KR20100055678A - Mobile scalable wimax customer premises equipment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A mobile scalable WIMAX subscriber device is provided to offer a high-speed internet service through a mobile Wi-Max service with good quality to a mobile car with metal material or a shadow area of a room, etc. in the present or the near future. CONSTITUTION: A mobile Wi-Max(World Interoperability for Microwave Access) USB(Universal Serial Bus) modem(104) is installed in a plurality of USB connectors(102). An antenna(106) transceives a signal of a mobile Wi-Max mode and other communication mode with a user terminal. A signal converter(110) proceeds conversion between the signal of the mobile Wi-Max mode and the signal of other communication mode. A USB control unit(114) adjusts dynamically connection assignment about links between the user terminal and the USB modem.

Description

Mobile scalable WiMAX subscriber device {MOBILE SCALABLE WIMAX CUSTOMER PREMISES EQUIPMENT DEVICE}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile scalable WiMAX subscriber device, and more particularly, to a mobile scalable WiMAX subscriber device for supporting high quality / high speed internet service in a mobile vehicle, home, or enterprise in the present or near future.

The present invention is derived from a study conducted as part of the Seoul Metropolitan Government-academic-industrial cooperation project (2007 New Technology R & D Support Project) [Task Management Number: NT070080, Name of Project: Mobile Type for High-Speed Mobile Internet Service in Urban Vehicles] Multihop repeater technology research].

The IEEE 802.16 broadband wireless access standard is a wireless protocol for broadband data / voice services. This standard is the basis of WiMAX technology, and IEEE 802.16e standard is for wireless communication of mobile terminal and is the basic standard of mobile WiMAX for mobile internet application. Mobile WiMAX is based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) physical layer mode, which allows multiple users to receive different subcarriers simultaneously during the same time symbol period. This is possible by dividing a channel into several subchannels and assigning subcarriers to these subchannels. Mobi WiMAX is also based on TDD (Time Division), which consists of a downlink subframe and an uplink subframe.

Mobile WiMAX service, a mobile Internet service, is a broadband high-speed mobile Internet service developed and serviced by a domestic research institute / company for the first time in the world. Mobile WiMAX is currently serving Seoul, Bundang, and University campuses. The nationwide network is expected to be implemented in the near future, starting with Busan and Pohang metropolitan areas, and Sprint, a US service provider, In the United States, mobile WiMAX-based XHOM services are scheduled to begin in 2008, and many countries around the world are planning to launch or implement them.

Mobile WiMAX is used by many users in the form of a USB port-mounted modem, but has the following problems.

First, mobile WiMAX does not provide smooth quality in vehicles or metallic shadows such as subways and indoor shading areas such as houses and buildings.

Secondly, due to the performance deterioration due to the traffic control request of multiple users, it does not satisfy the requirements of users requiring high transmission speeds in mobile vehicles or buildings.

Third, although most users currently use mobile WiMAX USB modems, mobile WiMAX instead of ADSL is used in subscriber devices (ie, some type of ADSL router that converts to Wi-Fi or Ethernet using mobile WiMAX as a backhaul). If a user uses a concept of using a device together at home, it is inconvenient to pay a double fee in order to use the Internet.

Fourthly, when the standard of the mobile WiMAX is upgraded and the standard is changed, or when the mobile WiMAX standard is changed to a modem of another standard such as 3GPP LTE, LTE advanced, WCDMA, UMB, etc., there is a disadvantage in terms of the cost of purchasing a subscriber device.

It is an object of the present invention to solve these problems. The objects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned objects, and other objects and advantages of the present invention which are not mentioned above can be understood by the following description, and will be more clearly understood by the embodiments of the present invention. It will also be readily apparent that the objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In order to solve the first problem presented above, the present invention uses a mobile WiMAX backhaul as a backhaul to support a home / vehicle in order to support high quality / high-speed Internet service in a metallic mobile vehicle or a shaded area such as an interior. Describes a subscriber device that receives Internet traffic and provides it to users in the form of Ethernet or Wi-Fi, which are available for public use.

In order to solve the second problem, the present invention is equipped with a USB port that can be equipped with a plurality of mobile WiMAX USB modem to enable the addition / expansion of the backhaul to enable a scalable wireless WiBro backhaul link (backhaul). A subscriber device is provided with a mobile scalable WiBro having balanced load-balancing between these backhaul links and serving a user terminal with heterogeneous protocols (WiFi, Ethernet).

In the present invention, without installing the mobile WiMAX H / W in the subscriber device, instead of installing a plurality of USB connectors, when the user inserts the mobile WiMAX USB modem into the USB connector automatically operates as a wireless communication backhaul by plug and play Done. As a result, the user can use his mobile WiMAX USB modem to attach to a laptop or a computer and use it externally as a mobile device. It can be used at home with several people without shadow area. This solves the third problem.

If you want to use the future mobile WiMAX or other standard as a backhaul in the subscriber device, purchase a USB modem without purchasing a new subscriber device corresponding to each standard by attaching the USB modem of the standard to the USB connector of the subscriber device. Easy backhaul replacement In this way, the fourth problem is solved.

The present invention provides a mobile scalable WiMAX subscriber device, comprising: a plurality of USB connectors that can be equipped with a mobile WiMAX USB modem, an antenna for transmitting a signal of a communication method different from the mobile WiMAX method to a user terminal or receiving from the user terminal; A signal conversion unit converting a mobile WiMAX signal provided through the mobile WiMAX USB modem into a signal of the other communication method or converting the signal of the other communication method received through the antenna into a signal of a mobile WiMAX method; And a USB controller configured to dynamically adjust connection allocation for links between the user terminal and a USB modem mounted on the USB connector.

The plurality of mobile WiMAX USB modems mounted on the USB connector doubles data reception performance from the mobile WiMAX base station compared to when one mobile WiMAX USB modem is mounted.

Preferably, the other communication method is a Wi-Fi method. The USB controller performs automatic setting by Plug & Play on the mobile WiMAX USB modem mounted on the USB connector. The USB control unit may prevent traffic from being driven on a specific link among links between the user terminal and a USB modem mounted on the USB connector according to at least one of available bandwidth, number of users, QoS guarantee, number of connections, and time delay for each link. Adjust the connection assignment for the links.

In addition, the present invention provides a mobile scalable WiMAX subscriber device, a plurality of USB connectors that can be equipped with a mobile WiMAX USB modem, and converts a mobile WiMAX signal provided through the mobile WiMAX USB modem to a Wi-Fi signal or A signal converter converting a Wi-Fi signal provided from a user terminal into a mobile WiMAX signal, and a USB controller for dynamically adjusting connection assignments for links between the user terminal and a USB modem mounted on the USB connector. It is another feature to include.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a high speed internet service through mobile WiMAX service of high quality in a shadow area such as a moving vehicle of a metallic material or a room in the present or near future. In particular, the present invention allows a plurality of users to use the Internet at an appropriate speed in the vehicle, thereby allowing the existing hotspot service available only in a restaurant or public place to be used in a mobile vehicle that spends a long time. Can act as a business model

In addition, when the bandwidth required from the user terminal increases as the number of users increases, performance can be easily expanded by additionally installing a mobile WiMAX commercial USB modem. In addition, the connection allocation between mobile WiMAX backhaul links can be dynamically adjusted according to the number of connections, traffic amount, etc. of multiple users, thereby preventing performance degradation due to traffic on a specific link.

In addition, the present invention enables the mobile WiMAX terminal modem can be utilized in the form of a wireless backhaul can be used as a wireless backhaul of the subscriber device by attaching a USB modem held by the terminal USB modem user without additional registration of the mobile WiMAX service to the USB connector. have. In addition, the present invention has a very useful advantage in commercialization / commercialization, even if the backhaul network standard is upgraded, changed, or wants to change to another standard, it is compatible only with an open USB interface connection and S / W update.

The above objects, features, and advantages will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, whereby those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may easily implement the technical idea of the present invention. In describing the present invention, when it is determined that the detailed description of the known technology related to the present invention may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description will be omitted. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration and a network connection relationship of a mobile scalable WiMAX subscriber device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the mobile scalable WiMAX subscriber device 100 includes a plurality of, for example, three, USB connectors 102, an antenna 106, a device controller 108, a signal converter 110, and a memory 112. ) And a USB control unit 114. The USB controller 114 includes a plug and play execution unit 116 and a switching unit 118. Since the subscriber device 100 is not in a wireless communication shadow area, an antenna for communicating with the base station 120 is installed on a window outside the vehicle or in a building where the wireless communication state is smooth, and a portion serving the terminal is installed in the vehicle. do.

The plurality of USB connectors 102 may be equipped with a plurality of mobile WiMAX USB modems 104. The plurality of mobile WiMAX USB modems 104 mounted on the USB connector 102 double the data reception performance from the mobile WiMAX base station 120 compared to when one mobile WiMAX USB modem is mounted.

When there are a plurality of Internet users of the subscriber device 100, when one mobile WiMAX modem is used, since the reception performance of one mobile WiMAX terminal is shared by several Wi-Fi terminals, it is not possible to provide a smooth Internet service. Therefore, when the bandwidth required from the user terminal increases as the number of users increases, a scalable link that can easily expand performance by additionally installing the mobile WiMAX USB modem 104 in the subscriber device 100. The technology is very practical as it can increase the resources of the wireless network as required.

The antenna 106 transmits and receives a signal to and from a user terminal in a hot spot, and the signal transmitted and received uses a signal different from a mobile WiMAX method, for example, a Wi-Fi type signal.

The signal conversion unit 110 converts a mobile WiMAX signal provided through the mobile WiMAX USB modem 104 into a signal of a heterogeneous protocol (in this embodiment, a Wi-Fi method), or of a heterogeneous protocol received through an antenna 106. Convert the signal to a mobile WiMAX signal. In this embodiment, although the Wi-Fi (WiFi) method according to the IEEE 802.11 standard is used as a heterogeneous protocol, other protocols such as Ethernet may be used. The reason for converting the protocol of the signal as described above is to prevent the signal providing the Internet service to the user terminal in the vehicle or building does not interfere with the signal with the mobile WiMAX base station 120. If amplified transmission is performed with the same mobile WiMAX signal without conversion, the radio signals of the base station and the subscriber device may cause interference and collision.

In this case, the technique of optimizing the memory frequency and usage method for packet processing to achieve high-speed packet conversion does not reduce performance even during protocol conversion, thereby bringing excellent performance even though the header of the packet is replaced.

The plug and play execution unit 116 of the USB controller 114 performs automatic setting by Plug & Play for the mobile WiMAX USB modem 104 mounted on the USB connector 102.

The switching unit 118 of the USB controller 114 is a link between the user terminal and the USB modem 104 mounted on the USB connector 102 according to the available bandwidth per link, number of users, QoS guarantee per service, number of connections, time delay, and the like. It dynamically adjusts the connection assignments on the links so that traffic does not flow on a particular link. The connection load balancing technology dynamically allocates connection IDs (CIDs) between mobile WiMAX links in the subscriber device 100 according to various metrics such as the number of connections and traffic volume of multiple users. This improves overall performance by preventing traffic from degrading due to traffic on a particular link.

2 is a view for explaining the operation of the switching unit 118 shown in FIG. In the drawing, the user terminal 208 is connected to the two USB modems 202 and 204 through the switching unit 118 to guarantee QoS, and thus the user terminal 210 is connected to the remaining USB modem through the switching unit 118. 206 is connected. The user terminal 212 is connected to the USB modem 204 with the widest available bandwidth among the three USB modems in the current state through the switching unit 118. Next, when the new user terminal 214 is connected, the switching unit 118 connects the user terminal 214 with the USB modem 206 having the largest available bandwidth in the current state among the three USB modems.

The high speed packet conversion technology, scalable link configuration technology, connection load balancing technology, etc. proposed in the present invention can be applied to 3GPP, 3GPP2 series, i.e., mobile WiMAX and other mobile communication Internet services. have. Since the present invention uses an open connection interface using a USB port, it is expanded to allow other mobile communication modems to be mounted so that various applications (referencing heterogeneous network scalable, heterogeneous network handover, heterogeneous network load balancing, etc.) by resetting the software may be used. As it will be possible, the ripple effect of the technical aspects will be significant.

3 illustrates an example in which a mobile scalable subscriber device according to the present invention is utilized. As shown, the in-vehicle relay of data through the mobile scalable subscriber device according to the present invention not only enhances the transmission / reception performance of the in-vehicle terminal, but also receives and broadcasts an IP Television (IP Television) from the mobile vehicle through the subscriber device. In addition, an ITS (Intelligent Traffic System) can be provided. In addition, the mobile subscriber device according to the present invention can be mass-produced at low cost because the coverage is small and the number of supporting users is smaller than that of a general repeater.

The mobile scalable subscriber device according to the present invention replaces a WiFi Access Point (AP) used by connecting to an existing wired network in a home or an enterprise, and can be used anywhere in a home or an enterprise and can be used anywhere. It can be operated as an AP. The application used at home is as shown in FIG. This is particularly effective when used in developing countries where network infrastructure is lacking, or in countries where installation costs are a concern due to area or population density.

In the future, the present invention can be extended to develop a 3GPP, 3GPP2 series mobile communication modem to be installed in the USB port, which is an open interface, and can be developed as a technology for open protocol as well as heterogeneous network coupling.

In addition, unlike mobile WiMAX, by taking advantage of the IEEE 802.11 protocol, which is already equipped with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) -related infrastructure, users can make regular or video calls in mobile vehicles or at home using WiFi VoIP phones. Can be used. Through this, it is possible to provide tourist guide information or real-time traffic information.

The present invention described above is not limited to the above-described embodiments and the accompanying drawings, and various substitutions, modifications, and changes are possible in the art without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. It will be clear to those of ordinary knowledge.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration and a network connection relationship of a mobile scalable WiMAX subscriber device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an operation of the switching unit illustrated in FIG. 1.

3 is a view illustrating an example in which the subscriber device according to the present invention is utilized in a mobile vehicle.

4 is a view for explaining another example in which the subscriber device according to the present invention is utilized at home.

Claims (8)

In the mobile scalable WiMAX subscriber device, Multiple USB connectors that can be equipped with a Mobile WiMAX USB modem, An antenna for transmitting a signal of a communication method different from the mobile WiMAX method to or from the user terminal; A signal converter for converting a mobile WiMAX signal provided through the mobile WiMAX USB modem into a signal of the other communication method or converting the signal of the other communication method received through the antenna into a signal of a mobile WiMAX method; A USB control unit for dynamically adjusting connection assignments for links between the user terminal and a USB modem mounted on the USB connector; Subscriber device comprising a. The method of claim 1, The other communication method is a subscriber device, characterized in that the wireless Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet. The method of claim 1, And a plurality of mobile WiMAX USB modems mounted on the USB connector doubles data reception performance from the mobile WiMAX base station compared to when one mobile WiMAX USB modem is mounted. The method of claim 1, The USB control unit is a subscriber device, characterized in that for performing the automatic setting by the plug and play for the mobile WiMAX USB modem mounted on the USB connector. The method of claim 1, And the USB control unit adjusts connection assignments for the links such that traffic does not flow on a specific link among the links between the user terminal and the USB modem mounted on the USB connector. The method of claim 1, And the USB controller adjusts the connection allocation according to at least one of available bandwidth per link, number of users, QoS guarantee per service, number of connections, and time delay. In the mobile scalable WiMAX subscriber device, Multiple USB connectors that can be equipped with a Mobile WiMAX USB modem, A signal converter for converting a mobile WiMAX signal provided through the mobile WiMAX USB modem into a Wi-Fi signal, or converting a Wi-Fi signal provided from a user terminal into a mobile WiMAX signal; A USB control unit for dynamically adjusting connection assignments for links between the user terminal and a USB modem mounted on the USB connector; Subscriber device comprising a. In the mobile scalable subscriber device, A plurality of USB connectors that can be equipped with a USB modem, A signal converter converting a signal of a first communication method provided through the USB modem into a signal of a second communication method, or converting a signal of the second communication method provided from a user terminal into a signal of the first communication method; A USB control unit for dynamically adjusting connection assignments for links between the user terminal and a USB modem mounted on the USB connector; Subscriber device comprising a.

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