JP5646436B2 - Radio relay apparatus and traffic control method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a wireless relay apparatus and a traffic control method for performing a relay process between a wireless LAN terminal on a local side and a plurality of access networks (wireless LAN or mobile communication network) on a network side.
In particular, the present invention relates to a wireless relay apparatus and a traffic control method for performing wireless communication using channel bonding that bundles a plurality of channels in a local wireless LAN.

  In recent years, mobile terminals such as smartphones, tablets, and game machines have been equipped with wireless LAN interfaces, and these devices can be used to access the Internet via a high-speed wireless LAN not only at home or office, but also on the go. Is possible. In this specification, a wireless terminal having a wireless LAN interface including such a mobile terminal is referred to as a “wireless LAN terminal”.

  However, wireless LANs are fixedly installed in places such as stations, airports, and coffee shops, and wireless LAN terminals cannot maintain access to the Internet outside the wireless LAN communication range.

  As a device for solving this problem, there is a wireless relay device that connects to a wireless LAN within a wireless LAN communication area, and connects to, for example, a mobile communication network or WiMAX (Worldwide interoperability for microwave access) outside the wireless LAN communication area. Access to the Internet can be maintained by connecting a terminal to a wireless LAN, a mobile communication network, or WiMAX via the wireless relay device. The mobile communication network standards include HSPA (High speed packet access), WCDMA (Wide band code division multiple access), EDGE (Enhanced data rates for GSM (registered trademark) evolution), LTE (Long Term Evolution), etc. There is.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of a conventional wireless relay device (Patent Document 1).
In FIG. 3, the wireless relay device 10 includes a network side wireless LAN connection unit 11, network side wireless connection units 12 and 13, a local side wireless LAN connection unit 14, and a connection control unit 15. A wireless LAN 101, a mobile communication network 102, and a WiMAX 103 are connected to the backbone network 100 as an access network.

  The network-side wireless LAN connection unit 11 performs connection processing according to a protocol of the IEEE 802.11 standard with a base station of the wireless LAN 101 that is an access network on the network side. The network-side wireless connection units 12 and 13 perform connection processing according to the protocol of each wireless system with the mobile communication network 102 or the WiMAX 103 base station. The local wireless LAN connection unit 14 performs connection processing according to the protocol of the IEEE 802.11 standard with the local wireless LAN terminal 1. The connection control unit 15 selects either the network side wireless LAN connection unit 11 or the network side wireless connection units 12 and 13 and performs a relay process with the local side wireless LAN connection unit 14.

  With such a configuration, the wireless LAN terminal 1 is connected to the wireless relay device 10 via the local wireless LAN connection unit 14 and further to the network side wireless LAN 101 or the network side via the network side wireless LAN connection unit 11. It is connected to the mobile communication network 102 and the WiMAX 103 via the wireless connection units 12 and 13, and is connected to the backbone network 100 via these access networks.

  By the way, when both the wireless LAN interfaces of the wireless LAN terminal 1 and the wireless relay device 10 are compatible with the IEEE 802.11n standard (Non-patent Document 1), which is a wireless LAN speed-up standard, it has been established until then. It is possible to perform transmission using channel bonding that simultaneously uses two frequency channels used in the IEEE 802.11a / b / g standard (Non-Patent Document 2). Thereby, compared with the case where the wireless LAN of IEEE802.11a / b / g standard is used, communication at a speed twice or more becomes possible.

  In this channel bonding, two channels are used: a normally used channel (main channel) and an extended channel (subchannel) for speeding up. In the wireless LAN, in channel bonding in the 2.4 GHz frequency band defined by the IEEE 802.11 standard, communication is performed using a 40 MHz bandwidth channel using a main channel and a sub channel of 20 MHz bandwidth.

JP 2010-021878 A

IEEE Std 802.11nTM-2009 20.3.22.5.2 IEEE Std 802.11TM-2007 Chapter 17.2.2.2

  The wireless relay device 10 transfers traffic in real time from any of the access networks (101 to 103) to the wireless LAN terminal 1 or from the wireless LAN terminal 1 to any of the access networks. The communication speed at this time is the slower of the transmission speed on the network side connected to any of the access networks (101 to 103) and the transmission speed on the local side connected to the wireless LAN terminal 1.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 4, when the local wireless LAN secures a frequency band of 40 MHz (20 MHz × 2) by channel bonding, the network side (mobile communication network or WiMAX) has a narrower frequency band of 5 MHz. If there is, the respective transmission rates are also corresponding to them, and the slow transmission rate on the network side becomes a bottleneck for wireless relay. In this case, it is better not to perform channel bonding in the local wireless LAN.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 5, the advantages and disadvantages of channel bonding when there is a difference in transmission speed between the local side and the network side will be described. Here, the level of the transmission speed is represented by the thickness of the arrow.

FIG. 5 (1) shows a case where the transmission rate on the network side is lower than the transmission rate on the local side when the local wireless LAN is channel bonded. Traffic from the local side to the network side is buffered by the wireless relay device due to the low transmission speed on the network side as a bottleneck, and high speed communication by channel bonding on the local side cannot be utilized. On the other hand, the traffic from the network side to the local side becomes a low-speed wireless relay despite the high transmission rate on the local side because the transmission rate on the network side is low. Furthermore, since the wireless bandwidth for two channels by channel bonding is consumed on the local side, the communication capacity of other wireless systems using subchannels is reduced. In such a case, for example, if the transmission rate on the local side / 2> the transmission rate on the network side, it is desirable to stop channel bonding on the local side and narrow down the radio band.

FIG. 5 (2) shows a case where the transmission rate on the network side is higher than the transmission rate on the local side when the local wireless LAN is not performing channel bonding. The traffic from the local side to the network side becomes a low-speed wireless relay even though the transmission rate on the network side is high because the transmission rate on the local side is low. On the other hand, the traffic from the network side to the local side is buffered by the wireless relay device due to the low transmission rate on the local side as a bottleneck, and high speed communication on the network side cannot be utilized. In such a case, for example, local side transmission rate <network side transmission rate or
If local side transmission rate × 2 <network side transmission rate, it is desirable to perform channel bonding on the local side to widen the radio band.

  The present invention relates to a radio relay apparatus and traffic capable of improving the communication efficiency and frequency utilization efficiency of radio relay according to the transmission speed according to the presence or absence of channel bonding on the local side of the radio relay apparatus and the transmission speed on the network side. An object is to provide a control method.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, communication is performed between a local side wireless connection unit that performs communication with a wireless terminal using one or a plurality of frequency channels, and a base station of an access network connected to a backbone network. A wireless network comprising: a network side wireless connection unit for performing connection; and a connection control unit for connecting between the local side wireless connection unit and the network side wireless connection unit for performing relay processing between the wireless terminal and the access network base station. In the relay device, the transmission rate of the local wireless connection unit and the transmission rate of the network side wireless connection unit are acquired, and communication using a plurality of frequency channels is performed in the local side wireless connection unit according to the difference between the transmission rates of both. determining whether, with the traffic control unit for controlling the frequency channel used for communication on the local side wireless connections, traffic control unit, the local wireless connector If half the transmission rate of the local wireless connection unit is higher than the transmission rate of the network side wireless connection unit when performing communication using two frequency channels, the two frequencies of the local side wireless connection unit Stop communication using the channel and switch to communication using one frequency channel. If 1/2 of the transmission speed of the local wireless connection is lower than the transmission speed of the network wireless connection, the local wireless connection The control which maintains the communication using the 2 frequency channel of a part is performed .

According to a second aspect of the invention , communication is performed between a local side wireless connection unit that performs communication with a wireless terminal using one or a plurality of frequency channels, and a base station of an access network connected to the backbone network. A wireless network comprising: a network side wireless connection unit for performing connection; and a connection control unit for connecting between the local side wireless connection unit and the network side wireless connection unit for performing relay processing between the wireless terminal and the access network base station. In the relay device, the transmission rate of the local wireless connection unit and the transmission rate of the network side wireless connection unit are acquired, and communication using a plurality of frequency channels is performed in the local side wireless connection unit according to the difference between the transmission rates of both. determining whether, with the traffic control unit for controlling the frequency channel used for communication on the local side wireless connections, traffic control unit, the local wireless connector When you are carrying out communications using the first frequency channel, if a multiple of the transmission rate of the local side wireless connection part (a 1-2) is slower than the transmission speed of the network-side wireless connector, the local If communication using the two frequency channels of the wireless connection unit is performed and if the transmission speed of the local side wireless connection unit is a times higher than the transmission rate of the network side wireless connection unit, one frequency channel of the local side wireless connection unit Control to maintain communication using.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, communication is performed between a local side wireless connection unit that performs communication with a wireless terminal using one or a plurality of frequency channels, and a base station of an access network connected to the backbone network. A wireless network comprising: a network side wireless connection unit for performing connection; and a connection control unit for connecting between the local side wireless connection unit and the network side wireless connection unit for performing relay processing between the wireless terminal and the access network base station. In the traffic control method of the relay device , the wireless relay device acquires the transmission rate of the local side wireless connection unit and the transmission rate of the network side wireless connection unit, and the local side wireless connection unit according to the difference between the two transmission rates. determining whether the communication using a plurality of frequency channels, comprising a traffic control unit for controlling the frequency channel used for communication on the local side wireless connections, tiger When the local side wireless connection unit performs communication using the two frequency channels, the network control unit has a transmission rate that is 1/2 of the local side wireless connection unit higher than the transmission rate of the network side wireless connection unit. If so, the communication using the two frequency channels of the local side wireless connection unit is stopped and switched to the communication using the one frequency channel, and 1/2 of the transmission speed of the local side wireless connection unit is equal to that of the network side wireless connection unit. If the transmission speed is lower than the transmission speed, control is performed to maintain communication using the two frequency channels of the local wireless connection unit.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention , communication is performed between a local side wireless connection unit that performs communication with a wireless terminal using one or a plurality of frequency channels, and a base station of an access network connected to the backbone network. A wireless network comprising: a network side wireless connection unit for performing connection; and a connection control unit for connecting between the local side wireless connection unit and the network side wireless connection unit for performing relay processing between the wireless terminal and the access network base station. In the traffic control method of the relay device, the wireless relay device acquires the transmission rate of the local side wireless connection unit and the transmission rate of the network side wireless connection unit, and the local side wireless connection unit according to the difference between the two transmission rates. determining whether the communication using a plurality of frequency channels, comprising a traffic control unit for controlling the frequency channel used for communication on the local side wireless connections, tiger Click control unit, when it is carried out communication using the first frequency channel on the local side wireless connector, a multiple of the transmission rate of the local side wireless connection part (a 1-2) network side wireless connection if a low speed than the transmission speed of the parts, to implement communications using the second frequency channel of the local side wireless connection part, at a multiple of the transmission rate of the local side wireless connection part is faster than the transmission speed of the network-side wireless connector If there is, control is performed to maintain communication using one frequency channel of the local wireless connection unit.

  The present invention compares the transmission speeds of the local side wireless connection unit and the network side wireless connection unit, and the local side performs channel bonding, so the low speed network side is a bottleneck, or the local side is channel bonding. When the state where the low-speed local side is a bottleneck because it is not implemented, the stop or implementation of channel bonding is controlled. Thereby, the bottleneck of the communication speed due to the transmission speed difference between the network side and the local side is eliminated, and the communication efficiency of the wireless relay is improved. Further, by stopping unnecessary channel bonding, it is possible to expect an improvement in frequency utilization efficiency.

It is a figure which shows the Example of the radio relay apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the process sequence and example of a process of the traffic control part. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the conventional wireless relay apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of the bottleneck in the conventional wireless relay apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of the bottleneck in the conventional wireless relay apparatus.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a wireless relay device of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, the network side wireless LAN connection unit 11, the network side wireless connection units 12 and 13, the local side wireless LAN connection unit 14, and the connection control unit 15 constituting the wireless relay device 10 are the same as those of the conventional wireless relay device. It has a function.

  The wireless relay device 10 according to the present embodiment is characterized in that the network side wireless connection units 12 and 13, the local side wireless LAN connection unit 14, and the traffic control unit 16 connected to the connection control unit 15 include the network side wireless connection unit 12, 13 and whether to perform channel bonding between the local side wireless LAN connection unit 14 and the wireless LAN terminal 1 according to the transmission speed of the local side wireless LAN connection unit 14. Here, in the wireless connection unit 15, the network side wireless connection unit 12 and the local side wireless LAN connection unit 14 are connected, and the base station of the mobile communication network 102 and the wireless LAN terminal 1 are connected via the wireless relay device 10. The network side may be WiMAX 103. When the local wireless LAN secures a radio band of 20 MHz or 40 MHz depending on the presence or absence of channel bonding, the wireless side of the network side wireless connection units 12 and 13 is connected on the network side, for example, from 5 MHz to 100 MHz. Assume that the bandwidth can be taken.

FIG. 2 shows a processing procedure and a processing example of the traffic control unit 16.
In FIG. 2, the traffic control unit 16 acquires the transmission rate of the local wireless LAN connection unit 14 and the transmission rate of the network side wireless connection unit 12 (mobile communication network) (S1). Here, it is determined whether or not channel bonding is being performed in the local wireless LAN (S2).

If channel bonding is being performed in the local wireless LAN (S2: Yes), the local side and network side transmission rates acquired in step S1 are compared,
It is determined whether or not the transmission rate on the local side / 2> the transmission rate on the network side (S3). Here, if the local transmission rate / 2 (transmission rate when channel bonding is stopped) is higher than the network transmission rate, the network side is a bottleneck, and the wireless band of the local wireless LAN is Indicates that it is wasted. The If (S3: Yes), stops the channel bonding local side wireless LAN (S5), is equal to the network side in the half radio band local side wireless LAN. On the other hand, if the local transmission rate / 2 is lower than the network transmission rate, the channel bonding is maintained as it is (S6).

If channel bonding is not performed in the local wireless LAN as in the case where the local wireless LAN connection unit 14 inquires the traffic control unit 16 about whether or not the channel bonding is performed (S2: No) Compare the local and network transmission rates obtained in step S1,
It is determined whether or not the local transmission rate × 2 <the network transmission rate (S4). Here, if the local transmission rate x 2 (transmission rate when channel bonding is performed) is lower than the transmission rate on the network side, the local side is a bottleneck, and the network side wireless band is wasted. Indicates that In this case (S4: Yes), channel bonding of the local wireless LAN is performed (S7), and the wireless band of the local wireless LAN is widened to be equal to that of the network side. On the other hand, if the local side transmission rate × 2 is higher than the network side transmission rate, the channel bonding is not performed and maintained (S6).

  In step S4, the local side transmission rate is compared with the network side transmission rate. If the local side transmission rate xa (a is 1 to 2) is lower than the network side transmission rate, the local side radio If channel bonding is performed in the LAN and the local transmission rate × a is higher than the transmission rate on the network side, the channel bonding may be maintained without performing the channel bonding.

  As described above, the bottleneck of the communication speed due to the transmission speed difference between the network side and the local side is eliminated, and the communication efficiency of the wireless relay is improved. Further, by stopping unnecessary channel bonding, it is possible to expect an improvement in frequency utilization efficiency.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wireless LAN terminal 10 Wireless relay apparatus 11 Network side wireless LAN connection part 12, 13 Network side wireless connection part 14 Local side wireless LAN connection part 15 Connection control part 16 Traffic control part 100 Core network 101 Wireless LAN
102 Mobile communication network 103 WiMAX

Claims (4)

A local wireless connection that communicates with a wireless terminal using one or more frequency channels;
A network side wireless connection unit that performs communication with a base station of an access network connected to the backbone network;
In the wireless relay device comprising: a connection control unit that connects between the local side wireless connection unit and the network side wireless connection unit, and performs a relay process between the wireless terminal and a base station of the access network;
Acquire the transmission rate of the local side wireless connection unit and the transmission rate of the network side wireless connection unit, and whether communication using a plurality of frequency channels is possible in the local side wireless connection unit according to the difference between the two transmission rates It determines, with the traffic control unit for controlling the frequency channel used for communication with the local side wireless connection part,
When the traffic control unit performs communication using a two-frequency channel in the local side wireless connection unit, 1/2 of the transmission speed of the local side wireless connection unit is the transmission of the network side wireless connection unit. If the speed is higher than the speed, communication using the two frequency channels of the local side wireless connection unit is stopped and switched to communication using one frequency channel, and 1/2 of the transmission speed of the local side wireless connection unit is If the transmission speed of the network side wireless connection unit is lower than that of the network side wireless connection unit, a control for maintaining communication using the two frequency channels of the local side wireless connection unit is performed . A local wireless connection that communicates with a wireless terminal using one or more frequency channels;
A network side wireless connection unit that performs communication with a base station of an access network connected to the backbone network;
In the wireless relay device comprising: a connection control unit that connects between the local side wireless connection unit and the network side wireless connection unit, and performs a relay process between the wireless terminal and a base station of the access network;
Acquire the transmission rate of the local side wireless connection unit and the transmission rate of the network side wireless connection unit, and whether communication using a plurality of frequency channels is possible in the local side wireless connection unit according to the difference between the two transmission rates It determines, with the traffic control unit for controlling the frequency channel used for communication with the local side wireless connection part,
When the traffic control unit performs communication using one frequency channel in the local side wireless connection unit, a times (a is 1 to 2) of the transmission speed of the local side wireless connection unit is the network. If the transmission speed of the local wireless connection section is lower than the transmission speed of the local wireless connection section, the communication using the two frequency channels of the local wireless connection section is performed, and the transmission speed of the local wireless connection section is a times the network side wireless connection section If it is higher than the transmission speed of the wireless relay device, the wireless relay device performs control to maintain communication using one frequency channel of the local wireless connection unit . A local wireless connection that communicates with a wireless terminal using one or more frequency channels;
A network side wireless connection unit that performs communication with a base station of an access network connected to the backbone network;
A traffic of a radio relay apparatus comprising: a connection control unit that connects between the local side radio connection unit and the network side radio connection unit and performs a relay process between the radio terminal and a base station of the access network. In the control method,
The wireless relay device acquires a transmission rate of the local side wireless connection unit and a transmission rate of the network side wireless connection unit, and a plurality of frequency channels in the local side wireless connection unit according to a difference between both transmission rates. A traffic control unit that determines whether or not communication using the wireless communication unit is possible and controls a frequency channel used for communication at the local wireless connection unit ,
When the traffic control unit performs communication using a two-frequency channel in the local side wireless connection unit, 1/2 of the transmission speed of the local side wireless connection unit is the transmission of the network side wireless connection unit. If the speed is higher than the speed, communication using the two frequency channels of the local side wireless connection unit is stopped and switched to communication using one frequency channel, and 1/2 of the transmission speed of the local side wireless connection unit is A traffic control method characterized in that if the transmission speed is lower than the transmission speed of the network side wireless connection unit, control is performed to maintain communication using the two frequency channels of the local side wireless connection unit . A local wireless connection that communicates with a wireless terminal using one or more frequency channels;
A network side wireless connection unit that performs communication with a base station of an access network connected to the backbone network;
A traffic of a radio relay apparatus comprising: a connection control unit that connects between the local side radio connection unit and the network side radio connection unit and performs a relay process between the radio terminal and a base station of the access network. In the control method,
The wireless relay device acquires a transmission rate of the local side wireless connection unit and a transmission rate of the network side wireless connection unit, and a plurality of frequency channels in the local side wireless connection unit according to a difference between both transmission rates. A traffic control unit that determines whether or not communication using the wireless communication unit is possible and controls a frequency channel used for communication at the local wireless connection unit ,
When the traffic control unit performs communication using one frequency channel in the local side wireless connection unit, a times (a is 1 to 2) of the transmission speed of the local side wireless connection unit is the network. If the transmission speed of the local wireless connection section is lower than the transmission speed of the local wireless connection section, the communication using the two frequency channels of the local wireless connection section is performed, and the transmission speed of the local wireless connection section is a times the network side wireless connection section The traffic control method is characterized in that control is performed to maintain communication using one frequency channel of the local side wireless connection unit if the transmission speed is higher than the transmission speed of the local wireless connection unit .

Images