JP6515667B2 - Information communication apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information communication apparatus and method, and can be applied to, for example, an information communication apparatus mounted on a mobile.

  For example, there is a system that monitors the operation of a low-speed moving body (hereinafter referred to as a low-speed moving body) that transports articles (for example, manufactured articles, manufactured parts, etc.) manufactured in a factory or the like.

  Specifically, the low speed moving body detects its own position information, and notifies the low speed moving body identification information and the position information to the management system by wireless communication each time the position information of the low speed moving body changes. Thus, by notifying the management system of the position information of the low speed moving body, the management system can grasp that the low speed moving body is operating normally.

  In the low speed mobile management system as described above, despite the large number of low speed mobiles, a demand for measurement delay for data collection is strongly desired. Therefore, a time division multiple access (TDMA) system is often adopted as a communication system. A base station communicating with a low speed mobile assigns a communication time slot to a low speed mobile controlled by the low speed mobile, and the low speed mobile communicates with the base station using the communication time slot.

  When a low-speed mobile management system can not be constructed with one base station, there is a countermeasure such as installing a plurality of base stations. If the communication quality between the low speed mobile unit and the base station is poor, the low speed mobile unit returns a communication time slot to the base station, and requests another base station to allocate a communication time slot.

  In this case, if the use channel of each base station is the same, all the base stations will carry out time slot allocation for the communication time slot allocation request, and the system efficiency will deteriorate. Therefore, when constructing a system using TDMA by using a plurality of base stations, it is desirable to use different channels for each base station.

  It is called a handover that a mobile body switches a base station that communicates with the mobile body by moving. If the communication channel used by the switching target base station is known in advance, the handover overhead can be reduced.

  According to the technology described in Patent Document 1, when a mobile detects the radio wave reception intensity of a channel used by each base station, and the radio wave reception intensity becomes higher than a threshold, handover is performed to the base station. It is a thing. However, it may not operate as expected indoors as in a factory or the like. This is because the indoor structure is complicated indoors as in a factory etc., and the radio wave reception intensity fluctuates.

  Further, the technology described in Patent Document 2 determines whether or not to carry out a handover based on position information of a mobile measured by GPS satellites and position information of a base station. However, although the technology described in Patent Document 2 measures its own position information by GPS, GPS can not be used indoors in a factory or the like.

  Such indoor low-speed mobile management systems are often constructed by adding modules to existing low-speed mobile systems.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 2, in order to manage the existing low speed mobile module 110 by the management system, the low speed mobile management apparatus (mobile management module) 120 is added.

  In FIG. 2, in the low-speed mobile module 110, the position information measurement unit 111 estimates the position information of the low-speed mobile itself based on marker information provided indoors in a factory or the like, and the low-speed mobile control module 112 generates low speed. Implement control of mobile units and data generation to be sent from the low-speed mobile units to the management system.

  Also, in the low-speed mobile management device 120, the communication unit 121 notifies the management system of the information acquired from the low-speed mobile module 110, and the handover processing unit 123 performs handover processing which is switching processing of the base station.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-232672 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-67411

  In the conventional low speed mobile module 110 illustrated in FIG. 2, the position information measurement unit 111 estimates the position information of the low speed mobile, and the low speed mobile controller 112 notifies the management system of the data format. The data is converted to generate transmission data, which is supplied to the low speed mobile management device 120.

  In the low-speed mobile management device 120, the communication unit 121 transmits data from the low-speed mobile control unit 112. Then, for example, when a handover process is required, such as occurrence of an event such as failure to communicate with the current base station, the handover processing unit 123 performs a handover process to switch the base station.

  However, in this case, although the low-speed mobile module 110 can obtain the position information, the added low-speed mobile management device (low-speed mobile management module) 120 is not connected to the module for obtaining the position information. , Can not get location information. Therefore, since the low-speed mobile object management device 120 can not catch the change of the position information, it can not estimate the change of the position information and can not reduce the handover overhead.

  Therefore, an information communication apparatus that is a low-speed moving object moving at low speed, can obtain position information from the low-speed moving object module, can estimate the position information, and can optimize handover processing There is a need for a way.

In order to solve such problems, in the information communication apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, a mobile device mounted on a mobile device acquires position information acquired from any of a plurality of position markers provided on a moving path. An information communication apparatus for converting to a data format managed by the mobile management apparatus, acquiring data including position information after the conversion, and requesting a handover to the base station based on the data; ) A communication unit for communicating the above data from the mobile management apparatus to the base station; (2) analyzing data including the converted position information acquired from the mobile apparatus and extracting identification information of the corresponding position marker a position information estimating unit, (3) with reference to the base station estimation information correlating identification information of the plurality of position markers and the identification information of the base station located in the vicinity of the position marker, is extracted by the position information estimation unit A base station estimation unit for estimating the identification information of the base station corresponding to the identification information of the position marker, (4) and identification information of the base station communication unit is currently communicating, the base station estimated by the base station estimation unit A base station switching determination unit that determines switching of the base station based on the identification information of the above, and a handover processing unit that makes a handover request to the switching destination base station based on the determination result by the base station switching determination unit And the like.

In the information communication method according to the second aspect of the present invention, the mobile unit installed in the mobile manages the position information acquired from any of the plurality of position markers provided on the moving path by the mobile management unit. An information communication method for converting data format into data format, acquiring data including position information after conversion, and requesting a base station to perform handover based on the data , wherein (1) the communication unit manages mobile entity The data from the device is communicated to the base station, (2) The position information estimation unit analyzes the data including the converted position information obtained from the mobile device, and extracts identification information of the corresponding position marker, 3) The base station estimation unit refers to base station estimation information in which identification information of a plurality of position markers is associated with identification information of a base station located in the vicinity of each position marker, and is extracted by the position information estimation unit Position marker identification Estimate the identity of the base station corresponding to the information, (4) the base station switching decision unit, and the identification information of the base station communication unit is currently communicating, the identification information of the base station estimated by the base station estimation unit , And (5) the handover processing unit issues a handover request to the switching destination base station based on the determination result by the base station switching determination unit. .

  According to the present invention, it is a low speed moving object moving at low speed, and position information from the low speed moving object module can be obtained to estimate the position information, and the handover process can be optimized. .

It is an internal block diagram which shows the internal structure of the low speed mobile body module which concerns on embodiment, and a low speed mobile object management apparatus. It is an internal block diagram which shows the internal structure of the conventional low-speed mobile module and low-speed mobile management apparatus. FIG. 1 is an entire configuration diagram showing an image of an entire configuration of a mobile management system according to an embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the base station estimated information which concerns on embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows the handover control which concerns on embodiment.

(A) Main Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of an information communication apparatus and method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  The main embodiment exemplifies a case where the present invention is applied to a mobile management system which manages a low speed mobile which transports an article manufactured in a factory or the like.

(A-1) Configuration of Embodiment (A-1-1) Overall Configuration FIG. 3 is an overall configuration diagram showing an image of the overall configuration of a mobile management system according to the embodiment. In FIG. 3, the mobile management system 10 includes a low-speed mobile 1, a plurality of (two in FIG. 3) base stations 2 (2-1 and 2-2), and a plurality of position markers 3 (3-1 to 3). -6), the management apparatus 4 is provided.

  The mobile management system 10 is, for example, a system which is disposed indoors in a factory or the like, and monitors and manages normal operation of the low speed mobile 1 moving at a relatively low speed. Although only one low-speed moving body 1 is shown in FIG. 3 for ease of explanation, many low-speed moving bodies 1 are actually used because they are for transporting articles in the factory. Existing. Further, in order to monitor the operation of a large number of low-speed mobiles 1 without delay, position information of each low-speed mobile 1 moving at low speed is notified to the management device 4 at relatively short intervals.

  The low speed moving body 1 is for carrying articles (manufactured goods, manufactured parts, etc.) manufactured in a factory or the like. The low speed moving body 1 moves at a relatively low speed to move indoors. In addition, the low speed moving body 1 has a communication function of communicating with the base station 2.

  The low speed moving body 1 reads the position marker 3 provided indoors, estimates marker position information read from the position marker 3 as its own position information, and outputs a signal including its own low speed moving body identification information and position information. , Notify via the base station 2. As described later, the low-speed moving body 1 acquires marker position information from the position marker 3 using wireless communication, and uses the acquired position information of the marker as position information of itself.

  The base stations 2 (2-1 and 2-2) perform radio communication with the low speed mobile unit 1, and are connected to the management apparatus 4. The communication method between the base station 2 and the low speed mobile unit 1 is not particularly limited, but, for example, the TDMA method or the like can be applied. The base station 2 assigns a communication time slot (hereinafter, simply referred to as a time slot) to the low speed mobile unit 1 and communicates with the low speed mobile unit 1 using the time slot.

  The position markers 3 each have position information set in advance, and perform radio communication of a signal including marker position information with the low-speed moving body 1. For example, the position marker 3 may be provided indoors on the moving path of the low-speed moving body 1, for example, may be provided on the ground of the moving path, or communicate with the low-speed moving body 1 If possible, it may be provided on the roadside.

  The marker position information is information that can specify at least the indoor position. For example, the marker position information may be position marker identification information (position marker ID) of the position marker 3. Also, the marker position information may be, for example, (X, Y) coordinate information when the structure in the building is represented by two-dimensional coordinates (may be three-dimensional coordinates if necessary), or The position of two-dimensional coordinates and the position marker identification information of the position marker 3 may be associated in advance, and the position of (X, Y) coordinates may be specified based on the position marker identification information, or as latitude and longitude information Also good.

  Here, the low speed moving body 1 can perform wireless communication with the position marker 3, and the low speed moving body 1 can obtain marker position information by wireless communication. As a wireless communication method, various wireless communication methods can be adopted. For example, a wireless communication method such as IEEE 802.15.4g can be applied. In this embodiment, the case of adopting IEEE 802.15.4g is exemplified, but a wireless communication system defined in IEEE 802.15.1 or the like may be applied.

  The management device 4 is connected to the base station 2 through a communication line, acquires position information of the low-speed mobile unit 1 from the base stations 2-1 and 2-2, and manages the operation of the low-speed mobile unit 1. . The management device 4 can perform various application processing based on the position information of the low speed moving body 1, but the detailed description of the application processing of the management device 4 will be omitted.

(A-1-2) Internal configuration of low-speed mobile module and low-speed mobile management device as information communication apparatus FIG. 1 shows the internal configuration of the low-speed mobile module and the low-speed mobile management device according to the embodiment. FIG. The low-speed mobile management device is included in the information communication device according to the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, the low-speed mobile module 110 includes a position information measurement unit 111 and a low-speed mobile control unit 112. The low-speed mobile module 110 is configured to include, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an EEPROM, an input / output interface unit, a wireless communication device, and the like. For example, the function of the low-speed mobile module 110 is realized by the CPU executing a processing program stored in the ROM.

  The position information measurement unit 111 acquires marker position information from the position marker 3 by wireless communication, and estimates its own position information based on the acquired marker position information. The position information measurement unit 111 provides the low speed moving body control unit 112 with the estimated position information of itself. The position information measurement unit 111 acquires marker position information from the position marker 3 by, for example, a wireless communication system defined in IEEE 802.15.4g or the like. At this time, when the estimated own position information changes, the position information measurement unit 111 provides the low speed moving body control unit 112 with its own position information.

  The low speed mobile object control unit 112 converts the position information acquired from the position information measurement unit 111 into a data format managed by the management device 4, and converts the data including the converted position data into the data of the low speed mobile object management device 120. This is given to the communication unit 121 and the data analysis unit 122.

  The low speed moving body control unit 112 notifies the communication unit 121 and the data analysis unit 122 of the low speed moving body management device 120 of data including at least the low speed moving body identification information for identifying the low speed moving body 1 and the position information. Further, the data generated by the low speed moving body control unit 112 may include, for example, time information on which position information has been estimated, information on an article to be transported, and the like, in addition to the above data.

  In FIG. 1, the low speed mobile entity management device 120 according to the embodiment includes a communication unit 121, a data analysis unit 122 as a base station switching determination unit, and a handover processing unit 123. The low-speed mobile object management device 120 is configured to have, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an EEPROM, an input / output interface unit, a communication device, and the like. For example, when the CPU executes a processing program stored in the ROM, the function of the low speed moving object management apparatus 120 is realized.

  The communication unit 121 generates a transmission signal based on the data acquired from the low-speed mobile unit control unit 112, and transmits the transmission signal to the base station 2. The communication unit 121 requests allocation of communication time slots from the base station 2 according to, for example, the TDMA method, and transmits transmission data in the communication time slots allocated from the connected base station 2.

  The data analysis unit 122 analyzes the data acquired from the low speed moving body control unit 112, estimates a change in the position information of the low speed moving body 1, and analyzes whether or not to perform the handover process.

  Since the data analysis unit 122 can acquire transmission data from the low speed moving body control unit 112, it can capture changes in the position information of the low speed moving body 1 itself from the position information extracted from the transmission data. Then, it is possible to estimate the base station 2 that can communicate with good communication quality along with the change in the position information of the low-speed moving body 1 itself, and execute the handover process.

  The data analysis unit 122 includes a position information estimation unit 21, a base station estimation unit 22, and a handover execution notification unit 23.

  The position information estimation unit 21 analyzes the data acquired from the low speed moving body control unit 112 to estimate its own position information. The position information estimation unit 21 stores, for example, the data format of transmission data generated by the low speed moving body control unit 112, and from the transmission data from the low speed moving body control unit 112, marker position information (position marker ID etc. It can be realized by extracting).

  The base station estimation unit 22 compares the position information of itself with the position information of the base station 2 configuring the mobile management system 10 to estimate which base station 2 the low-speed mobile 1 itself is close to It is The base station estimation unit 22 stores in advance the base station ID of each base station 2 and the communication channel that each base station 2 can use.

  Here, various methods can be applied to the method of estimating the base station 2 by the base station estimation unit 22. In this embodiment, the base station estimation unit 22 determines the position relationship between the position marker and the base station. A method may be applied to refer to base station estimation information in which is listed.

  Specifically, the base station estimation unit 22 has in advance base station estimation information 22a indicating the correspondence between the marker position information of the position marker 3 and the position information of the base station 2, and this base station estimation information 22a The base station 2 closest to the position information estimated by the position information estimation unit 21 is estimated with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of the base station estimation information 22a according to the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, the base station estimation information 22 a associates a position marker ID (position marker identification information) with a base station ID indicating the base station 2 closest to the position marker 3. Therefore, the base station estimation unit 22 recurses the base station estimation information 22a and reads out the base station ID corresponding to the position information (for example, position marker ID etc.) acquired from the position information estimation unit 21, and this base station ID It is estimated that the base station 2 corresponding to is the base station 2 close to the low speed moving body 1.

  The handover execution notification unit 23 determines that the base station 2 other than the base station 2 currently in communication is in the vicinity. Then, the handover execution notification unit 23 notifies the handover processing unit 123 to execute the handover process when the low speed moving body 1 is near the base station 2 nearby.

  The handover processing unit 123 performs handover processing on the switching destination base station 2 when acquiring the execution notification of the handover processing from the handover execution notification unit 23. For example, the handover processing unit 123 performs handover on the switching destination base station 2 by transmitting a handover request signal including the switching destination base station ID.

(A-2) Operation of Embodiment FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing handover control according to the embodiment.

  First, the low speed moving body 1 moves at low speed on the moving path. While moving, the low speed moving body 1 acquires marker position information of the position marker 3 by wireless communication with the position marker 3 provided on the moving path or the roadside.

  In the low-speed mobile module 110, the position information measurement unit 111 detects marker position information from the position marker 3 by wireless communication (S101).

  The low-speed mobile object control unit 112 converts the data into a predetermined data format using the marker position information detected by the position information measurement unit 111, and generates transmission data including position data (S102). Then, the generated transmission data is supplied to the communication unit 121 and the data analysis unit 122 of the low speed mobile unit management device 120.

  The communication unit 121 generates a transmission signal based on the transmission data from the low-speed mobile unit control unit 112, and transmits the transmission signal to the base station 2 (S103).

  In the data analysis unit 122, the position information estimation unit 21 extracts the transmission data from the low speed moving body control unit 112 (S104), and searches for the presence or absence of the position marker ID included in the transmission data. Then, when the position marker ID is retrieved, this position marker ID is estimated as the position information of the low speed moving body 1 (S 105), and the position marker ID is given to the base station estimation unit 22.

  The base station estimation unit 22 compares the position information of itself with the position information of the base station 2 configuring the mobile management system 10 to estimate which base station 2 the low-speed mobile 1 itself is close to (S106). That is, the base station estimation unit 22 has in advance the base station estimation information 22a indicating the correspondence between the marker position information of the position marker 3 and the position information of the base station 2, and refers to the base station estimation information 22a. Meanwhile, the base station 2 closest to the position information estimated by the position information estimation unit 21 is estimated.

  Then, the handover execution notification unit 23 determines whether the base station ID of the base station 2 currently in communication and the estimated base station ID of the base station 2 match (S107), and the respective base stations If the IDs are different, it is considered that the position information has been changed along with the movement of the low speed moving body 1, and the handover processing unit 123 is notified of the handover execution (S108).

  In response to this, the handover processing unit 123 performs handover on the switching destination base station 2 by transmitting a handover request signal including the base station ID of the switching destination base station 2 (S109).

(A-3) Effects of the Embodiment As described above, according to this embodiment, handover processing with low overhead can be performed without adding a position information measurement function to the low speed mobile management device main body.

  Also, according to this embodiment, the low speed mobile management device can be added to the existing low speed mobile system without adding any new function, and thus can be applied to various systems.

(B) Other Embodiments In the above-described embodiment, various modified embodiments are mentioned, but the present invention can be applied to the following modified embodiments.

  (B-1) In the above-described embodiment, the case has been illustrated where the base station estimation unit estimates a low speed mobile and a base station with high communication quality with reference to base station estimation information. Although the base station estimation information exemplifies the case where one base station ID is associated with one position marker ID, high quality communication can be performed with a plurality of base stations depending on the communication environment. In some cases. In such a case, a priority according to communication quality is given to a plurality of base stations, a base station with a high priority (base station ID) is estimated, and base stations in the order of high priority are assigned. A handover process may be requested. As a result, a base station with high priority communicates with a plurality of low-speed mobiles, which may occur even when communication quality is poor due to congestion. Even in such a case, handover processing is performed sequentially from the base station with high priority. Can communicate with a base station of relatively high communication quality.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... low speed moving body, 110 ... low speed moving body module, 111 ... position information estimation part, 112 ... low speed moving body control part, 120 ... low speed moving body management apparatus, 121 ... communication part, 122 ... data analysis part, 123 ... handover Processing unit 21 location information estimation unit 22 base station estimation unit 23 handover execution notification unit.

Claims (4)

The mobile device mounted on the mobile converts the position information acquired from any of the plurality of position markers provided on the moving path into a data format managed by the mobile management device, and the converted position information acquires data including an information communication device requesting a handover to the base station on the basis of the data,
A communication unit for communicating the data from the mobile unit management apparatus to a base station;
A position information estimation unit that analyzes the data including the converted position information acquired from the mobile device and extracts identification information of the corresponding position marker;
The identification of the position marker extracted by the position information estimation unit with reference to base station estimation information in which the identification information of the plurality of position markers is associated with the identification information of the base station located in the vicinity of each position marker A base station estimation unit configured to estimate identification information of the base station corresponding to information;
A base station switching determination unit that determines switching of a base station based on identification information of the base station currently being communicated by the communication unit and identification information of the base station estimated by the base station estimation unit ; ,
And a handover processing unit that makes a handover request to a switching destination base station based on the determination result by the base station switching determination unit . The base station switching decision unit, and the base station estimated by the base station estimation unit, and the base station in communication the communication unit is currently in when different, Ru to execute the handover to the handover processing unit an information communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the this. The position information estimation section, from the position information included in the data format of the data converted by said mobile device, according to claim 1, characterized in that a shall issue extract the identification information of the position marker or The information communication apparatus according to 2. The mobile device mounted on the mobile converts the position information acquired from any of the plurality of position markers provided on the moving path into a data format managed by the mobile management device, and the converted position information acquires data including an information communication method for requesting a handover to the base station on the basis of the data,
A communication unit communicates the data from the mobile unit management device to the base station,
A position information estimation unit analyzes the data including the converted position information acquired from the mobile device and extracts identification information of the corresponding position marker;
The base station estimation unit refers to base station estimation information in which identification information of the plurality of position markers is associated with identification information of a base station located in the vicinity of each of the position markers, and is extracted by the position information estimation unit Estimating the identification information of the base station corresponding to the identification information of the position marker;
The base station switching determination unit determines switching of the base station based on the identification information of the base station with which the communication unit is currently communicating and the identification information of the base station estimated by the base station estimation unit. And
An information communication method characterized in that a handover processing unit makes a handover request to a switching destination base station based on the judgment result by the base station switching judgment unit .

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