KR102216883B1 - Wireless local area network-based asymmetric communcation method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

One aspect of the present invention discloses a wireless local area network-based asymmetric communication method. The method includes: sensing the strength of a signal from an access point (AP) of a wireless local area network (WLAN); and transmitting and receiving data through asymmetric communication in response to a state in which the strength of the sensed signal is smaller than a first reference value and greater than a second reference value, wherein the first reference value is a reference value related to coverage of the wireless terminal, the second reference value is a reference value related to the coverage of the access point, downlink data of the wireless terminal, in the asymmetric communication, uses the first path based on the wireless local area network, and uplink data of the wireless terminal uses the second path based on a mobile cellular network, so as to be transmitted and received asymmetrically.

Description

Asymmetric communication method and apparatus based on a wireless local area network of a wireless terminal {WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK-BASED ASYMMETRIC COMMUNCATION METHOD AND APPARATUS}

The present invention relates to a wireless short-range communication operation method, and more particularly, to a method for increasing the coverage (Coverage) of the short-range wireless communication.

Most wireless communication terminal devices are on long-distance data networks (for example, mobile cellular networks such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks and 5G New Radio (NR) networks) and wireless local area networks. Communicate at the same time.

Communication based on a wireless local area network is centered on an access point (AP). In most cases, the signal from the access point is transmitted farther than the signal from the terminal. When the terminal moves away from the access point, data from the access point to the terminal can be transmitted, but data from the terminal to the access point is not transmitted. In this case, the terminal completely disconnects the wireless local area network and uses the mobile cellular network.The user of the terminal can receive reception using the wireless local area network due to the characteristics of a long-distance data network that requires a separate communication fee compared to the wireless local area network. Even so, there is a problem in that the burden is increased in the area of communication cost because the mobile cellular network must be used entirely. In general, since the terminal receives a larger amount of data than it transmits, the switching of the communication method as described above has a problem in that it operates inefficiently for the user.

An object according to an aspect of the present invention for solving the above-described problem is to transmit data using a mobile cellular network such as LTE in a situation where data is not transmitted to each other even though it is connected to an access point for a wireless local area network, To provide an asymmetric communication method for receiving response data for this through a wireless local area network such as WiFi.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, an asymmetric communication method based on a wireless local area network of a wireless terminal is provided from an access point (AP) of a wireless local area network (WLAN). Detecting the strength of the signal and transmitting and receiving data through asymmetric communication in response to the sensed signal strength being less than a first reference value and greater than a second reference value, wherein the first reference value is the wireless terminal Is a reference value related to coverage of, and the second reference value is a reference value related to coverage of the access point, and in the asymmetric communication, downlink data of the wireless terminal is based on the wireless local area network A path is used, and the uplink data of the wireless terminal may be asymmetrically transmitted and received using the second path based on a mobile cellular network.

The method includes transmitting a detection packet for detecting a section of a wireless local area network or a section of a mobile cellular network before transmitting and receiving data through the asymmetric communication, and a response to the detection packet from a tunnel server It may further include receiving and determining to transmit and receive data through asymmetric communication based on the received response.

The first path and the second path are subordinate to a single tunnel allocated to the wireless terminal in the tunnel server, and the single tunnel may be identified through a tunnel identifier separate from the IP of the wireless terminal.

The wireless terminal has a mobile interface IP address associated with a mobile cellular network and a near field communication interface IP address associated with the wireless local area network, and the first path includes the local area communication interface IP address. flow), and the second path may be a path associated with a flow including the mobile interface IP address.

The method further includes generating a tunneling packet by attaching a tunneling header to the original packet, wherein the tunneling header may include the tunnel identifier.

The tunneling packet may be generated so that the source IP of the tunneling header includes at least one of the mobile interface IP address and the short-range communication interface IP address.

Even if at least one of the short-range communication interface IP address and the mobile interface IP address is changed, the tunnel and the tunnel server associated therewith may be identified through the tunnel identifier.

The method may further include transmitting, to the tunnel server, a first indication packet indicating the start of the asymmetric communication when it is determined to start the asymmetric communication.

At least one of physical layer control information and Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)-related control information related to downlink data received through the first path is transmitted to the access point via the tunnel server via a mobile interface Can be.

The method may further include determining to transmit/receive not only the uplink data but also the downlink data using a second path based on a mobile cellular network in response to the sensed signal being less than the second reference value. have.

The method comprises: a first instructing to start receiving data using the first path when it is determined to use the first path for reception of downlink data while transmitting and receiving data using a second path. 2 It may further include transmitting the indication packet to the tunnel server.

Communication may be performed using a virtual interface IP address so that communication is not disconnected when switching between the wireless local area network and the mobile cellular network.

The wireless local area network may operate according to a Wi-Fi standard, and the mobile cellular network may operate according to at least one of a long term evolution (LTE) standard and a 5G NR (New Radio) communication standard.

According to another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, a wireless terminal device performing asymmetric communication based on a wireless local area network includes an access point (AP) of a wireless local area network (WLAN). A signal strength detection unit that detects the strength of a signal from, the sensed signal strength is a first reference value-The first reference value is a reference value related to coverage of the wireless terminal-A smaller second reference value-The second 2 The reference value is a reference value related to the coverage of the access point-In response to a greater than, a processor for controlling to perform asymmetric communication and a communication interface for transmitting and receiving data using the asymmetric communication, wherein in the asymmetric communication, the The downlink data of the wireless terminal uses the first path based on a wireless local area network, and the uplink data of the wireless terminal refers to the second path based on a mobile cellular network. It can be transmitted and received asymmetrically by using.

According to the wireless local area network-based asymmetric communication method of the wireless terminal of the present invention, the communication distance of the wireless local area network can be further increased while using the data of the LTE to a minimum. It has the effect of improving the use efficiency.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a wireless signal transmission characteristic of a wireless local area network;
2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating that coverage of a wireless local area network is extended by an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation of a terminal in a process of transferring a packet from a terminal to a server in a system using an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;
4 is a flowchart specifically showing a process of determining a data transmission and transmission method in one of a wireless local area network and an LTE in an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method of identifying a tunnel associated with a specific terminal in a tunnel server and managing a plurality of tunnels;
6 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation of a tunnel server in a process of transferring a packet from a terminal to a server in a system using an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;
7 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation of a tunnel server in a process of transferring a packet from a server to a terminal in a system using an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;
8 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation of a terminal in a process of transferring a packet from a server to a terminal in a system using an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;
9 is a block diagram showing a processing flow of data in an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;
10 is a detailed block diagram showing in detail the configuration of a user terminal supporting an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;
11 is a detailed block diagram showing the configuration of a tunnel server supporting an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the present invention, various modifications may be made and various embodiments may be provided, and specific embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings and described in detail.

However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to a specific embodiment, it is to be understood to include all changes, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Terms such as first and second may be used to describe various elements, but the elements should not be limited by the terms. These terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another component. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element. The term and/or includes a combination of a plurality of related listed items or any of a plurality of related listed items.

When a component is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another component, it is understood that it may be directly connected or connected to the other component, but other components may exist in the middle. Should be. On the other hand, when a component is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another component, it should be understood that there is no other component in the middle.

The terms used in the present application are only used to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In the present application, terms such as "comprise" or "have" are intended to designate the presence of features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof described in the specification, but one or more other features. It is to be understood that the presence or addition of elements or numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof, does not preclude in advance.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in a commonly used dictionary should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning in the context of the related technology, and should not be interpreted as an ideal or excessively formal meaning unless explicitly defined in this application. Does not.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In describing the present invention, in order to facilitate an overall understanding, the same reference numerals are used for the same elements in the drawings, and duplicate descriptions for the same elements are omitted.

In this specification, the terminal is a mobile station (MS), user equipment (UE), user terminal (UT), wireless terminal, access terminal (AT), terminal, fixed or mobile subscriber unit (Subscriber Unit), Subscriber Station (SS), cellular telephone, wireless device, wireless communication device, wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), mobile node, mobile, mobile station, personal portable information terminal (personal) digital assistant (PDA), smart phone, laptop, netbook, personal computer, wireless sensor, consumer electronics (CE) or other terms. Various embodiments of the terminal include a cellular phone, a smart phone having a wireless communication function, a personal portable terminal (PDA) having a wireless communication function, a wireless modem, a portable computer having a wireless communication function, and a digital camera having a wireless communication function. Devices, gaming devices having a wireless communication function, music storage and playback appliances having a wireless communication function, Internet appliances capable of wireless Internet access and browsing, as well as portable units or terminals incorporating combinations of such functions. However, it is not limited thereto.

An access point (AP) is a device that helps wireless devices connect to a network, and includes a device that acts as a wireless hub. The access point serves as a repeater so that a terminal located within a certain distance can access the Internet through a wireless local area network. This can be called a service point.

A wireless local area network refers to a network connecting a small number of devices located at a relatively close distance. This may be referred to as a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network). The wireless local area network may include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Near Field Communication (NFC). In the present specification, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that a wireless local area network method other than Wi-Fi may be used in the description based on Wi-Fi.

A mobile cellular network is a long-distance data network that supports connection to the Internet anytime, anywhere through a base station installed by a mobile network operator, regardless of location.Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A, Universal Mobile Telecommucation (UMTS), 5G Network (NR: New Radio), 3G network, Wibro (Wibro) and the like. In the present specification, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that other mobile cellular network methods other than LTE may be used in the contents described based on LTE.

A base station refers to a fixed point for communicating with a terminal in a mobile cellular network environment, and a base station (BS), a node-B (Node-B), an evolved-NodeB (eNB), a Next Generation nodeB (gNB), en-gNB, ng-eNB, advanced base station (ABS), HR-BS, site controller, base transceiver system (BTS), or any other type of interfacing device capable of operating in a wireless environment. Can, but is not limited to these.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a wireless signal transmission characteristic of a wireless local area network.

Referring to FIG. 1, when the user terminal 120-1 is within a certain distance from the access point 110, bidirectional communication is possible. In other words, both data transmission and data reception are possible. On the other hand, when the user terminal 120-2 is located more than a certain distance from the access point 110, the signal transmitted from the user terminal 120-2 cannot be transmitted to the access point 110, and the access point 110 The signal transmitted from) may be a situation in which the user terminal 120-2 can receive. Basically, this is because the transmission signal from the access point 110 is stronger than the transmission signal from the terminals 120-1 and 120-2. For example, the access point 110 transmits signals up to 400 m, whereas the terminals 120-1 and 120-2 may transmit signals up to 50 to 150 m.

However, in general, in situations such as data transmission through HTTP and multimedia content streaming, the traffic of a terminal such as a smart phone has a higher reception amount than a transmission amount, so transmission from the terminal 120-2 is impossible. , In a situation in which reception from the access point 110 is possible, a method of saving radio resources of a mobile cellular network by using a wireless local area network even if only data is received may be appropriate.

2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating that coverage of a wireless local area network is extended by an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, when the terminal 220 is located more than a certain distance from the access point 210, the terminal 220 senses the strength of a radio signal from the access point 210. The terminal 220 communicates using Wi-Fi when the strength of the wireless signal is greater than or equal to a predetermined reference value and there is no problem in bidirectional communication. Then, when a radio signal strength of less than a certain reference value is detected, the terminal 220 transmits uplink data using a mobile cellular network, and receives downlink data from the access point 210 using a wireless local area network. can do. That is, data can be transmitted and received using different communication methods. At this time, the terminal 220 is farther away from the access point 210 than the transmission coverage of the terminal, but is located not farther away from the transmission coverage of the access point. In general, the communication ratio between the uplink and the downlink is 1 to 5 or more, and more specifically, about 1 to 7, so even if the transmission of uplink data is impossible in the terminal 220, even if the downlink data is received, the wireless short-range Performing using a network can be very beneficial in terms of efficiency of utilizing radio resources.

In this case, since two channels must be used, two channels can be controlled through one tunnel using tunneling. The control of such multiple channels can be achieved by a tunnel server.

On the other hand, if the terminal 220 is farther away from the access point 210 than the access point transmission coverage, since communication using Wi-Fi is impossible in both directions, it is preferable to transmit and receive both uplink and downlink data through LTE.

3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation of a terminal in a process of transmitting a packet from a terminal to a server in a system using an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, a system supporting asymmetric communication according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a tunnel server 310, an access point 320, a base station 330, and a terminal device 340. .

Referring to FIG. 3, the terminal 340 may include a communication module, a processor (not shown), and a memory (not shown). The communication module may include a WiFi interface 342, a mobile interface 344, and a virtual interface 346. The Wi-Fi interface 342 is a module for Wi-Fi communication, and the mobile interface 344 is a module for mobile cellular communication such as LTE. The virtual interface 346 is a module that controls and manages a virtual IP.

The processor executes at least one application 348. The application 348 may request data from a specific server (not shown) (a URL associated with the server) and receive a response thereto. To this end, a packet is generated using a specific server as a destination, and the packet is transmitted using at least one of the WiFi interface 342 and the mobile interface 344. In this case, the source IP of the IP header of the packet is the virtual IP (VI_IP) of the virtual interface 346. Therefore, the application 348 is not affected whether the packet is actually delivered over Wi-Fi or the packet is delivered over LTE. The original packet may consist of an IP header, a TCP/UDP header, and a payload. The source IP of the IP header may be a virtual IP (VI_IP), and the destination IP may be the server's IP (NA_IP). The original packet is transmitted to the outside of the terminal 340 through at least one of the Wi-Fi interface 342 and the mobile interface 344 via the virtual interface 346. It is also possible to transmit using both interfaces 344 and 346 at the same time.

The processor monitors the signal strength of Wi-Fi and LTE by running a separate application (not shown) to support the asymmetric communication method, and based on this, one of LTE and Wi-Fi for uplink communication and downlink communication. Choose At this time, it is preferable that the terminal 340 preferentially utilizes Wi-Fi. This is because, if Wi-Fi is available, Wi-Fi is more advantageous than LTE in terms of use of communication resources and billing accordingly. Then, as described above, data is transmitted and received using a corresponding communication method according to the communication state (signal strength) of Wi-Fi. However, it is also possible to set to use LTE preferentially according to user settings.

The separate application may detect a signal from the access point 320 received through the Wi-Fi interface 342 and determine a corresponding communication method based on the detected signal strength information. Once determined, the WiFi interface 342 and the mobile interface 344 are controlled based on the determined communication method. The original packet generated by the application 348 using the determined communication method is transmitted to the access point 320 and/or the base station 330 by attaching a header related to tunneling.

Meanwhile, the terminal 340 uses a tunnel so that communication is not disconnected when switching between the WiFi interface 342 and the mobile interface 344. The separate application enables seamless communication through the virtual IP address of the virtual interface 346. The virtual IP address may be a unique IP address of the terminal. This may be issued upon negotiation with the tunnel server 310. Negotiation with the tunnel server 310 may be performed, and in this process, it may be issued by a method such as DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) or an own IP address management method. The issued virtual IP is provided to the terminal, and the virtual interface 346 manages it. At this time, the virtual IP address of the virtual interface of the tunnel server interworking with the virtual interface of the terminal also has a random value of the same IP band.

The WiFi interface 342 and the mobile interface 344 receive the original packet generated by the application 348 via the virtual interface 346, add a tunneling header, an IP header for tunneling, and a UDP header, and then the access point It is transmitted to 320 and the base station 330, respectively. In the packet transmitted through the Wi-Fi interface 342, the IP of the tunnel server 340 (TS_IP) is set as the destination IP of the IP header information for tunneling, and the Wi-Fi IP (WI_IP) is set as the source IP. In the packet transmitted through the mobile interface 344, the IP (TS_IP) of the tunnel server 340 is set as the destination IP of the IP header information for tunneling, and the mobile IP (MI_IP) is set as the source IP. . The tunneling header includes authentication information and identifier information. The identifier is a tunnel identifier indicating a specific tunnel, and can be generated by the terminal 340 and/or the server 310. This can be generated through the MAC address of the terminal or predetermined unique information included in the terminal. In another example, through a method of generating a unique identifier such as a UUID in the server 310, it may be generated and transmitted to the terminal 340 at the beginning of communication to be used. The terminal 340 may register WIFI_IP (WI_IP) and LTE_IP (MI_IP) through a tunnel identifier, and transmit a packet by attaching a header related to tunneling by using this.

The terminal 340 transmits information on the use of WIFI or LTE (Downlink, uplink) when the state changes, so that the tunnel server 310 can use it when sending a response.

On the other hand, the communication methods usable in the terminal 340 are full-scale Wi-Fi communication (Fully WIFI), full-scale LTE communication (Fully LTE), and asymmetric communication in which downlink reception through Wi-Fi and uplink transmission through LTE coexist. WIFI/Up LTE).

To determine a communication method, the terminal 340 compares the strength of the Wi-Fi signal with a reference value, and if the Wi-Fi connection is smooth, transmits and receives data using only the Wi-Fi interface 342. At this time, when it is determined that only reception is possible because the Wi-Fi signal is weakened, data is transmitted through the mobile interface 344 and data is received through the Wi-Fi interface 342. This can be called the WIFI Sticky Problem status. In this case, it is preferable to use asymmetric communication. When the Wi-Fi signal is not completely captured, data is transmitted and received using only the mobile interface 344.

The access point 320 receives a packet transmitted from the terminal 340 using Wi-Fi and transmits it to the tunnel server 310.

The base station 330 receives data from the terminal 340 using a mobile cellular network and transmits the data to the tunnel server 310. In particular, even in an asymmetric communication state, the base station 330 may directly receive uplink data from the terminal 340 using a mobile cellular network.

The tunnel server 310 is installed at a location accessible on the Internet. The tunnel server 310 may create one tunnel for a specific terminal 340. The tunnel can have two flows. In this case, the two flows include a flow including a mobile interface IP address and a flow including a WiFi interface IP address (WIFI Interface IP address).

The tunnel server 310 may be connected to a backbone network. The backbone network shares a backhaul control connection and/or a radio control connection between the access point 320 and the base station 330 through P-GW or Evolved Packet Core (EPC). The tunnel server 310 enables integrated state management of a plurality of terminals connected to a Wi-Fi network and/or a mobile cellular network through such a connection relationship. The tunnel server 310 integrates and manages the mobile IP and Wi-Fi IP of the terminal registered in the network, and manages the tunnel related to them and their communication state. When a packet is first transmitted, since the tunnel server 310 creates a tunnel, all packets are transmitted/received through the tunnel server 310. When creating a tunnel, the tunnel server 310 may not identify the tunnel by an IP address, but may identify the tunnel through a separate tunnel identifier described above. Even if the tunnel server 310 receives a packet including either a Wi-Fi interface IP address or a mobile interface IP address, if it has the same tunnel identifier, it may identify it as a tunnel of the same terminal. After tunnel creation, the mapping relationship between the mobile interface IP address, the Wi-Fi IP address, and the tunnel identifier can be managed through a table, and this mapping relationship is shared with the access point 320, the base station 330, and the terminal 340. I can.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a detailed process of determining a data transmission and transmission method using one of a wireless local area network and LTE in an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4, the terminal periodically detects the signal strength of the wireless local area network (S412). The terminal compares the detected strength of the wireless signal with the first reference value (S414). The first reference value may be a reference value related to coverage of the terminal. The first reference value may be set to a value corresponding to the coverage of the terminal in consideration of a procedure and time for LTE communication preparation, and an arbitrary value in consideration of some buffer intervals. That is, in order to check whether the signal from the terminal can reach the access point, the strength of the radio signal is compared with the first reference value. If the strength of the wireless signal is greater than the first reference value, it may be determined that there is no problem in data transmission and reception through Wi-Fi, and data is continuously transmitted and received through Wi-Fi (S416).

If an intensity lower than the first reference value is detected, the signal from the terminal to the access point may not be able to arrive at present or soon. Accordingly, the terminal needs to prepare for communication through LTE. Here, the terminal may select one of two methods of an asymmetric communication method and a full LTE communication method. In order to determine this, the terminal compares the detected strength of the radio signal with a second reference value (S418). The second reference value may be set to an arbitrary value related to the coverage of the access point. When a signal higher than the second reference value is detected, the communication method may be determined through asymmetric communication, and when a signal lower than the second reference value is detected, the communication method may be determined through full LTE communication (S424). When a signal strength higher than the second reference value is detected, the terminal transmits a packet for detecting a WIFI section through LTE to the tunnel server (S420). It checks whether the response packet is received from the tunnel server (S422), and if the response packet is not received, the terminal transmits and receives data through LTE (S424) (overall LTE), and when the response packet is received, it is via WIFI. An asymmetric communication method in which data is received and data is transmitted through LTE is used (S426). When the terminal needs to use the WIFI section or the LTE section in switching the communication method, it transmits a packet that detects it to the tunnel server, and the tunnel server checks the available section and transmits a response packet to switch to the corresponding communication method. Support this to happen.

Meanwhile, when the communication method is switched from Wi-Fi communication to asymmetric communication, the access point can confirm the start of asymmetric communication through an indication packet of the terminal. The indication packet may be received through a tunnel server. After receiving the indication packet, it is assumed that the uplink data is received through LTE, and the access point can modify a communication protocol related to the reception of control information such as ACK/NACK and channel information. That is, through Wi-Fi, only transmission to the terminal is performed in one direction, and control information is switched to that received from the tunnel server via the base station. Eventually, the destination of control information for downlink data is modified to a tunnel server rather than a terminal.

In another example, when the communication method is (i) switched from asymmetric communication to full LTE communication, (ii) when switching from full LTE to asymmetric communication, or (iii) when switching from asymmetric communication to full WiFi communication , The terminal provides a packet indicating switching of the communication method and initiation of the switched communication method to the tunnel server through the base station and/or the access point. The tunnel server stores the changed current communication method as status information. Then, a packet indicating the start of the switched communication method is provided to the access point and the base station to share the packet. The access point and the base station may appropriately modify the communication protocol so that data can be transmitted and/or received in a manner corresponding to the switched communication method.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method of identifying a tunnel associated with a specific terminal in a tunnel server and managing a plurality of tunnels. As disclosed in FIG. 5, the tunnel server 510 includes an internal interface 510, a tunnel management unit 514, and an external interface 516.

Referring to FIG. 5, the tunnel server 510 receives detection packets from terminals 520-1 and 520-2. The detection packet includes a request for checking a mobile section or a Wi-Fi section, and the tunnel server 510 responds thereto.

The internal interface 512 is a communication module that communicates with a terminal-side communication network. The inner interface receives packets through the tunnel server's inner IP (TS_IP). The received packet includes a detection packet for detecting an LTE and/or Wi-Fi section as well as a general data packet transmitted from the application of the terminal to the server. The internal interface 512 detects whether there is a Wi-Fi and/or LTE section suitable for the corresponding terminal in response to the received detection packet, and if there is, transmits a response packet corresponding thereto.

The tunnel management unit 514 creates a tunnel related to the terminal when a packet first arrives from the terminal or when the terminal is initially negotiated with the terminal, and registers and manages the WiFi IP (WI_IP) and LTE IP (MI_IP) of the terminal. The tunnel management unit 514 matches and manages the terminal's WiFi IP (WI_IP) and LTE IP (MI_IP) with a tunnel identifier (Tid). In this case, the virtual IP and/or MAC address may also be matched and managed. It is desirable to manage this in the form of a table. However, the WiFi IP (WI_IP) and the LTE IP (MI_IP) may be changed. That is, the IPs are flexible. When moving to another access point and another base station through handover, a new IP may be assigned. Accordingly, a WiFi IP (WI_IP) and an LTE IP (MI_IP) matching one tunnel identifier (Tid) may be changed. However, even in a situation in which the WiFi IP (WI_IP) and LTE IP (MI_IP) are changed, the tunnel server 510 identifies the tunnel and the terminal associated therewith through the unique identifier Tid, so it can operate without difficulty even in a handover situation. have.

In addition, it receives an indication packet related to the communication method change of the UE, updates the current communication state of the UE in real time, and when there is a change of communication method, the access point or base station notifies the communication protocol. Control to give a change (change in destination of control information related to downlink communication).

The tunnel manager 514 receives packets received from the terminal, removes the tunneling header, and restores the original packet.

The external interface 516 is a communication module that communicates with the server side communication network, not the terminal side (client side). The external interface 516 communicates with the server through a unique IP (TSX_IP).

In this embodiment, for convenience of description, the internal interface 512 and the external interface 516 are described as separate communication modules, but these may be the same interface. That is, TS_IP and TSX_IP may also have the same address, and the two interfaces 512 and 516 may also be implemented with one and the same interface. Also, like the virtual interface in the terminal, the above communication module may be implemented in the tunnel server 510 through a virtual interface in addition to TS_IP. That is, even though the internal interface 512 and the external interface 516 are separately expressed in this specification and the IP addresses are expressed as a plurality of TS_IP and TSX_IP, the above two interfaces can be implemented as the same interface and the above two IP addresses. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be implemented with the same IP address.

The operation of the tunnel server will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 6.

6 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation of a tunnel server in a process of transmitting a packet from a terminal to a server in a system using an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, an internal interface 612 of a tunnel server receives a packet with a tunneling header from at least one of an access point 620 and a base station 630. Packets received through the internal interface 612 are delivered to the virtual interface 613. The virtual interface 613 may be tunneled with the virtual interface of the terminal in advance. Accordingly, the virtual interface may be referred to as a tunnel interface. In the case of a private network in which the tunnel server and the terminal communicate with each other, the same IP band must be used, so a virtual interface 613 can be provided to receive packets of the same IP band within the private network. In other words, in relation to the terminal, the virtual interface 613 performs a gateway function. In this case, the IP of the virtual interface 613 may be a fixed IP.

Meanwhile, the virtual interface 613 provides the packet received through the internal interface 612 to the tunnel manager 614. The tunnel management unit 614 removes the tunneling header from the packet received from the virtual interface 613 and restores the original packet. Then, the packet is provided to the source NAT (network address translation) performing unit 618. The source NAT performing unit 618 performs source NAT (SNAT). This means converting the network IP address in the private network to the public network IP. At this time, the destination IP of the original packet is the same as the server's IP (NA_IP), but the source IP is changed to TSX_IP, which is an IP unique to the external interface 616 of the tunnel server 610. Accordingly, the IP header is changed to source IP: TSX_IP and destination IP: NA_IP. The packet on which SNAT has been performed is provided to the destination server 650 through the external interface 616. Accordingly, packet transmission from the terminal to the server through the Wi-Fi interface and/or the mobile interface is completed.

7 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation of a tunnel server in a process of transferring a packet from a server to a terminal in a system using an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The process of FIGS. 7 and 8 is a reverse process of the packet transfer process from the terminal of FIGS. 3 and 6 to the server. Even when a packet is transmitted from the server to the terminal, data of the same session can be transmitted even if the packet is transmitted in either Wi-Fi or LTE direction.

Referring to FIG. 7, the server 750 provides an original packet to the tunnel server 710. In this case, the IP header includes a source IP: NA_IP, and a destination IP: TSX_IP. External interface 716 receives it. Then, the received packet is delivered to the source NAT performing unit 718 for SNAT. The source NAT performing unit 718 changes the IP of the public network to the IP of the private network through reverse conversion through SNAT. Accordingly, the destination IP is changed from TSX_IP to VI_IP, that is, a virtual IP. The packet whose destination IP is changed is provided to the tunnel management unit 714. The tunnel manager 714 generates a tunneling packet by referring to the table of FIG. 5. In this case, a tunneling header may be attached to the original packet. The source IP of the IP header of the header for tunneling is set to TS_IP, which is the IP of the internal interface 712 of the tunnel server 710. It is not affected by Wi-Fi communication and LTE. The destination IP is set to be the terminal's Wi-Fi IP (WI_IP) in the packet transmitted to the Wi-Fi, and the terminal's LTE IP (MI_IP) in the packet transmitted through the LTE. The WiFi delivery packet is delivered to the access point 720, and the LTE delivery packet is delivered to the base station 730.

At this time, referring to the current communication status of the table of FIG. 5, whether the communication status of the terminal is a full LTE communication status, a full WiFi communication status, or if the downlink communication is Wi-Fi and the uplink communication is LTE. Refers to whether it is asymmetric communication, so that the appropriate packet can be delivered.

The tunneling packet generated by attaching a tunneling header in the tunnel manager 714 is transmitted to the virtual interface 713. Then, it is transmitted to the access point 720 and/or the base station 730 through the internal interface 712.

8 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation of a terminal in a process of transferring a packet from a server to a terminal in a system using an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, the tunnel server 810 transmits packets generated in FIG. 7 to an access point 820 and/or a base station 830. Then, the access point 820 and/or the base station 830 transmits the received packet to the WiFi interface 842 and/or the mobile interface 844, respectively.

The WiFi interface 842 and/or the mobile interface 844 removes only the original packet after removing the tunnel header, respectively, and provides it to the virtual interface 846, and the virtual interface 846 delivers it to the application 848. When the application 848 transmits/receives a packet, even if it is transmitted through a path through WiFi and then transmitted to LTE or vice versa, the application 848 is not affected because it recognizes that it is transmitted and received through the virtual IP of the virtual interface 846 as a result.

9 is a block diagram showing a processing flow of data in an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 9, the WiFi interface 910 and the mobile interface 920 respectively receive data and transmit data. At this time, the reception of downlink data from the access point is possible, but since the provision of control information related to the reception of downlink data to the access point cannot be made through Wi-Fi, a procedure for transmitting and receiving data needs to be defined. . The WiFi interface 910 and the mobile interface 920 can communicate with each other directly or indirectly.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the control information may include control information in a physical layer. In particular, with regard to the reception of downlink data and transmission of physical layer control information thereto, first, downlink data from an access point is received through the WiFi interface 910. In order to check whether the data has been successfully received, the received data is provided to an application (not shown) for determining a communication method of the processor 930, and the application checks whether the downlink data has been properly received. Thereafter, a control packet including channel quality information (CQI) for the current Wi-Fi channel state, including ACK/NACK therefor, is transmitted to the base station through the mobile interface 920. The control packet delivered to the base station can be provided to the access point through the tunnel server. At this time, in order to efficiently transfer the control packet from the tunnel server to the access point, a separate tunnel may be created between the tunnel server and the access point.

The control packet includes information indicating a control packet for a number of downlink packets from a specific access point. That is, Wi-Fi IP and/or tunnel identifier, and packet index information may be included. Upon receiving the control packet, the access point determines whether or not to execute the retransmission algorithm (HARQ) by determining whether the previously transmitted downlink data is well delivered. In addition, by performing AMC (Adaptive Modulation and Coding) based on channel information, it is possible to determine a coding method of downlink data to be transmitted next.

Meanwhile, in the transmission and reception of uplink data in asymmetric communication, the hybrid transmission method as described above may not be used because data transmission as well as reception is possible between the base station and the terminal. That is, the basic LTE delivery method is used.

In an embodiment of the present invention, transmission and reception of an Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) related packet may also be performed through asymmetric communication. In one example, while performing asymmetric communication, when the validity period of the current MAC address of the terminal held by the access point has expired, an ARP request is transmitted to the terminal. In this case, the terminal receives the ARP request through the Wi-Fi interface 910. A response to this is transmitted through the mobile interface 920. The terminal causes the ARP response to be transmitted to the tunnel server through the base station through the mobile interface 920. In this case, a separate tunnel may be created between the tunnel server and the access point. The tunnel server provides the received ARP response to the access point using the separate tunnel.

When the access point needs to transmit an ARP request to the terminal while knowing that the terminal is receiving data through asymmetric communication, the access point can create a tunnel (tunnel with the tunnel server) to receive the ARP response in advance. . Then, a control signal for controlling the terminal to transmit a response corresponding to the ARP request through a corresponding tunnel may be provided to the terminal. This may be provided in advance prior to the ARP request, or may be provided together with the ARP request. When the terminal receives the control signal and the ARP request, the terminal controls the transmission of the ARP response to the access point using the previously generated tunnel (tunnel between the tunnel server and the access point) through the base station and the tunnel server.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the access point may use a method of setting the update period of the ARP to be longer than a preset reference value in order to increase the efficiency of asymmetric communication.

In another embodiment, the terminal transmits indication information notifying that asymmetric communication is available to the access point, and the access point receiving it prepares for switching to asymmetric communication to update the ARP update cycle in a general situation. It can be controlled to be set longer than the period.

10 is a detailed block diagram showing a configuration of a user terminal supporting an asymmetric communication scheme according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 10, the terminal supports a communication method including an O/S kernel and a full Wi-Fi communication, a full LTE method, and an asymmetric communication method at an O/S kernel and a user space. First, applications are run at the user level. Applications include network applications and applications for supporting communication methods. Network applications include programs such as a web browser and voice talk. Original packets can be generated in network applications. The generated original packet is sent to the O/S kernel level. The O/S kernel can be implemented with programs such as Android, Ios, Linux, Windows and OSX. In the TCP/IP stack at the O/S kernel level, the TCP header and IP header information for the original packet are generated. The generated packet is provided to an application to support the communication method through the tunnel interface. The tunnel interface can be implemented as a virtual interface. It may be tunneled with the tunnel interface of the tunnel server. The network is formed through tunneling. This is a fixed IP address, and even if the IP address of the Wi-Fi and mobile interface changes, the communication of the application is not disconnected.

Meanwhile, applications for supporting communication methods include BM modules, interface monitoring modules, sockets and traffic management modules. The BM module provides a location-based service (LBS) advertisement service, and monitors and reports the signal strength of Wi-Fi and/or LTE. In addition, when the communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention is supported on a membership basis, access to a user authentication server and billing information can be linked. It also monitors and reports user traffic.

The interface monitoring module checks the status (connection status and signal strength, etc.) of the Wi-Fi and/or mobile interface monitored by the BM module. In particular, the optimal communication method is determined based on the strength of the Wi-Fi signal. When the Wi-Fi signal is weak, the interface monitoring module may attempt to reconnect or attempt to connect to another access point. Alternatively, it is possible to consider switching to an asymmetric communication method or a mobile communication method.

The socket receives the previously generated original packet from the tunnel interface and provides the appropriate interface according to the communication method decision of the interface monitoring module. The socket allows switching to at least one of a Wi-Fi interface and a mobile interface according to a communication situation.

The Wi-Fi interface and the mobile interface attach a tunneling header (including an IP header and a UDP header) to packets received from a socket and provide them to the tunnel server. At this time, the Wi-Fi interface sets the source IP to Wi-Fi IP, and the mobile interface sets the source IP to Mobile IP.

Meanwhile, the traffic management module performs compression and acceleration of network traffic and provides a function of monitoring network traffic.

11 is a detailed block diagram showing the configuration of a tunnel server supporting an asymmetric communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 11, the tunnel server also supports a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention through an O/S kernel and a user space. It is desirable that the server's O/S kernel is implemented in Linux.

Looking at a process of receiving a packet from a terminal and transmitting a packet to a server, first, packets transmitted through a Wi-Fi interface and/or a mobile interface are received through an internal interface. Then, the TCP/IP stack at the O/S kernel level removes the tunneling header of the received packet, restores the original packet, and provides it to the socket. The socket checks the virtual interface of the terminal from the mobile or Wi-Fi IP included in the packet using IP information of the terminal managed by the session table management module and current communication state information. Then, the received packet is provided to the tunnel interface (virtual interface) of the terminal and the tunnel interface (virtual interface) of the server that is tunneled. The tunnel interface at the O/S kernel level provides the packet to the source NAT execution unit. The source NAT performing unit performs SNAT for converting the source IP of the original packet from the terminal virtual interface to the external IP of the server. Packets performed by SNAT are delivered to the server through the external interface.

Meanwhile, the traffic management module of the application, like the traffic management module in the terminal, compresses and accelerates network traffic and provides a function of monitoring network traffic.

The system or device described above may be implemented as a hardware component, a software component, and/or a combination of a hardware component and a software component. For example, the systems, devices, and components described in the embodiments include, for example, a processor, a controller, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable array (FPA). ), a programmable logic unit (PLU), a microprocessor, or any other device capable of executing and responding to instructions, such as one or more general purpose computers or special purpose computers. The processing device may execute an operating system (OS) and one or more software applications executed on the operating system. In addition, the processing device may access, store, manipulate, process, and generate data in response to the execution of software. For the convenience of understanding, although it is sometimes described that one processing device is used, those of ordinary skill in the art, the processing device is a plurality of processing elements and/or a plurality of types of processing elements. It can be seen that it may include. For example, the processing device may include a plurality of processors or one processor and one controller. In addition, other processing configurations are possible, such as a parallel processor.

The software may include a computer program, code, instructions, or a combination of one or more of these, configuring the processing unit to behave as desired or processed independently or collectively. You can command the device. Software and/or data may be interpreted by a processing device or to provide instructions or data to a processing device, of any type of machine, component, physical device, virtual equipment, computer storage medium or device. , Or may be permanently or temporarily embodyed in a transmitted signal wave. The software may be distributed over networked computer systems and stored or executed in a distributed manner. Software and data may be stored on one or more computer-readable recording media.

The method according to the embodiments 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, etc. alone or in combination. The program instructions recorded on the medium may be specially designed and configured for the embodiment, or may be known and usable to those skilled in computer software. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tapes, optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, and magnetic media such as floptical disks. -A hardware device specially configured to store and execute program instructions such as magneto-optical media, and ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of the program instructions include not only machine language codes such as those produced by a compiler, but also high-level language codes that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware device described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operation of the embodiment, and vice versa.

Although the embodiments have been described by the limited embodiments and drawings as described above, various modifications and variations can be made from the above description to those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, the described techniques are performed in a different order from the described method, and/or components such as a system, structure, device, circuit, etc. described are combined or combined in a form different from the described method, or other components Alternatively, even if substituted or substituted by an equivalent, an appropriate result can be achieved.

Therefore, other implementations, other embodiments, and claims and equivalents fall within the scope of the claims to be described later.

Claims (14)

In the wireless local area network-based asymmetric communication method of a wireless terminal,
Detecting the strength of a signal from an access point (AP) of a wireless local area network (WLAN); And
In response to the sensed signal strength being less than a first reference value and greater than a second reference value, transmitting and receiving data through asymmetric communication,
The first reference value is a reference value related to coverage of the wireless terminal, the second reference value is a reference value related to coverage of the access point,
In the asymmetric communication, downlink data of the wireless terminal uses a first path based on a wireless local area network, and uplink data of the wireless terminal is based on a mobile cellular network. Asymmetric communication method based on a wireless local area network of a wireless terminal, which is transmitted and received asymmetrically using a second path. The method of claim 1, before transmitting and receiving data through the asymmetric communication,
Transmitting a detection packet for detecting a section of a wireless local area network or a section of a mobile cellular network;
Receiving a response to the detection packet from a tunnel server; And
Further comprising the step of determining to transmit and receive data through asymmetric communication based on the received response. The method of claim 1,
The first path and the second path are dependent on a single tunnel allocated to the wireless terminal in the tunnel server,
The single tunnel is identified through a tunnel identifier separate from the IP of the wireless terminal, a wireless local area network-based asymmetric communication method of the wireless terminal. The method of claim 3,
The wireless terminal holds a mobile interface IP address associated with a mobile cellular network and a near field communication interface IP address associated with the wireless local area network,
The first path is a path associated with a flow including the short-range communication interface IP address,
The second path is a path associated with a flow including the mobile interface IP address, a wireless local area network-based asymmetric communication method of a wireless terminal. The method of claim 4,
Further comprising the step of creating a tunneling packet by attaching a tunneling header to the original packet,
The tunneling header includes the tunnel identifier, a wireless local area network-based asymmetric communication method of the wireless terminal. The method of claim 5,
The source IP of the tunneling header generates the tunneling packet such that at least one of the mobile interface IP address and the short-range communication interface IP address is included in the wireless local area network-based asymmetric communication method of the wireless terminal. The method of claim 4,
Even if at least one of the short-range communication interface IP address and the mobile interface IP address is changed, the tunnel and the tunnel server associated therewith are identified through the tunnel identifier, based on a wireless local area network of a wireless terminal. The method of claim 1,
When the initiation of the asymmetric communication is determined, transmitting a first indication packet instructing the initiation of the asymmetric communication to a tunnel server, a wireless local area network-based asymmetric communication method of a wireless terminal. The method of claim 8,
At least one of physical layer control information and Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)-related control information related to downlink data received through the first path is transmitted to the access point via the tunnel server via a mobile interface A method for asymmetric communication based on a wireless local area network of a wireless terminal. The method of claim 1,
In response to the sensed signal being less than the second reference value, further comprising determining to transmit and receive not only the uplink data but also the downlink data using a second path based on a mobile cellular network. Asymmetric communication method based on local area network. The method of claim 10,
When it is determined to use the first path for reception of downlink data while transmitting and receiving data using the second path overall, a second indication packet indicating that data reception is started using the first path is sent. A method for asymmetric communication based on a wireless local area network of a wireless terminal, further comprising transmitting to a tunnel server. The method of claim 1,
A wireless local area network-based asymmetric communication method of a wireless terminal for performing communication using a virtual interface IP address so that communication is not disconnected when switching between the wireless local area network and the mobile cellular network. The method of claim 1,
The wireless local area network operates according to a Wi-Fi standard,
The mobile cellular network operates according to at least one of a long term evolution (LTE) standard and a 5G NR (New Radio) communication standard. A wireless local area network-based asymmetric communication method of a wireless terminal. In the wireless terminal device for performing asymmetric communication based on a wireless local area network,
A signal strength detector configured to detect the strength of a signal from an access point (AP) of a wireless local area network (WLAN);
The detected signal strength is a first reference value-The first reference value is a reference value related to coverage of the wireless terminal-A smaller second reference value-The second reference value is a reference value related to coverage of the access point- A processor that controls to perform asymmetric communication in response to the greater than; And
Including a communication interface for transmitting and receiving data using the asymmetric communication,
In the asymmetric communication, downlink data of the wireless terminal uses a first path based on a wireless local area network, and uplink data of the wireless terminal is based on a mobile cellular network. Asymmetric communication apparatus based on a wireless local area network of a wireless terminal, which is asymmetrically transmitted and received using a second path.

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