JP7132690B2 - Mobile terminal, program and method for recognizing communication method in non-standalone wireless communication network - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a technology of an indicator of a mobile terminal (User Equipment).

In the mobile terminal, an indicator is displayed on the display in order to clearly show the user the communication system standard that can be used at the current location. For example, "3G" is displayed at a location where communication is possible using the 3G communication system, and "4G" is displayed at a location where communication is possible using the 4G communication system. For the user, this indicator is an important display for recognizing the communication environment when using the terminal.
For example, if "4G" is displayed in a place where only the 3G communication system can be used by the mobile terminal, the user feels that the communication speed of the 4G communication system is slow. This may cause users to distrust communication services and carriers.
Therefore, displaying a reliable indicator on the display of the mobile terminal is an important requirement for communication carriers to provide communication services.

In recent years, communication equipment based on 5G (fifth generation mobile communication system) has been deployed as a next-generation communication system standard. The 5G communication system has features such as high speed, large capacity, ultra-low delay, and connection with a large number of terminals, and users also expect high communication quality.

A 5G communication carrier equipment is currently configured as a “Non-Stand Alone Radio Network” with a 4G communication carrier equipment. Specifically, the 5G communication base station is configured in combination with an existing EPC (Evolved Packet Core), which is a core network of the 4G communication system (defined in Non-Patent Publication 1). Therefore, the non-standalone wireless communication network can quickly build a 5G communication scheme wireless communication network at a low cost.
Note that the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) considers the non-standalone method to be provisional, and plans to transition to a stand-alone method in which the 5G communication method is operated alone in the future.

3GPP TS 23.401, “General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) enhancements for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) access”. 3GPP TS 37.340, ” Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and NR; Multi-connectivity ”. 3GPP TS 38.331,”NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification”.

A mobile terminal connected to a non-standalone wireless communication network can communicate with both a 4G base station as a master node and a 5G base station as a secondary node in a non-idle state (during communication). On the other hand, in the idle state (during non-communication), it waits only for signals from the 4G base station, which is the master node. Therefore, the mobile terminal cannot determine whether or not it can communicate with the 5G base station in the idle state (see Non-Patent Document 2, for example).

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram having a mobile terminal in the prior art.

According to FIG. 1, it is assumed that the mobile terminal is in an idle state (not communicating). At this time, if the mobile terminal is located in an area where the signal from the 5G base station can be received, there is no problem even if "5G" is displayed.
However, when the mobile terminal is located in a place where the signal from the 5G base station cannot be received, it is a problem that "5G" is displayed. Even in the idle state, the user recognizes that communication is possible with the 5G communication method, but when communication is actually in progress (non-idle state), communication will be performed with the 4G communication method. .

In contrast to such existing technology, there is a technology that also waits for signals from 5G base stations of secondary nodes (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 3).
However, despite being in an idle state, it is necessary to activate the mobile terminal to be in communication (non-idle state). As a result, the mobile terminal is activated only to display the indicator, which increases power consumption and is not practical.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile terminal, a program, and a method capable of recognizing a connectable communication method even in an idle state, for a mobile terminal connected to a non-standalone wireless communication network. and

According to the present invention, it is possible to connect to a non-standalone wireless communication network in which a first base station of a first communication method and a second base station of a second communication method are combined, and to measure the current position. In a mobile terminal having a positioning means,
a second base station parameter storage means for storing position and threshold distance as parameters of the second base station;
A base station that determines whether or not a distance between a current position determined by a positioning means and a position of a second base station is within a threshold distance in an idle state in which it waits only for a signal from a first base station that is a master node. distance determination means;
communication method recognition means for displaying on the display that connection is possible by the second communication method when the base station distance determination means determines true, and displaying on the display that connection is possible by the first communication method when it is determined false; characterized by having

According to another embodiment of the mobile terminal of the present invention,
the first communication scheme is 4G, the first base station is a 4G base station,
It is also preferred that the second communication scheme is 5G and the second base station is a 5G base station.

According to another embodiment of the mobile terminal of the present invention,
Parameter acquisition means for acquiring parameters of 5G base stations in the current tracking area (Tracking Area) from MME (Mobility Management Entity) during communication state before idle state, and storing in second base station parameter storage means It is also preferable to further have

According to another embodiment of the mobile terminal of the present invention,
It is also preferable that the base station distance determination means does not perform the determination process when the 5G base station does not exist within the current tracking area.

According to another embodiment of the mobile terminal of the present invention,
It is also preferred that the parameter acquisition means receive from the MME of the 4G base station an Attach Accept and/or a Tracking Area Update Accept containing the parameters of the 5G base station.

According to another embodiment of the mobile terminal of the present invention,
The parameters further include an update period,
It is also preferable that the base station distance determination means executes determination processing at each update cycle.

According to the present invention, it is possible to connect to a non-standalone wireless communication network in which a first base station of a first communication method and a second base station of a second communication method are combined, and to measure the current position. In a program that operates a computer installed in a mobile terminal having a positioning means,
a second base station parameter storage means for storing position and threshold distance as parameters of the second base station;
A base station that determines whether or not a distance between a current position determined by a positioning means and a position of a second base station is within a threshold distance in an idle state in which it waits only for a signal from a first base station that is a master node. distance determination means;
Communication system recognition means for displaying on the display that connection is possible by the second communication system when the base station distance determination means determines true, and displaying on the display that connection is possible by the first communication system when it is determined false. It is characterized by making a computer function.

According to the present invention, it is possible to connect to a non-standalone wireless communication network in which a first base station of a first communication method and a second base station of a second communication method are combined, and to measure the current position. In a communication method recognition method for a mobile terminal having a positioning means,
The mobile terminal
Having a second base station parameter storage unit that stores position and threshold distance as parameters of the second base station,
determining whether or not the distance between the current position determined by the positioning means and the position of the second base station is within a threshold distance in an idle state in which only signals from the first base station serving as a master node are awaited; a step of
a second step of displaying on the display that the connection is possible by the second communication method if the first step is determined to be true, and displaying on the display that the connection is possible by the first communication method if the determination is false; characterized by executing

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The mobile terminal, program and method of the present invention can recognize a connectable communication system even in an idle state for a mobile terminal connecting to a non-standalone wireless communication network.

It is a system configuration diagram having a mobile terminal in the prior art. 1 is a system configuration diagram having a mobile terminal connected to a non-standalone wireless communication network according to the present invention; FIG. 1 is a functional configuration diagram of a mobile terminal according to the present invention; FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a base station distance determination unit in the present invention; FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram for the mobile terminal to acquire parameters from the MME;

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Below, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram having mobile terminals connected to a non-standalone wireless communication network according to the present invention.

According to FIG. 2, compared with FIG. 1, the mobile terminal 1 activates the positioning function and recognizes the "distance" between its current position and the 5G base station even in the idle state. . If it is located within a communicable distance to a 5G base station, it can display a "5G" indicator, otherwise it can display a "4G" indicator.

Further, according to FIG. 2, the 5G base station 31 is connected under the 4G base station 21 as a non-standalone wireless communication network. That is, the 5G base station 31 is under the control of the core network of the 4G communication equipment network. According to FIG. 2, MME (Mobility Management Entity) 22 manages the locations of 5G base stations.
As a non-standalone wireless communication network, the mobile terminal 1 may have multiple 4G base stations or multiple 5G base stations within the current tracking area. Of course, the 5G base station may not exist within the current tracking area.

FIG. 3 is a functional configuration diagram of a mobile terminal according to the present invention.

According to FIG. 3 , the mobile terminal 1 has a communication section 10 , a communication interface 101 , a positioning section 102 and a display 103 .
The communication interface 101 is capable of wireless communication with both the 4G base station 21 and the 5G base station 31 .
The positioning unit 102 measures the current position of the mobile terminal 1 using, for example, GPS (Global Positioning System). Of course, the positioning unit 102 is not limited to GPS, and may be any device capable of active positioning even in an idle state (during non-communication).
A display 103 is a user interface of the smartphone, and displays a connectable communication method (for example, "4G" or "5G").

According to FIG. 3, the mobile terminal 1 recognizes whether or not the 4G communication method (first communication method) or the 5G communication method (second communication method) can be connected in the idle state.
According to FIG. 3, the mobile terminal 1 includes a 5G base station parameter storage unit (second base station parameter storage unit) 110, a base station distance determination unit 111, a communication method recognition unit 112, and a parameter acquisition unit 12. have. These functional components are implemented by executing a program that causes a computer installed in the mobile terminal to function. In addition, the processing flow of these functional configuration units can also be understood as a communication system recognition method.

[5G base station parameter storage unit 110]
The 5G base station parameter storage unit (second base station parameter storage unit) 110 stores parameters based on the 5G base station (second base station).
Parameters are information set by carriers, such as:
(1) “Position” of 5G base stations
The "position" may be latitude and longitude, or may be a mesh number on the map. The position of the 5G base station should be at least as long as the distance to the current position of the mobile terminal 1 can be calculated.
In addition, the positions stored in the 5G base station parameter storage unit 110 may be limited to those within the current tracking area, and if there are multiple 5G base stations, each position information is included. If there is no 5G base station within the tracking area, it will be "NULL", for example.
(b) 5G base station “threshold distance”
The “threshold distance” is the distance (for example, the radius of the radio coverage circle) that allows communication with the 5G base station. When there are multiple 5G base stations, each threshold distance may be included, or may be fixedly set. The display accuracy of the communication system indicator will depend on the threshold distance.
(c) "Update period" of the indicator of the mobile terminal
The “update period” is timing for updating the indicator of the mobile terminal, and is a time period determined by the base station distance determination unit 111 . Of course, it may be a fixed update period.

[Base station distance determination unit 111]
The base station distance determination unit 111 determines whether the distance between the current position determined by the positioning unit 102 and the position of the 5G base station (second base station) in the 5G base station parameter storage unit 110 is within a threshold distance. do. The base station distance determination unit 111 executes determination processing only in an idle state.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the base station distance determination section in the present invention.

The present invention performs the following steps during the idle state.
(S1) If there is no 5G base station within the current tracking area, the base station distance determination unit 111 does not perform determination processing until the tracking area is changed. Here, if there is no 5G base station, the positioning unit 102 may be instructed to stop. As a result, there is no need to uselessly activate the positioning unit 102 and consume power.
(S2) The base station distance determination unit 111 repeatedly executes determination processing at the timing of the update cycle.
(S3) Base station distance determining section 111 receives the current position of mobile terminal 1 from positioning section 102 .
(S4) The base station distance determination unit 111 determines whether or not the distance between the current position and the position of the 5G base station (second base station) is within a threshold distance.
(S5) Then, the base station distance determination section 111 outputs the true/false determination result of S4 to the communication method recognition section 112. FIG.

As another embodiment, the longer the update period, the more the number of determination processes can be reduced, and the power consumption of the mobile terminal 1 can be suppressed. Under the condition that the mobile terminal is like an IoT device and moves less frequently, the indicator may be updated less frequently.

[Communication method recognition unit 112]
Based on the determination result of the base station distance determination unit 111, the communication method recognition unit 112 recognizes as follows.
Recognize that connection is possible with 5G communication method (2nd communication method) if determined as “true” Recognize that connection is possible with 4G communication method (1st communication method) if determined as “false” Communication method The recognition unit 112 outputs the recognized communication method to the application.
In addition, the communication method recognition unit 112 displays an indicator on the display 103 to clearly indicate to the user.
In case of 5G communication system, display "5G" indicator In case of 4G communication system, display "4G" indicator

[Parameter Acquisition Unit 12]
The parameter acquisition unit 12 acquires the parameters of the 5G base station within the current tracking area from the MME 22 in the “communication state” before entering the idle state.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram for the mobile terminal to acquire parameters from the MME.

(S11) During communication, the mobile terminal 1 transmits an Attach Request for location registration to the MME 22 via the 4G base station (or 5G base station) (for example, Non-Patent Document 1).
(S12) In response to this, the MME 22 responds to the mobile terminal 1 with Attach Accept including the parameters of the present invention (location of 5G base station, threshold distance, update cycle). The mobile terminal 1 then stores the received parameters in the 5G base station parameter storage section 110 .

(S21) When the mobile terminal 1 moves and the tracking area changes, the mobile terminal 1 transmits a Tracking Area Update Request to the MME 22 (for example, Non-Patent Document 1).
(S22) The MME 22 transmits a tracking area update response (Tracking Area Update Accept) including the parameters of the present invention to the mobile terminal 1.
A tracking area is a location registration area assigned to each mobile terminal. As long as the tracking area is not changed, the mobile terminal 1 can use the already acquired 5G base station position with confidence.

As described in detail above, the mobile terminal, program, and method of the present invention allow a mobile terminal connected to a non-standalone wireless communication network to recognize a connectable communication system even in an idle state. can. In particular, even in an idle state, the indicator of the communication method in the mobile terminal can be displayed accurately.

For the various embodiments of the present invention described above, various changes, modifications and omissions within the spirit and scope of the present invention can be easily made by those skilled in the art. The foregoing description is exemplary only and is not intended to be limiting. The invention is to be limited only as limited by the claims and the equivalents thereof.

1 mobile terminal 10 communication unit 101 communication interface 102 positioning unit 103 display 110 5G base station parameter storage unit (second base station parameter storage unit)
111 base station distance determination unit 112 communication method recognition unit 12 parameter acquisition unit 21 4G base station (first base station)
22 MME
31 5G base station (second base station)

Claims (8)

A mobile phone capable of connecting to a non-standalone wireless communication network combining a first base station of a first communication system and a second base station of a second communication system, and having a positioning means capable of measuring the current position. on the terminal,
a second base station parameter storage means for storing position and threshold distance as parameters of the second base station;
A base station that determines whether or not a distance between a current position determined by a positioning means and a position of a second base station is within a threshold distance in an idle state in which it waits only for a signal from a first base station that is a master node. distance determination means;
communication method recognition means for displaying on the display that connection is possible by the second communication method when the base station distance determination means determines true, and displaying on the display that connection is possible by the first communication method when it is determined false; A mobile terminal comprising: the first communication scheme is 4G, the first base station is a 4G base station,
The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the second communication scheme is 5G, and the second base station is a 5G base station. Parameter acquisition means for acquiring parameters of 5G base stations in the current tracking area (Tracking Area) from MME (Mobility Management Entity) during communication state before idle state, and storing in second base station parameter storage means 3. The mobile terminal according to claim 2 , further comprising: 4. The mobile terminal according to claim 3 , wherein the base station distance determination means does not execute determination processing when a 5G base station does not exist within the current tracking area. 5. The mobile terminal according to claim 3 , wherein the parameter acquisition means receives Attach Accept and/or Tracking Area Update Accept containing parameters of the 5G base station from the MME of the 4G base station. The parameters further include an update period,
6. The portable terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , wherein the base station distance determination means executes determination processing at each update period. A mobile phone capable of connecting to a non-standalone wireless communication network combining a first base station of a first communication system and a second base station of a second communication system, and having a positioning means capable of measuring the current position. In the program that functions the computer installed in the terminal,
a second base station parameter storage means for storing position and threshold distance as parameters of the second base station;
A base station that determines whether or not a distance between a current position determined by a positioning means and a position of a second base station is within a threshold distance in an idle state in which it waits only for a signal from a first base station that is a master node. distance determination means;
Communication system recognition means for displaying on the display that connection is possible by the second communication system when the base station distance determination means determines true, and displaying on the display that connection is possible by the first communication system when it is determined false. A program characterized by making a computer work. A mobile phone capable of connecting to a non-standalone wireless communication network combining a first base station of a first communication system and a second base station of a second communication system, and having a positioning means capable of measuring the current position. In the terminal communication method recognition method,
The mobile terminal
Having a second base station parameter storage unit that stores position and threshold distance as parameters of the second base station,
determining whether or not the distance between the current position determined by the positioning means and the position of the second base station is within a threshold distance in an idle state in which only signals from the first base station serving as a master node are awaited; a step of
a second step of displaying on the display that the connection is possible by the second communication method if the first step is determined to be true, and displaying on the display that the connection is possible by the first communication method if the determination is false; A communication method recognition method characterized by executing:

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