JP7417728B2 - network system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a network system.

QoS (Quality of Service) control is known as a technique for ensuring the quality of communication in a network. For example, a system has been disclosed that controls the transfer order and transfer rate of packets flowing on a network (QoS control) on a terminal device basis such as a smartphone (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP2017-098962A

By the way, in a network where QoS control for terminal devices can be performed by multiple control units such as base stations, routers, and QoS levels, for example, QoS control may not be performed appropriately in any of the multiple control units. . For example, if the control units of QoS control executed for a plurality of terminal devices 100 are concentrated in one control unit, QoS control may not be executed appropriately in the control unit in which QoS control execution is concentrated.

In order to solve the above problems, a network system according to a preferred aspect of the present invention includes a network in which quality control, which is control of the quality of communication service, is executed by a plurality of control units, and a terminal connected to the network. The network includes a plurality of first nodes capable of performing the quality control, and the terminal device performs the quality control by a first control unit among the plurality of control units. Alternatively, in addition, a determining unit that determines whether or not the quality control by a second control unit that is another control unit should be performed on the terminal device; If the determining unit determines that the quality control should be executed, the first node among the plurality of first nodes that executes the quality control by the second control unit is instructed to perform the quality control by the second control unit. and a request unit that requests execution.

A network system according to another aspect of the present invention includes a network in which quality control, which is control of the quality of communication service, is executed by a plurality of control units, and a terminal device connected to the network, and the network includes: A plurality of first nodes capable of executing the quality control, and at least one second node capable of communicating with the plurality of first nodes, wherein the plurality of first nodes and the at least one second node Instead of or in addition to the quality control by the first control unit of the plurality of control units, at least one of the nodes performs the quality control by a second control unit that is another control unit, a determining unit that determines whether or not to perform the quality control on the terminal device; and when the determining unit determines that the quality control should be performed by the second control unit, one of the plurality of first nodes; A requesting unit that requests a first node that executes the quality control by the second control unit to execute the quality control by the second control unit.

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the possibility that QoS control is not executed appropriately.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a network system according to an embodiment. 1A is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the terminal device shown in FIG. 1A. FIG. FIG. 1B is a block diagram showing the configuration of the base station device shown in FIG. 1A. 1A is a block diagram showing the configuration of the management device shown in FIG. 1A. FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing the configuration of the relay device shown in FIG. 1A. FIG. It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a control unit. It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of change conditions. 1A is a sequence chart showing an example of the operation of the network system shown in FIG. 1A. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of QoS control for a terminal device. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 8; 9 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 8. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 8. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 8. FIG. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of QoS control for a terminal device. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 13; FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of QoS control for a terminal device. FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 15; 16 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 15. FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a base station device according to a first modification. It is a block diagram showing the composition of the management device concerning the 1st modification.

[1. Embodiment]
FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a network system 10 according to an embodiment. Further, FIG. 1B is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the terminal device 100 shown in FIG. 1A. In the example shown in FIG. 1A, the network system 10 includes, for example, a network NW in which quality control, which is control of the quality of communication services, is executed by a plurality of control units, and a plurality of terminal devices 100 connected to the network NW. have Furthermore, the network system 10 includes an application server 600 connected to the network NW via the Internet INET. Note that the application server 600 may be connected to the network NW without going through the Internet INET. Alternatively, the application server 600 may be included in the network NW. Here, the term "apparatus" in this specification may be replaced with other terms such as circuit, device, or unit. Further, the connection between the network NW and the terminal device 100, for example, may be any connection that enables communication between a plurality of elements, and may be a connection using either a wired or wireless connection, or a connection using a wired or wireless connection. The connection may be made using both wireless and wireless connections.

The network NW is, for example, a telecommunications line such as a mobile communication network managed by a communication carrier that provides communication services, and includes one or both of a wired network and a wireless network. For example, the network NW is connected to another network (not shown) managed by another communication carrier via the Internet INET. Note that the management of the network NW includes, for example, the operation of the network NW. However, if the carrier is a virtual mobile carrier, the management of the network NW does not include, for example, the operation of wireless stations such as base stations included in the network NW, and the management of the network NW does not include the operation of wired stations. It may not be included.

The network NW includes a base station device 200, a management device 300, a relay device 400, and an edge server 500. For example, the base station device 200, the management device 300, the relay device 400, and the edge server 500 can communicate with each other. Each of the base station device 200, the management device 300, the relay device 400, and the edge server 500 corresponds to one of a plurality of nodes included in the network NW. In addition to the base station device 200, management device 300, relay device 400, and edge server 500 shown in FIG. 1A, the plurality of nodes include, for example, MME (Mobility Management Entity), S-GW (Serving Gateway), and -Applicable to GW (Packet Data Network Gateway), etc. Note that the plurality of nodes included in the network NW are not limited to the above example.

Furthermore, whether or not the network NW is defined without including the terminal device 100 is not particularly limited. When the network NW is defined to include the terminal device 100, the portion of the network NW excluding the terminal device 100 corresponds to "a network in which quality control is performed by a plurality of control units."

The base station device 200 is, for example, a network device that performs communication with the terminal device 100. For example, base station device 200 may be one or both of eNodeB and gNodeB. eNodeB is a radio base station device for LTE (Long Term Evolution), and gNodeB is a radio base station device for 5G (5th generation mobile communication system). For example, when the terminal device 100 connects to the network NW, the base station device 200 executes processing related to a connection procedure for connecting the terminal device 100 to the network NW.

Furthermore, the base station device 200 can perform quality control that is control of the quality of communication services. In the following, quality control, which is control of the quality of communication services, is also referred to as QoS (Quality of Service) control.

QoS control includes, for example, bandwidth control, low delay control, priority control, and the like. In the band control, for example, the communication band in the network NW is controlled. Bandwidth control may be a band guarantee in which a lower limit value of the band is set, or a band restriction in which an upper limit value of the band is set. Similarly, the low delay control may be, for example, delay guarantee in which an upper limit value of delay is set, or delay restriction in which a lower limit value of delay is set. In priority control, for example, packets related to specific communication (data in units of transfer when performing communication) are transferred with priority. For example, packets flowing on the network NW are prioritized, and packets with higher priority than other packets are processed before other packets. Note that in this embodiment, it is assumed that QoS control can be executed for each terminal device 100.

Each of the plurality of relay devices 400 is, for example, a network device such as an L2 switch, an L3 switch, or a router, and determines a communication path within the network NW. For example, relay device 400 determines the route of packets flowing on network NW. Thereby, for example, a packet transmitted from the terminal device 100 reaches its destination by passing through one or more relay devices 400. Further, the relay device 400 can perform QoS control.

The management device 300 is a network device that determines the content of QoS control performed by the relay device 400. For example, the management device 300 determines the QoS level specified by the terminal device 100 as the content of the QoS control to be performed by the relay device 400. QoS levels include, for example, a high-capacity mode that can transfer a large amount of data compared to other quality modes, a low-latency mode that has a smaller data delay than other quality modes, and a best-effort control mode. There are best effort modes, etc. Note that the QoS level does not need to be specified by the terminal device 100. For example, the QoS level may be specified by a node included in the network NW. Alternatively, the QoS level may be determined by the management device 300.

The edge server 500 is, for example, an information processing device such as a server for realizing MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing). MEC is a mechanism for arranging computer systems such as servers and storages closer to users in telecommunication lines such as mobile communication networks. In the example shown in FIG. 1A, edge server 500 is connected to base station device 200 without intervening relay device 400, and is placed closer to terminal device 100 than application server 600. By being placed close to the terminal device 100, it is expected that communication delay time and the amount of packets flowing on the network NW will be reduced.

The base station device 200 and the relay device 400 are examples of a "first node." Furthermore, the management device 300 and the edge server 500 are an example of a "second node".

The application server 600 is, for example, an information processing device such as a server that can communicate with the terminal device 100 via the Internet INET or the like. For example, the application server 600 provides a predetermined service to the terminal device 100 running a predetermined application program.

As the terminal device 100, for example, any information processing device can be adopted, and it may be a stationary information device such as a personal computer, or a portable information device such as a smartphone, a notebook computer, a wearable terminal, a tablet terminal, etc. It may be an information terminal. In the following description, a smartphone is assumed as the terminal device 100.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the terminal device 100 is realized by, for example, a computer system including a processing device 110, a storage device 160, a communication device 170, an input device 180, and an output device 190. Each of the plurality of elements of the terminal device 100 is interconnected by one or more buses for communicating information. Further, each of the plurality of elements of the terminal device 100 may be configured by a single device or a plurality of devices. Further, some elements of the terminal device 100 may be omitted.

The processing device 110 is a processor that controls the entire terminal device 100, and is configured by, for example, a single chip or a plurality of chips. The processing device 110 includes, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) that includes an interface with peripheral devices, an arithmetic unit, registers, and the like. Note that some or all of the functions of the processing device 110 may be implemented by hardware such as a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a PLD (Programmable Logic Device), and an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). It may be realized. The processing device 110 executes various processes in parallel or sequentially.

The processing device 110 functions as the determining unit 120 and the requesting unit 130, for example, by reading the control program PR1 from the storage device 160 and executing the read control program PR1. Note that the control program PR1 may be transmitted from another device.

The determining unit 120 performs QoS control on the terminal device 100 using a second control unit, which is another control unit, instead of or in addition to the QoS control using the first control unit among the plurality of control units. Decide whether to do so or not. Examples of control units include, for example, a device unit in which the base station device 200 is the control unit, a path unit in which the communication route in the network NW used for communication by the terminal device 100 is the control unit, and a control unit executed by the terminal device 100. This corresponds to an application unit whose control unit is an application program to be executed. Note that the control unit is not limited to the above example. For example, the control unit may be a frequency unit in which the control unit is a frequency band used for communication between the terminal device 100 and the base station device 200. Details of the control unit will be explained later with reference to FIG. 5.

For example, the determining unit 120 determines, based on the communication quality of the terminal device 100 or the state of the terminal device 100, whether to perform QoS control using the second control unit instead of or in addition to the QoS control using the first control unit. You may decide whether or not to do so. The communication quality of the terminal device 100 may include, for example, some or all of the throughput of communication by the terminal device 100, round-trip time (RTT), one-way delay time, jitter, and frame rate. Further, the state of the terminal device 100 may be, for example, the usage state of the CPU (processing device 110), RAM, ROM, etc., or the operating state of an application program. Alternatively, the state of the terminal device 100 may be the state of the surroundings of the terminal device 100 or the state of radio waves received by the terminal device 100. Note that a method for determining whether to perform QoS control using the second control unit instead of or in addition to the QoS control using the first control unit will be described later in FIG. 6.

For example, when requesting the start of QoS control, the requesting unit 130 requests the base station device 200 or the relay device 400 that executes the QoS control for the terminal device 100 to start the QoS control. Further, for example, when requesting termination of QoS control, requesting unit 130 requests base station device 200 or relay device 400 that is executing QoS control for terminal device 100 to terminate QoS control.

Further, when the determining unit 120 determines that QoS control based on the second control unit should be performed, the requesting unit 130 performs QoS control based on the second control unit among the plurality of base station devices 200 and relay devices 400. A request is made to the base station device 200 or relay device 400 to execute QoS control based on the second control unit. Note that in this embodiment, when requesting the relay device 400 to perform processing such as starting and terminating QoS control, the requesting unit 130 requests the relay device 400 to perform processing such as starting and terminating QoS control via the management device 300. request.

Here, the request regarding QoS control processing may be the transmission of a processing request requesting processing (for example, start request REQs and termination request REQe shown in FIG. It may also be to call an interface (Interface). For example, the request to start QoS control may be for the request unit 130 to call a QoS control start API to the base station device 200 or the management device 300. Alternatively, the request to start QoS control may be for the requesting unit 130 to call a QoS control start API to the relay device 400 via the management device 300. In this embodiment, transmitting a processing request and calling an API related to processing may be referred to as "transmitting a processing request" without particularly distinguishing between them. That is, in this embodiment, sending the start request REQs includes calling the QoS control start API, and sending the end request REQe also includes calling the QoS control end API. .

In addition, in the following, in place of or in addition to the QoS control by the first control unit, performing QoS control by the second control unit will be described as changing the QoS control by the first control unit or changing the QoS control by the first control unit. It may be expressed using changes in control units, etc. For example, in the following, "Determine whether to change the control unit of QoS control" means "Determine whether to change the QoS control unit of QoS control" means "Determine whether to change the QoS control unit of QoS control" means "Determine whether to change the QoS control unit of QoS control" means to decide whether to proceed or not.

The storage device 160 is a recording medium readable by the processing device 110, and stores various data such as a plurality of programs including the control program PR1 executed by the processing device 110. The storage device 160 may be configured of, for example, at least one of ROM (Read Only Memory), EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like. The storage device 160 may be called a register, a cache, a main memory, or the like.

The communication device 170 is hardware (transmission/reception device) for communicating with other devices. The communication device 170 is also called, for example, a network device, a network controller, a network card, a communication module, or the like. The communication device 170 includes, for example, a high frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, and a frequency division duplex (FDD) and/or time division duplex (TDD). It may also be configured to include a synthesizer and the like.

The input device 180 is an input device (for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a switch, a button, a sensor, etc.) that accepts input from the outside. For example, the input device 180 accepts an operation for inputting codes such as numbers and letters into the processing device 110 and an operation for selecting an icon displayed on the display screen of the terminal device 100. For example, a touch panel that detects contact with the display surface of the terminal device 100 is suitable as the input device 180. Note that the input device 180 may include a plurality of operators that can be operated by the user.

The output device 190 is an output device such as a display that performs output to the outside. The output device 190 displays an image under the control of the processing device 110, for example. For example, various display panels such as a liquid crystal display panel and an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display panel are suitably used as the output device 190. Note that the input device 180 and the output device 190 may have an integrated configuration (for example, a touch panel). Further, the output device 190 may be an output device having a speaker, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamp, or the like.

Note that the configuration of the network system 10 is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1A. For example, one or both of the management device 300 and the edge server 500 may be omitted from the network NW. Further, when the management device 300 is omitted from the network NW, each relay device 400 may have the function of the management device 300 (a function of determining the content of QoS control). Alternatively, a node other than the relay device 400 may have the functions of the management device 300 in addition to the original functions assigned to the node. In other words, the function for determining the content of QoS control may be included in a node different from the multiple nodes that execute QoS control, or may be included in some or all of the multiple nodes that execute QoS control. Good too. Further, among the plurality of nodes included in the network NW, nodes that can execute QoS control are not limited to the base station device 200 and the relay device 400.

Further, for example, when the connection between the network NW and the terminal device 100 is realized by an optical access network using FTTH (Fiber To The Home) or the like, an optical intra-office device may be included in the network NW. The optical intra-office device is, for example, a network device within an accommodation station where optical fibers are accommodated. Note that when the connection between the network NW and the terminal device 100 is realized by a wired network such as an optical access network, the base station device 200 may be omitted from the network NW.

Further, the configuration of the terminal device 100 is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1B. For example, the terminal device 100 may include an auxiliary storage device. The auxiliary storage device is a recording medium readable by the terminal device 100, and includes, for example, an optical disk such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (for example, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk), etc. , and at least one of a smart card, a flash memory (e.g., card, stick, and key drive), a floppy disk, and a magnetic strip. You can. Auxiliary storage may also be referred to as storage.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of base station device 200 shown in FIG. 1A. Note that FIG. 2 is an excerpt of blocks related to the process of starting and ending QoS control among the blocks constituting the base station apparatus 200.

The base station device 200 is realized, for example, by a computer system including a processing device 210, a storage device 260, and a communication device 270. The processing device 210 is a processor that controls the entire base station device 200, and is configured similarly to the processing device 110 of the terminal device 100. For example, the processing device 210 reads the control program PR2 from the storage device 260 and executes the read control program PR2, thereby functioning as the quality control unit 240 or the like that executes QoS control. Note that the control program PR2 may be transmitted from another device.

The storage device 260 is a recording medium readable by the processing device 210, and stores various data such as a plurality of programs including the control program PR2 executed by the processing device 210. Like the storage device 160 of the terminal device 100, the storage device 260 may be configured with at least one of ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, RAM, etc., for example.

The communication device 270 is hardware (transmission/reception device) for communicating with other devices. For example, the communication device 270 has a function for wirelessly communicating with the terminal device 100 and a function for communicating with other nodes (for example, other base station devices 200, relay devices 400, etc.). Similarly to the communication device 170 of the terminal device 100, the communication device 270 includes, for example, a high frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. in order to realize one or both of frequency division duplexing and time division duplexing. It may be configured to include.

Note that the configuration of base station device 200 is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 2. For example, base station device 200 may have an auxiliary storage device. Further, the base station device 200 may have, for example, an input device and an output device similar to the input device 180 and the output device 190 described in FIG. 1B.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of management device 300 shown in FIG. 1A.

The management device 300 is realized, for example, by a computer system including a processing device 310, a storage device 360, and a communication device 370. The processing device 310 is a processor that controls the entire management device 300, and is configured similarly to the processing device 110 of the terminal device 100. For example, the processing device 310 reads the control program PR3 from the storage device 360 and executes the read control program PR3, thereby functioning as the quality control section 340 and the like. For example, the quality control unit 340 determines the content of QoS control to be executed by the relay device 400, and causes the relay device 400 to execute the QoS control of the determined content. Note that the control program PR3 may be transmitted from another device.

The storage device 360 is a recording medium readable by the processing device 310, and stores various data such as a plurality of programs including the control program PR3 executed by the processing device 310. Like the storage device 160 of the terminal device 100, the storage device 360 may be configured with at least one of ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, RAM, etc., for example.

The communication device 370 is hardware (transmission/reception device) for communicating with other devices. For example, the communication device 370 has a function for communicating with other nodes (eg, the base station device 200, the relay device 400, etc.). Similarly to the communication device 170 of the terminal device 100, the communication device 370 includes, for example, a high frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. in order to realize one or both of frequency division duplexing and time division duplexing. It may be configured to include.

Note that the configuration of the management device 300 is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 3. For example, the management device 300 may have an auxiliary storage device. Further, the management device 300 may have, for example, an input device and an output device similar to the input device 180 and the output device 190 described in FIG. 1B.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of relay device 400 shown in FIG. 1A. Note that FIG. 4 is an excerpt of blocks related to the process of starting and ending QoS control among the blocks configuring the relay device 400.

Relay device 400 is realized, for example, by a computer system including processing device 410, storage device 460, and communication device 470. The processing device 410 is a processor that controls the entire relay device 400, and is configured similarly to the processing device 110 of the terminal device 100. For example, the processing device 410 reads the control program PR4 from the storage device 460 and executes the read control program PR4, thereby functioning as the quality control unit 440 or the like that executes QoS control. Note that the control program PR4 may be transmitted from another device.

The storage device 460 is a recording medium readable by the processing device 410, and stores various data such as a plurality of programs including a control program PR4 executed by the processing device 410. Like the storage device 160 of the terminal device 100, the storage device 460 may be configured with at least one of ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, RAM, etc., for example.

The communication device 470 is hardware (transmission/reception device) for communicating with other devices. For example, the communication device 470 has a function for communicating with other nodes (eg, the base station device 200, the relay device 400, etc.). Similarly to the communication device 170 of the terminal device 100, the communication device 470 includes, for example, a high frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. in order to realize one or both of frequency division duplexing and time division duplexing. It may be configured to include.

Note that the configuration of relay device 400 is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 4. For example, relay device 400 may include an auxiliary storage device. Further, the relay device 400 may have, for example, an input device and an output device similar to the input device 180 and the output device 190 described in FIG. 1B.

Further, although the configurations of the edge server 500 and the application server 600 are not particularly illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B described above, each of the edge server 500 and the application server 600 is configured similarly to the management device 300, for example. Ru. For example, each of the edge server 500 and the application server 600 includes a processing device that controls the entire edge server 500 or the application server 600, a storage device that stores various data, and a communication device that communicates with other devices. This is realized by a computer system comprising: Note that each of the edge server 500 and the application server 600 may have, for example, an auxiliary storage device. Further, each of the edge server 500 and the application server 600 may have input devices and output devices similar to the input device 180 and output device 190 described in FIG. 1B, for example.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a control unit.

For example, as a control unit for QoS control for a radio access network (RAN: Radio Access Network) that connects the terminal device 100 and the base station device 200, there is a device unit in which the base station device 200 is the control unit. . In addition, when multiple frequency bands can be used for communication between the base station device 200 and the terminal device 100, the frequency band (RAN) used for communication between the terminal device 100 and the base station device 200 The control unit of the QoS control may be a frequency unit in which the control unit is the frequency band used. In this way, the control units for QoS control targeting the RAN include the device unit, the frequency unit, and the like. In addition, when a plurality of cells are included in one base station, a cell unit in which a cell is a control unit may be used as a control unit for QoS control.

Furthermore, for example, as control units for QoS control targeting a core network composed of a plurality of relay devices 400, etc., the control unit is a route unit in which the communication route in the network NW is the control unit, and an application program is the control unit. This applies to application units, etc. Note that in the route unit, the route (routing) to the edge server 500 may be the control unit. Further, QoS control on an application basis uses, for example, a slicing technique that separates virtual network resources for each service such as an application and guarantees the amount of resource allocation.

For example, common control units for QoS control targeting the RAN and QoS control targeting the core network include a communication method unit in which the communication method is the control unit, and a business in which the communication carrier is the control unit. This applies to user units, level units where the QoS level is the control unit, etc. Examples of communication methods include 3G (3rd generation mobile communication system), 4G (4th generation mobile communication system), 5G (5th generation mobile communication system), and wired communication. Furthermore, in 5G, categories such as eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broadband), URLLC (Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications), and mmTC (massive Machine Type Communication) may be used as control units for QoS control.

For example, QoS control for each communication method is performed on the terminal device 100 that can switch communication methods during operation. Further, for example, QoS control on a per-carrier basis is performed on the terminal device 100 that can switch communication carriers during operation. Note that the control unit of QoS control is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 5.

The above-mentioned device units, frequency units, route units, application units, communication method units, provider units, level units, etc. correspond to the types of control units. In this embodiment, it is assumed that a plurality of control units of QoS control include the above-mentioned device units, frequency units, route units, and application units. That is, in this embodiment, a case is assumed in which the plurality of control units includes a plurality of different types of control units and a plurality of mutually the same types of control units. Note that the plurality of control units of QoS control may include only one of the above-mentioned device units, frequency units, route units, and application units. In this case, the plurality of control units include control units of the same plurality of types.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of change conditions. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the conditions for changing the control unit of QoS control are classified into multiple categories such as throughput. In the following, conditions for changing the control unit of QoS control are also referred to as change conditions. In addition, in the explanation of FIG. 6, unless otherwise specified, communication quality is improved by changing the current QoS control unit (first control unit) to a second control unit, which is another control unit. Assume a case.

When the category is throughput, the change condition is, for example, that the communication throughput by the terminal device 100 is equal to or less than the threshold value THt[bbs]. For example, the determining unit 120 obtains throughput information indicating communication throughput by the terminal device 100 by reading an API in the terminal device 100. Then, when the throughput indicated by the throughput information is equal to or less than the threshold value THt[bbs], the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit. Note that the change condition may be that the amount of decrease in communication throughput by the terminal device 100 is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount. Here, for example, determining whether or not to change the control unit of QoS control based on whether or not the communication throughput by the terminal device 100 satisfies the above-mentioned change conditions depends on the communication quality of the terminal device 100. This corresponds to determining whether or not to change the control unit of QoS control based on the QoS control unit.

When the category is RTT, the change condition is, for example, that the RTT of the signal transmitted from the terminal device 100 is greater than or equal to the threshold THr [ms]. For example, the determining unit 120 obtains RTT information indicating the RTT of a signal transmitted from the terminal device 100 by reading an API in the terminal device 100. Then, when the RTT indicated by the RTT information is equal to or greater than the threshold THr [ms], the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit. Note that the change condition may be that the amount of increase in the RTT of the signal transmitted from the terminal device 100 is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount. Here, for example, determining whether or not to change the control unit of QoS control based on whether or not the RTT of the signal transmitted from the terminal device 100 satisfies the above-mentioned change conditions is a matter of the terminal device 100. This corresponds to determining whether to change the control unit of QoS control based on communication quality.

When the category is jitter, the change condition is, for example, that the jitter of the signal received by the terminal device 100 is greater than or equal to the threshold THj [ms]. For example, the determining unit 120 obtains jitter information indicating jitter of a signal received by the terminal device 100 by reading an API in the terminal device 100. Then, when the jitter indicated by the jitter information is equal to or greater than the threshold THj [ms], the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit. Note that the change condition may be that the amount of increase in jitter of the signal received by the terminal device 100 is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount. Here, for example, determining whether or not to change the control unit of QoS control based on whether or not the jitter of the signal received by the terminal device 100 satisfies the above-mentioned change condition is the communication of the terminal device 100. This corresponds to determining whether to change the control unit of QoS control based on quality.

When the category is APN (Access Point Name), the change condition is, for example, that the APN set in the terminal device 100 is an APN determined in advance to be changed. For example, the determining unit 120 obtains APN information indicating the APN set in the terminal device 100 by reading an API in the terminal device 100. Then, when the APN indicated by the APN information is an APN determined in advance as a change target, the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit. For example, when the APN set in the terminal device 100 is automatically switched by the communication carrier or the terminal device 100 due to the terminal device 100 moving to a roaming area, the determining unit 120 determines the control unit of QoS control. You can decide whether to change it or not.

When the category is CPU, the change condition is, for example, that the usage rate of the CPU (processing device 110) of the terminal device 100 is equal to or higher than the threshold value THc [%]. For example, the determining unit 120 acquires CPU information indicating the CPU usage rate, etc. from statistical information on the kernel of the OS (Operating System) executed by the terminal device 100. Then, when the CPU usage rate indicated by the CPU information is equal to or higher than the threshold THc [%], the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit. Note that the change condition may be that the clock frequency during operation of the CPU is equal to or higher than a predetermined frequency [GHz].

Further, when the CPU usage rate and the like satisfy the above-mentioned change conditions, the determining unit 120 determines a control unit that lowers the communication quality from the current communication quality as the second control unit. Alternatively, the determining unit 120 may stop QoS control for the terminal device 100 if the CPU usage rate or the like satisfies the above-mentioned change conditions.

When the category is RAM, the change condition is, for example, that the usage rate of the RAM (part or all of the storage device 160) included in the terminal device 100 is equal to or higher than the threshold value THra [%]. For example, the determining unit 120 obtains RAM information indicating the RAM usage rate and the like by reading an API in the terminal device 100. Then, when the usage rate indicated by the RAM information is equal to or greater than the threshold THra [%], the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit. Note that the change condition may be that the amount of RAM used is greater than or equal to the first predetermined amount [GB].

Further, when the RAM usage rate, etc. satisfies the above-mentioned change conditions, as in the case where the category is CPU, the determining unit 120 selects a control unit that lowers the communication quality from the current communication quality by using the second control unit. Determine as a unit. Alternatively, the determining unit 120 may stop QoS control for the terminal device 100 if the RAM usage rate or the like satisfies the above-mentioned change conditions.

When the category is ROM, the change condition is, for example, that the usage rate of the ROM (part or all of the storage device 160) included in the terminal device 100 is equal to or higher than the threshold value THro [%]. For example, the determining unit 120 obtains ROM information indicating the ROM usage rate and the like by reading an API in the terminal device 100. Then, when the usage rate indicated by the ROM information is equal to or greater than the threshold value THro[%], the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit. Note that the change condition may be that the usage amount of the ROM is equal to or greater than the second predetermined amount [GB].

In addition, when the usage rate of the ROM, etc. satisfies the above-mentioned change conditions, as in the case where the category is CPU, the determining unit 120 selects a control unit that lowers the communication quality from the current communication quality by using the second control unit. Determine as a unit. Alternatively, the determining unit 120 may stop QoS control for the terminal device 100 if the ROM usage rate or the like satisfies the above-mentioned change conditions.

When the category is an application program, the change condition is that communication by the application program subject to QoS control is restricted. For example, communication by an application program may be restricted by enabling a function (so-called data saver) in which the OS executed by the terminal device 100 saves communication amount. For example, the determining unit 120 obtains application information indicating whether communication by an application program subject to QoS control is restricted by reading an API in the terminal device 100. Then, if the application information indicates that communication by the application program subject to QoS control is restricted, the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit. .

Note that when communication by an application program that is subject to QoS control is restricted, as in the case where the category is CPU, the determining unit 120 selects a control unit that lowers the communication quality from the current communication quality. This is determined as the second control unit. Alternatively, the determining unit 120 may stop QoS control for the terminal device 100 if communication by an application program subject to QoS control is restricted.

When the category is in the state of other application programs, the change condition is that communication is being performed by a second application program other than the first application program that is subject to QoS control. For example, the determining unit 120 determines whether communication by the second application program is being executed based on a terminal log indicating the history of the operation of the terminal device 100. Then, if the terminal log indicates that communication by the second application program is being executed, the determining unit 120 changes the current QoS control unit for the first application program to the second control unit. Then it is decided.

Note that when the second application program is also subject to QoS control, the determining unit 120 determines, as the second control unit, a control unit that lowers the communication quality for the first application program from the current communication quality. You may. Alternatively, the determining unit 120 may determine, as the second control unit, a control unit that improves both the communication quality for the first application program and the communication quality for the second application program from the current communication quality. good.

If the category is the state around the terminal device 100, the change condition is that there is a shield around the terminal device 100 that blocks communication. For example, the determining unit 120 determines whether there is a shielding object around the terminal device 100 based on radio waves from a beacon that transmits radio waves using short-range communication technology such as BLE (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy). Determine based on reception status. If determining that there is a shield around the terminal device 100, the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit.

If the category is radio wave condition, the change condition is that the condition of the radio waves received by the terminal device 100 is poor. For example, the determining unit 120 acquires weather information indicating the weather conditions of the location where the terminal device 100 is located by reading the Web API. Then, when the weather condition indicated by the weather information satisfies the weather condition that makes the radio wave condition poor, the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit. Note that the method for identifying the location where the terminal device 100 is located is not particularly limited, but the location where the terminal device 100 is located may be identified based on, for example, a GPS signal that is a radio wave from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite. You can. Alternatively, the location where the terminal device 100 is located may be specified based on identification information that uniquely identifies the base station device 200 with which the terminal device 100 communicates, or may be specified based on a signal received from a beacon. may be done.

If the category is a communication service contract, the change condition is that communication by the terminal device 100 is restricted. For example, the determining unit 120 determines whether the speed of communication by the terminal device 100 is restricted by reading the API of a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module). Alternatively, the determining unit 120 may inquire of the contract information management server (not shown in FIG. 1A) whether the speed of communication by the terminal device 100 is restricted. Then, when the communication speed by the terminal device 100 is limited, the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit.

Note that when the speed of communication by the terminal device 100 is limited, as in the case where the category is CPU, the determining unit 120 selects a control unit that lowers the communication quality from the current communication quality as a second control unit. Determine as a unit. Alternatively, the determining unit 120 may stop QoS control for the terminal device 100 when the communication speed by the terminal device 100 is limited. Furthermore, when the restriction on the communication speed by the terminal device 100 is lifted, the determining unit 120 may determine a control unit that improves the communication quality over the current communication quality as the second control unit.

When the category is the number of accommodations, the change condition is that the number of terminal devices 100 receiving QoS control by the first control unit is equal to or greater than the threshold value THcp [units]. For example, the determining unit 120 obtains terminal number information indicating the number of terminal devices 100 receiving QoS control by the first control unit by reading the Web API. Then, when the number of terminal devices 100 indicated by the terminal number information is equal to or greater than the threshold THcp [units], the determining unit 120 changes the current QoS control unit (QoS control based on the first control unit) to the second Decide to change to control unit. Note that the threshold value THcp [level] is determined in advance for each control unit, for example.

Specifically, for example, if the first control unit (current control unit) is a device unit with the base station device 200 as the control unit, the change condition is that the first control unit (current control unit) is under QoS control by the base station device 200. The number of terminal devices 100 is equal to or greater than the threshold value THcp [units] for each device. In this case, the determining unit 120 obtains, for example, terminal number information indicating the number of terminal devices 100 receiving QoS control by the base station device 200 by reading the Web API. Then, when the terminal number information indicates that the number of terminal devices 100 receiving QoS control by the base station device 200 is greater than or equal to the threshold value THcp [units] for each device, the determining unit 120 controls the current QoS control. It is decided to change the unit (apparatus unit) to the second control unit. Note that, for example, if the current control unit is a device unit with the base station device 200 as the control unit, the change condition is that the device is connected to the base station device 200 regardless of whether it is under QoS control. The number of terminal devices 100 (the number of simultaneous connections) may be a predetermined number or more.

Here, satisfying the above-mentioned change condition regarding the number of accommodations corresponds to "no longer satisfying the predetermined condition regarding execution of quality control." That is, a state (condition) in which the above-mentioned change condition regarding the number of accommodations is not satisfied corresponds to a "predetermined condition regarding execution of quality control." Specifically, the fact that the number of terminal devices 100 undergoing QoS control based on the current control unit is less than the threshold THcp [units] is an example of a "predetermined condition regarding execution of quality control." Therefore, for example, if the state of the base station device 200 that is currently executing QoS control based on the control unit no longer satisfies the predetermined condition regarding the execution of QoS control, the determining unit 120 may decide to perform QoS control based on the current control unit. It is determined that QoS control should be changed to the second control unit.

If the category is a network device failure, the change condition is that a failure has occurred in the network devices such as the base station device 200 and the relay device 400. For example, the determining unit 120 obtains failure information indicating whether a failure has occurred in the network device by reading Web API. Then, when the failure information indicates that a failure has occurred in the network device that is executing the QoS control based on the current control unit, the determining unit 120 changes the current QoS control unit to the second control unit. Decided to change. Note that satisfying the above-mentioned change condition regarding a failure of a network device corresponds to "no longer satisfying a predetermined condition regarding execution of quality control." That is, the fact that no fault has occurred in the network device is another example of the "predetermined condition regarding execution of quality control."

When the category is the distance between the terminal device 100 and the base station device 200, the change condition is that the distance between the terminal device 100 and the base station device 200 is equal to or greater than the threshold value THd[m]. For example, the determining unit 120 specifies the distance between the terminal device 100 and the base station device 200 by reading Web API. Then, when the distance between the terminal device 100 and the base station device 200 is equal to or greater than the threshold value THd [m], the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit. The threshold value THd[m] is an example of a "predetermined distance".

If the category is frame rate, the change condition is that the frame rate of the video being distributed to the terminal device 100 is equal to or less than the threshold THf [fps]. For example, the determining unit 120 obtains distribution information indicating the frame rate and the like of the video being distributed to the terminal device 100 by reading an API in the terminal device 100. Then, when the frame rate indicated by the distribution information is equal to or less than the threshold THf [fps], the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit.

Note that the method for acquiring various types of information (for example, throughput information, etc.) used to determine whether or not the change conditions are satisfied is not limited to the example described in FIG. 6 . For example, various types of information used to determine whether the change conditions are satisfied may be transmitted from a node or the like included in the network NW to the terminal device 100 in response to an acquisition request from the terminal device 100.

In addition, in order to make the explanation easier to understand, in FIG. 6, various change conditions are explained using an example in which the change conditions are classified into multiple categories, but the change conditions are not classified into multiple categories. Good too. Further, the change conditions applied to this embodiment may be part or all of the change conditions shown in FIG. 6, or may be conditions other than the change conditions shown in FIG. Alternatively, the change conditions applied to this embodiment may include some or all of the change conditions shown in FIG. 6 and conditions other than the change conditions shown in FIG. 6.

The change conditions other than the change conditions shown in FIG. 6 may be, for example, conditions based on evaluation indicators regarding network devices. The evaluation index may be, for example, some or all of reliability, availability, maintainability, completeness, and safety. An example of an index related to reliability is the mean time between failures (MTBF) of a network device. Further, as an index regarding availability, for example, the operating rate of a network device can be mentioned. Further, as an index related to maintainability, for example, mean time to repair (MTTR), which is the average time required to repair a network device, can be mentioned. Examples of indicators related to completeness include data consistency and consistency. In addition, examples of indicators related to safety include data confidentiality (resistance to unauthorized access) and the like.

That is, the change conditions other than the change conditions shown in FIG. 6 are, for example, that the mean failure interval of the network device is less than or equal to the threshold value, that the availability rate of the network device is greater than or equal to the threshold value, and that the mean repair time is greater than or equal to the threshold value. It may be part or all of that. Further, for example, one or both of the integrity being less than or equal to a threshold value and the safety being less than or equal to a threshold value may be the change condition.

Here, satisfying the change conditions based on the above-mentioned evaluation indicators (reliability, availability, maintainability, completeness, safety, etc.) corresponds to "no longer satisfying the predetermined conditions regarding the execution of quality control." . For example, the fact that the mean time between failures of a network device exceeds a threshold, that the availability rate of a network device is less than a threshold, and that the average repair time is less than a threshold are "predetermined conditions for performing quality control" This is another example. Furthermore, for example, integrity being higher than a threshold value and safety being higher than a threshold value are other examples of "predetermined conditions regarding execution of quality control."

Furthermore, when a plurality of change conditions are applied, the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit when any of the plurality of change conditions is satisfied. Good too. Alternatively, the determining unit 120 determines to change the current QoS control unit to the second control unit when all of a plurality of change conditions (for example, a plurality of change conditions to improve communication quality) are satisfied. You may.

In this embodiment, when the above-mentioned change conditions are satisfied, the terminal device 100 changes the current QoS control unit to the second control unit, thereby providing QoS to the terminal device 100 or other terminal devices 100. It is possible to reduce the possibility that control is not executed properly. For example, if the terminal device 100 changes the current QoS control unit to a second control unit that improves the communication quality compared to the current communication quality, the QoS control for the terminal device 100 may not be executed appropriately. can be reduced. Alternatively, if the terminal device 100 changes the current QoS control unit to a second control unit that lowers the communication quality than the current communication quality, or if the terminal device 100 stops QoS control, the first It is possible to increase the resource availability of the control unit (current control unit). In this case, it is possible to increase the resource availability of the first control unit that can achieve higher communication quality than the communication quality achieved by the second control unit, so QoS control for other terminal devices 100 can be appropriately executed. It is possible to reduce the possibility that the

FIG. 7 is a sequence chart showing an example of the operation of the network system 10 shown in FIG. 1A. In FIG. 7, it is assumed that the normal control unit of QoS control for the terminal device 100 is predetermined for each device, with the base station device 200 as the control unit. That is, in FIG. 7, it is assumed that the request destination (initial start request destination) when the terminal device 100 requests the start of QoS control in a state where it is not receiving QoS control is determined in advance in the base station device 200. do. Furthermore, in FIG. 7, it is assumed that the control unit of QoS control is changed to the second control unit when any of the change conditions shown in FIG. 6 is satisfied.

First, the determining unit 120 of the terminal device 100 determines whether the control unit of QoS control started by the start request REQs should be changed from a predetermined initial control unit (first control unit) to another control unit. It is determined whether or not (S100). For example, the determining unit 120 determines whether the QoS control unit (device unit) should be changed to another QoS control unit based on whether any of the change conditions shown in FIG. 6 is satisfied. Determine.

If the result of the determination in step S100 is affirmative, the determining unit 120 selects a second control unit (change target control unit) from among the plurality of control units other than the first control unit. is determined (S102). For example, when selecting a second control unit that improves communication quality, the determining unit 120 tries all QoS control using selectable control units among other control units, and selects the QoS control that achieves the highest communication quality. may be determined as the second control unit. Alternatively, the priority selected as the second control unit may be determined in advance. In this case, the determining unit 120 may determine the control unit with the highest priority as the second control unit from among the selectable control units among the other control units.

In this manner, the determining unit 120 determines in step S100 whether or not the QoS control by the first control unit among the plurality of control units should be changed to the QoS control by the second control unit, which is another control unit. It is determined by the process of S102. Note that in step S100, the QoS control by the first control unit is the QoS control that will be executed from now on the terminal device 100. In FIG. 7, it is assumed that the result of the determination in step S100 is negative. That is, in FIG. 7, it is assumed that the determining unit 120 determines that the control unit (device unit) of the QoS control started by the start request REQs should not be changed to any other control unit of QoS.

Therefore, the requesting unit 130 of the terminal device 100 transmits a start request REQs requesting the start of QoS control to the base station device 200, which is a predetermined request destination (initial start request destination) (S104). Note that, as described above, in FIG. 7, it is assumed that the result of the determination in step S100 is negative, but if the result of the determination in step S100 is affirmative, the requesting unit 130 performs the process in step S102. A start request REQs is transmitted to the node corresponding to the determined second control unit.

The base station device 200 receives the start request REQs transmitted from the terminal device 100 (S200). Then, the base station device 200 transmits an acknowledgment ACKs in response to the start request REQs to the terminal device 100 that is the source of the start request REQs (S202). Furthermore, the quality control unit 240 of the base station device 200 starts QoS control based on the control unit specified by the start request REQs, for example (S204). As a result, QoS control for the terminal device 100 is started.

Furthermore, the terminal device 100 receives an acknowledgment ACKs from the base station device 200 as a response to the start request REQs (S106). Thereby, the terminal device 100 can recognize that QoS control according to the start request REQs is started.

Further, the determining unit 120 of the terminal device 100 determines whether or not the control unit of QoS control being executed on the terminal device 100 should be changed from the current control unit (device unit) to another control unit of QoS. A determination is made (S110). For example, the determining unit 120 determines whether the control unit (device unit) of QoS control should be changed to another control unit based on whether any of the change conditions shown in FIG. 6 is satisfied. do. In this manner, in step S110, the determining unit 120 determines whether QoS control using the first control unit among the plurality of control units should be changed to QoS control using the second control unit, which is another control unit. Determine. Note that in step S110, the QoS control by the first control unit is QoS control that has already been executed for the terminal device 100.

If the determination result in step S110 is affirmative, the determining unit 120 advances the process to step S112, and if the determination result in step S110 is negative, the determination unit 120 advances the process to step S130. In FIG. 7, it is assumed that among the processes of step S110 that are repeatedly executed, the result of the determination in the first step S110 is affirmative, and the result of the determination in the second and subsequent steps S110 is negative.

If the result of the determination in step S110 is affirmative, the determining unit 120 determines the second control unit from among the other control units (S112), similarly to the process in step S102. In FIG. 7, a case is assumed in which the determining unit 120 determines a route unit, in which the control unit is a communication route configured by a plurality of relay devices 400, etc. in the network NW, as the second control unit. That is, in FIG. 7, it is assumed that the node that executes QoS control for the terminal device 100 is changed from the base station device 200 to the relay device 400.

Therefore, the requesting unit 130 of the terminal device 100 transmits a termination request REQe requesting termination of QoS control for the terminal device 100 to the base station device 200 (S114).

The base station device 200 receives the termination request REQe transmitted from the terminal device 100 (S204). Then, the base station device 200 transmits an acknowledgment ACKe to the termination request REQe to the terminal device 100 that is the transmission source of the termination request REQe (S206). Furthermore, the quality control unit 240 of the base station device 200 ends the QoS control for the terminal device 100 indicated by the termination request REQe (S208).

Furthermore, the terminal device 100 receives an acknowledgment ACKe from the base station device 200 as a response to the termination request REQe (S116). Thereby, the terminal device 100 can recognize that the QoS control by the base station device 200 is finished.

Further, since the second control unit determined in step S112 is a route unit, the request unit 130 of the terminal device 100 transmits a start request REQs to the management device 300 that determines the content of QoS control by route unit. (S128). That is, the requesting unit 130 of the terminal device 100 requests the management device 300 to perform QoS control on a per-route basis determined in step S112.

The management device 300 receives the start request REQs transmitted from the terminal device 100 (S300). Then, the management device 300 transmits an affirmative response ACKs to the start request REQs to the terminal device 100 that is the source of the start request REQs (S302). Thereby, the terminal device 100 receives an acknowledgment ACKs from the management device 300 as a response to the start request REQs (S120). Furthermore, the quality control unit 340 of the management device 300 determines the contents of QoS control based on the start request REQs received from the terminal device 100, and sends a control signal CTL indicating the determined contents of the QoS control to the relay device 400. Send (S304).

Relay device 400 receives control signal CTL transmitted from management device 300 (S400). Then, the relay device 400 transmits an acknowledgment ACKc in response to the control signal CTL to the management device 300 (S402). Thereby, the management device 300 receives an acknowledgment ACKc from the relay device 400 as a response to the control signal CTL (S306). Furthermore, the quality control unit 440 of the relay device 400 starts QoS control for the terminal device 100 based on the control signal CTL received from the management device 300 (S404).

In this way, the requesting unit 130 of the terminal device 100 requests the relay device 400, which executes QoS control on a per-route basis determined in step S112, to perform QoS control on a per-route basis via the management device 300. As a result, QoS control for the terminal device 100 is changed from QoS control on a device-by-device basis to QoS control on a path-by-route basis. In this embodiment, by changing the control unit of QoS control, it is possible to prevent the quality of the communication service to the terminal device 100 from deteriorating or the QoS control request from being rejected.

Further, the requesting unit 130 of the terminal device 100 determines whether to end the QoS control for the terminal device 100 (S130). If the result of the determination in step S130 is negative, the requesting unit 130 returns the process to step S110. Further, if the result of the determination in step S110 is affirmative, the requesting unit 130 performs processing to terminate the QoS control for the terminal device 100 (for example, transmitting a termination request REQe to the management device 300, although not shown in FIG. 7). ).

Note that the operation of the network system 10 is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 7. For example, the process in step S102 may be included in the process in step S100. Specifically, the determining unit 120 tries all QoS control using selectable control units and determines whether the QoS control unit that achieved the highest communication quality matches a predetermined normal control unit. By determining whether or not the control unit should be changed, it may be determined whether or not the control unit should be changed. Alternatively, if the priority selected as the second control unit is predetermined, the determining unit 120 performs QoS control by the second control unit selected based on the priority, and predetermined normal control. QoS control by unit may also be tried. The determining unit 120 may then determine whether or not the control unit should be changed based on the result (communication quality) of testing the QoS control using the second control unit and the QoS control using the normal control unit. . Similarly, the process in step S112 may be included in the process in step S110.

Further, for example, the determination of whether to terminate QoS control for the terminal device 100 (S130) is performed before the determination of whether or not to change the control unit of QoS control to another control unit of QoS (S110). may be done. Further, for example, sending the start request REQs to the management device 300 (S128) may be executed before sending the end request REQe to the base station device 200 (S114). In this case, the requesting unit 130 of the terminal device 100 may transmit the termination request REQe to the base station device 200 after receiving the positive response ACKs from the management device 300.

Further, for example, the management device 300 may transmit an acknowledgment ACKs to the start request REQs from the terminal device 100 to the terminal device 100 after receiving an acknowledgment ACKc to the control signal CTL from the relay device 400.

Furthermore, in the example shown in FIG. 7, the type of the second control unit (route unit) is different from the type of the first control unit (device unit); It may be the same as the type of control unit.

Further, the present embodiment is not limited to a mode in which the request destination (initial start request destination) when the terminal device 100 requests the start of QoS control in a state where it is not receiving QoS control is determined in advance. For example, the determination in step S100 may be omitted from the operation shown in FIG. In this case, in step S102, the determining unit 120 may determine the start control unit specified by the QoS control start request REQs from among a plurality of selectable control units. Then, in step S104, the requesting unit 130 requests a node that executes QoS control based on the starting control unit from among the plurality of nodes (for example, the base station device 200 and the relay device 400, etc.) to start QoS control based on the starting control unit. may be requested.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of QoS control for the terminal device 100. In FIG. 8, in order to distinguish the two terminal devices 100 from each other, a lowercase alphabet (a or b) is added to the end of the code of the terminal device 100. Similarly, in order to distinguish the two base station apparatuses 200 from each other, a lowercase alphabet (a or b) is added to the end of the code of the base station apparatus 200. Also, in FIGS. 9 to 17, which will be described later, similar to FIG. 8, lowercase alphabets are added to the end of the symbols of the terminal device 100 and the base station device 200.

Note that in FIG. 8, communication between the terminal device 100a and the application server 600 is assumed. Furthermore, in FIG. 8, it is assumed that the frequency band used for communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200a is the frequency band Fa. Furthermore, hereinafter, communication in which QoS control is not performed is also referred to as normal communication.

In the example shown in FIG. 8, QoS control is performed on communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200a, and normal communication is performed between the base station device 200a and the application server 600. The control unit of QoS control is, for example, a device unit in which the base station device 200a is the control unit. For example, as explained in FIG. 7, when any of the change conditions shown in FIG. 6 is satisfied, the terminal device 100a changes the control unit of QoS control from the first control unit that is the current control unit. , change to the second control unit. Examples in which the control unit of QoS control is changed from the example shown in FIG. 8 are shown in FIGS. 9, 10, 11, and 12.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 8.

In the example shown in FIG. 9, normal communication is performed between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200a, and QoS control is performed on the communication between the base station device 200a and the application server 600. The control unit of the QoS control is, for example, an application unit in which the application program being executed by the terminal device 100a is the control unit. That is, in the case shown in FIG. 9, the control unit of QoS control has been changed from the device unit shown in FIG. 8 to the application unit. In this way, in this embodiment, for example, if sufficient communication quality cannot be obtained with QoS control on a device-by-device basis, the communication quality of the terminal device 100a is reduced by changing the QoS control unit on an application-by-application basis. This can be prevented. Note that in the example shown in FIG. 9, the communication path within the network NW has not been changed from the example shown in FIG. Although not particularly shown in FIG. 9, among communications by the terminal device 100a, communications by application programs other than application programs subject to QoS control on an application basis may be performed even if normal communications are executed. good.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 8.

In the example shown in FIG. 10, normal communication is performed between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200a, and QoS control is performed on the communication between the base station device 200a and the application server 600. The QoS control unit is, for example, a route unit in which the communication route within the network NW is the control unit. That is, in the case shown in FIG. 10, the control unit of QoS control has been changed from the device unit shown in FIG. 8 to the path unit. As described above, in this embodiment, for example, if sufficient communication quality cannot be obtained with QoS control on a device-by-device basis, the communication quality of the terminal device 100a is reduced by changing the control unit of QoS control to a path-by-route basis. This can be prevented. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 10, the communication path within the network NW is changed to a communication path with higher communication quality than the communication path shown in FIG. Note that the relay device 400 may perform, for example, QoS control (low delay control) that guarantees communication delay without changing the communication route.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 8.

In the example shown in FIG. 11, QoS control is performed on communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200b, and normal communication is performed between the base station device 200b and the application server 600. However, the base station device 200b that is the communication destination of the terminal device 100a is different from the base station device 200a that is the communication destination of the terminal device 100a shown in FIG.

In the example shown in FIG. 11, compared to the example shown in FIG. The control unit has been changed to another device unit. In this way, in the example shown in FIG. 11, the type of control unit after the QoS control is changed (the second control unit type) is the same as the type of the control unit before the change (the first control unit type). It's the same.

In this embodiment, for example, if sufficient communication quality cannot be obtained with QoS control by one device unit among a plurality of device units, the terminal device It is possible to prevent the communication quality of 100a from deteriorating. Note that in the example shown in FIG. 11, the base station device 200b, which is the communication destination of the terminal device 100a, has been changed from the example shown in FIG. It has been changed from. Furthermore, in FIG. 11, it is assumed that the frequency band used for communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200b is the frequency band Fb. Note that the frequency band used for communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200b may be the frequency band Fa or the frequency band Fc shown in FIG. 12.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 8.

In the example shown in FIG. 12, QoS control is performed on communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200a, and normal communication is performed between the base station device 200a and the application server 600. However, in FIG. 12, it is assumed that two frequency bands, frequency band Fa and frequency band Fc, are used for communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200a. Note that changing the QoS control by the first control unit may be adding QoS control by the second control unit to the QoS control by the first control unit. In the example shown in FIG. 12, compared to the example shown in FIG. 8, the control unit of QoS control ranges from a frequency unit with the frequency band Fa as the control unit, to a frequency unit with the frequency band Fa as the control unit, and a frequency unit with the frequency band Fc as the control unit. The control unit has been changed to include the frequency unit. In this way, in the example shown in FIG. 12, the type of control unit after the QoS control is changed (the second control unit type) is the same as the type of the control unit before the change (the first control unit type). It's the same.

In this embodiment, for example, if sufficient communication quality cannot be obtained with QoS control using the frequency band Fa as a control unit, by further performing QoS control using the frequency band Fc as a control unit, the communication quality of the terminal device 100 is It is possible to prevent the quality from deteriorating. Note that in the example shown in FIG. 12, the communication path within the network NW has not been changed from the example shown in FIG.

In the examples shown in FIGS. 9 to 12, QoS control is performed for one of the communication between the terminal device 100 and the base station device 200 and the communication between the base station device 200 and the application server 600. However, the present embodiment is not limited to such an aspect. For example, QoS control targeting RAN (communication between terminal device 100 and base station device 200) and core network (communication within network NW of communication between base station device 200 and application server 600) ) may be performed. In this case as well, the QoS control unit is changed from the device unit. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 9, when QoS control for communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200a is further executed, the QoS control unit changes from the device unit shown in FIG. 8 to the device unit. The control unit is changed to include the application unit and the application unit.

Further, for example, when cloud computing is implemented using the edge server 500, a second application server having the same functions as the application server 600 may be connected to the edge server 500. In this case, communication between the base station device 200 and the application server 600 may be changed to communication between the base station device 200 and the second application server. Communication between the base station device 200 and the second application server is via the edge server 500. That is, for example, if QoS control in low delay mode (low delay control) is being executed for communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200a, but sufficient communication quality cannot be obtained, the relay Communication via the device 400 may be changed to communication via the edge server 500. In this case, since the communication does not go through the relay device 400, it is expected that the communication delay time will be reduced compared to the case where the communication goes through the relay device 400. In other words, low communication delay can be ensured.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of QoS control for the terminal device 100. In FIG. 13, communication between one terminal device 100a and the other terminal device 100b of two terminal devices 100 is assumed. In addition, in FIG. 13, the frequency band used for communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200a is the frequency band Fa, and the frequency band used for communication between the terminal device 100b and the base station device 200b. Assume that the band is frequency band Fc.

In the example shown in FIG. 13, QoS control is performed for communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200a, and for communication between the terminal device 100b and the base station device 200b. Normal communication is being performed between 200b and relay device 400. The control unit of the QoS control is, for example, a frequency unit in which the frequency band Fa is the control unit, and a frequency unit in which the frequency band Fc is the control unit. For example, if any of the change conditions shown in FIG. 6 is satisfied, the terminal device 100a changes the control unit of QoS control from the first control unit, which is the current control unit, to the second control unit. do. FIG. 14 shows an example in which the control unit of QoS control is changed from the example shown in FIG. 13.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 13.

In FIG. 14, it is assumed that communication between the terminal device 100a and the terminal device 100b is performed without going through the core network. In the example shown in FIG. 14, QoS control is performed on communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200b, and communication between the terminal device 100b and the base station device 200b. In FIG. 14, the frequency band used for communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200b is frequency band Fb, and the frequency band used for communication between the terminal device 100b and the base station device 200b is Assume that the frequency band is Fc.

The control unit of QoS control is, for example, a frequency unit in which the frequency band Fb is the control unit, and a frequency unit in which the frequency band Fc is the control unit. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 14, the control unit of QoS control changes from the frequency unit in which the control unit is each of the frequency bands Fa and Fc shown in FIG. unit has been changed. In this way, in this embodiment, for example, when communication can be performed without going through the core network, the terminal It is possible to prevent the communication quality of the device 100 from deteriorating.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of QoS control for the terminal device 100. In FIG. 15, communication between the terminal device 100a and the edge server 500 is assumed.

In the example shown in FIG. 15, QoS control is performed on communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200a, and normal communication is performed between the base station device 200a and the edge server 500. The control unit of QoS control is, for example, a device unit in which the base station device 200a is the control unit. For example, if any of the change conditions shown in FIG. 6 is satisfied, the terminal device 100a changes the control unit of QoS control from the first control unit, which is the current control unit, to the second control unit. do. Examples in which the control unit of QoS control is changed from the example shown in FIG. 15 are shown in FIGS. 16 and 17.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 15.

In the example shown in FIG. 16, normal communication is performed between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200a, and QoS control is performed on the communication between the base station device 200a and the edge server 500. The QoS control unit is, for example, a route unit in which the route between the base station device 200a and the edge server 500 is the control unit. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 16, the control unit of QoS control is changed from the device unit shown in FIG. 15 to the route unit. As described above, in this embodiment, for example, if sufficient communication quality cannot be obtained with QoS control on a device-by-device basis, the communication quality of the terminal device 100a is reduced by changing the control unit of QoS control to a path-by-route basis. This can be prevented.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of changing the QoS control shown in FIG. 15.

In the example shown in FIG. 17, QoS control is performed on communication between the terminal device 100a and the base station device 200a, and communication between the base station device 200a and the edge server 500. The QoS control unit is, for example, a device unit in which the base station device 200a is the control unit, and a path unit in which the route between the base station device 200a and the edge server 500 is the control unit. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 17, the control unit of QoS control is changed from the device unit shown in FIG. 15 to the control unit including the device unit and the route unit. In this way, in this embodiment, for example, if sufficient communication quality cannot be obtained with QoS control on a device-by-device basis, QoS control can be further executed with the route between the base station device 200a and the edge server 500 as a control unit. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the communication quality of the terminal device 100 from deteriorating.

As described above, in this embodiment, the network system 10 includes the network NW in which QoS control, which is control of the quality of communication service, is executed by a plurality of control units, and the terminal device 100 connected to the network NW. The terminal device 100 includes a determining section 120, a requesting section 130, and the like. The determining unit 120 performs QoS control on the terminal device 100 using a second control unit, which is another control unit, instead of or in addition to the QoS control using the first control unit among the plurality of control units. Decide whether to do so or not. When the determining unit 120 determines that QoS control based on the second control unit should be performed, the requesting unit 130 requests nodes (e.g., the base station device 200, the relay device 400, etc.) that perform the QoS control based on the second control unit. ) is requested to perform QoS control by the second control unit.

As described above, in this embodiment, the terminal device 100 can determine whether or not to change the control unit of QoS control from the first control unit to the second control unit among the plurality of control units. can. Thereby, in this embodiment, it is possible to reduce the possibility that QoS control is not executed appropriately. Further, for example, even when a plurality of terminal devices 100 are connected to the network NW, in this embodiment, each terminal device 100 determines whether or not to change the control unit of QoS control. QoS control suitable for the device 100 can be performed. Note that in this embodiment, the QoS control by the first control unit among the plurality of control units may be QoS control that will be executed from now on the terminal device 100, or may be QoS control that is already executed for the terminal device 100. It may also be QoS control being performed.

In addition, in the present embodiment, when the terminal device 100 requests the start of QoS control in a state where it is not receiving QoS control, the determining unit 120 selects the one specified by the QoS control start request REQs from among the plurality of control units. The starting control unit may be determined. In this case, the requesting unit 130 requests the node that executes the QoS control based on the starting control unit among the plurality of nodes (for example, the base station device 200 and the relay device 400, etc.) to start the QoS control based on the starting control unit. You can. As a result, even if, for example, the start control unit is not determined in advance when the terminal device 100 requests the start of QoS control in a state where it is not receiving QoS control, in this embodiment, multiple control units can be used. From among them, the starting control unit can be appropriately determined.

Further, the plurality of control units may include at least one of a device unit, a route unit, a frequency unit, and an application unit. For example, the device unit is a unit in which a network device such as the base station device 200 is a control unit. The route unit is a unit in which a communication route within the network NW used for communication by the terminal device 100 is a control unit. The frequency unit is a unit in which a frequency band used for RAN communication between the terminal device 100 and the base station device 200 is a control unit. The application unit is a unit whose control unit is an application program executed by the terminal device 100.

For example, if the plurality of control units includes a device unit, the terminal device 100 determines whether to change the control unit of QoS control by the base station device 200 or change the current QoS control to the QoS control by the base station device 200. You can decide whether to change it or not. That is, the terminal device 100 can appropriately select a control unit for QoS control based on the communication quality achieved by QoS control by the base station device 200. Similarly, even when multiple control units include route units, frequency units, or application units, the control unit of QoS control is determined based on the communication quality achieved by QoS control by each control unit. can be selected appropriately.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the determining unit 120 performs QoS control based on the second control unit based on the communication quality of the terminal device 100 or the state of the terminal device 100 instead of or in addition to the QoS control based on the first control unit. It may also be determined whether control should be performed. In the aspect in which it is determined whether or not to change the control unit of QoS control based on the communication quality of the terminal device 100, the control unit of QoS control can be changed when the communication quality of the terminal device 100 deteriorates. It is possible to prevent the communication quality of the terminal device 100 from deteriorating.

Even in the aspect in which it is determined whether or not to change the control unit of QoS control based on the state of the terminal device 100, the control unit of QoS control can be changed when the communication quality of the terminal device 100 deteriorates. It is possible to prevent the communication quality of the terminal device 100 from deteriorating. In addition, in an aspect in which it is determined based on the state of the terminal device 100 whether or not to change the control unit of QoS control, the determining unit 120 lowers the communication quality from the current communication quality depending on the state of the terminal device 100. Such a control unit may be determined as the second control unit. In this case, it is possible to increase the resource availability of the first control unit that can achieve higher communication quality than the communication quality achieved by the second control unit, so QoS control for other terminal devices 100 can be appropriately executed. It is possible to reduce the possibility that the

Further, in this embodiment, the type of the second control unit may be the same type as the first control unit. In this case, for example, the terminal device determines whether QoS control that uses one base station device 200 among the plurality of base station devices 200 as a control unit should be changed to QoS control that uses another base station device 200 as a control unit. 100 can be determined.

Further, in this embodiment, the type of the second control unit may be different from the type of the first control unit. In this case, for example, the terminal device 100 can decide whether to change the QoS control in which the base station device 200 is the control unit to the QoS control in which the communication path within the network NW is the control unit.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the determining unit 120 determines whether the first control unit is a Instead of or in addition to the QoS control by the second control unit, it may be determined whether to perform QoS control by the second control unit. For example, if the state of a node that is performing QoS control using the first control unit no longer satisfies a predetermined condition regarding the execution of QoS control, the determining unit 120 may change the QoS control using the first control unit to the second control unit. It may be determined that QoS control should be changed to control-based QoS control.

As a result, in this embodiment, for example, if the state of a node executing QoS control becomes a state unsuitable for executing QoS control, a node that can afford to execute QoS control (a node that satisfies a predetermined condition) can perform QoS control. nodes) can perform QoS control. In this way, in this embodiment, when the state of the node performing QoS control becomes unsuitable for performing QoS control, the control unit of QoS control can be changed, so that QoS control can be performed appropriately. can be executed.

Further, in the present embodiment, when the distance between the terminal device 100 and the base station device 200 is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance (for example, threshold THd [m]), the determining unit 120 determines the quality of the first control unit based on the first control unit. It may be determined that the control should be changed to QoS control by a second control unit. As a result, in this embodiment, for example, when the distance between the base station device 200 that is performing QoS control and the terminal device 100 becomes large, the control unit of QoS control can be changed. It is possible to prevent the communication quality from deteriorating.

[2. Modified example]
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments illustrated above. Specific modes of modification are illustrated below. Two or more aspects arbitrarily selected from the examples below may be combined.

[First modification]
In the embodiment described above, a case has been shown in which the terminal device 100 has the determining unit 120 and the requesting unit 130, but the present invention is not limited to such an aspect. For example, some or all of the base station device 200, the management device 300, the relay device 400, and the edge server 500 may have the same functions as the determining unit 120 and the requesting unit 130. In this case, the determining unit 120 and the requesting unit 130 may be omitted from the terminal device 100.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a base station device 200 according to the first modification. Elements similar to those described in FIGS. 1A to 17 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. The base station device 200 shown in FIG. 18 is similar to the base station device 200 shown in FIG. 2. For example, the base station device 200 is realized by a computer system including a processing device 210, a storage device 260, and a communication device 270. However, in the base station device 200 shown in FIG. 18, the storage device 260 stores the control program PR2a instead of the control program PR2, and the processing device 210 executes the control program PR2a, as shown in FIG. This is different from the base station device 200. Note that the control program PR2a may be transmitted from another device. The base station apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 18 is an example of "at least one node among a plurality of first nodes and at least one second node."

The processing device 210 functions as the determining unit 220, the requesting unit 230, and the quality control unit 240, for example, by reading the control program PR2a from the storage device 260 and executing the read control program PR2a. The determining unit 220 and the requesting unit 230 are similar to the determining unit 120 and the requesting unit 130 shown in FIG. 1B. Further, the quality control section 240 is similar to the quality control section 240 shown in FIG. 2.

For example, instead of or in addition to QoS control using a first control unit among the plurality of control units, the determining unit 220 may perform QoS control using a second control unit, which is another control unit, on the terminal device 100. Determine whether or not it should be executed. The QoS control by the first control unit is, for example, QoS control that has already been performed on the terminal device 100 by another node. Other nodes include, for example, the relay device 400 and other base station devices 200.

For example, if the determining unit 220 determines that QoS control should be performed using the second control unit, the requesting unit 230 may request a second The node that performs QoS control using the second control unit is requested to perform QoS control using the second control unit. The nodes that execute QoS control based on the second control unit are, for example, the relay device 400 and other base station devices 200. Note that when the node that executes the QoS control based on the second control unit is the relay device 400, the requesting unit 230 requests the relay device 400 to start QoS control via the management device 300.

In this way, the base station apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 18 should change the control unit of QoS control for the communication partner terminal apparatus 100 from the first control unit to the second control unit among the plurality of control units. You can decide whether or not to do so.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a management device 300 according to a first modification. Elements similar to those described in FIGS. 1A to 17 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. The management device 300 shown in FIG. 19 is similar to the management device 300 shown in FIG. 3. For example, the management device 300 is realized by a computer system including a processing device 310, a storage device 360, and a communication device 370. However, in the management device 300 shown in FIG. 19, the storage device 360 stores the control program PR3a instead of the control program PR3, and the processing device 310 executes the control program PR3a. This is different from the device 300. Note that the control program PR3a may be transmitted from another device. The management device 300 shown in FIG. 19 is another example of "at least one node among a plurality of first nodes and at least one second node."

The processing device 310 functions as the determining unit 320, the requesting unit 330, and the quality control unit 340, for example, by reading the control program PR3a from the storage device 360 and executing the read control program PR3a. The determining section 320 and the requesting section 330 are similar to the determining section 220 and the requesting section 230 shown in FIG. Furthermore, the quality control section 340 is similar to the quality control section 340 shown in FIG.

Also in the management device 300 shown in FIG. 19, it is possible to determine whether or not to change the control unit of QoS control for the terminal device 100 from the first control unit to the second control unit among the plurality of control units. can.

In this way, the same effects as in the above-described embodiment can be obtained in the first modification as well. Furthermore, in the first modification, even when the terminal device 100 does not include the determining unit 120 and the requesting unit 130, it is possible to reduce the possibility that the QoS control for the terminal device 100 is not performed appropriately.

[Second modification]
In the embodiment and the first modification described above, in addition to QoS control in which the application program is the control unit, QoS control in which the processes of the terminal device 100, the edge server 500, the application server 600, etc. are the control units can be executed. You can. Also in the second modification, the same effects as in the embodiment and the first modification described above can be obtained.

[Third modification]
In the embodiment, the first modified example, and the second modified example described above, an example in which a plurality of edge servers 500 are connected to the base station device 200 is not particularly described, but a plurality of edge servers 500 are connected to the base station device 200. May be connected. In this case, the terminal device 100 changes the control unit of QoS control by changing the edge server 500 of the communication partner from one of the plurality of edge servers 500 to another edge server 500. Good too. Also in the third modification, the same effects as in the embodiment, the first modification, and the second modification described above can be obtained.

[Fourth modification]
In the embodiment, the first modification, the second modification, and the third modification described above, the terminal device 100 requests the start of QoS control, but the present invention is limited to such an embodiment. isn't it. For example, the application server 600 may request the start of QoS control for communication between the terminal device 100 and the application server 600. In this case, the application server 600 may have the same functions as the determining unit 120 and the requesting unit 130. For example, when the network NW is defined to include the application server 600, the application server 600 having the same functions as the determining unit 120 and the requesting unit 130 is configured to “out of a plurality of first nodes and at least one second node”. "at least one node of". Also in the fourth modification, the same effects as in the embodiment, the first modification, the second modification, and the third modification described above can be obtained.

[Fifth modification]
In the above-described embodiment and the modifications from the first modification to the fourth modification, the management device 300 determines the content of QoS control executed by the relay device 400, but the present invention It is not limited to this embodiment. For example, the management device 300 may determine the content of QoS control performed by the base station device 200 in addition to the relay device 400. In this aspect, for example, when changing QoS control by the base station device 200 to QoS control by the relay device 400, the terminal device 100 sends a change request to change the QoS control by the base station device 200 to the QoS control by the relay device 400. It may also be transmitted to the management device 300. In this case, the management device 300 requests the base station device 200 to end QoS control for the terminal device 100 based on the change request from the terminal device 100, and requests the relay device 400 to start QoS control for the terminal device 100. You may. Alternatively, a management device that determines the content of QoS control performed by base station device 200 may be provided separately from management device 300. Also in the fifth modification, the same effects as the above-described embodiment and the modifications from the first modification to the fourth modification can be obtained.

[Sixth variation]
In the above-described embodiment and the modifications from the first modification to the fifth modification, the case is shown in which there is one control unit for QoS control before changing the control unit, but the present invention It is not limited to this embodiment. For example, the control unit of QoS control before changing the control unit may be a plurality of control units. Specifically, for example, the determining unit 120 changes the QoS control unit from two control units, a frequency unit and a route unit, in which the frequency band Fa is the control unit, to an application unit (second control unit). You may decide that it should be changed. In this case, either a frequency unit or a route unit in which the frequency band Fa is a control unit corresponds to the "first control unit."

Alternatively, the determining unit 120 changes the QoS control unit from two control units, a frequency unit and a route unit, in which the frequency band Fa is the control unit, to a frequency unit, in which the frequency bands Fa and Fc are each the control unit. It may be determined that the control unit should be changed to three control units including the application unit. In this example, if the frequency unit whose control unit is the frequency band Fa is the "first control unit", either the frequency unit whose control unit is the frequency band Fc or the application unit is the "second control unit". It corresponds to "control unit". Furthermore, when the route unit is the "first control unit", any one of the frequency unit whose control unit is the frequency band Fa, the frequency unit whose control unit is the frequency band Fc, or the application unit is the "first control unit". This corresponds to "second control unit". In this way, the control unit of QoS control after changing the control unit may also be a plurality of control units. In the sixth modification as well, the same effects as in the above-described embodiment and the modifications from the first modification to the fifth modification can be obtained.

[3. others]
(1) In the embodiments described above, the storage device is a recording medium readable by the processing device, and examples include ROM and RAM, but flexible disks, magneto-optical disks (for example, compact disks, digital versatile disks, Blu-ray (R) disc), smart card, flash memory device (e.g. card, stick, key drive), CD-ROM (Compact Disc-ROM), register, removable disk, hard disk, floppy (R) disk , magnetic strip, database, server or other suitable storage medium. The program may also be transmitted from a network via a telecommunications line. The program may also be transmitted from a communication network via a telecommunications line.

(2) The embodiments described above apply to LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-A (LTE-Advanced), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4G (4th generation mobile communication system), 5G (5th generation mobile communication system), FRA (Future Radio Access), NR (new Radio), W-CDMA (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20, UWB (Ultra-WideBand), Bluetooth (registered trademark), a system that utilizes other appropriate systems, and a next-generation system expanded based on these. may be applied to. Furthermore, a combination of a plurality of systems may be applied (for example, a combination of at least one of LTE and LTE-A and 5G).

(3) In the embodiments described above, the information, signals, etc. described may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc., which may be referred to throughout the above description, may refer to voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or photons, or any of these. It may also be represented by a combination of

(4) In the embodiments described above, input/output information may be stored in a specific location (for example, memory) or may be managed using a management table. Information etc. to be input/output may be overwritten, updated, or additionally written. The output information etc. may be deleted. The input information etc. may be transmitted to other devices.

(5) In the embodiments described above, the determination may be made based on a value expressed by 1 bit (0 or 1), or may be made based on a truth value (Boolean: true or false). , may be performed by numerical comparison (for example, comparison with a predetermined value).

(6) The order of the processing procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. illustrated in the embodiments described above may be changed as long as there is no contradiction. For example, the methods described in this disclosure use an example order to present elements of the various steps and are not limited to the particular order presented.

(7) Each function illustrated in drawings such as FIG. 1B is realized by an arbitrary combination of at least one of hardware and software. Furthermore, the method for realizing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized using one physically or logically coupled device, or may be realized using two or more physically or logically separated devices directly or indirectly (e.g. , wired, wireless, etc.) and may be realized using a plurality of these devices. The functional block may be realized by combining software with the one device or the plurality of devices.

The communication device 170 is hardware (transmission/reception device) for communicating between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also referred to as a network device, network controller, network card, communication module, etc. . The communication device 170 includes, for example, a high frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. to realize at least one of frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD). It may be configured to include.

(8) The programs exemplified in the above-described embodiments may include instructions, instruction sets, codes, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other names. Should be broadly construed to mean a code segment, program code, program, subprogram, software module, application, software application, software package, routine, subroutine, object, executable, thread of execution, procedure, function, etc. .

Additionally, software, instructions, information, etc. may be sent and received via a transmission medium. For example, if the software uses wired technology (coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), etc.) and/or wireless technology (infrared, microwave, etc.) to When transmitted from a server or other remote source, these wired and/or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission medium.

(9) In each of the above embodiments, the terms "system" and "network" are used interchangeably.

(10) The information, parameters, etc. described in this disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, relative values from a predetermined value, or other corresponding information. It may also be expressed as For example, radio resources may be indicated by an index. The names used for the parameters described above are not restrictive in any respect. Furthermore, the mathematical formulas etc. using these parameters may differ from those explicitly disclosed in this disclosure. Since the various channels (e.g. PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements may be identified by any suitable designation, the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are in no way exclusive designations. isn't it.

(11) In the embodiments described above, the terminal device 100 may be a mobile station (MS). A mobile station is defined by a person skilled in the art as a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless It may also be referred to as a terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable terminology. Further, in the present disclosure, terms such as "mobile station," "user terminal," "user equipment (UE)," and "terminal" may be used interchangeably.

(12) In the embodiments described above, the terms "connected", "coupled", or any variations thereof refer to direct or indirect connections between two or more elements. Refers to any connection or combination and may include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are "connected" or "coupled" to each other. The bonds or connections between elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, "connection" may be replaced with "access." As used in this disclosure, two elements may include one or more electrical wires, cables, and/or printed electrical connections, as well as in the radio frequency domain, as some non-limiting and non-inclusive examples. , electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the microwave and optical (both visible and non-visible) ranges.

(13) In the embodiments described above, the statement "based on" does not mean "based only on" unless specified otherwise. In other words, the phrase "based on" means both "based only on" and "based at least on."

(14) The terms "determining" and "determining" used in this disclosure may encompass a wide variety of operations. "Judgment" and "decision" include, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up, search, and inquiry. (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), and regarding an ascertaining as a "judgment" or "decision." In addition, "judgment" and "decision" refer to receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), input, output, and access. (accessing) (e.g., accessing data in memory) may include considering something as a "judgment" or "decision." In addition, "judgment" and "decision" refer to resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. as "judgment" and "decision". may be included. In other words, "judgment" and "decision" may include regarding some action as having been "judged" or "determined." Further, "judgment (decision)" may be read as "assuming", "expecting", "considering", etc.

(15) In the embodiments described above, when “include”, “including” and variations thereof are used, these terms are used in the same manner as the term “comprising”. , is intended to be comprehensive. Furthermore, the term "or" as used in this disclosure is not intended to be exclusive or.

(16) In the present disclosure, when articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, the present disclosure does not include that the nouns following these articles are plural. good.

(17) In the present disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." Note that the term may also mean that "A and B are each different from C". Terms such as "separate", "coupled", etc. may also be interpreted similarly to "different".

(18) Each aspect/embodiment described in the present disclosure may be used alone, in combination, or may be switched and used in accordance with execution. In addition, notification of prescribed information (for example, notification of "X") is not limited to being done explicitly, but may also be done implicitly (for example, not notifying the prescribed information). Good too.

Although the present disclosure has been described in detail above, it is clear to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described in the present disclosure. The present disclosure can be implemented as modifications and variations without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as determined by the claims. Therefore, the description of the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustrative explanation and is not intended to have any limiting meaning on the present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Network system, 100... Terminal device, 110... Processing device, 120... Determination part, 130... Request part, 160... Storage device, 170... Communication device, 180... Input device, 190... Output device, 200... Base station device , 210... Processing device, 220... Determining unit, 230... Requesting unit, 240... Quality control unit, 260... Storage device, 270... Communication device, 300... Management device, 310... Processing device, 320... Determining unit, 330... Request Department, 340...Quality control department, 360...Storage device, 370...Communication device, 400...Relay device, 410...Processing device, 440...Quality control section, 460...Storage device, 470...Communication device, 500...Edge server, 600 ...Application server.

Claims (10)

A network including a network in which quality control, which is control of the quality of communication services, is performed by a plurality of control units, and a terminal device connected to the network,
The network is
comprising a plurality of first nodes capable of executing the quality control,
The terminal device is
Should the quality control by a second control unit, which is another control unit, be performed on the terminal device instead of or in addition to the quality control by the first control unit among the plurality of control units? a decision section that decides whether or not to
When the determining unit determines that the quality control by the second control unit should be performed, a first node among the plurality of first nodes that performs the quality control by the second control unit, a requesting unit that requests execution of the quality control by the second control unit;
Equipped with
When the terminal device requests the start of the quality control in a state where the terminal device is not undergoing the quality control,
The determining unit is
determining a start control unit specified by the quality control start request from among the plurality of control units;
The requesting unit is
requesting a first node among the plurality of first nodes that executes the quality control using the starting control unit to start the quality control using the starting control unit;
network system. A network including a network in which quality control, which is control of the quality of communication services, is performed by a plurality of control units, and a terminal device connected to the network,
The network is
a plurality of first nodes capable of executing the quality control; and at least one second node capable of communicating with the plurality of first nodes;
At least one node among the plurality of first nodes and the at least one second node,
Should the quality control by a second control unit, which is another control unit, be performed on the terminal device instead of or in addition to the quality control by the first control unit among the plurality of control units? a decision section that decides whether or not to
When the determining unit determines that the quality control by the second control unit should be performed, a first node among the plurality of first nodes that performs the quality control by the second control unit, a requesting unit that requests execution of the quality control by the second control unit;
Equipped with
The plurality of control units include a plurality of mutually different types of control units and a plurality of mutually the same types of control units,
The type of the second control unit is different from the first control unit,
network system. The plurality of first nodes include at least one network device that performs communication with the terminal device,
The plurality of control units are:
a device unit in which the at least one network device is a control unit;
a route unit in which a communication route within the network is used for communication by the terminal device as a control unit;
a frequency unit whose control unit is a frequency band used for communication between the terminal device and the at least one network device;
an application unit whose control unit is an application program executed by the terminal device;
including at least one of
The network system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The determining unit is
Based on the communication quality of the terminal device or the state of the terminal device, determine whether or not the quality control by the second control unit should be performed instead of or in addition to the quality control by the first control unit. decide,
The network system according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that: The plurality of control units include a plurality of mutually different types of control units and a plurality of mutually the same types of control units,
The type of the second control unit is the same type as the first control unit,
The network system according to any one of claims 1 , 3 and 4, characterized in that: The plurality of control units include a plurality of mutually different types of control units and a plurality of mutually the same types of control units,
The type of the second control unit is different from the first control unit,
The network system according to any one of claims 1 , 3 and 4 , characterized in that: The determining unit is
When the state of the first node executing the quality control by the first control unit no longer satisfies the predetermined condition regarding the execution of the quality control, instead of or in addition to the quality control by the first control unit, determining that the quality control should be performed by the second control unit;
The network system according to any one of claims 1 to 6 . One of the at least one node is
a management device that is one of the at least one second node and determines the content of the quality control executed by the plurality of first nodes;
The network system according to claim 2 , characterized in that: The quality control by the first control unit is performed by a network device that performs communication with the terminal device,
The determining unit is
When the distance between the terminal device and the network device is a predetermined distance or more, the quality control is performed by the second control unit instead of or in addition to the quality control by the first control unit. decide that it should be done,
The network system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: the quality control is QoS control;
The network system according to any one of claims 1 to 9 .

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