KR101693489B1 - Gateway apparatus and method for multicasting using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a gateway apparatus. The gateway apparatus comprises: a receiving unit for receiving member identification information from a member positioned in a full coverage based on a plurality of unit beam sectors formed by dividing the full coverage of a directional antenna with a first beam width; an allocating unit for allocating a coverage region value to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors based on the member identification information; an asymmetric sectoring unit for dividing the full coverage into asymmetric sectors by assigning asymmetric sector IDs having different beam widths to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors based on the allocated coverage region value; and a transmitting unit for transmitting multicast information to the member based on the divided asymmetric sectors. The gateway apparatus can reduce unnecessary multicast transmission in a capillary M2M network by reducing the number of sectors.

Description

[0001] GATEWAY APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MULTICASTING USING THE SAME [0002]

The present invention relates to a gateway device and a multicasting method using the gateway device.

Capillary machine-to-machine (M2M) is a network technology that provides wireless connectivity to devices in the local area using various communication standards such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), ZigBee, Wi-Fi and WiGig. M2M can be applied to a variety of intelligent services such as home automation, smart healthcare, connected automobiles, and smart manufacturing, and Capillary M2M technology is considered as the most important factor in realizing Internet of things (IoT) in related fields.

M2M services have been limited to low-speed applications using wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in the past, but as their demand for HDTV streaming, wireless high-speed data transmission, and wireless 3D games grows, have. Due to this tendency, in recent years, the communication technology of the millimeter wave (mmWave) band has been applied to the M2M service.

mmWave band communication technology can be used for various high speed indoor services such as ad hoc conferences, smart classrooms, telecasts, which require group communication through various M2M services, especially multicast transmission, since they support Gbps data rates. The mmWave band has inherent characteristics such as oxygen absorption and high path loss, which cause short propagation distance problems in mmWave communication.

Accordingly, although the use of a directional antenna is considered to be essential for communication in the mmWave band including multicast transmission, since the directional antenna forms a narrow sector-shaped beam only in a specific direction, There is a problem that it is difficult to cover all the multicast members scattered in the location.

Also, in multicast transmission using a directional antenna, the gateway repeatedly transmits the same packet as the number of sectors in order to cover all the multicast group members, which causes a deterioration in network throughput and delay performance .

Meanwhile, as a conventional technique for improving multicast transmission efficiency using a directional antenna, a multicast transmission technique using multiple beam antennas and a one-hop relay transmission technique using a directional antenna have been proposed. However, Has a disadvantage in that the throughput of the network is deteriorated due to the high overhead for relay transmission, and the one-hop relay transmission technique has a disadvantage in that the throughput of the network is deteriorated due to the high complexity and cost of beamforming.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The background of the present invention is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2008-0026238 (published on March 25, 2008).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems of the prior art and it is an object of the present invention to solve the problem of deterioration of network throughput and delay caused by repeated transmission of the same packet by the number of sectors in a multicast transmission using a directional antenna And a multicasting method using the same.

The present invention aims to provide a gateway device capable of reducing unnecessary multicast transmission in a capillary M2M network by reducing the number of sectors and a multicasting method using the same.

It is to be understood, however, that the technical scope of the embodiments of the present invention is not limited to the above-described technical problems, and other technical problems may exist.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gateway apparatus for multicasting using a directional antenna, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of units formed by dividing the entire coverage of the directional antenna into a first beam width; An allocation unit for allocating a coverage area value to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors based on the member identification information based on the beam sector, an allocation unit for receiving member identification information from a member located in the entire coverage, An asymmetric sectoring unit for dividing the entire coverage into asymmetric sectors by assigning an asymmetric sector ID having a different beam width to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors based on an area value, And a transmission unit for transmitting the multicast information There.

The receiving unit may receive, as the member identification information, at least one of device ID information, current sector ID information, and distance information to the gateway apparatus based on a join request message received from the member.

Further, the unit beam sector includes a plurality of divided coverage areas, and the boundaries of the divided coverage areas can be determined based on a transmission distance set in accordance with a change in the beam width.

Also, the allocating unit may allocate, as the coverage area value, the ID of the divided coverage area in which the device having the maximum distance value is located, from the gateway device.

In addition, the asymmetric sectoring unit may merge at least one neighboring unit beam sector having the same asymmetric sector ID among the plurality of unit beam sectors into one asymmetric sector.

In addition, the asymmetric sectoring unit may sequentially perform an asymmetric sector value determination corresponding to the different beam widths in each of the plurality of unit beam sectors.

Also, the asymmetric sectoring unit may compare the number of unit beam sectors that can be merged with the value of the coverage area of the unit beam sector, and compare the number of unit beam sectors that can be merged from the first unit beam sector to the second unit beam, The same asymmetric sector ID may be assigned to the first unit beam sector or the second unit beam sector when the value of the coverage area of the sector is equal to or greater than the number of unit beam sectors that can be merged.

In addition, the asymmetric sectoring unit may allocate the asymmetric sector ID calculated based on the difference between the number of times the determination of the asymmetric sector value is performed and the number of unit beam sectors without devices in the plurality of unit beam sectors.

Meanwhile, a multicasting method of a gateway apparatus that performs multicast using a directional antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a step of, based on a plurality of unit beam sectors formed by dividing the entire coverage of the directional antenna by a first beam width, Comprising: receiving member identification information from a member located within the overall coverage; assigning a coverage area value to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors based on the member identification information; Dividing the entire coverage into asymmetric sectors by assigning an asymmetric sector ID having a different beam width to each of the unit beam sectors of the asymmetric sector, and transmitting the multicast information to the member based on the divided asymmetric sectors can do.

The receiving step may receive, as the member identification information, at least one of device ID information, current sector ID information, and distance information with respect to the gateway apparatus based on a join request message received from the member .

Further, the unit beam sector includes a plurality of divided coverage areas, and the boundaries of the divided coverage areas can be determined based on a transmission distance set in accordance with a change in the beam width.

Also, the allocating step may allocate, as the coverage area value, the ID of the divided coverage area in which the device having the maximum distance value is located from the gateway device.

Also, the dividing may combine at least one neighboring unit beam sector having the same asymmetric sector ID among the plurality of unit beam sectors into one asymmetric sector.

The dividing step may sequentially perform an asymmetric sector value determination on each of the plurality of unit beam sectors corresponding to the different beam widths.

The dividing may further include comparing the number of unit beam sectors that can be merged with the value of the coverage area of the unit beam sector, and comparing the number of unit beam sectors that can be merged, And allocating the same asymmetric sector ID to the first unit beam sector to the second unit beam sector when the value of the coverage area of the unit beam sector is equal to or greater than the number of unit beam sectors that can be merged have.

The dividing may allocate the asymmetric sector ID calculated based on a difference between the number of times the determination of the asymmetric sector value is performed and the number of unit beam sectors without devices in the plurality of unit beam sectors.

The above-described task solution is merely exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure. In addition to the exemplary embodiments described above, there may be additional embodiments in the drawings and the detailed description of the invention.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for allocating a coverage area value to each unit beam sector in which the entire coverage of the directional antenna is divided into a plurality of unit beam sectors, By providing a gateway apparatus that assigns an asymmetric sector ID having a different beam width, divides the entire coverage into an asymmetric sector, and performs multicasting based on the divided asymmetric sector, the gateway determines the number of sectors to which a packet is transmitted It is possible to reduce the throughput of the network and improve the performance of the delay.

According to the above-mentioned task solution of the present invention, the present invention provides a gateway apparatus capable of merging at least one neighboring unit beam sector having the same asymmetric sector ID out of a plurality of unit beam sectors into one asymmetric sector, It is possible to cover all the multicast members in the service area with only a small number of sectors through the size adjustment.

The present invention can provide a gateway device capable of reducing unnecessary multicast transmission in the Capillary M2M network by reducing the number of sectors.

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a gateway apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram illustrating a concept of a divided coverage area applied to a gateway apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a maximum transmission distance of a directional antenna applied to a gateway device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram illustrating an algorithm of an asymmetric sectorization procedure performed in a gateway apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a diagram illustrating an example of asymmetric sectorization in a gateway apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart illustrating a multicasting method of a gateway apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. It should be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. In the drawings, the same reference numbers are used throughout the specification to refer to the same or like parts.

Throughout this specification, when an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it is intended to be understood that it is not only "directly connected" but also "electrically connected" or "indirectly connected" "Is included.

It will be appreciated that throughout the specification it will be understood that when a member is located on another member "top", "top", "under", "bottom" But also the case where there is another member between the two members as well as the case where they are in contact with each other.

Throughout this specification, when an element is referred to as "including " an element, it is understood that the element may include other elements as well, without departing from the other elements unless specifically stated otherwise.

The present invention relates to a gateway apparatus that performs multicast using a directional antenna, and more particularly, to a gateway apparatus capable of covering all multicast members in a service area with only a small number of sectors by adjusting a beam width .

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a gateway apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1, a gateway apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a receiving unit 110, an assigning unit 120, an asymmetric sectoring unit 130, and a transmitting unit 140.

The gateway device 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be an M2M gateway device, for example, a machine-to-machine network communication (M2M) in capillary networks using millimeter wave (mmWave) The present invention can be applied to all multicasting technologies based on various wireless network technologies such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE), ZigBee, Wi-Fi, and WiGig.

The gateway 100 may retrieve multicast members (i.e., devices) located within the overall coverage of the directional antenna through the receiver 110, thereby receiving member identification information including location information from the members.

At this time, when the gateway 100 searches for a multicast member, the M2M network may operate as a symmetric sector in which all sectors are initialized to a unit beam width, and a symmetric sector initialized to a unit beam width is referred to as a unit-beam sector sector).

The receiving unit 110 receives member identification information from the members (i.e., multicast members) located in the entire coverage based on the plurality of unit beam sectors formed by dividing the entire coverage of the directional antenna by the first beam width can do.

At this time, the first beam width may mean the unit beam width as the smallest beam width. Upon receiving the member identification information through the reception unit 110, the overall coverage of the directional antenna is divided into a plurality of sectors having the same size (i.e., a plurality of sectors having the same first beam width, which means a plurality of unit beam sectors) And since each of the plurality of unit beam sectors is formed with a beam width of the same size, it can be a symmetric sector.

Before receiving the member identification information in the receiver 110, the gateway device 100 may broadcast multicast information through a beacon, and then each multicast member may join the multicast information, And send the request message to the gateway device 100.

Based on the join request message received from the multicast member, the receiving unit 110 receives at least one of the device ID information of the multicast member, the current sector ID information, and the distance information with respect to the gateway apparatus 100 as member identification information .

At this time, the distance to each of the multicast members based on the gateway device 100 can be expressed by a matrix D _(i) as shown in the following equation ₍₁₎ .

I denotes the unit beam sector ID, j denotes the device ID in the unit beam sector i, M denotes the total number of unit beam sectors, N _i denotes the number of devices in the unit beam sector i , And d _{(i, j)} denotes the distance between the gateway apparatus 100 and the device j in the unit beam sector i.

The allocation unit 120 may allocate a CR value to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors based on the member identification information (particularly, the location information) received by the reception unit 110. [ This will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

2 is a diagram illustrating a concept of a divided coverage area applied to a gateway apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

)로 분할된 예를 나타내고, 도 2(b)는 복수의 유닛 빔 섹터 중 하나의 유닛 빔 섹터를 확대한 예를 나타낸다.2 (a) shows the overall coverage WR of the directional antenna centering on the gateway device 100 in a plurality of unit beam sectors

And Fig. 2 (b) shows an example in which one unit beam sector of a plurality of unit beam sectors is enlarged.

)에 기초하여 결정될 수 있다.Referring to FIG. 2 (b), the unit beam sector may include a plurality of divided coverage areas CR ₁ , CR ₂ , CR ₃ , ..., CR _M , Coverage Region ID. Further, the boundaries of each of the plurality of divided coverage areas can be determined based on a predetermined transmission distance in accordance with the variation of the beam width. More specifically, as shown in an example in Fig. 3, the beam width from the gateway device 100 The transmission range of the predetermined directional antenna according to the change,

). ≪ / RTI >

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a maximum transmission distance of a directional antenna applied to a gateway apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The table shown in FIG. 3 includes modulation and coding schemes (MCS) beamwidth) of the directional antenna.

Referring to FIG. 3, the smaller the beam width is, the larger the maximum transmission distance of the directional antenna may be. This is because the sector having a small beam width has a high antenna gain. In addition, the transmission distance of this directional antenna may vary depending on the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) that is affected by the receiving sensitivity of the member device.

Meanwhile, the transmission distance of the gateway device 100 may be expressed by a matrix R as shown in Equation (2).

는 유닛 빔 섹터의 빔폭을 의미하고, k는 CR ID를 의미한다. 또한,

는 CR_k의 CR 바운더리로서, 이는 빔 폭이

일 때의 게이트웨이 장치(100)의 전송 거리와 동일할 수 있다.At this time,

Denotes a beam width of a unit beam sector, and k denotes a CR ID. Also,

Is the CR boundary of CR _k ,

The transmission distance of the gateway device 100 may be the same.

The allocating unit 120 allocates the ID (i.e., the CR ID) of the divided coverage area in which the device having the maximum distance value (i.e., the furthest distance) from the gateway device 100 is located when assigning the CR value, And can be assigned as a coverage area value to each of a plurality of unit beam sectors. In other words, the CR value of the unit beam sector means the CR ID of the CR in which the device farthest from the gateway device 100 is located.

More specifically, in order to allocate a CR value to each of a plurality of unit beam sectors, the allocating unit 120 allocates the largest distance value max (d _{(i ) in} the D _(i) matrix of Equation _{(1) j)} ) of the i-th unit beam sector by finding the coverage area value cr _(i) of the i-th unit beam sector as k.

cr _(i) is a CR ID value (i.e., k value) in which a device having a max (d _{(i, j)} ) value is located.

At this time, when the device does not exist in the unit beam sector, the allocation unit 120 of the gateway device 100 can allocate the coverage area value of the corresponding unit beam sector to zero.

The coverage area value of each of the plurality of unit beam sectors may be expressed by a matrix CR as shown in Equation (4).

Here, M denotes the total number of unit beam sectors.

The asymmetric sectorization unit 130 may perform an asymmetric sectorization procedure based on the coverage area value allocated to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors in the allocation unit 120. [ At this time, asymmetry means different beam widths and corresponding different transmission distances.

The asymmetric sectorization unit 130 allocates an asymmetric sector ID having a different beam width to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors based on the coverage area value assigned to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors to divide the entire coverage into asymmetric sectors .

Through the asymmetric sectorization procedure, the entire sector of the directional antenna can be newly set up, and each sector can maintain a different beam width. At this time, a newly set sector can be given a unique sector ID, which can be defined as an asymmetric sector.

As a result of the asymmetric sectoring procedure being performed, a plurality of asymmetric sectors can be represented by a matrix AS as shown in Equation (5).

Here, as _(i) denotes an asymmetric sector ID, i denotes a unit beam sector ID, and M denotes a total number of unit beam sectors.

In Equation (5 ₎ , a plurality of neighboring unit beam sectors having the same value of as _(i) may be combined into one asymmetric sector. That is, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 may merge at least one neighboring unit beam sector having the same asymmetric sector ID among the plurality of unit beam sectors into one asymmetric sector.

The asymmetric sectoring procedure through the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 can be more easily understood with reference to FIG.

4 is a diagram illustrating an algorithm of an asymmetric sectorization procedure performed in a gateway apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the algorithm of FIG. 4, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 may repeatedly perform the asymmetric sector value determination process. At this time, the asymmetric sector value determination process may correspond to a sector decision process and its meaning. The asymmetric sectoring unit 130 may sequentially perform an asymmetric sector value determination corresponding to a different beam width in each of the plurality of unit beam sectors. Through the determination of the asymmetric sector value, whether or not the unit beam sector is merged can be determined.

The asymmetric sectoring unit 130 may initialize each variable (e.g., init_pt, decision_index, numMergeSector, empty_cnt, numFrontSector, numRearSector) in the algorithm to set an asymmetric sector. same.

'init_pt' means a starting point of a sector determination (i.e., determination of an asymmetric sector value), which is an ID of a unit beam sector located at the foremost among a plurality of unit beam sectors. 'init_pt' may be updated each time a sector determination is newly performed.

'decision_index' means the number of times the sector determination has been performed. 'numMergeSector' means the number of unit beam sectors that can be combined. 'empty_cnt' means the number of empty sector sectors without devices. Accordingly, the difference between 'decision_index' and 'empty_cnt' means the number of asymmetric sectors. Finally, 'numFrontSector' and 'numRearSector' have the same asymmetric sector ID value (as _(i) ) at the starting point (i = 1) and end point (i = Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > sector < / RTI >

Hereinafter, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 performs asymmetric sector value determination to obtain the asymmetric sector ID (as _(i) ) corresponding to each of the unit beam sectors, . At this time, an empty sector having no device can be assigned as 'as _(i) = 0'.

Next, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 may compare the number of unit beam sectors (numMergeSector) that can be merged with the coverage area value (CR value) of each unit beam sector for the unit beam sector in which the device is located.

When the coverage area values of the first unit beam sector to the second unit beam sector located next to each other in the plurality of unit beam sectors are equal to or greater than the number of unit beam sectors (numMergeSector) , The same asymmetric sector ID can be assigned to the first to n < th > unit beam sectors to the second unit beam sector. Here, the first unit beam sector to the second unit beam sector means the unit beam sector at the i-th position from the unit beam sector (init_pt) at the first one of the plurality of unit beam sectors.

In other words, if the CR value from init_pt to i among the plurality of unit beam sectors is equal to or greater than the numMergeSector, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 allocates the same as _(i) to the unit beam sector corresponding to from init_pt to i . Here, as _(i) can be calculated based on the difference between the number of times the determination of the asymmetric sector value (decision_index) is made and the number of unit beam sectors (empty_cnt) of the plurality of unit beam sectors without devices.

In the algorithm, 'SectMergeFlag' may be used to identify the result of the comparison of the number of unit beam sectors (numMergeSector) that can be merged with the coverage value (CR value). Accordingly, if the value of the coverage area (CR value) of all the compared unit beam sectors is equal to or greater than the number of unit beam sectors (numMergeSector) that can be merged, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 determines that SectMergeFlag is TRUE, Otherwise, SectMergeFlag can be evaluated as FALSE.

Finally, when all the unit beam sectors are assigned an asymmetric sector ID (as (i)), the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 associates the previous unit beam sectors (i.e., unit beam sectors with as _(i) , The asymmetric sector value determination process may be performed on the unit beam sectors to combine the unit beam sectors (i.e., the unit beam sectors where as _(i) is (decision_index - empty_cnt)). In this case, when the coverage area values for the respective unit beam sectors are equal to or greater than the sum of numFrontSector and numRearSector, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 divides the corresponding unit beam sectors (i.e., _(I) of the unit beam sectors of < / RTI >

With this algorithm, asymmetric sectorization unit 130 can merge unit beam sectors having the same asymmetric sector ID into one asymmetric sector. As a result, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 can determine the beamwidth size of a new sector for the entire coverage through asymmetric sectorization, and can generate the optimum number of sectors for multicast transmission.

The transmitting unit 140 multicasts the multicast information including the newly determined sector information (i.e., the asymmetric sector information) based on the asymmetric sector divided by the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 to the members located in the entire multicarrier .

5 is a diagram illustrating an example of asymmetric sectorization in a gateway apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, first, the gateway apparatus 100 can perform multicasting while rotating counterclockwise based on a unit beam sector having a? / 4 beam width. In the example of FIG. 5, it is assumed that the matrix CR of Equation (4) is [5, 8, 4, 4, 0, 2, 3, 1]. The following process may be performed in the asymmetric sectoring unit 130.

The gateway device 100 can check whether the coverage area value cr ₍₁₎ = 5 of the first unit beam sector in the first unit beam sector is equal to or greater than the number of unit beam sectors (NumMergeSector) that can be combined. At this time, it can be seen that the initial value of NumMergeSector is 1 in the algorithm. Accordingly, the gateway apparatus 100 can assign 1 as the asymmetric sector ID (as ₍₁₎ ) of the first unit beam sector since the coverage area value 5 of the first unit beam sector is larger than the value 1 of NumMergeSector. Then, the gateway device 100 may increment the value of the NumMergeSector by one.

Next, the gateway device 100 determines whether the coverage area value cr ₍₁₎ = 5 of the _first unit beam sector and the coverage area value cr ₍₂₎ = 8 of the second unit beam sector) both in the second unit beam sector 1 is greater than or equal to the number of NumMergeSectors incremented (ie, 2). At this time, since the values of cr ₍₁₎ and cr ₍₂₎ are both greater than the NumMergeSector value 2, the gateway apparatus 100 can assign 1 as the asymmetric sector ID (as ₍₂₎ ) of the second unit beam sector . Then, the gateway device 100 may increment the value of the NumMergeSector by one.

This process can be performed iteratively until cr _(i) is smaller than the NumMergeSector. Accordingly, the gateway apparatus 100 can assign 1 as the asymmetric sector IDs (i.e., as ₍₃₎ and as ₍₄₎ ) of the third unit beam sector and the fourth unit beam sector, respectively.

Next, since there is no device in the fifth unit beam sector (i.e., cr ₍₅₎ = 0), the gateway apparatus 100 sets the asymmetric sector ID (as ₍₅₎ ) of the fifth unit beam sector to 0 Can be assigned. After allocating the asymmetric sector ID of the fifth unit beam sector to 0, the gateway device 100 may increment the decision_index by 1 and initialize the NumMergeSector to 1. [

Next, the gateway apparatus 100 calculates the asymmetric sector IDs (i.e., as ₍₆₎ and as _{(7) ) of the} sixth unit beam sector and the seventh unit beam sector, considering the empty sector (cr _{(5 )} ) Can be assigned to 2, respectively. With this logic, the gateway apparatus 100 can assign the asymmetric sector ID (as ₍₈₎ ) of the eighth unit beam sector to 3.

If all the unit beam sectors are assigned an asymmetric sector ID (as _(i) ), the gateway device 100 can confirm that the preceding unit beam sectors and the subsequent unit beam sectors can be merged. Here, the preceding unit beam sector is a unit beam sector with as _(i) = 1, which means the first to fourth unit beam sectors. Further, the unit beam sector as a succeeding unit beam means a unit beam sector in which as _(i) is (decision_index-empty_cnt), that is, a unit beam sector in which as _(i) is 3 and the eighth unit beam sector.

At this time, if the coverage area values for the unit beams corresponding to the preceding unit beam sectors are equal to or greater than the sum of the numFrontSector and the numRearSector, the asymmetric sector IDs of the respective unit beam sectors at the back may be assigned as 1 . Wherein numFrontSector Since means 4 as the number of the unit beam sector is as _(i) 1, and numRearSector is as _(i) a means 1 as the number of the unit beam sector 3, the sum of the numFrontSector and numRearSector is a 5 It can mean.

In the embodiment of Figure 5, the coverage area value of some of the sectors in the unit beam sectors _{(cr (1), cr (} 2), cr (3), cr (4), cr (8)) corresponding to before and after ( ₍ I.e., cr ₍₃₎ = 4, cr ₍₄₎ = 4, cr ₍₈₎ = 1) is smaller than 5 (i.e., sum of numFrontSector and numRearSector), the preceding unit beam sectors can be merged none.

As a result, in FIG. 5, the gateway apparatus 100 can generate three newly divided asymmetric sectors. The gateway apparatus 100 forms the beam width of the first asymmetric sector S 1 by π, forms the beam width of the second asymmetric sector S 2 by π / 2, The beam width of? / 4 can be formed to be? / 4.

The gateway device 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention can cover all the multicast members in the service area with only a small number of sectors by adjusting the beam width.

Hereinafter, the operation flow of the present invention will be briefly described based on the details described above.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a multicasting method of a gateway apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The multicasting method of the gateway apparatus shown in Fig. 6 can be performed by the gateway apparatus 100 described above with reference to Figs. Accordingly, the contents described for the gateway device 100 through FIG. 1 through FIG. 5 may be similarly applied to FIG. 6 even if omitted below.

Referring to FIG. 6, in step S610, the receiving unit 110 receives member identification information from the members located in the entire coverage based on the plurality of unit beam sectors formed by dividing the entire coverage of the directional antenna by the first beam width .

At this time, the plurality of unit beam sectors include a plurality of divided coverage areas, and the boundaries of the divided coverage areas can be determined based on the transmission distance set according to the variation of the beam width.

In step S610, the receiving unit 110 may receive, as member identification information, at least one of the device ID information, the current sector ID information, and the distance information with respect to the gateway apparatus, based on the join request message received from the members.

Next, in step S620, the allocation unit 120 may allocate the coverage area value to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors based on the member identification information.

At this time, in step S620, the allocation unit 120 may allocate the ID of the divided coverage area in which the device having the maximum distance value is located as the coverage area value from the gateway device.

Next, in step S630, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 allocates an asymmetric sector ID having a different beam width to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors based on the assigned coverage area value, thereby dividing the entire coverage into asymmetric sectors have.

At this time, in step S630, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 may merge at least one neighboring unit beam sector having the same asymmetric sector ID among the plurality of unit beam sectors into one asymmetric sector.

In addition, in step S630, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 may sequentially perform an asymmetric sector value determination on each of the plurality of unit beam sectors corresponding to different beam widths.

Here, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 may compare the number of unit beam sectors that can be merged with the value of the coverage area of the unit beam sector. Then, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 may compare the number of unit beam sectors that are adjacent to each other among the plurality of unit beam sectors, If the value of the coverage area of the unit beam sector is equal to or greater than the number of unit beam sectors that can be merged, the same asymmetric sector ID may be assigned to the first unit beam sector or the second unit beam sector.

In step S630, the asymmetric sectoring unit 130 assigns the calculated value based on the difference between the number of times the determination of the asymmetric sector value is performed and the number of unit beam sectors without the device among the plurality of unit beam sectors can do.

Next, in step S640, the transmitting unit 140 can transmit the multicast information to the member based on the divided asymmetric sector.

In the above description, steps S610 to S640 may be further divided into further steps, or combined in fewer steps, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Also, some of the steps may be omitted as necessary, and the order between the steps may be changed.

The multicasting method of the gateway apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed through various computer means and recorded in a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, and the like, alone or in combination. The program instructions recorded on the medium may be those specially designed and constructed for the present invention or may be available to those skilled in the art of computer software. Examples of computer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs; magnetic media such as floppy disks; Magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include machine language code such as those produced by a compiler, as well as high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware devices described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operations of the present invention, and vice versa.

It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the foregoing description of the embodiments is for illustrative purposes and that those skilled in the art can easily modify the invention without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive. For example, each component described as a single entity may be distributed and implemented, and components described as being distributed may also be implemented in a combined form.

The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the detailed description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents should be construed as being included within the scope of the present invention.

100: gateway device
110: Receiving unit 120:
130: asymmetric sector forming unit 140:

Claims (17)

1. A gateway apparatus for performing multicast using a directional antenna,
A receiving unit for receiving member identification information from a member located within the overall coverage based on a plurality of unit beam sectors formed by dividing the entire coverage of the directional antenna into a first beam width;
An allocation unit for allocating a coverage area value to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors based on the member identification information;
An asymmetric sectoring unit dividing the entire coverage into asymmetric sectors by assigning an asymmetric sector ID having a different beam width to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors based on the assigned coverage area value; And
A transmitting unit for transmitting the multicast information to the member based on the divided asymmetric sector,
. The method according to claim 1,
The receiver may further comprise:
And receives, as the member identification information, at least one of the device ID information, the current sector ID information, and the distance information to the gateway device based on the join request message received from the member. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the unit beam sector comprises a plurality of split coverage areas,
Wherein a boundary of the divided coverage area is determined based on a transmission distance set in accordance with a change in the beam width. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the allocating unit comprises:
And allocates, as the coverage area value, the ID of the divided coverage area in which the device having the maximum distance value from the gateway device is located. The method according to claim 1,
The asymmetric sectoring unit includes:
Merges at least one neighboring unit beam sector having the same asymmetric sector ID among the plurality of unit beam sectors into one asymmetric sector. 6. The method of claim 5,
The asymmetric sectoring unit includes:
And performs asymmetric sector value determination corresponding to the different beam widths sequentially in each of the plurality of unit beam sectors. The method according to claim 6,
The asymmetric sectoring unit includes:
Compare the coverage area value of the unit beam sector with the number of unit beam sectors that can be merged,
If the coverage area values of the first unit beam sector to the second unit beam sector located adjacent to the plurality of unit beam sectors are equal to or greater than the number of unit beam sectors that can be merged, And assigns the same asymmetric sector ID to the second unit beam sector. 8. The method of claim 7,
The asymmetric sectoring unit includes:
And allocates the calculated asymmetric sector ID based on a difference between the number of times the determination of the asymmetric sector value is performed and the number of unit beam sectors without devices among the plurality of unit beam sectors. A multicasting method for a gateway apparatus that performs multicast using a directional antenna,
Receiving member identification information from a member located within the overall coverage based on a plurality of unit beam sectors formed by dividing the overall coverage of the directional antenna by a first beamwidth;
Allocating a coverage area value to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors based on the member identification information;
Dividing the entire coverage into asymmetric sectors by assigning an asymmetric sector ID having a different beam width to each of the plurality of unit beam sectors based on the assigned coverage area value; And
Sending multicast information to the member based on the segmented asymmetric sector,
The method comprising the steps of: 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the receiving comprises:
And receiving, as the member identification information, at least one of the device ID information, the current sector ID information, and the distance information with respect to the gateway apparatus based on the join request message received from the member. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the unit beam sector comprises a plurality of split coverage areas,
Wherein a boundary of the divided coverage area is determined based on a transmission distance set in accordance with a change in the beam width. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the assigning comprises:
And allocating, as the coverage area value, the ID of the divided coverage area in which the device having the maximum distance value is located from the gateway device. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the dividing step comprises:
Wherein merging at least one neighboring unit beam sector having the same asymmetric sector ID among the plurality of unit beam sectors into one asymmetric sector. 14. The method of claim 13,
Wherein the dividing step comprises:
And performing asymmetric sector value determination corresponding to the different beam widths sequentially in each of the plurality of unit beam sectors. 15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the dividing step comprises:
Comparing the coverage area value of the unit beam sector with the number of unit beam sectors that can be merged; And
If the coverage area values of the first unit beam sector to the second unit beam sector located adjacent to the plurality of unit beam sectors are equal to or greater than the number of unit beam sectors that can be merged, Allocating the same asymmetric sector ID to the second unit beam sector,
The method comprising the steps of: 16. The method of claim 15,
Wherein the dividing step comprises:
Wherein the asymmetric sector ID is calculated based on a difference between the number of times the determination of the asymmetric sector value is performed and the number of unit beam sectors without devices among the plurality of unit beam sectors. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program for executing the method of any one of claims 9 to 16 is recorded.

Images