JP2016225682A - Relay device, communication system, communication control method and communication control program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To contribute to easy improvement of user sensory quality on an application.SOLUTION: A relay device which relays a packet transmitted from a transmission source device to a destination device includes: a packet classification unit which classifies a packet into each logical channel; packet generation monitoring unit which monitors the generation timing of the packet for each logical channel; a packet type estimation unit which estimates whether the packet is of a first packet type or a second packet type having lower transmission priority than the first packet type, using the generation timing of two or more packets; and a packet transmission control unit which controls the transmission of the packet according to the estimated packet type. The logical channel is a packet classification unit having the same transmission source device identification information and destination device identification information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a relay device, a communication system, a communication control method, and a communication control program.

  With the spread of highly functional terminal devices such as smartphones and tablet terminals, applications executed on the terminal devices are diversifying. Specifically, in addition to conventional applications such as voice calls and emails, various applications such as Web browsing, video, music, games, and SNS (Social Networking Service) are executed on the terminal device. .

  With the spread of smartphones and tablet terminals and the diversification of applications to be executed, the traffic generated on the communication system is rapidly increasing. Telecom operators are taking measures to efficiently accommodate the rapidly increasing traffic and improve the application's quality of experience.

  One of the countermeasures against the rapidly increasing traffic is the advancement of the radio communication system. For example, in recent wireless communication systems, wireless communication standards such as LTE (Long Term Evolution) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) are being introduced. In addition, a heterogeneous network in which small cells that cover a narrow area are arranged hierarchically in a macro cell that covers a wide area is also being introduced.

  The LTE / LTE-A radio communication system includes a mobile access network (eUTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Network)) and a mobile core network (EPC (Evolved Packet Core)). eUTRAN includes a radio base station (eNB (Evolved Node B)) and a terminal device (UE (User Equipment)). The EPC is obtained from a P-GW (PDN (Packet Data Network) Gateway) for connecting to an external network such as the Internet, an S-GW (Serving Gateway) that handles user data (U-plane (User plane) data), and the like. Composed.

  Further, in the LTE / LTE-A wireless communication system, a packet switching method capable of flexibly allocating a band is used from the viewpoint of improving frequency use efficiency. The packet transmitted from the server device generally reaches the mobile core network via the Internet and is transmitted to the terminal device via the mobile access network. Here, the server device includes, for example, a WWW (World Wide Web) server, FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server, mail server, file server, streaming server, SNS server, Game server, DNS (Domain Name System) server, Other devices such as various application servers are included. Further, a server device for a certain terminal device may include a terminal device different from the terminal device.

  In the following description, devices that relay communication between server devices and terminal devices are collectively referred to as relay devices. For example, the above-described wireless base station, P-GW, S-GW, and the like are all types of relay apparatuses.

  The advancement of the wireless communication system as described above is an approach for increasing the traffic capacity by increasing the use efficiency of the frequency. On the other hand, there is also an approach for improving the user experience quality of an application by controlling packet transmission according to the priority and importance of a packet to be transmitted under a limited traffic capacity.

  For example, in LTE, nine levels of QCI (QoS Class Identifier) corresponding to service types are defined as parameters for managing quality of service (QoS (Quality of Service)). According to the QCI, the presence / absence of bandwidth control (GBR (Guaranteed Bit Rate) or Non-GBR), priority (Priority), allowable delay time (PDB (Packet Delay Budget)), packet loss rate, etc. can be specified. (Non-Patent Document 1). For example, when the first terminal device is waiting for reception of a packet with QCI = 1 (Conversational Voice) and the second terminal device is waiting for reception of a packet with QCI = 8 (Video), the radio base station considers QCI. Thus, the packet can be transmitted from the first terminal device that waits for a packet having a high priority.

  A technique for controlling packet transmission using information other than QCI has also been proposed.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 discloses a technique for performing bandwidth limitation processing according to the priority of a packet to be transmitted. According to the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, predetermined information included in TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) data and whether the TCP data including the predetermined information has high priority or low priority are indicated. The correspondence with the priority information is retained. When the reception rate of the terminal device falls below a predetermined threshold value, a predetermined bandwidth limitation process is performed on the TCP data determined to have a low priority due to the corresponding relationship. In the above description, the predetermined information included in the TCP data is, for example, an IP (Internet Protocol) address or a port number.

  Patent Document 2 solves the problem that a low-priority packet is first sent from a transmission queue to a communication path in a terminal device, and a high-priority packet stays on the communication path without being sent. A method for doing so is disclosed. A high-priority packet is a packet for communication performed in the foreground in a terminal device, such as Web browsing. The low-priority packet is a packet of communication performed in the background in the terminal device, for example, software update or mail incoming inquiry. According to the method disclosed in Patent Document 2, an interface queue is prepared for each priority (for example, high, medium, and low) in a terminal device. Then, the low priority packet is prevented from being sent out on the communication path from the transmission queue before the high priority packet.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a method of causing an application with a high communication priority to communicate with the first communication quality and causing an application with a low communication priority to execute communication within a range that does not degrade the first communication quality. ing. According to the method disclosed in Patent Literature 3, the communication control device acquires information related to an application operating on the terminal device and a communication destination of the application from the terminal device. The communication control device determines whether there is a network resource necessary for each application based on the acquired information. When network resources are insufficient, the communication control apparatus gives priority to communication of an application with a high priority. In the above, the information acquired from the terminal device is information indicating whether the application is operating in the foreground or the background, for example.

  Patent Document 4 discloses a method of reserving network resources for communication of packets that are subject to QoS guarantee. According to the method disclosed in Patent Literature 4, the first relay device transmits a service quality protocol message including a predetermined bit string to the second relay device. Then, the second relay device checks whether or not a predetermined bit string is included in a predetermined position of the received service quality protocol message. Then, the second relay device reserves network resources when a predetermined bit string is included in a predetermined position of the received service quality protocol message. The packet subject to QoS guarantee is, for example, a packet transmitted from a specific client terminal or a packet transmitted to a specific server.

JP 2010-213098 A JP 2012-195766 A JP 2011-155600 A JP 2001-292167 A

3GPP TS 23.203 v11.13.0 (2014-03), Policy and charging control architecture, p. 38

  Each disclosure of the above prior art documents is incorporated herein by reference. The following analysis has been made from the viewpoint of the present invention.

  There are roughly two types of packets (packet types) generated by an application operating on a terminal device, a user request type and an automatic generation type.

  The user request type packet is used by the user of the terminal device to perform various operations / requests (for example, screen operations, voice commands, etc.) on the terminal device in order to obtain information desired by the user. Is a packet generated as a result of For example, a packet that is generated immediately after a user clicks a link on a specific website (for example, a packet for transmitting a request message to the server or a response message from the server) It is a request type packet.

  On the other hand, the automatic generation type packet is a packet that is automatically generated without a direct operation / request from the user of the terminal device. For example, in the SNS application, communication automatically occurs to check the presence of friends and acquaintances. In addition, in an application linked with a cloud service, communication automatically occurs in order to synchronize data with a server that provides the cloud service. Here, the cloud service refers to a service form that provides various functions to a terminal device as needed through a network such as the Internet. An auto-generation type packet is a packet that results from communication that occurs automatically. Even if the application or basic software (OS (Operating System)) that is the execution base of the application itself is triggered by the user's operation / request, the packet generated from the application is the user of the terminal device. If the packet is automatically generated without direct operation / request from the packet, it is assumed that the packet is an automatically generated packet.

  As described above, the user request type packet is a packet for transmitting information desired by the user to the terminal device. Therefore, there is a high possibility that the transmission delay of the packet is directly related to the deterioration of the user's quality of experience (QoE). On the other hand, an automatically generated type packet is a packet generated by automatic communication, and is often outside the user's recognition. For this reason, the transmission delay of the packet is unlikely to be directly related to the deterioration of the user's quality of experience (QoE).

  By transmitting the user request type packet preferentially over the automatically generated type packet, it is possible to improve the user experience quality of the application under a limited traffic capacity. However, the prior art cannot control the transmission of a packet according to whether it is a user request type packet or an automatically generated type packet without modifying the terminal device in software or hardware.

  In the technique described in Patent Document 1, priority is fixedly set for predetermined information (for example, IP address and port number) included in TCP data. Therefore, when the predetermined information (for example, IP address or port number) is the same between the user request type packet and the automatically generated type packet, the priority cannot be distinguished.

  The technologies described in Patent Literature 2 and Patent Literature 3 are based on the premise that the terminal device determines information on the application of the terminal device (for example, whether the application is executed in the foreground or the background). Yes. Therefore, in order to execute such a determination at the terminal device or to transmit the determination result to the outside of the terminal device, it is necessary to add software or hardware modification to the terminal device.

  In general, it is highly likely that a user request type packet will be generated from an application running in the foreground (foreground application), and automatically generated traffic from an application running in the background (background application). Is likely to occur. However, this relationship does not necessarily hold.

  For example, the automatic communication for presence confirmation described above can also occur from a foreground application. In some cases, a user requests streaming playback of music on an application running in the foreground, and immediately after that, the application is operated in the background. In this case, a packet for streaming playback received by the application can be determined as a user request type packet even if the application is a background application. Accordingly, in this document, a user request type packet or an automatically generated type packet is distinguished from a packet generated from a foreground application or a packet generated from a background application.

  In the technique described in Patent Document 4, whether or not a packet is a QoS guarantee target is fixedly set in the identification information of the packet transmission source device or the identification information of the packet destination device. Therefore, for example, when a packet transmitted from the same server includes a packet that is a QoS guarantee target and a packet that is not, a packet that is a QoS guarantee target cannot be distinguished. Furthermore, for a packet transmitted from an unknown server, a rule indicating whether or not the packet is a QoS guarantee target packet cannot be prepared in advance, and a packet that is a QoS guarantee target is distinguished. I can't.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to realize a relay device, a communication system, a communication control method, and a communication control program that contribute to easily improving the user experience quality of an application. It is in.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, a relay device that relays a packet transmitted from a transmission source device to a destination device is provided. The relay apparatus includes a packet classification unit that classifies the packets into logical channels. The logical channel is a classification unit of the packet in which the identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device are the same. The relay apparatus further includes a packet generation monitoring unit that monitors the generation timing of the packet for each logical channel. Furthermore, the relay device uses the generation timing for two or more of the packets to determine whether the packet is a first packet type or has a transmission priority lower than that of the first packet type. A packet type estimation unit for estimating whether the packet type is included. The relay apparatus further includes a packet transmission control unit that controls transmission of the packet according to the estimated packet type.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, a communication system is provided. The communication system includes a transmission source device that transmits a packet to a destination device, and a relay device that relays a packet from the transmission source device to the destination device. The relay apparatus includes a packet classification unit that classifies the packets into logical channels. The logical channel is a classification unit of the packet in which the identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device are the same. The relay apparatus further includes a packet generation monitoring unit that monitors the generation timing of the packet for each logical channel. Furthermore, the relay device uses the generation timing for two or more of the packets to determine whether the packet is a first packet type or has a transmission priority lower than that of the first packet type. A packet type estimation unit for estimating whether the packet type is included. The relay apparatus further includes a packet transmission control unit that controls transmission of the packet according to the estimated packet type.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication control method in a relay device that relays a packet transmitted from a transmission source device to a destination device. The communication control method includes a step of classifying the packet into logical channels. The logical channel is a classification unit of the packet in which the identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device are the same. Furthermore, the communication control method includes a step of monitoring the generation timing of the packet for each logical channel. The communication control method uses the generation timing for two or more of the packets to determine whether the packet is a first packet type or has a transmission priority lower than that of the first packet type. Including the step of estimating whether it is a type. The communication control method includes a step of controlling transmission of the packet according to the estimated packet type.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication control program that is executed by a computer that controls a relay device that relays a packet transmitted from a transmission source device to a destination device. The communication control program causes the computer to execute processing for classifying the packets into logical channels. Further, the communication control program causes the computer to execute processing for monitoring the generation timing of the packet for each logical channel. Furthermore, the communication control program uses the generation timing for two or more of the packets to determine whether the packet is a first packet type or a transmission priority lower than that of the first packet type. The computer is caused to execute processing for estimating whether the packet type is. Further, the communication control program causes the computer to execute processing for controlling transmission of the packet according to the estimated packet type.

  According to each aspect of the present invention, a relay device, a communication system, a communication control method, and a communication control program that contribute to easily improving the user experience quality of an application are provided.

It is a figure which illustrates the structure of the relay apparatus 30 which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication system 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a logical channel. It is a figure which shows an example of a logical channel. It is a flowchart which illustrates the communication control process which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the specific example of a packet type estimation process. It is a flowchart which shows the specific example of a packet type estimation process. It is a flowchart which shows the specific example of a packet type estimation process. It is a figure which illustrates the structure of the communication system 2 which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which illustrates the structure of the relay apparatus 30 and the relay apparatus 31 which concern on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which illustrates the communication control process which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which illustrates the structure of the relay apparatus 30 which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen display by the total part. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen display by the total part. It is a flowchart which illustrates the communication control process which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

  First, an outline of an embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the reference numerals of the drawings attached to the outline are attached to the respective elements for convenience as an example for facilitating understanding, and the description of the outline is not intended to be any limitation.

  As described above, a relay device that contributes to easily improving the user experience quality of an application is desired.

  Therefore, as an example, the relay device 30 shown in FIG. 1 is provided. The relay device 30 relays a packet transmitted from the transmission source device to the destination device. Referring to FIG. 1, the relay device 30 includes a packet classification unit 300, a packet generation monitoring unit 301, a packet type estimation unit 302, and a packet transmission control unit 303.

  The packet classification unit 300 classifies packets received by the relay device 30 into logical channels. A logical channel is a classification unit of packets having at least the same identification information of a transmission source device and identification information of a destination device. The packet received by the relay device 30 includes at least identification information of the transmission source device and identification information of the destination device.

  The packet generation monitoring unit 301 monitors packet generation timing for each logical channel.

  The packet type estimation unit 302 uses the generation timing for two or more packets, the packet transmitted from the transmission source device is the first packet type, or the transmission priority is lower than the first packet type. It is estimated whether the packet type is the second packet type.

  The packet transmission control unit 303 controls transmission of a packet received by the relay device 30 according to the estimated packet type.

  As described above, the relay apparatus 30 can preferentially transmit a packet having a high transmission priority by controlling the transmission of the packet according to the transmission priority. Furthermore, by using the relay device 30, it is possible to appropriately control packet transmission according to the packet transmission priority without modifying the packet transmission source device (or destination device). As a result, the relay device 30 contributes to easily improving the user experience quality of the application.

<First Embodiment>
The first embodiment will be described in more 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 as appropriate.

[Description of configuration]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the communication system 1 according to the first embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 2, the communication system 1 includes a server device 10, a terminal device 20, and a relay device 30. Note that the number of devices shown in FIG. 2 is merely an example. That is, two or more server devices 10 may be connected to the relay device 30, or two or more terminal devices 20 may be connected to the relay device 30.

  The server device 10 and the relay device 30 and the terminal device 20 and the relay device 30 may be directly connected to each other, other devices not shown or other networks not shown. It may be connected indirectly via. Further, the communication line between the server device 10 and the relay device 30 and the communication line between the terminal device 20 and the relay device 30 may be a wired line or a wireless line.

  The server device 10 is a device that provides various services to the terminal device 20. The server device 10 includes, for example, a WWW (World Wide Web) server, an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server, a mail server, a file server (storage server), a streaming server, an SNS server, a Game server, a DNS server, and other various application servers. Etc. Since the server device 10 can use an existing device as it is and is well known to those skilled in the art, a drawing showing its detailed configuration and related explanations are omitted.

  The terminal device 20 is a device having a function of transmitting and receiving packets by connecting to a communication network. The terminal device 20 is, for example, a device such as a feature phone, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a laptop computer, a desktop personal computer, various sensing devices, or a machine type communication (MTC) device. Since the terminal device 20 can use an existing device as it is and is well known to those skilled in the art, a drawing showing its detailed configuration and its related description are omitted.

  The relay device 30 is a device having a function of relaying a packet transmitted / received between the server device 10 and the terminal device 20 and executing processing (communication control processing) for controlling packet transmission according to the packet type. is there. Specifically, the relay device 30 determines whether the packet relayed by itself is the first packet type (user request type) having a high transmission priority or the second packet type (automatic generation type) having a low transmission priority. ). Then, the relay device 30 controls packet transmission according to the estimated packet type.

  The relay device 30 may be a dedicated device for executing the above-described communication control processing, or may be an existing device having other functions. When the communication system 1 is configured using an LTE / LTE-A wireless communication system, the existing apparatus is, for example, a wireless base station, P-GW, S-GW, or the like. Note that the configuration of the existing apparatus is not directly related to the present invention, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The relay device 30 may relay the packet transmitted from the server device 10 and transmit the packet to the terminal device 20, or may relay the packet transmitted from the terminal device 20 and transmit the packet to the server device 10. May be.

  In the following description, a device that is a packet transmission source is referred to as a transmission source device, and a device that is a packet destination is referred to as a destination device. That is, when a packet is transmitted from the server device 10 to the terminal device 20, the server device 10 is a transmission source device and the terminal device 20 is a destination device. When a packet is transmitted from the terminal device 20 to the server device 10, the terminal device 20 is a transmission source device and the server device 10 is a destination device. A communication direction in which a packet is transmitted from the server device 10 toward the terminal device 20 is referred to as a downlink direction, and a communication direction in which a packet is transmitted from the terminal device 20 toward the server device 10 is referred to as an uplink direction.

  The configuration of the relay device 30 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The packet classification unit 300 classifies packets received by the relay device 30 into logical channels. As described above, the logical channel is a packet classification unit in which both the identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device are the same. Therefore, even if the server device 10 and the terminal device 20 are the same, the packet transmitted from the terminal device 20 to the server device 10 and the packet transmitted from the server device 10 to the terminal device 20 are in different logical channels. being classified. The identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device are, for example, IP addresses. The logical channel only needs to be a classification unit of a packet used in the relay device 30. The packet is managed in the same classification unit in a communication line outside the relay device 30 and other devices other than the relay device 30. There is no necessity.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a logical channel. FIG. 3 shows an example in which IP addresses are used as the identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device. For logical channel 1, packets with the IP address of the transmission source device 1.1.1.1 and the IP address of the destination device 1.1.1.1 are classified. The logical channel 2 is classified into packets whose source device IP address is 1.1.1.2 and destination device IP address is 1.1.1.1. The logical channel 3 is classified into packets whose source device IP address is 1.1.1.1 and destination device IP address is 1.1.1.1. The logical channel 4 is classified into packets whose source device IP address is 1.1.1.3 and whose destination device IP address is 1.1.1.1.

  The logical channel may be the same packet classification unit as the application identification information in addition to the identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device. The application identification information is, for example, a port number. The application identification information may be an application name. In order to acquire the application name, the packet classification unit 300 can hold in advance a correspondence relationship between the application name, the IP address of the server device of the application, and the port number of the server device. In this case, the packet classification unit 300 can acquire the application name from the IP address of the server device included in the packet and the port number of the server device using the correspondence relationship.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating another example of the logical channel. FIG. 4 shows an example in which the IP address is used as the identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device, and the port number of the server device is used as the application identification information. When the logical channel shown in FIG. 4 is used, even packets having the same identification information of the transmission source device and identification information of the destination device are classified into different logical channels according to the application identification information of the packet. For example, if the IP address of the transmission source device is 1.1.1.1 and the IP address of the destination device is 1.1.1.2, if the port number of the server device is 80, If the port number of the device is 20, it is classified as logical channel 2.

  The packet generation monitoring unit 301 monitors the generation timing of packets classified into the logical channel for each logical channel described above. The packet generation timing may be the time when the packet reaches the relay device 30 or the time when the packet is transmitted from the transmission source device.

  The packet type estimation unit 302 uses the packet generation timing monitored for each logical channel to determine whether the packet is the first packet type (user request type) having a high transmission priority or the second having a low transmission priority. The packet type (automatic generation type) is estimated. Specific packet type estimation processing will be described later.

  The packet transmission control unit 303 controls packet transmission according to the estimated packet type. Specifically, the allocation of communication resources to the user request type packet has priority over the automatic generation type packet. For example, it facilitates allocation of communication resources for user request type packets. Alternatively, the allocation of communication resources for automatically generated packets is suppressed. The communication resource here is, for example, a time resource (a time slot for transmitting a packet), a frequency resource (a frequency band allocated for transmitting a packet), or the like.

[Description of operation]
Communication control processing by the communication system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When the packet classification unit 300 of the relay device 30 receives a new packet, the following communication control process is started.

  In step S10, the packet classification unit 300 classifies the received packet into logical channels that are packet classification units in which both the identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device are at least the same.

  In step S11, the packet generation monitoring unit 301 monitors the generation timing of packets classified into the logical channel for each logical channel.

  In step S12, the packet type estimation unit 302 uses the generation timing for two or more packets to determine whether the packet is a first packet type (user request type) with a high transmission priority or a low transmission priority. The second packet type (automatic generation type) is estimated. Specific packet type estimation processing will be described later.

  In step S13, the packet transmission control unit 303 controls packet transmission according to the estimated packet type. Specifically, the packet transmission control unit 303 prioritizes the allocation of communication resources for user request type packets over automatic generation type packets. For example, as described above, the packet transmission control unit 303 promotes the allocation of communication resources for user request type packets or suppresses the allocation of communication resources for automatically generated type packets.

  Note that the packet transmission control unit 303 may control packet transmission only when a predetermined condition is satisfied. Specifically, the packet transmission control unit 303 calculates an index indicating the traffic load, or acquires an index indicating the traffic load from another device not illustrated in FIG. When the index indicating the traffic load satisfies a predetermined condition, the transmission of the packet is controlled.

  For example, the packet transmission control unit 303 obtains a ratio of packets that are estimated to be an automatically generated type among packets relayed by the relay device 30 during a past fixed period. The packet transmission control unit 303 controls packet transmission in consideration of the packet type when the ratio is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

  When the communication system 1 is configured using an LTE / LTE-A radio communication system, the packet transmission control unit 303 receives a radio resource usage rate (for example, a physical resource block (PRB)) from the radio base station. (Use rate) and the like may be acquired. The packet transmission control unit 303 controls packet transmission in consideration of the packet type when the radio resource usage rate is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

  When step S13 ends, the communication control process ends.

  Next, a specific example of the packet type estimation process (step S12 shown in FIG. 5) by the packet type estimation unit 302 will be described.

  As a method for estimating the packet type, the following two methods (packet type estimation methods A and B) can be used.

  The first method (packet type estimation method A) is a method of estimating the packet type using the result of comparing the generation timing of packets monitored for each logical channel between two or more logical channels. . More specifically, in the packet type estimation method A, for two or more different logical channels, the proximity of the generation timing of packets belonging to each logical channel (time correlation) and the generation amount of packets belonging to each logical channel Based on the comparison, the packet type is estimated. Details of the packet type estimation method A will be described later.

  The second method (packet type estimation method B) is a method of estimating the packet type using the periodicity of the generation timing of packets belonging to the same logical channel. Specifically, when a packet belonging to a certain logical channel has periodicity in its generation timing, it is estimated that a packet periodically generated in the logical channel is an automatically generated type packet. On the other hand, it is estimated that a packet that does not occur periodically in the logical channel is a user request type packet. For example, when a packet generated at an interval of 10 seconds is included for a certain logical channel, the packet generated at an interval of 10 seconds is estimated to be an automatically generated type packet. The numerical value of 10 seconds here may allow an error within a predetermined range. For applications whose generation is known to have periodicity even though it is a user request type packet, even if the packet is periodically generated, the user request type packet It may be determined that As described above, the packet type estimation method B is based on the feature that an automatic generation type packet is highly likely to be generated periodically.

  As the packet type estimation method A described above, for example, any one of the following three methods (packet type estimation methods A-1, A-2, and A-3) may be used.

  The first method (hereinafter referred to as packet type estimation method A-1) uses two or more logical channels in which the packet transmission source devices are the same and the packet destination devices are different from each other. It is a method of estimating the type.

  The second method (hereinafter referred to as packet type estimation method A-2) is a method of estimating a packet type using two logical channels in which the terminal devices 20 are the same and the communication directions are different from each other. It is. That is, in the packet type estimation method A-2, a transmission source device (terminal device 20) of a packet belonging to the first logical channel (uplink direction) and a destination device of a packet belonging to the second logical channel (downlink direction) Two logical channels (first logical channel and second logical channel) having the same relationship with (terminal device 20) are used.

  The third method (hereinafter referred to as packet type estimation method A-3) is a method of estimating the packet type using two or more logical channels having the same destination device. Details of the packet type estimation methods A-1, A-2, and A-3 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Packet type estimation method A-1)
A specific example of the packet type estimation process when the packet type estimation method A-1 is used will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In the packet type estimation method A-1, the packet type estimation unit 302 estimates that a packet transmitted from the same server device 10 to a plurality of terminal devices 20 at the same timing is an automatically generated type packet. The packet type estimation method A-1 is based on the feature that there is a high possibility that an automatically generated type packet is generated simultaneously by a plurality of terminal devices 20.

  In step S1200, the packet type estimation unit 302 selects two or more logical channels whose packet transmission source devices are the same and whose packet destination devices are different from each other.

  Referring to an example of the logical channel shown in FIG. 3, the two or more logical channels to be selected are “logical channel 1 and logical channel 3”. In this example, only one set of “logical channel 1 and logical channel 3” is selected as two or more logical channels. However, a plurality of sets of two or more logical channels may be selected. When a plurality of sets of two or more logical channels are selected, the packet type estimation process after step S1200 may be executed for each set of two or more logical channels, or may be executed only for a specific set. good.

  When the packet type estimation unit 302 selects two or more logical channels, a condition that the application identification information of the selected logical channels is the same may be further provided. Referring to an example of the logical channel shown in FIG. 4, two or more logical channels to be selected are “logical channel 1 and logical channel 5”.

  In step S1201, the packet type estimation unit 302 determines whether or not the generation timing of packets monitored for each logical channel is the same between the selected logical channels.

  When the generation timing of the packet monitored for each logical channel is the same between the selected logical channels (when step S1202 is YES), it is estimated that the packet is an automatic generation type packet (step S1203). ).

  On the other hand, when the generation timing of the packet monitored for each logical channel differs between the selected logical channels (when step S1202 is NO), it is estimated that the packet is a user request type packet (step S1204). ).

  As described above, the packet generation timing may be the time when the packet reaches the relay device 30 or the time when the packet is transmitted from the transmission source device. When determining whether or not the packet generation timing monitored for each logical channel is the same between the selected logical channels, if the packet generation timing deviation is within a predetermined threshold, the packet It may be determined that the occurrence timing is the same.

(Packet type estimation method A-2)
A specific example of the packet type estimation process when the packet type estimation method A-2 is used will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In the packet type estimation method A-2, the packet type estimation unit 302 causes the relay device 30 not to receive a packet in the uplink direction from the terminal device 20 (or after a predetermined time or more has elapsed since the last reception). When the relay device 30 receives a downlink direction packet to the same terminal device 20, the downlink direction packet is estimated to be an automatically generated type packet. The packet type estimation method A-2 is based on the feature that there is a high possibility that an automatically generated type packet is generated without a request from the user (packet in the uplink direction).

  In step S1210, the packet type estimation unit 302 selects two logical channels in which the terminal devices 20 are the same and the communication directions are different from each other.

  Note that the server apparatus 10 may be the same for the two logical channels to be selected. In the following description, it is assumed that the packet type estimation unit 302 selects two logical channels in which the server device 10 is the same, the terminal device 20 is the same, and the communication directions are different from each other.

  Referring to an example of the logical channel shown in FIG. 3, the two selected logical channels are “logical channel 1 and logical channel 2” and “logical channel 3 and logical channel 4”. As in the case of the above-described packet type estimation method A-1, when a plurality of sets of two logical channels are selected, the packet type estimation processing after step S1210 may be executed for each set of two logical channels. However, it may be executed only for a specific set.

  In addition, when the packet type estimation unit 302 selects two logical channels, a condition that the application identification information of the selected logical channels is the same may be provided.

  Referring to an example of the logical channel shown in FIG. 4, the selected two logical channels are “logical channel 1 and logical channel 3”, “logical channel 2 and logical channel 4”, and “logical channel 5 and logical channel”. Channel 6 ".

  In step S1211, the packet type estimation unit 302 compares the generation timings of the packets monitored for each logical channel, and determines whether or not there are packets having similar generation timings between the logical channels.

  If there is no packet with similar generation timing between logical channels (NO in step S1212), it is estimated that the packet is an automatic generation type packet (step S1203).

  On the other hand, if there is a packet with similar generation timing between logical channels (YES in step S1212), it is estimated that the packet is a user request type packet (step S1204).

  For example, the packet classification unit 300 classifies packets transmitted from the terminal device 20 to the server device 10 into the logical channel A, and packets transmitted from the same server device 10 to the same terminal device 20 perform the logical channel B. Suppose it is classified into Further, as a result of the packet generation monitoring unit 301 monitoring the packet generation timing in the logical channel B, it is assumed that the generation timing of a certain packet (packet P2) is time T2.

  At this time, first, the packet type estimation unit 302 generates the packet generation timing (time T1) of the packet (packet P1) whose generation timing is closest to the time T2 among the packets generated in the logical channel A before the time T2. Obtained from the monitoring unit 301. Next, the packet type estimation unit 302 calculates a time difference (T2−T1) between the generation timing of the packet P1 and the generation timing of the packet P2. Then, the packet type estimation unit 302 determines whether or not the difference is equal to or less than a predetermined value. If the difference is not less than or equal to the predetermined value, the packet type estimation unit 302 estimates that the packet P2 transmitted from the server device 10 to the terminal device 20 is an automatically generated type packet. On the other hand, when the difference is equal to or smaller than the predetermined value, the packet type estimation unit 302 estimates that the packet P2 transmitted from the server device 10 to the terminal device 20 is a user request type packet.

  Note that the two logical channels selected by the packet type estimation unit 302 in step S1210 are not necessarily the same for the server device 10. That is, the packet type estimation unit 302 may select two logical channels in which the terminal device 20 is the same, the server device 10 is different from each other, and the communication directions are different from each other.

  For example, the terminal device 20 detects that the user has started the operation of the terminal device 20 (or that the screen is turned off), and sends predetermined information to a predetermined server device 10 (hereinafter referred to as a terminal monitoring device). May be provided. In this case, it is considered that the user request type packet is likely to be included in the communication by the terminal device 20 for a certain period after the terminal device 20 transmits predetermined information to the terminal monitoring device. Therefore, the packet type estimation unit 302 can estimate the packet type using the following method.

  First, the packet type estimation unit 302 includes “a logical channel (logical channel A) in which the terminal device 20 is the transmission source device and the terminal monitoring device is the destination device”, “the terminal device 20 is the destination device, and A logical channel (logical channel B) having the server device 10 other than the terminal monitoring device as the transmission source device is selected. Then, with respect to the packet generated in the logical channel B, it is determined whether there is a packet having a generation timing close in the logical channel A by the same method as described above. When there is a packet with a similar generation timing, it is estimated that the packet generated on the logical channel B is a user request type packet.

(Packet type estimation method A-3)
A specific example of the packet type estimation process when the packet type estimation method A-3 is used will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In the packet type estimation method A-3, when the terminal device 20 receives a plurality of logical channel packets, the packet type estimation unit 302 calculates, for each logical channel, the amount of packets whose generation timing is included in a predetermined period. Based on the evaluation result, the packet type of each logical channel is estimated. The packet type estimation method A-3 is based on the feature that the automatically generated type packet has a smaller amount of packet than the user request type packet.

  In step S1220, the packet type estimation unit 302 selects two or more logical channels having the same destination device.

  Referring to an example of the logical channel shown in FIG. 4, the selected logical channels are “logical channel 1 and logical channel 2” and “logical channel 3, logical channel 4 and logical channel 6”. As in the case of the above-described packet type estimation method A-1, when two or more sets of logical channels are selected, the packet type estimation process after step S1220 is executed for each set of two or more logical channels. Alternatively, it may be executed only for a specific set.

  In step S1221, the packet type estimation unit 302 evaluates the amount of packets whose occurrence timing is included in a predetermined past period for each logical channel. For example, the past predetermined period may be a predetermined period retroactive from the time point when the evaluation is performed. The amount of packets whose generation timing is included in the past predetermined period may be the number of packets whose generation timing is included in the past predetermined period, or the number of packets whose generation timing is included in the past predetermined period. It may be the total packet size.

  As a result of evaluating the amount of packets in the past predetermined period for each logical channel, if it is determined that the logical channel has the largest amount of packets (YES in step S1222), the packets belonging to the logical channel are It is estimated that the packet is a user request type (step S1204).

  On the other hand, as a result of evaluating the amount of packets in the past predetermined period for each logical channel, if it is not determined that the logical channel has the largest amount of packets (step S1222 is NO), the logical channel It is estimated that the packet to which the packet belongs is an automatically generated type packet (step S1203).

  For example, it is assumed that the number of occurrences of packets in the past 10 seconds (from time T0-10 to time T0 (current time)) has been 20 times and 5 times for the two logical channels of logical channel 1 and logical channel 2, respectively. At this time, the packet type estimation unit 302 estimates that the packet belonging to the logical channel 1 is a user request type packet.

  Note that the packet type estimated by the packet type estimation unit 302 may be applied to a packet received in the past or may be applied to a packet received in the future.

  That is, in the above example, the packet type estimation unit 302 may estimate that the “packet received from time T0-10 to time T0” belonging to the logical channel 1 is a user request type packet. It may be estimated that the “packet received after time T0” belonging to the logical channel 1 is a user request type packet.

  In step S1222, instead of determining whether or not the logical channel has the largest amount of packets, it may be determined whether or not the amount of packets is a logical channel having a predetermined value or more. For example, it may be determined for each logical channel whether or not the number of packet occurrences in the past predetermined period is one or more per second. Then, for a logical channel in which the number of packet occurrences is one or more per second, it may be determined that a packet belonging to the logical channel is a user request type packet.

  The packet type estimation unit 302 may use only one of the packet type estimation methods A-1 to A-3 and the packet type estimation method B when estimating the packet type. The above method may be used. When two or more methods are used to estimate the packet type, a packet that is determined to be an automatically generated type by at least one of the methods is estimated as an automatically generated type, and in either method, it is determined to be a user request type. The packet can be determined to be a user request type. On the contrary, a packet determined as a user request type by at least one of the methods is estimated as a user request type, and a packet determined as an automatically generated type in any method is determined as an automatically generated type. You may do it.

  In addition, regardless of which of packet type estimation methods A-1 to A-3 and packet type estimation method B is used, the packet type estimation unit 302 determines the packet type for packets in the downlink direction. It may be performed only for the packets in the uplink direction, or may be performed for the packets in both the uplink direction and the downlink direction.

  In the description of the packet type estimation methods A-1 to A-3 and the packet type estimation method B described above, an example in which both the automatically generated type and the user request type are determined is shown. The operation is not limited to this. When estimating the packet type using each method, only one of the packet types may be determined. For example, when estimating the packet type using the packet type estimation method A-2, the packet type estimation unit 302 may determine only whether the packet is an automatically generated type packet.

  The packet type estimation unit 302 may estimate the automatically generated type and the user request type by different methods, or may use a plurality of methods for estimating one of the packet types.

  For example, the packet type estimation method A-1, the packet type estimation method A-2, and the packet type estimation method B are used to estimate whether the packet is an automatically generated type packet. In order to estimate this, packet type estimation method A-3 may be used.

  In addition, if there is a logical channel to which an automatically generated type packet belongs or a user request type packet is known to belong, the packet type estimation unit 302 needs to use the above method for the logical channel. Instead, the packet type may be determined based on the known information.

  Further, the specific device may be regarded as the same device as the specific server device 10. The specific device here is, for example, a set of server devices that provide the same application or the same service, a device that caches the contents of the server device 10, a backup device of the server device 10, and the like.

  As described above, in the communication system 1 according to this embodiment, the packet classification unit 300 of the relay device 30 classifies the packets into logical channels, and the packet generation monitoring unit 301 of the relay device 30 generates the packet generation timing for each logical channel. To monitor. The packet type estimation unit 302 of the relay device 30 uses the packet generation timing monitored for each logical channel to determine whether the packet is the first packet type (user request type) having a high transmission priority, It is estimated whether the packet type is a low second packet type (automatic generation type). Then, the packet transmission control unit 303 of the relay device 30 controls packet transmission according to the estimated packet type. Therefore, the communication system 1 according to the present embodiment controls the transmission of packets according to whether the packet is a user request type or an automatically generated type without adding software or hardware modification to the terminal device 20, Contributes to improving the user experience quality of the application. That is, the communication system 1 according to the present embodiment contributes to easily improving the user experience quality of the application.

<Embodiment 2>
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[Description of configuration]
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the communication system 2 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 9, the communication system 2 in the present embodiment is different from the communication system 1 (FIG. 2) in the first embodiment in that a relay device 31 is provided.

  The relay device 31 is a device that has a function of relaying packets transmitted and received between the server device 10 and the terminal device 20 and executing processing (communication control processing) for controlling packet transmission. Specifically, the relay device 31 controls packet transmission based on the control information received from the relay device 30.

  The relay device 30 and the relay device 31 and the terminal device 20 and the relay device 31 may be directly connected to each other, or other devices not shown or other networks not shown. It may be connected indirectly via. The communication line between the relay device 30 and the relay device 31 and the communication line between the terminal device 20 and the relay device 31 may be a wired line or a wireless line.

  Further, the relay device 31 may be a dedicated device for executing the above communication control process, or may be an existing device having other functions. When the communication system 1 is configured using an LTE / LTE-A wireless communication system, the existing apparatus is, for example, a wireless base station, P-GW, S-GW, or the like. Note that the configuration of the existing apparatus is not directly related to the present invention, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The relay device 31 may relay the packet transmitted from the server device 10 and transmit the packet to the terminal device 20, or may relay the packet transmitted from the terminal device 20 and transmit the packet to the server device 10. May be.

  FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the relay device 30 and the relay device 31 according to this embodiment.

  The configuration of the relay device 30 is the same as that of the relay device 30 according to the first embodiment. Note that the packet transmission control unit 303 of the relay device 30 according to the present embodiment instructs another relay device (relay device 31) to control packet transmission. Specifically, the packet transmission control unit 303 of the relay device 30 transmits information (control information) for controlling packet transmission to the relay device 31.

  The relay device 31 includes a packet transmission control unit 313. The packet transmission control unit 313 of the relay device 31 receives control information for controlling packet transmission from the relay device 30. Further, the packet transmission control unit 313 of the relay device 31 controls packet transmission based on the received control information. Specifically, the allocation of communication resources to the user request type packet has priority over the automatic generation type packet. For example, it facilitates allocation of communication resources for user request type packets. Alternatively, the allocation of communication resources for automatically generated packets is suppressed. The communication resource here is, for example, a time resource (a time slot for transmitting a packet), a frequency resource (a frequency band allocated for transmitting a packet), or the like.

  When the communication system 1 is configured using an LTE / LTE-A radio communication system, for example, the P-GW can be used as the relay device 30 and the radio base station can be used as the relay device 31. When the radio base station that is the relay device 31 suppresses the allocation of communication resources to the automatically generated type packet, the radio base station limits the allocation amount and allocation rate of radio resources (physical resource blocks) to the terminal device 20, For example, the time for allocating radio resources can be limited.

[Description of operation]
A specific example of communication control processing by the communication system 2 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  The processing from step S10 to step S20 in FIG. 11 is processing performed by the relay device 30. Further, the processing from step S21 to step S22 in FIG. 11 is processing performed by the relay device 31.

  The operations from step 10 to step S12 are the same as the operation example of the communication control process in the first embodiment described with reference to FIG.

  In step S <b> 20, the packet transmission control unit 303 of the relay device 30 transmits control information for controlling packet transmission to the relay device 31.

  The control information is, for example, information indicating the packet type (user request type or automatic generation type) estimated by the packet type estimation unit 302, or information for instructing to suppress (or promote) allocation of communication resources. Information for specifying a packet to be controlled.

  The packet transmission control unit 303 of the relay device 30 can transmit control information to the relay device 31 by adding control information to a part of the packet to be transmitted to the terminal device 20. For example, the packet transmission control unit 303 of the relay device 30 can transmit control information using an unused area of the IP header. Specifically, the unused area of the IP header means reserved bits of the TOS (Type of Service) field, reserved bits of the DS (Differentiated Service) field, Options field, and padding included in the IP header (header such as IPv4). Field, etc.

  For example, in the case of an automatically generated type packet, the predetermined bit of the packet is set to “1”. In the case of a user request type packet, a predetermined bit of the packet is set to “0”. Further, when instructing to suppress allocation of communication resources, the predetermined bit of the packet is set to “1”. When instructing to promote allocation of communication resources, a predetermined bit of the packet is set to “0”.

  Note that the packet transmission control unit 303 of the relay device 30 may generate a dedicated packet for transmitting control information and transmit the control information to the relay device 31. In this case, it is desirable that the control information includes information for specifying a packet to be controlled.

  For example, a correspondence table of “logical channel identification number” and “transmission source device identification information and destination device identification information (and application identification information)” as shown in FIG. Let us consider a case of sharing with the relay device 31. In this case, the packet transmission control unit 303 of the relay device 30 may transmit the logical channel identification number to the relay device 31 as “information for specifying a packet to be controlled”.

  In step S <b> 21, the packet transmission control unit 313 of the relay device 31 receives control information from the relay device 30.

  In step S <b> 22, the packet transmission control unit 313 of the relay device 31 controls packet transmission based on the control information received from the relay device 30.

  As an example, consider a case where transmission of control information from the relay device 30 to the relay device 31 is performed using an unused area of the IP header. In this case, the packet transmission control unit 313 of the relay device 31 suppresses communication resource allocation for a packet (automatic generation type packet) in which the predetermined bit of the unused area is “1”. On the other hand, the packet transmission control unit 313 of the relay device 31 promotes allocation of communication resources for a packet (user request type packet) in which the predetermined bit of the unused area is “0”.

  As another example, consider a case where transmission of control information from the relay device 30 to the relay device 31 is performed using a dedicated packet. For example, the packet transmission control unit 303 of the relay device 30 transmits to the relay device 31 the identification number of the logical channel to which the packet estimated to be an automatically generated type belongs. The packet transmission control unit 313 of the relay device 31 specifies a packet belonging to the logical channel, and suppresses assignment of communication resources to the specified packet.

  Here, the packet transmission control unit 313 of the relay device 31 has a function such as DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) in order to specify identification information of the packet transmission source device, identification information of the packet destination device, application identification information, and the like. You may have. Here, DPI refers to a function of reading (inspecting) a payload (data portion) of a packet and obtaining information of a higher layer.

  In the above description, the packet transmission control unit 303 of the relay device 30 transmits control information to the relay device 31, and the packet transmission control unit 313 of the relay device 31 controls transmission of packets. However, the operation of the present embodiment is not limited to this. The packet transmission control unit 303 of the relay device 30 may transmit control information to the relay device 31 and may control packet transmission by the relay device 30 by the same method as in the first embodiment.

  Further, the packet transmission control unit 313 of the relay device 31 may control packet transmission only when a predetermined condition is satisfied, similarly to the operation of the packet transmission control unit 303 of the relay device 30 in the first embodiment. . For example, the packet transmission control unit 313 of the relay device 31 controls packet transmission when an index indicating a traffic load satisfies a predetermined condition.

  As described above, in the communication system 2 according to the present embodiment, the packet transmission control unit 303 of the relay device 30 transmits control information to the relay device 31 and controls packet transmission to the relay device 31. I will tell you. Further, the packet transmission control unit 313 of the relay device 31 controls packet transmission based on the received control information. Therefore, even when the communication system is configured by a plurality of relay devices, the user request type packets can be transmitted with higher priority than the automatically generated type packets in cooperation between the relay devices.

<Embodiment 3>
A third embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[Description of configuration]
The configuration of the communication system according to the present embodiment is the same as that of the communication system 1 according to the first embodiment. Note that the configuration of the communication system according to the present embodiment may be the same as that of the communication system 2 according to the second embodiment.

  FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the relay device 30 according to the third embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 12, the relay device 30 in the present embodiment is different from the relay device 30 (FIG. 1 or 10) in the first embodiment or the second embodiment in that it includes a counting unit 304. .

  The aggregation unit 304 aggregates information on packets relayed by the relay device 30 and displays the information using an output device such as a display. Specifically, the totaling unit 304 totals the traffic amount by packet type (user request type or automatically generated type), the traffic amount by application and by packet type, and the like. The totaling unit 304 displays the totaled information using an output device such as a display. Instead of displaying the aggregated information using an output device such as a display, a report containing the information may be transmitted to another device.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of display by the totaling unit 304. In FIG. 13, the traffic volume of the packets relayed by the relay device 30 is tabulated separately for the user request type and the automatically generated type, and the result is displayed in a time series graph. The traffic volume may be aggregated separately in the downlink direction in which packets are transmitted from the server apparatus 10 to the terminal apparatus 20 and in the uplink direction in which packets are transmitted from the terminal apparatus 20 to the server apparatus 10. desirable.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating another example of the display by the totaling unit 304. In FIG. 14, the total traffic volume, the automatically generated traffic volume, and the automatically generated traffic ratio (the ratio of the automatically generated traffic volume to the total traffic volume) are displayed in a table format for each application. Here, the traffic amount for each application can be obtained by monitoring the packet generation amount for each logical channel and summing the packet generation amounts for the logical channels having the same application identification information. The traffic volume may be aggregated separately in the downlink direction in which packets are transmitted from the server apparatus 10 to the terminal apparatus 20 and in the uplink direction in which packets are transmitted from the terminal apparatus 20 to the server apparatus 10. desirable. In FIG. 14, for each application, whether or not packet transmission control is performed is displayed by radio buttons.

  Note that the totaling unit 304 of the relay device 30 can also perform charging according to the packet type in cooperation with a charging device (not shown) in the communication system 1 in FIG. 2 or the communication system 2 in FIG. 9. For example, the totaling unit 304 divides, for each terminal device 20, an automatically generated type packet and a user request type packet, and totals the amount of packets generated in one month. Then, the charging device determines a communication fee for the terminal device 20 according to the amount of user request type packets generated in one month.

[Description of operation]
A specific example of communication control processing by the communication system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  The operation from step S10 to step S13 is the same as the operation example of the communication control process according to the first embodiment described with reference to FIG.

  In step S30, the totalization unit 304 totals information on packets relayed by the relay device 30 and displays the information using an output device such as a display. Specifically, as described above, the aggregation unit 304 aggregates the traffic amount by packet type (user request type or automatically generated type), the traffic amount by application and by packet type, and the like. The totaling unit 304 displays the totaled information using an output device such as a display.

  As described above, in the communication system 1 according to the present embodiment, the aggregation unit 304 of the relay device 30 displays information such as the traffic amount for each packet type using an output device such as a display. Therefore, maintenance / operability of the communication control process can be improved.

  A part or all of the above-described embodiment can be described as in the following supplementary notes, but is not limited thereto.

(Supplementary Note 1) Same as the relay device according to the first aspect.

(Supplementary Note 2) The packet type estimation unit compares the generation timing of the packet monitored for each logical channel between two or more different logical channels, and the packet is the first packet type. The relay device according to attachment 1, wherein the relay device estimates whether the packet type is the second packet type.

(Supplementary Note 3) When the two or more logical channels compare the identification information of the transmission source device of the packet and the identification information of the destination device between the logical channels, the identification information of the transmission source device is the same. The relay device according to attachment 2, wherein the identification information of the destination device is different.

(Supplementary note 4) The two or more logical channels include the first logical channel and the second logical channel,
Additional information 2 in which the identification information of the transmission source device of the packet belonging to the first logical channel and the identification information of the destination device of the packet belonging to the second logical channel have the same relationship The relay device described.

(Supplementary note 5) The relay device according to Supplementary note 3 or 4, wherein the two or more logical channels have the same relationship when the application identification information of the packet is compared between the logical channels. .

(Supplementary note 6) The two or more logical channels according to Supplementary note 2, wherein when the identification information of the destination device of the packet is compared between the logical channels, the identification information of the destination device has the same relationship. Relay device.

(Additional remark 7) The said packet type estimation part evaluates the quantity of the said packet in which the said generation | occurrence | production timing is included in a predetermined period for every said 2 or more said logical channels, According to the result of the said evaluation, the said packet is The relay apparatus according to appendix 6, wherein the relay apparatus estimates whether the packet type is the first packet type or the second packet type.

(Additional remark 8) The said packet type estimation part uses the periodicity of the said generation | occurrence | production timing about the said packet which belongs to the said same logical channel, or the said packet is a said 1st packet type, or said 2nd The relay device according to any one of appendices 1 to 7, wherein the relay device estimates whether the packet type is one of the following:

(Supplementary note 9) The logical channel is any one of Supplementary notes 1 to 8, wherein the identification information of the transmission source device, the identification information of the destination device, and the application identification information are classification units of the same packet. Relay device.

(Supplementary note 10) Any one of Supplementary notes 1 to 9, wherein the identification information of the transmission source device is an IP (Internet Protocol) address of the transmission source device, and the identification information of the destination device is an IP address of the transmission destination device. A relay device according to claim 1.

(Supplementary Note 11) As in the communication system according to the second aspect.

(Additional remark 12) It is as the communication control method concerning the said 3rd viewpoint.

(Supplementary Note 13) Same as the communication control program according to the fourth aspect.

  The form shown in the above supplementary notes 11 to 13 can be developed into the form shown in the supplementary notes 2 to 10 in the same manner as the form shown in the supplementary note 1.

  It should be noted that the disclosures of the above patent documents and non-patent documents are incorporated herein by reference. Within the scope of the entire disclosure (including claims) of the present invention, the embodiment can be changed and adjusted based on the basic technical concept. Further, various combinations or selections of various disclosed elements (including each element of each claim, each element of each embodiment, each element of each drawing, etc.) are possible within the framework of the entire disclosure of the present invention. is there. That is, the present invention of course includes various variations and modifications that could be made by those skilled in the art according to the entire disclosure including the claims and the technical idea. In particular, with respect to the numerical ranges described in this document, any numerical value or small range included in the range should be construed as being specifically described even if there is no specific description.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 2 Communication system 10 Server apparatus 20 Terminal apparatus 30, 31 Relay apparatus 300 Packet classification part 301 Packet generation | occurrence | production monitoring part 302 Packet type estimation part 303 Packet transmission control part 304 Aggregation part 313 Packet transmission control part

Claims (10)

A relay device that relays a packet transmitted from a transmission source device to a destination device;
A packet classifier for classifying the packet into logical channels;
A packet generation monitoring unit for monitoring the generation timing of the packet for each logical channel;
Using the occurrence timing for two or more of the packets, it is estimated whether the packet is a first packet type or a second packet type having a transmission priority lower than that of the first packet type. A packet type estimation unit;
A packet transmission control unit for controlling transmission of the packet according to the estimated packet type;
With
The logical channel is a relay device that is a classification unit of the packet in which the identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device are the same.   The packet type estimation unit compares the generation timing of the packet monitored for each logical channel between two or more different logical channels, and the packet is the first packet type, or The relay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the relay apparatus estimates whether the packet type is the second packet type. When the two or more logical channels compare the identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device of the packet between the logical channels,
The relay device according to claim 2, wherein the identification information of the transmission source device is the same and the identification information of the destination device is different. The two or more logical channels include a first logical channel and a second logical channel;
The identification information of the transmission source device of the packet belonging to the first logical channel and the identification information of the destination device of the packet belonging to the second logical channel have the same relationship. The relay device described in 1.   3. The relay device according to claim 2, wherein the two or more logical channels have the same identification information of the destination device when the identification information of the destination device of the packet is compared between the logical channels. .   The packet type estimation unit evaluates the amount of the packet including the generation timing in a predetermined period for each of the two or more logical channels, and according to the result of the evaluation, the packet is The relay apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the relay apparatus estimates whether the packet type is the second packet type.   The packet type estimation unit uses the periodicity of the generation timing for the packets belonging to the same logical channel to determine whether the packet is the first packet type or the second packet type. The relay device according to claim 1, wherein the relay device estimates whether or not there is. A source device that transmits packets to the destination device; and
A relay device that relays a packet from the transmission source device to the destination device;
A communication system comprising:
The relay device is
A packet classifier for classifying the packet into logical channels;
A packet generation monitoring unit for monitoring the generation timing of the packet for each logical channel;
Using the occurrence timing for two or more of the packets, it is estimated whether the packet is a first packet type or a second packet type having a transmission priority lower than that of the first packet type. A packet type estimation unit;
A packet transmission control unit for controlling transmission of the packet according to the estimated packet type;
With
The communication system, wherein the logical channel is a classification unit of the packet in which the identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device are the same. A communication control method in a relay device that relays a packet transmitted from a transmission source device to a destination device,
Classifying the packet into logical channels;
Monitoring the occurrence timing of the packet for each logical channel;
Using the occurrence timing for two or more of the packets, it is estimated whether the packet is a first packet type or a second packet type having a transmission priority lower than that of the first packet type. And a process of
Controlling the transmission of the packet according to the estimated packet type;
Including
The communication control method, wherein the logical channel is a classification unit of the packet in which the identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device are the same. Processing to classify packets into logical channels;
Processing for monitoring the generation timing of the packet for each logical channel;
Using the occurrence timing for two or more of the packets, it is estimated whether the packet is a first packet type or a second packet type having a transmission priority lower than that of the first packet type. Processing to
Processing to control transmission of the packet according to the estimated packet type,
A communication control program for causing a computer that controls a relay device to relay the packet transmitted from a transmission source device to a destination device,
The communication control program, wherein the logical channel is a classification unit of the packet in which the identification information of the transmission source device and the identification information of the destination device are the same.

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