JP6754127B2 - Power saving communication system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a power-saving communication system for reducing the average power consumption of each terminal and increasing the continuous usable time by coordinating wireless terminals in a communication system composed of a small number of terminals.

In recent years, the power consumption of smart phones has increased remarkably with the increase in performance and communication speed of mobile terminals such as smartphones. However, the performance of existing batteries is already nearing its limit, and there is no effective way to increase the amount of power supply other than increasing the battery capacity, which increases the weight and volume. In fact, it is common for today's users to carry some kind of portable battery for replenishment to extend the operating time. Smartphones are roughly divided into a communication unit, an information processing unit, and a display unit, but the ratio of power used by the communication unit is large, and the operating time is extended by improvement compared to other parts (display, CPU, etc.). The effect of is great.

Conventionally, the reduction of power consumption in the communication unit has been performed independently for each device, but in this system, the power efficiency as a communication system is improved by cooperation and cooperation between terminals. In this field, the following techniques are known.

First, although it is a limited function, a simple wireless communication system that cooperates and cooperates between terminals is disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-141857). This builds a wireless LAN environment by interposing a relay station between the base station and the mobile terminal, and has a lower output between the relay station and the mobile terminal than between the base station and the mobile terminal. Communication is performed at a high frequency, and in a wireless LAN environment, communication between a relay station and a mobile terminal is prioritized over communication between a base station and a mobile terminal. A rod-shaped voice input / output device called a voice stick is connected to this mobile terminal by a weak wireless line.

Further, Patent Document 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2015-122712) describes wireless communication in which the number of mobile phone wireless communication lines for hybrid wireless communication between mobile phone wireless communication and other wireless communication is reduced to reduce the line usage fee. The system is disclosed. This wireless communication system collects the communication performance of the first wireless communication and determines whether or not the first wireless communication is possible based on the communication performance. Based on the communication device and the availability of the first wireless communication. The group of the communication devices that perform the first wireless communication and the communication devices that perform the second wireless communication in addition to the first wireless communication from the communication devices of the group are designated. , The allocation means, and the like.

Further, in the description of Patent Document 2, the allocation means is a wireless communication unit that performs wireless communication with a slave unit or a master unit, a display unit using a liquid crystal display having a touch panel function, and a control that controls the wireless communication unit and the display unit. It is provided with a unit, and is realized by, for example, adding a wireless communication unit to a tablet terminal and operating application software. In the construction of this wireless communication system, (1) first, the wireless communication performance of the wireless communication unit of each communication device of the communication device group for which the wireless communication system is to be constructed is monitored in advance, and (2) this monitoring Based on the result, it is determined whether or not the wireless communication units of each communication device can communicate with each other, and (3) Based on the determination of whether or not the wireless communication is possible, the slave unit performs wireless communication with the master unit by the allocation means. And (4) designation of the slave unit that should be the master unit that performs mobile phone communication between the master unit and the mobile phone base station in addition to wireless communication between the master unit and the slave unit from this group. I do.

JP-A-2002-141857 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2015-122712

Conventionally, the power consumption of the communication unit of the mobile terminal has been reduced for each terminal, but in this method, the power efficiency of the terminal group wireless communication system is improved by the cooperation and cooperation between the terminals.

The power-saving communication system of the present invention is a communication system in which a communication terminal group including a proxy terminal and a plurality of mobile terminals is connected to an external communication network.
The proxy terminal is connected to an external communication network via the first communication method line, and is connected to the external communication network.
The plurality of mobile terminals are wirelessly connected to the proxy terminal via a second communication system line, and the mobile terminals are wirelessly connected to the proxy terminal.
The plurality of mobile terminals are connected to an external communication network via a second communication system line, a proxy terminal, and a first communication system line.
Within the communication terminal group, it is a wireless communication system in which a personal area network is configured by using a second communication system line or a third communication system line different from the first communication system line and the second communication system line. hand,
Within the communication terminal group, data of each terminal for a predetermined matter is shared via the personal area network, and the data of each terminal is shared.
Each terminal of the communication terminal group evaluates each terminal according to a predetermined proxy selection algorithm for the shared predetermined items, and automatically switches the proxy terminal when the operating proxy terminal becomes inappropriate. The primary proxy terminal candidate or the secondary proxy terminal candidate is determined from the above communication terminal group at predetermined time intervals.
When switching proxy terminals, the switching is performed by each of the communication terminal groups, thereby reducing the energy cost of the communication terminal group in the operation of the first communication method line and reducing the communication speed of each terminal. It saves power while suppressing
The above-mentioned predetermined items include at least the estimated value of the continuous usable time of each terminal of the above-mentioned communication terminal group, the communication speed by the first communication method line, and each terminal of the above-mentioned communication terminal group stay in the above-mentioned communication terminal group. It is characterized in that the expected time is included .

When the proxy terminal leaves the communication terminal group, the proxy terminal announces its exit to the plurality of mobile terminals, and each of the communication terminal groups switches the proxy terminal to the next proxy terminal candidate. Is characterized by what it does .

Further, in a communication system in which a communication terminal group including a proxy terminal and a plurality of mobile terminals is connected to an external communication network,
The proxy terminal is connected to an external communication network via the first communication method line, and is connected to the external communication network.
The plurality of mobile terminals are wirelessly connected to the proxy terminal via a second communication system line, and the mobile terminals are wirelessly connected to the proxy terminal.
The plurality of mobile terminals are connected to an external communication network via a second communication system line, a proxy terminal, and a first communication system line.
Within the communication terminal group, it is a wireless communication system in which a personal area network is configured by using a second communication system line or a third communication system line different from the first communication system line and the second communication system line. hand,
Within the communication terminal group, data of each terminal for a predetermined matter is shared via the personal area network, and the data of each terminal is shared.
Each terminal of the communication terminal group evaluates each terminal according to a predetermined proxy selection algorithm for the shared predetermined items, and automatically switches the proxy terminal when the operating proxy terminal becomes inappropriate. The primary proxy terminal candidate or the secondary proxy terminal candidate is determined from the above communication terminal group at predetermined time intervals.
When switching proxy terminals, the switching is performed by each of the communication terminal groups, thereby reducing the energy cost of the communication terminal group in the operation of the first communication method line and reducing the communication speed of each terminal. It saves power while suppressing
The mobile terminal is characterized in that the power consumption per amount of information is lower when the third communication system line is used than when the first communication system line is used.

The predetermined items are characterized in that at least the estimated value of the continuous usable time of each terminal of the communication terminal group and the communication speed by the first communication system line are included .

By making the power consumption per amount of information lower when the third communication system line is used than when the first communication system line is used, the mobile terminal can be used for communication between the mobile terminal and the external communication network. Power consumption can be suppressed.

It is desirable that each terminal of the communication terminal group is capable of reflecting the intention of the operator of the terminal by providing a selection means for controlling subscription or non-subscription to the power-saving communication system. ..

According to the present invention, a terminal located in an environment with poor radio wave conditions (for example, a terminal located at a point that cannot be directly seen from a base station) or a terminal having a low battery level can be reduced in power by passing through a nearby high-speed proxy server. High-speed communication is possible, and communication with good communication efficiency (that is, bit / μA; number of transmission bits per current μA) can be realized. On the other hand, for the terminal selected as the proxy server, the number of terminals communicating with the base station is suppressed because the neighboring terminals do not communicate directly with the base station but communicate via the proxy server, and the proxy. It is possible to improve the bandwidth allocation for communication between the server and the base station. From this point as well, the communication efficiency of the communication system using this proxy server can be improved.

In addition, it is possible to reduce the number of terminals that directly access the base station, and it is possible to suppress interference that causes background noise in the base station and each terminal. In addition, communication with terminals that cannot be seen directly from the base station becomes easy, and the radio dead zone is suppressed, which leads to a reduction in the number of base stations. Furthermore, each coverage range of each proxy server is substantially small cells, and the same frequency band can be used because interference between signals is unlikely to occur between different small cells, so that radio resources can be effectively used. It becomes like. Finally, by turning off the proxy terminals appropriately according to the remaining battery power, the operation of all terminals when communicating using this system compared to the total operating time when each terminal individually accesses the public radio. It is possible to improve the total time.

It is a schematic diagram showing that when a commuter train in a metropolitan area is assumed and each passenger of the commuter train communicates with a base station, communication concentration (congestion) occurs with respect to the base station. In the case of a terminal in a position where it is difficult for radio waves to enter the commuter train assuming a commuter train in a metropolitan area, it is necessary to communicate in a high output state, and inefficiency of transmission power depending on the position from the window of the train passenger. It is a schematic diagram which shows that there is a property. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of the network constructed according to the framework of this invention. This is an example of a flowchart for switching proxy terminals. This is an example of a flowchart for determining the proxy fitness. It is a flow chart example (first half) of a part of the construction example of the communication system of this invention. It is a flow chart example (second half) of a part of the construction example of the communication system of this invention. This is an example of a flowchart when leaving the network to which the proxy terminal is subscribed. It is an example of the flowchart of the switching work of this proxy terminal in each terminal.

The outline of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
In these figures, commuter trains in the metropolitan area are assumed, and when the passengers of the commuter train communicate with the base station, communication concentration (congestion) occurs with the base station as shown in FIG. In general, this congestion reduces frequency utilization efficiency. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, in the case of a terminal at a position where it is difficult for radio waves to enter the commuter train, it is necessary to perform communication in a high output state, and the transmission power depends on the position from the window of the train passenger. There are issues such as efficiency.

In order to solve this problem, in the present invention, by quickly carrying each smartphone and introducing a new cooperative algorithm, the communication throughput (how much transmission speed can be obtained) and the remaining battery level (how much time can be used for communication). We propose a completely new power-saving cooperative communication framework that comprehensively considers the received signal level (how close to the base station) and so on.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a network constructed according to the framework of the present invention. Each terminal is, for example, a mobile phone line unit, a Wi-Fi line unit, a Bluetooth (registered trademark) (Bluetooth (registered trademark)) line unit, an arithmetic control unit that controls these line units, and an arithmetic control unit for the arithmetic control unit. It is equipped with a storage unit that stores data, a display unit that displays the data of the arithmetic control unit, an input unit that inputs data to the arithmetic control unit, and a power supply unit that supplies current to the entire base station. It is equipped with a Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication function and a Wi-Fi communication function for performing cooperative control with terminals. These terminals use Bluetooth (registered trademark) to share control information (location information, communication throughput, battery level, received signal level, etc.) throughout the terminal set. Based on the information, a proxy terminal candidate is selected from the entire set of terminals described above according to a cooperative algorithm described later, and the proxy terminal candidate is set as a proxy in each of the above terminals. For example, in FIG. 3, a terminal having a large battery level (or an estimated value of continuous usable time) and good communication characteristics with a base station is selected as a proxy terminal.

The proxy terminal connects to the Internet via a base station, notifies the terminal set of the connection information using Bluetooth (registered trademark), and at the same time activates the Wi-Fi access point function and the proxy function. On the other hand, other terminals that are not selected as the proxy terminal connect to the proxy terminal using the Wi-Fi Klein and the function based on the notified information, and access the Internet via the proxy terminal.

When the operating proxy terminal becomes inappropriate due to a decrease in the battery level of the proxy terminal, movement of the mobile terminal, or a change in communication characteristics, the proxy terminal is automatically and dynamically switched. FIG. 4 shows an example of a flowchart for switching proxy terminals.
Here, assuming that the battery of the current proxy terminal is low at a certain point in time, the current proxy terminal that detects it notifies the entire terminal set by Bluetooth (registered trademark) and the Wi-Fi radio wave. Decrease the strength or stop the base station function (this is to encourage the terminal that used the proxy server as a mere access point to connect to a new proxy terminal without sharing control information). All terminals that receive the withdrawal notification from the old proxy try to connect to the preset secondary proxy, share various control information including the terminal's own information by Bluetooth (registered trademark), and use a cooperative algorithm. And reselect the next secondary proxy terminal candidate. The proxy terminal candidate selected here connects to the base station and notifies the terminal set of the information by Bluetooth (registered trademark). The other terminals including the current proxy terminal complete the proxy setting by connecting to a new proxy terminal candidate by Wi-Fi based on the notified information, and the proxy terminal candidate becomes the current proxy terminal. At that time, the old proxy terminal disconnects from the mobile base station. At this time, it is temporarily allowed that the old and new proxy terminals operate as a proxy at the same time. In this way, by sharing information with the terminal group using Bluetooth (registered trademark) and performing prescriptive cooperative control using a cooperative algorithm, (1) frequency utilization efficiency and (2) terminal power efficiency are always high. You can build a network.

The proxy terminal is selected according to the cooperation algorithm shown below. This is determined, for example, by evaluating the suitability of the items shown in Table 1 as a proxy terminal.

Here, each terminal is identified by a BT (Bluetooth (registered trademark)) MAC address, and the estimated operating time (or estimated operating time), throughput, average bandwidth used, and radio field strength between base station terminals for each terminal. , Bluetooth (registered trademark) Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), mobile router applicability (described later), charge flag, etc. are evaluated by changing the weight for each item, and are suitable as a proxy terminal. Can be evaluated. This evaluation is performed, for example, as follows.
A. When the charge flag is OFF in all terminals, it means that all of the above terminals are battery-powered. For example, the evaluation value is calculated as follows.
Evaluation value = estimated operating time x (10) + throughput + average bandwidth used x (-10) + radio field strength between base station terminals x (0.1) + mobile router applicability x (5).
The evaluation values in Table 1 are the evaluation values according to this calculation formula, and the numbers marked with ◯ are in descending order.
B. When only one power receiving flag is ON, one is in use while charging, and the estimated operating time of the terminal is infinite. In this case, the same applies to the evaluation based on the above evaluation value, but the terminal with the power receiving flag ON becomes the proxy terminal.
C. When two or more power receiving flags are ON, the evaluation value is calculated in the terminal group, and the largest one is the proxy.

The above-mentioned mobile router applicability is an index indicating that the role as a proxy terminal is likely to continue for a long time.
For example, by detecting long-distance movement (high-speed bus, high-speed rail), Tokaido Shinkansen Nozomi and Tohoku Shinkansen Hayabusa have an adaptability of 9, and other cases (for example, Tokaido Shinkansen Kodama and Hikari, Tohoku Shinkansen Yamabiko) Adaptability = 7. This is 101 minutes between Shin-Yokohama and Nagoya on the Tokaido Shinkansen Nozomi, 92 minutes between Tokyo and Sendai on the Tohoku-Hokkaido Hayabusa, and 80 minutes between Tokyo and Narita Airport on the highway bus. This is because it is presumed that the form of the personal network based on the registered trademark) will be maintained.
On the other hand, when a middle-distance movement (commuter train) is detected, for example, the fitness is set to 6. The fitness in this case is low because the Keihin-Tohoku line is 66 minutes between Omiya and Kawasaki, and the Chuo line is 52 minutes between Hachioji and Tokyo, which is shorter than the above case.

An example of a flowchart for determining the proxy fitness is shown in FIG. B-1 of FIG. 5: When it can be detected that the movement is a long distance (high-speed railway, high-speed bus), the fitness is set to 9 or 7 as described above.
B-2: If medium-distance movement can be detected, the fitness is set to 6.
B-3: If the specified time stays in the designated area for T6 seconds or more, the fitness is set to 7.
B-4: When the change of the gyro and the compass is below the threshold value and the displacement of the position is below the threshold value, the fitness is set to 4.
Each mobile terminal sequentially and periodically processes the above steps.

The outline of the operation of the power-saving communication system of the present invention is as follows.
1. Start building a proxy network from a terminal whose proxy fitness is 1 or higher.
2. Send your information to your neighbors using a Bluetooth® broadcast (ie, a Bluetooth® announcement).
3. After waiting for the specified time T1, each person independently determines the proxy server of the primary candidate and the secondary candidate from the listened information (that is, the information obtained by waiting for reception). (If there is no broadcast from anyone, wait T2 seconds for the specified time and execute again)
4. The terminal that selects the proxy terminal broadcasts its own SSID (Service Set Identifier: identification name of the access point) and the proxy end time T3.
5. The above proxy end time T3 comes or
Proxy fitness goes to 0 or
A terminal with a higher proxy fitness than you will appear,
Until then, it acts as a proxy terminal.

6 and 7 show an example of a flowchart showing a more specific operation example.
C-1: Each terminal checks whether it can access the public radio, and if it is not possible, it is set as a terminal connected to a Wi-Fi access point.
C-2: If the user can access the public radio and the band used by the user is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value A, the user is a heavy network user and may have the public radio independently of the power saving cooperation system.
C-3: If your proxy fitness is not 1 or more, you are a general user using a proxy terminal, and if it is 1 or more, you are a general user.
C-4: After announcing its own information using a BLE (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy) line, it waits for a predetermined time of T1 second.
C-5: It is determined whether or not there is a notification from another terminal, and if not, the process returns to C-4 after waiting for T2 seconds for a predetermined time. If there is a notification from another terminal, the following processing is performed.
C-6: A DB (database) is created from the BLE broadcast of another terminal, and the first (primary) and second (secondary) proxy terminal candidates are determined based on the DB.
C-7: Then, if you are the primary proxy,
C-8: Announces own SSID and proxy end time T3.
C-10: If C-7 itself is not the primary proxy, the notification from the primary is waited for a predetermined time of T4 seconds.
C-111: When a notification comes from the primary,
C-16: Connects to the terminal with the specified SSID.
C-12: If the notification does not come on C-11 and you are the secondary proxy,
C-13: Announces own SSID and proxy end time T3.
C-14: If C-12 itself is not a secondary proxy, it waits for a predetermined time T4 seconds for notification from the secondary.
C-15: When a notification comes from the secondary,
C-16: Connects to the terminal with the specified SSID.
C-9: If the information from C-8, C-13, and C-16 satisfies the proxy termination condition, that fact is transmitted to C-3.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a flowchart when the proxy terminal leaves the network to which the proxy terminal is subscribed. In this example, if YES that matches any of the following items, the above withdrawal is declared using the broadcast function of Bluetooth (registered trademark).
D-1: A predetermined scheduled time T3 for operating as a proxy terminal has elapsed.
D-2: The radio field strength in communication between the proxy terminal and the terminal connected to it by the Bluetooth (registered trademark) function becomes equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value B.
D-3: The radio field strength in the communication between the proxy terminal and the terminal connected to it by the Wi-Fi function becomes the threshold value C or less.
D-4: The state in which the displacement value of the acceleration sensor is equal to or higher than the predetermined threshold value D is continued for a predetermined time T5.
D-5: The proxy terminal position is separated from the terminal group position center of gravity by a predetermined distance of F meters or more.
When the proxy terminal declares withdrawal from the network by matching any of these items, each terminal performs a switching operation of the proxy terminal.

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of the switching operation of the proxy terminal in each terminal.
E-1: Wait until the proxy terminal receives a notification that it will leave the subscribed network. If it is received, proceed to the next step.
E-2: Temporarily switch to its own LTE (Long Term Evolution) terminal function and continue net access.
E-3: Wait for a predetermined time T4 seconds to prepare for activation of the secondary candidate.
E-4: Wait for the notification that the above secondary candidate has activated the proxy function.
E-5: When the above notification is received, the LTE terminal function of the player is turned off and the secondary candidate is connected. In parallel with this, the next secondary proxy candidate is determined.

In order to exert the effects of the present invention, smartphones equipped with the above-mentioned functions need to be widely used. However, since the functions of the present invention can be implemented by existing smartphone functions (LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (registered trademark)) and software, it is technically possible to disseminate them even at present.

Examples of effective uses include use in evacuation shelters during disasters and use in commuter trains in urban areas during normal times. In a commuter train, a large number of mobile terminals are densely packed, and the radio wave propagation characteristics are greatly enhanced by a user facing a window with good propagation propagation and a user surrounded by people. In addition, since neighboring users are concentrated in almost the same base station, there is a problem in terms of radio wave utilization efficiency. In such a situation, some users with good radio wave propagation characteristics connect to public radio and provide a proxy function, so that other users can communicate using Wi-Fi, and the communication distance is dramatically increased. It is possible to shorten the time (several kilometers → several meters) and save power accordingly.

Claims (6)

In a communication system in which a communication terminal group including a proxy terminal and a plurality of mobile terminals is connected to an external communication network,
The proxy terminal is connected to an external communication network via the first communication method line, and is connected to the external communication network.
The plurality of mobile terminals are wirelessly connected to the proxy terminal via a second communication system line, and the mobile terminals are wirelessly connected to the proxy terminal.
The plurality of mobile terminals are connected to an external communication network via a second communication system line, a proxy terminal, and a first communication system line.
Within the communication terminal group, it is a wireless communication system in which a personal area network is configured by using a second communication system line or a third communication system line different from the first communication system line and the second communication system line. hand,
Within the communication terminal group, data of each terminal for a predetermined matter is shared via the personal area network, and the data of each terminal is shared.
Each terminal of the communication terminal group evaluates each terminal according to a predetermined proxy selection algorithm for the shared predetermined items, and automatically switches the proxy terminal when the operating proxy terminal becomes inappropriate. The primary proxy terminal candidate or the secondary proxy terminal candidate is determined from the above communication terminal group at predetermined time intervals.
When switching proxy terminals, the switching is performed by each of the communication terminal groups, thereby reducing the energy cost of the communication terminal group in the operation of the first communication method line and reducing the communication speed of each terminal. It saves power while suppressing
The above-mentioned predetermined items include at least the estimated value of the continuous usable time of each terminal of the above-mentioned communication terminal group, the communication speed by the first communication method line, and each terminal of the above-mentioned communication terminal group stay in the above-mentioned communication terminal group. A power-saving communication system characterized by including an estimated time. If the proxy terminal exits from the communication terminal group, the proxy terminal announces exit itself to a plurality of said mobile terminals, each switching to the primary proxy terminal candidates of the proxy terminal of the communication terminal group The power-saving communication system according to claim 1, wherein the operation is performed. In a communication system in which a communication terminal group including a proxy terminal and a plurality of mobile terminals is connected to an external communication network,
The proxy terminal is connected to an external communication network via the first communication method line, and is connected to the external communication network.
The plurality of mobile terminals are wirelessly connected to the proxy terminal via a second communication system line, and the mobile terminals are wirelessly connected to the proxy terminal.
The plurality of mobile terminals are connected to an external communication network via a second communication system line, a proxy terminal, and a first communication system line.
Within the communication terminal group, it is a wireless communication system in which a personal area network is configured by using a second communication system line or a third communication system line different from the first communication system line and the second communication system line. hand,
Within the communication terminal group, data of each terminal for a predetermined matter is shared via the personal area network, and the data of each terminal is shared.
Each terminal of the communication terminal group evaluates each terminal according to a predetermined proxy selection algorithm for the shared predetermined items, and automatically switches the proxy terminal when the operating proxy terminal becomes inappropriate. The primary proxy terminal candidate or the secondary proxy terminal candidate is determined from the above communication terminal group at predetermined time intervals.
When switching proxy terminals, the switching is performed by each of the communication terminal groups, thereby reducing the energy cost of the communication terminal group in the operation of the first communication method line and reducing the communication speed of each terminal. It saves power while suppressing
The mobile terminal is a power-saving communication system characterized in that the power consumption per amount of information is lower when the third communication system line is used as compared with the first communication system line. The third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the predetermined items include, at least, an estimated value of the continuous usable time of each terminal of the communication terminal group and a communication speed by the first communication system line. Power saving communication system. The power-saving communication system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the mobile terminal consumes less power per amount of information when the third communication system line is used than the first communication system line. The power saving according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein each terminal of the communication terminal group includes a selection means for controlling subscription or non-subscription to the power saving communication system. Communications system.