JP2015012549A - Access point, program and method for controlling connection upper limit number for each network identifier according to backhaul communication quality - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique for obtaining a sufficient throughput if wireless network quality on the backhaul side becomes unstable while wireless LAN communication quality is continuously stable.SOLUTION: An access point includes: connection count management means for managing a number of current connections of lower-level stations currently in connection and a connection upper limit number of connectable lower-level stations, on the basis of each network identifier; first communication quality measurement means for measuring first communication quality to an upper-level station through a first wireless link; connection upper limit number update means for updating the connection upper limit number for each network identifier according to the first communication quality; and connection restriction control means for controlling connection non-permission or disconnection to the lower-level station, according to the number of current connections to the connection upper limit number, on the basis of each network identifier.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique of an access point that restricts connection from a terminal via a wireless local area network (LAN).

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram in which an access point is arranged between a terminal and an access network.

  With the spread of broadband in mobile environments and the expansion of the use of various applications, general-purpose and inexpensive access points for wireless LANs have become widespread. According to FIG. 1, a plurality of terminals 3 can communicate with the access point 1 via a wireless LAN. The terminal 3 can recognize the existence of the access point 1 by receiving a beacon signal periodically (for example, 100 ms) distributed from the access point 1. According to FIG. 1, the access point 1 provides a plurality of frequency bands (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) and a plurality of SSIDs (Service Set Identifiers, network identifiers) to the wireless LAN. The terminal 3 can select a frequency band and an SSID according to the purpose.

  The access point 1 is connected to an edge device (for example, a base station) 2 of the access network via a wireless backhaul network. The backhaul side network (WAN (Wide Area Network)) may be WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), 3G (3rd Generation), or LTE (Long Term Evolution).

  The edge device 2 that connects the backhaul side network connects to the Internet via the access network of the communication carrier. The terminal 3 can access the server 4 via the access network and the Internet via the access point 1 and the edge device 2.

  According to the prior art, there is a technique in which an access point monitors a communication band currently in use in a wireless LAN, and restricts connection from a terminal when the communication band exceeds a predetermined threshold (for example, Patent Documents). 1). According to this technology, when the access point cannot sufficiently secure the communication band of the wireless LAN, the access point suppresses a connection response to the connection request via the wireless LAN or transmits a forced disconnection request to a predetermined number of terminals. To do.

  For the access point, when the communication band currently used in the wireless LAN exceeds a predetermined threshold, the communication frame including the error is intermittently transmitted to the terminal having the weakest communication radio wave among the terminals in communication. There is a technique (see, for example, Patent Document 2). According to this technology, the terminal is caused to determine that the communication radio wave condition has deteriorated. Thereby, the terminal can switch the access point of the communication partner by the roaming function.

  Furthermore, there is a technique in which an access point preferentially controls communication traffic in the downlink direction based on a MAC (Media Access Control) address of a wireless terminal (see, for example, Patent Document 3). According to this technique, the access point includes information for identifying the SSID for each priority class in a beacon signal that is constantly broadcast. Then, the wireless terminal performs an association for the SSID for each priority class with respect to the access point, and the access point preferentially controls uplink communication traffic from the terminal.

  Furthermore, according to IEEE802.11e, there is a technique for setting different EDCA parameters for each SSID based on a wireless LAN system based on EDCA (Enhanced Distributed Channel Access) (see, for example, Patent Document 4). According to this technique, the access point can execute priority control in a finer unit than the four-stage priority control that can be set for one SSID.

JP 2008-011068 A JP 2009-118321 A JP 2007-028210 A JP 2006-211362 A

  According to the system shown in FIG. 1, the access point 1 is not limited to the terminal-side network, and a wireless section is also provided in the backhaul network. For this reason, the deterioration of communication quality in the backhaul side network also affects the throughput in the terminal side network. That is, even if the communication quality of the wireless LAN is always stable, if the communication quality of the backhaul network becomes unstable, there is a problem that sufficient throughput cannot be obtained in the terminal network.

For example, various terminals are connected to the access point as follows.
・ Terminals that can only be connected to the wireless LAN ・ Business terminals with high connection priority ・ Terminals with communication interfaces other than the wireless LAN Here, the inventors deteriorated the communication quality of the backhaul network at the access point. In some cases, the access point thought that communication should be restricted according to the connection purpose of each terminal.

  That is, it is preferable to connect to a terminal equipped with another communication interface such as 3G using another communication interface without intentionally continuing communication with the wireless LAN. The terminal can immediately switch to another communication interface such as 3G by receiving a connection rejection or disconnection request from the access point of the wireless LAN. That is, by distributing the communication network from the terminals, it is possible to improve the perceived speed of the user who operates the terminals.

  On the other hand, for terminals that can only be connected to a wireless LAN, the wireless LAN connection should be maintained as much as possible even if the throughput decreases. Furthermore, it is preferable to maintain communication with a throughput as high as possible for the business terminal via the wireless LAN.

  According to the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 to 4, the number of connectable terminals is limited by the communication quality of the wireless LAN, but the communication quality of the backhaul side network is not considered at all. In particular, according to the technique described in Patent Literature 4, priority control cannot be executed for a wireless terminal that does not comply with IEEE 802.11e.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an access point, a program, and a method for controlling the connection of a lower station according to the connection purpose according to the communication quality with respect to the upper station.

According to the present invention, in an access point that connects to an upper station via a first radio link and connects to a lower station using a plurality of network identifiers via a second radio link,
For each network identifier, a connection number management means for managing the current connection number of the currently connected lower station and the upper limit connection number of connectable lower stations,
First communication quality measuring means for measuring the first communication quality via the first wireless link to the upper station;
Connection upper limit number updating means for updating the connection upper limit number for each network identifier in accordance with the first communication quality;
Each network identifier includes connection restriction control means for controlling connection disapproval or disconnection to a lower station according to the current number of connections with respect to the connection upper limit number.

According to another embodiment of the access point of the present invention,
The access point can use a plurality of frequency bands as a second radio link to a lower station,
It is also preferable that the connection number management unit, the connection upper limit number updating unit, and the connection limit control unit operate for each combination of the network identifier and the frequency band.

According to another embodiment of the access point of the present invention,
It is also preferable that the connection restriction control means controls connection disapproval or disconnection to a lower station so that the current connection number is equal to or less than the connection upper limit number.

According to another embodiment of the access point of the present invention,
The connection number management means has presence / absence of forced disconnection for each network identifier,
When the connection restriction control means transmits a disconnection request to a lower station to control disconnection, it is also preferable to transmit a disconnection request only to a lower station that is forcibly disconnected.

According to another embodiment of the access point of the present invention,
The connection number management means has a priority according to the connection purpose for each network identifier,
When the connection restriction control means transmits a disconnection request to the lower station to control disconnection, it is also preferable to transmit the disconnection request in order from the lower priority station.

According to another embodiment of the access point of the present invention,
The communication quality measuring means measures RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication / Indicator) and / or CINR (Carrier to Interference and Noise Ratio) as communication quality,
It is also preferable that the connection upper limit number updating unit updates the connection upper limit number so that the RSSI and / or CINR is lower.

According to another embodiment of the access point of the present invention,
The first wireless link is WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), 3G (3rd Generation) or LTE (Long Term Evolution),
The second wireless link is preferably a wireless local area network (LAN).

According to the present invention, it is mounted on an access point that connects to an upper station via a first wireless link and connects to a lower station using a plurality of network identifiers via a second wireless link. In a program that causes a computer to function,
For each network identifier, a connection number management means for managing the current connection number of the currently connected lower station and the upper limit connection number of connectable lower stations,
First communication quality measuring means for measuring the first communication quality via the first wireless link to the upper station;
Connection upper limit number updating means for updating the connection upper limit number for each network identifier in accordance with the first communication quality;
For each network identifier, the computer is caused to function as connection restriction control means for controlling connection disapproval or disconnection to a lower station in accordance with the current number of connections with respect to the connection upper limit number.

According to the present invention, connection restriction of an access point that is connected to an upper station via a first radio link and is connected to a lower station using a plurality of network identifiers via a second radio link. In the control method,
For each network identifier, it manages the current number of subordinate stations currently connected and the upper limit number of connectable subordinate stations.
A first step of measuring a first communication quality via a first radio link to a higher-level station;
A second step of updating the upper limit number of connections for each network identifier according to the first communication quality;
For each network identifier, a third step of controlling connection disapproval or disconnection to a lower station according to the current number of connections relative to the upper limit number of connections is characterized.

  Therefore, according to the access point, the program, and the method of the present invention, it is possible to control the connection of the lower station according to the connection purpose according to the communication quality with respect to the upper station.

It is a system configuration diagram in which an access point is arranged between a terminal and an access network. It is a function block diagram of the access point in this invention. It is explanatory drawing showing the table of the connection number management part in this invention, and a connection upper limit number update part. It is explanatory drawing showing the measurement result in the communication quality measurement part in this invention. It is a sequence diagram in which connection is limited by the connection upper limit number in the present invention. It is a sequence diagram in which connection is restricted by forced disconnection in the present invention. It is a sequence diagram which transfers the frequency band of the terminal which transmitted the connection request. It is a sequence diagram which transfers the frequency band of a terminal by forced disconnection. It is explanatory drawing showing the service system to which this invention is applied.

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

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of an access point in the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a table of the connection number management unit and the connection upper limit number update unit.

  According to FIG. 2, the access point 1 is connected to the upper station (base station) via the first radio link and is connected to the lower station (terminal) via the second radio link. . The first wireless link may be, for example, WiMAX, 3G, or LTE (backhaul side network), and the second wireless link may be, for example, a wireless LAN (terminal side network). Further, the lower station is not limited to a terminal, and may be a mobile router that relays data.

  The access point 1 provides a plurality of SSIDs (network identifiers) and accepts connections from a plurality of terminals (lower stations) for each SSID. The wireless LAN may be provided in a plurality of frequency bands, for example, 2.4 GHz band and 5 GHz band. In this case, the access point 1 manages the number of connected terminals for each combination of frequency band and SSID.

  2 includes a connection number management unit 10, a backhaul side communication interface 11 including a first communication quality measurement unit 110, a terminal side communication interface 12 including a second communication quality measurement unit 120, A connection upper limit number updating unit 13 and a connection limit control unit 14 are provided. These functional components other than the communication interface may be realized by executing a program that causes a computer mounted on the access point to function. Further, the processing flow of these functional components can be understood as an access point connection restriction control method.

[Number of connections manager 10]
For each SSID (network identifier), the connection number management unit 10 manages the “current number of connections” of the currently connected lower stations and the “connection upper limit number” of the lower stations that can be connected (see FIG. 3). In addition, the current number of connections and the upper limit number of connections are managed at least for each SSID, and may be further managed by a frequency band, or may be managed for each access point. . The “connection upper limit number” is updated according to an instruction from the connection upper limit number updating unit 13. The access point can connect up to 253 terminals by wireless LAN according to the standard. However, communication quality deteriorates due to interference, and the maximum number of connections that can be used is about 30.

[First communication quality measuring unit 110]
The first communication quality measurement unit 110 measures the first communication quality via the backhaul network (for example, WiMAX serving as the first wireless link) for the base station (higher station). Here, the first communication quality may be RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication / Indicator) and / or CINR (Carrier to Interference and Noise Ratio). RSSI is the received signal strength. Generally, the longer the distance, the weaker the RSSI. CINR is a carrier level-to-interference noise ratio, and represents the influence of other interference noises around the carrier wave. The measured first communication quality is output to the connection upper limit number updating unit 13.

[Second communication quality measuring unit 120]
The second communication quality measuring unit 120 measures the second communication quality via the wireless LAN (second wireless link) for each terminal (lower station). Here, the second communication quality may be “no communication time” for each MAC (Media Access Control) address. Conversely, it may be “connection time”. Further, it may further include the total communication data amount and the communication data amount for the latest one minute. The measured second communication quality is output to the connection restriction control unit 14.

[Upper Connection Number Update Unit 13]
The connection upper limit number updating unit 13 updates the “connection upper limit number” for each SSID according to the first communication quality. Further, in correspondence with the connection number management unit 10, the connection upper limit number may be updated for each combination of frequency band and SSID, and for each access point. According to the connection upper limit number updating unit 13, the first communication quality (for example, RSSI and / or CINR) of the backhaul side network for each SSID or for each combination of frequency band and SSID (and for each access point). ) Becomes better, the upper limit of connections increases, and the number of connections of terminals on the wireless LAN side increases. Conversely, as the first communication quality of the backhaul network degrades, the upper limit number of connections decreases, and the number of connections of terminals on the wireless LAN side is limited.

  According to FIG. 3, as the table of the connection upper limit number updating unit 13, the “connection upper limit number” “priority” on the wireless LAN side according to the communication quality of the backhaul side network for each frequency band and SSID corresponding to the connection application. "And" forced disconnection "are shown.

According to the “upper limit number of connections”, the communication quality of the backhaul network is classified into levels A (good) to D (poor). For example, the 2.4 GHz band SSID 1 is set as follows.
(Level A (good)) Maximum number of connections = 20 (Level B (semi-good)) Maximum number of connections = 15 (level C (semi-poor)) Maximum number of connections = 10 (level D (poor)) Maximum number of connections Number = 5

The “priority” is set according to the connection usage for each frequency band and SSID.
The SSID for a terminal connected for business use has the highest priority.
Next, the SSID for a terminal that can only be connected to a wireless LAN has a high priority because it has no function for connecting to a network other than the wireless LAN.
On the other hand, SSID for a terminal having a function of connecting to another network such as 3G, such as a smartphone, has a low priority. That is, when the communication quality of the backhaul side network deteriorates, control is performed to connect to another network as much as possible.
The priority is provided for each SSID corresponding to a plurality of service qualities in the wireless LAN. For example, different priorities are assigned to an SSID for a paid wireless LAN connection service and an SSID for a free wireless LAN connection service.

  “Forced disconnection” is a control for forcibly disconnecting the wireless LAN and connecting to another network even though the wireless LAN is already connected. According to FIG. 3, the SSID for a terminal having a function of connecting to another network such as 3G, such as a smartphone, is set to “forced disconnection = present”.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a measurement result in the communication quality measuring unit in the present invention.

  The first communication quality measurement unit 110 in FIG. 4 measures RSSI (dBm) and CINR (dB), and the communication quality levels A to D of the backhaul side network are determined based on the measurement results. The better the both RSSI and CINR, the higher the level A, and vice versa.

The second communication quality measurement unit 120 in FIG. 4 performs “no communication time”, “connection time”, “total” for each MAC address of the connected terminal for each SSID (or for each combination of frequency and SSID). The “communication data amount” and the “communication data amount for the latest one minute” are measured. Here, among a plurality of terminals connected via a wireless LAN, the predetermined condition is used for selecting in order from terminals that are not actively communicating.
A terminal with a longer “no communication time” means that user data has not been transmitted or received, or that the terminal has moved to a distance where it cannot communicate with the wireless LAN.
A terminal with a longer “connection time” means that the time has passed since the terminal was connected. A terminal with a smaller “total communication data amount” or “communication data amount for the last minute” communicates more actively. It can be judged that it is not. For example, when there are a plurality of terminals with the longest non-communication time, the terminal with the smallest communication amount for the latest one minute is selected.

[Connection restriction control unit 14]
The connection restriction control unit 14 determines the number of current connections of terminals (lower stations) connected via the wireless LAN (first wireless link) for each SSID (or for each combination of frequency band and SSID, or for each access point). When the connection request is received from the terminal when the value is equal to or greater than the “maximum number of connections”, the terminal is not permitted to connect.
When the current connection number> the connection upper limit number, connection is not permitted and disconnection control is performed.
When the current number of connections = the maximum number of connections, connection is not permitted and disconnection control is not performed.
When the number of current connections <the upper limit of connections, connection is not permitted and disconnection control is not performed.
The disconnection control is executed based on the “forced disconnection” setting of the connection upper limit update unit 13.

  FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram in which connections are limited by the upper limit number of connections in the present invention.

(S11) First, a first wireless link is established between the access point 1 and the edge device 2 via the backhaul network. The first communication quality is assumed to be relatively “good”.
(S12) The terminal 3 transmits a probe request to the access point 1 via the wireless LAN.
(S13) The access point 1 determines whether the current number of connections through the wireless LAN is equal to or greater than the connection upper limit number for the SSID (or combination of frequency band and SSID, or access point) of the terminal 3 that has transmitted the probe request. Determine.
(S14) If the access point 1 is determined to be false in S13, the access point 1 returns a probe response to the terminal 3 to permit the connection.
(S15) An authentication and association request and response are transmitted and received between the terminal 3 and the access point 1, and a second wireless link is established via the wireless LAN.

(S21) After S15, it is assumed that the first communication quality in the first radio link of the backhaul network between the access point 1 and the edge device 2 is relatively “degraded”.
(S22) At this time, the access point 1 updates so as to reduce the upper limit number of connections (see FIG. 3 described above).
(S23) Thereafter, the terminal 3 transmits a probe request to the access point 1 via the wireless LAN.
(S24) The access point 1 determines whether the current number of connections through the wireless LAN is equal to or greater than the connection upper limit number for the SSID (or combination of frequency band and SSID or access point) of the terminal 3 that has transmitted the probe request. Determine.
(S25) If the access point 1 is determined to be true by S24, the access point 1 does not return a probe response to the terminal 3 so as to disallow the connection. As a result, the access point 1 restricts newly connected terminals.
(S26) After that, after transmitting the probe request in S23, the terminal 3 recognizes that the connection is not permitted from the access point 1 due to a timeout, and transmits a connection request to another 3G network, for example. Can do.

  FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram in which connection is restricted by forced disconnection in the present invention.

(S31) First, a first wireless link is established between the access point 1 and the edge device 2 via the backhaul network. The first communication quality is assumed to be relatively “good”.
(S32) The access point 1 determines whether the number of current connections via the wireless LAN is equal to or greater than the connection upper limit for each SSID (or for each combination of frequency band and SSID, or for each access point). Here, all SSIDs are determined to be false, and no processing is performed.

(S41) It is assumed that the first communication quality in the backhaul network of the access point 1 is relatively “degraded”.
(S42) At this time, the access point 1 updates so as to reduce the upper limit number of connections (see FIG. 3 described above).
(S43) Next, the access point 1 determines whether the number of current connections via the wireless LAN is equal to or greater than the upper limit number of connections for each SSID (or for each combination of frequency band and SSID, or for each access point). To do.

  (S44) The access point 1 selects the “forced disconnection” SSID determined to be true in S43 (see FIG. 3 described above). The access point 1 transmits a disconnection (deauthentication release) request in order from the terminal 3 with “forced disconnection”. When the 2.4 GHz band and the 5 GHz band are available, the 2.4 GHz band is selected in order from the terminal that can be forcibly disconnected. This is because in the existing wireless LAN, the 2.4 GHz band is in a situation where wireless resources are tighter than the 5 GHz band. Furthermore, when the priority according to the connection purpose is set, it selects in order from a terminal with a low priority. For example, a terminal that can be connected to another network such as a smartphone is selected.

(S45) The access point 1 transmits a disconnection (authentication release) request to the selected terminal 3.
(S46) On the other hand, the terminal 3 that has received the disconnection request transmits an authentication request to the access point 1 again. However, the access point 1 does not send back an authentication response.
(S47) Thereafter, the terminal can recognize that the connection is not permitted from the access point 1 due to a timeout, and can transmit a connection request to another 3G network, for example.

  FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram for shifting the frequency band of the terminal that transmitted the connection request.

First, it is assumed that the terminal 3 is connected to the 2.4 GHz band of the wireless LAN.
(S51) It is assumed that the first communication quality in the first wireless link of the backhaul network is relatively “deteriorated” between the access point 1 and the edge device 2.
(S52) The terminal 3 transmits a probe request to the access point 1 via the wireless LAN.
(S53) Whether the number of current connections via the wireless LAN is greater than or equal to the upper limit number of connections for the SSID (or combination of frequency band and SSID, or access point) of the terminal 3 that has transmitted the probe request. Determine.
(S54) If the access point 1 is determined to be true in S53, the access point 1 does not return a probe response to the terminal 3 so as to disallow the connection. As a result, the access point 1 restricts newly connected terminals in the 2.4 GHz band.

(S61) Then, after transmitting the probe request in S52, the terminal 3 recognizes that the connection is not permitted from the access point 1 due to a timeout, and transmits the probe request to the 5 GHz band of the wireless LAN.
(S62) The access point 1 determines whether the current number of connections through the wireless LAN is equal to or greater than the connection upper limit number for the SSID (or combination of frequency band and SSID, or access point) of the terminal 3 that transmitted the probe request. Determine.
(S63) If the access point 1 is determined to be false in S62, an authentication and association request and response are transmitted / received between the terminal 3 and the access point 1 in the 5 GHz band, and the second through the wireless LAN. A radio link is established.

  FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram for shifting the frequency band of the terminal by forced disconnection.

First, it is assumed that the terminal 3 is connected to the 2.4 GHz band of the wireless LAN.
(S71) It is assumed that the first communication quality in the backhaul network of the access point 1 is relatively “degraded”.
(S72) At this time, the access point 1 updates so as to reduce the upper limit number of connections (see FIG. 3 described above).
(S73) Next, the access point 1 determines for each SSID (or for each combination of frequency band and SSID, or for each access point) whether or not the current number of connections via the wireless LAN is equal to or greater than the upper limit number of connections. To do.
(S74) The access point 1 selects the “forced disconnection” SSID determined to be true in S73 (see S44 in FIG. 6 described above).
(S75) The access point 1 transmits a disconnection (deauthorization) request to the selected terminal 3.
(S76) On the other hand, the terminal 3 that has received the disconnection request transmits an authentication request to the access point 1 again. However, the access point 1 does not send back an authentication response.

(S81) Then, after transmitting the authentication request in S76, the terminal 3 recognizes that the connection is not permitted from the access point 1 due to a timeout, and transmits a probe request to the 5 GHz band of the wireless LAN.
(S82) The access point 1 determines whether the current number of connections through the wireless LAN is equal to or greater than the connection upper limit number for the SSID (or combination of frequency band and SSID, or access point) of the terminal 3 that has transmitted the probe request. Determine.
(S83) If the access point 1 is determined to be false in S62, an authentication and association request and response are transmitted / received between the terminal 3 and the access point 1 in the 5 GHz band, and the second through the wireless LAN. A radio link is established.

  FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a service system to which the present invention is applied.

  According to FIG. 9, the access point 1 is installed in the vehicle. Further, in the vehicle, a large number of terminals 3 operated by the user can be connected to the access point 1 via the wireless LAN. The access point 1 is connected to an external base station as a backhaul network. Therefore, even if the communication quality between the access point 1 and the terminal 3 is relatively good, the communication quality of the backhaul side network of the access point 1 deteriorates depending on the traveling position of the vehicle.

  In particular, when a vehicle such as a train arrives at a station and a large number of passengers get off, a large number of terminals 3 remain connected without being disconnected from the access point 1. Often becomes. For this reason, the access point 1 tries to maintain a radio link of a terminal that does not exist under its control, and generates a communication frame in vain. Such processing wastes the communication band of the wireless LAN and decreases the throughput in other terminals.

  On the other hand, according to the present invention, when the communication quality of the backhaul network of the access point 1 deteriorates, the access point 1 does not permit new connection to the terminal 3 and / or A disconnection request is transmitted to the terminal 3 having a predetermined condition. As a result, the terminals 3 can immediately switch to another communication interface such as 3G. That is, by distributing the communication network from the terminals, it is possible to improve the perceived speed of the user who operates the terminals. On the other hand, it is possible to perform communication with a throughput as high as possible to a terminal that is continuing wireless LAN communication.

  Further, according to the present invention, since the access point 1 can be controlled for each SSID (or for each combination of frequency band and SSID, or for each access point), the wireless LAN can be used according to the connection purpose. Priority can be controlled. In particular, when the communication quality of the backhaul network deteriorates, the access point controls the terminal such as a smartphone to connect to a communication interface other than the wireless LAN as much as possible.

  As described above in detail, according to the access point, program, and method of the present invention, it is possible to control the upper limit number of connections of the lower stations according to the communication quality for the upper stations.

  Various changes, modifications, and omissions of the above-described various embodiments of the present invention can be easily made by those skilled in the art. The above description is merely an example, and is not intended to be restrictive. The invention is limited only as defined in the following claims and the equivalents thereto.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Access point 10 Connection number management part 11 Backhaul side communication interface 110 1st communication quality measurement part 12 Terminal side communication interface 120 2nd communication quality measurement part 13 Connection upper limit number update part 14 Connection restriction control part 2 Edge device, Base station 3 terminal 4 server 5 cellular base station

Claims (9)

In an access point that connects to an upper station via a first wireless link and connects to a lower station using a plurality of network identifiers via a second wireless link,
For each network identifier, connection number management means for managing the number of currently connected lower stations currently connected and the upper limit number of connectable lower stations;
First communication quality measuring means for measuring first communication quality via a first wireless link to the upper station;
A connection upper limit number updating means for updating the connection upper limit number for each of the network identifiers according to a first communication quality;
An access point, comprising: a connection restriction control means for controlling connection disapproval or disconnection to the lower station according to the number of current connections with respect to the upper limit number of connections for each network identifier. The access point can use a plurality of frequency bands as a second radio link to a lower station,
The access point according to claim 1, wherein the connection number management unit, the connection upper limit number updating unit, and the connection limit control unit operate for each combination of the network identifier and the frequency band. The access point according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the connection restriction control unit controls connection disapproval or disconnection to the lower station so that the current connection number is equal to or less than the connection upper limit number. The connection number management means has the presence or absence of forced disconnection for each network identifier,
4. The connection restriction control unit, when transmitting a disconnection request to a lower-level station to control disconnection, transmits the disconnection request only to the lower-level station that has the forced disconnection. The access point described in. The connection number management means has a priority according to the connection purpose for each network identifier,
5. The access according to claim 3, wherein the connection restriction control unit transmits the disconnection request in order from a lower-order station having a lower priority when transmitting a disconnection request to a lower-level station to control disconnection. point. The communication quality measuring means measures RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication / Indicator) and / or CINR (Carrier to Interference and Noise Ratio) as communication quality,
The access point according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the connection upper limit number updating unit updates the connection upper limit number so that the RSSI and / or CINR is lower. The first wireless link is WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), 3G (3rd Generation) or LTE (Long Term Evolution),
The access point according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the second wireless link is a wireless local area network (LAN). A program for functioning a computer mounted on an access point that connects to an upper station via a first wireless link and connects to a lower station using a plurality of network identifiers via a second wireless link In
For each network identifier, connection number management means for managing the number of currently connected lower stations currently connected and the upper limit number of connectable lower stations;
First communication quality measuring means for measuring first communication quality via a first wireless link to the upper station;
A connection upper limit number updating means for updating the connection upper limit number for each of the network identifiers according to a first communication quality;
An access point program for causing a computer to function as connection restriction control means for controlling connection disapproval or disconnection to the lower station according to the number of current connections with respect to the connection upper limit number for each network identifier . In the access point connection restriction control method for connecting to the upper station via the first wireless link and connecting to the lower station using the plurality of network identifiers via the second wireless link,
For each of the network identifiers, the current connection number of the subordinate stations that are currently connected, and the connection upper limit number of subordinate stations that can be connected are managed,
A first step of measuring a first communication quality via a first radio link to the upper station;
A second step of updating the connection upper limit number for each network identifier according to a first communication quality;
A connection restriction control method for an access point, characterized in that, for each network identifier, there is a third step of controlling connection disapproval or disconnection to the lower station according to the number of current connections with respect to the upper limit number of connections. .

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