KR102376393B1 - Method and apparatus for transmission of large data - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and apparatus for transmitting large amounts of data are disclosed. In transmitting the large-capacity data, the transmitting terminal may divide the large-capacity data into one or more blocks, and may transmit the one or more blocks to the receiving terminal. The division size may be determined by a division size determining device mounted on the transmitting terminal or the receiving terminal. The partition size determining apparatus may determine the partition size based on the size of the large data and a parameter related to the transmission of the large data. The large-capacity data may be divided into one or more blocks of the determined partition size.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSMISSION OF LARGE DATA

The following embodiments relate to a communication method and apparatus, and in more detail, a method and apparatus for transmitting large-capacity data are disclosed.

An Internet of Things (IoT) device may also transmit and/or receive large-capacity data in some cases.

For example, when the IoT device performs a firmware update, when the IoT device accumulates sensing data and transmits the accumulated sensing data in one integrated message, and when the IoT device transmits multimedia data such as an image, etc. This may be an example of a case in which this IoT device transmits a large amount of data.

In general, IoT devices may use low-performance hardware to reduce costs. Because low-performance hardware is used, the IoT device, the hardware of the IoT device, and the communication technology installed in the IoT device may not be suitable for transmitting and receiving large amounts of data.

Also, since the IoT device has low-performance hardware, the data transmission and reception speed of the IoT device may be low. Due to such low speed, IoT services by IoT devices may not be performed smoothly.

Korean Patent Laid-Open Patent No. 10-2007-0080265, published on August 10, 2007 (Title: Apparatus and method for opportunistic packet scheduling in wireless access communication system using multi-hop relay method)

An embodiment may provide an apparatus and method for predicting and utilizing an optimal block size.

An embodiment may provide an apparatus and method for increasing the efficiency of transmission and reception of large-capacity data used for firmware update or the like.

An embodiment may provide an apparatus and method for enabling stable network operation even with low-performance hardware.

In one aspect, the method comprising: determining a partition size based on at least one of a size of data and a parameter related to transmission of the data; and dividing the data into one or more blocks according to the determined partition size, and transmitting the one or more blocks to a receiving terminal.

The parameter may include at least one of a latency of transmission of the block, an expected transmission time of data, and a throughput of a network through which the block is transmitted.

The partition size may be determined based on a parameter function.

The output value of the parameter function may be a value of the parameter when the data is divided into blocks of block size.

The input value of the parameter function may include a hop distance.

The hop distance may be a distance between a transmitting terminal transmitting the one or more blocks and the receiving terminal.

The input value of the parameter function may include a transmission time of a data frame in a network in which the one or more blocks are transmitted.

The determined partition size may be selected from among a plurality of candidate partition sizes.

Each candidate partition size of the plurality of candidate partition sizes may be used as an input value of a parameter function.

The determined partition size may be a candidate partition size for a minimum value among output values of the parameter function.

A block of the determined partition size may be transmitted as one or more data frames.

The output value of the parameter function may be determined based on the number of the one or more data frames.

The parameters may be plural.

The partition size may be determined based on a score function.

The score function may be a weighted sum of the plurality of parameters.

The determined division size is a size that minimizes an output value of the score function.

The score function may each generate a plurality of output values for a plurality of candidate partition sizes.

The determined division size may be a candidate division size for a minimum value among the plurality of output values.

The division size may be determined based on information on an application layer and other network layers other than the application layer.

The division size may be determined using at least one of a hop distance, a maximum transmission unit (MTU), and a time slot length.

The communication method may further include transmitting information of the determined division size to the receiving terminal.

The data may be transmitted to the receiving terminal as the one or more blocks in the application layer.

Each block of the one or more blocks may be transmitted as one or more data frames in a lower layer of the application layer to the next terminal on the path to the receiving terminal.

The data may be transmitted to the receiving terminal as the one or more blocks according to a hardware constraint of the transmitting terminal transmitting the data.

The determined partition size may be determined based on service quality or network performance provided according to the size of the block.

In another aspect, the method comprising: determining a partition size based on at least one of a size of data and a parameter related to transmission of the data; transmitting information of the determined division size to a transmitting terminal; and receiving one or more blocks of the determined partition size from the transmitting terminal.

The communication method may further include receiving a first block of data.

The determining may be performed when the first block is received.

One or more blocks of the determined partition size may be blocks after the first block.

The division size information may be transmitted as a part of a response message for transmission of the first block.

In another aspect, the method comprising: obtaining a parameter related to data transmission; and determining a partition size for partitioning the data into one or more blocks based on at least one of the parameter and the size of the data.

In addition to this, another method, apparatus, system for implementing the present invention, and a computer-readable recording medium for recording a computer program for executing the method are further provided.

An apparatus and method for predicting and utilizing an optimal block size are provided.

An apparatus and method for increasing the efficiency of transmission and reception of large-capacity data used for firmware update and the like are provided.

An apparatus and method for enabling stable network operation even with low-performance hardware are provided.

1 illustrates a 6LoWPAN system according to an example.
2 illustrates transmission of a block with a retransmission mechanism according to an example.
3 illustrates a process of dividing data and transmitting the divided data according to an example.
4 illustrates a network stack and data flow of an IoT device according to an example.
5A and 5B illustrate multi-hops transmission of a request message and a response message in a MAC layer according to an example.
6 illustrates a case in which an unnecessary retransmission message is generated because a round trip time of messages is greater than a time of a retransmission timeout according to an embodiment.
7 is a structural diagram of an apparatus for determining a division size according to an exemplary embodiment.
8 is a flowchart of a method for determining a partition size according to an embodiment.
9 shows a parametric function according to an example.
10 illustrates a score function according to an example.
11 illustrates an optimal block size selection function according to an example.
12 is a flowchart of a communication method of a transmitting terminal according to an embodiment.
13 is a flowchart of a communication method of a receiving terminal according to an embodiment.
14 is a structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [0010] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [0010] Reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate specific embodiments by way of example. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments. It should be understood that various embodiments are different, but need not be mutually exclusive. For example, certain shapes, structures, and characteristics described herein with respect to one embodiment may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. In addition, it should be understood that the location or arrangement of individual components within each disclosed embodiment may be changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiment. Accordingly, the detailed description set forth below is not intended to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of exemplary embodiments, if properly described, is limited only by the appended claims, along with all scope equivalents to those claimed.

Like reference numerals in the drawings refer to the same or similar functions throughout the various aspects. The shapes and sizes of elements in the drawings may be exaggerated for clearer description.

The terms used in the examples are for describing the examples and are not intended to limit the present invention. In embodiments, the singular also includes the plural unless the phrase specifically dictates otherwise. As used herein, "comprises" and/or "comprising" refers to the presence of one or more other components, steps, operations and/or elements mentioned. Or addition is not excluded, and it means that an additional configuration may be included in the practice of the exemplary embodiments or the scope of the technical spirit of the exemplary embodiments. When a component is referred to as being “connected” or “connected” to another component, the two components may be directly connected or connected to each other, but in the above 2 It should be understood that other components may exist in the middle of the components.

Terms such as first and second may be used to describe various components, but the above components should not be limited by the above terms. The above terms are used to distinguish one component from another component. For example, without departing from the scope of rights, a first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, a second component may also be referred to as a first component.

In addition, components shown in the embodiments are shown independently to represent different characteristic functions, and it does not mean that each component is formed of separate hardware or only one software component unit. That is, each component is listed as each component for convenience of description. For example, at least two components among the components may be combined into one component. Also, one component may be divided into a plurality of components. Integrated embodiments and separate embodiments of each of these components are also included in the scope of rights without departing from the essence.

In addition, some of the components are not essential components to perform essential functions, but may be optional components only to improve performance. Embodiments may be implemented including only components essential for implementing the essence of the embodiment, and for example, structures in which optional components are excluded, such as components used only to improve performance, are also included in the scope of rights.

Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in order to enable those of ordinary skill in the art to easily implement the embodiments. In describing the embodiments, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known configuration or function may obscure the gist of the present specification, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Hereinafter, the term “terminal” and the term “node” may be used with the same meaning, and may be substituted for each other.

Hereinafter, the term “acknowledgment (ACK)” and the term “response” may be used interchangeably and may be substituted for each other.

Hereinafter, the term “message” may be used synonymously with the term “data” and may be substituted for each other.

Hereinafter, the term “partition size” may be used synonymously with the term “block size” and may be substituted for each other.

1 illustrates a 6LoWPAN system according to an example.

In FIG. 1, an IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks (IPv6) system on a low-power wireless personal area network is shown.

A user's terminal can communicate with other terminals in 6LoWPAN through the Internet.

6LoWPAN may include a 6LoWPAN/RPL Border Router Solution (6LBR). RPL may represent "IPv6 Routing Protocol for LLNs". LLN may represent "a low power and lossy network".

6LoWPAN may include a 6LoWPAN router (6LoWPAN Router; 6LR).

A user's terminal may communicate with other terminals in 6LoWPAN through 6LBR.

2 illustrates transmission of a block with a retransmission mechanism according to an example.

In order to transmit and receive large-capacity data, the IoT device may divide large-capacity data into small messages and transmit messages including the divided data. In other words, the limited hardware capabilities of IoT devices can be overcome through software.

For example, 6LoWPAN may be a WPAN capable of transmitting and receiving IPv6 packets.

The maximum size of an IPv6 packet that 6LoWPAN can handle can be defined as 1280 bytes. Accordingly, large-capacity data that cannot be included in one IPv6 packet may be divided and transmitted through the application layer. The large amount of data transmitted by division can be reassembled.

In FIG. 2 , large-capacity data may be transmitted from a sender application lower layer of the transmitting terminal. The sender application lower layer may divide large-capacity data into a plurality of blocks, and each block of the plurality of divided blocks may be transmitted to a receiver application lower layer of the receiving terminal. When the block is received, the receiver application lower layer of the receiving terminal may transmit a block ack for the block to the transmitting terminal.

In FIG. 2, the first transmission of block 1 fails, and the sender application lower layer of the transmitting terminal does not receive block confirmation 1 for block 1 for a predefined time, and a retransmission timeout for block 1 is can occur When the retransmission timeout occurs, the sender application lower layer of the transmitting terminal may retransmit block 1 in which the retransmission timeout occurs to the receiver application lower layer of the receiving terminal.

3 illustrates a process of dividing data and transmitting the divided data according to an example.

Data of an application higher layer may be divided into blocks of an application lower layer.

In FIG. 3 , the divided blocks are illustrated as block 1 , block 2 and block 3 .

The divided blocks of the application lower layer may be transmitted as IP packets of an Internet Protocol layer (IP layer).

In FIG. 3, IP packet 1, IP packet 2, and IP packet 3 are shown as IP packets corresponding to the divided blocks.

An IP packet of the IP layer may be transmitted as fragments of an adaptation layer.

In FIG. 3 , fragments 1 to 9 are shown as fragments corresponding to IP packets. For example, IP packet 1 may be divided into fragment 1, fragment 2, and fragment 3.

That is, one piece of data may be divided according to layers, and the divided data may be transmitted.

4 illustrates a network stack and data flow of an IoT device according to an example.

A network stack of a transmitting terminal is shown on the left side of FIG. 4 . In the middle of FIG. 4, a network stack of a gateway between a transmitting terminal and a receiving terminal is shown. A network stack of the receiving terminal is shown on the right side of FIG. 4 .

In each of the transmitting terminal and the receiving terminal, the network stack for transmission and reception of data is: Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), IP (Internet Protocol; IP), 6LoWPAN, 802.15.4 MAC (Media Access Protocol; Mac) and 802.15.4 physical layer (PHY) may be included.

At the gateway, the network stack for data delivery may include IP, 6LoWPAN, 802.15.4 MAC and 802.15.4 PHY.

CoAP may support block-type transmission. Block-type transmission may mean 1) data segmentation, 2) segmented data transfer, and 3) segmented data reassembly in the application layer. The reassembly may be to reassemble the transmitted fragments into an IP packet.

CoAP may provide a “block” option. By the block option, one message or data can be divided into multiple blocks. Multiple partitioned blocks may be transmitted through a series of successive CoAP requests and CoAP responses.

By using the block option, the transmitting terminal or server can individually process the transmission of each block without using other server-side memory for connection establishment or previous block transmission. In addition, the CoAP may provide a mechanism for retransmitting the block when a response to the transmission of the block is not received for a predefined time according to the retransmission timeout.

CoAP can define a mechanism for negotiation of block size between a server and a client. However, the method of determining the block size may not be defined by CoAP. In the following embodiments, a method for determining the size of a block is described. For example, the size of the block may be determined based on an error rate.

5A and 5B illustrate multi-hops transmission of a request message and a response message in a MAC layer according to an example.

5A and 5B , a source node may represent a transmitting terminal. A destination node may indicate a receiving terminal. The 1 hop node to the N-1 hop node may be nodes between the source node and the destination node.

5A may represent the preceding steps of multi-hops transmission. 5B may represent the subsequent steps of a multi-hops transmission. That is, after the operations of FIG. 5A are performed, the operations of FIG. 5B may then be performed.

The data of the request message may be transmitted from the source node to the destination node. A response message to the request message may be transmitted from the destination node to the source node. The response message to the request message may be a confirmation message to the request message.

5A and 5B, the request message may be transmitted as n data frames. The confirmation message for the request message may be transmitted as one data frame.

The size of a block may affect several aspects such as quality of service and network performance.

For example, the latency of block transmission may be different according to the size of the block. The latency may be a time from when the application of the transmitting terminal transmits a message until the transmitting terminal receives a response to the message transmitted by the application.

In 6LoWPAN, the delivery time of the IP packet of the hop may be large. Fragmentation occurring in the process of putting an IP packet into a MAC data frame may cause an increase in the delivery time.

Fragmentation may occur because the size of an IPv6 packet is larger than the size of data that can be transmitted at once in the MAC layer. 6LoWPAN stack can use 802.15.4 MAC. In 802.15.4 MAC, a Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) of a data frame may be defined as 127 bytes. On the other hand, the maximum size of an IPv6 packet supported by the 6LoWPAN stack may be 1280 bytes. Therefore, in order to transmit an IPv6 packet larger than 127 bytes, the IPv6 packet may have to be divided into several data frames, and the data frames may have to be transmitted. Also, fragments of received data frames may have to be reassembled into IPv6 packets. Fragmentation may refer to such a mechanism of split transmission and reassembly.

The time required by fragmentation can be expressed as in Equation 1 below.

[Formula 1]

F * t

F may be the number of data frames. t may be a time required to transfer one data frame to the next hop. The time required by fragmentation may be a product of F and t .

The node receiving the data frame may transmit an acknowledgment frame for the data frame to the node transmitting the data frame.

For example, t may include a time required to transmit one data frame to a next hop and a time required to receive a response frame to the data frame from the next hop.

Hereinafter, a description of transmission of the data frame may include receiving a response frame to the data frame. That is, when a data frame is transmitted between two adjacent nodes, the receiving terminal receiving the data frame may transmit an acknowledgment frame for the data frame to the transmitting terminal transmitting the data frame.

For each hop, the process of fragmentation may be repeated. Accordingly, the time required to transmit data to a node located at a hop distance of H can be expressed as Equation 2 below.

[Formula 2]

H * t * F

The latency may include not only the time at which data is transmitted to the receiving terminal, but also the time at which the transmitting terminal receives a confirmation message for the request message. If it is assumed that the confirmation message is transmitted as one data frame, the latency may be expressed as in Equation 3 below.

[Equation 3]

H * t * { F + 1}

When the response message is transmitted in a plurality of data frames, the latency may be expressed as in Equation 4 below.

[Equation 4]

H * t * { F _data + F _ack }

F _data may be the number of data frames of data. F _ack may be the number of data frames of the acknowledgment message.

6 illustrates a case in which an unnecessary retransmission message is generated because a round trip time of messages is greater than a time of a retransmission timeout according to an embodiment.

6 illustrates that a message is transmitted from a source node to a destination node, and a retransmission timeout occurs because a response message to the transmitted message is not transmitted to the source node within a predefined time.

After the retransmission timeout occurs, the source node may retransmit the message to the destination node. The response message transmitted from the destination node may arrive at the source node after the message is retransmitted from the source node.

If the latency is large, the quality of service may be degraded. If the latency is large, the service provider may not be able to provide a service requiring a quick response. In addition, if the latency is large, network traffic may also increase unintentionally. As shown in FIG. 6 , the increase in network traffic may be due to a mechanism of retransmission of an application protocol.

The transmitting terminal that has transmitted the message may wait for a confirmation message for the transmitted request message. The transmitting terminal may attempt to retransmit the request message when it does not receive the confirmation message within a predefined time (ie, the time of the retransmission timeout). In other words, when the round trip time of messages is large enough that an acknowledgment message cannot be received within the time of the retransmission timeout, unnecessary retransmission may occur as shown in FIG. 6 .

Also, the amount of network traffic generated may vary according to the block size. When a small block size is used to transmit a large amount of data, network traffic may further increase compared to a case where a large block size is used. This is because a smaller block size requires a greater number of messages to be sent and received.

When the size of large data is D, the block size is b, and a confirmation message can be loaded into one data frame, the traffic generation amount Traffic ( b , D ) can be expressed as Equation 5 below.

[Equation 5]

Traffic ( b , D ) = H * { F ( b ) + 1} * D / b

Traffic ( b , D ) may be the amount of traffic generated when the size of large data is D and the block size is b .

F ( b ) may indicate how many data frames the block is divided into and transmitted in the MAC layer. Alternatively, F ( b ) may be the number of data frames constituting the block.

For example, when data having a size of 1024 bytes is transmitted in blocks having a block size of 512 bytes, the amount of traffic generated may be as shown in Equation 6 below.

[Equation 6]

Traffic (512,1024) = H * {5 + 1} * 1024 / 512 = 12 H

When the block size is 16 bytes, the amount of traffic generated may be as in Equation 7 below.

[Equation 7]

Traffic (16,1024) = H * {1 + 1} * 1024 / 16 = 128 H

7 is a structural diagram of an apparatus for determining a division size according to an exemplary embodiment.

The partition size determination apparatus 700 may include a block size calculator 710 , a block transfer processor 720 , and a message processor 730 .

Network traffic due to block transmission and latency of block transmission, etc. may vary depending on the size of the data divided into blocks. In other words, network traffic and latency may be factors affected by the size of a partitioned block.

The algorithm of the partition size determining apparatus 700 may calculate a difference occurring in factors such as network traffic and latency according to the partition size of a block, and may select an optimal partition size by assigning weights to each of the factors. Here, the weight of the element may be the importance of the element.

Such an algorithm may be implemented in the block size calculator 710 located in the application layer. FIG. 7 may show the configuration of an application layer or an application processor of the division size determining apparatus 700 .

Data may be transmitted to the receiving terminal as one or more blocks in the application layer of the transmitting terminal. Each block of the one or more blocks may be transmitted to the terminal as one or more data frames in a lower layer of the application layer. Here, the terminal may be the next terminal on the path from the transmitting terminal to the receiving terminal.

Data may be transmitted to the receiving terminal as one or more blocks according to the hardware constraint of the transmitting terminal transmitting the data or the hardware constraining of the receiving terminal receiving the data. The determined partition size may be determined based on the quality of service provided according to the size of the block or network performance.

As the partition size determining device 700 determines the optimal partition size, a low-performance device such as an IoT device may effectively process transmission and reception of large-capacity data.

The partition size determining apparatus 700 may predict and utilize an optimal partition size. For example, when the same data needs to be provided to multiple IoT devices, such as a firmware update, the same data is transmitted to multiple IoT devices, but depending on the hop distance to the device, the optimal block size for the device is determined for each device. may be different.

Using an optimal partition size may benefit users and operators of the network.

A user can quickly provide large-capacity data to an IoT device, and can quickly receive large-capacity data from an IoT device. The optimal partition size can be utilized for various applications such as firmware update.

Network operators can reliably operate inexpensive hardware. Traffic per unit time may be reduced according to the optimal partition size, and network load may be reduced according to the decrease in traffic.

Each function or operation of the block size calculator 710 , the block transfer processor 720 , and the message processor 730 is described in detail below.

8 is a flowchart of a method for determining a partition size according to an embodiment.

In step 810 , the block size calculator 710 may obtain parameters related to data transmission.

The parameter is calculated by a terminal equipped with the division size determining device 700, or data to a terminal receiving data from a terminal equipped with the division size determining device 700 or a terminal equipped with the division size determining device 700. It may be provided from a transmitting terminal.

In operation 820 , the block size calculator 710 may determine a partition size based on at least one of a data size and a parameter.

The block size calculator 710 may determine the partition size based on information on the application layer. In addition, the block size calculator 710 may determine the division size based on the application layer and information of a network layer other than the application layer.

For example, the block size calculator 710 calculates at least one of 1) a hop distance of a routing protocol, 2) an MTU of an IP layer and a MAC layer, and 3) a time slot length of a Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA) MAC. You can use one to determine the partition size.

9 shows a parametric function according to an example.

In order to calculate the block size calculator 710, the following conditions may have to be satisfied.

1) A parameter may have to be selected. The parameter may be a subject to be considered in calculating the partition size. The block size calculator 710 may determine the partition size based on the parameter function. For example, the parameter may include at least one of a latency of transmission of the block, an expected transmission time of data, and a throughput of a network through which the block is transmitted.

2) The parameter function V for the parameter may need to be prepared. The parameter function may be a function representing a parameter numerically. The parameter may be one or more. When there is more than one parameter, there may be a parameter function V for each parameter of the one or more parameters.

The input value of the parameter function may include the size D of data and the size b of the block.

An input value of the parameter function may include a hop distance H. The hop distance H may be a distance between a transmitting terminal transmitting one or more blocks and a receiving terminal receiving one or more blocks. Alternatively, when the transmitting terminal is located outside the 6LoWPAN, the hop distance H may be a distance between the root node and the receiving terminal. The hop distance H may be a distance between a departure point in 6LoWPAN and an arrival point in 6LoWPAN when one or more blocks are transmitted over 6LoWPAN.

The hop distance H may also be obtained by join priority of the 802.15.4e MAC personal area network information base (PIB).

If the device of the block size calculator 710 supports the RPL routing protocol, the hop distance H may also be obtained by the value of the RPL rank of the RPL routing protocol.

The input value of the parameter function may include a transmission time t of a data frame in a network over which one or more blocks are transmitted. Here, the transmission time t may be a time required to transmit a block by a distance of 1 hop.

The input value of the parameter function may include the number of data frames F ( b ). The number of data frames F ( b ) may indicate how many data frames the block is divided into and transmitted in the MAC layer. When the partition size is determined by the block size calculator 710 and the data is divided into one or more blocks of the determined partition size, the block of the determined partition size may be partitioned into one or more data frames, as one or more data frames. can be transmitted. In other words, a block of divided size may not be transmitted as a whole of one block at a time, but may be transmitted as one or more data frames.

Alternatively, the above-described hop distance H , transmission time t and the number of data frames F ( b ) may be set values or predefined values used to calculate the output value Value of the parameter function V . The setting values may be determined according to the characteristics of the transmitting terminal, the characteristics of the receiving terminal, and the network characteristics. In addition, the setting values may be provided by the transmitting terminal or the receiving terminal.

The output value Value of the parameter function V may be determined based on the number of one or more data frames.

The output value Value of the parameter function V may be a parameter value when data is divided into blocks having a block size. In other words, when a given block size is divided into one or more blocks of the specified block size, what value the parameter will have can be calculated by the parameter function V .

For example, when latency is selected as a parameter, a parameter function V for latency V _Latency may be expressed as in Equation 8 below.

[Equation 8]

V _Latency = H * t * { F ( b ) + 1}

10 illustrates a score function according to an example.

The parameter may be plural. The block size calculator 710 may determine a partition size based on a plurality of parameters.

When a plurality of parameters are considered for determining the partition size, some parameters may be more important than others. For example, for a service requiring a fast response, latency may be a factor to be considered more important than anything else. That is, by making the weights of the plurality of parameters different from each other, the importance levels of the plurality of parameters may be respectively set. The weight can be expressed as in Equation 9 below.

[Equation 9]

W _v

The block size calculator 710 may determine the partition size based on the score function S ( b , D ).

The score function S ( b , D ) may be a weighted-sum of a plurality of parameters. The input value of the score function S ( b , D ) may include the size D of the data and the size b of the block. An input value of the score function S ( b , D ) may be an input value of each of a plurality of parameters constituting the score function S ( b , D ).

The score function S ( b , D ) can be expressed as Equation 10 below.

[Equation 10]

는 j 번째 파라미터 V _j (b, D)의 가중치일 수 있다. V _j ( b , D ) may be a j -th parameter among the plurality of parameters.

may be the weight of the j -th parameter V _j ( b , D ).

For example, if the plurality of parameters are latency and network traffic, the score function S ( b , D ) may be expressed as in Equation 11 below.

[Equation 11]

S ( b , D ) = V _Latency * W _Latency + V _Traffic * W _Traffic

V _Latency may be latency. W _Latency may be a weight of latency. V _Traffic may be network traffic. W _Traffic may be a weight of network traffic.

11 illustrates an optimal block size selection function according to an example.

According to the score function S ( b , D ) of Equation 11, the optimal partition size can be defined as a size that simultaneously minimizes latency and network traffic.

If the higher score of the score function S ( b , D ) is set to be a more suitable partition size, the size b of the block that maximizes the output value of the score function S ( b , D ) may be the selected partition size. In other words, the optimal block size selection function can select the size b of the block that has the largest output value of the score function S ( b , D ) as the partition size.

Conversely, if the lower score of the scoring function S ( b , D ) is set to be a more suitable partition size, then the size b of the block that has the smallest output value of the scoring function S ( b , D ) can be the selected partition size. there is. In other words, the optimal block size selection function can select the size b of the block that has the smallest output value of the score function S ( b , D ) as the partition size.

In the following, it is assumed that the lower the score of the score function S ( b , D ), the more suitable the partition size. In other words, the partition size determined by the block size calculator 710 may be a size that minimizes the output value of the score function S ( b , D ).

The size b of the block may be limited to predefined values. The size b of the block may be one of the candidate partition sizes. For example, the candidate partition sizes may be 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 and 1024 bytes. Also, the candidate partition sizes may be domain B with respect to the size b of the block.

When domain B is {16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 (bytes)}, the optimal block size selected as the partition size may be defined as in Equation 12 below.

[Equation 12]

The block size calculator 710 may select a partition size from among a plurality of candidate partition sizes using an optimal block size selection function. A candidate partition size that minimizes an output value of the score function S ( b , D ) may be a determined partition size. The score function S ( b , D ) by the block size calculator 710 may generate a plurality of output values for a plurality of candidate partition sizes, respectively, and the determined partition size corresponds to the smallest value among the plurality of output values. It may be a candidate partition size.

For example, with respect to the score function S ( b , D ) according to Equation 11 above, if the value of W _Latency is 10, the value of W _Traffic is 1, the value of D is 4096, and the value of t is 0.01 , the score function S ( b , D ) for each block size b is shown in Table 1 below.

[Table 1]

According to Table 1, the minimum value among the output values of the score function S ( b , D ) is 583.2, and the block size at this time is 512 bytes. The block size calculator 710 may select 512 bytes that minimize the output value of the score function S ( b , D ) from among the plurality of candidate partition sizes as the partition size. The block size calculator 710 may return a value of 512 bytes to the block transfer processor 720 as the selected partition size.

In addition, when the partition size is determined by a single parameter, each candidate partition size of a plurality of candidate partition sizes may be used as an input value of the parameter function V . The determined partition size may be a candidate partition size for a minimum value among output values of the parameter function V.

As described above, the block size calculator 710 may select a partition size using a parametric function, a score function, and an optimal block size selection function.

12 is a flowchart of a communication method of a transmitting terminal according to an embodiment.

The transmitting terminal may be a device for transmitting data. The division size determining apparatus 700 may be mounted on a transmitting terminal.

In this embodiment, a method in which the transmitting terminal determines the division size will be described.

In step 1210 , the block size calculator 710 may determine a partition size.

The block size calculator 710 may determine the partition size based on at least one of 1) a size of data and 2) a parameter related to data transmission.

When the transmitting terminal wants to transmit data, the block transmission processor 720 may call the block size calculator 710 . By call, block size calculator 710 may calculate an appropriate block size to be used for transmission of the first block. The block size calculator 710 may provide the determined partition size to the block transfer processor 720 .

At step 1220, the block transfer processor 720 may generate a split size message. The partition size message may be information on the partition size determined in step 1210 . The message processor 730 may transmit the split size message to the receiving terminal.

In operation 1230, the block transmission processor 720 may divide the data into one or more blocks according to the determined partition size, and the message processor 730 may transmit the one or more blocks to the receiving terminal.

The block transmission processor may transmit the divided block to the message processor 730 , and the message processor 730 may transmit the transmitted block to the receiving terminal.

The block transfer processor 720 may contain one or more blocks in one or more messages, respectively. The block transmission processor 720 may transmit one or more messages one by one through the message processor 730 , and may confirm reception of the transmitted message.

For sending and receiving messages, the message processor 730 may perform message assembly and message parsing.

The network between the transmitting terminal and the receiving terminal may be a multi-hop network.

The above-described method in which the division size is determined by the transmitting terminal may be useful when the transmitting terminal secures all information required to calculate the optimal division size.

13 is a flowchart of a communication method of a receiving terminal according to an embodiment.

The receiving terminal may be a device for receiving data. The division size determining apparatus 700 may be mounted on the receiving terminal.

In this embodiment, a method for the receiving terminal to determine the division size will be described.

For example, the transmitting terminal may be a root node of 6LoWPAN. The transmitting terminal may transmit 4096 bytes of firmware update data to the receiving terminal which is at a distance of 12 hops. First, the transmitting terminal may divide the data into blocks of 1024 bytes having an arbitrary size or a predefined size. In other words, the first block may be 1024 bytes.

In operation 1310 , the block transmission processor 720 may receive a first block of data from the transmitting terminal through the message processor 730 .

As the message processor 730 receives the first block, the block transfer processor 720 may operate.

The block transfer processor 720 may call the block size calculator 710 when it receives the first block of data. With the call, the block transfer processor 720 may provide information on the size of the data to the block size calculator 710 .

Through the call, the block size calculator 710 may calculate a suitable partition size to be used from the transmission of subsequent blocks, and the block transfer processor 720 may determine the partition size to use for subsequent blocks of the first block. .

The block transmission processor 720 may receive information on the size of data from the transmitting terminal through the message processor 730 . The information on the size of data may be received together with the first block, received before the first block is received, or may be received after the first block is received.

The block transmission processor 720 may receive parameter information from the transmitting terminal through the message processor 730 . A parameter or a part of the parameter used to determine the partition size may be information known to the transmitting terminal. In this case, the transmitting terminal may provide the information of the parameter known to the receiving terminal to the receiving terminal.

The parameter information may be received together with the first block, received before the first block is received, or may be received after the first block is received.

When the first block is received, the step 1320 of determining the partition size below may be performed.

At step 1320 , the block size calculator 710 may determine a partition size. The block size calculator 710 may determine the partition size based on at least one of 1) a size of data and 2) a parameter related to data transmission. The block size calculator 710 may provide the determined partition size to the block transfer processor 720 .

At step 1330, the block transfer processor 720 may generate a split size message. The partition size message may be information on the partition size determined in step 1320 . The message processor 730 may transmit the split size message to the transmitting terminal.

The split size message may be a response message of the receiving terminal to the transmission of the first block. In other words, information on the split size may be transmitted to the transmitting terminal as a part of a response message for transmission of the first block.

When information of the division size is transmitted to the transmitting terminal, the transmitting terminal may divide the remainder of the data except for the first block into one or more blocks of the determined division size. One or more blocks of the determined partition size may be blocks after the first block.

When the transmitting terminal receives the response message, the transmitting terminal may check whether information of the determined division size exists in the response message. If information of the determined partition size is present in the response message, the transmitting terminal may divide the data into the determined partition size for the second block and subsequent blocks of data.

In step 1340 , the block transmission processor 720 may receive one or more blocks of the determined division size from the transmitting terminal through the message processor 730 . The block transfer processor 720 may assemble data from the first block and one or more blocks received.

14 is a structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment.

The apparatus 1400 may be the above-described transmitting terminal and/or receiving terminal. In other words, when the device 1400 transmits data, the device 1400 may be regarded as a transmitting terminal. When the device 1400 receives data, the device 1400 may be regarded as a receiving terminal.

14 , the device 1400 may include at least some of a processing unit 1410 , a communication unit 1420 , a memory 1430 , a storage 1440 , and a bus 1490 . Components of the device 1400 , such as the processing unit 1410 , the communication unit 1420 , the memory 1430 , and the storage 1440 , may communicate with each other through the bus 1490 .

The processing unit 1410 may be a semiconductor device that executes processing instructions stored in the memory 1430 or the storage 1440 . For example, the processor 1410 may be at least one hardware processor.

The processing unit 1410 may process a job required for the operation of the device 1400 . The processing unit 1410 may execute codes of operations or steps of the processing unit 1410 described in the embodiments.

The processing unit 1410 may generate, store, and output the above-described information, and may perform operations of steps performed in the other device 1400 .

The processing unit 1410 may include a block size calculator 710 and a block transfer processor 720 .

The communication unit 1420 may be connected to the network 1499 . Data or information required for the operation of the device 1400 may be received, and data or information required for the operation of the device 1400 may be transmitted. The communication unit 1420 may transmit data to another device through the network 1499 and may receive data from the other device. For example, the communication unit 1420 may be a network chip or a port.

The communication unit 1420 may include a message processor 730 .

The memory 1430 and the storage 1440 may be various types of volatile or non-volatile storage media. For example, the memory 1430 may include at least one of a ROM 1431 and a RAM 1432 . The storage 1440 may include a built-in storage medium such as RAM, a flash memory, and a hard disk, and may include a removable storage medium such as a memory card.

A function or operation of the device 1400 may be performed when the processing unit 1410 executes at least one program module. The memory 1430 and/or the storage 1440 may store at least one program module. At least one program module may be configured to be executed by the processing unit 1410 .

At least some of the block size calculator 710 , the block transfer processor 720 , and the message processor 730 of the partition size determining apparatus 700 described above may be at least one program module.

The program modules may be included in the device 1400 in the form of an operating system, an application module, a library, and other program modules, and may be physically stored in various known storage devices. Also, at least some of these program modules may be stored in a remote storage device capable of communicating with the device 1400 . Meanwhile, these program modules include routines, subroutines, programs, and objects that perform a specific operation or a specific task or execute a specific abstract data type according to an embodiment. (object), component (component) and data structure (data structure) and the like may be encompassed, but may not be limited thereto.

The apparatus 1400 may further include a user interface (UI) input device 1450 and a UI output device 1460 . The UI input device 1450 may receive a user input required for the operation of the apparatus 1400 . The UI output device 1460 may output information or data according to the operation of the apparatus 1400 .

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

Software may comprise a computer program, code, instructions, or a combination of one or more thereof, which configures a processing device to operate as desired or is independently or collectively processed You can command the device. The software and/or data may be any kind of machine, component, physical device, virtual equipment, computer storage medium or apparatus, to be interpreted by or to provide instructions or data to the processing device. , or may be permanently or temporarily embody 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 in one or more computer-readable recording media.

The method according to the embodiment 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 available to those skilled in the art of computer software. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium 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 floppy disks. - includes magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specially configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include not only machine language codes such as those generated by a compiler, but also high-level language codes 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 embodiments, and vice versa.

As described above, although the embodiments have been described with reference to the limited embodiments and drawings, various modifications and variations are possible from the above description by those skilled in the art. For example, the described techniques are performed in an order different from the described method, and/or the described components of the system, structure, apparatus, circuit, etc. are combined or combined in a different form than the described method, or other components Or substituted or substituted by equivalents may achieve an appropriate result.

700: division size determination device
710: block size calculator
720: block transfer processor
730: message processor

Claims (20)

In the communication method performed in the transmitting terminal,
determining a partition size based on at least one of a size of data and a parameter related to transmission of the data; and
dividing the data into one or more blocks according to the determined partition size, and transmitting the one or more blocks to a receiving terminal;
the split size is determined based on a score function,
the score function generates a plurality of output values for a plurality of candidate partition sizes, respectively;
The determined division size is a candidate division size corresponding to a preset condition among the plurality of output values. According to claim 1,
wherein the parameter comprises at least one of a latency of transmission of the block, an expected transmission time of data, and a throughput of a network over which the block is transmitted. According to claim 1,
The partition size is determined based on a parameter function,
The output value of the parameter function is the value of the parameter when the data is divided into blocks of block size. 4. The method of claim 3,
The input value of the parameter function includes a hop distance,
The hop distance is a distance between a transmitting terminal transmitting the one or more blocks and the receiving terminal. 4. The method of claim 3,
and the input value of the parameter function includes a transmission time of a data frame in a network over which the one or more blocks are transmitted. According to claim 1,
The determined partition size is selected from among a plurality of candidate partition sizes. 7. The method of claim 6,
Each candidate partition size of the plurality of candidate partition sizes is used as an input value of a parameter function;
The determined partition size is a candidate partition size for a minimum value among output values of the parameter function. According to claim 1,
The partition size is determined based on a parameter function,
A block of the determined partition size is transmitted as one or more data frames,
and the output value of the parameter function is determined based on the number of the one or more data frames. According to claim 1,
The parameters are plural,
wherein the score function is a weighted sum of the plurality of parameters. According to claim 1,
The determined division size is a size that minimizes an output value of the score function. delete According to claim 1,
The division size is determined based on information of an application layer and a network layer other than the application layer. 13. The method of claim 12,
The division size is determined using at least one of a hop distance, a maximum transmission unit (MTU), and a time slot length. According to claim 1,
Transmitting information of the determined division size to the receiving terminal
A communication method further comprising a. According to claim 1,
The data is transmitted to the receiving terminal as the one or more blocks in the application layer,
Each block of the one or more blocks is transmitted as one or more data frames in a lower layer of the application layer to a next terminal on a path to the receiving terminal. According to claim 1,
The data is transmitted to the receiving terminal as the one or more blocks according to a hardware constraint of the transmitting terminal transmitting the data,
The determined partition size is determined based on the quality of service or network performance provided according to the size of the block. In the communication method performed in the receiving terminal,
determining a partition size based on at least one of a size of data and a parameter related to transmission of the data;
transmitting information of the determined division size to a transmitting terminal; and
Receiving one or more blocks of the determined partition size from the transmitting terminal,
the split size is determined based on a score function,
the score function generates a plurality of output values for a plurality of candidate partition sizes, respectively;
The determined division size is a candidate division size corresponding to a preset condition among the plurality of output values. 18. The method of claim 17,
receiving the first block of data
further comprising,
The determining step is performed when the first block is received,
The one or more blocks of the determined partition size are blocks after the first block. 19. The method of claim 18,
The information of the division size is transmitted as a part of a response message to the transmission of the first block. A method for determining a division size performed in a communication terminal, the method comprising:
obtaining a parameter related to transmission of data; and
determining a partition size for partitioning the data into one or more blocks based on at least one of the parameter and the size of the data;
the split size is determined based on a score function,
the score function generates a plurality of output values for a plurality of candidate partition sizes, respectively;
The method of determining a division size, wherein the determined division size is a candidate division size corresponding to a preset condition among the plurality of output values.

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