JP2955287B1 - Communication service quality control method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A communication service quality control method and apparatus capable of satisfying a user's request and quickly performing QoS adjustment is provided. SOLUTION: A QoS management unit 21 of a stream agent SA generated for each stream communicates using a stream when a current resource amount determined based on the QoS of the stream is outside a predetermined normal range. By comparing the priority indicating the priority at the time with the threshold value stored in the shared data memory 14, which is a reference value for determining whether or not to adjust the QoS of the stream, the QoS for each stream is compared. And updates the threshold based on the priorities of all communication streams including the stream whose QoS has been adjusted to update the shared data memory 1
4 is stored.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication service quality control method and apparatus for controlling communication service quality (hereinafter, referred to as QoS) between a plurality of terminal devices connected via a network, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Prior art document 1 "Kiyohisa Kawachiya," A Framework for Dynamic QoS Control of Multimedia Processing ", IEICE Transactions, BI, Vol. J80-BI, N
o.6, pp.465-471, June 1997 ”, a QoS manager (hereinafter referred to as a first conventional example) uses a QoS manager based on a QoS factor notified from a plurality of continuous media sessions. Allocating and reserving resources for them, and issuing a “QoS ticket” with the information written therein.
The required amount of resources for each continuous media session is notified to the QoS manager through the S-factor. Also,
Each continuous media session includes a QoS issued by the QoS manager for each continuous media session.
The QoS is dynamically adjusted so that the processing is performed within the resource limit described in the ticket, and the processing content of each continuous media session is adapted. The operating system guarantees and monitors resource usage. In the first conventional example, the operating system, the QoS manager, and each continuous media session perform QoS control in cooperation with each other through the QoS ticket in this manner, so that the CPU resource allocation and the dynamic QoS for a plurality of continuous media processes are performed. Control is possible.

Also, prior art document 2 "Kiyuhisa Kawachiya et al.," Multimedia technology in MKng project: Proposal of resource negotiation method for dynamic QoS control ", Proc. Of the 55th Annual Convention of IPSJ, 2Z- 4, 1997 9
A resource management model using a “resource ticket” described in “Month” (hereinafter referred to as a second conventional example) is an improved model of the first conventional example. In the second conventional example, each application includes, in a resource ticket, which is a unified abstraction (abstract idea) for each application to make a request for a system resource and to obtain information such as the amount of available resources, the respective application includes Is registered as a “resource request table” and transmitted to the resource allocator. The resource allocator determines the resource allocation to each application based on the resource request table of the resource ticket of each application so that as many applications as possible can be satisfied, makes a reservation, and writes the resource allocation information to each resource ticket. .
Each application performs processing according to the specified QoS type, and calibrates the resource request table based on information on the amount of resources actually consumed. In the second conventional example, dynamic QoS control can be performed without depending on the environment by such a resource management method.

[0004]

However, the first and the second
In the conventional example, the QoS for each resource module is
Distribution is managed centrally. When the amount of used resources changes, the QoS is redistributed intensively. Therefore, when the number of modules to be distributed increases, the load becomes extremely large, and the distribution process requires much time. . In the first conventional example, a QoS manager (QoS Manager
r), in the second conventional example, the resource allocator (Resource Al
locator) corresponds to this. Since the QoS adjustment of each module is performed based on the distribution result, there is a problem that the QoS adjustment cannot be performed quickly.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a communication service quality control method and apparatus capable of satisfying a user's request and quickly adjusting QoS.

[0006]

A communication service quality control method according to claim 1 of the present invention provides a communication service quality control method for performing communication using a communication stream between a plurality of terminal devices connected via a network. In the communication service quality control method for a terminal device for controlling the quality of communication, when the resource amount for communication determined based on the communication service quality of the communication stream is outside a predetermined normal range, communication using the communication stream is performed. By comparing the priority indicating the priority when performing the communication service with a threshold value that is a reference value for determining whether to adjust the quality of the communication service of the communication stream, Adjusting the quality and the priority based on the priority of all communication streams including the communication stream having adjusted the quality of the communication service. Characterized in that it comprises the step of updating the have value.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the communication service quality control method, the step of adjusting the quality of the communication service includes the step of: When the value exceeds the value, the quality of the communication service is adjusted so as to reduce the amount of resources of the communication stream having a priority smaller than the threshold, and when the amount of resources falls below a lower limit of a predetermined normal range, The quality of communication service is adjusted so as to increase the resource amount of a communication stream having a priority higher than a threshold.

Further, the communication service quality control method according to claim 3 is the communication service quality control method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the threshold value is an average value of the priorities of all communication streams. It is characterized by.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication service quality control apparatus for controlling the quality of a communication service when performing communication using a communication stream between a plurality of terminal devices connected via a network. In the communication service quality control device including the control means, when the resource amount for communication determined based on the communication service quality of the communication stream is out of a predetermined normal range, the communication service using the communication stream Priority, which indicates priority,
Adjusting means for adjusting the quality of communication service for each communication stream by comparing a threshold value which is a reference value for determining whether or not to adjust the quality of communication service of the communication stream; Updating means for updating the threshold value based on the priorities of all communication streams including communication streams whose communication service quality has been adjusted.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the communication service quality control apparatus according to the fourth aspect, when the resource amount exceeds an upper limit of a predetermined normal range, The quality of the communication service is adjusted so as to reduce the amount of resources of a communication stream having a priority smaller than the threshold, and when the amount of resources falls below a lower limit of a predetermined normal range, a priority larger than the threshold value The quality of communication service is adjusted so as to increase the amount of resources of a communication stream having a certain degree.

Further, the communication service quality control device according to claim 6 is the communication service quality control device according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the threshold value is an average value of the priorities of all communication streams. It is characterized by.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a terminal device A having a communication service quality (QoS) adjustment function according to an embodiment of the present invention.
1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication system including a communication system and a communication system; In FIG. 1, a terminal device A has a communication service quality (QoS) adjustment function, and a personal computer A
1 and a modem (modulator / demodulator) A2. Here, the personal computer A1 is connected to the terminal device B via a modem A2 and a network NE such as a telephone line, an ISDN line, and the Internet. The terminal device B, like the terminal device A, includes a personal computer B1 and a modem B2.

When handling multimedia streams, Q
It is desirable that the oS adjustment be performed instantaneously. Therefore, the configuration of the QoS management unit 21 taking this into account is required. Thus, in the communication system according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA generated for each communication stream (hereinafter, referred to as a stream) manages the QoS of the stream. When the current resource amount determined based on the priority is out of the predetermined normal range, the priority indicating the priority when communicating using the stream, and the criterion for determining whether to adjust the QoS of the stream. By comparing with a threshold value stored in the shared data memory 14, the QoS is adjusted for each stream, and the threshold is determined based on the priority of all communication streams including the stream whose QoS has been adjusted. By updating the value and storing it in the shared data memory 14, the Q value can be quickly adjusted while satisfying the user's request.
It is characterized in that oS can be adjusted. In addition,
In the shared data memory 14, the average value of the priorities of the stream agents SA of all the streams is stored as the threshold.

In the QoS management unit 21 of the communication system shown in FIG. 1, the QoS adjustment processing has a priority smaller than the threshold value when the resource amount exceeds a predetermined upper limit of the normal range. The QoS is adjusted so as to reduce the amount of resources of the stream. Further, when the resource amount falls below the lower limit of the predetermined normal range, the QoS is adjusted so as to increase the resource amount of a stream having a priority higher than the threshold value.

First, the configuration and operation of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The communication system shown in FIG. 1 is described in Prior Art Document 3, "Kosuge et al.," A Consideration of Framework for Adaptive Information and Communication Applications-System Architecture Based on Agent-", IEICE Technical Report, CQ97
-66, pp53-60, December 1997 "using the resource management mechanism by QoS.

In FIG. 1, a personal computer A
1 is hardware C for controlling the operation of communication processing.
The PU 10, a communication application (software) CA for performing data communication with the terminal device B, a communication control unit (software) CC for controlling the data communication, a QoS and a QoS management policy (QoS management) based on a user request. Policy agent), a stream agent SA that is generated for each stream of the multimedia communication and autonomously controls the stream according to the QoS calculated by the application agent AA and the QoS management policy, and a QoS agent. And a shared data memory 14 that stores a threshold value that is a reference value for determining which stream's QoS to adjust when adjusting. Here, the agent is a software module that autonomously determines and controls the operation of an external input. Application agent A
A includes a QoS mapping unit 11 and a QoS negotiation unit (QoS).
S negotiation unit) 12 and a QoS permission unit (QoS
An admission unit) 13. Further, the stream agent SA includes a QoS management unit 21 and a QoS monitoring unit 22. Further, the communication control unit CC
Includes a flow filtering unit 31, a real-time flow control unit 32, and an adaptive transfer system unit 33.
Hereinafter, the processing and operation of the personal computer A1 will be described in detail.

First, an adaptive information communication application will be described. As mentioned above, mobile communications, multimedia communications,
Information communication applications using personal communication have become widespread, and are closely related to individuals in various scenes of daily life.

In order for anyone to be able to use such applications on a daily basis, applications must have a function of adaptively coordinating communications in an extremely diverse and fluid operating environment. In other words, the network to be used, and sometimes even the terminal, may be different each time the application is used, and as a result, the available resources and the performance may be different at each time. Furthermore, when handling a multimedia stream, the characteristics of the processing load there are not constant. In this case, Q that can be received according to available resources, performance, load characteristics of the media stream, etc.
Communication coordination such as selection of oS is required. In particular, when using mobile multimedia communication via a wireless access link using a mobile terminal (for example, see FIG. 8), the other party (for example, a high-performance workstation capable of communicating via a high-speed broadband access link) , There may be a difference in the QoS of the media streams that can be handled by both, due to differences in the amount of available resources and performance. In this case, communication coordination such as QoS adjustment for conversion into a media stream that can be received is required.

Further, the operating environment may be changed during use of the application due to an unstable transmission environment of the wireless access link, a change in usable transmission band due to handover, a change in the remaining battery level of the portable terminal, and the like. Also in this case, dynamic QoS adjustment for enabling smooth media stream processing is required.

In addition to these physical operating environments (network environment, terminal environment), each user's TP
O, various needs and preferences can appear, but in this case, communication coordination such as selection of a communication mode suitable for the situation of the user at that time is necessary. Also, if the demands of users conflict,
It will also be necessary to coordinate each other's requirements. Regarding the above-described QoS adjustment of the media stream, it is necessary that the QoS adjustment be performed according to the requirements and preferences of each user.

As described above, according to the current operating environment (network environment, terminal environment, user environment), the resources used, the QoS of the media stream, the communication mode,
Further, a system architecture for realizing an adaptive information communication application that performs communication coordination by autonomously adjusting the function and configuration of the application itself is disclosed below.

First, a framework for an adaptive information communication application will be described. FIG. 9 shows FIG.
1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a framework for a QoS architecture used in a communication system of FIG. This framework is mainly composed of the following four module groups. (A) personal agents, (b) application agents, (c) stream agents, and (d) resource managers.

Here, the personal agent including the communication application CA grasps the user's preference and request, and receives a change in the user request. The application agent AA is generated for each application, and controls QoS negotiation and resource reservation. The stream agent SA is generated for each stream, and controls the stream autonomously according to the specified QoS. The resource manager including the communication control unit CC is C
It manages resources such as the transmission band of the PU 10 and the network NE. Agents in the framework use or realize the functions of the QoS mechanism and provide adaptability to the application.

Next, the QoS mechanism and the framework will be described. Here, QoS mechanisms in resource management can be classified into the following three. (A) QoS Provision Mechanisms,
(B) QoS Control Mechanisms, and (c) QoS Management Mechanism
s).

Here, the QoS providing mechanism performs static resource management such as flow establishment and QoS negotiation. On the other hand, the QoS control mechanism and the QoS management mechanism perform dynamic resource management during media transfer. The QoS control mechanism is Q
Performs real-time flow control, flow filtering, etc., with a shorter processing time scale than the oS management mechanism. The application agent AA uses the QoS provision mechanism such as QoS mapping, permission, and test to perform QoS.
The negotiation of S and the control of resource reservation are performed to establish a flow.

The stream agent SA realizes functions of a QoS management mechanism such as QoS maintenance management and QoS adaptive control, and provides adaptability to stream control. Each agent uses the function of the QoS control mechanism for real-time control of the flow.

Next, the basic operation flow of the application agent AA and the stream agent SA in the framework will be described with reference to FIG.

First, each application agent A
A receives QoS and QoS based on a user request from a personal agent, for example, a communication application CA.
Calculate the S management policy. When a stream generation request is issued from the communication application CA, each application agent AA considers the resource environment of the network and the terminal, and calculates an appropriate QoS for the application for each stream based on the user request. Perform QoS mapping. at the same time,
If there are a plurality of applications, negotiation is performed between the application agents AA, and a feasible QoS is selected by using the permission and test functions. If necessary, negotiations are performed between the communication partner and the application agent AA of the communication coordination server and the terminal devices A and B. One or a plurality of QoS and the QoS management policy thus selected are notified to the respective stream agents SA. This process is performed even when the quality requirement of the user changes. In addition, when resources are insufficient, renegotiation of QoS is performed in response to a request from the stream agent SA.

Next, the stream agent SA
According to the QoS and QoS management policy (QoS management policy) determined by the application agent AA group, the corresponding stream is controlled autonomously. The stream agent SA monitors the stream and the resources related to the stream in a local environment in the terminal device A, and performs autonomous adjustment of the stream and the used resource by using the function of the QoS control mechanism, thereby maintaining the QoS and maintaining the QoS. A QoS adaptive control function is realized. The stream agent SA first tries to maintain the QoS provided by the application agent AA. However, if the amount of resources used by the terminal device A as a whole increases, or if network resources fluctuate and maintenance of QoS becomes difficult, the stream agent SA autonomously switches a plurality of QoS according to the QoS management policy. At this time, each stream agent compares the threshold value stored in the shared data memory 14 with the priority of each stream agent, and according to the comparison result, the corresponding Qo
It is determined whether or not to adjust S. If it is determined that QoS is to be adjusted, the QoS is adjusted, and the threshold stored in the shared data memory 14 is determined according to the priority of all stream agents including the stream agent SA. Update the value. In addition, Qo in the stream agent SA
If S coordination is not possible within the current QoS range, it requests the application agents AA to renegotiate the QoS.

Next, QoS and QoS management policy will be described. The QoS management policy is a guideline for performing resource control that reflects a user request to the maximum from a given QoS range, and is calculated by the application agent AA. Q
The QoS and QoS management policies include (a) QoS having a width, (b) priority for each application, stream, and each QoS parameter, and (c) a plurality of QoS parameter sets and utilities (utility and satisfaction for users). ). As a mechanism for reflecting the user request in the QoS adjustment, a media stream reflecting the user request is obtained by maximizing the total utility function U given by the following equation 1 under the resource constraint condition of the following equation 2. Is realized.

[0032]

(Equation 1)

数 r _m (A, q) ≦ R _m A

Here, u (A, q) is an individual utility (meaning a user's utility value, a user's utility, or a user's satisfaction) when the QoS of the stream A is the quality q. w (A) is a priority determined in advance for the stream A in consideration of the priority of the application, and represents a priority level when communication is performed between the terminal devices A and B using the stream. Also, r _m (A, q)
Is the resource amount of resource m required to process stream A with QoSq, and Q
It is determined by oSq. The resource m includes the CPU 10 and the network NE in the present embodiment. The resource amount includes the usage amount of the CPU 10 and the transmission band of the network NE. R _m is the maximum available amount of the resource m or the maximum value of the resource amount. QoS obtained in this way
Can be specified when notifying the stream agent SA by a method of specifying a QoS range or a method of discretely specifying the range using a table. When the reactivity (or reactivity) of the stream agent SA is considered, the latter method is effective.

Next, an agent model of the framework will be described. When there are a plurality of applications, QoS negotiation constitutes a multi-agent system with application agents AA. In the QoS negotiation at the time of establishing a flow, since the demand for real-time performance is not so strong, an advanced distributed problem solving method which has been studied in the field of distributed artificial intelligence can be used. In QoS negotiations that may have the same priority and utility, a function such as negotiation is required.
In addition, in a constantly changing terminal or network environment, frequent renegotiation may occur unless a mechanism such as a long-term strategy is provided. To realize these, a social system or a market model can be applied to the QoS negotiation method by the agent. Also, at the level of QoS negotiations, we only find a suboptimal solution.
An effective method is to enable fine QoS control in the form of an oS management policy and to fine-tune according to environmental changes by a more reactive (responsive or responsive) agent.

When handling a multimedia stream in the communication system as described above, it is desirable that QoS adjustment be performed instantaneously. Therefore, Q
The configuration of the oS management unit 21 is required. Hereinafter, the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA of the terminal device A used in the communication system according to the embodiment of the present invention.
Will be described.

The stream agent SA of the present embodiment
The QoS management unit 21 autonomously controls the corresponding stream based on the QoS and the QoS parameter set given from the application agent AA,
Further, based on the monitoring result from the QoS monitoring unit 22 of the system and the network, the real-time flow control unit 32 in the communication control unit CC, the flow filtering unit 31, and the adaptive transfer system unit 33 can maintain the QoS. And control the process. The QoS management unit 21 of each stream agent has the same priority corresponding to the priority of each stream, and adjusts the QoS of the corresponding stream using the priority.

The QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA can detect whether or not there is a margin in the resource status used when communicating using all the streams, based on the monitoring result by the QoS monitoring unit 22. This is determined based on whether the resource state is within a predetermined normal range. In the present embodiment, preferably, the normal range of the usage amount of the CPU 10 is 70% to 1%.
The normal range of the transmission band of the network NE is, for example, 500 kbps to 1 Mbps in the case of a LAN.
s. The QoS management unit 21 performs QoS adjustment by distinguishing between a case where the resource amount exceeds the upper limit of the normal range and a case where the resource amount falls below the lower limit of the normal range.

First, the QoS adjustment processing when the resource amount as a monitoring result exceeds the upper limit of the normal range (when the used resource amount is reduced) will be described. First,
The QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA accesses the shared data memory 14, acquires the threshold value stored therein, and compares the threshold value with the priority of the QoS management unit 21 to perform QoS adjustment. Is determined. The determination as to whether or not to perform the QoS adjustment is made based on whether or not the priority of the QoS management unit 21 is lower than the threshold value. If the priority is smaller than the threshold, QoS adjustment processing is executed to reduce the amount of resources used for the stream. If the priority of the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA is not smaller than the threshold, the QoS management unit 21 does not execute the QoS adjustment processing.

Next, a description will be given of the QoS adjustment processing when the resource amount of the monitoring result falls below the lower limit of the normal range (when the used resource amount is increased). First, the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA
Accesses the shared data memory 14, obtains the threshold value stored therein, and determines whether to perform QoS adjustment based on the threshold value and the priority of the QoS management unit 21. The determination of whether or not to perform the QoS adjustment is determined by whether or not the priority of the QoS management unit 21 is higher than the threshold. If the priority is larger than the threshold, QoS adjustment processing is executed to increase the amount of resources used for the stream. If the priority of the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA is not higher than the threshold, the QoS management unit 21 does not execute the QoS adjustment processing.

When the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA performs QoS adjustment, the threshold value C stored in the shared data memory 14 is updated using the following formula according to the action. For example, in the process of reducing the used resource amount, the threshold is increased.

[0041]

## EQU3 ## C ← (C × n−D) / (n−1)

Here, C is a threshold, n is the number of streams, and D is the priority of the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA that has performed QoS adjustment. For example, in an operation for reducing the used resource amount, the threshold C
Is the Q of the stream agent SA that performs QoS adjustment.
Since the priority is higher than the priority D of the oS management unit 21, the threshold C increases according to the above expression. This allows the QoS management unit 21 to act asynchronously according to the priority.

FIG. 7 shows the threshold value stored in the shared data memory 14, which is a reference value for determining whether or not to adjust the QoS by the QoS management unit 21 in FIG. 1, and the priority of each stream. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing QoS adjustment performed;
(A) is a graph showing the relationship between the threshold value and the priority of each stream, and (b) shows Q as shown in (a).
It is a graph which shows the change of the used resource amount when a threshold value changes by oS adjustment.

Referring to FIG. 7B, the total amount of resources used for streams a to c at time t1 is
Due to the QoS adjustment based on the threshold value TH1 at 2, the value decreases at time t3. This is a result of adjusting the QoS of the stream b so as to reduce the resource amount of the stream b having the lowest priority among the priorities smaller than the threshold value TH1 with reference to FIG. Will occur. After adjusting the QoS of the stream b, the threshold is updated from TH1 to TH2 based on Expression 3.
Next, at time t4, as a result of adjusting the QoS of stream c so as to reduce the amount of used resources of stream c by threshold value TH2, the total amount of used resources of streams a to c is calculated from the amount of used resources at time t3. The used resource amount at the time t5 is reduced to the used resource amount, and the threshold value is updated so as to increase from TH2 to TH3.
Next, the total amount of resources used for the streams a to c at the time t5 decreases at the time t7 due to the QoS adjustment of the stream a by the threshold value TH3 at the time t6.

Further, Q of the stream agent SA
The QoS management unit 21 independently adjusts QoS according to the priority of each QoS parameter within the QoS range of the given QoS parameter set. Also, the QoS management unit 21
Can also switch the QoS to a QoS parameter set having an equivalent utility value, thereby increasing the degree of freedom in QoS adjustment without substantially changing the value of the total utility function U. . In addition, the QoS management unit 21 receives the given QoS.
When the QoS adjustment within the parameter set becomes impossible, the QoS control unit 12 requests the QoS negotiation unit 12 of the application agent AA to re-negotiate the QoS. In response,
Upon receiving the QoS renegotiation request from the QoS management units 21 of all the stream agents, the application agent AA performs QoS renegotiation, and
An oS parameter set is selected and output to the QoS management unit 21.

As described above, the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent corresponding to each stream independently adjusts the QoS of the corresponding stream using the threshold value stored in the shared data memory 14.
QoS adjustment can be performed quickly in the entire communication system.

Next, the basic processing of each functional unit other than the QoS managing unit 21 in the personal computer A1 of FIG. 1 having the QoS adjusting function will be described. First, the QoS mapping unit 1 in the application agent AA
1 converts the QoS specified by the user into a QoS corresponding to the system or the network and outputs the QoS to the QoS negotiation unit 12. Further, the QoS negotiation unit 12 checks the QoS of the partner terminal device B.
It communicates with the S negotiation unit 12, calculates the optimal QoS and control policy for each application, and outputs it to the QoS permission unit 13. The QoS permission unit 13 tests whether the resource amount specified by QoS is available using a resource reservation protocol or the like.

The real-time flow control unit 32 in the communication control unit CC controls the flow quality in real time according to the QoS given from the QoS management unit 21. In addition, the flow filtering unit 31 performs flow scaling according to the QoS given from the QoS management unit 21. Specifically, in the case of a moving image, when a stream having a frame rate higher than a specified frame rate comes, Perform the process of dropping the frame. Further, the adaptive transfer system unit 33 forms a communication transport function optimal for QoS given from the QoS management unit 21. Specifically, for a network with extremely poor quality, FEC (forward error correction: Forward error correction) code is added, and the error control function is removed in a high-speed and high-quality network.

The QoS monitoring unit 22 includes a CPU 10
The system and the network are monitored by monitoring the operation of the CPU 10 to detect the usage of the CPU 10 and the transmission band occupied by the stream based on the communication status data from the communication control unit CC. It is sent to the QoS management unit 21 sequentially.

Next, the basic procedure of the QoS control procedure in this embodiment will be described. (1) The user requests communication by designating desired communication quality on the communication application CA. (2) When a user's communication request is issued from the communication application CA, the application agent AA acquires the quality requested by the user, and converts the quality into the actual QoS by the QoS mapping unit 11. (3) In response to the converted QoS, the QoS negotiation unit 12
Calculates QoS and QoS control policy for each stream. (4) The QoS permitting unit 1 determines whether the calculated QoS is feasible.
3 performs the test. (5) If the calculated QoS is not feasible, the QoS
It requests the negotiation unit 12 to recalculate. (6) When the calculated QoS is feasible, it is passed to the real-time flow control unit 32, the flow filtering unit 31, and the adaptive transfer system unit 33, and each of the functional units 31, 3
2 and 33 control the flow of communication control according to QoS. (7) The calculated QoS is the stream agent S
Also passed to A. (8) The stream agent SA uses the QoS monitoring unit 22 to transmit resources of the network NE (specifically,
Transmission band) and the resources of the terminal device A (specifically, CP
U10 usage) is monitored. (9) QoS management unit 21 of stream agent SA
The real-time flow control unit 32 and the flow filtering unit 3 are configured so that the QoS is achieved in accordance with the QoS.
1 and the processing of the adaptive transfer system unit 33. (10) QoS management unit 2 of stream agent SA
1 determines whether the current resource amount is outside the normal range based on the monitor value obtained from the QoS monitoring unit 22. If the current resource amount is outside the normal range, the threshold value stored in the shared data memory 14 and the The QoS is adjusted by comparing the priority with the QoS. (11) If the QoS cannot be adjusted, periodically request the application agent AA to renegotiate the QoS.

FIGS. 2 to 6 show communication applications C, which are functional units of the personal computer A1 shown in FIG.
6 is a flowchart showing details of processing and operations of A, an application agent AA, a QoS management unit 21, a QoS monitoring unit 22, a shared data memory 14, and a communication control unit CC of the stream agent SA.

In FIG. 2, the communication application CA
Determines whether it is necessary to create a stream in step S1, and if YES, creates a stream in step S2 and proceeds to step S3, while if NO in step S1, proceeds directly to step S3. Step S3
Judge whether there is a user request or change in,
If NO, the process returns to the step S1, while if YES, the application agent A in the step S4.
The user requests A. That is, it notifies that there is a user request, and returns to step S1.

The application agent AA shown in FIG.
In step S10, it is determined whether or not a user request has been made. The loop processing of step S10 is executed until there is a user request. In step S11, the QoS mapping unit 11 of the application agent AA determines an appropriate Q for the communication application CA based on the user request.
The QoS and QoS management policies (QoS management policies) are calculated for each stream.

The QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA sets the average value of the priorities of all the stream agents as an initial threshold value in the shared data memory 14 in step S30 of FIG. Proceed to step S31. In response, the shared data memory 14 stores the QoS management unit 21 in step S60.
After storing the initial value of the threshold value from, the process proceeds to step S61 in FIG.

On the other hand, the application agent AA
In step S12 of FIG. 3, it is determined whether there are a plurality of applications. If YES, the QoS negotiation unit 12 performs communication between the application agents of each application to negotiate QoS in step S13a. And the optimal Qo for each application
After calculating S and the control policy, the process proceeds to step S14. On the other hand, if NO in step S12, step S13b
Then, in one application, communication is performed between the application agents of the application to negotiate the QoS, the optimum QoS and the control policy are calculated, and the process proceeds to step S14. In step S14, it is determined whether negotiation with partner terminal B is necessary, and YES
If so, in step S15, the QoS negotiation unit 12
The terminal devices negotiate the QoS and proceed to step S16. On the other hand, if NO in step S14, the process directly proceeds to step S16.

In step S16, the QoS permitting unit 13 tests whether the selected QoS can be realized. Specifically, it tests whether or not the resource amount specified by QoS is available by using a resource reservation protocol. Next, in step S17, it is determined whether or not feasibility is possible. If NO, the process returns to step S12, while YE
If S, the obtained QoS is output to the communication control unit CC in step S18 and set. In response, the communication control unit CC sets the QoS from the application agent AA in step S70.

In FIG. 4, the application agent AA determines in step S19 whether or not there is a corresponding stream agent. If YES, the process proceeds to step S21. If NO, however, the application proceeds to step S20. An SA is generated, and the process proceeds to step S21. In response to this, the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA
It is determined whether or not to generate a stream agent at 31. If YES, the monitor is started at step S32,
That is, the processing of the QoS monitoring unit 22 of the stream agent SA is started. If “NO” in the step S31, a step S of the application agent AA is performed.
The loop processing of step S31 is continued until the instruction from the control unit 20 is received, and the process proceeds to step S33. Step S33
Then, the process waits for a predetermined time until the QoS and the QoS management policy are received from the application agent AA, and if it is received, the process proceeds to step S34.

In step S21 of the application agent AA, the obtained QoS and the QoS management policy are notified to the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA. In response, the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA proceeds to step S34.
After the QoS monitoring unit 22 sets the monitoring with the QoS notified in the step S <b> 22, until the current resource amount is received from the QoS monitoring unit 22 in step S
Wait at 35.

The application agent AA waits for a predetermined time after step S21 (step S2).
2), and in step S23, the communication application C
It is determined whether there is a user request change from A and YES
If so, the process returns to step S10 in FIG. 2, while if NO, the process proceeds to step S24 in FIG.

The QoS monitoring unit 22 of the stream agent SA firstly executes step S
In response to the monitor setting at step S34, step S50
After obtaining the current resource amount in step S51, and notifying the QoS management unit 21 of the current resource amount obtained in step S51, the process waits for a predetermined time in step S52, and determines in step S53 whether or not the monitoring has ended. If the answer is YES, the process ends. If the answer is NO, the process returns to step S50 to execute monitoring again.

The QoS monitoring unit 22 determines in step S5
In response to notifying the current resource amount in step 1, Qo
The S management unit 21 determines whether or not the resource amount exceeds the upper limit of the normal range in step S36 in FIG. 5, and if YES, obtains the threshold from the shared data memory 14 in step S39. Proceed to step S41,
If NO, in a step S37, it is determined whether or not the resource amount is lower than the lower limit of the normal range. Y in step S37
If it is ES, in step S38 the shared data memory 14
After the threshold value is obtained from the above, the process proceeds to step S40. If “NO” in the step S37, the process returns to the step S33 in FIG. 4 and waits until the resource amount is monitored again.
In step S40, the Q of the stream agent SA
It is determined whether or not the priority of the OS management unit 21 is larger than the threshold value. If YES, the QoS is adjusted so as to increase the resource amount of the stream corresponding to the stream agent SA in step S42. Step S
Go to 44. If NO, the process returns to step S33 in FIG. In step S41, it is determined whether or not the priority of the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA is smaller than the threshold value. If YES, the resource amount of the stream corresponding to the stream agent SA is reduced in step S43. After adjusting the QoS, the process proceeds to step S44 in FIG. If “NO” in the step S41, the process returns to the step S33.

In FIG. 6, the stream agent S
In step S44, the QoS management unit 21 of A
It is determined whether or not S has been adjusted. If YES, the new QoS after adjustment is transmitted to the communication control unit C in step S45.
Set to C. In response to this, the communication control unit CC sets the QoS from the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA in step S71. Following the step S45, the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA updates the threshold value of the shared data memory 14 based on the equation 3 in a step S46, and then updates the threshold value in the step S3 in FIG.
Return to 3. On the other hand, if the QoS cannot be adjusted in step S44 and the determination is NO, a renegotiation instruction notification is output to the application agent AA in step S47, and the process returns to step S31 in FIG.

The shared data memory 14 is stored in the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA in step S4 of FIG.
In response to the processing in step 6, the new threshold value is stored in step S61, and the process returns to step S61.

On the other hand, the application agent AA
In step S24, it is determined whether or not there has been a renegotiation instruction notification from the QoS management units 21 of all stream agents. If YES, the process returns to step S12 in FIG. 3, while if NO, the process returns to step S10 in FIG. .

As described above, according to the present embodiment,
Since the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA corresponding to each stream independently adjusts the QoS based on the threshold value shared by all the streams as a reference value, the QoS management unit 21 satisfies a user request against a dynamic environment change. QoS adjustment can be performed quickly and appropriately. In addition, complicated QoS control can be controlled with a simple device configuration. Here, the dynamic environment change means that the conditions such as the resources and the performance of the network and the terminal that can be used by the application, and the characteristics of the load processed there are different every time the application is used. Especially,
When a wireless access link is used, the operating environment may change during use of an application due to unstable fluctuations in radio wave conditions or changes in available transmission bands due to handover. In addition to these physical operation environments, the TPO of each user (specifically, the state of the user at that time (for example, when working or playing, or in the position of the user) )), And application usage forms according to needs and preferences may appear.

In the above embodiment, the network N
Although communication is performed using the modem A2 via E, the present invention is not limited to this, and communication may be performed via a LAN or an ATM network.

[0067]

As described in detail above, according to the communication service quality control method according to the first aspect of the present invention, communication is performed using a communication stream between a plurality of terminal devices connected via a network. In a communication service quality control method for a terminal device for controlling the quality of communication service, when the resource amount for communication determined based on the communication service quality of the communication stream is outside a predetermined normal range, the communication By comparing the priority indicating the priority when communicating using the stream with a threshold value which is a reference value for determining whether to adjust the quality of communication service of the communication stream, Adjusting the quality of the communication service for each communication stream, based on the priorities of all communication streams including the communication stream having the adjusted quality of the communication service. There and updating the threshold. Therefore, the quality of the communication service is independently adjusted for each communication stream using the threshold value shared by all communication streams as a reference value. The quality of communication service can be adjusted.
In addition, it is possible to control the quality of a complicated communication service with a simple device configuration.

According to the communication service quality control method of the second aspect, in the communication service quality control method of the first aspect, the step of adjusting the quality of the communication service includes the step of: When the upper limit value of the communication stream exceeds the threshold value, the quality of the communication service is adjusted so as to reduce the resource amount of the communication stream having the priority smaller than the threshold value, and the resource amount falls below the lower limit value of the predetermined normal range. , The quality of the communication service is adjusted so as to increase the resource amount of the communication stream having a priority higher than the threshold value. Here, the threshold is preferably an average value of the priorities of all communication streams. Therefore, the quality of the communication service is independently adjusted for each communication stream using the threshold value shared by all communication streams as a reference value. The quality of communication service can be adjusted. In addition, it is possible to control the quality of a complicated communication service with a simple device configuration.

According to the communication service quality control apparatus of the fourth aspect of the present invention, when communication is performed using a communication stream between a plurality of terminal apparatuses connected via a network, the quality of the communication service is controlled. In a communication service quality control device provided with a communication control means for performing communication using a communication stream when a resource amount for communication determined based on a communication service quality of the communication stream is outside a predetermined normal range. By comparing the priority representing the priority of the communication stream with a threshold value, which is a reference value for determining whether to adjust the quality of the communication service of the communication stream, the quality of the communication service for each communication stream is determined. Adjusting means for adjusting the communication service quality of all communication streams including the communication stream whose communication service quality has been adjusted by the adjusting means. And a updating means for updating the threshold based on Sakido. Therefore, the quality of the communication service is independently adjusted for each communication stream using the threshold value shared by all communication streams as a reference value. The quality of communication service can be adjusted. In addition, controlling the quality of complex communication services,
Control is possible with a simple device configuration.

According to the communication service quality control apparatus of the fifth aspect, in the communication service quality control apparatus of the fourth aspect, the adjusting means may be arranged such that the resource amount exceeds the upper limit of a predetermined normal range. When adjusting the quality of communication service so as to reduce the amount of resources of the communication stream having a priority smaller than the threshold value, when the resource amount is below the lower limit of a predetermined normal range, than the threshold value The quality of the communication service is adjusted so as to increase the resource amount of the communication stream having the higher priority. Here, the threshold is preferably an average value of the priorities of all communication streams. Therefore, the quality of the communication service is independently adjusted for each communication stream using the threshold value shared by all communication streams as a reference value. The quality of communication service can be adjusted. In addition, it is possible to control the quality of a complicated communication service with a simple device configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication system including terminal devices A and B having a communication service quality (QoS) adjustment function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows the Qo of a communication application CA, an application agent AA, and a stream agent SA which are functional units of the personal computer A1 of FIG.
S management unit 21, shared data memory 14, and communication control unit C
It is a flowchart which shows the 1st part of the detail of a process of C.

3 is a flowchart showing a second part of the details of the processing of the application agent AA, the QoS management unit 21, the shared data memory 14, and the communication control unit CC of each function unit of the personal computer A1 in FIG. 1; It is.

FIG. 4 is a third detailed process performed by the application agent AA, the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA, the QoS monitoring unit 22 of the stream agent SA, and the communication control unit CC, which are functional units of the personal computer A1 of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows a part.

5 is a flowchart showing a fourth part of the details of the processing of the application agent AA, the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA, the shared data memory 14, and the communication control unit CC, which are the functional units of the personal computer A1 of FIG. It is.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a fifth part of the application agent AA, the QoS management unit 21 of the stream agent SA, the shared data memory 14, and the communication control unit CC, which are the functional units of the personal computer A1 of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a QoS adjustment based on a threshold stored in the shared data memory 14, which is a reference value for determining whether to adjust QoS by the QoS management unit 21 in FIG. 1, and the priority of each stream. (A) is a graph showing the relationship between the threshold value and the priority of each stream, and (b) shows the change in the threshold value due to the QoS adjustment as shown in (a). 6 is a graph showing a change in the used resource amount at the time.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an application operating environment used in the communication system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of a framework for a QoS architecture used in the communication system of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 A, B: terminal device, A1, B1: personal computer, A2, B2: modem, NE: network, CC: communication control unit, CA: communication application, AA: application agent, SA: stream agent, 10: CPU, 11 ... QoS mapping unit, 12 ... QoS negotiation unit, 13 ... QoS permission unit, 14 ... shared data memory, 21 ... QoS management unit, 22 ... QoS monitoring unit, 31 ... flow filtering unit, 32 ... real-time flow control unit, 33 ... Adaptive transfer system section.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Nagao Ogino Kyoto, Soraku-gun, Seika-cho, 5th, Inaya, 5th, Sanriya 5 Seira-cho, Seiya-cho, Gun-ri, 5-5, Sanpira-ya, ATR Co., Ltd., within the ATR Environmental Adaptive Communications Research Laboratories (56) References JP-A-9-266482 (JP, A) JP-A-9-36890 (JP, A) JP-A-7-58775 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04L 12/28 H04L 12/56 G06F 13/00

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] When communicating using a communication stream between a plurality of terminal devices connected via a network,
A communication service quality control method for a terminal device for controlling the quality of a communication service, the communication stream being used when a resource amount for communication determined based on the communication service quality of the communication stream is outside a predetermined normal range. By comparing the priority indicating the priority when performing communication with a communication stream with a threshold value which is a reference value for determining whether to adjust the quality of communication service of the communication stream, communication for each communication stream is performed. Communication service quality control, comprising: adjusting the quality of service; and updating the threshold based on the priorities of all communication streams including the communication stream whose communication service quality has been adjusted. Method. 2. The step of adjusting the quality of the communication service, wherein, when the resource amount exceeds an upper limit value of a predetermined normal range, the resource amount of a communication stream having a priority smaller than the threshold value is reduced. When the resource amount is below the lower limit of the predetermined normal range, the communication service quality is adjusted so as to increase the resource amount of the communication stream having a priority higher than the threshold value. The communication service quality control method according to claim 1, wherein adjustment is performed. 3. The communication service quality control method according to claim 1, wherein said threshold value is an average value of priorities of all communication streams. 4. When communicating using a communication stream between a plurality of terminal devices connected via a network,
A communication service quality control device comprising communication control means for controlling the quality of a communication service, wherein when a resource amount for communication determined based on the communication service quality of a communication stream is out of a predetermined normal range, communication is performed. By comparing the priority indicating the priority when communicating using the stream with a threshold value which is a reference value for determining whether to adjust the quality of communication service of the communication stream, Adjusting means for adjusting the quality of the communication service every time, and updating means for updating the threshold value based on the priority of all communication streams including the communication stream whose communication service has been adjusted by the adjusting means. A communication service quality control device, characterized in that: 5. The quality of communication service such that, when the resource amount exceeds an upper limit of a predetermined normal range, the adjusting unit reduces a resource amount of a communication stream having a priority smaller than the threshold value. Adjusting the quality of communication service so as to increase the amount of resources of a communication stream having a priority higher than the threshold when the resource amount is below a lower limit of a predetermined normal range. The communication service quality control device according to claim 4, wherein 6. The communication service quality control device according to claim 4, wherein said threshold value is an average value of priorities of all communication streams.