JP2016072710A - Communication control apparatus, terminal device, centralized management device, communication system, communication control method, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication control apparatus or the like which improves throughput of a wireless network in an environment where multiple access points and terminals which use the same frequency band are present.SOLUTION: A communication control apparatus 1 includes: terminal state acquisition means 3 for calculating positions and communication states of terminal devices 10 connected to the communication control apparatus and terminal state information relating to throughput; movement candidate selection means 4 by which, when total throughput of a total sum of throughput of the terminal devices is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, a terminal device meeting a predetermined condition is selected as a movement candidate terminal; throughput prediction means 5 for calculating a movement position that is a place where communication efficiency similar to a movement destination that is a position where improvement of communication efficiency can be expected can be obtained for such a movement candidate terminal that predictive total throughput exceeds the threshold value in the case where the movement candidate terminal is moved to the movement destination; and movement instruction means 6 for transmitting a movement instruction signal that presses movement to the movement position, to the move candidate terminal.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for improving throughput in a wireless communication network.

  In recent years, with the spread of small and portable access points, a large number of access points and terminal devices (hereinafter simply referred to as “terminals” in this specification) are concentrated in one place in a place where people gather. May be. In general, adjacent access points avoid radio wave interference by using different frequency bands. However, in the situation as described above, due to the large number of access points, it is not uncommon for adjacent access points to use the same frequency band. In an environment where there are many access points and terminals using the same frequency band, the terminal is known to have a reduced throughput due to a decrease in communication efficiency due to deterioration of radio wave transmission / reception conditions and congestion of access points. It has been. Here, the throughput represents the communication processing capability of the communication device per unit time.

  In the access point, there is a problem that the total throughput (wireless network throughput) of all the terminals connected to the access point decreases due to a decrease in the communication efficiency of the subordinate terminals.

  As a related technique for such a decrease in throughput, Patent Document 1 discloses that a plurality of portable wireless LAN access points do not interfere with each other and can easily obtain the optimum position of the access point that can ensure the required communication quality. A cellular phone network system is disclosed. In the system described in Patent Document 1, an operator arranges an access point so as to enter a communication area of at least one other access point. Then, the access points that can communicate with each other obtain the optimum position of the installation interval so that the overlapping of the cover areas of the access points becomes as small as possible by comparing the radio field strengths of each other by exchanging information. The access point informs the worker of the optimum position thus obtained. The operator can change the arrangement of the access points according to the optimum position notified from the access points.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a wireless access control method that enables simultaneous transmission by a plurality of transmitting stations by utilizing a capture effect while coexisting with a CSMA / CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access Collision Avoidance) scheme. Has been. Here, CSMA / CA is a collision avoidance algorithm widely used in wireless LAN. The capture effect is a phenomenon in which, when a plurality of terminals transmit simultaneously, a terminal having the largest SINR (Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio) among the transmitted terminals can communicate. In order to obtain the capture effect, there are conditions such that the terminal signal satisfies an SINR that is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold that varies depending on the communication speed.

  In the method disclosed in Patent Document 2, the receiving station notifies the transmitting station of the ratio between the desired signal power from the transmitting station and the interference signal power from other transmitting stations. Based on the notification from the receiving station, the transmitting station gives the same fixed back-off value to other transmitting stations that are likely to obtain the capturing effect, thereby generating the capturing effect. The fixed back-off value is a waiting time for adjusting the transmission timing in CSMA / CA. That is, when there is another transmitting station at a position where the capture effect is likely to be obtained, the transmitting station actively generates a capture effect with the other transmitting station, thereby enabling simultaneous transmission with the other transmitting station. It becomes possible.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a guidance system for selecting an access point to which a terminal newly connects. In the method disclosed in Patent Literature 3, the selection instruction device considers the communication status such as the position at a plurality of access points, the number of subordinate terminals, and the amount of traffic, and the movable range of the terminal, and Select the optimal access point as the connection destination. The selection instruction device determines the access point to which the terminal is connected so as to optimize (for example, maximize) the throughput of the entire access point or the entire system based on the throughput of the terminal derived from the distance between the access point and the terminal. You can choose.

  Further, in Patent Document 4, information is transmitted by repeatedly exchanging data with each communication terminal while the plurality of movable mobile communication terminals move in an environment where a plurality of communication terminals whose communication areas do not overlap are scattered. An information transmission system that realizes the above is disclosed. In the system disclosed in Patent Document 4, each mobile communication terminal cooperates so as to arrive at a predetermined set point at the same time, and obtains an optimum route that travels between the divided areas in the shortest distance. Information can be transmitted efficiently.

JP 2008-263282 A JP 2013-179555 A JP 2012-209822 A International Publication No. 2014/068915

  However, in Patent Document 1, there is a problem that access points are required to be spaced so as not to interfere with each other as much as possible. For example, when access point concentration occurs due to the gathering of people who have portable access points as described above, it is actually necessary to ask the owners of the access points so far away that the access points do not interfere with each other. Not right. That is, it can be said that the system described in Patent Document 1 is not effective for the situation described in the background art.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, there is a problem that the effect is limited because the method can be applied when there is a terminal at a position where a capture effect is likely to be obtained.

  Further, in Patent Document 3, when calculating the throughput of the entire access point or the entire system, it is based on the throughput of the terminal determined by the distance between the access point and the terminal. That is, the selection instruction apparatus described in Patent Document 3 does not consider the influence on throughput by other access points and terminals. Therefore, there is a problem that this selection instruction device cannot exhibit the expected effect because there is a high possibility that correct throughput cannot be calculated in an overcrowded environment where access points and terminals using the same frequency band interfere with each other. .

  Further, Patent Document 4 has a problem that the effect of improving the throughput cannot be obtained.

  One object of the present invention is to present information indicating a moving position that improves the throughput of a wireless network to a terminal in an environment where there are many access points and terminals (communication devices, etc.) using the same frequency band. An object of the present invention is to provide a communication control device and the like that can be used.

  In order to achieve the above object, a communication control apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes the following configuration.

That is, the communication control apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention is
Terminal state acquisition means for obtaining terminal state information including information representing the position, communication state, and throughput of each terminal device connected to the own device, and outputting the terminal state information;
When the total throughput, which is the sum of the throughputs of the terminal devices, is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, based on the terminal status information, selects a terminal device that satisfies a predetermined condition as a movement candidate terminal, and selects the movement candidate terminal Movement candidate selection means for outputting movement candidate information to be represented;
Based on the movement candidate information and the terminal state information of each terminal,
Find the predicted total throughput, which is the total throughput when moving the movement candidate terminal, to the destination where the improvement in communication efficiency can be expected,
For the movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput exceeds the threshold, obtain a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as the movement destination can be obtained,
Throughput prediction means for outputting movement position information representing the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal;
And a movement instruction means for transmitting a movement instruction signal for urging movement to the movement position to the movement candidate terminal based on the movement position information.

  In order to achieve the above object, a centralized control apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention is characterized by having the following configuration.

That is, the centralized control device according to one aspect of the present invention is
Information collecting means for receiving terminal state information including information representing the position, communication state, and throughput of each terminal device connected to each communication control device from a plurality of communication control devices;
For each of the communication control devices, a total throughput that is a sum of the throughputs of the terminal devices is obtained, and the communication control device having the total throughput equal to or less than a predetermined threshold is determined based on the terminal status information. A movement candidate selection means for selecting a terminal device satisfying the condition as a movement candidate terminal and outputting movement candidate information representing the movement candidate terminal;
Based on the movement candidate information and the terminal state information of each terminal, a plurality of positions where the communication efficiency of the movement candidate terminal may be improved in a network controlled by any of the plurality of communication control devices. As a destination candidate,
Obtain a predicted total throughput that is a total throughput when the movement candidate terminal is moved to each destination,
For the movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput exceeds the threshold, obtain a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as the movement destination can be obtained,
Throughput prediction means for outputting movement position information representing the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal for each movement candidate terminal;
And a movement instruction means for transmitting a movement instruction signal for urging movement to the movement position to each of the communication control devices connected to the movement candidate terminal based on the movement position information.

In order to achieve the above object, a communication control method according to an aspect of the present invention is performed by an information processing apparatus.
Obtain terminal status information including information representing the position, communication status, and throughput of each terminal device connected to its own device,
When the total throughput, which is the sum of the throughputs of the terminal devices, is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, a movement candidate selection process is performed to select a terminal device that satisfies a predetermined condition as a movement candidate terminal based on the terminal state information. And
Based on the movement candidate information representing the movement candidate terminal and the terminal state information of each terminal,
A throughput prediction process is performed to obtain a predicted total throughput that is a total throughput when the movement candidate terminal is moved to a destination where the improvement in communication efficiency is expected,
For the movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput exceeds the threshold value, a movement position selection process for obtaining a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as the movement destination can be obtained is performed.
A movement instruction for transmitting, to the movement candidate terminal, a movement instruction signal for urging movement to the movement position based on movement position information representing the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal. Execute the process.

  In addition, the object is to provide a computer program that implements the communication control device, the central control device, and the corresponding method having the above-described configurations by a computer, and the computer program that stores the computer program. This is also achieved by a storage medium.

  The present invention has an effect of improving the throughput of a wireless network in an environment where there are a large number of access points and terminals using the same frequency band.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of the communication environment in the communication system (1st communication system) which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating configurations of a communication control device 1 and a terminal device 10 according to a first embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the communication environment in the communication system (2nd communication system) which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the access points 100 and 200 which concern on 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which the access points 100 and 200 perform in 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the communication environment in the communication system (3rd communication system) which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the centralized control apparatus 300 and the access points 400 and 500 which concern on 3rd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which the central control apparatus 300 and the access points 400 and 500 perform in 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the structure of each computer (information processing apparatus) applicable to each embodiment of this invention, and the communication system which concerns on the modification.

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

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a communication environment in a communication system (first communication system) according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the communication system according to the present embodiment includes a communication control device 1 and a plurality of terminal devices (hereinafter simply referred to as “terminals”) 10.

  The communication control device 1 and each terminal 10 can communicate with each other via the wireless communication network 1000.

  The communication control device 1 and each terminal 10 are operated by a general information processing device (computer) that operates under the control of a computer program (software program) executed using a CPU (Central Processing Unit: not shown). It may be configured. Or each part of the communication control apparatus 1 and each terminal 10 may be comprised by a dedicated hardware device or a logic circuit. A hardware configuration example in which the communication control device 1 and each terminal 10 are realized by a computer will be described later with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating configurations of the communication control device 1 and the terminal device 10 according to the first embodiment. Referring to FIG. 2, the communication control device 1 includes a communication control unit 2, a terminal state acquisition unit 3, a movement candidate selection unit 4, a throughput prediction unit 5, and a movement instruction unit 6.

  The communication control unit 2 can communicate with each terminal 10 via the wireless communication network 1000.

  The terminal state acquisition unit 3 obtains terminal state information including information representing the position, communication state, and throughput T of each terminal 10 connected to the own device. For example, the terminal state acquisition unit 3 may obtain terminal state information by observing a signal emitted from each terminal 10. Alternatively, the terminal state acquisition unit 3 may obtain terminal state information from each terminal 10 or a communication device (not shown) via the communication control unit 2. The terminal state acquisition unit 3 outputs the obtained terminal state information to the movement candidate selection unit 4 and the throughput prediction unit 5.

  The movement candidate selection unit 4 satisfies a predetermined condition based on the terminal state information obtained from the terminal state acquisition unit 3 when the total throughput T_all, which is the sum of the throughputs T of the terminals 10, is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold th. The terminal 10 is selected as a movement candidate terminal. That is, the movement candidate selection unit 4 determines whether it is necessary to improve the total throughput T_all. After selecting the movement candidate terminal, the movement candidate selection unit 4 outputs movement candidate information representing the movement candidate terminal to the throughput prediction unit 5. Here, the movement candidate selection unit 4 may select a plurality of terminals 10 as movement candidate terminals.

  Note that the total throughput T_all, which is the sum of the throughputs of the terminals 10 subordinate to the communication control device 1, can be said to be “throughput of the wireless network” controlled by the communication control device 1.

  The throughput predicting unit 5 moves the movement candidate to a position where an improvement in communication efficiency can be expected based on the movement candidate information obtained from the movement candidate selecting unit 4 and the terminal state information of each terminal 10 obtained from the terminal state acquiring unit 3. The predicted total throughput Tp_all, which is the total throughput when the terminal is moved, is obtained.

  Specifically, first, the throughput predicting unit 5 is a position (hereinafter referred to as “destination”) where improvement in communication efficiency of a candidate mobile terminal can be expected in a communication environment in which a plurality of terminals using the same frequency band transmit at the same time. Is determined based on the terminal state information. For example, the throughput prediction unit 5 may use the position of the terminal 10 selected from the terminals 10 having better communication efficiency than the movement candidate terminal as the movement destination.

  Next, the throughput prediction unit 5 predicts the predicted throughput Tp, which is the throughput of the terminal 10 when the movement candidate terminal is moved to the determined movement destination, for each terminal 10 including the movement candidate terminal. Then, the throughput prediction unit 5 calculates the predicted total throughput Tp_all by summing the predicted throughput Tp of each terminal 10.

  When the throughput predicting unit 5 obtains Tp, each terminal 10 receives from the wireless communication network 1000 and a communication device belonging to another wireless network at the destination based on the communication state included in the terminal state information. A predicted total throughput Tp is calculated in consideration of the influence received.

  In the present embodiment, the throughput prediction unit 5 may apply a capture effect as an influence received by each terminal 10, for example. As described above in the background section, the capture effect is a phenomenon in which, when a plurality of terminals 10 transmit simultaneously, the terminal 10 having the largest SINR among the transmitted terminals 10 can communicate. That is, if a mobile candidate terminal with low communication efficiency moves to a position where it is easy to obtain a capture effect, improvement in communication efficiency of the mobile candidate terminal can be expected. As a method for obtaining the predicted Tp in consideration of the influence of the capture effect, several general methods can be adopted. Details of the calculation method of Tp will be described later.

  After obtaining the predicted total throughput, the throughput prediction unit 5 provides a location where the same communication efficiency as the destination is obtained (hereinafter, “movement position”) for the movement candidate terminals whose predicted total throughput Tp_all exceeds the threshold th. Called). For example, when determining the movement position, the throughput prediction unit 5 may use a place where a communication effect similar to that of the terminal 10 at the movement destination can be obtained as the movement position. Further, the throughput predicting unit 5 may repeatedly calculate the predicted total throughput Tp_all while adding the movement candidate terminals, for example, until the predicted total throughput Tp_all exceeds the threshold th.

  The threshold th is the predetermined threshold th when the movement candidate selection unit 4 evaluates the total throughput T_all. The throughput prediction unit 5 outputs to the movement instruction unit 6 movement position information indicating the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal.

  Based on the movement position information obtained from the throughput prediction unit 5, the movement instruction unit 6 transmits a movement instruction signal that prompts the movement candidate terminal to move to the movement position. That is, when there are a plurality of movement candidate terminals, the movement instruction unit 6 transmits a movement instruction signal for urging movement to each movement position for each movement candidate terminal.

  The terminal 10 includes a communication control unit 11, a movement instruction receiving unit 12, and an instruction information presentation unit 13.

  The communication control unit 11 can perform communication with the communication control device 1 via the wireless communication network 1000.

  The movement instruction receiving unit 12 can receive a movement instruction signal transmitted from the communication control device 1 via the communication control unit 11. The movement instruction receiving unit 12 outputs movement instruction information representing a movement position included in the movement instruction signal for the own device to the instruction information presenting unit 13.

  The instruction information presentation unit 13 presents the content included in the movement instruction information by a predetermined presentation method based on the movement instruction information obtained from the movement instruction reception unit 12.

  The instruction information presentation unit 13 may display, for example, a movement instruction and a movement position on a screen (not shown). In this case, the user of the terminal 10 reading the screen display can decide whether or not to move. Alternatively, the instruction information presentation unit 13 may output the content of the movement instruction information to a control unit such as a movable robot that holds the terminal 10, for example. In this case, if the control unit that has received the content of the movement instruction information determines that the movement is possible, the robot can be moved together with the terminal 10. In this way, if a user or the like who can move the terminal 10 moves the terminal 10 in accordance with the movement instruction information, the total throughput T_all (throughput of the wireless network) of the communication control device 1 becomes a predetermined threshold value. It is improved (improved) as described above.

  As described above, in this embodiment, even in an environment where there are a large number of communication devices using the same frequency band, the movement instruction information indicating the movement position that improves the throughput of the wireless network with respect to the terminal 10. Can be presented. And if the terminal 10 which received movement instruction information moves, as a result, the throughput of a wireless network can be improved.

  This is because the movement candidate selection unit 4 selects a movement candidate terminal that satisfies a predetermined condition when the throughput of the wireless network is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold th. Then, based on the predicted total throughput Tp_all after moving the movement candidate terminal, the throughput prediction unit 5 represents the movement position indicating the movement position for the movement candidate terminal whose predicted throughput of the wireless network is equal to or greater than the threshold th. This is because information is output. Therefore, if the terminal 10 with low communication efficiency moves to the movement position based on the movement instruction information, it can be expected that the throughput of the wireless network improves to the threshold th or more as predicted.

  Note that this embodiment can also be effective when there is a communication device that uses the same frequency band in addition to the wireless communication network 1000.

  The reason is that, when the throughput predicting unit 5 predicts the predicted total throughput Tp_all, the prediction is performed based on the communication state reflecting the influence of the communication device using the same frequency band.

  In addition, this embodiment has an effect that it is possible to present a moving position where communication efficiency is improved to the terminal 10 having low communication efficiency. And if the terminal 10 which received movement instruction information moves, as a result, the communication efficiency of this terminal 10 can be improved.

  The reason is that the movement candidate selection unit 4 can select a movement candidate terminal on the condition that the communication efficiency is low. This is because the throughput prediction unit 5 can employ a capture effect that can be expected to improve the communication efficiency of the movement candidate terminal as an influence on the movement candidate terminal. That is, the throughput predicting unit 5 can output the movement position information indicating the movement position where the movement candidate terminal easily obtains the capture effect. Therefore, if the terminal 10 with low communication efficiency moves to the movement position based on the movement instruction information, it can be expected that the communication efficiency of the terminal 10 is improved due to the capture effect.

Details of the method for calculating the predicted throughput Tp described above will be described below. Tp is calculated by, for example, F. Daneshgaran and three other authors, “Unsaturated Throughput Analysis of IEEE 802.11 in Presence of IEEE 802.11 in Presence of Non-Ideal 802.11 In Presence Non Ideal Transmission Channel and Capture Effects) ”, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, April 2008, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 1276-1286.

Where σ is an empty time slot. T _c is an average value of the time when the terminal senses channel busy due to collision. T _s is the average value of the time that the channel is occupied by an errored frame. T _s is an average value of the time when the channel becomes busy due to successful transmission. E [PL] is an expected value of the payload of data in the MAC layer. P _tr is a probability that transmission from a terminal is performed at least once in a certain time slot. _Pe is the probability that a packet error will occur when a certain terminal successfully transmits. P _s is the probability that one transmission succeeds due to the capture effect when exactly one terminal transmits and other terminals do not transmit, and even when multiple terminals transmit simultaneously. P _s is expressed by the following formula.

Here, τ is a probability that a certain terminal transmits in a certain time slot. n is the number of interfering terminals. P _cap is a capture probability. P _cap is represented by the following equation.

Here, z ₀ is a capture ratio. g (S _f ) is the processing gain of the interference signal. S _f is the length of the spreading code sequence per symbol in the physical layer. R _i is a probability that i interference frames are generated in a certain time slot. R _i is represented by the following formula.

Further, P _cap (z ₀ g (S _f ) | i) is a probability that satisfies the condition for causing the capture effect when the number of terminals interfering with each other is i. P _cap (z ₀ g (S _f ) | i) is represented by the following equation.

Here, γ is SINR. prob () represents the probability that the event in () will occur. The conditions under which the above-described capture effect occurs are expressed by the following equation.

Here, P _d is the power level of the received signal. P _k is the power level of the received k th interfering terminal.

According to Equations 2 to 6, the condition for the capture effect is when a plurality of terminals transmit simultaneously, and the SINR at the plurality of terminals at that time is the capture ratio z ₀ and the interference signal processing gain g. This is the case when it is larger than the product of (S _f ). As described above in the Background Art section, the SINR needs to satisfy a predetermined threshold as one of the conditions for obtaining the capture effect. That is, the capture ratio z0 corresponds to this predetermined threshold value. In the following description, “capture ratio z0” is described as “threshold z0”.

  In addition, each value required for the calculation of the above-described equations 1 and 2 can be obtained as terminal state information obtained by observing a signal emitted from each terminal 10 or a value given in advance.

  Tp can be calculated by the above series of equations.

In general wireless LAN terminals, methods other than directly giving the threshold z ₀ itself are known for the above calculation. In this method, the threshold z ₀ is based on a bit error rate, a frame error rate, and a packet error rate, or a bit error number, a frame error number, and a packet error number, which are measured values obtained by signal observation. Given indirectly.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment based on the above-described first embodiment will be described. In the following, the characteristic part according to the second embodiment will be mainly described, and the components of the second embodiment having the same configuration as the first embodiment are attached in the first embodiment. The same reference numerals as those of the reference numerals are attached, and the detailed description of the constituent elements is omitted.

  First, the configuration of the present embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a communication environment in a communication system (second communication system) according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing access points 100 and 200 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  The communication system according to the present embodiment is different from the first embodiment described above in that it includes two wireless LANs (Local Area Networks) 1001 and 1002 that use the same frequency band. In addition, the present embodiment includes access points (AP) 100 and 200 as specific examples of the communication control device based on the communication control device 1 in the first embodiment. The APs 100 and 200 are different from the communication control apparatus 1 of the first embodiment in that the APs 100 and 200 can instruct “transfer” to move a terminal as a subordinate of another AP as a movement position of the subordinate terminal.

  Referring to FIG. 3, the communication system according to the present embodiment includes APs 100 and 200, terminal devices (TE) 151 to 153, and TE 251.

  The communication system according to the present embodiment includes two wireless LANs 1001 and 1002 that perform communication using the same frequency band. The wireless LANs 1001 and 1002 correspond to the wireless communication network 1000 in the first embodiment. One wireless LAN includes one AP and one or more TEs connected to the AP by wireless communication. The wireless LAN 1001 includes an AP 100 that controls the wireless LAN 1001 and TEs 151 to 153 that are connected to the AP 100. The wireless LAN 1002 includes an AP 200 that controls the wireless LAN 1002 and a TE 251 that is connected to the AP 200.

  The form of the wireless LAN 1001 shown in FIG. 3 indicates the communicable range of the AP 100. Similarly, the form of the wireless LAN 1002 shown in FIG. 3 indicates the communicable range of the AP 200. The communicable ranges of AP 100 and AP 200 overlap each other. That is, APs 100 and 200, TEs 151 to 153, and TE 251 can communicate with each other via wireless LAN 1001 or 1002, respectively.

  Note that the communication system according to the present embodiment can also be applied to a case where communication ranges of three or more wireless LANs overlap. That is, this embodiment can be realized even when there are three or more APs that communicate using the same frequency band.

  The APs 100 and 200, the TEs 151 to 153, and the TE 251 are configured by a general information processing device (computer) that operates under the control of a computer program (software program) that is executed using a CPU (not shown). May be. Or each part of AP100 and 200, TE151-153, and TE251 may be comprised by a dedicated hardware device or a logic circuit. A hardware configuration example in which the APs 100 and 200, the TEs 151 to 153, and the TE 251 are realized by a computer will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The APs 100 and 200 are based on the communication control device 1 in the first embodiment. Below, it demonstrates centering around the structure of AP100. Since the AP 100 and the AP 200 have the same functional units, the description of the configuration of the AP 100 can be replaced with the description of the configuration of the AP 200.

  Referring to FIG. 4, the AP 100 includes a communication control unit 102, a terminal state acquisition unit 103, a movement candidate selection unit 104, a throughput prediction unit 105, a movement instruction unit 6, and an information exchange unit 107.

  The communication control unit 102 is based on the communication control unit 2 in the first embodiment. The communication control unit 102 can wirelessly communicate with the subordinate terminals TE 151 to 153 and further with the AP 200. Since the structure and content of the communication control unit 102 other than those described above are the same as those of the communication control unit 2 in the first embodiment, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. In the present embodiment, the AP 100 and the AP 200 can communicate with each other wirelessly. However, the communication may be performed via other communication means such as wired communication.

  The terminal state acquisition unit 103 is based on the terminal state acquisition unit 3 in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, as an example, the terminal state acquisition unit 103 obtains terminal state information by monitoring signals emitted from the subordinate TEs 151 to 153. The terminal state acquisition unit 103 outputs the obtained terminal state information to the information exchange unit 107 in addition to the movement candidate selection unit 104 and the throughput prediction unit 105. Since the structure and contents of the terminal state acquisition unit 103 other than those described above are the same as those of the terminal state acquisition unit 3 in the first embodiment, a detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The information exchange unit 107 exchanges information such as terminal state information with other APs that can communicate. That is, the information exchange unit 107 can transmit at least the terminal state information obtained from the terminal state acquisition unit 103 to the AP 200 via the communication control unit 102. Further, the information exchange unit 107 can receive at least the terminal state information of the AP 200 from the AP 200 via the communication control unit 102. The information exchange unit 107 outputs the received terminal state information of the AP 200 to the throughput prediction unit 105.

  The movement candidate selection unit 104 is based on the movement candidate selection unit 4 in the first embodiment. The movement candidate selection unit 104 calculates the total throughput T_all by summing up the throughputs T of the TEs 151 to 153. In this embodiment, the movement candidate selection unit 104 determines that the TE having the lowest SINR value is the movement candidate terminal based on the terminal state information obtained from the terminal state acquisition unit 103 when T_all is equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold th. Select as. That is, in this embodiment, the “predetermined condition” in the first embodiment is, for example, that the SINR value is the lowest. The movement candidate selection unit 104 outputs movement candidate information representing a movement candidate terminal to the throughput prediction unit 105. Since the structure and content of the movement candidate selection unit 104 other than those described above are the same as those of the movement candidate selection unit 4 in the first embodiment, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  The throughput prediction unit 105 is based on the throughput prediction unit 5 in the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, the throughput prediction unit 105, when a movement candidate terminal can be transferred under another AP (specifically, AP 200), a movement destination (transfer destination) of the movement candidate terminal in a network controlled by the other AP. Is different from that of the first embodiment. Based on the terminal state information of the AP 200 obtained from the information exchanging unit 107, the throughput predicting unit 105 determines whether or not to transfer to another AP, determines a destination, and the like.

  If the movement candidate terminal cannot be transferred under the control of another AP, the throughput prediction unit 105 determines the movement destination of the movement candidate terminal in its own network, as in the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, as an example, the throughput prediction unit 105 sets the position of the TE having the highest SINR value as the movement destination.

  The throughput prediction unit 105 obtains the predicted total throughput Tp_all when the movement candidate terminal is moved to the movement destination, including the case where the transfer destination is decided after the movement destination is decided. Further, the throughput prediction unit 105 obtains a movement position for a movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput Tp_all of the AP 100 exceeds the threshold th. Since the method for obtaining the predicted total throughput and the movement position is the same as in the first embodiment, a detailed description thereof is omitted. The throughput prediction unit 105 outputs movement position information representing the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal to the movement instruction unit 6. Since the structure and content of the throughput prediction unit 105 other than those described above are the same as those of the throughput prediction unit 5 in the first embodiment, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  The movement instruction unit 6 corresponds to the movement instruction unit 6 in the first embodiment. Since the structure and content of the movement instruction unit 6 are the same as those of the movement instruction unit 6 in the first embodiment, a detailed description thereof is omitted.

  TE151-153 and TE251 respond | correspond to the terminal device 10 in 1st Embodiment. Each structure and content of TE151-153 and TE251 are the same as that of the terminal device 10 in 1st Embodiment, Therefore The detailed description which overlaps is abbreviate | omitted.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described in detail. Hereinafter, as an example, an operation when the AP 100 improves the throughput of the wireless LAN 1001 (wireless network) controlled by the AP 100 will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing operations performed by the access points 100 and 200 in the second embodiment. Referring to FIG. 5, first, in AP 100, terminal state acquisition section 103 obtains terminal state information including information representing the position, communication state, and throughput T of each terminal connected to the own device (step S10). Specifically, the terminal state acquisition unit 103 can acquire the direction of TE and the distance between the own device and the TE as positions by monitoring signals emitted from the subordinate TEs 151 to 153. Similarly, the terminal state acquisition unit 103 can acquire at least SINR as a communication state. Furthermore, the terminal state acquisition unit 103 can acquire the throughput T of each TE. Further, the terminal state acquisition unit 103 may indirectly determine the number of subordinate terminals from the acquired information.

  Here, as a specific example, it is assumed that the SINR of TE151 is the lowest. In addition, it is assumed that the SINR of TE153 is the highest.

  The terminal state acquisition unit 103 outputs the obtained terminal state information to the movement candidate selection unit 104, the throughput prediction unit 105, and the information exchange unit 107. In the present embodiment, as a method for outputting information or the like from one function unit to another function unit, for example, a method of directly inputting to another function unit or a function unit of an output source is illustrated. There may be a method of reading information stored in a storage device or the like that is not required when another functional unit is necessary.

  Next, the information exchange unit 107 exchanges information such as terminal state information with another AP that can communicate (step S11). Specifically, the information exchange unit 107 transmits the terminal state information obtained from the terminal state acquisition unit 103 to the information exchange unit 107 of the AP 200 via the communication control unit 102. At this time, the information exchange unit 107 may include information such as the number of subordinate terminals obtained indirectly in the terminal state information to be transmitted.

  Also, the information exchange unit 107 receives (acquires) the terminal state information of the AP 200 from the information exchange unit 107 of the AP 200. The information exchange unit 107 outputs the acquired terminal state information of the AP 200 to the throughput prediction unit 105. Note that the timing at which the information exchange unit 107 transmits the terminal status information and the timing at which the terminal status information is received from the AP 200 may be separated.

  When the information exchange unit 107 communicates with the AP 200 between access points, the information exchange unit 107 can use a general technique such as a standardized method in IEEE 802.11aa. In addition, the timing at which the information exchange unit 107 transmits the terminal state information to the AP 200 may be a timing independent of the operation illustrated in FIG.

  Next, the movement candidate selection unit 104 determines whether or not it is necessary to improve the throughput of the wireless network based on the total throughput T_all, which is the sum of the throughputs T of each TE (step S12). Specifically, the movement candidate selection unit 104 first obtains the total throughput T_all by summing up the throughputs T of the TEs 151 to 153. Then, the movement candidate selection unit 104 determines that it is necessary to improve the throughput of the wireless network when T_all is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold th representing the minimum allowable throughput. The threshold th may be shared or set independently in each AP.

  When it is not necessary to improve the throughput of the wireless network (NO in step S12), the AP 100 performs normal communication as it is (step S20).

  On the other hand, when it is necessary to improve the throughput of the wireless network (YES in step S12), the movement candidate selection unit 104 selects a movement candidate terminal based on a predetermined condition (step S13). For example, the movement candidate selection unit 104 selects the TE 151 having the lowest SINR as the movement candidate terminal based on the terminal state information. Then, movement candidate selection section 104 outputs movement candidate information indicating TE 151 as a movement candidate terminal to throughput prediction section 105.

  The throughput prediction unit 105 determines whether there is a possibility that the movement candidate terminal can be transferred under the control of another AP (step S14). Specifically, the throughput prediction unit 105 determines whether or not there is a possibility that the TE 151 can be transferred under the control of the AP 200 based on the terminal state information of the own device and the terminal state information of the AP 200 obtained from the information exchange unit 107. to decide. For example, the throughput prediction unit 105 may determine that there is a possibility of being transferred when the number of terminals under its own device is larger than the number of terminals under the control of the AP 200. Referring to FIG. 3, the throughput prediction unit 105 determines that there is a possibility that the TE 151 can be transferred because the number of terminals under control of its own device (three) is larger than the number of terminals under control of the AP 200 (one). .

  The operation of the throughput prediction unit 105 when it is determined that it cannot be transferred to another AP (NO in step S14) will be described later.

  When there is a possibility that it can be transferred to another AP (YES in step S14), the throughput prediction unit 105 sets a position where improvement in communication efficiency of the movement candidate terminal can be expected as a transfer destination (movement destination) in the network of another AP. Select (step S30). For example, the throughput prediction unit 105 may set the position of the TE with the highest SINR among the subordinates of the AP 200 as the movement destination. Here, the throughput prediction unit 105 sets the position of the TE 251 under the AP 200 as the movement destination.

  Next, the throughput prediction unit 105 obtains each predicted total throughput Tp_all of the own device and other AP when the movement candidate terminal is moved to the movement destination based on the terminal state information of the own device and other AP ( Step S31).

  Specifically, the throughput prediction unit 105 obtains its own predicted total throughput Tp_all as the sum of the predicted throughputs Tp of the TE 152 and the TE 153 when the TE 151 is excluded.

  Next, the throughput prediction unit 105 predicts the predicted throughput Tp for each TE when another TE 151 is additionally arranged at the position of the TE 251 based on the terminal state information of the AP 200. Note that the predicted throughput Tp of the TE 251 is treated as being equivalent to the Tp of the TE 151 because the TE 151 moves to the same position. Then, the throughput prediction unit 105 calculates the predicted total throughput Tp_all by summing up Tp of each TE. In the example shown in FIG. 3, since there is no TE other than TE251, the throughput prediction unit 105 obtains Tp_all of AP200 by summing Tp of TE151 and Tp of TE251. In addition, since the method of calculating | requiring Tp of each TE is the same as that of 1st Embodiment, the detailed description which overlaps is abbreviate | omitted.

  Next, based on the predicted total throughput Tp_all after movement, the throughput prediction unit 105 determines whether the movement candidate terminal can be transferred to another AP. Specifically, the throughput prediction unit 105 determines whether or not Tp_all of the AP 200 is larger than Tp_all of the own device (step S32).

  If Tp_all of AP 200 is greater than Tp_all of the own device (YES in step S32), throughput prediction unit 105 sets movement destination of movement candidate terminal TE151 under the control of AP 200 (step 33). That is, since it is predicted that the total throughput of the AP 200 does not decrease below the total throughput of the own device even if the TE 151 is transferred, the throughput prediction unit 105 determines that the mobile candidate terminal may be transferred.

  Then, the throughput prediction unit 105 obtains a place (movement position) where the same communication efficiency as that of the TE 251 at the movement destination can be obtained. For example, the throughput prediction unit 105 may set a position where the distance between the TE 151 and the AP 200 on the straight line connecting the TE 151 and the AP 200 is the same as the distance between the TE 251 and the AP 200 as the movement position. In general, SINR has a characteristic determined by the distance between AP and TE. This is the operation of step 33.

  Next, based on the predicted total throughput Tp_all of the own device, the throughput prediction unit 105 determines whether or not the result of throughput improvement due to movement is sufficient (step S17). That is, when the predicted total throughput Tp_all of the own device exceeds the threshold th, the throughput predicting unit 105 considers that the improvement of the throughput of the own network is sufficient.

  When Tp_all of the own device exceeds the threshold th (YES in step S17), the throughput predicting unit 105 sends, to the movement instruction unit 6, movement position information indicating the movement candidate terminal TE151 and the obtained movement position. Output. Similar to the first embodiment, the movement instruction unit 6 transmits a movement instruction signal that prompts the movement candidate terminal to move to the movement position based on the movement position information obtained from the throughput prediction unit 105 ( Step S18). That is, the movement instruction unit 6 transmits a movement instruction signal that prompts the TE 151 to transfer to the AP 200. For example, the movement instruction unit 6 may transmit a beacon signal including a movement instruction signal representing a movement instruction.

  The operation of the TE 151 that has received the movement instruction is the same as that of the terminal 10 in the first embodiment. That is, the movement instruction receiving unit 12 receives a movement instruction signal via the communication control unit 11 and outputs the content of the movement instruction to the instruction information presentation unit 13. For example, the movement instruction receiving unit 12 can know from the contents of the received beacon signal whether the movement instruction signal is transmitted to the own device. When the movement instruction signal addressed to the own device is not included, the TE 151 does nothing particularly. When the movement instruction signal addressed to the own device is included, the instruction information presentation unit 13 presents the contents of the movement instruction by a predetermined presentation method. The contents presented by the instruction information presentation unit 13 may be, for example, “having received a movement (transfer) instruction” and “direction and distance to a movement position under the control of the AP 200”. Similarly to the first embodiment, when a user or the like who has received the presentation by the instruction information presentation unit 13 determines that the movement is possible, the TE 151 can be moved to the movement position.

  On the other hand, if Tp_all of AP 200 is equal to or less than Tp_all of the own device (NO) in step S32, throughput prediction unit 105 determines that transfer of TE 151 is impossible. The operation of the throughput prediction unit 105 in this case is the same as the operation when it is determined in step S14 that the transfer cannot be performed under the control of another AP (in the case of NO). That is, when the transfer cannot be performed under the control of another AP, the throughput prediction unit 105 moves the movement candidate terminal in its own network as in the first embodiment. Since the operation (steps S15 to S17) until the throughput predicting unit 105 outputs the movement position information indicating that the movement candidate terminal is moved in the own network is the same as that in the first embodiment, detailed overlapping information is obtained. Description is omitted.

  The operation of the throughput prediction unit 105 in steps S15 to S17 will be briefly described below. First, the throughput prediction unit 105 selects, as a movement destination, a position where improvement in communication efficiency of the movement candidate terminal can be expected in its own network (step S15). For example, the throughput prediction unit 105 may select the position of the TE 153 having the highest SINR as the movement destination of the TE 151.

  Next, the throughput prediction unit 105 obtains the predicted total throughput Tp_all of the own device when the TE 151 is moved to the movement destination (step S16). Further, the throughput prediction unit 105 obtains a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as that of the TE 153 at the movement destination can be obtained. For example, the movement position may be a position where the distance between TE 151 and AP 200 is the same as the distance between TE 153 and AP 100 on a straight line connecting TE 151 and AP 100.

  Next, based on Tp_all, the throughput prediction unit 105 determines whether the throughput improvement result due to movement is sufficient (step S17). When Tp_all of the own device exceeds the threshold th (YES in step S17), the throughput prediction unit 105 outputs movement position information representing the movement candidate terminal TE151 and the obtained movement position to the movement instruction unit 6. .

  The operation of the movement instruction unit 6 in step 18 and the operation of the TE 151 that has received the movement instruction signal are as described above. However, the contents presented by the instruction information presentation unit 13 in TE 151 are “having received a movement instruction” and “direction and distance to a movement position under the control of the AP 100”.

  If it is determined in step S17 that the improvement result is not sufficient, the operations from step S13 to step S17 are further repeated. That is, movement candidate terminals are added until it is determined in step S17 that the improvement result is sufficient. If it is predicted that even if all the movable TEs are moved, the improvement result is not sufficient, the AP 100 may move all the movement candidate terminals. Alternatively, the AP 100 may not move the movement candidate terminal.

  As described above, the present embodiment also has an effect of increasing the possibility of further improving the network throughput as compared with the first embodiment described above.

  The reason for this is that the throughput prediction unit 105 includes, as the movement position of the movement candidate terminal, the transfer to the subordinate of another AP (AP200) having a small number of subordinate terminals and a low predicted total throughput after movement. Because it is possible. That is, in the present embodiment, the throughput prediction unit 105 can choose to move the TE 151 to a wireless LAN 1002 that is free from the wireless LAN 1001 that is controlled by the own device.

  When communication means other than wireless communication (wireless LANs 1001 and 1002) exists between the AP 100 and the AP 200, this embodiment is applied by expanding the range to a region where the carrier sense possible ranges of the AP 100 and the AP 200 overlap each other. be able to. Generally, the carrier sense possible range is wider than the communicable range. In addition, the capture effect is effective within the carrier sense possible range.

  In step S31, the throughput prediction unit 105 may acquire Tp_all from the AP 200 instead of calculating the predicted total throughput Tp_all of the AP 200 itself. In this case, for example, the throughput prediction unit 105 may transmit a Tp_all request including the movement candidate terminal (TE151) and the movement destination (TE251) to the throughput prediction unit 105 of the AP 200. Then, the throughput prediction unit 105 of the AP 200 may calculate the Tp_all of the AP 200 according to the received Tp_all request, and transmit the calculated Tp_all of the AP 200 to the throughput prediction unit 105 of the AP 100.

  In addition, the following can be considered as a modification of this embodiment.

  For example, when the movement candidate selection unit 104 selects a movement candidate terminal in step S13 in FIG. 5 with “low communication speed” as a predetermined condition, the performance anomaly can be reduced. In particular, the throughput of the wireless network can be improved.

  The performance anomaly is known as a phenomenon in the CSMA / CA method that the throughput of the high-rate terminal and the entire network is lowered due to a long time for waiting for the end of transmission of the low-rate (low communication speed) terminal. . This phenomenon occurs in CSMA / CA due to the feature that transmission opportunities are equal for any communication rate. For more information on performance anomalies, see M. Heusse and three others, “Performance anomaly of 802.11b”, INFOCOM 2003. Twenty-Second Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications. IEEE Societies , March 2003, Volume 2, pages 836-843.

  That is, if a TE having a low communication speed is selected as a movement candidate terminal and finally moves to a movement position with a high communication efficiency (communication speed), it can be said that the effect of improving the throughput of the wireless network is high. . Note that the movement candidate selection unit 104 may combine a condition that the communication speed is low and other conditions such as a low SINR when selecting the movement candidate terminal.

  As described above, in addition to the same effects as those of the first and second embodiments described above, the present modification has a feature that the effect of improving the throughput of the high rate TE and the wireless network is high. is there.

  This is because the movement candidate selection unit 104 considers that the communication speed is low as a condition for selecting a movement candidate terminal.

  As another modification of the present embodiment, for example, the movement position presented by the instruction information presentation unit 13 in TE 151 may be presented by drawing on a map. Accordingly, there is an effect that the user of TE151 can easily grasp the movement position. In this case, the instruction information presentation unit 13 includes at least means for displaying a map and means for displaying the movement position given by the received movement instruction as a position (coordinates) on the map.

  Note that the terminal state acquisition unit 103 and the throughput prediction unit 105 in the AP 100 may also handle the position information as a position on the map. In this case, the terminal state acquisition unit 103 includes means for acquiring at least the positions of the TEs 151 to 153 and 251 as map coordinates. Further, the throughput prediction unit 105 has means for acquiring the movement position of the movement candidate terminal as the coordinates of the map.

<Third Embodiment>
Next, the first embodiment described above and the third embodiment based on the second embodiment and modifications (hereinafter referred to as “first and second embodiments”) will be described. In the following, characteristic portions according to the third embodiment will be mainly described. The components of the third embodiment having the same configuration as those of the first and second embodiments include the first and second components. The same reference numerals as those in the embodiment are attached, and the detailed description of the components is omitted.

  First, the configuration of the present embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a communication environment in a communication system (third communication system) according to the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the centralized control device 300 and the access points 400 and 500 according to the third embodiment.

  The communication system according to the present embodiment is different from the second embodiment described above in that it includes a central control device 300 that centrally controls movement of a subordinate TE connected to two APs 400 and 500. The central control apparatus 300 according to the present embodiment, instead of the APs 400 and 500, performs the selection of a movement candidate terminal, the determination of the movement destination, the calculation of the predicted total throughput, and the determination of the movement position as described above. This is different from the second embodiment.

  Referring to FIG. 6, the communication system according to the present embodiment includes a centralized control device 300, APs 400 and 500, TEs 151 to 153, and TE251. In addition, the communication system according to the present embodiment includes two wireless LANs 1001 and 1002 that perform communication using the same frequency band, as in the second embodiment.

  AP 400 corresponds to AP 100 in the second embodiment. That is, the wireless LAN 1001 includes an AP 400 that controls the wireless LAN 1001 and TEs 151 to 153 that are connected to the AP 400. AP 500 corresponds to AP 200 in the second embodiment. That is, the wireless LAN 1002 includes an AP 500 that controls the wireless LAN 1002 and TEs 151 to 153 that are connected to the AP 500. The communication range of the wireless LANs 1001 and 1002 and the wireless communication relationship between the AP and the TE are the same as those in the second embodiment except that the APs 100 and 200 are replaced with the APs 400 and 500. Description is omitted.

  In the present embodiment, the centralized control device 300 can communicate with the APs 400 and 500 via a communication network (hereinafter simply referred to as a network) 1004 (FIG. 7) different from the wireless LANs 1001 and 1002. In the present embodiment, the network 1004 is, for example, a wired network such as the Internet or a local area LAN.

  Note that the communication system according to the present embodiment can also be applied to the case where there are three or more wireless LANs, as in the second embodiment. That is, this embodiment can also be realized when there are three or more APs that communicate using the same frequency band, as in the second embodiment. Further, the present embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that the present embodiment can be applied even when the communicable ranges of some wireless LANs do not overlap.

  The centralized control device 300, the APs 400 and 500, the TEs 151 to 153, and the TE 251 are general information processing devices that operate under the control of a computer program (software program) that is executed using a CPU (not shown). Computer). Or each part of centralized control apparatus 300, AP400 and 500, TE151-153, and TE251 may be comprised by a dedicated hardware device or a logic circuit. A hardware configuration example in which the central control device 300, APs 400 and 500, TEs 151 to 153, and TE251 are realized by a computer will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The central control device 300, the APs 400 and 500 are based on the APs 100 and 200 in the second embodiment. Centralized control device 300, AP 400 and 500 include a part of the functional units based on the functional units of AP 100 and 200 in the second embodiment so as to share each other.

  First, the centralized control device 300 will be described. Referring to FIG. 7, the centralized control device 300 includes a communication control unit 302, a movement candidate selection unit 304, a throughput prediction unit 305, a movement instruction unit 306, an information collection unit 308, and a storage device 310. The storage device 310 can store map information 311.

  The storage device 310 is realized by, for example, a semiconductor memory device or a disk device.

  The map information 311 includes position information indicating the positions of the central control device 300 and all APs (specifically, APs 400 and 500) connected to the central control device 300. In the present embodiment, the map information 311 is stored in the storage device 310 in advance. The map information 311 may be acquired by the central control device 300 from an external device (not shown) or the like at the beginning of a series of processes or when necessary. For example, when the AP 400 or 500 is movable, the AP 400 and 500 may transmit the latest position information of the own device to the centralized control device 300 as the position coordinates in the map information 311.

  The communication control unit 302 can communicate with the APs 400 and 500 via the network 1004.

  The information collection unit 308 receives terminal state information of each AP from the APs 400 and 500. The information collection unit 308 outputs the received terminal state information of each AP to the movement candidate selection unit 304 and the throughput prediction unit 305.

  The movement candidate selection unit 304 is based on the movement candidate selection unit 104 in the second embodiment. The movement candidate selection unit 304 obtains the total throughput T_all of each AP based on the terminal state information of each AP received from the information collection unit 308.

  Next, the movement candidate selection unit 304 determines whether or not T_all needs to be improved for each AP (AP 400 and 500). That is, the movement candidate selection unit 304 selects, as a movement candidate terminal, a TE under the AP for an AP whose T_all is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold th. When there are a plurality of APs whose T_all is equal to or less than the threshold th, the movement candidate selection unit 304 selects a movement candidate terminal for each AP. Then, the movement candidate selection unit 304 outputs movement candidate information representing the movement candidate terminal to the throughput prediction unit 305. Since the structure and contents of the movement candidate selection unit 104 other than those described above, including the method for selecting the movement candidate terminal, are the same as those of the movement candidate selection unit 104 in the second embodiment, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  Note that the movement candidate selection unit 304 may transmit a permission signal indicating that normal communication is performed as it is to an AP that is determined to require no improvement in T_all.

  The throughput prediction unit 305 is based on the throughput prediction unit 105 in the second embodiment. The throughput prediction unit 305 in the present embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that a position where the communication efficiency of the movement candidate terminal may be improved is selected as a plurality of movement destination candidates. Further, the present embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that the movement destination of the movement candidate terminal can be arbitrarily determined in a network controlled by any of the APs connected to the centralized control apparatus 300. Further, the throughput prediction unit 305 may use a network of APs whose communication range does not overlap with the AP to which the movement candidate terminal currently belongs as the movement destination of the movement candidate terminal.

  In the present embodiment, the throughput prediction unit 305 determines that the predicted total throughput Tp_all of the AP to which the movement candidate terminal currently belongs is a threshold th based on the map information 311 stored in the storage device 310 and the terminal state information of each AP. The movement destination of each movement candidate terminal is determined so as to exceed. The throughput prediction unit 305 outputs movement position information representing each movement candidate terminal and a movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal to the movement instruction unit 306. The structure and contents of the throughput prediction unit 305 other than those described above are the same as the throughput prediction unit 305 in the second embodiment, including selection of a destination, calculation of the predicted total throughput, determination of whether transfer is possible, etc. The detailed description to be omitted is omitted.

  The movement instruction unit 306 is based on the movement instruction unit 6 in the first and second embodiments. The movement instructing unit 306 in the present embodiment sets the movement position to the AP 400 or 500 to which each movement candidate terminal belongs based on the movement position information obtained from the throughput prediction unit 305 and the terminal state information of each AP. A movement instruction signal that prompts movement is transmitted. Since the structure and contents of the movement instruction unit 306 other than those described above are the same as those of the movement instruction unit 6 in the first and second embodiments, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  Next, APs 400 and 500 will be described. In the following description, the configuration of the AP 400 will be mainly described. Since AP 400 and AP 500 have the same functional units, the description regarding AP 400 can be replaced with the description of the configuration of AP 500.

  AP 400 includes a communication control unit 402, a terminal state acquisition unit 403, and an instruction transmission unit 409.

  The communication control unit 402 is based on the communication control unit 102 in the first embodiment. The communication control unit 402 can communicate wirelessly with the subordinate terminals TE 151 to 153 via the wireless LAN 1001 and can further communicate with the centralized control device 300 via the network 1004. Since the structure and content of the communication control unit 102 other than those described above are the same as those of the communication control unit 2 in the first embodiment, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  The terminal state acquisition unit 403 is based on the terminal state acquisition unit 103 in the second embodiment. In the present embodiment, the terminal state acquisition unit 403 obtains terminal state information for the subordinate TEs 151 to 153, and then transmits the obtained terminal state information to the centralized control device 300 via the communication control unit 402.

  The instruction transmission unit 409 is based on the movement instruction unit 6 in the first and second embodiments. The instruction transmission unit 409 in the present embodiment receives a movement instruction signal from the movement instruction unit 306 of the centralized control device 300 via the communication control unit 402. The instruction transmission unit 409 transmits (distributes) a movement instruction signal via the wireless LAN 1001 to the movement candidate terminal (any one of the TEs 151 to 153) indicated by the received movement instruction.

  Since the configurations and operations of the TEs 151 to 153 and the TE 251 are the same as those in the first and second embodiments, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described in detail. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing operations performed by the centralized control device 300 and the access points 400 and 500 in the third embodiment.

  Referring to FIG. 8, first, in each of APs 400 and 500, terminal state acquisition section 403 obtains terminal state information including information representing the position, communication state, and throughput T of each terminal connected to its own device (step S200). ). Since the operation of the terminal state acquisition unit 403 in this step is the same as that in step S10 (FIG. 5) in the second embodiment, a detailed description thereof is omitted.

  Next, the terminal state acquisition unit 403 transmits the obtained terminal state information to the centralized control device 300 via the network 1004 (step S201).

  In the central control apparatus 300, the information collection unit 308 receives each terminal state information sent from the APs 400 and 500 (step S101). The information collection unit 308 outputs the received terminal state information to the movement candidate selection unit 304, the throughput prediction unit 305, and the movement instruction unit 306. In the present embodiment as well, as in the second embodiment, there are various methods for outputting information and the like from one functional unit to another functional unit.

  Next, the movement candidate selection unit 304 determines whether it is necessary to improve the throughput T_all of the wireless network for each AP (step S102). That is, the movement candidate selection unit 304 obtains the total throughput T_all, which is the sum of the throughputs T of the respective subordinate TEs, from the APs 400 and 500, respectively. Then, the movement candidate selection unit 304 determines that the wireless network needs to be improved for an AP whose T_all is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold th. The threshold th may be shared or set independently for each AP.

  The movement candidate selection unit 304 may transmit a permission signal indicating that normal communication is performed as it is to an AP that does not require improvement in the throughput of the wireless network (NO in step S102) (step S110). The AP that has received the permission signal may continue normal communication as it is. Note that the movement candidate selection unit 304 does not need to transmit anything to the AP that does not require improvement of the wireless network throughput.

  When there are a plurality of APs that need to improve the throughput of the wireless network, the movement candidate selection unit 304 performs the following operations in steps S103 to S107 individually for each AP. Or the movement candidate selection part 304 may perform operation | movement of step S103-S107 collectively to several AP.

  Hereinafter, a case where it is determined that T_all of AP 400 needs to be improved will be described. Further, it is assumed that the terminal states of the TEs 151 to 153 under the AP 400 are the same as the terminal states in the description of the operation in the second embodiment.

  The movement candidate selection unit 304 selects a movement candidate terminal for the AP 400 that needs to improve the throughput of the wireless network (YES in Step S102) based on a predetermined condition (Step S103). Since the operation of the movement candidate selection unit 304 in this step is the same as that in step S13 (FIG. 5) in the second embodiment, a detailed description thereof is omitted. The movement candidate selection unit 304 outputs movement candidate information indicating the TE 151 as a movement candidate terminal to the throughput prediction unit 305.

  The throughput predicting unit 305 selects a place where the communication efficiency of the movement candidate terminal may be improved as a plurality of movement destination candidates (step S104). The throughput predicting unit 305 in this step selects a destination in the local network (step S15 in FIG. 5) and a destination (transfer destination) to another AP (step S30 in FIG. 5) in the second embodiment. And both. However, the throughput prediction unit 305 selects a transfer destination to another AP when it is determined that there is a possibility of transfer to another AP, as in step S14 (FIG. 5) in the second embodiment. You may do it. Specifically, the throughput prediction unit 305 selects both the movement destination (TE153) in the own network and the movement destination (TE251) under the control of another AP 500 as the movement destination of the TE151.

  At this time, when there is a third AP whose communication range does not overlap with AP 400 and AP 500, centralized control apparatus 300 may select the third AP as a destination candidate.

  Next, the throughput prediction unit 305 obtains a predicted total throughput Tp_all of each AP after moving the movement candidate terminal to each selected movement destination (step S105). The operation of the throughput prediction unit 305 in this step is the same as executing step S16 and step S31 (FIG. 5) in the second embodiment together. That is, the throughput prediction unit 305 obtains Tp_all of the AP 400 after moving the terminal and Tp_all of the transfer destination AP 500.

  Next, the throughput prediction unit 305 determines a movement destination (one) from the movement destination candidates based on the calculated predicted total throughput Tp_all (step S106). The operation of the throughput prediction unit 305 in this step is based on steps S17 and S32 in the second embodiment. In other words, the throughput prediction unit 305 narrows down the destination candidates based on the determination whether the network throughput is sufficiently improved and can be transferred to another AP 500. Still, when a plurality of destination candidates remain, the throughput prediction unit 305 may select, for example, a destination candidate whose Tp_all of the AP 400 is most improved. Alternatively, the throughput prediction unit 305 may select, for example, a movement destination candidate that increases the predicted total throughput for the entire wireless network system.

  In addition, the throughput prediction unit 305 obtains a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as that of the terminal at the movement destination can be obtained. Since the operation of the throughput prediction unit 305 when obtaining the movement position is the same as that in step S16 and step S33 in the second embodiment, a detailed description thereof is omitted. The throughput prediction unit 305 outputs movement position information indicating the movement candidate terminal TE 151 and the obtained movement position to the movement instruction unit 306.

  Next, the movement instruction unit 306 moves to the movement position for the AP 400 or 500 to which each movement candidate terminal belongs based on the movement position information obtained from the throughput prediction unit 305 and the terminal state information of each AP. Is transmitted (step S107). Specifically, the movement instruction unit 306 transmits a movement instruction signal for the TE 151 to the AP 400 via the network 1004.

  In AP 400, instruction transmission unit 409 receives a movement instruction signal. Then, the instruction transmission unit 409 transmits a movement instruction signal to the TE 151 indicated by the movement instruction signal via the wireless LAN 1001 (step S202).

  Since the operation of the TE 151 that has received the movement instruction signal is the same as that of the second embodiment, a detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In this way, the centralized control device 300 can centrally control the throughput improvement of the APs 400 and 500 included in the wireless network system.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, as in the first and second embodiments described above, it is possible to appropriately improve the throughput rather than the AP (communication control device) individually determining. There is also an effect. As a result, this embodiment also has an effect of increasing the possibility of further improving the network throughput.

  This is because the central control apparatus 300 can control the entire wireless network from an integrated viewpoint.

  In addition, the following can be considered as a modification of this embodiment.

  For example, the central control apparatus 300 may have some or all of the functions of the terminal state acquisition unit 403 included in the APs 400 and 500.

  As another modification of the present embodiment, for example, after transmitting a movement instruction signal, the movement candidate selection unit 304 of the centralized control device 300 monitors whether the instructed TE 151 has moved according to the movement instruction signal. May be. Then, for example, the movement candidate selection unit 304 may send a rejection signal instructing to reject communication of the TE 151 that does not move under the instruction of the instructed AP 500 to the AP 400 to which the TE 151 belongs within a predetermined period. When the AP 400 receives the rejection signal, the AP 400 disconnects the connection with the TE 151. In addition, the movement candidate selection unit 304 may transmit a rejection signal to APs other than the AP 400. In that case, APs other than the AP 400 do not permit connection with the TE 151 except for the AP 500 that is the movement destination.

  The monitoring and rejection signal transmission may be performed by a functional unit other than the movement candidate selection unit 304.

  As described above, this modification can be expected to improve the network throughput more reliably by controlling whether or not a terminal can be connected.

  2, 4, and 7 in each embodiment described above may be configured by independent hardware circuits, or a function (processing) unit (software module) of a software program. Can be caught. However, the division of each part shown in these drawings is a configuration for convenience of explanation, and various configurations can be assumed for mounting. An example of the hardware environment in such a case will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a computer (information processing apparatus) applicable to the communication system according to each embodiment of the present invention and its modification. That is, FIG. 9 illustrates a computer that can realize at least one of the communication control device 1, the terminal device 10, the AP 100, 200, 400, and 500, the TE 151 to 153, the TE 251, and the central control device 300 in each of the above-described embodiments. A hardware environment capable of realizing each function in each embodiment described above is shown.

  9 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 901, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 902, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 903, a communication interface (I / F) 904, a display 905, and a hard disk device (HDD). ) 906, and these are connected via a bus 907. Note that when the computer shown in FIG. 9 functions as the communication control device 1, the APs 100, 200, 400, and 500 and the central control device 300, the display 905 need not always be provided.

  The communication interface 904 is a general communication unit that realizes communication between the computers in each of the above-described embodiments. The hard disk device 906 stores a program group 906A and various storage information 906B. The program group 906A is, for example, a computer program for realizing a function corresponding to each block (each unit) shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 4, and FIG. The various storage information 906B is, for example, the map information 311 shown in FIG. In such a hardware configuration, the CPU 901 governs the overall operation of the computer 900.

  The present invention described by taking the above-described embodiments as examples realizes the functions of the block configuration diagrams (FIGS. 2, 4, and 7) or the flowcharts (FIGS. 5 and 8) referred to in the description of the embodiments. After supplying a possible computer program, the computer program is read out and executed by the CPU 901 of the hardware. The computer program supplied to the computer may be stored in a non-volatile storage device (storage medium) such as a readable / writable temporary storage memory 903 or a hard disk device 906.

  In the above-described case, the computer program can be supplied to each device by a method of installing in the device via various recording media such as a floppy disk (registered trademark) and CD-ROM, the Internet, etc. Currently, a general procedure can be employed, such as a method of downloading from the outside via the communication network 1100. In such a case, the present invention can be understood to be configured by a computer-readable storage medium in which the code constituting the computer program or the code is recorded.

  Note that a part or all of the above-described embodiment can be described as the following supplementary notes, but is not limited to the following supplementary notes.

(Appendix 1)
Terminal state acquisition means for obtaining terminal state information including information representing the position, communication state, and throughput of each terminal device connected to the own device, and outputting the terminal state information;
When the total throughput, which is the sum of the throughputs of the terminal devices, is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, based on the terminal status information, selects a terminal device that satisfies a predetermined condition as a movement candidate terminal, and selects the movement candidate terminal Movement candidate selection means for outputting movement candidate information to be represented;
Based on the movement candidate information and the terminal state information of each terminal,
Find the predicted total throughput, which is the total throughput when moving the movement candidate terminal, to the destination where the improvement in communication efficiency can be expected,
For the movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput exceeds the threshold, obtain a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as the movement destination can be obtained,
Throughput prediction means for outputting movement position information representing the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal;
A movement instruction means for transmitting, to the movement candidate terminal, a movement instruction signal for urging movement to the movement position based on the movement position information;
A communication control device comprising:

(Appendix 2)
The movement candidate selection means adopts low communication efficiency as the predetermined condition,
The throughput prediction means includes
As the movement destination, select a position of a terminal device having better communication efficiency than the movement candidate terminal,
The communication control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when obtaining the predicted total throughput, the influence of the movement candidate terminal is taken into account at the movement destination from a wireless network to which the movement candidate terminal belongs and a communication apparatus belonging to another wireless network. .

(Appendix 3)
The communication state includes SINR,
The movement candidate selection means includes low SINR as low communication efficiency under the predetermined condition,
The throughput prediction means includes
As the location of the terminal device with good communication efficiency in the selection of the destination, select the location of the terminal device with the highest SINR,
The communication control device according to supplementary note 2, wherein a capture effect is included as an influence received by the candidate mobile terminal when obtaining a predicted total throughput.

(Appendix 4)
The communication state includes SINR,
The movement candidate selection means includes low communication speed as low communication efficiency in the predetermined condition,
The throughput prediction means includes
As the location of the terminal device with good communication efficiency in the selection of the destination, select the location of the terminal device with the highest SINR,
The communication control device according to supplementary note 2, wherein a capture effect is included as an influence received by the candidate mobile terminal when obtaining a predicted total throughput.
(Appendix 5)
Further comprising information exchange means for exchanging terminal status information with each terminal device connected to another communication control device;
The throughput prediction means includes
In the case where the movement candidate terminal can be moved to the subordinate of the other communication control device,
The communication control device according to any one of appendices 1 to 4, wherein a position where improvement in communication efficiency can be expected under the control of the other communication control device is the destination.

(Appendix 6)
Information collecting means for receiving terminal state information including information representing the position, communication state, and throughput of each terminal device connected to each communication control device from a plurality of communication control devices;
For each of the communication control devices, a total throughput that is a sum of the throughputs of the terminal devices is obtained, and the communication control device having the total throughput equal to or less than a predetermined threshold is determined based on the terminal status information. A movement candidate selection means for selecting a terminal device satisfying the condition as a movement candidate terminal and outputting movement candidate information representing the movement candidate terminal;
Based on the movement candidate information and the terminal state information of each terminal, a plurality of positions where the communication efficiency of the movement candidate terminal may be improved in a network controlled by any of the plurality of communication control devices. As a destination candidate,
Obtain a predicted total throughput that is a total throughput when the movement candidate terminal is moved to each destination,
For the movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput exceeds the threshold, obtain a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as the movement destination can be obtained,
Throughput prediction means for outputting movement position information representing the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal for each movement candidate terminal;
A movement instruction means for transmitting a movement instruction signal for urging movement to the movement position to the communication control device to which the movement candidate terminal is connected based on the movement position information;
Centralized control device comprising:

(Appendix 7)
Terminal status acquisition means for transmitting the terminal status information to the centralized control device according to appendix 6, when outputting the terminal status information;
Instead of the movement candidate selection means, the throughput prediction means, and the movement instruction means,
Additional instructions 1 to 4, further comprising: instruction transmission means for receiving the movement instruction signal from the centralized control apparatus and transmitting the movement instruction signal to the movement candidate terminal indicated by the movement instruction signal. The communication control device according to 1.

(Appendix 8)
Movement instruction receiving means for receiving the movement instruction signal from the communication control device according to any one of appendices 1 to 5 or 7 and outputting movement instruction information representing a movement position included in the movement instruction signal;
A terminal device comprising instruction information presenting means for presenting contents included in the movement instruction information by a predetermined presentation method.

(Appendix 9)
The communication control device according to any one of supplementary notes 1 to 5 or 7, and a plurality of terminal devices according to supplementary note 8 connected to the communication control device;
In the communication control device,
The terminal state acquisition means obtains the terminal state information of each terminal device,
The movement instruction means transmits the movement instruction signal to the movement candidate terminal that is a part of each terminal device.

(Appendix 10)
A plurality of communication control devices according to appendix 5, and a plurality of terminal devices according to appendix 8 connected to the respective communication control devices,
In each of the communication control devices,
The terminal state acquisition means obtains the terminal state information of each terminal device,
The movement instruction means transmits the movement instruction signal to the movement candidate terminal that is a part of each terminal device. (Appendix 11)
A plurality of communication control devices according to appendix 7, a plurality of terminal devices according to appendix 8 connected to the respective communication control devices, and a central control device according to appendix 6.
In each of the communication control devices,
The terminal state acquisition means obtains the terminal state information of each terminal device, transmits the obtained terminal state information to the centralized control device,
In the centralized control device,
The information collection means receives the terminal status information of each terminal device connected to each communication control device from each communication control device,
The movement instruction means transmits the movement instruction signal for the movement candidate terminal that is a part of each terminal apparatus to the communication control apparatus to which the movement candidate terminal is connected,
The communication control device that has received the movement instruction signal transmits the movement instruction signal to the terminal device indicated by the movement instruction signal.

(Appendix 12)
Obtain terminal status information including information representing the position, communication status, and throughput of each terminal device connected to its own device,
When the total throughput, which is the sum of the throughputs of the terminal devices, is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, a movement candidate selection process is performed to select a terminal device that satisfies a predetermined condition as a movement candidate terminal based on the terminal state information. And
Based on the movement candidate information representing the movement candidate terminal and the terminal state information of each terminal,
A throughput prediction process is performed to obtain a predicted total throughput that is a total throughput when the movement candidate terminal is moved to a destination where the improvement in communication efficiency is expected,
For the movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput exceeds the threshold value, a movement position selection process for obtaining a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as the movement destination can be obtained is performed.
A movement instruction for transmitting, to the movement candidate terminal, a movement instruction signal for urging movement to the movement position based on movement position information representing the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal. A communication control method that executes processing.

(Appendix 13)
In the movement candidate selection process, adopting low communication efficiency as the predetermined condition,
In the throughput prediction process,
As the movement destination, select a position of a terminal device having better communication efficiency than the movement candidate terminal,
The communication control method according to claim 12, wherein, when obtaining the predicted total throughput, the influence on the movement candidate terminal is taken into account at the movement destination from a wireless network to which the movement candidate terminal belongs and a communication apparatus belonging to another wireless network. .

(Appendix 14)
The communication state includes SINR,
In the movement candidate selection process, as the communication efficiency under the predetermined condition is low, including SINR is low,
In the throughput prediction process,
As the location of the terminal device with good communication efficiency in the selection of the destination, select the location of the terminal device with the highest SINR,
The communication control method according to supplementary note 13, including a capture effect as an influence received by the candidate mobile terminal when obtaining the predicted total throughput. (Appendix 15)
The communication state includes SINR,
In the movement candidate selection process, including low communication speed as low communication efficiency under the predetermined condition,
In the throughput prediction process,
As the location of the terminal device with good communication efficiency in the selection of the destination, select the location of the terminal device with the highest SINR,
The communication control method according to supplementary note 13, including a capture effect as an influence received by the candidate mobile terminal when obtaining the predicted total throughput. (Appendix 16)
After obtaining the terminal state information, further exchange terminal state information with each terminal device connected to another communication control device,
In the throughput prediction process,
If the movement candidate terminal can be moved under the other communication control apparatus, a position where improvement of communication efficiency can be expected under the other communication control apparatus is set as the movement destination. The communication control method described in one.

(Appendix 17)
Terminal status information including information representing the position, communication status, and throughput of each terminal device connected to each communication control device is received from a plurality of communication control devices,
For each communication control device, find the total throughput that is the sum of the throughput of each terminal device,
For a communication control device whose total throughput is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, based on the terminal state information, a terminal device that satisfies a predetermined condition is selected as a movement candidate terminal,
Based on the movement candidate information representing the movement candidate terminal and the terminal state information of each terminal,
In a network controlled by any of the plurality of communication control devices, a position where the communication efficiency of the movement candidate terminal may be improved is selected as a plurality of movement destination candidates.
Obtain a predicted total throughput that is a total throughput when the movement candidate terminal is moved to each destination,
For a previous movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput exceeds the threshold, obtain a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as the movement destination can be obtained,
Based on the movement position information for each of the movement candidate terminals, which represents the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal, a movement instruction signal for urging movement to the movement position is transmitted to each movement candidate. A centralized control method for transmitting to each of the communication control devices to which a terminal is connected.

(Appendix 18)
After obtaining the terminal status information, the terminal status information is further transmitted to a centralized control device that executes the centralized control method according to appendix 17.
Instead of the movement candidate selection process, the throughput prediction process, the movement position selection process and the movement instruction process,
Receiving the movement instruction signal from the centralized control device;
The communication control method according to any one of attachments 12 to 15, wherein the movement instruction signal is transmitted to the movement candidate terminal indicated by the movement instruction signal.

(Appendix 19)
The movement instruction signal is received from a communication control device that executes the communication control method according to any one of appendices 12 to 16 or 18.
A terminal control method for presenting content of movement instruction information representing a movement position included in the movement instruction signal by a predetermined presentation method.

(Appendix 20)
Terminal state acquisition processing for obtaining terminal state information including information representing the position, communication state, and throughput of each terminal device connected to the own device; and
A movement candidate selection process for selecting, as a movement candidate terminal, a terminal apparatus that satisfies a predetermined condition based on the terminal state information when a total throughput that is a sum of the throughputs of the terminal apparatuses is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold;
Based on the movement candidate information representing the movement candidate terminal and the terminal state information of each terminal,
Throughput prediction processing for obtaining a predicted total throughput that is a total throughput when the movement candidate terminal is moved to a movement destination that is a position where an improvement in communication efficiency can be expected;
A movement position selection process for obtaining a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as the movement destination can be obtained for the movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput exceeds the threshold value;
A movement instruction for transmitting, to the movement candidate terminal, a movement instruction signal for urging movement to the movement position based on movement position information representing the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal. A first computer program that causes a computer to execute processing.

(Appendix 21)
In the movement candidate selection process, adopting low communication efficiency as the predetermined condition,
In the throughput prediction process,
As the movement destination, select a position of a terminal device having better communication efficiency than the movement candidate terminal,
21. The first aspect according to appendix 20, wherein when calculating the predicted total throughput, the influence on the movement candidate terminal is taken into account at the movement destination from a wireless network to which the movement candidate terminal belongs and a communication device belonging to another wireless network. Computer program.

(Appendix 22)
The communication state includes SINR,
In the movement candidate selection process, as the communication efficiency under the predetermined condition is low, including SINR is low,
In the throughput prediction process,
As the location of the terminal device with good communication efficiency in the selection of the destination, select the location of the terminal device with the highest SINR,
The first computer program according to attachment 21, wherein a capture effect is included as an influence received by the candidate mobile terminal when obtaining the predicted total throughput.

(Appendix 23)
The communication state includes SINR,
In the movement candidate selection process, including low communication speed as low communication efficiency under the predetermined condition,
In the throughput prediction process,
As the location of the terminal device with good communication efficiency in the selection of the destination, select the location of the terminal device with the highest SINR,
The first computer program according to attachment 21, wherein a capture effect is included as an influence received by the candidate mobile terminal when obtaining the predicted total throughput.

(Appendix 24)
After obtaining the terminal state information, further exchange terminal state information with each terminal device connected to another communication control device,
In the throughput prediction process,
If the movement candidate terminal can be moved under the other communication control apparatus, a position where communication efficiency can be expected to be improved under the other communication control apparatus is set as the movement destination. A first computer program according to claim 1.

(Appendix 25)
Information collection processing for receiving terminal state information including information representing the position, communication state, and throughput of each terminal device connected to each communication control device from a plurality of communication control devices;
For each of the communication control devices, a total throughput that is a sum of the throughputs of the terminal devices is obtained, and the communication control device having the total throughput equal to or less than a predetermined threshold is determined based on the terminal status information. A movement candidate selection process for selecting a terminal device that satisfies the condition as a movement candidate terminal;
In a network controlled by any of the plurality of communication control devices based on movement candidate information representing the movement candidate terminal and terminal state information of each terminal, there is a possibility that communication efficiency of the movement candidate terminal may be improved. A certain position is selected as a plurality of destination candidates, and a predicted total throughput that is a total throughput when the movement candidate terminal is moved to each destination is obtained,
Throughput prediction processing for obtaining a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as the movement destination can be obtained for a previous movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput exceeds the threshold value;
Based on the movement position information for each of the movement candidate terminals, which represents the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal, a movement instruction signal for urging movement to the movement position is transmitted to each movement candidate. A second computer program that causes a computer to execute a movement instruction process that is transmitted to each of the communication control devices to which a terminal is connected.

(Appendix 26)
In the terminal status acquisition process, after obtaining the terminal status information, the terminal status information is further transmitted to a centralized control device that executes the second computer program according to appendix 25,
Instead of the movement candidate selection process, the throughput prediction process, the movement position selection process and the movement instruction process,
Receiving the movement instruction signal from the centralized control device;
The first computer program according to any one of appendices 20 to 23, which causes a computer to execute an instruction transmission process for transmitting the movement instruction signal to the movement candidate terminal indicated by the movement instruction signal.

(Appendix 27)
A movement instruction reception process for receiving the movement instruction signal from a communication control device that executes the first computer program according to any one of appendices 20 to 24 or 26;
A third computer program that causes a computer to execute instruction information presentation processing for presenting the content of movement instruction information representing a movement position included in the movement instruction signal by a predetermined presentation method.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Communication control apparatus 2,102,302,402 Communication control part 3,103,403 Terminal state acquisition part 4,104,304 Movement candidate selection part 5,105,305 Throughput prediction part 6,306 Movement instruction part 10 Terminal apparatus 11 Communication control unit 12 Movement instruction receiving unit 13 Instruction information presenting unit 100, 200, 400, 500 Access point (AP)
107 Information Exchange Unit 151-153, 251 Terminal Equipment (TE)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 300 Central control apparatus 308 Information collection part 310 Storage apparatus 311 Map information 409 Instruction transmission part 900 Information processing apparatus (computer)
901 CPU
902 ROM
903 RAM
904 Communication interface (I / F)
905 Display 906 Hard disk device (HDD)
906A Program group 906B Various stored information 907 Bus 1000 Wireless communication network 1001, 1002 Wireless LAN
1004, 1100 Communication network (network)

Claims (10)

Terminal state acquisition means for obtaining terminal state information including information representing the position, communication state, and throughput of each terminal device connected to the own device, and outputting the terminal state information;
When the total throughput, which is the sum of the throughputs of the terminal devices, is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, based on the terminal status information, selects a terminal device that satisfies a predetermined condition as a movement candidate terminal, and selects the movement candidate terminal Movement candidate selection means for outputting movement candidate information to be represented;
Based on the movement candidate information and the terminal state information of each terminal,
Find the predicted total throughput, which is the total throughput when moving the movement candidate terminal, to the destination where the improvement in communication efficiency can be expected,
For the movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput exceeds the threshold, obtain a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as the movement destination can be obtained,
Throughput prediction means for outputting movement position information representing the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal;
A movement instruction means for transmitting to the movement candidate terminal a movement instruction signal for urging movement to the movement position based on the movement position information;
A communication control device comprising: The movement candidate selection means adopts low communication efficiency as the predetermined condition,
The throughput prediction means includes
As the movement destination, select a position of a terminal device having better communication efficiency than the movement candidate terminal,
The communication control according to claim 1, wherein, when obtaining the predicted total throughput, the influence of the movement candidate terminal is taken into account at the movement destination from a wireless network to which the movement candidate terminal belongs and a communication device belonging to another wireless network. apparatus. The communication state includes SINR,
The movement candidate selection means includes low SINR as low communication efficiency under the predetermined condition,
The throughput prediction means includes
As the location of the terminal device with good communication efficiency in the selection of the destination, select the location of the terminal device with the highest SINR,
The communication control device according to claim 2, wherein a capture effect is included as an influence on the movement candidate terminal when obtaining the predicted total throughput. The communication state includes SINR,
The movement candidate selection means includes low communication speed as low communication efficiency in the predetermined condition,
The throughput prediction means includes
As the location of the terminal device with good communication efficiency in the selection of the destination, select the location of the terminal device with the highest SINR,
The communication control device according to claim 2, wherein a capture effect is included as an influence on the movement candidate terminal when obtaining the predicted total throughput. Further comprising information exchange means for exchanging terminal status information with each terminal device connected to another communication control device;
The throughput prediction means includes
In the case where the movement candidate terminal can be moved to the subordinate of the other communication control device,
The communication control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a position where an improvement in communication efficiency can be expected under the control of the other communication control device is set as the movement destination. Information collecting means for receiving terminal state information including information representing the position, communication state, and throughput of each terminal device connected to each communication control device from a plurality of communication control devices;
For each of the communication control devices, a total throughput that is a sum of the throughputs of the terminal devices is obtained, and the communication control device having the total throughput equal to or less than a predetermined threshold is determined based on the terminal status information. A movement candidate selection means for selecting a terminal device satisfying the condition as a movement candidate terminal and outputting movement candidate information representing the movement candidate terminal;
Based on the movement candidate information and the terminal state information of each terminal, a plurality of positions where the communication efficiency of the movement candidate terminal may be improved in a network controlled by any of the plurality of communication control devices. As a destination candidate,
Obtain a predicted total throughput that is a total throughput when the movement candidate terminal is moved to each destination,
For the movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput exceeds the threshold, obtain a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as the movement destination can be obtained,
Throughput prediction means for outputting movement position information representing the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal for each movement candidate terminal;
A movement instruction means for transmitting a movement instruction signal for urging movement to the movement position to the communication control device to which the movement candidate terminal is connected based on the movement position information;
Centralized control device comprising: Movement instruction receiving means for receiving the movement instruction signal from the communication control device according to any one of claims 1 to 5 or 7 and outputting movement instruction information indicating a movement position included in the movement instruction signal; ,
A terminal device comprising instruction information presenting means for presenting contents included in the movement instruction information by a predetermined presentation method. A plurality of communication control devices according to claim 5 and a plurality of terminal devices according to claim 8 connected to each of the communication control devices;
In each of the communication control devices,
The terminal state acquisition means obtains the terminal state information of each terminal device,
The said movement instruction | indication means is a communication control system which transmits the said movement instruction | indication signal with respect to the said movement candidate terminal which is a part of each said terminal device. Obtain terminal status information including information representing the position, communication status, and throughput of each terminal device connected to its own device,
When the total throughput, which is the sum of the throughputs of the terminal devices, is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, a movement candidate selection process is performed to select a terminal device that satisfies a predetermined condition as a movement candidate terminal based on the terminal state information. And
Based on the movement candidate information representing the movement candidate terminal and the terminal state information of each terminal,
A throughput prediction process is performed to obtain a predicted total throughput that is a total throughput when the movement candidate terminal is moved to a destination where the improvement in communication efficiency is expected,
For the movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput exceeds the threshold value, a movement position selection process for obtaining a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as the movement destination can be obtained is performed.
A movement instruction for transmitting, to the movement candidate terminal, a movement instruction signal for urging movement to the movement position based on movement position information representing the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal. A communication control method that executes processing. Terminal state acquisition processing for obtaining terminal state information including information representing the position, communication state, and throughput of each terminal device connected to the own device; and
A movement candidate selection process for selecting, as a movement candidate terminal, a terminal apparatus that satisfies a predetermined condition based on the terminal state information when a total throughput that is a sum of the throughputs of the terminal apparatuses is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold;
Based on the movement candidate information representing the movement candidate terminal and the terminal state information of each terminal,
Throughput prediction processing for obtaining a predicted total throughput that is a total throughput when the movement candidate terminal is moved to a movement destination that is a position where an improvement in communication efficiency can be expected;
A movement position selection process for obtaining a movement position that is a place where the same communication efficiency as the movement destination can be obtained for the movement candidate terminal whose predicted total throughput exceeds the threshold value;
A movement instruction for transmitting, to the movement candidate terminal, a movement instruction signal for urging movement to the movement position based on movement position information representing the movement candidate terminal and the movement position corresponding to the movement candidate terminal. A computer program that causes a computer to execute processing.

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