JP2017130739A - Terminal device and terminal control program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To relax congestion in a wireless communication section, while improving user sensory incident to the relaxation.SOLUTION: A terminal device communicating with a server includes a communication unit for communicating with the server via a base station, a control unit for controlling whether or not the communication unit performs communication for prefetch, i.e., the processing of previously downloading data from the server to the terminal device, and a storage unit for storing the data acquired by communication for prefetch. The control unit determines whether or not to perform the communication for prefetch on the basis of at least one of the type of the communication network, communication quality information, identification information of the base station, time information, positional information of the terminal device, and input information from a user operating the terminal device.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a terminal device that communicates with a server, and a terminal control program that controls the terminal device.

  Digital content such as music and moving images has a larger data size than an HTML file or the like distributed on the network. Therefore, if digital content is distributed via the network, a great load is imposed on the network. In consideration of this point, servers for distributing digital contents are arranged at various locations on the network, and an optimal server (that is, a digital content distribution point) according to the position of the terminal user in the network. By instructing content distribution to the network, it is possible to suppress the network load when distributing large-capacity digital content. At this time, the closer the position of the server in the network is to the position of the terminal user, the greater the effect of reducing the network load.

  However, in order to pursue such an effect of reducing the network load, if excessive measures are taken such as arranging a large number of servers in the network and increasing the amount of data stored in each server, the number of servers and each server However, there is a problem that the amount of data to be stored increases and the cost increases.

  In order to deal with such problems, a server close to the location of the terminal user specifies a preference regarding the content based on the past communication history of the terminal user, and obtains and stores the content according to the specified preference in advance. A method called “prefetch and cache” is known (see Patent Document 1 below). Such a server is, for example, a base station in a mobile communication system, or a base station and a server on the Internet. It is installed in the node etc.

JP-A-2015-57712 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2015-5061

  However, even with the above-described prefetch and cache by the server, wireless communication between the terminal device and the base station is necessarily required, and therefore, due to congestion in the wireless communication section between the terminal device and the base station. The general problem that smooth implementation is difficult has not been solved. That is, there is a problem that it is difficult for the above-described prefetch and cache by the server to reduce congestion in the above-described wireless communication section and improve the user experience associated with the relaxation.

  On the other hand, a technique for controlling whether or not software update data is downloaded to a terminal device according to communication quality or network information is also known (see Patent Document 2). However, this technology is intended to control under what circumstances certain specific data, such as software update data, should be downloaded and applied to an unspecified number of data. However, there remains a problem that it is difficult to reduce congestion in the wireless communication section and improve the user experience associated with the relaxation in various situations and various contents.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to realize congestion alleviation in a wireless communication section and improvement of a user experience associated with the relaxation.

  A terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention is a terminal device that communicates with a server, a communication unit that communicates with the server via a base station, and downloads data from the server to the terminal device in advance. A control unit that controls whether the communication unit performs communication for prefetch processing, and a storage unit that stores data acquired by communication for prefetching. Prefetch based on at least one of communication network type, communication quality information, base station identification information, time information, position information of the terminal device, and input information from a user operating the terminal device Decide whether or not to communicate for.

  In addition, a terminal control program according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a computer provided in a terminal device that communicates with a server, a communication unit that communicates with the server via a base station, and data from the server to the terminal. Functions as a control unit that controls whether or not the communication unit performs communication for prefetching, which is processing to be downloaded in advance to the apparatus, and a storage unit that stores data acquired by communication for prefetching The control unit is a communication network type, communication quality information, identification information of the base station, time information, location information of the terminal device, and input from a user operating the terminal device Whether to perform communication for prefetching is determined based on at least one of the information.

  The terminal device or the terminal control program as described above performs prefetching and caching in the terminal device, instead of prefetching and caching by a server as in the prior art. At this time, the control unit is based on at least one of the type of communication network, communication quality information, base station identification information, time information, terminal device position information, and input information from a user operating the terminal device. Thus, it is determined whether to perform communication for prefetching, and controls whether the communication unit performs communication for prefetching according to the determined content. When the communication unit performs communication for prefetch, the data acquired by the communication for prefetch is stored by the storage unit.

  Since prefetching and caching are performed in the terminal device in this way, the content can be used without actual communication at the timing when the terminal device uses the content, as compared with the prefetching and caching by the conventional server. Thereby, it is possible to eliminate the influence on the traffic in the wireless communication section when the prefetched content is used in the terminal device. At this time, the control unit is based on at least one of communication network type, communication quality information, base station identification information, time information, terminal device position information, and input information from a user operating the terminal device. Thus, since it is determined whether or not to perform communication for prefetching, it is possible to reduce congestion in the wireless communication section and improve the user experience associated with the relaxation. In addition, since the above prefetch and cache control is not control of whether or not download is possible for some specific data as in the prior art, for various situations and various contents, the congestion in the wireless communication section is reduced and Improvement of the user experience associated with relaxation can be realized.

  The above control unit, when performing communication for prefetch, data amount when communication for prefetch was performed in the past, type of communication network, communication quality information, base station identification information, time information, terminal The prefetch data amount may be determined based on at least one of the position information of the device and the input information from the user who operates the terminal device. In this case, the amount of data when communication for prefetching was performed in the past, the type of communication network, communication quality information, base station identification information, time information, terminal device position information, and a user operating the terminal device It is possible to appropriately determine the amount of prefetch data based on various information such as input information, and to appropriately control prefetch and cache by the terminal device.

  For example, when determining the amount of prefetch data based on information including the type of communication network, the control unit may increase or decrease the amount of prefetch data according to the type of communication network. In this case, an appropriate amount of prefetch data can be determined according to the type of communication network.

  In addition, when determining the prefetch data amount based on the information including the data amount when the prefetch communication is performed in the past, the control unit determines the data amount when the prefetch communication is performed in the past. Of these, the prefetch data amount may be determined based on the data amount actually used in the terminal device. In this case, the prefetch data amount can be more appropriately determined according to the actually used data amount among the data amounts when communication for prefetching was performed in the past.

  At this time, for example, the control unit may determine the data amount of prefetch based on the data amount actually used in the terminal device (the amount of data actually used), or control The unit may determine the prefetch data amount based on the ratio of the “actually used data amount” to the “data amount when communication for prefetching has been performed in the past”. In this way, more appropriate data amount determination according to the actual usage situation is realized.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce congestion in a wireless communication section and improve the user experience associated with the relaxation.

It is a block diagram of the mobile communication system in the 1st and 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block block diagram of the terminal device in 1st and 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is a hardware block diagram of the terminal device in the 1st and 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the prefetch and cache control method based on the type of communication network in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the control method of the prefetch and cache based on the communication quality information in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the prefetch and cache control method based on the identification number of the access point in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the prefetch and cache control method based on time in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the control method of the prefetch and cache based on the positional information on the terminal device in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the control method when the application part in 1st Embodiment of this invention requires data. It is a flowchart which shows the control method of the data amount of the prefetch based on the classification of the communication network in 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the control method of the data amount of the prefetch based on the hit rate of the prefetched data in 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of a terminal control program. It is a block diagram of the mobile communication system in 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the prefetch and cache control method based on the user input in 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, various embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, a first embodiment related to determining whether to perform communication for prefetch, a second embodiment related to determining a data amount of prefetch, and a prefetch based on a user input by a user operating a terminal A third embodiment related to communication control will be described in order.

[First Embodiment]
(Configuration of mobile communication system and terminal device)
As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile communication system according to the embodiment includes a terminal device 100, an access point 200, a backhaul 300 such as a wired network, and a server 400.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal device 100 includes a communication function unit 102 that communicates with the server 400 via the access point 200, a prefetch / cache control unit 104 that controls prefetch and cache, and caches prefetched content. As a cache storage unit 106 and an application unit 108 that executes various applications using the content stored by the cache storage unit 106. The communication function unit 102, the prefetch / cache control unit 104, and the cache storage unit 106 are connected to each other, and the application unit 108 is connected to the cache storage unit 106 and the communication function unit 102, respectively. The communication function unit 102, the prefetch / cache control unit 104, and the cache storage unit 106 correspond to “communication unit”, “control unit”, and “storage unit” recited in the claims, respectively.

  The communication function unit 102 communicates with the server 400 via the access point 200. At that time, the communication function unit 102 directly communicates with the access point 200, for example, GSM (registered trademark) (Global System for Mobile Communications), W-CDMA (Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access), LTE. (Long Term Evolution) Communication is performed using a communication network such as 5G (5th generation mobile networks) and WiFi (Wireless Fidelity). That is, the communication function unit 102 receives downlink data from the server 400 via the backhaul 300 and the access point 200, and transmits uplink data to the server 400 via the access point 200 and the backhaul 300. To do.

  The communication function unit 102 acquires information on various communication networks used for communication with the access point 200, and notifies the prefetch / cache control unit 104 of the acquired communication network information. The acquisition of information on the above various communication networks will be described below.

  The communication function unit 102 identifies the type of communication network (GSM, W-CDMA, LTE, 5G, WiFi, etc.) used for communication with the access point 200, and prefetches information regarding the type of communication network obtained. Notify the cache control unit 104. For example, when the communication function unit 102 communicates with the access point 200 using a 5G communication network, or when the terminal device 100 is in a state in which the terminal device 100 can communicate with the access point 200 using a 5G communication network, communication is performed. “5G” is notified to the prefetch / cache control unit 104 as information regarding the type of network.

  In addition, the communication function unit 102 acquires quality information (hereinafter referred to as “communication quality information”) when communicating with the access point 200. Here, the communication quality information may be, for example, quality information of a downlink pilot signal, more specifically, may be a reception level of a downlink pilot signal, or may be downlink. It may be the SINR (Signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio) of the pilot signal of the link. Alternatively, the communication quality information may be RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power), RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), SINR, or the like, or may be a path loss between the terminal device 100 and the access point 200. . Alternatively, the communication quality information may be the above-described various quality information in the uplink instead of the downlink.

  In addition, the communication function unit 102 acquires the identification number of the access point 200. Here, the identification number may be notified by, for example, a downlink pilot signal, a synchronization signal, a broadcast channel, or the like. That is, the communication function unit 102 receives and decodes a downlink pilot signal, a synchronization signal, a broadcast channel, and the like transmitted from the access point 200, and acquires an identification signal of the access point 200. The identification number of the access point 200 may be an identification number of a base station that constitutes the access point 200, or may be an identification number of a cell managed by the access point 200.

  The communication function unit 102 transmits the received downlink data to the application unit 108. Further, the communication function unit 102 receives uplink data to be transmitted from the application unit 108 to the server 400, and transmits the uplink data to the server 400 via the access point 200 and the backhaul 300.

  In addition, when the communication function unit 102 receives an instruction from the prefetch / cache control unit 104 that “acquires data from the server by prefetching and stores the acquired data as a cache”, the communication function unit 102 passes through the backhaul 300 and the access point 200. Then, downlink data is received from the server 400 and the received data is transmitted to the cache storage unit 106.

  The prefetch / cache control unit 104 receives the above-described various communication network information (for example, communication network type, communication quality information, access point 200 identification number, etc.) from the communication function unit 102. Further, the prefetch / cache control unit 104 acquires time information from a clock function unit (not shown) in the terminal device 100. Further, the prefetch / cache control unit 104 acquires position information of the terminal device 100 from a GPS (Global Positioning System) positioning function unit (not shown) in the terminal device 100. As for the position information of the terminal device 100, in addition to GPS positioning, position information notified from the access point 200 (for example, in-cell information, in-cell position information, etc.) may be acquired via the communication function unit 102. Good. Or about the positional information on the terminal device 100, you may acquire the positional information linked | related with the access point 200 other than GPS positioning. In this case, for example, the prefetch / cache control unit 104 separately defines a table for associating the identification number of the access point 200 and the position information described above, and refers to the table to determine the position from the identification number of the access point 200. Get information.

  In addition, the prefetch / cache control unit 104 performs prefetching based on at least one of the acquired communication network type, communication quality information, access point 200 identification number, time information, and terminal device 100 position information. Determines whether to acquire data from the server and save it as a cache.

  For example, when the network type received from the communication function unit 102 is a specific type, the prefetch / cache control unit 104 determines to acquire data from the server by prefetching and store the data as a cache. An instruction “acquire data from the server and store the data as a cache” may be transmitted to the communication function unit 102. The specific type may be 5G, for example.

  Alternatively, based on the communication quality information received from the communication function unit 102, the prefetch / cache control unit 104 may determine whether to acquire data from the server by prefetching and save the data as a cache. When the value of the communication quality information is equal to or greater than a specific threshold, it is determined that data is acquired from the server by prefetching and the data is stored as a cache, and “data is acquired from the server by prefetching and the data is stored as a cache. May be transmitted to the communication function unit 102. Note that an arbitrary value may be set in advance as the threshold value.

  Alternatively, when the access point acquired from the communication function unit 102 is a specific identification number, the prefetch / cache control unit 104 determines to acquire data from the server by prefetching and store the data as a cache. An instruction “acquire data from the server and store the data as a cache” may be transmitted to the communication function unit 102. Note that an arbitrary value may be set in advance as the identification number, or may be notified from a predetermined server in advance.

  Alternatively, when the time is a specific time, the prefetch / cache control unit 104 determines to acquire data from the server by prefetching and store the data as a cache, and “acquires data from the server by prefetching and caches the data. May be transmitted to the communication function unit 102. Note that an arbitrary value may be set in advance as the time, or may be notified from a predetermined server in advance. The “time” here may be the time measured by the terminal device 100 or the time measured by the server 400.

  Alternatively, when the location information of the terminal device 100 is a specific case, the prefetch / cache control unit 104 determines to acquire data from the server by prefetching and store the data as a cache. An instruction “obtain and store the data as a cache” may be transmitted to the communication function unit 102. In addition, arbitrary values may be set in advance for the position information, or may be notified from a predetermined server in advance.

  As described above, basic information for determining whether to acquire data from a server by prefetching and store it as a cache includes the type of communication network, communication quality information, the identification number of the access point 200, time information, terminal One of the position information of the device 100 may be used, or a combination of two or more may be used.

  When the prefetch / cache control unit 104 transmits an instruction “acquire data from the server by prefetching and saves the data as a cache” to the communication function unit 102, the cache function unit 106 performs backhaul. Data received from the server 400 via the access point 200 and the access point 200 is received from the communication function unit 102 and stored in the cache storage unit 106. Actually, such data is stored in a storage medium (not shown) in the cache storage unit 106.

  As will be described later, the cache storage unit 106 receives an inquiry from the application unit 108 as to whether data required by the application unit 108 is cached. When the necessary data is already cached in the cache storage unit 106, the cache storage unit 106 transmits the data to the application unit 108. On the other hand, when the required data is not cached in the cache storage unit 106, the cache storage unit 106 replies to the application unit 108 that the required data is not cached in the cache storage unit 106.

  The application unit 108 transmits / receives data related to application execution to / from the server 400 via the communication function unit 102, the access point 200, and the backhaul 300.

  The application unit 108 inquires of the cache storage unit 106 whether the corresponding data is cached before communicating with the server 400 when the data is needed. If the data is cached as a result of the inquiry, the application unit 108 acquires the data from the cache storage unit 106 without communicating with the server 400. As a result of the inquiry, when the data is not cached, the application unit 108 acquires necessary data by communicating with the server 400.

  Next, the hardware configuration of the terminal device 100 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal device 100 physically includes one or a plurality of central processing units (CPUs) 100A, a random access memory (RAM) 100B, a read only memory (ROM) 100C, and a data transmission / reception device. A communication unit 100D, an auxiliary storage unit 100E such as a semiconductor memory or a hard disk, an input unit 100F that receives input of a user operation such as an operation panel (including operation buttons) or a touch panel, an output unit 100G such as a display, and a CD- It can be configured as a computer including a reading unit 100H such as a ROM drive device. The ROM 100C may include an EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM) or an EEPROM (registered trademark) (Electronically Erasable and Programmable ROM).

  2 functions as described above by reading one or more programs stored in the recording medium M such as a CD-ROM by the reading unit 100H and loading them into hardware such as the RAM 100B. This is realized by operating the communication unit 100D, the input unit 100F, and the output unit 100G under the control of the CPU 100A, and reading and writing data in the RAM 100B and the auxiliary storage unit 100E. In other words, information processing by software such as the terminal control program 100P of FIG. 12 described later is specifically realized using the hardware resources of FIG. 3, thereby executing various control processes described later.

  FIG. 12 shows a configuration of a terminal control program 100P for causing a computer to function as the terminal device 100. As shown in FIG. 12, the terminal control program 100P includes a communication module P1, a control module P2, and a storage module P3. These modules implement the functions of the communication function unit 102, the prefetch / cache control unit 104, and the cache storage unit 106 described above with reference to FIG. The terminal control program 100P is provided by being stored in the program storage area R of the recording medium M, for example, or provided by downloading via a network. The recording medium M may be any type of recording medium such as a flexible disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, a USB memory, a DVD, a hard disk, and a semiconductor memory.

(Control example 1 regarding determination of whether to perform communication for prefetch)
Hereinafter, various control examples related to determination of whether to perform communication for prefetch will be described in order.

  First, a prefetch and cache control method based on the type of communication network will be described with reference to FIG. In step S102 of FIG. 4, the terminal device 100 acquires information regarding the type of communication network. In step S104, the terminal device 100 determines whether or not the communication network is 5G from the acquired information. As a result of the determination, if the communication network is 5G (step S104: YES), the process proceeds to step S106 described later. On the other hand, if the communication network is not 5G (step S104: NO), the process proceeds to step S108 described later. .

  The communication network here may be a communication network in which the terminal device 100 is communicating, or may be a communication network in which the terminal device 100 is in the idle mode. Further, the communication network may be a peripheral communication network that is notified by the notification information in the serving cell of the communication network in which the terminal device 100 is “in communication”. For example, in LTE, since information related to W-CDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, 5G, etc. in the same area is notified by broadcast information, based on information related to the type of communication network notified by such broadcast information, The determination in step S104 may be performed. Alternatively, the communication network may be a peripheral communication network that is notified by the notification information in the serving cell of the communication network in which the terminal device 100 is located in the “idle mode”. For example, in LTE, since information related to W-CDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, 5G, etc. in the same area is notified by broadcast information, based on information related to the type of communication network notified by such broadcast information, The determination in step S104 may be performed.

  Returning to FIG. 4, in step S <b> 106, the terminal device 100 acquires data from the server 400 by prefetching, and stores the acquired data as a cache. The process for determining the amount of data to be stored will be described in a second embodiment described later. On the other hand, in step S108, the terminal device 100 does not acquire data from the server 400 by prefetch.

  As described above, the terminal device 100 determines whether or not to perform prefetch communication based on the type of the communication network, and performs control according to the determined content.

(Control example 2 regarding determination of whether to perform communication for prefetch)
Next, a prefetch and cache control method based on communication quality information will be described with reference to FIG. Here, a case where downlink reception quality information is used is shown as an example of communication quality information. First, in step S200 of FIG. 5, the terminal device 100 sets a threshold value of communication quality information that is a criterion for determining whether or not to prefetch. Here, a plurality of quality information such as RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc. may be used as the communication quality information. In step S202, the terminal device 100 acquires communication quality information, and in step S204, determines whether or not the value of the communication quality information is equal to or greater than a threshold value. As a result of the determination, if the value of the communication quality information is greater than or equal to the threshold value (step S204: YES), the process proceeds to step S206 described later. On the other hand, if the value of the communication quality information is less than the threshold value (step S204: NO) The process proceeds to step S208 described later.

  In step S206, the terminal device 100 acquires data from the server 400 by prefetch, and stores the acquired data as a cache. On the other hand, in step S208, the terminal device 100 does not acquire data from the server 400 by prefetch.

  As described above, the terminal device 100 determines whether or not to perform prefetch communication based on the communication quality information, and performs control according to the determined content.

(Control example 3 regarding determination of whether to perform communication for prefetch)
Next, a prefetch and cache control method based on an access point identification number will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step S300 of FIG. 6, the terminal device 100 sets the value of the identification number of the access point 200 that is a criterion for determining whether or not to prefetch. The identification number set here is not limited to one, and may be plural. Such an identification number may be separately notified from an external server via a network.

  In step S302, the terminal device 100 acquires the identification information of the access point 200, and in step S304, determines whether or not the identification information matches the value set in step S300. As a result of the determination, if the identification information matches the set value (step S304: YES), the process proceeds to step S306 to be described later. On the other hand, if the identification information does not match the set value (step S304: In the case of NO), the process proceeds to step S308 described later.

  In step S306, the terminal device 100 acquires data from the server 400 by prefetching, and stores the acquired data as a cache. On the other hand, in step S308, the terminal device 100 does not acquire data from the server 400 by prefetch.

  As described above, the terminal device 100 determines whether or not to perform prefetch communication based on the access point identification number, and performs control according to the determined content.

(Control example 4 regarding determination of whether to perform communication for prefetch)
Next, a prefetch and cache control method based on time information will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step S <b> 402 of FIG. 7, the terminal device 100 acquires time information from a clock function unit (not shown) in the terminal device 100. In step S404, the terminal device 100 determines whether or not the time is a predetermined time (here, the time in the time zone from 1 am to 4 am as an example). As a result of the determination, when the time is a predetermined time (step S404: YES), the process proceeds to step S406 described later. On the other hand, when the time is not a predetermined time (step S404: NO), step S408 described later is performed. Proceed to

  In step S406, the terminal device 100 acquires data from the server 400 by prefetch, and stores the acquired data as a cache. On the other hand, in step S408, the terminal device 100 does not acquire data from the server 400 by prefetch.

  As described above, the terminal device 100 determines whether or not to perform communication for prefetching based on the time information, and performs control according to the determined content.

(Control example 5 regarding determination of whether to perform communication for prefetch)
Next, a prefetch and cache control method based on position information of the terminal device 100 will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step S <b> 502 of FIG. 8, the terminal device 100 acquires position information of the terminal device 100 from a GPS positioning function unit (not shown) in the terminal device 100. In addition, about the positional information on the terminal device 100, the positional information notified from the access point 200 (for example, location cell information, in-cell positional information, etc.) may be used in addition to the GPS positioning. Or about the positional information on the terminal device 100, you may acquire the positional information linked | related with the access point 200 other than GPS positioning. In step S504, the terminal device 100 determines whether or not the acquired position information is a specific position (for example, whether or not the serving cell is a specific cell). As a result of the determination, if the acquired position information is a specific position (step S504: YES), the process proceeds to step S506 described later. On the other hand, if the acquired position information is not a specific position (step S504: NO) ), The process proceeds to step S508 described later.

  In step S506, the terminal device 100 acquires data from the server 400 by prefetching, and stores the acquired data as a cache. On the other hand, in step S508, the terminal device 100 does not acquire data from the server 400 by prefetch.

  As described above, the terminal device 100 determines whether or not to perform communication for prefetch based on the position information of the terminal device 100, and performs control according to the determined content.

(Control example when the application part needs data)
Next, control when the application unit 108 needs data will be described with reference to FIG.

  The processing in FIG. 9 is started when the application unit 108 needs data. Here, “when data is required” means, for example, when acquiring data for displaying a website in a web browser, when acquiring a moving image file of an application for moving images, when acquiring data in FTP This refers to the case where it is performed.

  In step S602 in FIG. 9, the terminal device 100 determines whether or not necessary data has already been cached. As a result of the determination, if the necessary data is not cached (step S602: NO), the process proceeds to step S604 described later. On the other hand, if the necessary data is already cached (step S602: YES) ), The process proceeds to step S606 described below. Note that the “necessary data” may be audio data, moving image data, or application data required by the application unit 108.

  In step S604, the terminal device 100 acquires data from the server 400 through the backhaul 300 and the access point 200 as usual. On the other hand, in step S <b> 606, the terminal device 100 uses data stored as a cache by the cache storage unit 106 without acquiring data from the server 400.

  The above “data stored as a cache” is a prefetch cache, instead of being downloaded from the server 400 via the backhaul 300 and the access point 200 at the timing when the data is required by the application unit 108. The data is transferred from the control unit 104 to the application unit 108. As described above, since the application unit 108 can use the data without performing actual communication at the above timing, it is possible to significantly reduce the time for downloading the data from the viewpoint of the user. It is possible to greatly improve the user experience.

  For example, as in the example of FIG. 4 described above, if data acquisition by prefetching is performed when the type of the communication network is 5G, prefetching is performed using 5G having a characteristic that the transmission capacity is larger than that of other communication networks. Thus, it becomes possible to download data, so that the load on the mobile communication system can be greatly reduced.

  In addition, as described above, by downloading data by prefetching, the data communication volume (or traffic volume) can be smoothed temporally or spatially when viewed from the whole system. Become. Such smoothing makes it possible to reduce the amount of data communication at the most crowded time / place. In general, a network facility in a certain place is constructed in accordance with the data communication volume (or traffic volume) during the most busy time. By such smoothing, the data communication amount (or traffic amount) during the most congested time is reduced, and as a result, the equipment cost can be reduced.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment relating to determination of the amount of prefetch data will be described. Since the configurations of the mobile communication system and the terminal device are the same as those in the first embodiment described above, a duplicate description is omitted.

  As a function peculiar to the second embodiment, the prefetch / cache control unit 104 uses the data amount when the prefetch communication has been performed in the past (for example, the prefetch / cached data amount and the application unit 108). Information) (including the amount of data that has been generated). Specifically, the prefetch / cache control unit 104 receives information on the amount of data prefetched and cached in the past from the cache storage unit 106, and the amount of data used by the application unit 108 out of the amount of prefetched and cached data Is received from the application unit 108.

  In addition, when performing prefetch communication, the prefetch / cache control unit 104 has a data amount, a communication network type, communication quality information, and access point 200 identification information when the prefetch communication has been performed in the past. The prefetch data amount is determined based on at least one of the time information and the position information of the terminal device 100 and notified to the communication function unit 102. Specifically, the amount of data to be prefetched and cached may be determined based on the functions having the various information as arguments. Note that an arbitrary value may be set in advance as the amount of data to be prefetched and cached.

(Prefetch data amount control method)
Hereinafter, as an example of a data amount control method, a prefetch data amount control method based on setting conditions (for example, the type of communication network) will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step S702 of FIG. 10, the terminal device 100 sets a condition for the amount of data to be prefetched next time. This “condition” refers to various data such as the amount of data when communication for prefetching has been performed in the past, the type of communication network, communication quality information, identification information of the access point 200, time information, and position information of the terminal device 100. The information may be a condition using information or a combination of a plurality of pieces of information. FIG. 10 shows an example in which the condition “the communication network is 5G or LTE” is adopted from the viewpoint of the type of the communication network.

  In step S704, the terminal device 100 determines whether the communication network is 5G or LTE. As a result of the determination, if the communication network is 5G or LTE (step S704: YES), the process proceeds to step S706, which will be described later. On the other hand, if the communication network is neither 5G nor LTE (step S704: NO), it will be described later. The process proceeds to step S710.

  In step S706, the terminal device 100 acquires the data amount prefetched in the past period and the data amount used by the application, and sets the data amount to be prefetched next time. The data amount to be prefetched next time may be set to an arbitrary value, or may be a function using the data amount used in the above-described application, the prefetched data amount, and various pieces of acquired information. Good. In the example of FIG. 10, when the communication network is LTE, the terminal device 100 sets the average amount of data prefetched in the past week as the data amount to be prefetched next time. The average of the data amount × 1.5) is set as the data amount to be prefetched next time. In the next step S708, the terminal device 100 acquires data from the server 400 by prefetching, and stores the acquired data as a cache.

  On the other hand, in step S710, the terminal device 100 does not acquire data from the server 400 by prefetch.

  As described above, the terminal device 100 can set a condition for the amount of data to be prefetched next time, and appropriately control the amount of prefetch data based on the set condition (for example, the type of the communication network). The prefetch data amount control as described above may be performed for each application, may be performed for each content, or may be performed for each URL.

  In the above-described example, “average of data amount prefetched in the past week” is used as a reference for the data amount to be prefetched next time. Instead, a predetermined value may be used as a reference for the data amount to be prefetched next time. More specifically, when a certain predetermined value is 1 gigabyte, the terminal device 100 sets 1 gigabyte as a data amount to be prefetched next time when the communication network is LTE, and when the communication network is 5 G, (1 gigabyte × 1.5) may be set as the data amount to be prefetched next time. Such a predetermined value may be notified to the terminal device 100 from an external server.

(Modification: Data amount control method based on prefetched data hit rate)
The amount of prefetch data as described above may be controlled based on the amount of data actually used out of the amount of data when communication for prefetch has been performed in the past. More specifically, the amount of prefetch data may be controlled based on the ratio of “the amount of data actually used” to “the amount of data when communication for prefetching has been performed in the past”. 11 will be used to explain this processing example.

  In step S802 in FIG. 11, the terminal apparatus 100 calculates a “hit rate” that is a ratio of the actually used data amount to the data amount prefetched for the past week, and in the next step S804, the calculated hit rate. Is greater than or equal to a predetermined reference value (here, a reference value for determining whether or not to increase the amount of data to be prefetched). If the hit rate is greater than or equal to the reference value (step S804: YES), the terminal device 100 increases the amount of data to be prefetched in step S806, while the hit rate is less than the reference value (step S804: NO). In step S808, the data amount to be prefetched is not changed.

  As described above, it is possible to control the data amount more appropriately according to the hit rate indicating the actual usage status.

  In addition, in FIG. 11, although the example using the reference value of whether to increase the amount of prefetched data has been described, instead of this, the reference value of whether to decrease the amount of prefetched data may be used, Both a reference value for determining whether to increase the amount of prefetched data and a reference value for determining whether to decrease the amount of prefetched data may be used.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment relating to control of communication for prefetch based on a user input by a user operating the terminal will be described. Since the configurations of the mobile communication system and the terminal device are the same as those in the first embodiment described above, a duplicate description is omitted. That is, hereinafter, the terminal device A100 will be described instead of the terminal device 100. Since the access point 200, the backhaul 300 such as a wired network, and the server 400, which constitute the mobile communication system, are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  As illustrated in FIG. 13, the terminal device A100 includes a communication function unit A102 that communicates with the server 400 via the access point 200, a prefetch / cache control unit A104 that controls prefetching and caching, and caches prefetched content. A cache storage unit A106 that stores data as the application unit A108 that executes various applications using the content stored by the cache storage unit A106, a user input unit A110 that receives input from a user operating the terminal, Is provided. The communication function unit A102, the cache storage unit A106, and the application unit A108 are the same as the communication function unit 102, the cache storage unit 106, and the application unit 108 in the first embodiment, respectively, and thus description thereof is omitted.

  In addition to the processing described in the first embodiment, the prefetch / cache control unit A104 acquires data from the server by prefetching based on input information from the user notified from a user input unit A110, which will be described later. Decide whether to save as.

  Hereinafter, as an example, a case will be described in which “whether or not data is acquired from a server by prefetching and stored as a cache” is notified as user input information notified from the user input unit A110. The prefetch / cache control unit A104 obtains data from the server by prefetching and stores it as a cache when “acquire data from the server by prefetching and save as cache” is notified as input information from the user. Then, it may be determined, and an instruction “acquire data from the server by prefetch and save the data as a cache” may be transmitted to the communication function unit A102.

  Further, the prefetch / cache control unit A104 includes at least one of the input information from the user, the acquired type of the communication network, the communication quality information, the identification number of the access point 200, the time information, and the location information of the terminal device 100. Based on the above, it may be determined whether to acquire data from the server by prefetching and save it as a cache.

  Hereinafter, as an example, a case will be described in which it is determined whether data is acquired from a server by prefetching and stored as a cache based on input information from a user and a type of communication network.

  In such an example, the input information from the above-described user may be set for each type of communication network. That is, when there are two types of communication networks, LTE and 5G, for each of LTE and 5G, an instruction regarding “whether or not to acquire data from the server by prefetching and save it as a cache” May be notified from the user input unit A110 as input information. In this case, the prefetch / cache control unit A104 determines whether to acquire data from the server by prefetching and save it as a cache based on the input information from the user and the type of the communication network.

  Alternatively, an instruction regarding “whether or not data is acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache” may be notified for each application. That is, when there are three applications, Web browsing, video viewing, and e-mail, for each of Web browsing, video viewing, and e-mail, “whether the data is acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache? An instruction regarding “No” may be notified from the user input unit A110 as input information from the user. In this case, the prefetch / cache control unit A104 determines whether to acquire data from the server by prefetching and save it as a cache, based on the input information from the user and the application type.

  Note that the above-described applications such as Web browsing, video viewing, and e-mail may be regarded as services instead. In other words, the prefetch / cache control unit A104 may determine whether to acquire data from the server by prefetching and save it as a cache based on the input information from the user and the service type.

  Alternatively, the instruction regarding “whether or not data is acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache” may be notified for each specific URL. That is, when the user inputs a URL to which the prefetch / cache technique is applied via the user input unit A110, the prefetch / cache control unit A104 receives the URL from the user input unit A110 and relates to the URL. A prefetch cache technique may be applied. In this case, the prefetch / cache control unit A104 determines to acquire data from the server by prefetching and store it as a cache with respect to the URL. An instruction “Yes” is transmitted to the communication function unit A102. An IP address may be designated instead of the URL.

  Alternatively, the prefetch / cache control unit A104 actively acquires data from the server by prefetching based on input information from the user and stores it as a cache, or conservatively acquires data from the server by prefetching, You may control whether it preserve | saves as a cache.

  Here, “actively acquiring data from the server by prefetching and storing it as a cache” means, for example, acquiring data from the server by prefetching even for data that has a low probability of being actually used. This means that the probability that the cache technology is applied is increased and the user experience is further improved. In this case, although the user experience is improved, there are disadvantages that the amount of data to be downloaded increases and the capacity of the storage medium required for the cache increases.

  On the other hand, “conservatively obtain data from the server by prefetching and store it as a cache” means, for example, that data is obtained from the server by prefetching only for data that has a high probability of being actually used. It means reducing unnecessary downloads and reducing the capacity of the storage medium required for the cache while maintaining the improvement of the experience.

  Prefetch cache technology has a trade-off relationship between improving the user experience and increasing the amount of data to be downloaded and increasing the capacity of the storage medium for the cache. is assumed. Therefore, it is possible to provide the user with a finer prefetch cache technology by the function that can control the degree of trade-off by the input from the user as described above.

  Note that the above-mentioned “whether data is actively acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache, or data is preferentially acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache” also depends on the type of communication network. It may be set for each application, each service, and each URL.

  In the above-described example, “whether the data is positively acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache, or the data is preferentially acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache” is input by the user. However, instead, the frequency of performing prefetch caching, the amount of data cached by the prefetch cache, the retention period of the cached data, and the like may be designated as user input.

  The user input unit A110 provides an interface for the user to control the prefetch cache technology. Specifically, the user input unit A110 may be a physical interface such as a switch or a button, or may designate ON / OFF, strength, character string, or number displayed on the screen. An interface that can be used.

  More specifically, the user input unit A110 may provide an interface for the user to specify “whether to acquire data from the server by prefetching and save it as a cache”. That is, the user who operates the terminal device A100 designates “whether or not data is acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache” via the user input unit A110. The user input unit A110 notifies the prefetch / cache control unit A104 of input information from the user regarding “whether or not data is acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache”.

  Note that the input information from the user regarding “whether or not data is acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache” may be specified for each type of communication network. In this case, the user can set “whether or not data is acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache” for each type of communication network via the user input unit A110.

  Alternatively, the input information from the user regarding “whether or not data is acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache” may be designated for each application or for each service.

  The input information from the user regarding “whether or not data is acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache” may be specified for each URL or IP address.

  Alternatively, the user input unit A110 controls whether the user actively acquires data from the server by prefetching and stores it as a cache, or conservatively acquires data from the server by prefetching and stores it as a cache. An interface may be provided. The user input unit A110 inputs from the user regarding "whether the data is positively acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache, or the data is preferentially acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache". Information is notified to the prefetch / cache control unit A104.

  Alternatively, the user input unit A110 may provide an interface for inputting a frequency at which the user performs prefetch cache, an amount of data cached by the prefetch cache, a retention period of the cached data, or the like. Good. The user input unit A110 receives input information from the user regarding the frequency of performing such prefetch cache, the amount of data cached by the prefetch cache, the retention period of the cached data, and the like to the prefetch cache control unit A104. Notice.

  The prefetch cache technology needs to be applied in consideration of trade-offs such as improving the user experience, increasing the amount of data to be downloaded, and increasing the capacity of the storage medium for the cache, and the trade-off varies depending on the user. is assumed. As described above, by providing an interface that can control such a trade-off from the user, it becomes possible to apply the prefetch / cache technique more finely.

(Control example 6 regarding determination of whether to perform communication for prefetch)
Hereinafter, a control example related to determination of whether to perform prefetch communication based on user input will be described.

  That is, a prefetch and cache control method based on user input will be described with reference to FIG. In step S902 in FIG. 4, the terminal device A100 acquires input information from the user regarding “whether or not data is acquired from the server by prefetching and stored as a cache”. In step S <b> 904, the terminal device A <b> 100 determines whether to acquire data from the server by prefetching and save it as a cache based on the acquired input information from the user. As a result of the determination, if the input information from the user is “acquire data from the server by prefetching and save it as a cache” (step S904: YES), the process proceeds to step S906 described later, while the input from the user When the information is not “acquire data from the server by prefetching and save as cache” (step S904: NO), the process proceeds to step S908 described later.

  In step S906, the terminal apparatus A100 acquires data from the server 400 by prefetching, and stores the acquired data as a cache. Note that the processing described in the second embodiment can be applied to the determination processing of the data amount to be stored. Alternatively, the amount of data to be stored may be determined based on input information from the user. That is, the amount of data when communication for prefetching is performed in the past, the type of communication network, communication quality information, identification information of the access point 200, time information, position information of the terminal device 100, and input information from the user, The amount of prefetch data may be determined based on at least one of them.

  On the other hand, in step S908, the terminal apparatus A100 does not acquire data from the server 400 by prefetch.

  As described above, the terminal device A100 determines whether or not to perform communication for prefetching based on input information from the user, and performs control according to the determination content.

  Although the present invention has been described in detail using the above-described embodiments, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described in this specification. The present invention can be implemented as modified and changed modes without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention defined by the description of the scope of claims. Therefore, the description of the present specification is for illustrative purposes and does not have any limiting meaning to the present invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100, A100 ... Terminal device, 100A ... CPU, 100B ... RAM, 100C ... ROM, 100D ... Communication part, 100E ... Auxiliary storage part, 100F ... Input part, 100G ... Output part, 100H ... Reading part, 100P ... Terminal control program , 102, A102: Communication function unit, 104, A104: Prefetch / cache control unit, 106, A106 ... Cache storage unit, 108, A108 ... Application unit, A110 ... User input unit, 200 ... Access point, 300 ... Backhaul, 400, server, M, recording medium, P1, communication module, P2, control module, P3, storage module, R, program storage area.

Claims (6)

A terminal device that communicates with a server,
A communication unit that communicates with a server via a base station;
A control unit that controls whether or not the communication unit performs communication for prefetching, which is a process of downloading data from the server to the terminal device in advance;
A storage unit for storing data acquired by communication for prefetch;
With
The control unit includes at least one of a type of communication network, communication quality information, identification information of the base station, time information, position information of the terminal device, and input information from a user who operates the terminal device. To determine whether to perform prefetch communication based on
A terminal device characterized by that. The control unit, when performing communication for prefetch, data amount when performing communication for prefetch in the past, type of communication network, communication quality information, identification information of the base station, time information, Determining the data amount of the prefetch based on at least one of position information of the terminal device and input information from a user operating the terminal device;
The terminal device according to claim 1. The control unit, when determining the prefetch data amount based on information including a communication network type, increases or decreases the prefetch data amount according to the communication network type,
The terminal device according to claim 2. When the control unit determines the data amount of the prefetch based on information including the data amount when the communication for the prefetch is performed in the past, the data amount when the communication for the prefetch is performed in the past Determining the amount of prefetch data based on the amount of data actually used in the terminal device,
The terminal device according to claim 2. The control unit determines the data amount of the prefetch based on a ratio of the actually used data amount to a data amount when the communication for the prefetch is performed in the past.
The terminal device according to claim 4. A computer provided in a terminal device that communicates with a server,
A communication unit that communicates with a server via a base station;
A control unit that controls whether or not the communication unit performs communication for prefetching, which is a process of downloading data from the server to the terminal device in advance;
A storage unit that stores data acquired by communication for prefetch,
Is a terminal control program for functioning as
The control unit includes at least one of a type of communication network, communication quality information, identification information of the base station, time information, position information of the terminal device, and input information from a user who operates the terminal device. To determine whether to perform prefetch communication based on
A terminal control program.

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