JP5341809B2 - Wireless communication apparatus and control program therefor - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a radio communication apparatus applied to a heterogeneous radio communication system that performs radio communication simultaneously using a plurality of types of radio communication schemes, and a control program therefor.

  Conventionally, techniques for integrating different wireless systems such as a wireless LAN and a mobile phone have been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for integrating different types of radio systems having different cell sizes such as a pico cell, a micro cell, and a macro cell using a cognitive base station device and a cognitive terminal device. The cognitive base station device and the cognitive terminal device each include a switch, a plurality of wireless modules, and a wireless environment recognition unit. The wireless environment recognition unit recognizes the wireless environment and links to the switch based on the recognition result. Instructs the wireless module to which the frame is distributed. The link frame is transmitted / received via the designated wireless module.

JP 2008-85759 A

  In recent years, with the expansion of wireless use, traffic control that limits the amount of transmission traffic has been applied to wireless devices. Traffic control is a technique for controlling transmission traffic so that the throughput is below a certain value (regulated throughput). For example, as a first traffic control example, there is a technique for reducing a transmission rate when a radio device performs transmission exceeding a certain amount within a certain time. Then, after a certain time has elapsed, the restriction is canceled and the transmission rate is recovered. Further, as a second traffic control example, if the wireless device performs transmission exceeding a certain amount within a certain time, the transmission is stopped. Then, after a lapse of a certain time, the restriction is canceled and transmission is possible. In addition, a configuration has been proposed in which a wireless device stores a ticket that is periodically provided, consumes the ticket at the time of transmission, and stops transmission when the remaining amount of the ticket becomes zero.

  On the other hand, a so-called heterogeneous control technique has been proposed. This heterogeneous control is a technique for selecting one optimum radio link from a plurality of radio links. Criteria for making this selection have been proposed. First, the first standard is the wireless transmission rate. That is, the radio link with the maximum transmission rate in the radio section is selected. The second criterion is the signal level. That is, the radio link having the maximum received signal level is selected.

  Here, when the above traffic control and heterogeneous control are combined, the heterogeneous control is performed, and the radio link selected as having the maximum radio transmission rate is in a transmission stop state due to the traffic control. Then, a situation where the expected throughput cannot be obtained may occur.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides a wireless communication device capable of performing both wireless control and heterogeneous control and performing wireless communication utilizing the merits of both, and a control program therefor The purpose is to do.

  (1) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes the following measures. That is, the wireless communication device of the present invention is a wireless communication device applied to a heterogeneous wireless communication system that performs wireless communication using a plurality of types of wireless communication methods at the same time, and performs wireless communication using mutually different wireless communication methods. A plurality of wireless modules to be performed, a traffic control module for performing traffic control for limiting a transmission traffic amount of any one of the wireless modules to a threshold value or less, and a throughput of each of the wireless modules based on the threshold value for traffic control. A wireless module selecting unit that selects a wireless module that is the largest, and performing wireless transmission with the selected wireless module.

  As described above, since the wireless module having the maximum throughput is selected from the wireless modules based on the traffic control threshold, both the traffic control and the heterogeneous control can be achieved, and wireless communication utilizing the merits of both can be performed. Can be done.

  (2) In the wireless communication apparatus of the present invention, the wireless module selection unit preferentially selects a wireless module that is not subjected to the traffic control.

  As described above, since a wireless module that does not receive traffic control is preferentially selected, it is possible to avoid a decrease in throughput. Note that when a problem in communication quality occurs, it can be dealt with by adding a wireless module subject to traffic control to a selection candidate.

  (3) In the wireless communication device of the present invention, the wireless module selection unit acquires the wireless transmission rate of each wireless module, and when the traffic control threshold is lower than the acquired wireless transmission rate, The traffic control threshold is regarded as the wireless transmission speed of the wireless module, and the wireless module having the maximum throughput is selected.

  In this way, when the wireless transmission speed of each wireless module is acquired and the traffic control threshold is lower than the acquired wireless transmission speed, the traffic control threshold is regarded as the wireless module transmission speed and the throughput is maximized. Therefore, it is possible to achieve both traffic control and heterogeneous control. For example, it is possible to prevent the throughput from being reduced by selecting this wireless module when the threshold is smaller than that even if the wireless transmission speed is high.

  (4) In the wireless communication device of the present invention, the wireless module selection unit acquires a wireless transmission rate of each wireless module, and the acquired wireless transmission rate or the traffic according to an application used in communication. One of the control threshold values is selected, and the wireless module having the maximum throughput is selected based on either the selected wireless transmission speed or the selected threshold value.

  In this way, the wireless transmission rate of each wireless module is acquired, and according to the application used for communication, either the acquired wireless transmission rate or the threshold value for traffic control is selected, and the selected wireless transmission rate or threshold value is selected. Based on one of these, the wireless module that maximizes the throughput is selected, so that it is possible to perform heterogeneous control in consideration of application characteristics and traffic control. For example, in a best-efot application such as WEB browsing, a wireless transmission rate value acquired from a wireless module can be used without setting a threshold. On the other hand, in a real-time application, the traffic control threshold can be used as the transmission speed of the wireless module.

  (5) Further, in the wireless communication apparatus of the present invention, the wireless module selection unit excludes the wireless module from selection candidates when the wireless module is not allowed to transmit due to the traffic control. And

  As described above, when a wireless module is subjected to traffic control and cannot be transmitted, the wireless module is excluded from the selection candidates. Therefore, the maximum usable throughput can be used while receiving traffic control. .

  (6) In the wireless communication device of the present invention, the wireless module selection unit may select a wireless module as a selection candidate when the excluded wireless module can resume transmission. .

  As described above, when the excluded wireless module becomes able to resume transmission, the wireless module is selected as a selection candidate, so that the maximum usable throughput can be used while receiving traffic control.

  (7) In the wireless communication apparatus of the present invention, the wireless module selection unit selects a wireless module that receives the traffic control or a wireless module that does not receive the traffic control based on a traffic type or a traffic size. It is characterized by that.

  In this way, the wireless module that receives traffic control or the wireless module that does not receive traffic control is selected based on the type of traffic or the size of traffic. Therefore, both traffic control and heterogeneous control are compatible, and the advantages of both are utilized. Wireless communication. For example, a long packet having a large packet size can be transmitted by a wireless module not subjected to traffic control, while a short packet having a small packet size can be transmitted by a wireless module subjected to traffic control.

  (8) In the wireless communication device of the present invention, the traffic control unit switches the presence or absence of the traffic control or changes the threshold according to the number of other wireless communication devices that are communication partners. Features.

  In this way, since the presence or absence of traffic control is switched or the threshold value is changed according to the number of other wireless communication devices that are communication partners, it is possible to improve communication quality. That is, when the threshold value for traffic control is fixed, traffic control may be performed with a low threshold value even when the number of other wireless communication devices as communication partners is small and average traffic control is not required. There is a waste of radio resources. It is possible to improve communication quality by eliminating this waste and using it for quality improvement.

  (9) A wireless communication device control program according to the present invention is a wireless communication device control program applied to a heterogeneous wireless communication system that performs wireless communication using a plurality of types of wireless communication methods simultaneously. Among the wireless modules, the processing for performing traffic control for limiting the transmission traffic amount of any one of the wireless modules to a threshold value or less, and the throughput among the wireless modules is maximized based on the traffic control threshold value. A series of processes including a process of selecting a wireless module and a process of causing the selected wireless module to perform wireless transmission is commanded to be readable and executable by a computer.

  As described above, since the wireless module having the maximum throughput is selected from the wireless modules based on the traffic control threshold, both the traffic control and the heterogeneous control can be achieved, and wireless communication utilizing the merits of both can be performed. Can be done.

  According to the present invention, the wireless module that maximizes the throughput is selected from the wireless modules based on the traffic control threshold value. Therefore, the wireless communication that achieves both traffic control and heterogeneous control and takes advantage of both advantages is provided. Communication can be performed.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the radio | wireless machine which performs radio | wireless communication simultaneously using several types of radio | wireless communication systems. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of a wireless module. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of a traffic control module. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of a traffic switch. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of a heterogeneous control module. It is a figure which shows the selection table used when the heterogeneous control module 4 selects a radio | wireless module. It is a figure which shows the selection table used when the heterogeneous control module 4 selects a radio | wireless module. It is a figure which shows the selection table used when the heterogeneous control module 4 selects a radio | wireless module. It is a figure which shows the selection table used when the heterogeneous control module 4 selects a radio | wireless module. It is a figure which shows switching the presence or absence of traffic control, or changing a threshold value according to the number of the other radio | wireless communication apparatuses used as a communicating party.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a radio that performs radio communication using a plurality of types of radio communication systems simultaneously. This radio includes a radio module 1 provided for each radio link, a traffic control module 2 that performs traffic control, a traffic switch 3 that switches radio modules, and a heterogeneous control module 4 that performs heterogeneous control. Is done. The traffic control module 2 operates along with some of the wireless modules 1. The wireless module 1 that does not include the traffic control module 2 does not perform traffic control. That is, it can be transmitted freely. The heterogeneous control module 4 constitutes a wireless module selection unit.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the wireless module. The wireless module includes an antenna 11 that inputs and outputs wireless signals, a transceiver 12 that transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 11, and a quality monitoring unit 13 that monitors wireless transmission quality.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the traffic control module. The traffic control module 2 includes a restriction execution unit 21 that performs traffic control, and a restriction management unit 22 that switches the presence / absence of traffic control and sets a threshold value.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the traffic switch. The traffic switch 3 includes a switch unit 31 that switches any one of the wireless modules.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the heterogeneous control module. The heterogeneous control module 4 includes a wireless module selection unit 41 that selects a wireless module to be operated based on information such as a threshold value for traffic control and a wireless transmission speed.

  In FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, the heterogeneous control module 4 acquires quality information, for example, a wireless transmission rate or a reception level, from the wireless module 1. In addition, the heterogeneous control module 4 obtains restriction information from the traffic control module 2, for example, a restriction state during restriction or normal, a cumulative transmission traffic amount, a time until transmission restart, and the like. The heterogeneous control module 4 determines the wireless module 1 used for transmission according to the selection rule using the information, and notifies the traffic switch 3 of the result.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a selection table used when the heterogeneous control module 4 selects a wireless module. As shown in FIG. 6, when the request from the application is, for example, 2 Mbps, the wireless module 1 </ b> A that does not receive traffic control can handle the request. On the other hand, when the request from the application is 1.0 Mbps, the wireless modules 1B and 1C satisfy the conditions but preferentially select the wireless module 1C that does not receive traffic control.

  The traffic switch 3 transmits traffic to the notified wireless module 1. Unless updated, it is transmitted to the wireless module 1 notified last. The traffic control module 2 regulates transmission traffic (squeezing, discarding, etc.) in accordance with the regulation rules.

  Traffic control is operated to avoid network congestion. For this reason, it is basically preferable to avoid selecting a wireless module that receives traffic control. Therefore, the presence / absence of traffic control is used as a so-called “footstep condition (condition for excluding a wireless module from selection candidates)” when the heterogeneous control module 4 selects a wireless module. A wireless module without traffic control is preferentially selected as a selection candidate. When there is no corresponding wireless module or when a quality problem occurs, a wireless module with traffic control is added as a selection candidate.

(Second Embodiment)
In the second embodiment, the wireless transmission rate, which is a reference for selecting the wireless module 1 by the heterogeneous control module 4, is matched with the throughput upper limit value (restricted throughput) regulated by the traffic control module 2.

  The heterogeneous control module 4 sets an upper limit value for the wireless transmission rate acquired from the wireless module 1, and sets the regulated throughput there. Even if the wireless transmission rate is several tens of Mbps, if the regulated throughput is 384 kbps, 384 kbps is set as the wireless transmission rate. When the radio link is selected, the radio transmission speed of the radio module 1 is handled as 384 kbps. With this setting, it is possible to select a wireless module in consideration of traffic control. This is applied to real-time applications in which a certain amount of traffic is continuously transmitted for medium / low-speed video playback.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a selection table used when the heterogeneous control module 4 selects a wireless module. As shown in FIG. 7, even if the wireless transmission rate acquired from the wireless module 2 is 3 Mbps, if the traffic control threshold acquired from the traffic control module 2 is 384 kbps, traffic information is included in the quality information (wireless transmission rate). A control threshold of 384 kbps is set. In FIG. 7, the quality information of the wireless module 1B is 384 kbps, while the quality information of the wireless module 1A is 5 Mbps, so the wireless module 1A is selected.

(Third embodiment)
In the third embodiment, either the acquired wireless transmission rate or the traffic control threshold value is selected according to the application used for communication. In the case of an application in which bursty traffic occurs irregularly, the second embodiment may be difficult to cope with. The regulation management unit 22 that monitors the throughput of the traffic control module 2 monitors the amount of transmission traffic within a certain time. For example, when the throughput is monitored by the transmission traffic amount every 10 seconds, if the transmission data amount within 10 seconds is equal to or less than the regulation value 3.84 Mbit (= 384 kbps × 10 seconds), it is considered that the regulation throughput does not exceed 384 kbps. It is done.

  When traffic occurs irregularly as in WEB browsing, if the amount of transmission data is less than the regulation value, there is no need to apply the processing shown in the second embodiment. If the second embodiment is used, the wireless transmission speed is estimated too low. Therefore, unlike the second embodiment, in the best efot application such as WEB browsing, the “elementary value (wireless transmission speed) obtained from the wireless module 1 without setting the upper limit of the regulation throughput on the wireless transmission speed. Itself) ”. However, if the first traffic control is restricted, the throughput value in a lowered state may be written.

  Furthermore, the heterogeneous control module individually manages the wireless transmission rate (second embodiment) and the raw wireless transmission rate in consideration of restrictions, and selects them according to the type of application. In the real-time application (Example 2), a wireless module is selected by applying a value in consideration of the restriction, and in a best-efot application, a prime value is applied.

  By using different types of wireless transmission speeds, heterogeneous control can be performed in consideration of application characteristics and traffic control.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a selection table used when the heterogeneous control module 4 selects a wireless module. As shown in FIG. 8, the quality information (wireless transmission rate) of the wireless module 1B subjected to traffic control is 5 Mbps, but the regulation information (traffic control threshold) is 384 kbps. For this reason, in the selection for the real-time system application, the comparison is performed using 384 kbps. In the selection for the best-efot application, the comparison is performed using 5 Mbps.

(Fourth embodiment)
In the fourth embodiment, when a wireless module subjected to traffic control becomes unavailable for transmission, the wireless module is excluded from selection candidates, while when the excluded wireless module becomes capable of resuming transmission, A wireless module is selected as a selection candidate. In a high-speed real-time application that transmits a large amount of data within a certain time, continuous high-speed transmission is required. In this case, a method of positively selecting a wireless module can be considered on the assumption that traffic control is restricted. First, the correspondence for the best-effort application of the third embodiment is applied to this type of application. When a period during which transmission is impossible occurs due to restrictions, the wireless module is excluded from candidates for wireless link selection. After that, when the restriction is released and transmission can be resumed, it is restored to a candidate for radio selection.

  As a result, it is possible to perform transmission that uses up the throughput to the limit without interruption while receiving traffic control. Alternatively, when the first traffic control is restricted, the reduced throughput value may be written as quality information (wireless transmission rate).

  For this purpose, the traffic control module 2 notifies the heterogeneous control module 4 of the restriction information of the wireless module. The heterogeneous control module 4 reflects the information in the radio link selection candidate table. The restriction information is under regulation / normal, waiting time until transmission is resumed, and the like.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a selection table used when the heterogeneous control module 4 selects a wireless module. As shown in FIG. 9, the wireless module 1B that receives traffic control is treated as unselectable on the wireless module selection table while receiving transmission restrictions. Along with the cancellation of the transmission restriction, the non-selection is also canceled.

(Fifth embodiment)
In the fifth embodiment, a wireless module that receives traffic control or a wireless module that does not receive traffic control is selected based on the type of traffic or the size of traffic. When both the wireless module A that receives traffic control and the wireless module B that does not receive traffic control (or the traffic control is moderately restricted) are included in the selection candidates, the selection can be made paying attention to the characteristics of the traffic.

  There are long packets with a long packet size and short short packets (for example, TCP Ack). A long packet is input to the wireless module B, and a short packet is input to the wireless module A. A radio link subjected to traffic control is often a wide area system, and has a feature of high area permeability. Therefore, control information (IEEE P1900.4 etc.) used for heterogeneous control is directed to the wireless module A. Traffic other than this is directed to the wireless module B.

  In addition, the said embodiment is a countermeasure which can be implemented only by a radio device, and can be applied to both the terminal side and the base station side.

(Sixth embodiment)
In the first to fifth embodiments, it is assumed that the regulated throughput (threshold value) of traffic control is a fixed value. In this situation, even when the number of wireless devices is small and it is not necessary to apply an average restriction, a low restriction throughput is applied, and surplus wireless resources may be generated. In the sixth embodiment, the quality is improved by appropriating this surplus for quality improvement. For this reason, ON / OFF of traffic control and the regulation throughput value (threshold value) at the time of ON are dynamically changed according to the number of terminals. As the number of terminals decreases, the regulation throughput is improved and then turned off. When the number of terminals increases, it is changed from OFF to ON, and then the regulated throughput is increased.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the concept of operations of the base station and the terminal. As shown in FIG. 10, the wireless device (terminal) notifies the wireless device (base station) of the type of wireless module provided in the own device, the presence / absence of traffic control, and the wireless transmission speed of the wireless device (base station) ( S1). Alternatively, if the radio (base station) grasps the operation information, the information may be used. Next, the radio (base station) calculates the presence / absence of traffic control and the regulated throughput (S2). The radio (base station) individually calculates the radio (terminal) transmission and the radio (base station) transmission. Next, the wireless device (base station) notifies the wireless device (terminal) of the result calculated in S2 for transmitting the wireless device (terminal) (S3). Note that the result calculated in S2 for transmission of the wireless device (base station) is directly applied to the wireless device (base station).

In addition, the following considerations are added. The following formula shows an example of a calculation formula for the regulated throughput.
f1 = (maximum wireless transmission speed of the wireless module) × (correction coefficient A) ÷ number of wireless devices (terminals) in the area (correction coefficient A) ≦ 1

In the case of a wireless device (terminal) that can use another wireless module without traffic control, it is not added to the number of in-service wireless devices (counting as 0). On the other hand, in the case of a wireless device (terminal) equipped with another wireless module with traffic control, 1 ÷ (number of other wireless modules) [units] is added to the number of wireless devices in the area.
When (result of f1)> threshold B (B is an arbitrary set value) is satisfied, traffic control is turned off.

  Further, a result obtained by multiplying the calculation result of f1 by a correction coefficient C (≦ 1) for each wireless device is applied as the regulated throughput of each wireless device.

  That is, a terminal that has a wireless module that is not subject to traffic control and can be used (a terminal that has a technique to avoid) is excluded from the counting of the number of terminals. The correction coefficient A may be multiplied in consideration of avoidance means. For a terminal provided with avoidance means, the calculated regulation throughput may be multiplied by a correction factor C for each radio in consideration of the avoidance means.

  As described above, it is possible to achieve both the quality of each terminal and the effective use (use up) of radio resources by controlling traffic control in consideration of the existence of terminals equipped with multiple radio modules. It becomes.

  The characteristic operation of the present invention can be realized by causing a computer to execute a program. That is, a control program for a wireless communication apparatus according to the present invention is a control program for a wireless communication apparatus applied to a heterogeneous wireless communication system that performs wireless communication using a plurality of types of wireless communication methods at the same time. A process of performing traffic control for limiting the amount of transmission traffic of any one of the wireless modules to a threshold value or less, and a wireless module having a maximum throughput among the wireless modules based on the traffic control threshold value. A series of processes including a process of selecting and a process of causing the selected wireless module to perform wireless transmission is commanded to be readable and executable by a computer. As described above, since the wireless module having the maximum throughput is selected from the wireless modules based on the traffic control threshold, both the traffic control and the heterogeneous control can be achieved, and wireless communication utilizing the merits of both can be performed. Can be done.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Radio module 2 Traffic control module 3 Traffic switch 11 Antenna 12 Transceiver 13 Quality monitoring part 21 Restriction enforcement part 22 Restriction management part 31 Switch part 41 Wireless module selection part

Claims (9)

A wireless communication device applied to a heterogeneous wireless communication system that performs wireless communication using a plurality of types of wireless communication methods simultaneously,
A plurality of wireless modules that perform wireless communication using mutually different wireless communication methods;
A traffic control module for performing traffic control for limiting the transmission traffic amount of any of the wireless modules to a threshold value or less;
A wireless module selection unit that selects a wireless module having the maximum throughput among the wireless modules based on the traffic control threshold;
A wireless communication apparatus that performs wireless transmission with the selected wireless module.   The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wireless module selection unit preferentially selects a wireless module not subjected to the traffic control.   The wireless module selection unit acquires a wireless transmission rate of each wireless module, and when the traffic control threshold is lower than the acquired wireless transmission rate, the wireless control unit sets the traffic control threshold as the wireless transmission rate of the wireless module. The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wireless module having the maximum throughput is selected.   The wireless module selection unit acquires the wireless transmission rate of each wireless module, and selects and selects either the acquired wireless transmission rate or the traffic control threshold according to the application used for communication. The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a wireless module having a maximum throughput is selected based on either the wireless transmission speed or the threshold value.   The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the wireless module selection unit excludes the wireless module from selection candidates when the wireless module becomes unable to transmit due to the traffic control.   The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the wireless module selection unit selects the wireless module as a selection candidate when transmission of the excluded wireless module can be resumed.   2. The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wireless module selection unit selects a wireless module that receives the traffic control or a wireless module that does not receive the traffic control based on a traffic type or a traffic size. . The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the traffic control module switches the presence / absence of the traffic control or changes the threshold according to the number of other wireless communication apparatuses that are communication partners.


A control program for a wireless communication device applied to a heterogeneous wireless communication system that performs wireless communication using a plurality of types of wireless communication methods simultaneously,
A process of performing traffic control for limiting a transmission traffic amount of any one of the plurality of wireless modules to a threshold value or less;
Based on the traffic control threshold, a process of selecting a wireless module having the maximum throughput among the wireless modules;
A control program for a wireless communication apparatus, characterized in that a process of causing the selected wireless module to perform wireless transmission and a series of processes are commanded to be readable and executable by a computer.

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