JP4318884B2 - Neighboring router recognition method in packet communication network - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for recognizing neighboring routers in a packet communication network, and in particular, includes a plurality of routers constituting a network and a large number of terminal devices connected to these routers, and packets between predetermined terminal devices. The present invention relates to a method for recognizing a neighboring router existing in a geographical vicinity of a specific router in a packet communication network having a communication function.
[0002]
[Prior art]
When using a packet communication network typified by the Internet, a terminal device is directly connected to an arbitrary router on the network or indirectly through a connection device such as a hub, and is incorporated into a LAN managed by the router. There is a need. As a connection method to the router, in addition to a method using a wired connection using a standard such as Ethernet (registered trademark), a method using a wireless connection using various standards for wireless LANs is also becoming popular. As terminal devices, various server devices and personal computers, mobile phones, PDA devices, and the like have been actively used. In order to connect a mobile communication device such as a mobile phone to the Internet, a base station having a function of performing wireless communication with a mobile phone or the like in a predetermined area usually serves as a router. A mobile phone or the like is connected to the Internet via a nearest base station that functions as a router.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
With the spread of the Internet, an environment in which terminal devices around the world are connected to each other via a network is being prepared. By specifying a URL, a desired information packet can be delivered to any terminal device. However, for many routers scattered all over the world, the topological position on the network can theoretically be recognized by using a predetermined route search software. It is very difficult to recognize the geographical location.
[0004]
For example, although there are a large number of routes on the network that connect a router A to which a predetermined IP address A is assigned and a router B to which another IP address B is assigned, the number is finite. If the route search software is used, the topological position between the two can be automatically recognized. However, the geographical positions of the router A and the router B cannot be analyzed by such a method using software, and whether the routers A and B are installed in the same building are the same. There is no established method for automatically recognizing whether it exists within the prefecture or is located across the Pacific Ocean. For this reason, it is necessary to manually investigate a specific router A in order to recognize a neighboring router existing in the geographical vicinity.
[0005]
Specifically, when recognizing the addresses of all routers installed in a terminal station of a metropolitan city, the network manager of each operator operating as a tenant in the station premises is manually used. It is necessary to work around listening to the address. Although each individual router is connected to the Internet, it is not registered up to its geographical location, so it is not possible to collect the geographical information where the individual router is installed via the network. Because.
[0006]
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method capable of automatically recognizing neighboring routers existing in the geographical vicinity of a specific router in a packet communication network.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
(1) The first aspect of the present invention is configured by a large number of routers constituting a network and a large number of terminal devices connected to the large number of routers, and performs packet communication between predetermined terminal devices. In a packet communication network having a function, in order to automatically recognize a neighboring router existing in the geographical vicinity of a specific router, a terminal device that moves geographically is used as a medium of geographical information of the router, Geographic information can be transmitted between adjacent routers. Specifically, when a specific terminal device is connected to a specific router, Via the connection Let the current connected router report the past connection history of this specific terminal device with other routers, From many terminal devices Reported connection history Statistical processing based on It is designed to recognize information about neighboring routers for a specific router that is currently connected.
[0010]
(2) Of the present invention Second In the recognition method according to the first aspect described above,
The terminal device is provided with a function for detecting its own geographical coordinate value, and information for identifying the recognition target router connected in the past and the geographical coordinate value detected at the time of connection to the router are used as a connection history. It is made to report, Based on the reported geographical coordinate value, it is judged whether a recognition object router is recognized as a neighbor router.
[0011]
(3) Of the present invention Third Aspects of the above Second In the recognition method according to the aspect of
Based on the reported geographical coordinate values, the degree of neighbors for each neighboring router can be recognized.
[0012]
(Four) Of the present invention 4th Aspects of the above 2nd or 3rd In the recognition method according to the aspect of
The function of detecting the own geographical coordinate value in the terminal device is realized by using GPS.
[0013]
(Five) Of the present invention 5th Aspects of the above 2nd-4th In the recognition method according to the aspect of
Investigate at least one of the number of hops to the router to be recognized and the traffic status via the network, and determine whether to recognize the router to be recognized as a neighboring router in consideration of the obtained survey results Is.
[0017]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram topologically showing the connection state of each router in a general packet communication network. In the figure, individual circular blocks surrounding the uppercase alphabet are routers A to G, which are connected to each other via a network, and send information packets from any router to any other router through at least one route. Can be sent. In the figure, a very simple network configuration is shown for convenience of explanation. However, in an actual network such as the Internet, a huge number of routers are connected to each other by a very complicated network, and between any two routers. Many routes will be prepared.
[0018]
In the figure, each rectangular block surrounding a lowercase alphabet or number is a terminal device, and is used by connecting to any router. In addition, although the state in which all the terminal devices are directly connected to the router is shown in the figure, “connecting to the router” in the present application does not mean only “direct connection to the router” Meaning includes connection via a connecting device such as a hub, that is, “indirect connection to a router”. In practice, a plurality of terminal devices are generally connected to the same router at the same time, and a LAN is constituted by a plurality of terminal devices connected to the same router. For example, FIG. 1 shows an example in which two terminal devices a1 and a2 are connected to the same router A. Both of these two terminal devices a1 and a2 are under the control of the router A. This is a terminal device connected to a certain LAN. The router A performs an information packet exchange process between the terminal devices a1 and a2 connected to the LAN under its control, and a wider WAN for each of the terminal devices a1 and a2 connected to the LAN. (In the illustrated example, it functions as a connection window to a network configured by connection to the routers B and C, for example, the Internet).
[0019]
In order to access a WAN such as the Internet using a terminal device, it is necessary to connect the terminal device to an arbitrary router on this network. The connection to the router is not limited to a wired connection using a standard such as Ethernet (registered trademark), but can be a wireless connection using various wireless LAN standards. In particular, when a mobile phone or a PDA device is used as the terminal device, a wireless connection is usually performed. Recently, it has become common to perform wireless connection even in so-called laptop computers. A router that accepts such a wireless connection has a built-in function for wireless communication. When accessing the Internet from a mobile phone or the like, since it is connected to the Internet via the nearest base station, the base station for the mobile phone installed in the city functions as a router. As described above, the router in the present application includes a wide range of devices having a routing function on the network, such as a routing device for a wired network such as Ethernet (registered trademark), a routing device for a wireless LAN, and a base station for a mobile phone. Is included.
[0020]
In the case of the Internet, a predetermined IP address is assigned to each terminal device, and by specifying this IP address, a desired information packet can be delivered to a specific terminal device to which the IP address is assigned. Further, if a DNS system is used, a specific terminal device can be specified by specifying a specific URL. For example, if an information packet is delivered from the terminal device a1 shown in FIG. 1 to the terminal device d, an information packet destined for the IP address assigned to the terminal device d may be sent over the Internet. Since the upper part of the IP address that is the destination of this information packet indicates the address of router D, in the example shown in the figure, the route of terminal device a1 → router A → router B → router D → terminal device d This information packet is delivered to the terminal device d.
[0021]
In this way, information packets that flow on the Internet are transferred from router to router, so if you search for the transfer route of such information packets, the topological position of each router is automatically determined. Can be recognized. Actually, such route search is performed using predetermined route search software. Therefore, for example, in the case of the example of FIG. 1, the operator who manages the router D performs a search operation using the route search software, whereby the route “Router B is close but Routers F and G are far” is obtained. Information can be obtained. In other words, it can be recognized that the route from the terminal device d to the terminal device b is close, but the route from the terminal device d to the terminal device g is far. In the actual Internet, a very large number of routers are connected by a complex network, and the substance of the Internet changes from moment to moment, so it is practically impossible to grasp the overall picture of the Internet. However, theoretically, the topological positions of all routers constituting the Internet can be recognized by using predetermined route search software.
[0022]
However, the position of the router described above is only a topological position on the network, and the concept of near / far is merely a perspective concept as far as the topological position is concerned. For example, in the example of FIG. 1, for router D, “Router B is close and Routers F and G are far” means that “the number of hops to Router B is 1, whereas routers F and G It is merely a judgment based on the fact that “the number of hops is four”, and only discusses the perspective on the network path. Therefore, the geographical positions of the routers A to G are often completely unrelated to the topology positions shown in FIG. For example, if the actual geographical location distribution of the routers A to G is as shown in FIG. 2, the geographical perspective for the router D is “Routers F and G are close and Router B is far. For router D, the perspective at the topological position shown in FIG. 1 and the perspective at the geographical position shown in FIG. 2 are completely reversed.
[0023]
Thus, for the administrator of the router D, it can be recognized by the search using the route search software that the router that is topologically close is the router B. However, in order to recognize that the routers installed in the geographical vicinity are the routers G and F, such a search method on the network cannot be taken. Therefore, for example, even if the router D and the router G shown in FIG. 2 are installed on the premises of the same terminal station, in order for the administrator of the router D to recognize the router G as a neighboring router, There is no choice but to conduct a survey. Of course, when the router D and the router G are installed by the same administrator or under the control of the same operator, such a survey is relatively easy. In the case of being under the control of a completely different business operator, it is very difficult for the administrator of the router D to recognize the router G as a neighboring router. In addition, even if routers are installed by the same operator, the more the routers are, the more difficult it is to conduct manual investigations.
[0024]
An object of the present invention is to make it possible to automatically recognize a neighboring router existing in a geographical vicinity of a specific router. The basic idea of the present invention is to use a geographically moving terminal device as a medium for geographical information of routers and to transmit geographical information between adjacent routers. Therefore, in carrying out the present invention, there is a terminal device that moves geographically, and the terminal device has a function of reporting a connection history related to a router connected in the past to the currently connected router. There is a need.
[0025]
Here, the basic concept of the present invention will be described with respect to an example in which a mobile phone, which is a typical example of a mobile terminal, is used as a terminal device as a medium. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining such a basic concept. The mobile phone base station A has a function to perform wireless communication with a mobile phone existing in the area α, and the base station B uses the area β as a responsible area. And has a function of performing wireless communication with a mobile phone existing in the region β. Actually, the regions α and β have an overlap at the boundary portion, and the mobile phone selects and communicates with the base station that can maintain a better communication environment at that time. When information packets are exchanged between the mobile phone and the base station, each base station functions as a router, and the mobile phone existing in the region α becomes a terminal device connected to the router A. The mobile phone existing in β is a terminal device connected to the router B.
[0026]
A cellular phone is a terminal device that changes its position every moment, and functions as a terminal device that changes its connection destination router in a packet communication network. Therefore, in the present invention, it is very convenient as an information medium for transmitting geographical information of a router connected in the past to a newly connected router. For example, suppose that a mobile phone functioning as the terminal device x is in the area α at some time t1 and is performing some packet communication. Here, the mobile phone at time t1 is referred to as a terminal device x (t1). However, it is assumed that this mobile phone performs packet communication from within the region β at the next certain time t2. That is, from time t1 to t2, this mobile phone has moved from the region α to β.
[0027]
As such a communication form, the following two cases can be considered. The first case is a case where a mobile phone user continuously performs packet communication from time t1 to time t2. For example, when a user on a train accesses the Internet from a mobile phone, the terminal device x (t1) connected to the router A by moving the train from the region α to the region β. Is switched to the connection to the router B and functions as the terminal device x (t2). The second case is a case where the user of the mobile phone executes the first packet communication at time t1, ends once, and again executes the second packet communication at time t2. For example, if you access the Internet from a mobile phone at a workplace in the region α, terminate the access, walk to a restaurant in the adjacent region β to have lunch, and access the Internet from this restaurant again, This mobile phone functions as a terminal device x (t1) connected to the router A during the first access, and as a terminal device x (t2) connected to the router B during the second access. Will work.
[0028]
In either case, at the time t2, this mobile phone is in radio communication with the base station B (router B). Just before that, the mobile phone is in radio communication with the base station A (router A). That would have been done. Therefore, if the mobile phone stores the past connection history and reports the past connection history when it is connected to a new router, based on this connection history, Information recognition can be performed. For example, in the example of FIG. 3, since the terminal device x (t1) is in a state of being connected to the router A at time t1, the fact is used as a connection history in the mobile phone as the terminal device x (t1). To be stored in the memory. Subsequently, when the terminal device x (t2) is connected to the router B at time t2, a process of reporting the connection history stored in the memory in the mobile phone to the router B is performed. You can do it. By receiving such a connection history, the router B can recognize the fact that the mobile phone was connected to the router A immediately before, so that the router A is recognized as a neighboring router. Is possible.
[0029]
In the present invention, as a terminal device that can be used as a medium for transmitting a past connection history, a mobile phone can be said to be the most typical terminal device as described above. It is also possible to use a notebook computer or the like. In addition to a terminal device wirelessly connected to the router, a terminal device connected by wire using Ethernet (registered trademark) or the like can be used as a medium. For example, although it seems that there are few cases in reality, when a desktop PC that was connected to the router via Ethernet (registered trademark) via a specified hub is moved to another nearby building In addition, since the connection destination router is switched from the time t1 to the time t2, the information on the router connected at the time t1 is reported to the newly connected router at the time t2. It is possible to communicate.
[0030]
After all, the basic concept of the present invention is that when a specific terminal device is connected to a specific router, the past connection history with other routers related to this specific terminal device is stored in the specific router currently connected. It is to be reported, and based on the reported connection history, it is possible to recognize information about neighboring routers for a specific router that is currently connected. As long as it is a terminal device, any terminal device may be used to transmit the connection history. However, in order to use such a terminal device in the present invention, a function of reporting a past connection history to another router when connected to a specific router is added to the terminal device. There is a need. In addition, in order to automatically recognize its neighboring routers using the connection history reported from the terminal device having such a function, the reported connection history is also analyzed and reported to the router side. It is necessary to add a function of recognizing the geographical position of another target router and determining whether the router is in the vicinity.
[0031]
For practical purposes, it is preferable to store not only information related to the router connected immediately before but also a past connection history that has been traced several times in the terminal device and report this to the router. . For example, the connection history shown in FIG. 4 (a) was previously connected to the router A, but was connected to the router C two times before, connected to the router D three times before, and so on. The background is shown. In other words, the terminal device in which the connection history as shown in FIG. 4 (a) is accumulated moves from the area in charge of the router D to the area in charge of the router C. After moving to, it has moved to the area in charge of the current router (the router for which this connection history is reported). By reporting the connection history over a plurality of times as described above, more detailed information indicating the degree of proximity can be obtained. For example, when a connection history as shown in FIG. 4 (a) is reported from one terminal device to the router X (currently connected router), the terminal device is linearly based on the contents of the report. Assuming that the router has moved, for the router X, it is possible to grasp the degree of proximity with a stage in which the router A is the nearest neighbor, the router C is farther away, and the router D is farther away.
[0032]
Of course, in practice, it is difficult to perform accurate recognition even if the neighboring routers related to the router X are recognized based only on the connection history reported from such one terminal device. Even if the connection history as shown in FIG. 4 (a) is reported, if the user who possesses the terminal device as the reporter walks around the neighborhood irregularly, the router A and the router D may actually be at the same distance. Therefore, in order to recognize the neighboring router as accurately as possible by using the present invention, it is preferable to statistically handle connection histories reported from a large number of terminal devices. Practically, if a form in which a past connection history is reported using a mobile phone or the like is used, a huge number of connection histories will be reported to each router (base station). Thus, if statistics of connection histories from these many terminal devices are taken, it becomes possible to obtain information on neighboring routers fairly accurately.
[0033]
For example, suppose that a connection history statistic as shown in FIG. In this example, 15000 cases where the router connected immediately before the router X is A are reported 15000 cases, and 3000 cases where the router C is connected are reported. Therefore, the possibility that the router A is in the vicinity of the router X is extremely high, and the router C is also likely to be relatively in the vicinity of the router X. On the other hand, considering that there are 0 cases where the router connected to the router X immediately before (previous) is B and that there are only 10 cases where the router is D, the router It is considered very unlikely that B or router D is in the vicinity of router X. By referring to the statistics about the routers connected two or three times before, it becomes possible to perform more detailed analysis.
[0034]
However, even if it is called “neighboring router” of router X, there is a degree of “neighboring”, and how much is recognized as “neighboring router” is a matter that should be determined appropriately according to the purpose of use is there. Therefore, in practice, any standard may be set based on the reported connection history data, and only routers that satisfy this standard may be recognized as “neighboring routers”. Of course, a plurality of criteria may be set so that the degree of neighborhood can be recognized among the same “neighboring routers”. For example, the statistical results as shown in Fig. 4 (b) are analyzed, and the total number of cases reported as "connected routers of the previous / twice / three times ago" is 1000 or more. ", The routers A, C, and E are recognized as" neighboring routers ". Further, in order to classify the same “neighboring routers” according to the degree of the neighbors, the number of cases reported as “previously connected routers” of 10,000 or more is set as a high neighbor router, and other routers However, if the total number of cases reported as “previous / twice previous connected routers” is 5000 or more, the middle neighbor router is classified, and the other routers are classified as low neighbor routers. Is recognized as a high neighbor router, router C as a middle neighbor router, and router E as a low neighbor router.
[0035]
In the embodiment described so far, each terminal device reports information indicating which router was connected to the previous or several times as a past connection history. In some cases, it is not always possible to sufficiently recognize neighboring routers. For example, when a connection history as shown in FIG. 4A is reported to the router X, the router A can generally recognize that it is a neighboring router of the router X. is there. Of course, when a user who has a mobile phone as a terminal device moves from the area in charge of the router A to the area in charge of the router X on foot, there is no error in such recognition. However, after router A is installed in Osaka and router X is installed in Tokyo, a user who has a mobile phone disconnects and moves to Tokyo by Shinkansen after performing packet communication in Osaka. Even when packet communication is performed again, a connection history as shown in FIG. In this case, even if the routers A, C, and D reported in the connection history are all routers installed in Osaka, there is a possibility that they will be misrecognized as neighboring routers of the router X installed in Tokyo. is there.
[0036]
Of course, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), if it is determined whether or not the router is a neighboring router based on statistics of connection histories from a large number of terminal devices, such misrecognition is a statistical technique. Is likely to be removed. However, in order to perform more accurate recognition, each terminal device is reported so that the past communication time for the router is reported as a connection history together with information indicating the router connected in the past. Based on the time from the past communication time to the current time, it may be determined whether or not each router to be recognized is recognized as a neighboring router.
[0037]
For example, the connection history shown in FIG. 5 is obtained by further incorporating communication times for individual routers into the connection history shown in FIG. The communication time may be a communication start time, a communication end time, or both of them may be incorporated. Alternatively, the time when a specific process is executed during communication may be used. For example, in the case of a mobile phone or the like, when moving to a jurisdiction area of a base station that is an external agent, a notification of a predetermined care-of address is received from the external agent. You may make it incorporate in a connection history as communication time. In the illustrated example, only the time data is reported as the communication time. However, in practice, it is preferable to report the data including the date and time as the communication time.
[0038]
In this way, if the past communication time is reported as the connection history, the router that received the report will not handle the connection history in consideration of the time from the reported past communication time to the current time. You can turn on. Here, for example, if the router X receives a connection history report as shown in FIG. 5 at 11:22, the communication time for the router A connected immediately before is 11:12. The time from the communication time for the router A to the current time connected to the router X is only 10 minutes, and for the router C connected twice before, the communication time is 11:08, and the router C The time from the communication time to the current time when connected to the router X is 14 minutes. On the other hand, it can be recognized that four hours or more have elapsed from the communication time to the router D. Although this is listed in the connection history shown in FIG. 5, it is highly likely that the router D does not exist in the vicinity of the router X. Therefore, even when the statistical method as shown in FIG. 4 (b) is adopted, for example, if a method such as “adopt only connection history within 30 minutes from the time of reporting” is adopted, Accurate recognition is possible.
[0039]
Further, if the past communication time is reported as the connection history, it is possible to recognize the degree of neighbor for each neighboring router based on the time from the past communication time to the current time. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 5, the difference in communication time between routers C and X is 14 minutes, and the difference in communication time between routers A and X is 10 minutes. However, using the moving means such as walking, automobile, train, etc., the distance between routers A and X The ratio of the distance between the routers C and X is 10 to 14. Of course, in reality, there are many cases where this assumption does not hold, but if the method of estimating the distance based on such a time difference is combined with a statistical method, the neighbors of individual neighboring routers It becomes possible to recognize the degree of.
[0040]
In order to more accurately recognize the geographical location of neighboring routers, each terminal device has a function to detect its own geographical coordinate values, together with information for identifying routers connected in the past, What is necessary is just to make it report the geographical coordinate value detected at the time of the connection to the said router as a connection history. The function of detecting its own geographical coordinate value can be realized by using, for example, GPS (Global Positioning System). A mobile phone, PDA device, laptop computer, etc. used as a terminal device has a built-in GPS so that it can always grasp its own geographical coordinate value as, for example, latitude / longitude information. Just keep it.
[0041]
In the case of the example shown in FIG. 3, if GPS is incorporated in the terminal device x, it is possible to recognize its own geographical coordinate value P (t1) at the time of communication with the router A within the region α at time t1. This is stored in the memory as a part of the connection history. Then, when the terminal device x moves into the region β and starts communication with the router B at the time t2, if the connection history is reported to the router B, the router B Can communicate with the router A at the position of the geographical coordinate value P (t1) immediately before. Therefore, the router B can determine whether or not the router A is recognized as a neighboring router based on the geographical coordinate value P (t1).
[0042]
Of course, the geographical coordinate value P (t1) does not indicate the coordinate value itself of the installation location of the router A, but merely indicates the position of the terminal device x itself when the terminal device x is communicating with the router A. It is a coordinate value. However, the geographical coordinate value P (t1) is a coordinate value indicating any position in the area α that is the area in charge of the router A, and the same coordinate value is reported from many terminal devices. Then, by using a statistical method, it is possible to predict the installation location of the router A with a certain degree of accuracy. Therefore, the geographical coordinate value reported from the terminal device with built-in GPS becomes very valuable information in estimating the accurate geographical position of the neighboring router, and based on the reported geographical coordinate value. , It becomes possible to recognize the degree of neighborhood for each neighboring router. In other words, if each router is informed of its own geographical coordinate values, it recognizes up to the exact distance between the installation location of the neighboring router and its installation location obtained by the statistical method described above. It becomes possible.
[0043]
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a connection history including past communication times and geographical coordinate values. In this example, recording is performed from the top to the bottom in order from the old history to the new history. The communication time, the address of the connected router, and the physical coordinate value of the terminal device at the time of communication (latitude / longitude data) However, it is left as history. By receiving reports of past connection histories as shown in the figure from individual terminal devices, and analyzing similar reports received from a large number of terminal devices using statistical methods, information on communication time and geographical coordinate values can be obtained. This makes it possible to estimate the geographical location of each reported router fairly accurately. Thus, if the geographical position of each router can be accurately estimated, for example, it is possible to easily recognize “neighboring routers” by making a determination such as “recognizing a router existing within a radius of 1 km as a neighboring router”. become.
[0044]
In the embodiments described so far, it is determined whether or not the router is a “neighboring router” based on only the geographical position. However, the number of hops to the recognition target router via the network and the traffic situation If a router whose obtained hop count exceeds the specified reference value or the obtained traffic status indicates congestion exceeding the specified standard is excluded from the “neighboring router” It is also possible to do this.
[0045]
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a procedure for recognizing a neighboring router with respect to a predetermined router X based on such processing. First, in step S1, a connection history is acquired from the terminal device. In practice, a large number of connection histories are acquired from a large number of terminal devices. In subsequent step S2, one of the determination target routers included in the connection history acquired in step S1 is selected (here, for convenience, router Y is selected), and the geographical distance from router X is selected. Recognize Specifically, as described above, the geographical distance between the routers X and Y is determined by a statistical method based on the reported individual communication times and geographical coordinate values. In step S3, the geographical distance is compared with a predetermined reference value to determine whether it is far or near. If it is determined that they are close, the process proceeds to step S4, and the topological distance from the router X is recognized for the determination target router Y. The recognition of the topological distance can be executed by automatic processing using predetermined route search software as described above. In step S5, it is determined whether this topological distance (the number of hops and traffic status) is far or near (whether the number of hops and the degree of congestion are large or small) compared to a predetermined reference value. If it is determined that it is close, the process proceeds to step S6, and the determination target router Y is registered as a “neighboring router” for the router X. When such processing is repeatedly executed through step S7 and determinations for all determination target routers are completed, all procedures are completed.
[0046]
A router registered as a “neighboring router” by such a procedure is a close router with respect to the router X whose geographical distance and topological distance are within a predetermined range. Even if the geographical distance is close, but the topological distance is long, it should be excluded from the definition of “neighboring routers” if the router is too far away from the topological distance (the number of hops and congestion) This is because, even if an information packet is transmitted for a large router), it is likely that the arrival time will be very long or may not be reached due to an accident.
[0047]
As described above, an object of the present invention is to automatically recognize “neighboring routers” existing in a geographical vicinity with respect to a specific router, and thus recognize “neighboring routers”. One industrial advantage is that it is possible to selectively provide area-specific information specialized for a specific area to a terminal device existing in the specific area. For example, for router X installed in the center of a large city terminal station, a router existing within a radius of 100 m is defined as “neighboring router”, and routers Y1, Y2, and Y3 are defined as “neighboring routers” by the above-described method. , It can be expected that all the terminal devices connected to the neighboring routers Y1, Y2, and Y3 exist in the vicinity of the terminal station. Therefore, if a region-specific information packet is distributed to a terminal device connected to a LAN managed by the neighboring routers Y1, Y2, and Y3, it is expected to exist in the premises of the terminal station or in the vicinity thereof. Selective packet distribution to only the terminal device is possible.
[0048]
Specifically, such a method is very effective when information on bargain sales at a department store in the terminal station is to be distributed to users around the terminal station. Within the terminal station premises, there are routers that function as base stations for multiple mobile phone companies, and there are also routers for wireless LAN provided by other operating bodies such as Internet cafes. The routers for Ethernet (registered trademark) of various companies are also installed. In this way, the existence of routers independently installed by a large number of operating mothers is difficult to recognize by the conventional method even if they are installed in the same station premises. According to the method of the present invention, by using the presence of a plurality of neighboring routers installed in an environment in which different operating bodies are mixed as a mobile device such as a mobile phone as an information transmission medium, Recognition.
[0049]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the method for recognizing a neighboring router according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically recognize a neighboring router existing in the geographical vicinity of a specific router in the packet communication network.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram topologically showing a connection state of routers in a general packet communication network.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a geographical position of each router shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the basic concept of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a connection history reported from a terminal device according to the present invention, and an example of a statistical result created based on such a connection history.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example in which the communication time is included as a connection history for routers connected in the past.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a communication history and a physical coordinate value detected at the time of communication are included for a router connected in the past as a connection history.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for recognizing a neighboring router in the method according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
A to G, X ... Router (base station)
a1, a2, b, d, g, x... terminal device
x (t1), x (t2) ... position of the terminal device x at times t1 and t2
α, β: Areas that are assigned to each router

Claims (5)

In a packet communication network comprising a number of routers constituting a network and a number of terminal devices connected to these routers and having a function of performing packet communication between predetermined terminal devices, the geography of a specific router A method for recognizing neighboring routers existing in the neighborhood,
When a specific terminal device is connected to the specific router, a past connection history with the other router regarding the specific terminal device is obtained via a connection between the specific router and the specific terminal device. A packet communication network characterized by recognizing a neighboring router for the specific router by statistical processing based on the connection history reported from a large number of terminal devices. To recognize neighboring routers. The recognition method according to claim 1,
  The terminal device is provided with a function for detecting its own geographical coordinate value, and information for identifying the recognition target router connected in the past and the geographical coordinate value detected at the time of connection to the router are used as a connection history. A method for recognizing a neighboring router in a packet communication network, characterized in that a determination is made as to whether or not the recognition target router is recognized as a neighboring router based on the geographical coordinate value. The recognition method according to claim 2,
  A method for recognizing neighboring routers in a packet communication network, characterized by recognizing the degree of neighbors for each neighboring router based on reported geographical coordinate values. The recognition method according to claim 2 or 3,
  A method for recognizing a neighboring router in a packet communication network, wherein a function for detecting a geographical coordinate value of a terminal device is realized using GPS. In the recognition method in any one of Claims 2-4,
  Investigate at least one of the number of hops to the router to be recognized via the network and the traffic situation, and determine whether to recognize the router to be recognized as a neighboring router in consideration of the obtained investigation results A method for recognizing neighboring routers in a packet communication network.

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