JP2015088842A - Radio communication system, base station, and radio communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a radio communication system, base station, and radio communication method capable of preventing deviation and congestion of traffic to improve a user's convenience.SOLUTION: A radio communication system 100 has a representative configuration including: a radio terminal 102; an upper level exchange station 106; and a plurality of base stations 130, 140, 150 which are aggregated by the upper level exchange station 106 and communicate with the radio terminal 102 and upper level exchange station 106. When disaster occurs, the plurality of base stations 130, 140 transmit own station state signals of the respective stations to the upper level exchange station 106. And, the upper level exchange station 106 selects, for each base station, a type and degree of communication regulation on the basis of the own station state signals received from the base stations 130, 140, and transmits communication regulation notification for regulating communication between the radio terminal 102 and base stations 130, 140 to the plurality of base stations 130, 140.

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, a base station used therefor, and a wireless communication method.

  In a conventional wireless communication system comprising a wireless terminal, a wireless terminal, a higher-order switching center, and a plurality of base stations that are aggregated in the higher-order switching center and communicate with the wireless terminal and the higher-order switching center, The total amount of traffic was regulated by the upper exchange. In this case, since communication is restricted for each upper exchange, the traffic of all the base stations aggregated in the upper exchange is uniformly restricted, and wireless communication between each base station and the wireless terminal is restricted. The Rukoto.

  Such total traffic volume regulation has been executed even when, for example, base stations that have been completely destroyed by a disaster and base stations that have not been destroyed coexist. This prevents a secondary spillover accident in which the base switching center is damaged due to traffic bias or congestion of the base station, and prevents the damage from spreading due to the accident. It was to do.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a mobile communication switch and a communication network status notification system that create a message according to a communication status such as a switch failure or network congestion and display the message on a transmitting mobile device. This is to notify the wireless terminal of a situation such as a failure or congestion of the upper exchange, thereby suppressing unnecessary transmission from the wireless terminal side (user side) and suppressing congestion.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-285277

  As described above, the conventional traffic regulation is performed by regulating the total amount of traffic for each upper exchange, or by notifying the radio terminal side of the situation such as failure or congestion of the upper exchange office and transmitting from the radio terminal side. It was only to suppress. Therefore, depending on the failure status of each base station aggregated by the upper switching station, the base stations subject to communication restrictions are narrowed down, or detailed communication restrictions are applied depending on the failure status or communication area of each base station. There was an operational problem that could not be done. As a result, the user of the wireless terminal is restricted by communication restrictions more than necessary, and there is a problem in user convenience.

  In view of such problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication system, a base station, and a wireless communication method capable of preventing traffic bias and congestion and improving user convenience.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a typical configuration of a radio communication system according to the present invention includes a radio terminal, a higher-order switching center, and a plurality of bases that communicate with the radio terminal and the higher-order switching station that are aggregated in the higher-level switching station In a wireless communication system comprising a station, a plurality of base stations each transmit their own station status signal to a higher order switching station when a disaster occurs, and the higher order switching station uses the own station status signal received from the base station. A communication restriction notification for restricting communication between a wireless terminal and a base station is selected and transmitted to a plurality of base stations by selecting a type and degree of communication restriction for each base station.

  In the wireless communication system, when an own station status signal notifying the complete destruction or half destruction is received from at least one of the plurality of base stations, the upper exchange station The base station may be configured to transmit a communication restriction notification having a small restriction amount or to transmit a radio wave enhancement signal that enhances the radio wave intensity.

  Further, in the wireless communication system, when receiving the own station state signal notifying the complete destruction or the half destruction from at least one base station among the plurality of base stations, the upper exchange station, for the plurality of base stations, It is good to comprise so that the communication regulation which cuts off voice communication and enables only data communication may be applied.

  In order to solve the above problems, a typical configuration of a base station according to the present invention is that a base station that communicates with a wireless terminal and a higher-order switching center includes a state detection unit that detects its own state, and a state detection unit. A signal transmission unit that transmits the detected own station status signal to the upper exchange, a signal reception unit that receives a communication restriction notification for restricting communication between the wireless terminal and the base station, and a type of communication restriction And a control unit that selects a function to be regulated by the own station according to the degree.

  In order to solve the above problems, a representative configuration of a wireless communication method according to the present invention includes a wireless terminal, a higher-order switching center, and a plurality of bases that are aggregated in the higher-order switching center and communicate with the wireless terminal and the higher-order switching center. In a radio communication system comprising a station, when a disaster occurs, a higher-level exchange station restricts communication between a radio terminal and a base station for each base station based on the status of each of a plurality of base stations. And

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a wireless communication system, a base station, and a wireless communication method capable of preventing traffic bias and congestion and improving user convenience.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of a radio | wireless communications system. It is a sequence diagram which shows an example of operation | movement of a radio | wireless communications system. It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of operation | movement of a radio | wireless communications system. It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of operation | movement of a radio | wireless communications system.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The dimensions, materials, and other specific numerical values shown in the embodiment are merely examples for facilitating understanding of the invention, and do not limit the present invention unless otherwise specified. In the present specification and drawings, elements having substantially the same function and configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted, and elements not directly related to the present invention are not illustrated. To do.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the wireless communication system 100. A wireless communication system 100 according to the present embodiment includes a wireless terminal 102, a higher-order switching center 106, and a plurality of base stations 104 that are aggregated in the higher-order switching center 106 and communicate with the wireless terminal 102 and the higher-order switching center 106. Composed.

  In FIG. 1, for convenience of explanation, only one wireless terminal 102 and one base station 104 are shown, but actually, there are a plurality of similar wireless terminals 102 and base stations 104. Details will be described below.

  The base station 104 includes a communication unit 110 that communicates with the radio terminal 102 and the upper exchange 106, a control unit 112 that controls each device included in the base station 104 (that is, the own station), and the base station 104's own station state. It includes a state detection unit 114 for detecting, and a disaster detection unit 120 as a sensor for detecting disasters such as earthquakes and fires.

  The communication unit 110 includes a wireless communication antenna 110 a used for wireless communication with the wireless terminal 102, a signal reception unit 116, and a signal transmission unit 118. Wireless communication is performed between the wireless terminal 102 and the plurality of base stations 104 via the wireless communication antenna 110a, and wired communication using the signal transmission unit 118 and a dedicated line between the upper exchange station 106 and the plurality of base stations 104. I do. The control unit 112 includes a restriction type determination unit 122 that determines a restriction type based on a communication restriction notification from the upper exchange 106 and a restriction amount determination unit 124 that adjusts the restriction amount.

  Here, “regulation” refers to, for example, reducing the number, bandwidth, or number of communication lines in wireless communication between a wireless terminal and a base station, blocking voice communication or data communication, It means reducing traffic volume by limiting. In addition, it is possible to regulate such as blocking a long phone call or to regulate the strength of radio wave intensity.

  “Regulation type” means the type of restriction, and “judgment of restriction type” means to recognize one or more of the types of restriction.

  Next, a specific operation of the wireless communication system 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows an example of the operation of the wireless communication system 100 when a disaster occurs. In this example, the upper exchange 106 aggregates the base station 130 that can operate normally, the base station 140 that has been partially destroyed by the disaster, and the base station 150 that has been completely destroyed. Note that these base stations 130, 140, and 150 all have the same configuration as the base station 104 in FIG.

  Here, “total destruction” means, for example, a state where power is not supplied to the equipment in the base station, or a case where the antenna is completely damaged and does not function at all. “Semi-destructed” refers to a case where the operation state is limited to a certain degree due to partial damage of the equipment, for example, when only one of several antennas is damaged. Note that it is arbitrary how much damage is defined as “total destruction” and how much damage is defined as “half destruction”.

  First, when a disaster occurs, the disaster detection unit 120 which is a sensor inside each base station detects, for example, a vibration or a fire. Thereafter, the disaster detection unit 120 transmits an emergency notification to the upper exchange 106 via the signal transmission unit 118 of the communication unit 110 (step S200). However, the completely destroyed base station 150 is so damaged that an emergency notification cannot be transmitted.

  After transmitting the emergency notification, the normal base station 130 and the half-broken base station 140 each detect the state of the own station by the state detection unit 114 including various sensors (step S202). The completely destroyed base station 150 remains stopped because it cannot be operated.

  Here, the “own station state” means, for example, various information relating to the state such as the presence / absence of a failure in the equipment in the base station, the holding time of the power source, or the number of connections with respect to the upper limit number of connections.

  On the other hand, upper switching center 106 that has received the emergency notification from base station 130 and base station 140 transmits a simultaneous state request to all base stations (step S204). Even if the upper exchange 106 does not receive an emergency notification from each of the base stations 130, 140, and 150, the upper exchange 106 itself detects a disaster with an internal sensor, or receives disaster information from outside such as the Japan Meteorological Agency. It may be configured such that the simultaneous status request is transmitted voluntarily, for example, through acquisition.

  On the other hand, the base station 130 and the base station 140 that have detected their own station status each transmit their own station status signals detected by the status detection unit 114 to the upper exchange via the signal transmission unit 118 of the communication unit 110 ( Step S206). Since the own station status signal includes not only the presence / absence of a failure but also a warning of a status error such as a threshold error, it transmits even a normal base station. However, since the base station 150 that has been completely destroyed cannot operate, it cannot notify its own station state signal.

  The upper switching center 106 receives the own station state signal from the base station 130 and the base station 140, and stores the state of each of the base stations 130 and 140 (step S208). Thereafter, upper switching center 106 selects the type and degree of communication restriction for each base station based on the own station status signals received from base station 130 and base station 140 (step S210). A specific selection method will be described later.

  Then, upper switching center 106 transmits a communication restriction notification for restricting communication between wireless terminal 102 and base station 130 or base station 140 to base stations 130 and 140 based on the selected restriction type and level ( Step S212). Since the completely destroyed base station 150 is not subject to restriction, it does not need to be transmitted.

  The base stations 130 and 140 receive the communication restriction notification transmitted by the upper exchange 106 via the signal reception unit 116 of the communication unit 110, and the communication restriction is determined by the restriction type determination unit 122 of the control unit 112 based on the received signal. The restriction amount determination unit 124 recognizes the restriction amount (degree of restriction) of communication restriction.

  Recognizing the type and amount of communication restriction, the base stations 130 and 140 place communication restrictions on the wireless communication with the wireless terminal 102 by the control unit 112 and shift to the restriction state. (Step S214). Thereafter, each of the base stations 130 and 140 detects the own station state again by the state detecting unit 114 (step S216), and transmits the own station state signal to the higher-order switching center 106 (step S218).

  The upper switching center 106 that has received the base station status signal of each base station after the transition to the regulated state stores the base station status of each base station (step S220). That is, the previously stored base station state is updated.

  Thereafter, the base station 130 and the base station 140 periodically detect the own station state (step S222), and transmit the own station state signal to the upper exchange 106 (step S224). If the completely destroyed base station 150 is restored during this time, the base station 150 may be transmitted with its own state signal in a restored state. Also, the base stations 130 and 140 after having shifted to the restricted state may transmit the own station state signal only when a change occurs in the own station state.

  Thereafter, the upper exchange 106 stores (updates) the state of each base station (step S226), reselects the restriction type (step S228), and transmits a communication restriction notification to each base station (step S230). ).

  As described above, the operations after step S220 only repeat the same operations as in steps S208 to S218, and thus the description overlapping with the above is omitted.

  As described above, in the wireless communication system 100 according to the present embodiment, the upper exchange station 106 selects the type and degree of communication restriction based on the own station state signal received from the base stations 130 and 140, and performs communication for each base station. In order to apply restrictions, it becomes possible to narrow down the base stations that are subject to communication restrictions, or to apply fine communication restrictions according to the failure state or communication area of each base station.

  Therefore, traffic bias and congestion can be prevented, and user convenience can be enhanced.

  Further, as shown in steps S200 to S230, the wireless communication system 100 of this embodiment is integrated with the wireless terminal 102, the upper exchange 106, and the upper exchange 106, and communicates with the wireless terminal 102 and the upper exchange 106. As a communication method performed between the plurality of base stations 130, 140, and 150, the upper exchange station 106 at the time of a disaster occurs based on the state of each of the plurality of base stations 130 and 140 based on the own station state. Communication between the wireless terminal 102 and the base station 130 or 140 is restricted every time.

  Therefore, if the wireless communication method used by the wireless communication system 100 is used, the same operational effects as those of the wireless communication system 100 can be obtained.

  Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the base stations 130 and 140 that communicate with the wireless terminal 102 and the upper switching center 106 include a state detection unit 114 that detects its own station state, and a state detection unit 114. The signal transmission unit 118 that transmits the own station state signal detected by the mobile station to the upper exchange and the communication restriction notification that regulates communication between the wireless terminal 102 and the base station 130 or the base station 140 are received from the upper exchange 106. And a control unit 112 that determines a function to be regulated by the local station according to the type and degree of communication regulation.

  In this case, each of the base stations 130 and 140 transmits its own station state signal to the upper exchange 106, receives a communication restriction notification from the upper exchange 106 based on the own station state signal, In order to determine the function to be regulated by the own station, it is possible to apply appropriate communication regulation according to the failure state or communication area of another base station.

  Therefore, traffic bias and congestion can be prevented, and user convenience can be enhanced.

  Next, a method of selecting the restriction type by the upper exchange 106 will be described with a specific example. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the operation of the wireless communication system. First, as shown in FIG. 3, it is assumed that three base stations 130, 140, and 150 are aggregated for the upper exchange 106. FIG. 3A shows a state before the disaster occurs, and circular solid lines 160, 170, and 180 indicate ranges (areas) where radio waves of the base stations 130, 140, and 150 reach, respectively. As shown in FIG. 3A, in a normal state, each base station has an overlapping range of radio waves with the adjacent base stations.

  FIG. 3B illustrates a case where, among the base stations 130, 140, and 150 in FIG. 3A, the base station 140 is partially destroyed due to a disaster, and the base station 150 is completely destroyed. In this case, the solid line 180 in FIG. 3A disappears because the radio wave disappears when the base station 150 is completely destroyed. On the other hand, the solid line 170 becomes a reduced circular solid line 180 because the radio wave attenuates due to the base station 140 being partially destroyed.

  In such a situation, for example, for a normal base station 130, the above-described communication restriction notification from the upper exchange 106 includes a radio wave enhancement signal for enhancing the radio field intensity of the base station 130, or an upper exchange. A configuration in which the radio wave enhancement signal is transmitted from the station 106 to the base station 130 separately from the communication restriction notification can be employed.

  With such a configuration, the circular solid line 160 of the base station 130 in FIG. 3B can be changed to a circular broken line 200 with a larger radio wave area, and the base station 150 that has been completely destroyed and the base that has been partially destroyed The radio wave area of the station 140 can be covered.

  That is, the radio resources of the base station 130 with less damage can be used more effectively, and operation adjustment covering the communication area of the base stations 150 and 140 that are completely or partially destroyed is possible.

  In order to make such processing flexible, the location information of each base station 130, 140, 150 is stored in advance in the storage unit of the upper exchange station 106. For example, when the base station 150 is completely destroyed, the radio field strength of the base station 130 is increased. It may be configured such that the upper exchange 106 transmits a radio wave enhancement signal so as to strengthen the signal. That is, the mutual relationship (mutual assistance relationship) between the base stations may be set in advance. If such a setting is made, the upper exchange 106 can smoothly perform the process of complementing the radio wave area between the base stations 130, 140, and 150.

  Further, in the above embodiment, when the own station status signal notifying the complete destruction or the half destruction is received from at least one base station among the plurality of base stations 130, 140, 150, that is, the base stations 140, 150, the upper layer exchange is performed. The station 106 transmits a communication restriction notification to each of the plurality of base stations 130, 140, 150, and cuts off the voice communication between the base stations 130, 140, 150 and the wireless terminal 102, and only allows data communication. It is good also as a structure which applies the communication regulation.

  In voice communication, one wireless terminal occupies one channel, and constant data must always be transmitted and received. On the other hand, data communication can accommodate a plurality of wireless terminals in one channel, and a much larger delay is allowed than voice communication because packets are sequentially transmitted. In other words, the traffic burden of data communication is not as severe as that of voice communication.

  Therefore, more reliable communication can be realized by focusing on data communication where the burden of traffic is not severe.

  Next, how to adjust the regulation amount of each base station will be described. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the operation of the wireless communication system. As shown in FIG. 4, when a large number of base stations 250 to 266 are aggregated in the upper exchange 106, it is assumed that the base station 252 is partially destroyed and the base station 264 is completely destroyed by a disaster.

  Under such circumstances, the upper exchange 106 transmits a small communication restriction notification to the base stations 254 and 256 around the base station 252 that has been partially destroyed, and the base stations 258 and 258 around the base station 264 that has been completely destroyed. It is assumed that a smaller communication restriction notification is transmitted to 260 and 266 and a normal communication restriction notification is transmitted to the other base stations 250 and 262.

  The numerical values in FIG. 4 show an example when the upper limit of traffic during normal times is 100%. The arrows in the figure indicate the transition from the traffic limit before regulation after the disaster occurrence to the traffic limit after regulation (regulated state). Specifically, the base station 264 that has been completely destroyed is 0% in the pre-regulation stage, the base station 252 that has been partially destroyed is 50%, and the other base stations 250, 254, 256, 258, 260, 262, 266 is 100%.

  Here, the numerical value such as “˜%” is not limited to the numerical value based on the traffic upper limit, but whether the various maximum capacities of the equipment itself are 100% and whether the upper limit value is 70% or 50%. It can be understood in a broad sense. That is, if the maximum number of connections of equipment is 100%, the number of connections may be limited to the upper limit of 70%.

  In this situation, it is assumed that the upper exchange 106 transmits a communication restriction notification as described above. Then, the upper limit of traffic is restricted from 50% to 30% for the base station 252 that is partially destroyed, and the base station 264 that is completely destroyed becomes unreceivable for communication restriction notifications and remains 0% because it is not subject to restriction. On the other hand, the base stations 250 and 262 separated from the base station 252 that has been partially destroyed and the base station 264 that has been completely destroyed receive the normal communication regulation notification (minus 60%), and the traffic upper limit is regulated from 100% to 60%. . In addition, the base stations 254 and 256 around the base station 252 that has been partially destroyed receive a small communication restriction notification (minus 50%), the traffic upper limit is restricted from 100% to 50%, The base stations 258, 260, 266 receive a smaller communication restriction notification (minus 30%), and the traffic upper limit is restricted from 100% to 70%.

  In order to make such processing flexible, the base station remote from the base station 264 that has been completely destroyed or the base station 252 that has been partially destroyed by previously storing the position of each base station in the upper exchange 106 as described above. It is preferable that the higher-order switching center 106 can identify whether the base station is adjacent to the base station and transmit a communication restriction notification that differs for each base station.

  With this configuration, even if there is a completely destroyed base station 264 or a partially destroyed base station 252, a user who is in the communication area of the completely destroyed base station 264 or the partially destroyed base station 252 can have a completely destroyed base station 264 or a partially destroyed base station 252. The base stations 254, 256, 258, 260, and 266 adjacent to the base station 252 are suppressed to a restriction amount that is relatively easy to connect, so that it is easy to secure a connection environment.

  That is, the radio resources of the base stations 254, 256, 258, 260, and 266 that are less damaged can be used more effectively, and operation adjustment that covers the communication area of the base stations 264 and 252 that are completely or partially destroyed is possible. .

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described referring an accompanying drawing, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to this example. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

  The present invention can be used as a wireless communication system, a base station used for the wireless communication system, and a wireless communication method.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Wireless communication system, 102 ... Wireless terminal, 104 ... Base station, 106 ... Host exchange station, 110 ... Communication part, 110a ... Wireless communication antenna, 112 ... Control part, 114 ... State detection part, 116 ... Signal receiving part, 118 ... Signal transmission unit 120 ... Disaster detection unit 122 ... Regulation type determination unit 124 ... Regulation amount adjustment unit 130 ... Base station 140 ... Base station 150 ... Base station 160 ... Solid line 170 ... Solid line 180 ... solid lines, 250, 252, 254, 256, 258, 260, 262, 264, 266 ... base stations

Claims (5)

In a wireless communication system comprising a wireless terminal, an upper exchange, and a plurality of base stations that are aggregated in the upper exchange and communicate with the wireless terminal and the upper exchange,
The plurality of base stations each transmit their own station status signal to the upper switching station when a disaster occurs,
The upper switching center selects a communication restriction type and degree for each base station based on the own station status signal received from the base station, and restricts communication between the wireless terminal and the base station. Is transmitted to the plurality of base stations.   When receiving the own station status signal notifying that the base station is completely or partially destroyed from at least one base station among the plurality of base stations, the upper exchange station The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the communication restriction notification having a small restriction amount is transmitted to a station, or a radio wave enhancement signal for enhancing the radio wave intensity is transmitted.   When the host station signal is received from at least one base station of the plurality of base stations to notify the complete or half-destructed state, the higher order switching center cuts off the voice communication to the plurality of base stations. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein communication restriction that allows only data communication is applied. In the base station that communicates with the wireless terminal and the upper exchange,
A state detector for detecting the own station state;
A signal transmission unit for transmitting the state signal detected by the state detection unit to the upper exchange,
A signal receiving unit that receives a communication restriction notification for restricting communication between the wireless terminal and the base station from the higher-order switching center;
According to the type and degree of communication restriction, a control unit that determines the function to be restricted by the own station;
A base station comprising: In a wireless communication method performed between a wireless terminal, an upper exchange, and a plurality of base stations that are aggregated in the upper exchange and communicate with the wireless terminal and the upper exchange,
A radio communication method characterized in that, when a disaster occurs, the upper exchange station restricts communication between the radio terminal and the base station for each base station based on the status of each of the plurality of base stations.

Images