected to the terminal control unit 120, the state and time of the communication terminal 100 and the position information of the communication terminal 100 can be obtained at any time.

  The communication environment information generation unit 2 acquires the communication throughput, communication means, and communication target by mirroring the communication between the selection unit 4 and each of the transmission / reception units 150, 160, and 170, and is managed by the terminal control unit 120. Communication environment information is generated together with position information and time. At this time, the communication environment information includes the priority order of the communication means. A method for generating the priority order of the communication means will be described later. The communication environment information is stored in the storage unit 110 by the communication environment information generation unit 2.

  The spontaneous communication determination unit 6 determines whether or not the communication request from the communication processing unit 140 is a spontaneous communication request (spontaneous communication request) by the communication terminal 100, and selects a determination result together with the communication request. Transfer to part 4. Whether or not the communication request is a spontaneous communication request is determined based on the result of inquiring the standby state determination unit 5 as to whether or not the communication request is in a standby state, and the characteristics of the spontaneous communication request determined in advance by the communication request. Whether or not it is provided with the result determined by the spontaneous communication determination unit 6. A feature of the spontaneous communication request is, for example, a communication request to a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) indicating a Web API (Application Program Interface) used only for synchronous communication that is not targeted for communication by a user using an application. The characteristic that it is is mentioned. For the detailed flow, see “2. Regarding Response to Communication Request].

  The measurement communication execution unit 3 compares the time of the latest communication environment information stored in the storage unit 110 with the current time every predetermined time (hereinafter, measurement confirmation interval), and the previous communication environment information is generated. Find the elapsed time from the time. If the elapsed time is equal to or longer than a predetermined time (hereinafter referred to as a measurement interval threshold), the predetermined communication URI 6 (in this embodiment, the domain name is www.inpit.go.jp) is sent to the spontaneous communication determination unit 6. And a communication request having the above-mentioned feature of the spontaneous communication request is transmitted. For specific examples of communication requests made by the measurement communication execution unit 3, see [3. The storage of communication environment information] will be described later.

  The measurement confirmation interval and the measurement interval threshold may be arbitrary values, and may be changed according to various conditions. When the measurement confirmation interval and the measurement interval threshold are large, the frequency at which the measurement communication execution unit 3 makes a communication request is low, and power consumption due to communication is suppressed. Moreover, if the measurement confirmation interval and the measurement interval threshold are small, the frequency at which the measurement communication execution unit 3 makes a communication request increases, and the freshness of the accumulated communication environment information is improved.

  When there is a request from the spontaneous communication determination unit 6, the standby state determination unit 5 inquires of the terminal control unit 120 whether or not the communication terminal 100 is currently in a standby state, and the result is sent to the spontaneous communication determination unit 6. return. That is, according to the request from the spontaneous communication determination unit 6, it is determined whether or not the user is in a standby state in which the user is not operating the communication terminal 100, and the result is returned.

  Based on the determination in the spontaneous communication determination unit 6 and the communication environment information accumulated in the storage unit 110, the selection unit 4 includes each communication means (3G transmission / reception unit 150, LTE / AXGP transmission / reception unit 160, WLAN transmission / reception) provided in the communication terminal 100. Unit 170) to select one communication means.

  Specifically, when the communication request is determined to be a spontaneous communication request in the spontaneous communication determination unit 6, from the accumulated communication environment information, among the latest communication environment information for each communication means, The measurement target which is the communication means targeted by the oldest communication environment information is selected. When the communication request is not determined to be a spontaneous communication request in the spontaneous communication determination unit 6, the communication request is changed to an optimum communication means according to the accumulated communication environment information. For details on the change to the optimum communication means, see [4. Selection of optimum communication means] will be described later.

  In addition, when the selection unit 4 selects one communication unit, a detailed flow including an exceptional case where there is a communication unit that cannot be connected to each communication unit included in the communication terminal 100 is [ 2. The response to the communication request] will be described later.

[2. (Response to communication request)
The response of the communication control apparatus 1 to the communication request will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. Both the communication request transmitted from the communication processing unit 140 and the communication request transmitted from the measurement communication executing unit 3 are handled as communication requests input to the communication control device 1 in the same manner.

  First, the communication request input to the communication control device 1 is received by the spontaneous communication determination unit 6. At that time, the spontaneous communication determination unit 6 inquires of the standby state determination unit 5 whether or not the communication terminal 100 is in the standby state, and confirms whether or not the communication terminal 100 is in the standby state. When the communication terminal 100 is in a standby state, information indicating that the communication is a spontaneous communication request is transmitted to the selection unit 4 together with the communication request (step 1, hereinafter, “step” is simply described as “S”). ).

  When the communication terminal 100 is not in the standby state, the spontaneous communication determination unit 6 determines whether or not the communication request has the characteristics of the above-described spontaneous communication request. When the communication has a feature of a spontaneous communication request, the spontaneous communication determination unit 6 transmits information indicating that the communication is a spontaneous communication request to the selection unit 4 together with the communication request. When the communication request does not have the feature of the spontaneous communication request, the spontaneous communication determination unit 6 transmits information indicating that the communication request is not the spontaneous communication request to the selection unit 4 together with the communication request ( S2).

  When the selection unit 4 receives information from the spontaneous communication determination unit 6 that the communication request is not a spontaneous communication request together with the communication request, the selection unit 4 determines the optimum communication according to the accumulated communication environment information. Select means. For the detailed flow, see [4. Selection of optimal communication means] will be described later (S3).

  When the selection unit 4 receives information from the spontaneous communication determination unit 6 that the communication request is a spontaneous communication request together with the communication request, the communication unit currently selected in the communication terminal 100 and the above-described measurement target are It is compared whether or not they match (S4).

  When the communication means currently selected in the communication terminal 100 does not match the measurement target, the selection unit 4 changes the communication means of the communication terminal 100 to the measurement target (S5).

  When the process of S5 is completed, and from the communication means currently selected in the communication terminal 100 in S4 and the accumulated communication environment information, the oldest communication among the latest communication environment information targeted for each communication means When the measurement target, which is the communication means targeted by the environmental information, matches, the selection unit 4 checks whether or not connection is possible using the current communication means (S6).

  When the connection is not possible by the current communication means, the selection unit 4 performs communication targeting the current communication means from the latest communication environment information targeted for each communication means from the accumulated communication environment information. The presence or absence of the next measurement target, which is the communication means targeted by the communication environment information next to the environment information, is confirmed. If there is no next measurement target, there is no connectable communication means at that time, so information that communication is impossible is returned to the communication processing unit 140, and the process is terminated (S7).

  When the next measurement target exists, the selection unit 4 changes the communication unit to the next measurement target (S8), and confirms whether or not connection is possible again (S6).

  Through the above processing, communication can be performed by the communication means targeted by the oldest communication environment information among the communication means that can communicate at the time of the spontaneous communication request.

  In S6, when the connection is possible by the current communication means, the communication based on the communication request is executed by the current communication means. At this time, the communication environment information generation unit 2 mirrors the communication and measures the throughput (S9). When the communication is completed, the communication environment information generation unit 2 acquires the current position information and time from the terminal control unit 120, and the communication throughput, communication means, communication target, and current position information (measurement). The point) and time (measurement time) are stored as communication environment information in the terminal database (storage unit 110) (S10).

  Through the above processing, the communication environment information about the communication means targeted by the oldest communication environment information among the communication means that can communicate at the time when the spontaneous communication request is made is updated.

  After storing the communication environment information in the storage unit 110, the communication environment information generation unit 2 compares the latest communication environment information for each communication means stored in the storage unit 110, and provides high throughput in the communication environment information. In the order shown, priorities are set for the communication means targeted by the communication environment information, and are stored in the latest communication environment information (S11).

  Through the above processing, the priority order of communication means is set according to the accumulated communication environment information. When the communication environment information generation unit 2 acquires the latest communication environment information for each communication means from the storage unit 110, the communication environment information with the measurement point away from the communication environment information to be compared is obtained. It may be excluded. In many cases, the throughput of communication at points far away from each other differs depending on the base station corresponding to the communication means at each point. Therefore, by excluding the communication environment information at a distance from the measurement point, the accuracy of the priority order of the communication means is improved. In addition, [3. Regarding the accumulation of communication environment information], when the communication environment information generation unit 2 acquires the latest communication environment information for each communication means from the storage unit 110, the communication environment information is measured from the communication environment information to be compared. The example which excluded the communication environment information which the point left | separated is shown.

[3. About accumulation of communication environment information)
The process of accumulating the communication environment information will be described with reference to the schematic diagram showing the accumulated communication environment information table shown in FIG. In the schematic diagram of FIG. 3, the first row indicates the names of the data in each column, and each column indicates information included in the above-described communication environment information except for the item number column. Further, a row in which “-” is entered in the throughput column indicates that the connection could not be made in S6 of FIG. 3 and is not actually recorded as communication environment information, but is similar to the communication environment information for explanation. Treat as information. In the generation of the communication environment information indicated by the table, the measurement confirmation interval and the measurement interval threshold are each 5 minutes.

  The communication environment information shown in the lines of item numbers 1 to 3 (hereinafter, when “item number” is described, it means “communication environment information shown in the line of the relevant item number”) is measured and communicated at the same point. This is information generated by the communication environment information generation unit 2 for communication based on the communication request made by the execution unit 3. Therefore, item number 2 and item number 3 are generated from the generation time of item number 1 with the measurement confirmation interval and the measurement interval threshold value of 5 minutes as intervals.

  Further, when the item number 1 is generated, the communication using the WLAN has the highest throughput, so the priority (WLAN) which is the priority of the WLAN is 1 which is the highest priority. At the time when item number 2 is generated, communication using 3G is measured, and the priority (3G) is 2 because the throughput is high next to communication using WLAN at the same point. At the time when item number 3 is generated, the communication means used for the communication for which throughput measurement has been performed are in the order of WLAN, LTE, and 3G. Therefore, the priorities are set in the same order.

  Item numbers 4 to 6 are communication environment information generated by measurement at points different from item numbers 1 to 3. In the setting of the priority order included in the communication environment information, communication environment information that is away from the measurement point is excluded from the communication environment information to be compared. Therefore, at the time when the item number 5 is generated, the item number 3 generated by the communication using LTE is not considered in the priority setting, and based on only the item number 4 and the item number 5, 3G, WLAN, LTE The priority is set in the order of. As a result, the point A shows a high throughput (see No. 3), but the point B shows a low throughput (see No. 6). It has succeeded in lowering at the time of generating.

  Item number 5 is generated by communication based on a spontaneous communication request that does not involve measurement communication execution unit 3 one minute after item number 4 is generated. Accordingly, for example, when the measurement communication execution unit 3 compares the time of the latest communication environment information stored in the storage unit 110 with the current time at 9:20, the previous communication environment information is generated. Since the elapsed time from the time is 4 minutes and falls below the measurement interval threshold, no communication request is made. However, when the measurement communication execution unit 3 compares the time of the latest communication environment information stored in the storage unit 110 with the current time at the time when the measurement confirmation interval has elapsed, for example, 9:25, Since the elapsed time from the time when the communication environment information is generated is 9 minutes and exceeds the measurement interval threshold, a communication request is made, and the communication environment information is generated as in item number 6.

  The measurement interval threshold and the measurement confirmation interval will be described in general as follows. That is, the measurement communication execution unit 3 does not make a communication request until the measurement interval threshold value elapses from the communication based on the spontaneous communication request not involving the measurement communication execution unit 3. On the other hand, it can be said that the communication environment information is generated within the time obtained by adding the measurement confirmation interval to the measurement interval threshold. Thereby, the time interval at which the communication environment information generation unit 2 generates the communication environment information can be kept constant while reducing the number of times related to the throughput measurement performed by the measurement communication execution unit 3.

  Item number 7 is generated at point C, which is a point different from item numbers 1 to 3 and item numbers 4 to 6. For this reason, the throughput of the item number 7 is not compared with the throughputs of the item numbers 1 to 3 and the item numbers 4 to 6, and the priority order of the communication means is set.

  Item number 8 is generated at point B, which is the same point as item numbers 4-6. Therefore, the priority order is set based on item number 4, item number 6, and item number 8, which are the latest communication environment information for each communication means at point B.

  Item number 9 and item number 10 are communication environment information generated when the communication by the WLAN cannot be performed and the communication by the WLAN cannot be performed in response to the spontaneous communication request not involving the measurement communication execution unit 3. At the time when item number 9 and item number 10 are generated, connection by LTE has failed. Further, as indicated by the item number 8 and the item number 10, compared with the case where the connection by 3G is performed at the point B, the communication by the WLAN having a low throughput is performed. However, the connection failure by LTE and the communication by WLAN are in response to a spontaneous communication request, and thus do not affect user recognition. In addition, it is possible to accumulate communication environment information for communication by WLAN with low throughput.

  Item numbers 12 to 14 are communication environment information generated when a communication request is made by the measurement communication execution unit 3 but there is no connectable connection means. At this time, after confirming whether all the communication means can be connected, the processing is terminated. As a result, in a situation where all the communication means cannot be connected, connection retry is not repeated.

[4. (Selection of optimal communication method)
A more specific flow of the process (S3 in FIG. 2) for changing the communication means of the communication terminal 100 to the optimum communication means will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. In this description, the priority order is the priority order of the latest communication means obtained from the accumulated communication environment information.

  When the selection unit 4 receives information from the spontaneous communication determination unit 6 that the communication request is not a spontaneous communication request together with the communication request, that is, when it is assumed that the communication request is a user operation, the selection unit 4 Determines whether the communication means with the highest priority matches the current communication means (S20).

  If the communication means with the highest priority does not match the current communication means, the selection unit 4 changes the communication means of the communication terminal 100 to the communication means with the highest priority (S21).

  Next, the selection unit 4 confirms whether or not the communication unit selected in S21 can be connected to the communication target (S22). If the connection can be made, this process is terminated (S24), and communication based on the communication request is started.

  If the connection cannot be made in S24, the selection unit 4 confirms the presence or absence of the next communication means having the second highest priority after the current communication means (S23). If the next communication means does not exist, there is no communication means that can be connected at that time, so information indicating that communication is impossible is returned to the communication processing unit 140, and the process ends (S24).

  When the next communication means exists, the selection unit 4 changes to the next communication means (S25), and checks again whether or not connection is possible (S22).

  As a result, communication based on a communication request assumed to be performed by a user operation is performed by the selected communication means according to the accumulated communication environment information, and the user can respond to the communication environment information from the start of communication. In addition, communication by a communication means having a high throughput can be enjoyed.

  Further, in this flow, as the priority order of the communication means, the latest communication environment out of the communication environment information including the position information indicating the same or approximate position as the position information at the time when the selection unit 4 received the communication request. The priority indicated by the information may be used. Thereby, even if a base station changes with positions, the communication control apparatus improves the accuracy of selecting an appropriate communication means at that position. That is, the possibility that the user enjoys communication showing high throughput is improved.

[5. (Summary)
A communication control apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention is a communication control apparatus for selecting one communication means from a plurality of communication means included in a communication terminal in response to a communication request from the communication terminal. Spontaneous communication determination means (spontaneous communication determination unit 6) for determining whether the communication request is a spontaneous communication request made by the communication terminal, and the communication request is determined to be a spontaneous communication request. A communication environment information generating unit (communication environment information generating unit 2) that measures the throughput of communication performed using each of the plurality of communication units and generates communication environment information indicating the throughput; Selecting means (selecting unit 4) for selecting one communication means in accordance with the communication environment information;

  According to the above configuration, when the communication terminal makes a communication request, the spontaneous communication determination means determines that the communication terminal is spontaneous when the communication request is a spontaneous communication request (spontaneous communication request) by the communication terminal. It is determined that this is a typical communication request.

  In addition, when it is determined that the communication environment information generation unit is a spontaneous communication request, the communication environment information generation unit measures the throughput of communication executed using each of the plurality of communication units based on the spontaneous communication request. Thereby, even when the communication means has a low throughput, communication environment information indicating the throughput is generated without the user being aware of a reduction in the communication speed. Then, one communication unit is selected by the selection unit according to the communication environment information.

  Therefore, the user can enjoy the communication by the communication means having a high throughput according to the communication environment information from the start of the communication intended by the user.

  Furthermore, the communication control device according to one aspect of the present invention is a standby state determination unit that determines whether or not the communication control device having the above configuration is in a standby state in which a user is not operating the communication terminal. (Standby state determination unit 5) may further be provided, and the spontaneous communication determination unit may determine that the communication request made by the communication terminal in the standby state is the spontaneous communication request.

  According to the above configuration, the standby state determination unit determines whether or not the user is in a standby state in which the user is not operating the communication terminal. The spontaneous communication determination means determines that a communication request made by the communication terminal in the standby state is a spontaneous communication request.

  Here, since the standby state is a state in which the communication terminal is not operated, no communication request is made by the user. That is, the communication request made in the standby state is a spontaneous communication request.

  Therefore, the accuracy of the determination performed by the spontaneous communication determination unit can be improved.

  Furthermore, the communication control device according to one aspect of the present invention is configured so that, in the communication control device having the above configuration, when a certain time or more has elapsed since the time when the communication environment information generation unit measured the communication throughput, You may further provide the measurement communication execution means (measurement communication execution part 3) which performs the communication for measuring the throughput of the communication to communication object.

  According to the above configuration, the measurement communication execution unit performs communication for measuring the communication throughput when the communication environment information generation unit has exceeded a certain time from the time when the communication throughput was measured. Run. That is, the communication environment information generating unit generates communication environment information at regular time intervals. This can prevent the communication environment information from becoming obsolete. That is, the freshness of the communication environment information can be kept constant.

  On the other hand, the communication environment information generating means also generates communication environment information even when a spontaneous communication request is made between the time when the measurement communication execution means measures the previous throughput and the time when the measurement is performed. For this reason, the measurement communication execution unit does not measure the throughput at the time when the measurement is performed after the previous throughput measurement. In other words, it is possible to reduce the number of times related to the throughput measurement performed by the measurement communication execution unit. In addition, the time interval at which the communication environment information generating unit generates the communication environment information can be kept constant.

  Therefore, it is possible to obtain communication environment information with a certain freshness while suppressing power consumption by communication for generating communication environment information.

  Furthermore, the communication environment information according to the communication control device according to an aspect of the present invention may include position information of the communication terminal.

  According to the above configuration, the communication environment information includes the position information of the communication terminal. Thereby, a selection means selects a communication means according to the positional information on the said communication terminal. Therefore, the selection means can select the optimum communication means in consideration of the position of the communication terminal.

  Further, the selection means according to the communication control apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention targets the oldest communication environment information among the latest communication environment information for each communication means in response to the spontaneous communication request. You may select the communication means to do.

  According to the above configuration, the selection unit selects the communication unit targeted by the oldest communication environment information among the latest communication environment information for each communication unit in response to the spontaneous communication request. That is, the communication executed in response to the spontaneous communication request is executed by the communication means targeted by the oldest communication environment information among the latest communication environment information for each communication means.

  At this time, the communication environment information generating means generates communication environment information indicating the throughput of the communication. That is, the communication environment information for the communication means targeted by the oldest communication environment information among the latest communication environment information for each communication means is updated.

  Thereby, it is possible to prevent the communication environment information targeted for a specific communication means from becoming obsolete. That is, the freshness of the communication environment information for each communication means can be maintained.

  At this time, since the communication is performed in response to the spontaneous communication request, the user does not recognize the influence of the communication throughput. Therefore, the freshness of the communication environment information for each communication means can be maintained without affecting the user's perception of the communication throughput.

  Furthermore, a communication control method for selecting one communication means from a plurality of communication means included in a communication terminal in response to a communication request from the communication terminal, wherein the communication request is a spontaneous A spontaneous communication determination step for determining whether or not the communication request is a natural communication request, and when the communication request is determined to be a spontaneous communication request, the communication request is executed using each of the plurality of communication means. A communication control method including a communication environment information generation step of measuring communication throughput and generating communication environment information indicating the throughput, and a selection step of selecting one communication means according to the communication environment information Are included in the scope of the present invention.

  Furthermore, a communication control program for selecting one communication means from a plurality of communication means included in the communication terminal in response to a communication request from the communication terminal, wherein the communication request is a spontaneous request made by the communication terminal. A spontaneous communication determination step for determining whether or not the communication request is a natural communication request, and when the communication request is determined to be a spontaneous communication request, the communication request is executed using each of the plurality of communication means. A communication environment information generating step for measuring communication throughput and generating communication environment information indicating the throughput, and a selection step for selecting one communication means according to the communication environment information. A control program is also included in the scope of the present invention.

[Embodiment 2]
(Example of software implementation)
Finally, each block constituting the communication control device 1 may be realized by hardware by a logic circuit formed on an integrated circuit (IC chip), or by software using a CPU (Central Processing Unit). It may be realized.

  In the latter case, the communication control apparatus 1 includes a CPU that executes instructions of a program that realizes each function, a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores the program, a RAM (Random Access Memory) that expands the program, the program, A storage device (recording medium) such as a memory for storing various data is provided. An object of the present invention is a recording medium on which a program code (execution format program, intermediate code program, source program) of a control program of the communication control apparatus 1 which is software for realizing the above-described functions is recorded so as to be readable by a computer. This can also be achieved by supplying the communication control device 1 and reading and executing the program code recorded on the recording medium by the computer (or CPU or MPU).

  Examples of the recording medium include a non-transitory tangible medium such as a magnetic tape and a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk / hard disk, and a CD-ROM / MO. Discs including optical discs such as / MD / DVD / CD-R, cards such as IC cards (including memory cards) / optical cards, semiconductor memories such as mask ROM / EPROM / EEPROM (registered trademark) / flash ROM Alternatively, logic circuits such as PLD (Programmable Logic Device) and FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) can be used.

  Further, the communication control device 1 may be configured to be connectable to a communication network, and the program code may be supplied via the communication network. The communication network is not particularly limited as long as it can transmit the program code. For example, the Internet, intranet, extranet, LAN, ISDN, VAN, CATV communication network, virtual private network, telephone line network, mobile communication network, satellite communication network, and the like can be used. The transmission medium constituting the communication network may be any medium that can transmit the program code, and is not limited to a specific configuration or type. For example, even with wired lines such as IEEE 1394, USB, power line carrier, cable TV line, telephone line, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) line, infrared rays such as IrDA and remote control, Bluetooth (registered trademark), IEEE 802.11 wireless, HDR ( It can also be used by radio such as High Data Rate (NFC), Near Field Communication (NFC), Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), mobile phone network, satellite line, and digital terrestrial network. The present invention can also be realized in the form of a computer data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program code is embodied by electronic transmission.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope shown in the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention. Furthermore, a new technical feature can be formed by combining the technical means disclosed in each of the embodiments.

  The present invention can be used for selecting a communication means of a so-called smartphone having a plurality of communication means such as 3G, LTE, and WLAN.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Communication terminal 1 Communication control apparatus 2 Communication environment information generation part (communication environment information generation means)
3 Measurement communication execution unit (Measurement communication execution means)
4 selection part (selection means)
5 Standby state determination unit (standby state determination means)
6 Spontaneous communication determination unit (spontaneous communication determination means)

Claims (5)

A communication control device for selecting one communication unit from a plurality of communication units included in a communication terminal in response to a communication request from the communication terminal,
Spontaneous communication determination means for determining whether the communication request is a spontaneous communication request made by the communication terminal;
When it is determined that the communication request is a spontaneous communication request, the throughput of communication executed using each of the plurality of communication means is measured, and communication environment information indicating the throughput is generated. Communication environment information generating means;
A communication control apparatus comprising: a selection unit that selects one communication unit according to the communication environment information. It further comprises standby state determination means for determining whether or not the user is in a standby state in which the user is not operating the communication terminal,
The communication control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the spontaneous communication determination unit determines that a communication request made by the communication terminal in the standby state is the spontaneous communication request.   A measurement communication execution means for executing communication for measuring the throughput of communication to a specific communication target when a predetermined time or more has elapsed since the time when the communication environment information generation means measured the communication throughput; The communication control device according to claim 1, comprising: a communication control device according to claim 1.   The communication control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication environment information includes position information of the communication terminal. A communication control program for selecting one communication means from a plurality of communication means provided in a communication terminal in response to a communication request from the communication terminal,
Spontaneous communication determination step for determining whether the communication request is a spontaneous communication request made by the communication terminal;
When it is determined that the communication request is a spontaneous communication request, the throughput of communication executed using each of the plurality of communication means is measured, and communication environment information indicating the throughput is generated. A communication environment information generation step;
A communication control program causing a computer to execute a selection step of selecting one communication means in accordance with the communication environment information.

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