JP2016082438A - Communication control device, radio communication system, communication control method and radio base station - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve sensory quality (QoE: Quality of Experience) of a user by using a plurality of communication paths efficiently on a packet-by-packet basis.SOLUTION: A communication control device includes: a route selection means for selecting at least a part of a communication route from among a plurality of communication routes in which each transfer index related to the transfer of a packet is individually set on the basis of the characteristic information of the characteristic of the packet to be transferred to a radio base station; and a transfer control means for controlling processing to transfer a packet or data in the packet to the radio base station through the selected communication route.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication control apparatus, a radio communication system, a communication control method, and a radio base station, and more particularly to a communication control apparatus, a radio communication system, a communication control method, and a radio base station for controlling packet transfer in a radio communication network. .

  With the spread of smartphones and tablets, the amount of mobile traffic is increasing rapidly. The LTE (Long Term Evolution) core network (referred to as EPC (Evolved Packet Core)) standardized by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) in order to cope with the rapid increase in traffic, packet switching is performed for all mobile network functions. Introduces a mechanism to function with (Packet Switch: PS). As a result, different services such as telephone calls and moving images can be accommodated in the same network. In addition, compared to the conventional UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) in which circuit switching (Circuit Switch: CS) and packet switching (PS) are mixed, the EPC of LTE has only PS, so that the network construction is easy. At the same time, LTE EPC does not need to maintain a dedicated line to a specific user as in CS, and can efficiently accommodate a large number of users.

  In the mobile network, a virtual path where a wireless terminal logically connects to a network outside the mobile network system is defined as a “bearer”. In the mobile network, QoS control for each bearer is introduced in order to improve QoS (Quality of Service) which is service quality. As a parameter for QoS control, QCI (QoS Class Indicator) which is an index corresponding to a plurality of classes classified from the viewpoint of QoS is used. The QCI is provided with nine priority levels according to the presence / absence of bandwidth control or the allowable delay time. QCI is set for each bearer that is a connection between a wireless terminal and a gateway device, and an example of a service type is defined (Non-Patent Document 1). The definition of QCI is shown in FIG. For example, QCI = 1 is VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), QCI = 2 is Live Streaming, QCI = 5 is IMS signaling, QCI = 8 is file download, and the like. A MAC (Medium Access Control) scheduler of the radio base station determines the transmission priority of the packet according to the QCI, and transmits it to the radio terminal. An example of QoS control at the radio base station will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 11, there are three wireless terminals 21 to 23. Example in which wireless terminal 21 uses VoIP (QCI = 1), wireless terminal 22 uses Live Streaming (QCI = 2) and IMS Signaling (QCI = 5), and wireless terminal 23 uses file download (QCI = 8). It is. In an RLC (Radio Link Control) layer, user data information is buffered for each QCI. Here, the user data information corresponds to, for example, raw data of an application such as voice or video. Alternatively, control signaling necessary for executing an application may be buffered instead of the user data information. Thereafter, the MAC scheduler generates a TB (Transport Block) for each wireless terminal based on the user data received from the RLC layer. At this time, considering the QCI associated with the logical channel (Logical Channel: LCH) in which the user data is stored in the RLC layer, scheduling can be performed in descending order of priority determined from the QCI. Specifically, the priority of the QCI is the IMS Signaling (QCI = 5) of the wireless terminal 22, the VoIP (QCI = 1) of the wireless terminal 21, the Live Streaming (QCI = 5) of the wireless terminal 22, and the wireless terminal 23. File download (QCI = 8) order. Finally, control information is mapped to PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel), which is a physical layer channel, and user data information is mapped to PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel), and transmitted to the respective wireless terminals 21 to 23.

3GPP TS23.203 “Policy and charging control architecture”

  As described above, QoS control of a mobile network is performed by mapping a QCI suitable for each service type to be used in a radio base station. For this reason, priority control in units of packets transferred by the same bearer has not been realized. For example, as shown in FIG. The radio base station buffers the packets transferred by the same bearer in the order of arrival and transmits them to the radio terminal in that order. Note that the numbers in FIG. 12 represent TCP layer numbers (TCP Sequence Number (SN)). Here, when a packet (TCP SN # 25) overflows without being stored in the buffer (for example, GTP or PDCP) of the radio base station, the packet is discarded. At this time, retransmission of the TCP layer is performed, and the retransmission packet (# 25) is buffered at the end of the radio base station buffer, as shown in FIG. For this reason, it takes time to reach the wireless terminal in the TCP layer number order (TCP SN), and the TCP throughput decreases. In recent years, in order to absorb deterioration due to fluctuations in the throughput of radio transmission, the radio base station buffer has a large capacity, and there is a problem that transmission of a retransmission packet buffered at the end is greatly delayed. As a result, the application is stopped or interrupted, so that the quality of experience (QoE) that is a user experience quality is deteriorated. In addition to the retransmission of packets, there is a limit to the QoS control at the radio base station, and there is a problem in that QoE deteriorates.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and a communication control device, a wireless communication system, and communication control for improving QoE by efficiently using a plurality of communication paths in units of packets. It is an object to provide a method and a radio base station.

The communication control device according to the first aspect of the present invention includes:
Route selection means for selecting at least a part of communication paths from among a plurality of communication paths in which transfer indexes relating to transfer of the packets are individually set based on characteristic information on characteristics of packets to be transferred to the radio base station When,
Transfer control means for controlling processing for transferring the packet or data in the packet to the radio base station via the selected communication path;
Is provided.

The wireless communication system according to the second aspect of the present invention is:
A communication control device for receiving a packet addressed to a wireless terminal via a network;
A wireless base station that transfers the packet transferred from the communication control device to the wireless terminal;
A wireless communication system comprising:
The communication control device includes:
A transfer index related to the transfer of the packet is individually set for each of a plurality of communication paths,
Notifying the wireless base station of the transfer index set for each of the plurality of communication paths,
Based on characteristic information indicating the characteristics of the packet, select at least a part of the plurality of communication paths,
Transferring the packet or data in the packet to the radio base station via the selected communication path;
The radio base station is
The packet or the data transferred from the communication control device is transferred to the wireless terminal using at least a part of the plurality of communication paths based on the notified transfer index.

The communication control method of the communication control device according to the third aspect of the present invention is:
Based on the characteristic information on the characteristics of the packet to be transferred to the radio base station, select at least a part of the communication paths from among the plurality of communication paths in which the transfer index for the transfer of the packet is individually set,
A process of transferring the packet or data in the packet to the radio base station through the selected communication path is controlled.

The radio base station according to the fourth aspect of the present invention is:
A notification receiving means for receiving a notification of a transfer index relating to transfer of the packet individually set for each of a plurality of communication paths, from a communication control device that receives a packet addressed to a wireless terminal via a network;
Data that receives transfer of the packet or data in the packet via a communication path in which at least a part is selected from the plurality of communication paths based on characteristic information regarding the characteristics of the packet in the communication control device Receiving means;
Transfer means for transferring the packet or the data transferred from the communication control device to the wireless terminal using at least a part of the plurality of communication paths based on the notified transfer index;
Is provided.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a communication control device, a radio communication system, a communication control method, and a radio base station for improving QoE by efficiently using a plurality of communication paths in units of packets.

1 is a diagram illustrating a wireless communication system according to a first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the component group of the radio | wireless communications system concerning Embodiment 1. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram according to Example 1 of Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the path | route setting method in Example 2 of Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the path | route setting method (in the case of a TCP proxy) in Example 2 of Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the component group of the radio | wireless communications system concerning embodiment. It is a sequence diagram concerning Example 3 of Embodiment 2. It is a figure which shows the path | route setting method in Example 4 of Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a sequence diagram concerning Example 4 of the third embodiment. It is a figure which shows the definition of QCI defined conventionally. It is a figure explaining related technology. It is a figure explaining the subject to solve.

  Hereinafter, specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted as necessary for the sake of clarity.

  The present invention has an aspect in which QoE is improved by performing priority control mainly on a communication control apparatus for packets having high importance in terms of user experience quality (QoE). Specifically, for example, a communication control device such as a gateway device should set different transfer indexes related to packet transfer in each of a plurality of communication paths, and transfer them to the radio base station from the plurality of communication paths. QoE improvement is realized by performing traffic control to select a communication path to be used for transfer of the packet according to the characteristic information regarding the packet characteristic. It should be noted that setting a transfer index and selecting a communication path may be executed by different communication control devices (for example, a network device and a gateway device other than the gateway device, respectively).

  Here, the transfer index is an index for determining whether a specific communication path should be used when transferring a packet to a radio base station. For example, the transfer index can be said to be an index related to at least one of the priority of the transfer of a specific packet with respect to the transfer of another packet and the use pre-assigned to the communication path used for transferring the packet. Further, the characteristic information includes at least one of information related to QoE such as packet importance and application type, and control information related to packet transfer such as a source address and a destination address.

  Therefore, the communication control device according to the present invention is based on at least the characteristic information related to the characteristics of the packet to be transferred to the radio base station, from among a plurality of communication paths in which transfer indexes related to the transfer of the packet are individually set. , Comprising route selection means for selecting at least a part of communication paths, and transfer control means for controlling processing for transferring the packet or data in the packets to the radio base station via the selected communication paths. It is. Thereby, QoE can be improved by using a plurality of communication paths efficiently at least in units of packets by properly using communication paths used for transfer according to packet characteristics. For example, a packet having high importance from the viewpoint of QoE can be transferred using a communication path having a higher transfer rate. Alternatively, a packet or the like transmitted for a specific purpose can be transferred using a communication path that is not used for purposes other than the transfer of the packet, that is, is less prone to delay.

  Here, as a communication path (also simply referred to as a path), for example, a bearer, an IP flow, a service data flow, a TCP session, or a network connection in each radio access technology (RAT) (that is, a connection established in each RAT) or the like. Conceivable.

  Further, as information related to QoE, for example, “packet information” that is information that can be acquired from a packet received by a communication control device such as a gateway device can be considered. The packet information can be said to be a general term for a part of specific examples related to information related to QoE. Further, “acquisition” here refers to, for example, extracting (that is, extracting) information related to QoE from information stored in a packet (that is, extracting) information from the information stored in the packet. It corresponds to reading (packet information) or identifying what kind of packet the packet is. The information related to QoE may be other than packet information. For example, a network device such as an OAM server, RAN Connection Awareness Function (RCAF) node, etc. estimates QoE for each bearer, for each IP flow, for each application, or for each service, and uses the estimated result as QoE estimation information. For example, you may transmit to a gateway apparatus. The QoE estimation information can also be said to be information related to the user experience quality (QoE) estimated in the wireless network.

Examples of the packet information include [A] to [F] below.
[A] Information on packet importance [B] Information on packet transmission status [C] Information on user data importance included in packet [D] Information on user data transmission status included in packet [E] Packet Information on application type of user data included in [F] Information on service type of user data included in packet

  [A] As information on the importance of the packet, for example, information that can identify what kind of QoS the packet corresponds to, information that can identify whether or not the packet is important, Information that can identify which of the predetermined levels (classification) the importance corresponds to is considered. Here, it is conceivable that QoS is determined or determined by QCI, ARP (Allocation Retention Priority), bit rate (Maximum Bit Rate, or Granted Bit Rate), but is not limited thereto. For example, when QoS is determined by QCI, a relationship between the QCI value and the required quality may be defined in advance, and the determination may be made based on the relationship. Also, when QoS is determined by the bit rate, the higher the bit rate, the higher the quality required, so it can be determined that the importance is high.

  [B] As information on the transmission status of the packet, for example, information that can identify whether the packet is a newly transmitted packet (initial transmission packet) or a retransmitted packet (retransmission packet); Information that can be used to identify whether or not transmission is performed in the order of transmission from the server or the like, or in ascending order of the numbers assigned to the packets, and what kind of Transport Protocol (for example, TCP or UDP) is used for transmission. Information that can identify the port number, information that can identify the port number, and the like are conceivable.

  [C] As the information related to the importance of the user data, for example, information that can identify whether the user data is important, or the importance of the user data is set to a predetermined level (classification). Information that can identify whether it corresponds is considered.

  [D] As information about the transmission status of user data, for example, information that can identify whether user data is initially transmitted or retransmitted, or whether user data is transmitted in the original order or not. Possible information.

  [E] The information related to the application type of user data is, for example, information that can identify whether the application is a real-time application or what kind of Application Protocol (for example, HTTP, FTP, RTP) is used for transmission. Information that can be identified is considered.

  [F] Information about the service type of user data includes, for example, information that can identify whether the service is real-time, information that can identify whether it is voice communication, or whether it is (video) streaming communication. Information that can be identified, information that can identify whether a user (person) is (directly) intervening, or a service by an M2M (Machine-To-Machine) type terminal (M2M terminal) Information that can identify whether the service is provided by the operator, or information that can be identified whether the service is provided by OTT (Over The Top). , Etc. can be considered. The service provided by the operator may be, for example, VoLTE (Voice over LTE), SMS (Short Message Service), or MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service).

  Note that a gateway device is conceivable as the communication control device, and the following description will be given basically assuming the gateway device. However, instead of the gateway device, any other network device having the same function as that of the gateway device, another network device substituting a part of the gateway device, or another network device connected to the gateway device The priority control may be performed. For example, the communication control device according to the present invention is not a gateway device, but, for example, a PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function) node, a PCEF (Policy and Charging Enforcement Function) node, an MME (Mobility Management Entity DFT), It may be a network device that controls a node or another gateway device. In that case, a communication control device other than the gateway device may set the transfer index described above for each communication path. Alternatively, the transfer index may be set by a network device other than the gateway, and the gateway device may perform route selection.

(Embodiment 1)
In Embodiment 1 of the present invention, LTE is assumed as a wireless communication system.

  Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, the same or corresponding elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  The configuration of the wireless communication system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The radio communication system 1 includes a radio base station (eNode B: eNB) 10, and the radio base station 10 manages a cell 11. A radio terminal (User Equipment: UE) 20 exists in the cell 11 and can perform two-way radio communication with the radio base station 10 that manages the cell 11. The radio base station 10 is connected to the radio base station control device 30 and the gateway device 40. The radio base station 10 transmits / receives control information to / from the radio base station control device 30. The radio base station 10 transmits and receives user data (transmission / reception target data) to and from the gateway device 40. The radio base station control device 30 is also connected to the gateway device 40. Then, the radio base station control device 30 performs management of a bearer that is a connection between the radio terminal 20 and the gateway device 40, and mobility control such as handover. The gateway device 40 is connected to a server 60 via a PDN (Packet Data Network) 50. The gateway device 40 then assigns an IP address to the wireless terminal 20 and performs user authentication for the PDN 50 when setting a bearer.

  Here, “bearer” refers to either or both of a network bearer (Network Bearer) and a radio bearer (Radio Bearer: RB). As the network bearer, for example, E-RAB (E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer), EPS (Evolved Packet System) bearer, S1 bearer, S5 bearer, or S8 bearer can be considered. Hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, a bearer corresponds to any one or a combination of the above-described types of bearers, but the scope of application of the present invention is not limited thereto.

  As the radio base station control device 30, for example, a mobility management entity (MME) of a radio terminal or a network operation management device (Operation, Administration and Management server: OAM server) can be considered. The gateway device 40 may be, for example, an S-GW (Serving Gateway) and / or a P-GW (Packet Data Network Gateway). The S-GW serves as a connection point with other 3GPP access networks such as GSM (registered trademark) (GERAN) or UMTS (UTRAN). The P-GW serves as a connection point with a non-3GPP network such as the Internet network. Further, the P-GW performs assignment of an IP address to the wireless terminal, user authentication regarding PDN connection, creation of billing data, and the like. Note that the P-GW acquires information on QCI (QoS Class Identifier) from a PCRF not shown in FIG. 1 and generates traffic control information (for example, Traffic Flow Template: TFT). Then, the P-GW transfers the packet to the radio base station based on the traffic control information. Here, the packet includes, for example, user data (also referred to as User Plane (UP) data) and / or control information (Control Plane (CP) data, IMS signaling, TCP signaling, or application level control signaling). ) Is stored. Therefore, user data and / or control information can be said to be an example of data included in at least a packet. In the following description, unless specifically described, the gateway device corresponds to either a single S-GW, a single P-GW, or a combination of S-GW and P-GW. The information stored in the packet basically assumes user data, but may be control information instead.

  The configurations of the radio base station 10, the radio base station control device 30, and the gateway device 40 that are components of the radio communication system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The wireless communication system 1 in FIG. 2 includes a wireless base station 10, a wireless terminal 20, a wireless base station control device 30, and a gateway device 40.

  The radio base station 10 includes a control unit 101, a buffer 102, a scheduler unit 103, and a radio unit 104.

  The control unit 101 transmits and receives control information to and from the radio base station control device 30. For example, when the wireless terminal 20 is activated and the wireless unit 104 receives a connection request from the wireless terminal 20 to the mobile network, the control unit 101 includes the connection request (or the connection request) in the wireless base station control device 30. Message).

  The buffer 102 holds user data transferred from the gateway device 40. The buffer 102 may be prepared for each wireless terminal connected to the wireless base station 10 (each cell). Alternatively, the buffer 102 may be prepared in common for a plurality or all of the radio terminals connected to the radio base station 10 (each cell).

  The scheduler unit 103 may perform priority scheduling based on the QCI of the bearer set by the gateway device 40 and notified via the radio base station control device 30. For example, the scheduler unit 103 determines the user data amount to be passed from the RLC layer buffer corresponding to each bearer to the MAC layer in consideration of the priority associated with the QCI, and transport blocks (TB) for each user. Is generated. The radio unit 104 maps the TB to a physical channel (PDSCH) to generate a transmission signal, and transmits the transmission signal to the radio terminal 20. Here, the determination of the user data amount in consideration of the priority, for example, defines the maximum value of the user data amount to be passed from the RLC layer buffer to the MAC layer for each QCI, and from the bearer corresponding to the QCI having a high priority. It may be executed by sequentially passing the buffer from the RLC layer to the MAC layer until the maximum value is reached or until there is no user data of the bearer. If the upper limit of the amount of user data that can be allocated to the TB is exceeded during this process, the process may be interrupted at that point and the process may proceed to a TB generation step.

  The radio base station control device 30 includes a control unit 301 and a bearer management unit 302.

  The control unit 301 transmits and receives control information between the control unit 101 of the radio base station and the control unit 401 of the gateway device 40. For example, control information regarding a connection request to a mobile network of a wireless terminal or information regarding a bearer setting request is transmitted / received.

  The bearer management unit 302 receives the information regarding the connection request of the wireless terminal transmitted from the wireless base station 10 via the control unit 301, and when setting of a new bearer is necessary, the bearer management unit 302 via the control unit 301 A new bearer setting request is transmitted to 40.

  The gateway device 40 includes a control unit 401, a bearer setting unit 402, a packet inspection unit 403, and a bearer selection unit 404.

  The control unit 401 transmits and receives control information to and from the control unit 301 of the radio base station control device 30. Specifically, information on a new bearer setting request is transmitted / received.

  The bearer setting unit 402 receives the new bearer setting request transmitted from the radio base station control device 30 via the control unit 401, and sets a new bearer. At this time, setting information (for example, QCI) regarding the QoS of the bearer is also determined. For example, QoS for a default bearer applies a QCI setting value provided by a Home Subscriber Server (HSS). Meanwhile, the QoS for an individual bearer (Dedicated Bearer) determines the QCI based on a QoS policy or a control policy provided from the PCRF. Here, the setting information is an example of a transfer index related to packet transfer. The setting information may use at least one of the priority of transfer of a specific packet with respect to transfer of other packets and the use of a communication path. Here, the use of the communication path is, for example, dedicated to the first transmission packet (or priority), dedicated to the retransmission packet (or priority), dedicated to the application with real time property (or priority), or dedicated to the application without real time property (or Priority).

  The packet inspection unit 403 is an example of a specifying unit. The packet inspection unit 403 acquires packet information included in a packet storing user data transferred from the server 60 via the PDN 50. Alternatively, the packet inspection unit 403 may acquire the packet information by reading the packet information. Therefore, it can be said that the packet inspection unit 403 acquires packet information from information stored in the packet and uses it as characteristic information. The packet inspection unit 403 transfers the acquired packet information to the bearer selection unit 404. Here, the packet information is information related to QoE, and examples thereof include [A] to [F] described above.

  The bearer selection unit 404 is an example of a route selection unit and a transfer control unit. The bearer selection unit 404 is based on the packet information transferred from the packet inspection unit 403 (for example, information related to the importance of user data) and / or QoE estimation information transferred from other network devices. Selects a bearer from the bearers set by. For example, when it is determined that the importance level of a packet is high based on the packet information, the bearer selection unit 404 selects a bearer in which a transfer index suitable for transferring a packet with high importance level is set. Here, the transfer index suitable for the transfer of a packet with high importance is, for example, that the priority is set high in order to transfer the packet in preference to other packets with low importance, or important For example, it is possible to transfer only high-frequency packets (or preferentially transfer them). That is, the bearer selection unit 404 determines the importance level in the packet based on information related to the user experience quality (QoE), and selects a communication path in which a transfer index is set according to the determined importance level in the packet. To do. And the bearer selection part 404 transfers user data to the buffer 102 of the wireless base station 10 using the selected bearer. For example, the bearer selection unit 404 may select a bearer associated with the QCI corresponding to the information related to the importance of the user data transferred from the packet inspection unit 403. That is, when the bearer selection unit 404 determines that the importance of the packet is high from the packet information and / or the QoE estimation information, the communication path in which a higher priority is set from the plurality of communication paths. It can be said that it is a choice. The bearer selection may be performed for each packet. Alternatively, bearer selection may be performed every predetermined period or every predetermined number of packets. Alternatively, bearer selection may be performed when a predetermined event occurs, that is, when a predetermined condition is satisfied. Here, the predetermined condition is, for example, that the load of the cell or radio base station in which the bearer is established is high, congestion in the cell in which the bearer is established or in another cell of the radio base station that manages the cell Or the user experience quality (QoE) estimated from TCP throughput or the like is below or likely to fall below a predetermined requirement.

  In Embodiment 1 of the present invention, the wireless terminal 20 has a function of detecting that packets transmitted using a plurality of routes are the same application and executing the application (not shown). For example, the wireless terminal 20 has a function corresponding to multipath TCP (Multipath TCP: MPTCP). Here, the multipath TCP is a function for receiving data in one application started by a certain communication terminal from the corresponding application server using a plurality of routes (from the viewpoint of the application server or the like). Transmission function). Therefore, it is assumed that the wireless terminal 20 has at least the function on the communication terminal side in the above description. In multipath TCP (MPTCP), it is also assumed that a plurality of routes are set by simultaneously using different radio access technologies (RAT) such as cellular (for example, LTE) and wireless LAN (WLAN). However, here, it is assumed that a plurality of routes are set by using a plurality of bearers in LTE. In order to realize this, for example, the radio terminal 20 may make a connection request to the network so that a plurality of paths (bearers) are established in LTE when an application is activated. Alternatively, the wireless terminal 20 may be connected to a network (and a server) in each of LTE and WLAN and then move a path established in the WLAN to LTE (that is, Traffic Steering). Further, it may be realized by another method. The Traffic Steering method may be realized by instructing the UE from the ANDSF server using ANDSF (Access Network Discovery and Selection Function) defined by 3GPP. Or as a method of Traffic Steering, you may implement | achieve by instruct | indicating to UE from ANDSF server and RAN (for example, eNB). Further, as a method of Traffic Steering, the RAN may instruct the UE. Note that the gateway device or the network device associated therewith may once terminate user data transmitted from the application server at the TCP layer (TCP termination) and transmit the user data to the wireless terminal again. This is also called TCP proxy or TCP split.

  Alternatively, user data may be divided or integrated in the application layer in the same manner as multipath TCP (MPTCP). In this case, the wireless terminal (the LTE device) does not need to recognize that user data transmitted / received by a plurality of bearers is from the same application. The application layer may be an application layer in a wireless terminal or an application server. Further, the gateway device or the network device associated therewith may terminate the user data once at the application layer and divide or integrate the user data.

  On the other hand, the above-mentioned plurality of paths may be a plurality of bearers in LTE, a plurality of radio access technologies, or a combination thereof.

Example 1
Next, the operation according to Example 1 in Embodiment 1 will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. In FIG. 3, the processes of the radio terminal 20, the radio base station 10, the radio base station control device 30, and the gateway device 40 are shown from the left. FIG. 3 shows an example in which the packet inspection unit 403 of the gateway device 40 acquires information on the transmission status of [B] packet and information on the transmission status of user data included in the [D] packet as packet information. Specifically, the packet inspection unit 403 acquires information that can identify which Transport Protocol is used for transmission as information regarding the transmission status of the packet. Further, the packet inspection unit 403 acquires information that can identify whether the user data is initially transmitted or retransmitted as information regarding the transmission status of the user data. Then, the gateway device 40 determines whether or not the packet is a TCP retransmission packet, and performs priority control when the packet is a TCP retransmission packet. That is, when the gateway device 40 determines that the packet is a retransmission packet based on the packet information, the gateway device 40 prioritizes (that is, prioritizes) the retransmission packet from other communication packets among a plurality of communication paths. B) Select the communication path with the transfer index set to transfer. For example, in this case, the gateway device 40 selects a communication path for which a higher priority is set from a plurality of communication paths. Further, in the first embodiment, two bearers (bearers R11 and R12) are set for one application executed by a certain radio terminal 20, and the bearer R12 has higher QoS characteristics (for example, QCI, ARP, Maximum) than the bearer R11. Bit Rate etc.). At this time, it can be said that bearer R12 has a higher priority than bearer R11.

  In the first embodiment, first, the radio terminal 20 transmits a connection request to the radio base station control device 30 via the radio base station 10 (S100). When receiving the connection request, the radio base station control device 30 transmits a request for setting a new bearer to the gateway device 40 (S101). When receiving the request for setting a new bearer, the gateway device 40 sets a new bearer (S102). At this time, the gateway apparatus 40 also sets QoS (for example, QCI) applied to the new bearer to be set. As described above, two bearers R11 and R12 are set here. Next, the gateway device 40 transfers bearer information for transmitting user data to the radio base station 10 via the radio base station control device 30 (S103). The bearer information includes, for example, a bearer identifier (e.g. E-RAB ID, EPS Bearer ID), an E-RAB Level QoS Parameter, a GTP Tunnel Endpoint Identifier (TEID), and the like. Further, the bearer information includes the set QoS information. Therefore, it can be said that the gateway device 40 includes notification means for notifying the wireless base station 10 of the transfer index set for each of the plurality of communication paths via the MME.

  Then, the gateway device 40 receives the packet from the server 60, performs packet inspection, and acquires packet information (S104). Then, the gateway device 40 determines a bearer to be used based on the result of the packet inspection (that is, performs bearer mapping) (S105), and uses the bearer R11 and / or bearer R12 to transmit the user data to the radio base station. The data is transferred to the station 10 (S106). At this time, bearer R12 is used when user data is transmitted as a TCP retransmission packet, and bearer R11 is used otherwise. When receiving the user data, the radio base station 10 takes into account the QoS (for example, QCI) included in the bearer information transferred in step S103, and prioritizes the user data transferred by the bearer R12 having a high-priority QCI. Scheduling is performed (S107), and user data is transmitted to the wireless terminal 20 (S108). For example, the radio base station 10 may allocate a predetermined amount of radio resources allocated to user data received by the bearer R12 and allocate the remaining radio resources to user data received by the bearer R11. Or after allocating a radio | wireless resource to all the user data received by the bearer R12, you may make it the radio base station 10 allocate a free radio | wireless resource to the user data received by the bearer R11.

  FIG. 3 shows only a series of processing for a certain packet, but the same processing is executed for each packet, every predetermined period, every predetermined number of packets, or when a predetermined event occurs.

  In this way, by using a plurality of bearers having different priorities, it is possible to control the priority of packets in the same application, so that it is possible to speed up the transmission of packets with high importance related to QoE, and to improve QoE. Can be expected.

  Note that the packet inspection unit 403 in the gateway device 40 may implement packet inspection by a technique called Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) or Shallow Packet Inspection (SPI) (or a technique equivalent thereto). Alternatively, the packet inspection unit 403 may be realized by the gateway device 40 using a TCP proxy (or TCP split). Alternatively, the packet inspection unit 403 may be realized by combining a TCP proxy and DPI. Here, when realized by DPI, the packet inspection unit 403 may determine whether or not retransmission is performed from a TCP retransmission flag. Alternatively, in this case, the packet inspection unit 403 may determine whether or not to retransmit based on whether or not the same sequence number (TCP SN) has already been transmitted. In the case of a TCP proxy, since the gateway device 40 once terminates the TCP layer, the packet inspection unit 403 may perform retransmission determination based on conventional TCP control. For example, when an ACK for the same sequence number (TCP SN) of a TCP packet is continuously received N (eg 3) times, or when a retransmission timer that is activated at the time of packet transmission times out (RTO), retransmission (that is, retransmission) Packet).

  In the first embodiment, a method for mapping user data of the same application to a plurality of bearers may be realized by, for example, the above-described multipath TCP (MPTCP), or may be realized by division and integration at the application layer. .

  In the first embodiment, information that can identify whether or not the packet is a TCP retransmission packet has been described as an example of the packet information. However, any one or combination of the above-described [A] to [F] is similarly used. The invention can be applied.

  For example, information related to the importance of the [A] packet (or information related to the importance of the user data included in the [C] packet) may be used. In the image standard MPEG, there are an I frame, a P frame, and a B frame. Then, a packet (or user data) corresponding to an I frame that is a reference frame may be prioritized over a packet (or user data) corresponding to another frame and transmitted by a bearer having a high priority. . As a method for determining whether a packet (or user data) corresponds to an I frame or a P frame, for example, an identifier indicating whether the packet is an I frame or a P frame is inserted into the header of the packet, or the user data The identifier may be inserted into a part, and the determination may be made based on the identifier.

  Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the case where the number of bearers set by the gateway device 40 is two has been described. However, the present invention can be similarly applied even when the number of bearers to be set is three or more. For example, priority control may be realized by setting a higher priority in the order of bearers R13, R12, and R11. Or, by carrying out parallel transfer of packets with bearers R11 and R12 as the same priority, the priority of bearer R13 is set higher than those while increasing the amount of packets transferred to one wireless terminal. You may do it.

(Example 2)
Route selection (also called bearer mapping) by the gateway device 40 in the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In FIG. 4, the gateway device 40 receives a packet transmitted from the server 60, performs packet inspection (for example, DPI), acquires packet information, and maps which packet to which bearer (bearer R11 or R12 in FIG. 4). Decide what to do.

  On the other hand, in FIG. 5, the gateway device 40 executes a TCP proxy (also referred to as TCP split) and terminates the TCP layer. That is, the gateway device 40 converts the TCP session established between the server 60 and the wireless terminal 20 into two TCP sessions between the server 60 and the gateway device 40 and between the gateway device 40 and the wireless terminal 20. And change. Then, the gateway device 40 acquires packet information for the packet received from the server 60 or the packet that can be transmitted to the wireless terminal 20 (that is, ready for transmission). Note that the gateway device 40 of FIG. 5 may also perform DPI (or processing close thereto) together.

(Embodiment 2)
In the first embodiment, priority control of packets is realized by setting a plurality of bearers having different priorities and selecting bearers based on information related to QoE such as the importance of packets. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, by setting a plurality of routes within the same bearer and selecting a route based on information related to QoE such as the importance of the packet, by implementing packet priority control, QoE To improve. The route referred to in the second embodiment specifically refers to a plurality of IP flows (also referred to as service data flow (SDF)) that can be set in the same bearer. Each IP flow is set to transmit a packet (user data) of each application, for example. Here, when using the above-mentioned multipath TCP (MPTCP), each TCP session for the same application can be considered as each IP flow. Usually, the same QoS settings (for example, the same QCI) are applied to IP flows within the same bearer. However, in the second embodiment of the present invention, the gateway device or the radio base station control device sets a priority between IP flows in the same bearer, and based on information related to QoE such as the importance of the packet ( Priority control is performed by selecting an IP flow for transmitting user data. Here, the priority order may be represented by an index (for example, Flow Priority Index: FPI), and a communication control device such as a gateway device may notify the wireless base station of the index. The notification to the radio base station may be transmitted on a packet to be forwarded to the radio base station (by being piggy backed), or may be transmitted in advance as control information (for example, via the MME) at the time of bearer setup or bearer establishment. ) May be sent.

  The configuration of the network according to the second embodiment is the same as that of FIG.

  The components of the wireless communication system 1a according to the second embodiment are shown in FIG. Since the configurations of the radio base station 10 and the radio base station control device 30 are the same as those in FIG. 2 of the first embodiment, only the gateway device 40 will be described. The gateway device 40 according to the second embodiment includes a bearer control unit 406 in the control unit 401, bearer setting unit 402, packet inspection unit 403, bearer selection unit 405, and bearer selection unit 405. Since the control unit 401, the bearer setting unit 402, and the packet inspection unit 403 are the same as those in the first embodiment, the bearer selection unit 405 and the bearer control unit 406 will be described below. However, the bearer setting unit 402 may set a plurality of IP flows in the bearer, and set different priorities or uses as transfer indices for each IP flow. Alternatively, the bearer management unit 302 of the radio base station control device 30 may set a plurality of IP flows in the bearer and set different priorities or uses for each IP flow.

  The bearer selection unit 405 selects a bearer having a corresponding QCI among the bearers set by the bearer setting unit 402. In addition, when the bearer setting part 402 sets one bearer, it is not necessary to perform the process which selects the bearer to be used from several bearers. Further, in order to enable priority control between packets transmitted within the selected bearer, packet information transferred from the packet inspection unit 403 in the bearer control unit 406 and / or QoE estimation transferred from another network device Based on the information, the transfer order of packets (user data) to the radio base station 10 is changed, or the transfer amount or transfer speed is dynamically changed.

  Here, for example, assuming two IP flows in the same bearer, the packet transfer order is changed by using the first IP flow for transferring the initial transmission packet and the second IP flow for transferring the retransmission packet. It can be realized by using it. That is, in the case of changing the packet transfer order, different uses (for example, a use for transferring an initial transmission packet and a use for transferring a retransmission packet) are set for each of a plurality of IP flows, and information included in the packet Based on the above, an IP flow with an appropriate use is selected, and the selected IP flow is used to transfer the packet. Alternatively, the priority of the packet transfer order may be set for each of the plurality of IP flows. Specifically, the initial transmission packet is transferred in the first IP flow in the order of the given number (for example, TCP sequence number), and when a retransmission packet is generated, the retransmission packet is transferred in the second IP flow. To do. Thereby, even when a retransmission packet occurs, the retransmission packet is preferentially transferred using the second IP flow without waiting for transfer in the first IP flow. That is, sending a retransmission packet with priority among a plurality of arrived packets can be said to change the arrival order and the sending order of the packets (change of the transfer order). Both the first IP flow and the second IP flow may normally be used for transferring both the initial transmission packet and the retransmission packet. When congestion occurs, when a cell or a radio base station is congested (during The above method may be applied only under a predetermined condition such as a congestion situation. Whether or not congestion has occurred or whether or not congestion has occurred may be notified from a radio base station to a communication control device such as a gateway device, or from another network device (for example, RCAF) to a gateway device. May be notified to the communication control device.

  Also, the dynamic change of the transfer amount is, for example, when assuming two IP flows in the same bearer, the upper limit of the transfer amount in the first IP flow is higher than the upper limit of the transfer amount in the other second IP flow. The first IP flow is selected and transferred for packets (or user data) with high priority. Similarly, the dynamic change of the transfer rate sets a faster transfer rate for the first IP flow and a slower transfer rate for the second IP flow than the first IP flow. Then, the first IP flow is selected and transferred for packets (or user data) having a high priority. Here, “transfer rate” is, for example, downlink or uplink transfer rate (DL rate or UL rate), downlink or uplink Guaranted Bit Rate (DL GBR or UL GBR), Access Point Name (APN). That is, an aggregated maximum bit rate (APN-AMBR) or a TCP packet transmission rate (TCP transmission rate) for each PDN connection is conceivable.

  In the second embodiment, the gateway device 40 may perform packet inspection (for example, DPI) or TCP proxy (TCP split).

(Example 3)
The operation according to Example 3 of Embodiment 2 will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. In the third embodiment, it is assumed that one wireless terminal starts one application and the application establishes two TCP sessions (TCP_R31 and TCP_R32) based on multipath TCP (MPTCP). At this time, the two TCP sessions are mapped to the same bearer, but different priorities (TCP_R32> TCP_R31) or uses are set as transfer indexes in TCP_R31 and TCP_R32.

  In FIG. 7, the processes of the radio terminal 20, the radio base station 10, the radio base station control device 30, and the gateway device 40 are shown from the left. Since S200 to S204 in FIG. 7 are basically the same as S100 to S104 in FIG. However, in S202, the bearer setting unit 402 may set a use for transferring an initial transmission packet or the like to TCP_R31 and set a use for transferring a retransmission packet or the like to TCP_R32. Or the bearer setting part 402 may set a different priority to TCP_R31 and R32. Alternatively, the bearer management unit 302 of the radio base station control device 30 may set different priorities or uses for TCP_R31 and R32. In S205, based on the packet information acquired by the gateway device 40 through the packet inspection in S204, it is selected whether each packet (the user data in the packet) is transmitted with an IP flow corresponding to TCP_R31 or R32. To do.

  As an IP flow selection method in S205, for example, an IP flow corresponding to TCP_R31 having a normal or lower priority is selected for an initial transmission packet (or initial transmission user data), and a retransmission packet (or retransmission user data) is selected. ) May select an IP flow corresponding to TCP_R32 having a higher priority. Or, when the TCP session established by multipath TCP (MPTCP) is used as usual and the cell or wireless base station that is the destination of the packet (user data in it) is congested, As described above, an IP flow corresponding to TCP_R32 may be selected for the retransmission packet. Further, the data transfer amount to the wireless base station in the IP flow corresponding to TCP_R32 is set to be larger (for example, the bit rate is higher) than the data transfer amount (for example, bit rate) to the wireless base station in the IP flow corresponding to TCP_R31. You may do it.

  In S206, user data is transferred to the radio base station in the selected IP flow. S207 and S208 are basically the same as S107 and S108 in FIG.

  As described above, since priority control of packets within the same application can be performed even within the same bearer, it is possible to speed up transmission of packets having high importance related to QoE, and improvement of QoE can be expected.

  In the third embodiment, as packet information, [B] information on packet transmission status (initial transmission packet or retransmission packet) and / or [D] information on user data transmission status (initial transmission user data or retransmission) User data) is used to perform bearer control (that is, IP flow selection), but is not limited thereto. For example, in the case where importance is different between transmitted packets or actual user data even in the same application, [A] information on the importance of packets and / or [C] importance of user data Bearer control may be performed using information on the degree.

Example 4
In the third embodiment, multipath TCP (MPTCP) is assumed. However, in the fourth embodiment, instead of MPTCP, the gateway device 40 (or the radio base station control device 30) is connected between the gateway device 40 and the radio base station 10. A plurality of virtual IP flows (Virtual IP flows: V-IPF) are virtually established for the same application. At this time, it is assumed that the gateway device 40 or other accompanying network device performs TCP proxy (TCP split).

  FIG. 8 shows an example in which two IP flows are virtually established for the same application. After the wireless terminal activates the application and establishes a TCP session with the server, the gateway device performs TCP proxy (TCP split) and terminates the TCP session. Thereafter, the gateway apparatus establishes two virtual IP flows (V-IPF_R41 and R42) with the wireless base station for the TCP session. Here, either one of the V-IPF_R41 and R42 (for example, R41) may be an IP flow that was originally established, or two V-IPFs may be newly established. The radio base station 10 terminates the packet (or user data) transferred by the V-IPF_R 41 and R 42 (Virtual IP flows termination), performs predetermined priority control, and transmits it to the radio terminal 20. For example, as in the third embodiment, the importance level of a packet (or user data) is determined by initial transmission or retransmission, and the retransmission packet (or retransmission user data) is scheduled with priority and transmitted to the wireless terminal. Also good. In that case, as in the third embodiment, the bearer setting unit 402 sets different uses or priorities for the V-IPF_R41 and R42. Alternatively, the bearer management unit 302 of the radio base station control device 30 may set different uses or priorities as transfer indexes for the V-IPF_R 41 and R 42, respectively.

(Embodiment 3)
In Embodiment 3 of the present invention, further improvement of QoE is realized by further applying packet priority control in the route to the packet in the route selected in Embodiment 1 or Embodiment 2. Specifically, priority control between paths in the same bearer (for example, between IP flows) and / or priority control of packets (inside user data) in the same path (within IP flows) are performed. When different applications are mixed in the same bearer, packet priority control is performed based on information related to QoE such as application characteristics. Alternatively, priority control is performed on packets (or user data) of the same application in accordance with the importance of the packet (or user data).

  The configuration of the network according to the third embodiment is the same as that of FIG. Further, the components of the network according to the third embodiment are the same as those according to the second embodiment described with reference to FIG.

(Example 5)
The operation according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. In FIG. 9, the processes of the radio terminal 20, the radio base station 10, the radio base station control device 30, and the gateway device 40 are shown from the left. FIG. 9 illustrates a case where one wireless terminal 20 simultaneously uses two applications (video streaming with high real-time characteristics and file download with low real-time characteristics) and performs priority control using three bearers. . Here, each of the three bearers is assumed to have one Default Bearer (bearer R51) and two Dedicated Bearers (bearers R52 and R53), and correspond to QCI having a higher priority in the order of bearer R53>R52> R51. And It is assumed that at least two IP flows are set in the bearer R53. The first IP flow is set to use a video streaming packet that is an application with high real-time characteristics, and the second IP flow has a file download packet that is an application with low real-time characteristics. It is assumed that the usage for transferring is set.

  Since S300 and S301 of the sequence according to the third embodiment are as described in the first or third embodiment, the description thereof is omitted. The gateway device 40 sets a new bearer for the three bearers (bearer R53, bearer R52, and bearer R51) (S302), and transmits the bearer information set in S302 to the radio base station via the radio base station control device 30. The data is transferred to the station 10 (S303). In S304, the gateway device 40 performs packet inspection and acquires packet information. For example, the gateway device 40 acquires information on the importance of the packet [A] as in the first or third embodiment, and determines whether the packet is a TCP retransmission packet. Furthermore, the gateway device 40 acquires information on the application type of [E] user data and determines the application type. Here, the application type is determined by, for example, the IP address or port number of the transmission source of the IP header, or determined by the frequency or amount of traffic. Next, in S305, the gateway apparatus 40 maps each packet (user data) to an appropriate bearer based on the determination result in S304. For example, the gateway device 40 first maps the TCP retransmission packet to the bearer R53 regardless of the application, then, the video streaming packet, which is a high-realtime application, to the bearer R52, and finally the low-realtime property. A file download packet as an application is mapped to the bearer R51. Next, in S306, the gateway device 40 performs priority control within the bearer. Specifically, it is assumed that TCP retransmission packets for video streaming and file download are mapped to the bearer R53. Here, in order to send video streaming packets quickly, the order of packets transferred to the radio base station may be rearranged so that the video streaming packets come first. Specifically, for example, the gateway device 40 selects the first IP flow as a TCP retransmission packet for video streaming, and transfers it using the first IP flow. In addition, the gateway device 40 selects the second IP flow for the file download TCP retransmission packet, and transfers it using the second IP flow. Then, in S307, the gateway device 40 transfers each packet (user data) to the radio base station 10, and in S308, the radio base station 10 performs scheduling in consideration of the priority and transmits the user data to the radio terminal 20. (S309).

  In the fifth embodiment, the transfer order is changed as priority control in the bearer R53. However, priority control may be performed by dynamically changing the transfer speed. For example, the transfer rate may be changed between a video streaming packet and a file download packet among the packets transferred by the bearer R53. In that case, a higher transfer rate is set in advance for the first IP flow in the bearer R53, and a lower transfer rate than that for the first IP flow is set for the second IP flow. The gateway device 40 selects and transfers the first IP flow for the video streaming packet and transfers the second IP flow for the file download packet.

As described above, in the third embodiment, a plurality of bearers having different priorities are set to perform priority control between applications or within the same application, and further, priority control of packets within the same bearer is performed. (User data) can be prioritized. As a result, transmission of packets with high importance related to QoE can be finely controlled, and improvement of QoE can be expected.

  Note that priority control based on the service type may be performed instead of priority control based on the application type in the fifth embodiment.

<Other embodiments of the invention>
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention.

  In the above-described first embodiment, it is assumed that user data transfer by one application is realized by setting a plurality of bearers in LTE. However, as already described in the description of multipath TCP (MPTCP), user data may be transferred using both LTE and WLAN. In this case, for example, the gateway device 40 selects which route, LTE or WLAN, transfers user data. Further, when both LTE and WLAN are used, the gateway device 40 transfers user data to each, and the LTE radio base station and the WLAN access point (AP) transmit user data to the radio terminal 20 respectively. Also good. Alternatively, the gateway device 40 transfers user data to the LTE radio base station 10, the radio base station 10 transmits user data to the radio terminal 20, and the gateway device 40 transfers user data to the WLAN AP. The user data may be transmitted from the WLAN AP to the wireless terminal 20. That is, the route selection means, when the packet is transferred due to execution of one application started in the wireless terminal, two or more of the plurality of communication routes based on the characteristic information The communication path is selected, and the transfer control means controls the transfer using the selected two or more communication paths. Alternatively, a route setting unit sets a plurality of communication routes for transferring the packet to one application, and the route selection unit sets the packet for each packet or for each of the plurality of packets based on the characteristic information. A communication path may be selected.

  Moreover, it is also possible to apply combining the above-mentioned Embodiments 1-3. For example, three paths (TCP sessions) are established by multipath TCP (MPTCP) in the first embodiment, one is assigned to a priority bearer (Dedicated Bearer), and the other two are assigned to a normal bearer (Default Bearer). At this time, further improvement of QoE can be expected by applying the priority control according to the second embodiment in the default bearer. Alternatively, QoE can be further improved by applying the packet priority control in the bearer of the third embodiment to the packet in the route (bearer) selected in the first or second embodiment.

  Furthermore, the present invention can be implemented in UMTS, CDMA 1xRTT, HRPD, or WiMAX in addition to LTE.

  The present invention can also be expressed as follows. That is, a communication control apparatus that manages transfer control for transferring a packet transmitted from another apparatus of a network to a radio base station via one or more communication paths, and the priority or application as the communication path Packet setting acquisition means for acquiring packet information which is an example of information relating to user experience quality (QoE) from the packet, and route setting means capable of setting a first communication route and a second communication route having different A path selection unit that determines the importance of the packet from the packet information and selects either or both of the first communication path and the second communication path based on the importance of the packet; Transfer control means for controlling transfer of the packet or user data transmitted in the packet to the radio base station using the communication path. The features. The effect by this is to be able to improve QoE which is the quality of experience of the user. This is because the importance level of a packet related to QoE is detected, and packet transmission control is performed according to the importance level.

  The present invention can also be expressed as follows. That is, the wireless communication system includes a communication control device that receives a packet addressed to a wireless terminal via a network, and a wireless base station that transfers the packet transferred from the communication control device to the wireless terminal. Then, the communication control apparatus individually sets a transfer index related to the packet transfer for each of a plurality of communication paths, and notifies the radio base station of the transfer index set for each of the plurality of communication paths. Then, based on the characteristic information indicating the characteristic of the packet, at least a part of the plurality of communication paths is selected, and at least data included in the packet is used for the selected communication path. Transfer to the radio base station. Then, the radio base station transfers the data transferred from the communication control device to the radio terminal using at least a part of the plurality of communication paths based on the notified transfer index.

  In the above-described embodiments, the present invention has been described as a hardware configuration, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also realize arbitrary processing by causing a CPU (Central Processing Unit) to execute a computer program.

  In the above example, the program can be stored and supplied to a computer using various types of non-transitory computer readable media. Non-transitory computer readable media include various types of tangible storage media. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic recording media (for example, flexible disks, magnetic tapes, hard disk drives), magneto-optical recording media (for example, magneto-optical disks), CD-ROMs (Read Only Memory), CD-Rs, CD-R / W, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), BD (Blu-ray (registered trademark) Disc), semiconductor memory (for example, mask ROM, PROM (Programmable ROM), EPROM (Erasable PROM), flash ROM, RAM ( Random Access Memory)). The program may also be supplied to the computer by various types of transitory computer readable media. Examples of transitory computer readable media include electrical signals, optical signals, and electromagnetic waves. The temporary computer-readable medium can supply the program to the computer via a wired communication path such as an electric wire and an optical fiber, or a wireless communication path.

A part or all of the above embodiments can be described as in the following supplementary notes, but is not limited thereto.
(Appendix A1)
Route selection means for selecting at least a part of communication paths from among a plurality of communication paths in which transfer indexes relating to transfer of the packets are individually set based on characteristic information on characteristics of packets to be transferred to the radio base station When,
Transfer control means for controlling processing for transferring the packet or data in the packet to the radio base station via the selected communication path;
A communication control device comprising:
(Appendix A2)
The characteristic information includes at least information related to a user experience quality (QoE) of the wireless terminal,
The route selection means includes
Determining the importance of the packet based on information related to the user experience quality (QoE);
The communication control device according to appendix A1, wherein a communication path in which the transfer index according to the importance is set is selected.
(Appendix A3)
The transfer index is an index related to at least one of priority of transfer of the packet with respect to transfer of another packet, and use of the communication path.
The communication control device according to appendix A1 or A2.
(Appendix A4)
The information related to the user experience quality (QoE) is at least one of packet information acquired from information stored in the packet or QoE estimation information related to the user experience quality (QoE) estimated in a wireless network. The communication control device according to Appendix A2.
(Appendix A5)
Path setting means for setting a plurality of the communication paths for transferring the packet for one application;
The path selection means selects the communication path for each of the packets or a plurality of the packets based on the characteristic information;
The communication control apparatus according to any one of appendices A1 to A4.
(Appendix A6)
When the route selection unit determines that the packet is a retransmission packet based on the characteristic information, the route selection unit causes the retransmission packet to be transferred with priority over other initial transmission packets from the plurality of communication routes. The communication control device according to any one of appendices A1 to A5, wherein a communication path in which the transfer index is set is selected.
(Appendix A7)
The transfer index is a transfer amount or a transfer speed for transferring the packet,
The transfer control means includes
Based on the characteristic information of each packet, the transfer amount or the transfer speed set for the selected communication path is changed to control the process of transferring by the selected communication path. The communication control apparatus according to any one of claims.
(Appendix A8)
The route selection means is configured to select two or more communication routes from the plurality of communication routes based on the characteristic information when the packet is transferred due to execution of one application started in the wireless terminal. Select a route,
The communication control apparatus according to any one of appendices A1 to A7, wherein the transfer control unit controls the transfer using the selected two or more communication paths.
(Appendix A9)
The transfer index set for each of the plurality of communication paths, further comprising notification means for notifying the radio base station via MME (Mobility Management Entity), according to any one of appendices A1 to A8 Communication control device.
(Appendix A10)
The characteristic information is
Information on the importance level of the packet, information on the transmission status of the packet, information on the importance level of user data included in the packet, information on the transmission status of user data included in the packet, information on user data included in the packet The communication control device according to any one of appendices A1 to A9, which is at least one or a combination of information on an application type or information on a service type of user data included in the packet.
(Appendix A11)
The communication path is
Network connection in bearer, IP flow, service data flow, TCP session, or different radio access technology (RAT),
The communication control device according to any one of appendices A1 to A10, which is any one of or a combination.
(Appendix A12)
The communication control device is a gateway device that receives the packet from another device of the network,
The communication control apparatus according to any one of appendices A1 to A12, wherein the transfer control unit transfers the packet or data in the packet to the radio base station through the selected communication path.
(Appendix B1)
A communication control device for receiving a packet addressed to a wireless terminal via a network;
A wireless base station that transfers the packet transferred from the communication control device to the wireless terminal;
A wireless communication system comprising:
The communication control device includes:
A transfer index related to the transfer of the packet is individually set for each of a plurality of communication paths,
Notifying the wireless base station of the transfer index set for each of the plurality of communication paths,
Based on characteristic information indicating the characteristics of the packet, select at least a part of the plurality of communication paths,
Transferring the packet or data in the packet to the radio base station via the selected communication path;
The radio base station is
A wireless communication system that transfers the packet or the data transferred from the communication control device to the wireless terminal using at least a part of the plurality of communication paths based on the notified transfer index.
(Appendix C1)
Based on the characteristic information on the characteristics of the packet to be transferred to the radio base station, select at least a part of the communication paths from among the plurality of communication paths in which the transfer index for the transfer of the packet is individually set,
Controls processing for transferring the packet or data in the packet to the radio base station through the selected communication path.
A communication control method for a communication control apparatus.
(Appendix D1)
A notification receiving means for receiving a notification of a transfer index relating to transfer of the packet individually set for each of a plurality of communication paths, from a communication control device that receives a packet addressed to a wireless terminal via a network;
Data that receives transfer of the packet or data in the packet via a communication path in which at least a part is selected from the plurality of communication paths based on characteristic information regarding the characteristics of the packet in the communication control device Receiving means;
Transfer means for transferring the packet or the data transferred from the communication control device to the wireless terminal using at least a part of the plurality of communication paths based on the notified transfer index;
A wireless base station comprising:

1 wireless communication system 1a wireless communication system 10 wireless base station 101 control unit 102 buffer 103 scheduler unit 104 wireless unit 11 cell 20 wireless terminal 21-23 wireless terminal 30 wireless base station control device 301 control unit 302 bearer management unit 40 gateway device 401 Control unit 402 Bearer setting unit 403 Packet inspection unit 404 Bearer selection unit 405 Bearer selection unit 406 Bearer control unit 50 PDN
60 server R11, R12 bearer R31, R32 TCP
R41, R42 V-IPF
R51-R53 Bearer

Claims (10)

Route selection means for selecting at least a part of communication paths from among a plurality of communication paths in which transfer indexes relating to transfer of the packets are individually set based on characteristic information on characteristics of packets to be transferred to the radio base station When,
Transfer control means for controlling processing for transferring the packet or data in the packet to the radio base station via the selected communication path;
A communication control device comprising: The characteristic information includes at least information related to a user experience quality (QoE) of the wireless terminal,
The route selection means includes
Determining the importance of the packet based on information related to the user experience quality (QoE);
The communication control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a communication path in which the transfer index corresponding to the importance is set is selected. The transfer index is an index related to at least one of priority of transfer of the packet with respect to transfer of another packet, and use of the communication path.
The communication control apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.   The information related to the user experience quality (QoE) is at least one of packet information acquired from information stored in the packet or QoE estimation information related to the user experience quality (QoE) estimated in a wireless network. The communication control device according to claim 2, wherein Path setting means for setting a plurality of the communication paths for transferring the packet for one application;
The path selection means selects the communication path for each of the packets or a plurality of the packets based on the characteristic information;
The communication control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4. When the route selection unit determines that the packet is a retransmission packet based on the characteristic information, the route selection unit causes the retransmission packet to be transferred with priority over other initial transmission packets from the plurality of communication routes. The communication control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a communication path in which the transfer index is set is selected. The transfer index is a transfer amount or a transfer speed for transferring the packet,
The transfer control means includes
6. The process of transferring according to the selected communication path is controlled by changing the transfer amount or the transfer speed set for the selected communication path based on the characteristic information of each packet. The communication control apparatus according to any one of the above. A communication control device for receiving a packet addressed to a wireless terminal via a network;
A wireless base station that transfers the packet transferred from the communication control device to the wireless terminal;
A wireless communication system comprising:
The communication control device includes:
A transfer index related to the transfer of the packet is individually set for each of a plurality of communication paths,
Notifying the wireless base station of the transfer index set for each of the plurality of communication paths,
Based on characteristic information indicating the characteristics of the packet, select at least a part of the plurality of communication paths,
Transferring the packet or data in the packet to the radio base station via the selected communication path;
The radio base station is
A wireless communication system that transfers the packet or the data transferred from the communication control device to the wireless terminal using at least a part of the plurality of communication paths based on the notified transfer index. Based on the characteristic information on the characteristics of the packet to be transferred to the radio base station, select at least a part of the communication paths from among the plurality of communication paths in which the transfer index for the transfer of the packet is individually set,
Controls processing for transferring the packet or data in the packet to the radio base station through the selected communication path.
A communication control method for a communication control apparatus. A notification receiving means for receiving a notification of a transfer index relating to transfer of the packet individually set for each of a plurality of communication paths, from a communication control device that receives a packet addressed to a wireless terminal via a network;
Data that receives transfer of the packet or data in the packet via a communication path in which at least a part is selected from the plurality of communication paths based on characteristic information regarding the characteristics of the packet in the communication control device Receiving means;
Transfer means for transferring the packet or the data transferred from the communication control device to the wireless terminal using at least a part of the plurality of communication paths based on the notified transfer index;
A wireless base station comprising:

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