JP2018142940A - Access point management system, access point management method, and access point management device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform complicated management of a wireless device matching requests for services of many kinds of wireless standards.SOLUTION: Provided is an access point management system comprising: a plurality of access points that can provide wireless communication services by a plurality of wireless standards to a wireless terminal device; and an access point management device that manages the plurality of access points. The access point management device comprises: a request information acquisition unit that acquires request information; an information collection unit that collects performance information and use status information; a selection unit that selects an access point satisfying a condition on the basis of the performance information and the use status information; and a request unit that transmits a request signal for providing a wireless communication service depending on the request information to the selected access point. The access point comprises: a controller that receives the request signal and outputs an instruction signal depending on the request signal; and a wireless processing unit that provides the wireless communication services.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an access point management system, an access point management device, and an access point management method.

In the 5G (5 ^th Generation) era after 2020, it is expected that wireless usage will be further diversified, and various wireless standards will be formulated in order to provide many services in the future. It is being done. For example, as a service, for example, a IoT (Smart Meter, etc.) using a service that can be used only for a limited time or region, an advanced regional BWA (Broadband Wireless Access), an LPWA (Low Power Wide Area), or the like. Internet of Things) service, next-generation ITS (Intelligent Transport System) service using vehicle communication, etc. Therefore, the number of wireless standards tends to increase in the future.

  In order to provide a plurality of wireless standard services, it is necessary to install an access point (hereinafter referred to as “AP”) for each wireless standard. For this reason, when providing a variety of wireless standards assumed in the 5G era, if it is attempted to install APs for all the wireless standards, it is necessary to perform necessary area design for each wireless standard. When the area design required for each wireless standard is performed, the management becomes very complicated, the number of APs to be managed becomes considerable, and the installation area and power consumption increase with the number of installations. To do. Therefore, it is not realistic to always have facilities to cover all the wireless standards that are scheduled to be provided, for example, by providing services to be provided according to the time to be provided and the contents requested, etc. Wireless communication infrastructure providers are required to flexibly apply services of various wireless standards under various circumstances.

  As a technique for switching and providing a plurality of radio standards, there is a technique called software radio (hereinafter referred to as “SDR” (Software Defined Radio)) (for example, see Non-Patent Document 1). For example, as shown in FIG. 24, when trying to provide two wireless standards A and B in a wireless device 500 such as a wireless terminal device or an AP, the wireless device 500 uses the antenna 501, the high frequency for the wireless standard A, and so on. Unit 502, converter 503, and digital signal processing unit 504. For wireless standard B, it is necessary to include antenna 511, high frequency unit 512, converter 513, and digital signal processing unit 514. Here, the converter 504 and the converter 513 include an A / D (Analog to Digital) converter that converts a received signal from an analog signal to a digital signal, and a D / D that converts a signal to be transmitted from a digital signal to an analog signal. It is a device that includes both A (Digital to Analog) converters.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 25, radio apparatus 600 compatible with SDR down-converts wideband signals to a frequency band where digital signal processing can be easily performed by high-frequency unit 602, and analog signal is converted by converter 603. To digital signal. The digital signal processing unit 604 reads software program data stored in the storage area for each wireless standard to be provided, and performs demodulation processing according to the wireless standard. At the time of transmission, the digital signal processing unit 604 performs modulation processing according to the wireless standard, the converter 603 converts the digital signal into an analog signal, and the high frequency unit 602 up-converts up to the frequency band of the transmission signal. Switching to another wireless standard is performed by the digital signal processing unit 604 reading software program data corresponding to the other wireless standard. As described above, various wireless standards can be supported by switching software applied to the digital signal processing unit 604.

Hideaki Ogino, Hideaki Odagiri, Kenji Takaro, “Software Defined Radio”, Oki Technical Review, No. 204, Vol. 72 No.4, October 2005.

  By using the wireless device 600 that supports SDR as described above as an AP, the installation area and power consumption can be reduced, and the number of APs to be managed can also be reduced. However, the conventional technique has a problem that it cannot solve the complicated management of each software defined radio device 600 according to the service request.

  In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of managing a complicated wireless device in response to a request for services of many types of wireless standards.

  In order to solve the above problem, an aspect of the present invention provides a plurality of access points capable of providing a wireless terminal device with wireless communication services based on a plurality of wireless standards, and access point management for managing the plurality of access points. An access point management system comprising: a request information acquisition unit that acquires request information for requesting provision of the wireless service; performance information indicating performance of the access point; and usage status An information collecting unit that collects usage status information indicating the status, a selection unit that selects the access point that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information based on the performance information and the usage status information, and the selection unit selects A request signal for causing the access point to deploy the wireless communication service according to the request information A request unit for transmitting, and the access point receives the request signal and outputs an instruction signal corresponding to the request signal, and deploys the wireless communication service based on the instruction signal. An access point management system comprising: a wireless processing unit that provides data.

  One aspect of the present invention is the access point management system described above, wherein the access point wireless processing unit is connected to a storage unit that stores program data for each wireless standard and an antenna, and is stopped. A hardware radio processing unit that is activated in response to an activation instruction signal from the control unit, and the instruction signal that is connected to the hardware radio processing unit and includes information indicating a radio standard of the radio communication service starts from the control unit In the case of an instruction signal, the program data corresponding to the wireless standard is read from the storage unit, and the provision of the wireless communication service is started. When the instruction signal is a change instruction signal, the program of the wireless standard already provided A software radio processing unit for changing the contents of provision of the radio communication service.

  One aspect of the present invention is the access point management system described above, wherein when the selection unit selects the access point that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information, the request information is transmitted from one access point. If the conditions indicated cannot be satisfied, a plurality of the access points that satisfy the conditions indicated by the request information are selected.

  One aspect of the present invention is the above-described access point management system, wherein the selection unit is based on the performance information, the usage status information, and information indicating a predetermined policy for selecting the access point. The access point that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information is selected.

  One aspect of the present invention is the access point management system described above, wherein the information indicating the predetermined access point selection policy includes the wireless communication service when the request information is newly acquired. The access that does not provide the wireless communication service when the access point that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information is selected in preference to the access point that is provided or when the request information is newly acquired This is information indicating whether or not the access point satisfying the condition indicated by the request information is selected with priority given to the point.

  One aspect of the present invention is the access point management system described above, wherein the performance information includes at least information indicating the wireless standard of the wireless communication service to be provided and information indicating an area for providing the wireless communication service. And information indicating the communication quality of the wireless communication service, and the request information includes at least information indicating an area providing the wireless communication service and information indicating the communication quality of the wireless communication service.

  One aspect of the present invention is an access point management method for managing a plurality of access points capable of providing a wireless terminal apparatus with wireless communication services according to a plurality of wireless standards, and request information for requesting provision of the wireless services Collecting the performance information indicating the performance of the access point and the usage status information indicating the usage status, and satisfying the condition indicated by the acquired request information based on the collected performance information and the usage status information. In the access point management method, the access point is selected, and a request signal for deploying the wireless communication service corresponding to the request information is transmitted to the selected access point.

  One aspect of the present invention is an access point management apparatus that manages a plurality of access points capable of providing a wireless terminal apparatus with wireless communication services according to a plurality of wireless standards, and request information for requesting provision of the wireless service Based on the request information acquisition unit that acquires the performance information indicating the performance of the access point and the usage information indicating the usage status, the performance information, and the usage status information. A selection unit that selects the access point that satisfies the condition indicated by the information, and a request unit that transmits a request signal for deploying the wireless communication service according to the request information to the access point selected by the selection unit; , An access point management device.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to perform management of complicated wireless devices in response to requests for services of many types of wireless standards.

It is a block diagram showing the system configuration | structure of AP management system in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of AP in the same embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure etc. of AP management apparatus in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the wireless service AP information table in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of AP usage condition information table in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of AP performance information table in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the policy information table of the state in which the policy A in the embodiment is selected. It is a flowchart which shows the arrangement | positioning process of the radio | wireless communication service in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the request information (the 1) in the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the deployment process of the radio | wireless communication service by the policy A in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the wireless service AP information table at the time of deploying the wireless communication service by the request information (the 1) in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the request information (the 2) in the same embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the AP usage condition information table at the time of deploying the wireless communication service by the request information (the 1) in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the wireless service AP information table at the time of deploying the wireless communication service by the request information (the 2) in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of AP usage condition information table at the time of deploying the radio | wireless communication service by the request information (the 2) in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the policy information table of the state in which the policy B in the embodiment is selected. It is a flowchart which shows the arrangement | positioning process of the radio | wireless communication service by the policy B in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the request information (the 3) in the same embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the wireless service AP information table at the time of deploying the wireless communication service by the request information (the 3) in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the AP usage condition information table at the time of deploying the wireless communication service by the request information (the 3) in the embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure etc. of AP management apparatus in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the request information (the 4) in the same embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the wireless service AP information table at the time of deploying the wireless communication service by the request information (the 3) in the embodiment. It is a block diagram (the 1) which shows the structure of the radio | wireless apparatus for demonstrating software defined radio. It is a block diagram (the 2) which shows the structure of the radio | wireless apparatus for demonstrating software defined radio.

(First embodiment)
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a system configuration of an AP management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The AP management system 1 includes an AP management device 10, a plurality of APs 30Aa, 30Ab, 30Ba, 30Bb, and a wireless terminal device 50. The AP management apparatus 10 and each of the plurality of APs 30Aa, 30Ab, 30Ba, and 30Bb are connected by wireless communication or wired communication. In FIG. 1, area A and area B are areas indicating locations where a plurality of APs 30 </ b> Aa, 30 </ b> Ab,... Are installed, and are also areas indicating ranges of areas in which wireless communication services are provided.

  In FIG. 1, two areas, area A and area B, are shown, but two or more areas may be used, and one area may include a plurality of APs 30Aa, 30Ab,. It may be installed. Further, in FIG. 1, only one wireless terminal device 50 is shown, but a plurality of wireless terminal devices 50 may exist in area A and area B. In addition, two APs 30Aa, 30Ab,... Are installed in each of the areas A and B, but one may be installed in each of the areas A and B, or two or more may be installed in each area. Alternatively, a different number may be installed for each area.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the AP 30. The AP 30 is a device corresponding to any of the APs 30Aa, 30Ab, 30Ba, and 30Bb shown in FIG. That is, each of AP30Aa, 30Ab, 30Ba, and 30Bb has the same internal configuration, and this internal configuration will be described with reference to AP30. In the following description, for example, when described as the transmission / reception unit 32, any one of the transmission / reception units 32 of the APs 30Aa, 30Ab, 30Ba, and 30Bb is shown. Further, when the internal configurations of the APs 30Aa, 30Ab, 30Ba, and 30Bb are individually shown, for example, when the transmission / reception unit 32 of the AP 30Aa is shown, it is described as the transmission / reception unit 32Aa.

  The AP 30 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a memory, an auxiliary storage device, and the like connected by a bus, and executes a wireless processing program. By executing the wireless processing program, the AP 30 functions as a device including the control unit 31, the transmission / reception unit 32, the wireless processing unit 40, and the antennas 42 (42-1, 42-2,...). All or some of the functions of the AP 30 may be realized by using hardware such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA). The wireless processing program may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium is, for example, a portable medium such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, a CD-ROM, or a storage device such as a hard disk built in the computer system. The wireless processing program may be transmitted / received via a telecommunication line.

The wireless processing unit 40 includes a plurality of hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,..., A software wireless processing unit 45, and a storage unit 46. In the AP 30, the transmission / reception unit 32 transmits / receives information to / from the AP management apparatus 10.
When the control unit 31 receives the collection request signal from the AP management apparatus 10 through the transmission / reception unit 32, the control unit 31 includes information on the resources of the AP 30, that is, the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. Are collected from the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,..., The software radio processing unit 45, and the storage unit 46. Further, the control unit 31 transmits the collected resource information as AP performance information to the AP management apparatus 10 through the transmission / reception unit 32.

  Further, when the control unit 31 receives the collection request signal from the AP management apparatus 10 through the transmission / reception unit 32, the usage state of the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. Information indicating the usage status of the wireless communication service of the wireless standard provided by 45 is collected from the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. In addition, the control unit 31 transmits information indicating the collected usage status as AP usage status information to the AP management apparatus 10 through the transmission / reception unit 32.

  When the control unit 31 receives a request signal from the AP management apparatus 10 through the transmission / reception unit 32, the control unit 31 causes the wireless processing unit 40 to start providing a wireless communication service of a required wireless standard according to the request signal. For example, when the request signal indicates a request to start providing wireless communication services to the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. The signal is output to the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,.

  In addition, when the request signal indicates a request to start providing a new wireless standard wireless communication service, the control unit 31 sends a software program of the wireless standard from the storage unit 46 to the software wireless processing unit 45. Data is read from the storage unit 46 and a start instruction signal for starting execution is output. When the request signal indicates a request for a change such as adding the content of provision of a wireless communication service of a wireless standard that has already been provided, the control unit 31 instructs the software defined wireless processing unit 45 to A change instruction signal including the contents of the change is output. In the wireless communication service, the content to be added is, for example, adding a service providing area or the number of accommodated wireless terminal devices 50. Here, the accommodation of the wireless terminal device 50 in the AP 30 means that the wireless terminal device 50 is in a state where it can be connected to the AP 30 at any time when requesting the start of communication. It does not have to be in a connected state.

  Each of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Is connected to the antennas 42-1, 42-2,. Each of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2, ... includes a high-frequency circuit and a converter. For example, the high-frequency circuit down-converts a received signal having a radio signal frequency band to a frequency band where the software radio processing unit 45 performs processing. Further, the high-frequency circuit up-converts the signal to be transmitted to the frequency band of the radio signal transmitted through the antennas 42-1, 42-2,. The converter also converts the analog received signal down-converted by the high-frequency circuit into a digital signal and outputs the digital signal to the software radio processing unit 45, and the digital signal output from the software radio processing unit 45. A D / A converter that converts the signal into an analog transmission signal and outputs the analog signal to a high-frequency circuit. Further, the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Are activated according to the activation instruction signal from the control unit 31.

  The number of hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Provided in the AP 30 is appropriately determined according to the number of wireless terminal devices 50 to be accommodated. For example, when one hardware radio processing unit 41-1 has a capability of accommodating a maximum of 300 wireless terminal devices 50, when it is desired to accommodate 600 wireless terminal devices 50, at least two It is necessary to provide the hardware radio processing units 41-1 and 41-2.

  The storage unit 46 stores software program data for each of a plurality of wireless standards in advance. When the software radio processing unit 45 receives the start instruction signal from the control unit 31, the software radio processing unit 45 reads the program data of the radio standard software indicated by the start instruction signal from the storage unit 46, and performs digital signal processing of modulation and demodulation according to the radio standard To start. When receiving the change instruction signal from the control unit 31, the software defined radio processing unit 45 provides a service provision area or a wireless terminal device for the wireless communication service of the wireless standard that has already been provided according to the change instruction signal. Processing to change the provided contents, such as adding 50 accommodation numbers, is performed.

  The software defined radio processing unit 45 can execute two or more wireless standard software in parallel. For example, the hardware wireless processing unit 41-1 is switched for the wireless standard of “802.11g”, and the software wireless processing unit 45 sets “802.11g” for input / output signals of the hardware wireless processing unit 41-1. Software is executed to perform signal processing of the signal. In addition to this, when providing a wireless communication service of the “802.11p” wireless standard, another hardware wireless processing unit 41-2 is switched to the wireless standard of “802.11p”, and the hardware wireless processing unit For the input / output signal 41-2, the software defined radio processor 45 executes “802.11p” software to perform signal processing of the signal. Accordingly, it is possible to provide two wireless standard wireless communication services with one AP 30.

  The software radio processing unit 45 can execute two or more radio standard software programs, but each of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. It is necessary to switch to Therefore, for example, when the wireless communication service of the wireless standard of “802.11g” is provided by using the hardware wireless processing unit 41-1 for the wireless standard of “802.11g”, the wireless communication service of “802.11g” It is necessary to switch the wireless standard to a wireless standard of “802.15.4”.

  In this case, after the input / output signal of the hardware wireless processing unit 41-1 is not processed by the software wireless processing unit 45 according to the wireless standard of “802.11g”, the hardware wireless processing unit 41-1 is set to “802”. .15.4 "for wireless standards. With respect to the input / output signal of the switched hardware wireless processing unit 41-1, the software wireless processing unit 45 is caused to execute software of “802.15.4” to perform signal processing of the signal. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a wireless communication service of the “802.15.4” wireless standard using the hardware wireless processing unit 41-1.

  The software defined radio processing unit 45 is connected to an external communication network such as the Internet, for example, and transmits the demodulated signal according to the destination address included in the signal. When receiving a signal from the communication network, the software defined radio processing unit 45 modulates the signal and transmits the modulated signal to the wireless terminal device 50 having the destination address included in the signal. Also, the software radio processing unit 45 does not transmit the demodulated signal to the communication network for communication between the two radio terminal devices 50 accommodated by the AP 30, and remodulates the radio terminal device 50 with the destination address. Are output to the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the AP management apparatus 10 and a relationship between information transmitted and received by the AP management apparatus 10 with the outside.
The AP management apparatus 10 includes a CPU, a memory, an auxiliary storage device, and the like connected by a bus, and executes an access point control program. By executing the access point control program, the AP management apparatus 10 has a policy information acquisition unit 11, a request information acquisition unit 12, a selection unit 13, a request unit 14, an information collection unit 15, a transmission / reception unit 16, a wireless service AP information database 20, It functions as a device including an AP usage status information database 21, an AP performance information database 22, and a policy information database 23. Note that all or part of the functions of the AP management apparatus 10 may be realized using hardware such as an ASIC, PLD, or FPGA. The access point control program may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium is, for example, a portable medium such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, a CD-ROM, or a storage device such as a hard disk built in the computer system. The access point control program may be transmitted / received via a telecommunication line.

  The wireless service AP information database 20 stores a wireless service AP information table 200 shown in FIG. The wireless service AP information table 200 includes “service ID (Identification)”, “wireless service request information”, “in-use AP-ID”, “in-use hardware wireless processing unit ID”, “provided wireless standard”, “ It has items of “service provision area”, “data rate”, “number of accommodated terminal devices”, and “guaranteed delay time”. In the item “service ID”, an ID given by the selection unit 13 for each wireless communication service to be provided, for example, information such as “service 1” is written. In the item “wireless service request information”, an ID, for example, “request information 1” or the like, which is given by the selection unit 13 for each request information for deploying the wireless communication service, is written.

  In the item of “in-use AP-ID”, information such as “AP1”, which is uniquely assigned to each AP 30Aa, 30Ab,. In the item of “in-use hardware radio processing unit ID”, an ID assigned to each hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-1, 41Aa-2,... Provided in each of AP 30Aa, 30Ab,. Information such as “RF1” is written.

  Information indicating the wireless standard of the wireless communication service being provided, for example, information such as “802.11g” is written in the item “wireless standard being provided”. In the item “service provision area”, information indicating an area where the wireless communication service is provided, for example, information such as “area A” is written. In the “data rate” item, information indicating the communication speed of the wireless communication service being provided, for example, information such as “1 Mbps” is written. Note that Mbps is an abbreviation for Mega bit per second.

  In the item “number of accommodated terminal devices”, a value indicating the maximum number of wireless terminal devices 50 that can be accommodated in the wireless communication service being provided is written. In the item of “guaranteed delay time”, a value indicating a delay time guaranteed in the wireless communication service being provided is written. Here, the guaranteed delay time is a predetermined probability that the time from when the wireless terminal device 50 makes a communication start request to the wireless communication service to be provided until the wireless terminal device 50 becomes ready for communication. Is a time indicating that it is guaranteed to be within the time. As shown in FIG. 4, the initial state of the wireless service AP information table 200 is a state in which information and values are not written in all items, and the initial state is maintained until the wireless communication service is deployed. Will be.

  The AP usage status information database 21 stores an AP usage status information table 210 shown in FIG. The AP usage status information table 210 includes “AP-ID”, “installation area”, “in-use hardware radio processing unit ID”, “provided radio standard”, “number of accommodated terminal devices”, “service provision area”. , “Data rate” and “guaranteed delay time”. In the item “AP-ID”, IDs of APs 30Aa, 30Ab,..., For example, information such as “AP1” are written. In the “installation area” item, information indicating the area where the APs 30Aa, 30Ab,... Shown in the “AP-ID” item are installed, for example, information such as “area A” is written.

  In the item “in-use hardware radio processing unit ID”, the IDs of the hardware radio processing units 41Aa-1, 41Aa-2,... In use in the APs 30Aa, 30Ab,. For example, information such as “AP1-RF1” is written. In the item “wireless standard being provided”, information indicating the wireless standard being provided in the AP 30Aa, 30Ab,... Shown in the item “AP-ID”, for example, information such as “802.11g” is written.

  In the item “number of accommodated terminal devices”, a value indicating the maximum number of wireless terminal devices 50 that can be accommodated in the wireless communication service being provided is written. In the item “service provision area”, information indicating an area where the wireless communication service is provided, for example, information such as “area A” is written. In the “data rate” item, information indicating the communication speed of the wireless communication service being provided, for example, information such as “1 Mbps” is written. In the item of “guaranteed delay time”, a value indicating a delay time guaranteed in the wireless communication service being provided is written. As shown in FIG. 5, the initial state of the AP usage status information table 210 is a state in which no information or values are written in all items. When the wireless communication service is deployed, information corresponding to the deployment is displayed. Will be written.

  The AP performance information database 22 stores an AP performance information table 220 shown in FIG. The AP performance information table 220 includes “AP-ID”, “installation area”, “position information”, “hardware wireless processing unit ID”, “wireless standard”, “wireless communication providing area”, “data rate”, “ “Guaranteed delay time (number of accommodated terminal devices 100)”, “guaranteed delay time (number of accommodated terminal devices 200)”, and “guaranteed delay time (number of accommodated terminal devices 300)”.

  In the item “AP-ID”, IDs of APs 30Aa, 30Ab,..., For example, information such as “AP1” are written. In the “installation area” item, information indicating the area where the APs 30Aa, 30Ab,... Shown in the “AP-ID” item are installed, for example, information such as “area A” is written. In the “position information”, information indicating the positions where the APs 30Aa, 30Ab,... Are installed in the area indicated by the item “installation area”, for example, latitude and longitude information is written.

  The item “hardware wireless processing unit ID” includes the IDs of hardware wireless processing units 41Aa-1, 41Aa-2,... Included in the APs 30Aa, 30Ab,. Information such as “AP1-RF1” is written. The item “wireless standard” includes information indicating the wireless standard provided by each hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-1, 41Aa-2,... Of the AP 30Aa, 30Ab,. For example, information such as “802.11g” is written. In the “service provision area” item, information indicating an area in which the AP 30Aa, 30Ab,... Indicated in the “AP-ID” item provides a wireless communication service, for example, information such as “area A” is written. In the “data rate” item, information indicating the communication speed of each wireless communication service provided by the AP 30Aa, 30Ab,... Indicated in the “AP-ID” item, for example, information such as “1 Mbps” is written. .

  In the item “guaranteed delay time (number of accommodated terminal devices 100)”, 100 wireless terminal devices are provided for each wireless communication service provided by the APs 30Aa, 30Ab,... Shown in the “AP-ID” item. A value indicating a delay time guaranteed when 50 is connected is written. Similarly, each item of “guaranteed delay time (number of accommodated terminal devices 200)” and “guaranteed delay time (number of accommodated terminal devices 300)” includes APs 30Aa, 30Ab,... Indicated in the item “AP-ID”. A value indicating a guaranteed delay time when 200 wireless terminal devices 50 are connected to the wireless communication service provided by and when 300 wireless terminal devices 50 are connected is written.

  As the number of wireless terminal devices 50 to be accommodated increases, resources such as bandwidth are shared by more wireless terminal devices 50, so that the value of the guaranteed delay time also increases. Note that the initial state of the AP performance information table 220 is a state in which information and values are not written in all items, and once the AP performance information is collected by the information collection unit 15, the configuration of the AP 30 at each collection point The information corresponding to is written in the AP performance information table 220.

  For example, FIG. 6 shows AP30 whose AP-ID is AP1 and AP2. Here, for convenience of explanation, AP1 is AP30Aa and AP2 is AP30Ba. The AP 30Aa is shown to include two hardware radio processing units 41Aa-1 and 41Aa-2 called “AP1-RF1” and “AP1-RF2”. The hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-2 of “AP1-RF2” provides the wireless communication service of the wireless standard “802.11p” when the software wireless processing unit 45 reads the software program data from the storage unit 46. It is shown that it is possible. Furthermore, the wireless communication service of the wireless standard “802.11p” is shown to provide a wireless communication service with a data rate of 1 Mbps in two areas A and B.

  When the wireless communication service of the wireless standard “802.11p” provided by the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-2 of “AP1-RF2” is provided to the area A, the wireless terminal device 50 to be accommodated When the number is 100, the guaranteed delay time is 100 milliseconds (ms), and when the number of the wireless terminal devices 50 to be accommodated is 200, the guaranteed delay time is 200 milliseconds and is accommodated. It is shown that when the number of wireless terminal devices 50 is 300, the guaranteed delay time is 300 milliseconds.

  When the wireless communication service of the “802.11p” wireless standard provided by the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-2 of “AP1-RF2” is provided to the area B, the wireless terminal device 50 accommodated therein When the number is 100, the guaranteed delay time is 200 milliseconds, and when the number of the accommodated wireless terminal devices 50 is 200, the guaranteed delay time is 300 milliseconds, and the accommodated wireless terminal device It is shown that when the number of 50 is 300, the guaranteed delay time is 400 milliseconds.

  Further, the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-1 of “AP1-RF1” causes the software radio processing unit 45 to read software program data from the storage unit 46, thereby enabling “802.11g” and “802.15.4”. It is shown that it is possible to provide two wireless standard wireless communication services.

  In addition, when a wireless communication service of the “802.11p” wireless standard is provided in both area A and area B, the guaranteed delay is based on the total number of wireless terminal devices 50 accommodated in area A and area B. Time will be determined. That is, when 100 units are accommodated in area A, and 100 units are newly accommodated in area B, a total of 200 units are accommodated. Therefore, in area A, the guaranteed delay time is 200 milliseconds. In B, it is 300 milliseconds.

  The policy information database 23 stores a policy information table 230 shown in FIG. The policy information table 230 has items of “policy ID”, “selection flag”, and “policy content”. In the “policy ID” item, a policy ID given in advance for each policy, for example, information such as “policy A” is written. In the “selection flag” item, information indicating which “policy ID” item is selected, for example, “selected” is written to indicate that it is selected, and is not selected. “Not selected” is written.

  Since one of the policies is selected, when one policy is “selected”, the other policy is “non-selected”. In the “policy contents” item, an explanatory text indicating the policy of the AP 30 selection process performed in each policy by referring to the user of the AP management apparatus 10 later is written. The information of “policy ID” and “policy content” stored in the policy information table 230 is, for example, when an algorithm of a selection procedure based on a new policy is added by the operator of the AP management apparatus 10 in the selection unit 13. In response to the addition, a new policy ID is given in response to the operation of the operator, and information is added to the items “policy ID” and “policy content”.

  In FIG. 7, for example, information about two policies, policy A and policy B, is written, indicating that policy A is selected. As an explanation of the policy A, “importance of sharing the hardware radio processing unit of the AP being used between the radio communication services” is written, and as an explanation of the policy B, “the hardware radio of the AP for each radio communication service” The emphasis is on separation of processing units ”. These contents will be described together with the description of the selection process of the AP 30 by the policy A and the policy B.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the policy information acquisition unit 11 acquires a policy ID in response to an input operation from a wireless infrastructure operator, for example. Upon acquiring the policy ID, the policy information acquisition unit 11 rewrites the item “selection flag” corresponding to the acquired policy ID in the policy information table 230 of the policy information database 23 to “selected”, and “ Rewrite the item of “Selection flag” to “Non-selection”. Note that the policy information acquisition unit 11 and the operating device of the wireless infrastructure operator may be connected by a communication line. By doing in this way, the wireless infrastructure provider operates its own operating device to transmit the policy ID, and the policy information acquisition unit 11 can receive and acquire the policy ID through the communication line. As a result, the wireless infrastructure operator can rewrite the policy information table 230 remotely.

  The request information acquisition unit 12 receives an operation input from each operator of a plurality of service providers that provide a wireless communication service, and acquires request information of the wireless communication service requested by the service provider. The request information acquisition unit 12 outputs the acquired request information to the selection unit 13. The request information acquisition unit 12 may be connected to each of a plurality of service provider operation devices via a communication line. By doing so, the operator of each service provider operates each operating device to transmit the request information, and the request information acquisition unit 12 can receive and acquire the request information through the communication line. Thereby, the operator of each service provider can make a wireless communication service deployment request remotely.

  The selection unit 13 stores the request information output from the request information acquisition unit 12, the information stored in the AP usage status information table 210 of the AP usage status information database 21, and the AP performance information table 220 of the AP performance information database 22. Based on the stored information and the information stored in the policy information table 230 of the policy information database 23, the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Select.

  The request unit 14 generates a request signal based on the contents indicated in the request information for the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Of the AP 30 selected by the selection unit 13. Further, the request unit 14 transmits the generated request signal to the target AP 30 through the transmission / reception unit 16. When the request information acquisition unit 12 acquires new request information, the information collection unit 15 sends a collection request signal that causes the control unit 31 of the AP 30 to collect AP performance information and AP usage status information through the transmission / reception unit 16. Send. The transmission / reception unit 16 transmits / receives information to / from the transmission / reception unit 32 of the AP 30.

(Deployment process of wireless communication service in the first embodiment)
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a flow of a wireless communication service deployment process performed by the AP management system 1. Before the process shown in FIG. 8 is started, the policy information acquisition unit 11 of the AP management apparatus 10 acquires a policy ID in response to an operation input from the wireless infrastructure operator. Here, it is assumed that the wireless infrastructure operator has input the policy A. When the policy information acquisition unit 11 acquires the policy A ID, it rewrites the item “selection flag” in the record of “policy ID” “policy A” in the policy information table 230 of the policy information database 23 to “selected”. Rewrite “selection flag” of other records to “non-selection”. The request information acquisition unit 12 receives the operation input from the operator of any service provider and acquires the request information. The request information acquisition unit 12 outputs the acquired request information to the selection unit 13 (step S101).

  The request information has, for example, the data structure shown in FIG. 9 and includes “service provider ID”, “service provision area”, “wireless standard”, “number of service provision terminal devices”, “data rate”, “acceptable”. "Delay time" item is included. The item “service provider ID” includes information indicating the service provider of the request source. For example, information such as “provider a” and “provider b” which is an ID given in advance for each service provider is included. included. The item “service provision area” includes information indicating an area for requesting provision of a wireless communication service, for example, information such as “area A”. The item “wireless standard” includes information indicating the wireless standard of the wireless communication service requested to be provided, for example, information such as “802.11p”. The item “number of service providing terminal devices” includes a value indicating the number of wireless terminal devices 50 that request accommodation in the wireless communication service that requests provision. The item “data rate” includes a value indicating the communication speed of the wireless communication service for which provision is requested. The item of “allowable delay time” includes a value indicating the time from when the wireless terminal device 50 connected to the wireless communication service requesting provision is made communicable after making a communication start request to the wireless communication service. .

  That is, the request information shown in FIG. 9 indicates that the provider that requested the request information is a service provider called “provider a” and requests the provision of a wireless communication service in “area A”. Further, the wireless standard is “802.11p”, the communication speed is “1 Mbps”, the allowable delay time is “500 milliseconds”, and wireless communication capable of accommodating up to “100” wireless terminal devices 50 is possible. It is shown that they are requesting service.

  When the request information acquisition unit 12 acquires the request information, the information collection unit 15 transmits a collection request signal to all the APs 30Aa, 30Ab. The control units 31Aa, 31Ab,... Of all the APs 30Aa, 30Ab,... Collect AP usage status information and AP performance information from the respective radio processing units 40Aa, 40Ab,. The control units 31Aa, 31Ab,... Transmit the collected AP usage status information and AP performance information to the AP management apparatus 10 through the transmission / reception units 32Aa, 32Ab,. The information collection unit 15 of the AP management apparatus 10 writes and stores the AP usage status information received through the transmission / reception unit 16 in the AP usage status information table 210 of the AP usage status information database 21. Further, the information collecting unit 15 writes the received AP performance information in the AP performance information table 220 of the AP performance information database 22 and stores it (step S102).

  Upon receiving the request information output by the request information acquisition unit 12, the selection unit 13 refers to the policy information table 230 of the policy information database 23, and selects “policy ID” of the record whose “selection flag” is “selected”. "Is read out (step S103). The selection unit 13 calls a subroutine of the algorithm of the selection procedure corresponding to the read policy ID, and starts processing of the called subroutine (step S104). Here, it is assumed that the policy information table 230 is in the state shown in FIG. 7, and the selection unit 13 executes a subroutine of the algorithm of the policy A selection procedure.

(Deployment process of wireless communication service based on policy A)
With reference to FIGS. 10 to 15, a wireless communication service deployment process based on policy A will be described. After the processing of step S102 by the information collecting unit 15 is completed, the selection unit 13 stores information stored in the AP usage status information table 210 of the AP usage status information database 21 and the AP performance information table 220 of the AP performance information database 22. To the information stored in (step S201). Based on the information stored in the AP usage status information table 210, the selection unit 13 detects the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. Among the detected hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... In use, the selection unit 13 indicates the conditions indicated by the request information, that is, “service provision area”, “wireless standard”, “service provision terminal” It is determined whether or not there are hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfy the conditions indicated by the items “number of devices”, “data rate”, and “allowable delay time” (step S202). .

  When the selection unit 13 determines that the detected hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That are in use exist that satisfy the condition indicated by the request information (step S202—YES), The location information of the AP 30 including the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Satisfying the above is read from the item “location information” of the AP performance information table 220. The selection unit 13 selects the AP 30 closest to the area indicated in the item “service provision area” of the request information based on the read position information. As the reference point of the area when calculating the distance, for example, a center point of the area, a reference point predetermined for each area, or the like is applied. The selection unit 13 wirelessly transmits any one of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Satisfying the condition among the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. Select as a deployment target for the communication service.

  When there are a plurality of hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfy the condition in the closest AP 30, the selection unit 13 arbitrarily selects any one. Moreover, in step S202, when there is one hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfies the condition, it is not necessary to select the closest AP 30 based on the position information, and the selection unit 13 The one hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... Is selected as a deployment target for the radio communication service.

  The request unit 14 generates a request signal based on the request information and the hardware radio processing unit ID indicating the selected hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. The request unit 14 transmits the generated request signal through the transmission / reception unit 16 to the AP 30 including the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Selected by the selection unit 13. When the control unit 31 of the AP 30 receives the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 32, the control signal is sent to the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2, ... corresponding to the hardware radio processing unit ID included in the request signal. Accordingly, the wireless communication service is deployed (step S203), and the policy A subroutine is terminated.

  On the other hand, when the selection unit 13 determines that none of the detected hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... In use that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information exists (step S202—NO). , It is determined whether there is a combination that satisfies the requirements indicated by the request information by combining the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... In use (step S204). When the selection unit 13 generates the combination, the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2, 41-2, 41-2, 41-2, 41-2, 41-2, 41-2, 41- Select in order from ... to generate a combination. The combination of the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... May be a combination of a plurality of hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. The hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2, ... may be combined.

  When the selection unit 13 determines that there is a combination of hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... In use that satisfies the conditions indicated by the request information (step S204—YES), the hardware included in the combination All of the wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Are selected as deployment targets of the wireless communication service. The request unit 14 generates a request signal for each hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... Included in the combination selected by the selection unit 13. Since the allocation of resources for each of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Is required when the selection unit 13 generates a combination, the request unit 14 determines the resource information obtained by the selection unit 13. A request signal is generated according to the assignment.

  The request unit 14 sends the request signals for the generated hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Through the transmission / reception unit 16 to the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. It transmits with respect to each AP30 provided. When the control unit 31 of each AP 30 receives the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 32, the control unit 31 of each AP 30 sends to the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2, ... corresponding to the hardware radio processing unit ID included in the request signal, The wireless communication service is deployed according to the request information included in the request signal (step S205), and the policy A subroutine is terminated.

On the other hand, when the selection unit 13 determines that there is no combination of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... In use that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information (step S204—NO),
Based on the information stored in the AP usage status information table 210 and the information stored in the AP performance information table 220, the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. . The selection unit 13 determines whether there is a combination that satisfies the request information by combining the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That are being used and stopped (step S206). ).

  When the selection unit 13 generates the combination, the hardware radio processing units 41-1 and 41 in use are not used so that the combination of only the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. A combination is generated with priority given to -2,. In addition, when the selection unit 13 generates the combination, the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Provided in the AP 30 close to the area indicated in the “service provision area” item of the request information. Select in turn to generate a combination. The combination of the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... May be a combination of a plurality of hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. The hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2, ... may be combined.

  When the selection unit 13 determines that there is a combination of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That are being used and stopped that satisfy the condition indicated by the request information (step S206—YES), the selection unit 13 includes the combination. All of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. The request unit 14 generates a request signal for each hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... Included in the combination selected by the selection unit 13. Since the allocation of resources for each of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Is required when the selection unit 13 generates a combination, the request unit 14 determines the resource information obtained by the selection unit 13. A request signal is generated according to the assignment.

  The request unit 14 sends the request signals for the generated hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Through the transmission / reception unit 16 to the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. It transmits with respect to each AP30 provided. When the control unit 31 of each AP 30 receives the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 32, the control unit 31 of each AP 30 sends to the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2, ... corresponding to the hardware radio processing unit ID included in the request signal, A wireless communication service is deployed according to the request information included in the request signal. For the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That have been stopped, the control unit 31 outputs and activates the activation instruction signal, and after activation, wireless communication according to the request information included in the request signal. Service is deployed (step S207), and the policy A subroutine is terminated.

  On the other hand, when the selection unit 13 determines that there is no combination of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That are being used and stopped that satisfy the conditions indicated by the request information (NO in step S206). It is determined whether there is a hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfies the condition indicated by the request information among the stopped hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. (Step S208).

  When the selection unit 13 determines that there is a hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... That is stopped that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information (YES in step S208), the condition is satisfied. The position information of the AP 30 including the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Is read from the item “position information” in the AP performance information table 220. The selection unit 13 selects the AP 30 closest to the area indicated in the item “service provision area” of the request information based on the read position information. The selection unit 13 wirelessly transmits any one of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Satisfying the condition among the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. Select as a deployment target for the communication service.

  When there are a plurality of hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfy the condition in the closest AP 30, the selection unit 13 selects any one. In addition, when there is one hardware wireless processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfies the condition in step S206, it is not necessary to select the nearest AP 30 based on the position information. Selects the one hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... As a deployment target of the radio communication service.

  The request unit 14 generates a request signal based on the condition indicated by the request information and the hardware radio processing unit ID indicating the selected hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,. The request unit 14 transmits the generated request signal through the transmission / reception unit 16 to the AP 30 including the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Selected by the selection unit 13. When receiving the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 32, the control unit 31 of the AP 30 starts up the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Corresponding to the hardware radio processing unit ID included in the request signal. An instruction signal is output and activated. After the activation, the control unit 31 deploys the wireless communication service according to the request information included in the request signal (step S207), and ends the policy A subroutine.

  When the selection unit 13 determines that none of the stopped hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Satisfies the condition indicated by the request information (NO in step S208), the resource is insufficient. The information indicating that the wireless communication service requested by the request information could not be deployed is stored in the internal storage area, and the policy A subroutine is terminated (step S210). The internal storage area in which information indicating that the wireless communication service could not be deployed is stored in, for example, a new request output by the selection unit 13 from the request information acquisition unit 12 in step S101. When the information is received, the selection unit 13 initializes the information.

  Returning to FIG. 8, the selection unit 13 determines whether or not the wireless communication service requested by the request information has been deployed (step S105). When the information indicating that the wireless communication service requested by the request information cannot be deployed is stored in the internal storage area, the selection unit 13 determines that the deployment is not performed (step S105). -NO), information indicating that the deployment could not be performed is output to the request information acquisition unit 12. The request information acquisition unit 12 outputs information notified to the operator of the requesting service provider, for example, on the screen of the operating device operated by the operator (step S107), and ends the process.

  On the other hand, if the selection unit 13 determines that the wireless communication service requested by the request information has been deployed (step S105—YES), that is, the request unit 14 sends the request signal to the AP 30 in steps S203, S205, S207, and S209. In the case of transmitting to the wireless service AP information table 200, the deployment result is written in the information in the wireless service AP information database 200 (step S106), and the process is terminated.

  When the wireless communication service is newly started by performing the wireless communication service deployment process based on the policy A shown in FIG. 10, the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. Since resources are allocated, it is possible to perform switching with high facility utilization efficiency. On the other hand, when the AP 30 fails, the influence of the failure affects a plurality of wireless communication services, and problems such as congestion occurring in other wireless communication services are caused by the same hardware wireless processing unit 41-1, The wireless communication service using 41-2, ... may be affected.

(Deployment processing of wireless communication service based on policy A based on request information (1))
A specific example of the deployment process based on the policy A based on the request information (part 1) shown in FIG. 9 will be described below. It is assumed that no wireless communication service is provided in any AP 30. In step S <b> 101, when the operator of the service provider a performs an operation input, the request information acquisition unit 12 acquires the request information (part 1) illustrated in FIG. 9 and outputs the request information to the selection unit 13. The AP usage information table 210 after completion of the collection of AP usage information and AP performance information by the information collection unit 15 in step S102 remains in the initial state shown in FIG. Information shown in FIG. 6 is written.

  Since the policy information table 230 is in the state shown in FIG. 7, the selection unit 13 starts processing of the policy A subroutine. In the process of step S201, the selection unit 13 refers to the AP usage status information table 210. Since the AP usage status information table 210 does not indicate the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... In use, the selection unit 13 determines NO in step S202, step S204, and step S206. I do. In the process of step S208, the selection unit 13 records from the AP performance information table 220 that the item “AP-ID” is “AP1” and the item “hardware wireless processing unit ID” is “AP1-RF2”. The request information (part 1) is selected as being satisfied. That is, in the record, the wireless standard is “802.11p”, the “service provision area” includes “area A”, the “data rate” is “1 Mbps”, and the request information (its The conditions shown in 1) are satisfied. Further, when the number of “service providing terminal devices” requested by the request information (part 1) is 100, the “guaranteed delay time” is 100 milliseconds and is requested by the request information (part 1). The “allowable delay time” of 500 milliseconds is satisfied.

  In addition, the selection unit 13 also obtains request information from the AP performance information table 220 in which the “AP-ID” item is “AP2” and the “hardware wireless processing unit ID” item is “AP1-RF2”. Select as satisfying the condition of 1). That is, the wireless standard is “802.11p”, the “service provision area” includes “area A”, the “data rate” is “1 Mbps”, and the request information (part 1) ) Is satisfied. Further, when the “number of service providing terminal devices” requested by the request information (part 1) is 100, the “guaranteed delay time” is 200 milliseconds, and is requested by the request information (part 1). The “allowable delay time” of 500 milliseconds is satisfied.

  Here, for convenience of explanation, AP30 of AP1 is assumed to be AP30Aa, and AP30 of AP2 is assumed to be AP30Ba. Further, the AP1-RF2 hardware radio processing unit 41-1,... Of the AP1 is referred to as a hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2, and the AP1-RF2 hardware radio processing unit 41-1,. The wireless processing unit 41Ba-2 is assumed.

  The selection unit 13 sets the determination result of the determination process in step S208 to YES, and advances the process to step S209. The selection unit 13 refers to the item “location information” in the AP performance information table 220, and of the two records, the one closest to “area A” that is the “service provision area” of the request information (part 1) That is, the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 of the AP 30Aa is selected.

  The request unit 14 generates a request signal for the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 of the AP 30Aa selected by the selection unit 13 and transmits the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 16. The request signal includes information destined for the AP 30Aa and information for deploying the wireless communication service indicated by the request information (part 1) to the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-2.

  When receiving the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 32Aa, the control unit 31Aa of the AP 30Aa outputs an activation instruction signal to the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 that is stopped. The hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 is activated in response to the activation instruction signal. The control unit 31Aa outputs a start instruction signal for causing the software radio processing unit 45Aa to read and execute software program data of the wireless standard “802.11p” from the storage unit 46Aa. Upon receiving the start instruction signal, the software radio processing unit 45Aa reads the program data of the software with the radio standard “802.11p” from the storage unit 46Aa and starts execution. The wireless terminal device 50 is accommodated.

  By executing the program data, the software wireless processing unit 45Aa demodulates the signal output from the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-2 in accordance with the 802.11p wireless standard. The software defined radio processing unit 45Aa modulates a signal output to the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 in accordance with the 802.11p radio standard. In this way, the wireless communication service requested by the request information (part 1) is started.

  The selection unit 13 determines that deployment has been performed in step S <b> 105 of FIG. 8, and writes the deployment result in the wireless service AP information table 200 of the wireless service AP information database 20. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the wireless service AP information table 200 after the selection unit 13 has written the result of deployment. When the selection unit 13 writes the deployment result in the wireless service AP information table 200, the selection unit 13 assigns an ID, for example, an ID of “request information 1”, to the request information (part 1) to be deployed.

  The selection unit 13 generates the wireless service request information sub-table 201 illustrated in FIG. 11 and writes the information included in the request information (part 1) into the generated wireless service request information sub-table 201. Here, as shown in FIG. 11, “request information 1” which is an ID given to the request information (part 1) by the selection unit 13 is written in the item “request information ID”. In the item “service provider ID”, “provider a” included in the request information (part 1) is written, and in the item “service provision area”, “area A” is written, and “wireless standard” In the item, “802.11p” is written. Also, “100” is written in the “number of service providing terminals” item, “1 Mbps” is written in the “data rate” item, and “500 ms” is written in the “allowable delay time” item. Written.

  In the wireless service AP information table 200, the ID of “service 1” given by the selection unit 13 is written in the item “service ID”, and the selection unit 13 requests the item “wireless service request information”. An item “request information 1”, which is an ID assigned to the information (part 1), is written. By searching based on the ID of this “request information 1”, the information included in the request information (part 1) corresponding to “request information 1” can be detected from the wireless service request information sub-table 201. . In each item from “in-use AP-ID” to “guaranteed delay time”, information on the wireless communication service selected and deployed by the selection unit 13, that is, “AP1”, “AP1-RF2”, “ “802.11p”, “Area A”, “1 Mbps”, “100”, “100 ms” are written. The selection unit 13 writes “100 ms” for the last “guaranteed delay time” in the AP performance information table 220 in the AP1-RF2 802.11p wireless communication service, This is because the guarantee delay time is 100 milliseconds when the number of terminal devices accommodated in area A is 100.

(Deployment processing of wireless communication service based on policy A based on request information (part 2))
Following the deployment processing of the wireless communication service based on the policy A based on the above request information (part 1), the operator of the service provider b performs an operation input, and the request information acquisition unit 12 receives the request information (part 1) shown in FIG. 2) is acquired and output to the selection unit 13. The data configuration of the AP usage status information table 210 after the collection of AP usage information and AP performance information by the information collecting unit 15 in step S102 is as shown in FIG. Since the configuration of the AP 30 is not changed, the AP performance information table 220 stores the information shown in FIG. 6 without any change after the wireless communication service deployment process based on the policy A based on the request information (part 1).

  Since the policy information table 230 has not been changed from the state illustrated in FIG. 7, the selection unit 13 starts processing of the policy A subroutine. The AP usage status information table 210 stores a hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 whose “AP-ID” is “AP1” and “in-use hardware radio processing unit ID” is “AP1-RF2”. In the process of step S201, the selection unit 13 refers to the AP usage status information table 210. As shown in FIG. 12, the new request information (part 2) is that “service provision area” is “area B”, “wireless standard” is “802.11p”, and “data rate” is “1 Mbps”. Is.

  From the information stored in the AP performance information table 220, the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 of the AP-RF2 of the AP1 being used, among the conditions indicated by the request information (part 2), “service provision area”, Meets the requirements of “wireless standard” and “data rate”. However, since the condition of the number of 400 terminal devices indicated by the item “number of service providing terminal devices” cannot be satisfied, the selection unit 13 determines NO in the process of step S202. In addition, since the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-1 other than the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-1 is not in use, the selection unit 13 determines NO in the process of step S204.

  In the process of step S206, the selection unit 13 uses the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-1 being used and the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-41 being stopped that satisfy the condition indicated by the request information (part 2). It is determined whether or not a combination with 2,... Exists. The selection unit 13 refers to the AP performance information table 220 to detect the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. As the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Being stopped, the selection unit 13 has “AP-ID” “AP1” and “Hardware wireless processing unit ID” “AP1-RF1”. "AP-ID" is "AP2" and "Hardware Radio Processor ID" is "AP1-RF1", and "AP-ID" is "AP2" and "Hardware Radio Processor ID" ”Detects three hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,.

  Among the three, the wireless standard “802.11p” can be provided when “AP-ID” is “AP2” and “Hardware wireless processing unit ID” is “AP1-RF2”. is there. Here, for convenience of explanation, an AP 30 whose “AP-ID” is “AP2” is defined as an access point Ba. Further, the hardware radio processing units 41-1,... With “AP-ID” “AP2” and “hardware radio processing unit ID” “AP1-RF2” are defined as hardware radio processing units 41Ba-2.

  If 100 of the conditions indicated by the request information (part 2) are assigned to the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 in use, the total number of radio terminal devices 50 accommodated by the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 is , 200 units. From the AP performance information table 220, in the case of 200 units, the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-2 provides the guaranteed delay time of the wireless communication service provided to “area A” to 200 milliseconds, which is provided to “area B”. The guaranteed delay time of the wireless communication service is 300 milliseconds. These guaranteed delay times are 500 milliseconds, which is the allowable delay time requested by the service provider a shown in FIG. 9 in the request information (part 1), and requested by the service provider b shown in FIG. 12 in the request information (part 2). Both conditions of 300 milliseconds, which is an allowable delay time, are satisfied.

  In addition, when the remaining 300 units are assigned to accommodate the stopped hardware wireless processing unit 41Ba-2, the hardware wireless processing unit 41Ba-2 guarantees the delay of the wireless communication service provided to “area B”. The time is 300 milliseconds, which satisfies the condition of 300 milliseconds, which is an allowable delay time requested by the service provider b shown in FIG.

  Therefore, the selection unit 13 sets the determination result in step S206 to YES, and advances the process to step S207. The selection unit 13 selects a combination of the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 being used and the hardware radio processing unit 41Ba-2 being stopped as a combination satisfying the condition shown in the request information (part 2). The request unit 14 generates a request signal for the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 in use of the AP 30Aa selected by the selection unit 13 and transmits the request signal to the AP 30Aa through the transmission / reception unit 16. In the request signal, for the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-2 in use, in the wireless communication service of “802.11p” being executed, “area B” is used as a service providing area and 100 units are provided. Information indicating an instruction to accommodate the wireless terminal device 50 is included.

  In addition, the request unit 14 generates a request signal for the hardware radio processing unit 41Ba-2 in which the AP 30Ba selected by the selection unit 13 is stopped, and transmits the request signal to the AP 30Ba through the transmission / reception unit 16. In response to the request signal, the stopped hardware radio processing unit 41Ba-2 is activated, and the software radio processing unit 45Ba reads the program data of the software with the radio standard “802.11p” from the storage unit 46Ba and executes it. Information indicating an instruction to accommodate 300 wireless terminal devices 50 in “area B” is included.

  When the control unit 31Aa of the AP 30Aa receives the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 32Aa, the wireless communication service with the wireless standard “802.11p” already provided to the software wireless processing unit 45Aa is set to “Area B ”As a service provision area, a change instruction signal for accommodating 100 wireless terminal devices 50 is output. Upon receiving the change instruction signal, the software wireless processing unit 45Aa performs a process of accommodating 100 wireless terminal devices 50 using “area B” as a service providing area.

  When receiving the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 32Ba, the control unit 31Ba of the AP 30Ba outputs an activation instruction signal to the hardware radio processing unit 41Ba-2 that is stopped. The hardware radio processing unit 41Ba-2 is activated in response to the activation instruction signal. The control unit 31Ba outputs a start instruction signal for causing the software radio processing unit 45Ba to read and execute software program data of the wireless standard “802.11p” from the storage unit 46Ba. Upon receiving the start instruction signal, the software radio processing unit 45Ba reads the program data of the software whose radio standard is “802.11p” from the storage unit 46Ba, starts execution, and 300 “area B” is used as the service providing area. The wireless terminal device 50 is accommodated.

  The selection unit 13 determines in step S105 in FIG. 8 that the deployment has been performed, and writes the deployment result in the wireless service AP information table 200 of the wireless service AP information database 20. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the wireless service AP information table 200 after the selection unit 13 has written the result of deployment. As illustrated in FIG. 14, information according to the deployment performed by the selection unit 13 is stored in accordance with request information (part 2) from the service provider b. The item “guaranteed delay time” of “service 1” is rewritten from 100 milliseconds to 200 milliseconds because the number of accommodated wireless terminal devices 50 has increased by 100. Further, the selection unit 13 assigns an ID of “request information 2” to the request information (part 2), and “request information ID” is “request information 2” in the wireless service request information sub-table 201. Information included in the request information (part 2) is stored as a record.

  After the end of the wireless communication service deployment process based on the policy A based on the request information (part 2), the request information acquisition unit 12 acquires new request information, and the information collection unit 15 collects AP usage status information. To do. FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the AP usage status information table 210 after the information collecting unit 15 has written the collected AP usage status information into the AP usage status information database 21. As shown in FIG. 15, the information regarding the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-2 of “AP1-RF2” is that the wireless standard is “802.11p” in two service providing areas of area A and area B, and data Information indicating that a wireless communication service with a rate of “1 Mbps” is provided is stored. In the item “number of accommodated terminal devices”, 200 units, which is the total value of the number of wireless terminal devices 50 accommodated in area A and area B, are stored. In the item “guaranteed delay time”, guaranteed delay times for each service providing area, that is, 200 milliseconds and 300 milliseconds are stored.

  In addition, information regarding the hardware radio processing unit 41Ba-2 of “AP2-RF2” includes a wireless communication service in which the wireless standard is “802.11p” and the data rate is “1 Mbps” in the service providing area of area B. Information indicating that it is provided is stored. The item “number of accommodated terminal devices” stores 300, which is the number of accommodated wireless terminal devices 50. Further, 300 milliseconds is stored in the item “guaranteed delay time”.

(Deployment process of wireless communication service based on policy B)
With reference to FIG. 8 and FIG. 16 to FIG. Before the process shown in FIG. 8 is started, the policy information acquisition unit 11 of the AP management apparatus 10 acquires a policy ID in response to an operation input from the wireless infrastructure operator. Here, it is assumed that the wireless infrastructure operator has input the policy B. When the policy information acquisition unit 11 acquires the ID of policy B, it rewrites the item of “selection flag” in the record whose “policy ID” is “policy B” in the policy information table 230 of the policy information database 23 to “selected”. Rewrite “selection flag” of other records to “non-selection”. As a result, the policy information table 230 is in the state shown in FIG.

  The request information acquisition unit 12 acquires new request information, and the processes in steps S101 and S102 in FIG. 8 are performed. In step S103, when the selection unit 13 receives the request information output from the request information acquisition unit 12, the selection unit 13 refers to the policy information table 230 of the policy information database 23, and the record whose “selection flag” is “selected”. The “policy ID” item is read out. In step S104, the selection unit 13 calls a subroutine of a selection procedure algorithm corresponding to the read policy ID, and starts processing of the called subroutine. Here, since the policy information table 230 is in the state shown in FIG. 16, the selection unit 13 executes an algorithm subroutine of the policy B selection procedure.

  After the collection of the AP usage status information and the AP performance information by the information collection unit 15 is completed, the selection unit 13 stores the information stored in the AP usage status information table 210 of the AP usage status information database 21 and the AP performance information database 22. The information stored in the AP performance information table 220 is referred to (step S301). Based on the information stored in the AP usage status information table 210 and the information stored in the AP performance information table 220, the selection unit 13 stops the hardware radio processing units 41-1 and 41-2. , ... are detected. The selection unit 13 includes hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfy the conditions indicated by the request information among the stopped hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. Whether or not (step S302).

  When the selection unit 13 determines that there is a detected hardware wireless processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfies the condition indicated by the request information (YES in step S302), the condition is determined. The location information of the AP 30 including the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Satisfying the above is read from the item “location information” of the AP performance information table 220. The selection unit 13 selects the AP 30 closest to the area indicated in the item “service provision area” of the request information based on the read position information. The selection unit 13 wirelessly transmits any one of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Satisfying the condition among the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. Select as a deployment target for the communication service.

  When there are a plurality of hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfy the condition in the closest AP 30, the selection unit 13 selects any one. In step S302, when there is one hardware wireless processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfies the condition, it is not necessary to select the closest AP 30 based on the position information. Selects the one hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... As a deployment target of the radio communication service.

  The request unit 14 generates a request signal based on the condition indicated by the request information and the hardware radio processing unit ID indicating the selected hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,. The request unit 14 transmits the generated request signal through the transmission / reception unit 16 to the AP 30 including the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Selected by the selection unit 13. When receiving the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 32, the control unit 31 of the AP 30 starts up the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Corresponding to the hardware radio processing unit ID included in the request signal. An instruction signal is output and activated. After the activation, the control unit 31 deploys a wireless communication service according to the request information included in the request signal (step S303), and ends the policy B subroutine.

  On the other hand, when the selection unit 13 determines that none of the detected hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That has been stopped satisfies the condition indicated by the request information (step S302—NO). ), By combining the stopped hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,..., It is determined whether there is a combination that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information (step S304). When the selection unit 13 generates the combination, the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Provided in the AP 30 close to the area indicated in the “service provision area” item of the request information are sequentially installed. Select to generate a combination. The combination of the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... May be a combination of a plurality of hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. The hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2, ... may be combined.

  When the selection unit 13 determines that there is a combination of hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That are stopped that satisfy the condition indicated by the request information (step S304—YES), the hardware included in the combination All of the wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Are selected as deployment targets of the wireless communication service. The request unit 14 generates a request signal for each hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... Included in the combination selected by the selection unit 13. Since the allocation of resources for each of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Is required when the selection unit 13 generates a combination, the request unit 14 determines the resource information obtained by the selection unit 13. A request signal is generated according to the assignment.

  The request unit 14 sends the request signals for the generated hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Through the transmission / reception unit 16 to the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. It transmits with respect to each AP30 provided. When the control unit 31 of each AP 30 receives the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 32, the control unit 31 of the AP 30 responds to the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2, ... corresponding to the hardware radio processing unit ID included in the request signal. To output the start instruction signal. After the activation, the control unit 31 deploys a wireless communication service according to the request information included in the request signal (step S305), and ends the policy B subroutine.

  On the other hand, if the selection unit 13 determines that there is no combination of the stopped hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Satisfying the condition indicated by the request information (step S304—NO), the selection unit 13 Detects hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... In use based on information stored in the AP usage status information table 210. The selection unit 13 includes hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfy the conditions indicated by the request information among the detected hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. It is determined whether or not it exists (step S306).

  When the selection unit 13 determines that there is a detected hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfies the condition indicated by the request information (YES in step S306), the condition is determined. The location information of the AP 30 including the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Satisfying the above is read from the item “location information” of the AP performance information table 220. The selection unit 13 selects the AP 30 closest to the area indicated in the item “service provision area” of the request information based on the read position information. The selection unit 13 wirelessly transmits any one of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Satisfying the condition among the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. Select as a deployment target for the communication service.

  When there are a plurality of hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfy the condition in the closest AP 30, the selection unit 13 selects one of them. Further, in step S306, when there is one hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... That satisfies the condition, it is not necessary to select the closest AP 30 based on the position information, and the selection unit 13 Selects the one hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... As a deployment target of the radio communication service.

  The request unit 14 generates a request signal based on the request information and the hardware radio processing unit ID indicating the selected hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. The request unit 14 transmits the generated request signal through the transmission / reception unit 16 to the AP 30 including the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Selected by the selection unit 13. When the control unit 31 of the AP 30 receives the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 32, the control signal is sent to the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2, ... corresponding to the hardware radio processing unit ID included in the request signal. The wireless communication service is deployed in accordance with the request information included in (Step S307), and the policy B subroutine is terminated.

  On the other hand, when the selection unit 13 determines that none of the detected hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... In use that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information exists (step S306—NO). The selecting unit 13 determines whether there is a combination that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information by combining the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. S308). When the selection unit 13 generates the combination, the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Provided in the AP 30 close to the area indicated in the “service provision area” item of the request information are sequentially installed. Select to generate a combination. The combination of the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... May be a combination of a plurality of hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. The hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2, ... may be combined.

  When the selection unit 13 determines that there is a combination of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That are being used and stopped that satisfy the condition indicated by the request information (step S308—YES), the selection unit 13 includes the combination. All of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,. The request unit 14 generates a request signal for each hardware radio processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... Included in the combination selected by the selection unit 13. Since the allocation of resources for each of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Is required when the selection unit 13 generates a combination, the request unit 14 determines the resource information obtained by the selection unit 13. A request signal is generated according to the assignment.

  The request unit 14 transmits the generated switching request signal for each hardware wireless processing unit 41-1, 41-2,... Through the transmission / reception unit 16, and includes the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. To each AP 30 comprising When the control unit 31 of each AP 30 receives the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 32, the control unit 31 of each AP 30 sends to the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2, ... corresponding to the hardware radio processing unit ID included in the request signal, A wireless communication service is deployed according to the request information included in the request signal. For the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That are stopped, the control unit 31 outputs a start instruction signal to start up. After the activation, the control unit 31 deploys a wireless communication service according to the request information included in the request signal (step S309), and ends the policy B subroutine.

  On the other hand, when the selection unit 13 determines that there is no combination of the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That are being used and stopped that satisfy the condition indicated by the request information (NO in step S308). Information indicating that the wireless communication service requested by the request information could not be deployed due to lack of resources is stored in the internal storage area, and the policy B subroutine is terminated (step S310).

  Returning to FIG. 8, the selection unit 13 determines whether the wireless communication service requested by the request information has been switched (step S105). When the information indicating that the wireless communication service requested by the request information cannot be deployed is stored in the internal storage area, the selection unit 13 determines that the deployment is not performed (step S105). -NO), information indicating that the deployment could not be performed is output to the request information acquisition unit 12. The request information acquisition unit 12 outputs information notified to the operator of the requesting service provider, for example, on the screen of the operating device operated by the operator (step S107), and ends the process.

  On the other hand, if the selection unit 13 determines that the wireless communication service requested by the request information has been deployed (step S105-YES), that is, the wireless communication service is deployed in steps S303, S305, S307, and S309. If there is, the result of deployment is written in information in the wireless service AP information table 200 of the wireless service AP information database 20 (step S106), and the process is terminated.

  When the wireless communication service is newly started by performing the wireless communication service deployment process based on the policy B shown in FIG. 17, the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. Allocate resources. For this reason, empty resources are easily generated in the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... In use, so that the facility utilization efficiency is lower than that in the policy A. On the other hand, due to the deployment processing by policy B, each of the wireless communication services is often deployed to different hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. Therefore, a problem in a certain wireless communication service, for example, a failure problem such as failure or congestion occurring in the wireless communication service is reduced from affecting other wireless communication services.

(Deployment processing of wireless communication service based on policy B based on request information (part 3))
After the deployment process of the wireless communication service based on the policy A based on the above request information (part 1) and before the process shown in FIG. 8 is started, the operation of the AP management apparatus 10 The policy information acquisition unit 11 acquires the ID of policy B. When the policy information acquisition unit 11 acquires the ID of policy B, it rewrites the item of “selection flag” in the record whose “policy ID” is “policy B” in the policy information table 230 of the policy information database 23 to “selected”. Rewrite “selection flag” of other records to “non-selection”. As a result, the policy information table 230 is in the state shown in FIG.

  It is assumed that the operator of the service provider b performs an operation input, and the request information acquisition unit 12 acquires the request information (part 3) illustrated in FIG. The data configuration of the AP usage status information table 210 after the collection of AP usage information and AP performance information by the information collecting unit 15 in step S102 is as shown in FIG. Since the configuration of the AP 30 is not changed, the AP performance information table 220 stores the information shown in FIG. 6 without any change after the wireless communication service deployment process based on the policy A based on the request information (part 1).

  The selection unit 13 refers to the policy information table 230 in the state illustrated in FIG. 16 and starts processing of the policy B subroutine. The AP usage status information table 210 stores a hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 whose “AP-ID” is “AP1” and “in-use hardware radio processing unit ID” is “AP1-RF2”. In the process of step S301, the selection unit 13 determines that the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That are stopped from the information stored in the AP usage status information table 210 and the AP performance information table 220. Is detected.

  As the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Being stopped from the AP performance information table 220, the selection unit 13 has “AP-ID” “AP1” and “hardware wireless processing unit ID”. “AP1-RF1”, “AP-ID” is “AP2”, “Hardware wireless processing unit ID” is “AP1-RF1”, “AP-ID” is “AP2”, “ The hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That are stopped with the hardware radio processing unit ID “AP1-RF2” are detected.

  Of the three conditions indicated by the request information (part 3), the wireless standard “802.11p” can be satisfied because “AP-ID” is “AP2” and “hardware wireless processing” “Part ID” is “AP1-RF2”. Here, for convenience of explanation, an AP 30 whose “AP-ID” is “AP 2” is referred to as AP 30Ba. Further, the hardware radio processing units 41-1,... With “AP-ID” “AP2” and “hardware radio processing unit ID” “AP1-RF2” are defined as hardware radio processing units 41Ba-2.

  The hardware radio processing unit 41Ba-2 can satisfy the area B of the “service provision area” condition indicated by the request information (part 3), and can also satisfy 1 Mbps of the condition of “data rate”. In addition, the hardware wireless processing unit 41Ba-2, when 300 wireless terminal devices 50 requested by the service provider b are accommodated in the area B according to the wireless standard of 801.11p, the request information (part 3) indicates “ The condition that “allowable delay time” is 300 milliseconds can also be satisfied.

  Therefore, the selection unit 13 sets the determination result in step S302 to YES, and advances the process to step S303. The selection unit 13 selects the stopped hardware radio processing unit 41Ba-2 included in the AP 30Ba as satisfying the condition shown in the request information (part 3). The request unit 14 generates a request signal for the stopped hardware radio processing unit 41Ba-2 selected by the selection unit 13, and transmits the request signal to the AP 30Ba through the transmission / reception unit 16. In response to the request signal, the stopped hardware radio processing unit 41Ba-2 is activated, and the software radio processing unit 45Ba reads the program data of the software with the radio standard “802.11p” from the storage unit 46Ba and executes it. Information indicating an instruction to accommodate 300 wireless terminal devices 50 in “area B” is included.

  When receiving the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 32Ba, the control unit 31Ba of the AP 30Ba outputs an activation instruction signal to the hardware radio processing unit 41Ba-2 that is stopped. The hardware radio processing unit 41Ba-2 is activated in response to the activation instruction signal. The control unit 31Ba outputs a start instruction signal for causing the software radio processing unit 45Ba to read and execute software program data of the wireless standard “802.11p” from the storage unit 46Ba. Upon receiving the start instruction signal, the software radio processing unit 45Ba reads the program data of the software whose radio standard is “802.11p” from the storage unit 46Ba, starts execution, and 300 “area B” is used as the service providing area. The wireless terminal device 50 is accommodated.

  The selection unit 13 determines that the deployment has been performed in step S <b> 105 of FIG. 8, and writes the deployment result in the wireless service AP information table 200 of the wireless service AP information database 20. FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the wireless service AP information table 200 after the selection unit 13 has written the result of deployment. As illustrated in FIG. 19, information according to the deployment performed by the selection unit 13 is stored in accordance with request information (part 3) from the service provider b. Further, the selection unit 13 assigns the ID of “request information 2” to the request information (part 3), and the request information ID is “request information 2” in the wireless service request information sub-table 201. Information included in the request information (part 3) is stored as a record.

  After the end of the wireless communication service deployment process based on the policy B based on the request information (part 3), the request information acquisition unit 12 acquires new request information, and the information collection unit 15 collects AP usage information. To do. FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the AP usage status information table 210 after the AP usage status information collected by the information collecting unit 15 is written in the AP usage status information database 21. As shown in FIG. 20, the information regarding the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 of the AP 30Aa remains the information shown in FIG. 13 before the deployment process. The information related to the hardware wireless processing unit 41Ba-2 of the AP 30Ba includes 300 wireless terminal devices 50. The wireless standard is “802.11p” and the data rate is “1 Mbps” in the service providing area of the area B. ”Is stored, which indicates that the wireless communication service is provided with a guaranteed delay time of 300 milliseconds.

  With the configuration of the first embodiment described above, in the AP management apparatus 10, the request information acquisition unit 12 acquires request information. The information collecting unit 15 collects AP performance information and AP usage status information from the AP 30. The selection unit 13 selects an AP 30 that satisfies the conditions indicated by the request information based on the AP performance information and the AP usage status information. The request unit 14 transmits a request signal for deploying a wireless communication service according to the request information to the AP 30 selected by the selection unit 13. The AP 30 receives the request signal and causes the wireless processing unit 40 to provide a wireless communication service based on the received request signal. Thus, each time the AP management apparatus 10 performs the wireless communication service deployment process, the AP management information and the AP usage status information are collected, and each AP 30 is based on the collected AP performance information and the AP usage status information. It is possible to deploy a wireless communication service after detecting the latest state. Therefore, it is possible to provide services of many types of wireless standards dynamically and appropriately according to demands and facilitate management.

  For example, when the wireless communication service is deployed at intervals of time, the AP 30 may autonomously stop the wireless communication service based on a timer or the like that is a timing unit provided inside. In addition, the AP management apparatus 10 may deploy a wireless communication service provided by the AP 30 based on a timing unit provided inside. For this reason, the resource usage and availability of the AP 30 change from moment to moment. Even in such a case, in the AP management system 1 in the first embodiment, the AP management apparatus 10 obtains the latest AP performance information and AP usage status information before performing the wireless communication service deployment process. In order to collect, appropriate wireless communication services can always be deployed.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 21 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the AP management apparatus 10a according to the second embodiment of the present invention and a relationship between information transmitted and received by the AP management apparatus 10a with the outside. In the AP management apparatus 10a, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and different configurations will be described below. The AP management apparatus 10a includes a policy information acquisition unit 11, a request information acquisition unit 12a, a selection unit 13a, a request unit 14, an information collection unit 15, a transmission / reception unit 16, a wireless service AP information database 20, an AP usage status information database 21, an AP A performance information database 22 and a policy information database 23 are provided.

  The request information acquisition unit 12a receives an operation input from each operator of a plurality of service providers that provide a wireless communication service, and acquires request information of the wireless communication service requested by the service provider. The request information in the second embodiment includes, for example, items “service provider ID”, “service provision area”, “number of service provision terminals”, “data rate”, and “allowable delay time” as shown in FIG. Unlike the request information of the first embodiment, the item “wireless standard” is not included.

  The request information acquisition unit 12a outputs the acquired request information to the selection unit 13a. Similar to the request information acquisition unit 12 of the first embodiment, the request information acquisition unit 12a may be connected to a plurality of service provider operation devices via communication lines. By doing so, the operator of each service provider operates each operating device to transmit the request information, and the request information acquisition unit 12a can receive and acquire the request information through the communication line. As a result, the operator of each service provider can remotely request the deployment of the wireless communication service.

  The selection unit 13a stores the request information output by the request information acquisition unit 12a, the information stored in the AP usage status information table 210 of the AP usage status information database 21, and the AP performance information table 220 of the AP performance information database 22. Based on the stored information and the information stored in the policy information table 230 of the policy information database 23, the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Select. The configuration different from the selection unit 13 of the first embodiment is that the request information includes “wireless standard” in the determinations of steps S202, S204, S206, and S208 of FIG. Since the item is not included, it is a point to determine whether or not the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,... Satisfy the conditions indicated in the request information without considering the wireless standard.

(Radio communication service deployment processing in the second embodiment)
It is assumed that no wireless communication service is provided in any AP 30. In addition, it is assumed that the policy information acquisition unit 11 has already received the operation input from the wireless infrastructure operator and the policy A has been selected. In step S101, the operator of the service provider a performs an operation input, and the request information acquisition unit 12a acquires the request information (part 4) illustrated in FIG. 22 and outputs the request information to the selection unit 13a. The AP usage information table 210 after completion of the collection of AP usage information and AP performance information by the information collection unit 15 in step S102 remains in the initial state shown in FIG. Information shown in FIG. 6 is written.

  Since the policy A shown in FIG. 7 is in the “selected” state in the policy information table 230, the selection unit 13a starts the processing of the policy A subroutine. In the process of step S201, the selection unit 13a refers to the AP usage status information table 210. Since the AP usage status information table 210 does not indicate the hardware radio processing units 41-1, 41-2,... That are being used, the selection unit 13a is also NO in step S202, step S204, and step S206. Make a decision.

  In the process of step S208, the selection unit 13a detects the following three records from the AP performance information table 220 because the wireless standard is not considered. That is, when the item of “AP-ID” is “AP1”, the wireless standard is “802.11g” and the “hardware wireless processing unit” of the “hardware wireless processing unit ID” is “AP1-RF1”. There are two records in which the item “ID” is “AP1-RF2” and the wireless standard is “802.11p”. These two records satisfy the conditions indicated by the items “service providing area”, “number of service providing terminal devices”, “data rate”, and “allowable delay time”.

  In addition, when the item “AP-ID” is “AP2”, the wireless standard is “802.11p” in which the item “hardware wireless processing unit ID” is “AP1-RF2”. This record also satisfies the conditions indicated by the items “service providing area”, “number of service providing terminal devices”, “data rate”, and “allowable delay time”.

  Here, for convenience of explanation, the AP 30 whose “AP-ID” item is “AP 1” is AP 30 Aa, and the AP 30 of “AP 2” is AP 30 Ba. Further, the hardware radio processing unit 41-1,... Whose "AP-ID" item is "AP1" and the "hardware radio processing unit ID" item is "AP1-RF1" The hardware wireless processing unit 41-1,... With the item “hardware wireless processing unit ID” being “AP1-RF2” is referred to as a hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-2. Further, the hardware radio processing unit 41-1,... Whose “AP-ID” item is “AP2” and the “hardware radio processing unit ID” item is “AP1-RF2” is processed as hardware radio processing. Let it be part 41Ba-2.

  Since the three hardware radio processing units 41Aa-1, 41Aa-2, and 41Ba-2 satisfy the condition indicated by the request information (part 4), the selection unit 13a determines YES in the determination in step S208. Then, the process proceeds to step S209. The selection unit 13a selects, from among the three records, the one closest to the “area A” that is the “service providing area” of the request information (part 4). Since the hardware wireless processing unit 41Ba-2 is installed in the area B, the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-1 and the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-2 installed in the area A are the most in “area A”. Selected as the closest.

  Which of the two hardware radio processing units 41Aa-1 and 41Aa-2 is selected is arbitrarily determined. Here, for example, the "802.11g" radio standard having a higher "data rate" is used. It is assumed that the selection unit 13a selects the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-1 that can provide the wireless communication service.

  The request unit 14 generates a request signal for the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-1 of the AP 30Aa selected by the selection unit 13 and transmits the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 16. The request signal includes information destined for the AP 30Aa and information that causes the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-1 to deploy the wireless communication service indicated by the request information (part 4).

  When receiving the request signal through the transmission / reception unit 32Aa, the control unit 31Aa of the AP 30Aa outputs an activation instruction signal to the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-1 that is stopped. The hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-1 is activated in response to the activation instruction signal. The control unit 31Aa outputs a start instruction signal for causing the software radio processing unit 45Aa to read and execute software program data of the wireless standard “802.11g” from the storage unit 46Aa. Upon receiving the start instruction signal, the software radio processing unit 45Aa reads out the program data of the software with the radio standard “802.11g” from the storage unit 46Aa and starts execution, and the “Area A” serves as a service providing area. The wireless terminal device 50 is accommodated.

  By executing the program data, the software wireless processing unit 45Aa demodulates the signal output from the hardware wireless processing unit 41Aa-2 in accordance with the 802.11g wireless standard. The software defined radio processing unit 45Aa modulates the signal output to the hardware radio processing unit 41Aa-2 in accordance with the 802.11g radio standard. In this way, the wireless communication service requested by the request information (part 4) is started.

  The selection unit 13a determines that the deployment has been performed in step S105 in FIG. 8 and writes the deployment result in the wireless service AP information table 200 of the wireless service AP information database 20 in the information. FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the wireless service AP information table 200 after the selection unit 13a has written the deployment result. As shown in FIG. 23, information according to the deployment performed by the selection unit 13a is stored in accordance with request information (part 4) from the service provider a. In the wireless service request information sub-table 201, information included in request information (part 4) from the service provider a is written.

  With the configuration of the second embodiment described above, in the AP management apparatus 10, the request information acquisition unit 12 acquires request information. Since no wireless standard is specified in the request information, the selection unit 13 increases the number of APs 30 that satisfy the condition indicated by the request information based on the AP performance information and the AP usage status information. For example, an AP 30 that provides a wireless communication service with higher communication quality can be selected from the candidates. As a result, many types of wireless standard services can be provided dynamically and appropriately as required, and management can be facilitated.

  In the first and second embodiments, the AP performance information table 220 includes an “AP-ID” that identifies the AP 30, an “installation area” and “location information” that indicate the position of the AP 30, and the AP 30. It has an item of “hardware wireless processing unit ID” for identifying the hardware wireless processing units 41-1, 41-2,. In addition to these items, the AP performance information table 220 includes a “wireless standard” indicating a wireless standard of a wireless communication service to be provided, a “service providing area” indicating a service area of the wireless communication service to be provided, and a provision “Data rate” indicating the quality of the wireless communication service to be performed, and “guaranteed delay time” for each number of accommodated terminal devices. However, the configuration of the present invention is not limited to the embodiment. For example, items indicating the quality of the wireless communication service to be provided include items other than “data rate” and “guaranteed delay time”, such as the corresponding frequency. It may contain items. The request information may also include other wireless communication service quality items other than “data rate” and “allowable delay time”, which are wireless communication service quality items.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, if there are a plurality of closest APs 30 in steps S202 and S208 of FIG. 10 and S302 and S306 of FIG. 17, it is optional to select one of them. In the second embodiment, the higher “data rate” is selected as an example, but it may be selected based on a criterion other than “data rate”.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, in the AP performance information table 220 illustrated in FIG. 6, the guaranteed delay time item includes 100, 200, and 300 wireless terminal devices 50 to be accommodated. However, it may be composed of a larger number of items.

  Moreover, in said 1st and 2nd embodiment, although AP30 was described as a structure provided with the radio | wireless process part 40 corresponding to SDR, the structure of this invention is not restricted to the said embodiment. . The AP 30 may be an access point that does not support SDR, for example, an access point including a radio processing unit having a high frequency unit, a converter, and a digital signal processing unit for each radio standard as shown in FIG. APs and APs 30 may be mixed in the AP management system 1.

  You may make it implement | achieve AP management apparatus 10 and 10a and AP30,30Aa, 30Ab, 30Ba, 30Bb in embodiment mentioned above with a computer. In that case, a program for realizing this function may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on this recording medium may be read into a computer system and executed. Here, the “computer system” includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a storage device such as a flexible medium, a magneto-optical disk, a portable medium such as a ROM and a CD-ROM, and a hard disk incorporated in a computer system. Furthermore, the “computer-readable recording medium” dynamically holds a program for a short time like a communication line when transmitting a program via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In this case, a volatile memory inside a computer system serving as a server or a client in that case may be included and a program held for a certain period of time. Further, the program may be a program for realizing a part of the above-described functions, and may be a program capable of realizing the functions described above in combination with a program already recorded in a computer system. You may implement | achieve using programmable logic devices, such as FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes designs and the like that do not depart from the gist of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... AP management system, 10 ... AP management apparatus, 11 ... Policy information acquisition part, 12 ... Request information acquisition part, 13 ... Selection part, 14 ... Request part, 15 ... Information collection part, 16 ... Transmission / reception part, 20 ... Wireless Service AP information database, 21... AP usage status information database, 22... AP performance information database, 23. Wireless processing unit, 42-1, 42-2 ... antenna, 41-1, 41-2 ... hardware wireless processing unit, 45 ... software wireless processing unit, 46 ... storage unit, 50 ... wireless terminal device

Claims (8)

An access point management system comprising a plurality of access points capable of providing wireless communication services according to a plurality of wireless standards to a wireless terminal device, and an access point management device that manages the plurality of access points,
The access point management device
A request information obtaining unit for obtaining request information for requesting provision of the wireless service;
An information collection unit for collecting performance information indicating the performance of the access point and usage status information indicating the usage status;
A selection unit that selects the access point that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information based on the performance information and the usage status information;
A request unit that transmits a request signal for deploying the wireless communication service according to the request information to the access point selected by the selection unit;
With
The access point is
A control unit that receives the request signal and outputs an instruction signal according to the request signal;
A wireless processing unit that provides the wireless communication service based on the instruction signal;
An access point management system comprising: The wireless processing unit of the access point is
A storage unit for storing program data for each wireless standard;
A hardware radio processing unit that is connected to the antenna and is in a stopped state, and that is activated in response to an activation instruction signal from the control unit; and
When the instruction signal that is connected to the hardware wireless processing unit and includes information indicating the wireless standard of the wireless communication service from the control unit is a start instruction signal, the program data corresponding to the wireless standard is stored from the storage unit. A software radio processing unit that reads and starts providing the wireless communication service, and changes the content of the provision of the wireless communication service of the wireless standard that is already provided when the instruction signal is a change instruction signal; The access point management system according to claim 1, comprising:   When selecting the access point that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information, the selection unit satisfies the condition indicated by the request information when one of the access points cannot satisfy the condition indicated by the request information. The access point management system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of the access points are selected. The selection unit includes:
4. The access point according to claim 1, wherein the access point satisfying a condition indicated by the request information is selected based on the performance information, the usage status information, and information indicating a policy for selecting the access point determined in advance. The access point management system according to any one of the above.   The predetermined information indicating the access point selection policy is a condition indicated by the request information in preference to the access point that already provides the wireless communication service when the request information is newly acquired. The access point that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information is selected with priority given to the access point that does not provide the wireless communication service when the request information is newly acquired. The access point management system according to claim 4, which is information indicating whether to select. The performance information includes at least information indicating the wireless standard of the wireless communication service to be provided, information indicating an area where the wireless communication service is provided, and information indicating communication quality of the wireless communication service,
The access point management system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the request information includes at least information indicating an area in which the wireless communication service is provided and information indicating communication quality of the wireless communication service. . An access point management method for managing a plurality of access points capable of providing a wireless terminal device with wireless communication services based on a plurality of wireless standards,
Obtaining request information for requesting provision of the wireless service;
Collecting performance information indicating the performance of the access point and usage status information indicating the usage status;
Based on the collected performance information and usage status information, select the access point that satisfies the conditions indicated by the acquired request information,
An access point management method for transmitting a request signal for deploying the wireless communication service according to the request information to the selected access point. An access point management device that manages a plurality of access points capable of providing a wireless terminal device with wireless communication services based on a plurality of wireless standards,
A request information obtaining unit for obtaining request information for requesting provision of the wireless service;
An information collection unit for collecting performance information indicating the performance of the access point and usage status information indicating the usage status;
A selection unit that selects the access point that satisfies the condition indicated by the request information based on the performance information and the usage status information;
A request unit that transmits a request signal for deploying the wireless communication service according to the request information to the access point selected by the selection unit;
An access point management device comprising:

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