WO2015022770A1

WO2015022770A1 - Communication apparatus, communication system, message issuance apparatus, communication method, and recording medium

Info

Publication number: WO2015022770A1
Application number: PCT/JP2014/003821
Authority: WO
Inventors: 一彰中島
Original assignee: 日本電気株式会社
Priority date: 2013-08-12
Filing date: 2014-07-18
Publication date: 2015-02-19

Abstract

Provided are a communication apparatus and the like that can avoid the occurrence of congestions accompanying communications when acquiring the communication statuses of communication channels allocated to radio terminal apparatuses. A communication apparatus (60), as a radio base station, comprises: a terminal management unit (14) that, when establishing communication channels between the communication apparatus (60) and one or more radio terminal apparatuses (50-1 to 50-n) so as to communicate with the radio terminal apparatuses (50-1 to 50-n), associates identifiers, which identify the radio terminal apparatuses (50-1 to 50-n), with communication status information indicating communication statuses related to the communication channels between the communication apparatus (60) and the radio terminal apparatuses (50-1 to 50-n) and stores the communication status information and the identifiers associated therewith; and a response unit (15) that extracts, from the terminal management unit (14), the communication status information related to the radio terminal apparatuses (50-1 to 50-n) in accordance with a message requesting the communication status information related to the radio terminal apparatuses (50-1 to 50-n) and that transmits the extracted communication status information to a message issuance apparatus (40) that has issued the message.

Description

Communication device, communication system, message transmission device, communication method, and recording medium

The present invention relates to a communication device that secures a communication channel with a wireless terminal device as a wireless base station and communicates with the wireless terminal device.

Wireless communication networks are required to improve radio wave use efficiency and power saving control. The communication channel assigned to each wireless terminal device sequentially transitions to different communication states such as a sleep state, a low speed state, and a high speed state. Since the wireless terminal device requires large power consumption during transmission and reception, it is necessary to reduce the time during which the wireless terminal device transmits or receives radio waves as much as possible.

For this reason, the communication channel assigned to the wireless terminal device transitions to a high speed state in which transmission and reception are performed at all times when the amount of data to be communicated is large. The communication channel transitions to a low speed state in which transmission / reception is intermittently performed when the amount of data to be communicated is small, and transitions to a sleep state when only waiting is performed. For example, in a 3G (3rd Generation) network, there are a dormant state, a low speed state, and a high speed state. In the LTE (Long Term Evolution) network, there are a dormant state and a communicable state (a state including a low speed state and a high speed state). In a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), there are a low speed state and a high speed state.

When a situation occurs in which a wireless terminal device whose communication channel is in a suspended state suddenly starts communication, the communication channel transitions from a suspended state to a communicable state. In this case, the transition from the dormant state to the communicable state takes a long time, which causes a delay in communication. Therefore, the importance of the technique for avoiding the delay factor in the communication described above is increasing.

As a technique related to such a technique, Patent Document 1 discloses a wireless terminal apparatus that transmits a synchronization signal at an appropriate transmission time interval according to the state of the wireless communication network and ends communication with the wireless terminal apparatus. A wireless base station that maintains a connection with is released. When the wireless base station next starts communication with the wireless terminal device, the wireless base station omits the process of registering the wireless terminal device in the wireless communication network.

Further, in Patent Document 2, when a call to a radio telephone terminal that cannot be answered is received, a server device that performs call control related to the radio telephone terminal indicates the detailed status of the radio telephone terminal by calling A technique for notifying a transmission source device is disclosed.

JP 2005-204254 A JP 2011-3942 JP

When a wireless terminal device or the like communicates with another wireless terminal device or the like, the communication state of the communication channel assigned to the wireless terminal device of the communication partner is grasped in advance. Then, by making the wireless terminal device perform appropriate communication processing in accordance with the communication state, the use efficiency of the wireless communication network can be improved. When grasping the communication state related to the wireless terminal device of the communication partner, it is a problem to avoid the occurrence of congestion related to the communication performed in the wireless communication network and the communication network connected to the wireless communication network.

In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, since a synchronization signal for maintaining a connection with a wireless terminal device is transmitted at a predetermined time interval even after communication with the wireless terminal device is completed, congestion related to communication is performed. May occur. In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2, when the communication state related to the wireless terminal device of the communication partner is grasped, congestion may occur due to the load being concentrated on the server device that performs call control related to the wireless terminal device. There is. Therefore, the techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 cannot solve the above-described problems.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a communication device, a communication system, a message transmission device, a communication method, and a recording medium that solve this problem.

The communication apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention secures a communication channel with one or more wireless terminal apparatuses as a wireless base station, and identifies the wireless terminal apparatus when communicating with the wireless terminal apparatus Terminal management means for associating and storing communication status information indicating a communication status related to a communication channel between the wireless terminal device and the terminal management according to a message requesting the communication status information related to the wireless terminal device. Response means for extracting the communication state information relating to the wireless terminal device from the means and transmitting the extracted communication state information to the message transmission device that has transmitted the message.

The message transmission device according to an aspect of the present invention secures a communication channel with one or more wireless terminal devices as a wireless base station, and communicates with the wireless communication device that communicates with the wireless terminal device. Message generating means for generating a message for requesting communication state information indicating a communication state relating to a communication channel with the terminal device is provided.

In another aspect of achieving the above object, a communication method according to an aspect of the present invention secures a communication channel with one or more wireless terminal devices as a wireless base station by an information processing device, and When communicating with a wireless terminal device, an identifier for identifying the wireless terminal device and communication state information indicating a communication state related to a communication channel with the wireless terminal device are associated and stored in a storage area, and the wireless terminal device The communication status information relating to the wireless terminal device is extracted from the storage area according to the message requesting the communication status information relating to the communication status information, and the extracted communication status information is transmitted to the message transmission device that has sent the message.

Further, in a further aspect of achieving the above object, the computer-readable recording medium according to one aspect of the present invention secures a communication channel with one or more wireless terminal devices as a wireless base station, A terminal management process for associating an identifier for identifying the wireless terminal device and communication state information indicating a communication state regarding a communication channel with the wireless terminal device in association with communication with the wireless terminal device, and storing the information in a storage area; The communication state information relating to the wireless terminal device is extracted from the storage area according to the message requesting the communication state information relating to the wireless terminal device, and the extracted communication state information is sent to the message transmitting device that has transmitted the message. A communication program for causing the computer to execute response processing to be transmitted is stored.

Furthermore, the present invention can also be realized by a computer program itself stored in such a storage medium.

According to the present invention, it is possible to avoid the occurrence of congestion due to the communication performed when acquiring the communication state of the communication channel assigned to the wireless terminal device.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a communication apparatus when the message which requests | requires the communication status information which concerns on the radio | wireless terminal apparatus in 1st Embodiment of this invention is received. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of step S106 among the flowchart (FIG. 2) which shows operation | movement of a communication apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of step S107 among the flowchart (FIG. 2) which shows operation | movement of a communication apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a communication apparatus when the communication state which concerns on the radio | wireless terminal apparatus in the 1st Embodiment of this invention changes to a different state. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of step S405 among the flowchart (FIG. 5) which shows operation | movement of a communication apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of step S406 among the flowcharts (FIG. 5) which show operation | movement of a communication apparatus. It is a figure which illustrates the structure of the message in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which illustrates the detailed structure of the transfer flag shown to FIG. 8A in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the detailed structure of the response flag shown to FIG. 8A in 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the communication apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus which can execute the communication apparatus of each embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually showing the structure of the communication system 1 of the first embodiment. The communication system 1 of the present embodiment includes communication devices 10 to 20, a communication network 30, a message transmission device 40, and wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n.

Each of the wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n is a device having a wireless communication function such as a mobile phone or a tablet, and performs wireless communication through a communication channel secured with the communication device 10. The communication state of this communication channel includes a sleep state in which the wireless terminal device is in a standby state and a communicable state in which the wireless terminal device is capable of transmitting and receiving communication data. The communicable state further includes a high speed state in which communication is performed at a high speed and a low speed state in which communication is performed at a low speed.

The wireless terminal device 50-i (i is an integer from 1 to n) issues a request message issued from the message transmission device 40 and requesting the communication state of the communication channel assigned to the wireless terminal device 50-i. And received via the communication device 10. At that time, the wireless terminal device 50-i generates a response message to the request message. The wireless terminal device 50-i transmits the generated response message to the message transmission device 40 via the communication device 10.

The message transmission device 40 is a device such as a mobile phone or a tablet like the wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n, and performs wireless communication via a communication channel secured with the communication device 20. In addition, the message transmission device 40 may be a server device, and in that case, the message transmission device 40 may be directly connected to the communication network 30. 1 shows only one message transmission device, the communication system 1 may have two or more message transmission devices. The message transmission device 40 includes a message generation unit 41. When the message transmitting device 40 communicates with the wireless terminal device 50-i, the message generating unit 41 generates a request message for requesting the communication state of the communication channel assigned to the wireless terminal device 50-i.

A configuration example of the message 100 flowing as packet data in the communication system 1 is shown in FIG. 8A. The message 100 includes an IP (Internet Protocol) header 101 and a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) / ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) header 102. The message 100 further includes a message type 103, a transfer flag 104, a response flag 105, a communication state 106, and an IP address 107 of a target wireless terminal device. The message 100 includes a request message for requesting the message transmission device 40 to acquire the communication state of the communication channel assigned to the wireless terminal device 50-i, a response message to the message transmission device 40 in response to the request, and the like.

The IP header 100 includes the source and destination IP addresses related to the message 100. In the present embodiment, when the message 100 is a request message, the IP addresses related to the message transmission device 40 that is the transmission source and the wireless terminal device 50-i that is the transmission destination are stored as the IP header 100.

The UDP / ICMP header 102 is information indicating whether the message 100 is a UDP packet or an ICMP packet, and “UDP” or “ICMP” is designated.

The message type 103 is information indicating whether the message 100 is a request message or a response message, and “request”, “response”, and the like are designated.

The transfer flag 104 is information used when the communication device 10 that has received the request message notifies the wireless terminal device 50-i that there has been an inquiry about the communication state. The transfer flag 104 specifies details relating to a transfer operation when the communication device 10 transfers a request message to the wireless terminal device 50-i. As shown in FIG. 8B, the transfer flag 104 includes a dormant state immediate transfer flag 1040, a communicable state immediate transfer flag 1041, a communicable state transition transfer flag 1042, and a dormant state transition transfer flag 1043.

The dormant state immediate transfer flag 1040 is used by the message generating unit 41 when instructing to immediately transfer the request message to the wireless terminal device 50-i when the communication state in the wireless terminal device 50-i is dormant. Set on. The communicable state immediate transfer flag 1041 is a message generator when instructing to immediately transfer the request message to the wireless terminal device 50-i when the communication state in the wireless terminal device 50-i is the communicable state. 41 is set to ON. The transfer flag 1042 at the time of transition to the communicable state indicates that the request message is to be transferred to the radio terminal device 50-i when the communication state at the radio terminal device 50-i transitions from the sleep state to the communicable state The message generator 41 is set to ON. The dormant state transition transfer flag 1043 is used to instruct transfer of a request message to the radio terminal device 50-i when the communication state in the radio terminal device 50-i transitions from the communicable state to the dormant state. Set to ON by the message generator 41.

The response flag 105 is information for designating details regarding a response operation to the message transmission device 40 for the request message by the communication device 10 that has received the request message. As shown in FIG. 8C, the response flag 105 includes a dormant state immediate response flag 1050, a communicable state immediate response flag 1051, a communicable state transition response flag 1052, and a dormant state transition response flag 1053.

The hibernation state immediate response flag 1050 is turned on by the message generation unit 41 in the following case. In this case, when the communication state in the wireless terminal device 50-i is in the dormant state, a response message is immediately generated and an instruction to transmit the response message to the message transmission device 40 is given. The communicable state immediate response flag 1051 is set to ON by the message generator 41 in the following cases. In this case, when the communication state in the wireless terminal device 50-i is a communicable state, a response message is immediately generated and an instruction to transmit the response message to the message transmission device 40 is given. The communication possible state transition response flag 1052 is set to ON by the message generation unit 41 in the following case. In this case, when the communication state in the wireless terminal device 50-i transitions from the dormant state to the communicable state, a response message is generated and an instruction to transmit the response message to the message transmission device 40 is given. is there. The dormant state transition response flag 1053 is set to ON by the message generator 41 in the following cases. In this case, when the communication state in the wireless terminal device 50-i transitions from the communicable state to the dormant state, a response message is generated and an instruction to transmit the response message to the message transmission device 40 is given. is there.

The communication state 106 is information indicating the communication state of the communication channel assigned to the wireless terminal device 50-i. In the response message, the communication device 10 or the wireless terminal device 50-i performs a high-speed state, a low-speed state, and One of the dormant states is designated.

The IP address 107 of the target wireless terminal device is information indicating which of the wireless terminal devices is a response message, and the communication device 10 or the wireless terminal device 50-i uses the IP related to the wireless terminal device 50-i. An address is set.

The communication network 30 is a communication network to which the communication device 10 and the communication device 20 are connected, and includes a communication control device (not shown) such as a router.

The communication device 10 and the communication device 20 are wireless base stations that accommodate the wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n and the message transmission device 40, respectively, and have similar configurations and functions.

The communication device 10 includes a communication unit 11, a wireless communication unit 12, a channel control unit 13, a terminal management unit 14, a response unit 15, and a message storage unit 16. The communication unit 11, the wireless communication unit 12, the channel control unit 13, the terminal management unit 14, and the response unit 15 may be an electronic circuit or a computer program and a processor that operates according to the computer program. The message storage unit 16 is an electronic circuit or an electronic device such as a magnetic disk or an electronic memory that is access-controlled by a computer program and a processor that operates according to the computer program.

The communication unit 11 controls input / output of communication data with the communication network 30. The communication unit 11 transmits / receives the next data to / from the communication network 30. The data is a request message and a response message, which are ICMP or UDP packet data, and IP packet data flowing in the communication system 1 by an application executed in the communication system 1 or the like. When receiving a request message from the communication network 30, the communication unit 11 inputs the request message to the response unit 15, and when receiving other IP packet data, inputs the received packet data to the wireless communication unit 12.

The wireless communication unit 12 transmits the IP packet data input from the communication unit 11 to any one of the wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n that is the transmission destination of the IP packet data. The wireless communication unit 12 transmits the request message transferred from the response unit 15 to the wireless terminal device 50-i that is the transmission destination.

The channel control unit 13 controls the communication state of the communication channels assigned to the wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n. In the case of wide-area packet communication such as 3G or LTE, the channel control unit 13 transitions the communication channel to a dormant state when communication is not performed on the communication channel. In the case of wide-area packet communication, the channel control unit 13 sets the communication to a low speed state when the communication data amount per unit time is less than the threshold value, and to the high speed state when the communication data amount per unit time is equal to or greater than the threshold value. Transition channels. Note that the communication channel stages of the communication channel are not limited to the three stages of the sleep state, the low speed state, and the high speed state, but differ depending on the wireless communication standard. In the case of narrow-band packet communication such as a wireless LAN, the channel control unit 13 sets the communication channel to a low speed state when communication is not performed on the communication channel and to a high speed state when communication is performed. Transition. The channel control unit 13 inputs the control result regarding each communication channel described above to the terminal management unit 14.

The terminal management unit 14 stores the communication state of the communication channel assigned to each of the wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n in association with the IP address that identifies the wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n. When the terminal management unit 14 receives from the channel control unit 13 information indicating that the communication state related to one of the wireless terminal devices has changed to another state, the communication state related to the wireless terminal device is in a different state Information indicating the transition to is input to the response unit 15.

The response unit 15 receives a request message for requesting a communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-i from the communication unit 11. In this case, the response unit 15 refers to the terminal management unit 14 to confirm the communication state associated with the IP address of the wireless terminal device 50-i included in the IP header 101.

The response unit 15 sets a communication state (“low speed state”, “high speed state”, etc.) regarding the wireless terminal device 50-i in the communication state 106 in the following cases. In this case, the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-i is a communicable state, and the communicable state immediate response flag 1051 in the request message is set to ON. The response unit 15 sets the IP address of the wireless terminal device 50-i to the IP address 107 of the target wireless terminal device. The response unit 15 sets “response” in the message type 103. The response unit 15 generates a response message by setting the IP address of the communication device 10 as the transmission source address in the IP header 101 and setting the IP address of the message transmission device 40 as the transmission destination address in the IP header 101. The response unit 15 transmits the response message to the message transmission device 40 via the communication unit 11.

The response unit 15 transmits a request message to the wireless terminal device 50-i via the wireless communication unit 12 in the following cases. In this case, the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-i is a communicable state, and the communicable state immediate transfer flag 1041 in the request message is set to ON.

The response unit 15 stores the request message in the message storage unit 16 in the following case. In this case, the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-i is a communicable state, and at least one of the dormant state transition transfer flag 1043 and the dormant state transition response flag 1053 is set to ON. It is.

The response unit 15 sets “pause state” to the communication state 106 when the communication state regarding the wireless terminal device 50-i is the dormant state and the dormant state immediate response flag 1050 in the request message is set to ON. To do. The response unit 15 includes the IP address 107, the message type 103, and the IP header 101 of the target wireless terminal device in the same manner as when the communication state related to the above-described wireless terminal device 50-i is a communicable state. Set up and generate a response message. The response unit 15 transmits the response message to the message transmission device 40 via the communication unit 11.

The response unit 15 transmits a request message to the wireless terminal device 50-i via the wireless communication unit 12 in the following cases. In this case, the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-i is a dormant state, and the dormant state immediate transfer flag 1040 in the request message is set to ON.

The response unit 15 stores the request message in the message storage unit 16 in the following case. In this case, the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-i is in the dormant state, and at least one of the communication enable state transition transfer flag 1042 and the communication enable state transition response flag 1052 is set to ON. Is the case.

In the following case, the response unit 15 searches the message storage unit 16 and refers to the request message related to the wireless terminal device 50-j stored in the message storage unit 16. In this case, the response unit 15 receives from the terminal management unit 14 that the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-j (j is an integer from 1 to n) has changed to another state. It is.

The response unit 15 sets the communication state (“low speed state”, “high speed state”, etc.) related to the wireless terminal device 50-j in the communication state 106 in the following cases. In this case, the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-j is a communicable state and the communicable state transition response flag 1052 in the request message read from the message storage unit 16 is set to ON. is there. The response unit 15 sets the IP address of the wireless terminal device 50-j to the IP address 107 of the target wireless terminal device. The response unit 15 sets “response” in the message type 103. The response unit 15 generates a response message by setting the IP address of the communication device 10 as the transmission source address in the IP header 101 and setting the IP address of the message transmission device 40 as the transmission destination address in the IP header 101. The response unit 15 transmits the response message to the message transmission device 40 via the communication unit 11.

The response unit 15 transmits a request message to the wireless terminal device 50-j via the wireless communication unit 12 in the following case. In this case, the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-j is the communicable state, and the communicable state transition transfer flag 1042 in the request message read from the message storage unit 16 is set to ON. is there.

When the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-j is in the dormant state and the response flag 1053 at the time of the dormant state transition in the request message read from the message storage unit 16 is set to ON, the response unit 15 A dormant state is set at 106. The response unit 15 sets the same setting as the case where the communication state related to the above-described wireless terminal device 50-j is the communicable state in the IP address 107, the message type 103, and the IP header 101 of the target wireless terminal device. By doing so, a response message is generated. The response unit 15 transmits the response message to the message transmission device 40 via the communication unit 11.

The response unit 15 transmits a request message to the wireless terminal device 50-j via the wireless communication unit 12 in the following case. In this case, the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-j is a dormant state, and the dormant state transition transfer flag 1043 in the request message read from the message storage unit 16 is set to ON.

The response unit 15 deletes the request message regarding the wireless terminal device 50-j in the message storage unit 16 after completing the above-described processing regarding the wireless terminal device 50-j.

Next, the operation of the communication device 10 when receiving a request message for requesting a communication state related to the wireless terminal device according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

The response unit 15 receives a request message that is transmitted from the message transmission device 40 and requests communication state information regarding the wireless terminal device (step S101). The response unit 15 refers to the terminal management unit 14 and determines whether the communication device 10 contains a wireless terminal device having the same IP address as the IP address of the wireless terminal device to be included in the IP header 101 in the request message. Confirm (step S102).

If the communication device 10 does not accommodate the target wireless terminal device (No in step S103), the entire process ends. When the communication device 10 accommodates the target wireless terminal device (Yes in step S103), the response unit 15 acquires communication state information related to the target wireless terminal device 50-i from the terminal management unit 14. (Step S104).

If the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-i is a communicable state (Yes in step S105), the response unit 15 executes a subroutine process in the communicable state (step S106). When the communication state relating to the wireless terminal device 50-i is not in a communicable state (ie, in a dormant state) (No in step S105), the response unit 15 executes a subroutine process in the dormant state (step S107).

If the communication possible state immediate response flag 1051 in the request message is set to ON (Yes in step S201), the response unit 15 performs the following process. That is, the response unit 15 transmits the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-i to the message transmission device 40 as a response message (step S202), and then the process proceeds to step S203. If the communicable state immediate response flag 1051 in the request message is not set to ON (No in step S201), the process proceeds to step S203.

When the communicable state immediate transfer flag 1041 in the request message is set to ON (Yes in step S203), the response unit 15 transfers the request message to the wireless terminal device 50-i (step S204). Proceed to step S205. If the communicable state immediate transfer flag 1041 in the request message is not set to ON (No in step S203), the process proceeds to step S205.

When the response flag 1053 at the time of the dormant state transition in the request message is set to ON (Yes in Step S205), the response unit 15 stores the request message in the message storage unit 16 (Step S207). Thereafter, the subroutine processing according to step S106 ends. If the dormant state transition response flag 1053 in the request message is not set to ON (No in step S205), the process proceeds to step S206.

When the dormant state transition transfer flag 1043 in the request message is set to ON (Yes in step S206), the response unit 15 stores the request message in the message storage unit 16 (step S207). Thereafter, the subroutine processing according to step S106 ends, and the entire processing ends. If the transfer flag 1043 at the transition to the sleep state in the request message is not set to ON (No in step S206), the subroutine processing related to step S106 ends, and the entire processing ends.

When the dormant state immediate response flag 1050 in the request message is set to ON (Yes in step S301), the response unit 15 performs the following process. That is, the response unit 15 transmits the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-i to the message transmission device 40 as a response message (step S302). Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S303. If the dormant state immediate response flag 1050 in the request message is not set to ON (No in step S301), the process proceeds to step S303.

When the dormant state immediate transfer flag 1040 in the request message is set to ON (Yes in step S303), the response unit 15 transfers the request message to the wireless terminal device 50-i (step S304), and the processing is performed in steps. The process proceeds to S305. If the dormant state immediate transfer flag 1040 in the request message is not set to ON (No in step S303), the process proceeds to step S305.

When the communicable state transition response flag 1052 in the request message is set to ON (Yes in step S305), the response unit 15 stores the request message in the message storage unit 16 (step S307). Thereafter, the subroutine processing according to step S107 ends, and the entire processing ends. If the communicable state transition response flag 1052 in the request message is not set to ON (No in step S305), the process proceeds to step S306.

When the communicable state transition transfer flag 1042 in the request message is set to ON (Yes in Step S306), the response unit 15 stores the request message in the message storage unit 16 (Step S307). Thereafter, the subroutine processing according to step S107 ends, and the entire processing ends. When the communication enable state transition transfer flag 1042 in the request message is not set to ON (No in step S306), the subroutine processing related to step S107 ends, and the entire processing ends.

Next, with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 5 to 7, the operation of the communication device 10 when the communication state according to the wireless terminal device in the present embodiment is changed to a different state will be described in detail.

The terminal management unit 14 detects that the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-j has changed to a different state, and inputs the detection result to the response unit 15 (step S401). The response unit 15 checks whether a request message related to the wireless terminal device 50-j is stored in the message storage unit 16 (step S402).

If the request message is not stored in the message storage unit 16 (No in step S403), the entire process ends. If the request message is stored in the message storage unit 16 (Yes in step S403), the process proceeds to step S404.

If the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-j is a communicable state (Yes in step S404), the response unit 15 executes a subroutine process at the time of transition to the communicable state (step S405). When the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-j is not in a communicable state (ie, in a dormant state) (No in step S404), the response unit 15 executes a subroutine process at the time of transition to the dormant state (step S406). .

When the communicable state transition response flag 1052 in the request message read from the message storage unit 16 is set to ON (Yes in step S501), the response unit 15 performs the following process. That is, the response unit 15 transmits the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-j as a response message to the message transmission device 40 (step S502). If the communicable state transition response flag 1052 in the request message read from the message storage unit 16 is not set to ON (No in step S501), the process proceeds to step S503.

When the communicable state transition transfer flag 1042 in the request message read from the message storage unit 16 is set to ON (Yes in step S503), the response unit 15 performs the following process. That is, the response unit 15 transfers the request message to the wireless terminal device 50-j (step S504), and the subroutine processing related to step S405 ends. If the communication enable state transition transfer flag 1042 in the request message read from the message storage unit 16 is not set to ON (No in step S503), the subroutine processing related to step S405 ends.

When the response flag 1053 at the time of hibernation state transition in the request message read from the message storage unit 16 is set to ON (Yes in step S601), the response unit 15 performs the following process. That is, the response unit 15 transmits the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-j as a response message to the message transmission device 40 (step S602). If the dormant state transition response flag 1053 in the request message read from the message storage unit 16 is not set to ON (No in step S601), the process proceeds to step S603.

If the transfer flag 1043 at the time of hibernation state transition in the request message read from the message storage unit 16 is set on (Yes in step S603), the response unit 15 performs the following process. That is, the response unit 15 transfers the request message to the wireless terminal device 50-j (step S604), and the subroutine processing related to step S406 ends. If the transfer flag 1043 at the time of hibernation state transition in the request message read from the message storage unit 16 is not set to ON (No in step S603), the subroutine processing related to step S406 ends.

The response unit 15 deletes the request message related to the wireless terminal device 50-j from the message storage unit 16 (step S407), and the entire process ends.

This embodiment can avoid the occurrence of congestion related to communication performed when acquiring the communication state of the communication channel assigned to the wireless terminal device. The reason is that when the response unit 15 in the communication device 10 receives a request message requesting a communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-i, the following processing is performed. That is, the response unit 15 refers to the terminal management unit 14 to obtain the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-i and transmits the response message to the transmission source that has transmitted the request message.

For example, when a server device that centrally manages a large number of wireless terminal devices including the wireless terminal device responds to a request message for requesting a communication state expansion related to a specific wireless terminal device, the following problem occurs. There is a fear. The problem is a problem that congestion occurs in the communication network due to the communication related to the response processing being concentrated on the server device. In the present embodiment, not such a server device, but communication devices 10 distributed and arranged as radio base stations in many places respond to request messages regarding the radio terminal devices to be accommodated. Therefore, this embodiment can avoid the occurrence of congestion related to the communication performed when acquiring the communication state of the communication channel assigned to the wireless terminal device.

In addition, the request message and the response message in this embodiment use a standard protocol such as ICMP or UDP that specifies the IP address of the target wireless terminal device. For this reason, this embodiment can hold down the cost at the time of mounting the function which this embodiment shows in an actual computer system.

Further, in the present embodiment, the request message includes the transfer flag 104 and the response flag 105, and various values are set in these flags, so that the communication device 10 can perform various response operations.

For example, consider a case 1 in which all the transfer flags 104 are off and only the dormant state immediate response flag 1050 and the communication possible state immediate response flag 1051 in the response flag 105 are set to on. In this case 1, the communication device 10 transmits a response message to the message transmission device 40 regardless of the state of the wireless terminal device 50-i. In this case, since the request message is not transferred to the wireless terminal device 50-i, for example, it is avoided that the wireless terminal device 50-i in the dormant state transitions to the communicable state by receiving the request message. Accordingly, the wireless terminal device 50-i that is in the dormant state can maintain the dormant state with low power consumption.

Further, consider the case 2 in which the communication flag state response flag 1052 is set to ON in addition to the settings related to the transfer flag 104 and the response flag 105 in case 1. In Case 2, in addition to the operation in Case 1, the communication device 10 transmits a response message to the message transmission device 40 at the timing when the wireless terminal device 50-i transitions from the sleep state to the communicable state. In this case, the message transmission device 40 does not perform communication by shifting the wireless terminal device 50-i in the dormant state to a communicable state with high power consumption. The message transmitting device 40 can communicate with the wireless terminal device 50-i after confirming that the wireless terminal device 50-i has transitioned to a communicable state due to other factors.

Further, consider a case 3 in which all the response flags 105 are off, and only the communicable state immediate transfer flag 1041 and the communicable state transition transfer flag 1042 in the transfer flag 104 are set on. In this case 3, if the wireless terminal device 50-i is in a communicable state, the communication device 10 transfers a request message to the wireless terminal device 50-i and does not transmit a response message to the message transmitting device 40. If the wireless terminal device 50-i is in the dormant state, the communication device 10 waits until the wireless terminal device 50-i transitions to the communicable state, and then transfers the request message to the wireless terminal device 50-i. In this case, the wireless terminal device 50-i can confirm that there is a request from the message transmission device 40 by receiving the request message. Therefore, for example, an application running on the wireless terminal device 50-i can perform the following operation on the IP address of the message transmission device 40. The operation is an operation of establishing an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) session and acquiring a message from the message transmission device 40.

Furthermore, the communication system 1 according to the present embodiment performs overall processing by performing transmission processing from a wireless terminal device whose communication state is a high speed state, for example, in a service for transmitting a message from a server device to many wireless terminal devices. Time can be shortened. Further, in the message communication in which delay is allowed, the communication system 1 changes the wireless terminal device 50-i when the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-i transitions from the dormant state to a communicable state due to other factors. To communicate with. As a result, the communication system 1 can reduce the frequency of communication state transitions relating to the wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n and reduce congestion in the network.

<Second Embodiment>
FIG. 9 is a block diagram conceptually showing the configuration of the communication apparatus 60 of the second embodiment.

The communication device 60 of this embodiment includes a terminal management unit 14 and a response unit 15.

The terminal management unit 14 secures a communication channel between the wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n as a wireless base station. As the terminal management unit 14 communicates with the wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n, the terminal management unit 14 identifies the identifiers for identifying the wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n and the wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n. The communication status information indicating the communication status regarding the communication channel is stored in association with each other.

The response unit 15 extracts communication state information related to the wireless terminal device from the terminal management unit 14 in accordance with a message requesting communication state information related to any of the wireless terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n. The response unit 15 transmits the extracted communication state information to the message transmission device 40 that has transmitted the message.

This embodiment can avoid the occurrence of congestion related to communication performed when acquiring the communication state of the communication channel assigned to the wireless terminal device. The reason is that when the response unit 15 in the communication device 10 receives a request message for requesting a communication state related to any one of the wireless terminal devices 50-i, the following processing is performed. That is, the response unit 15 refers to the terminal management unit 14 to obtain the communication state related to the wireless terminal device 50-i and transmits the response message to the transmission source that has transmitted the request message.

<Hardware configuration example>
In each embodiment described above, each unit illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 9 can be regarded as a function (processing) unit (software module) of a software program. However, the division of each part shown in these drawings is a configuration for convenience of explanation, and various configurations can be assumed for mounting. An example of the hardware environment in this case will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of an information processing apparatus 900 (computer) that can execute a communication apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. That is, FIG. 10 is a configuration of a computer (information processing apparatus) capable of realizing the communication apparatus illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 9 and represents a hardware environment capable of realizing each function in the above-described embodiment. .

The information processing apparatus 900 illustrated in FIG. 10 includes the following as constituent elements.
CPU 901 (Central_Processing_Unit)
-ROM902 (Read_Only_Memory)
-RAM903 (Random_Access_Memory)
-Hard disk 904 (storage device)
Communication interface 905 with an external device (Interface: hereinafter referred to as “I / F”)
A reader / writer 908 capable of reading and writing data stored in a storage medium 907 such as a CD-ROM (Compact_Disc_Read_Only_Memory)
-I / O interface 909
The information processing apparatus 900 is a general computer in which these configurations are connected via a bus 906 (communication line).

Then, the present invention described by taking the above embodiment as an example supplies a computer program capable of realizing the following functions to the information processing apparatus 900 shown in FIG. The function is a function of a block configuration diagram (FIGS. 1 and 9) or a flowchart (FIGS. 2 to 7) referred to in the description of the embodiment. The present invention is then achieved by reading the computer program into the hardware CPU 901 for interpretation and execution. The computer program supplied to the apparatus may be stored in a readable / writable volatile storage memory (RAM 903) or a nonvolatile storage device such as the hard disk 904.

Further, in the above case, a general procedure can be adopted as a method for supplying a computer program into the hardware. As the procedure, for example, there are a method of installing in the apparatus via various storage media 907 such as a CD-ROM, and a method of downloading from the outside via a communication line such as the Internet. In such a case, it can be understood that the present invention is configured by a code constituting the computer program or a storage medium 907 in which the code is stored.

The present invention has been described above using the above-described embodiment as an exemplary example. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. That is, the present invention can apply various modes that can be understood by those skilled in the art within the scope of the present invention.

This application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-167245 filed on August 12, 2013, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Communication system 10 Communication apparatus 11 Communication part 12 Wireless communication part 13 Channel control part 14 Terminal management part 15 Response part 16 Message storage part 20 Communication apparatus 30 Communication network 40 Message transmission apparatus 41 Message generation part 50-1 thru | or 50-n Radio Terminal device 60 Communication device 100 Message 101 IP header 102 UDP / ICMP header 103 Message type 104 Transfer flag 1040 Pause state immediate transfer flag 1041 Communicable state immediate transfer flag 1042 Communicable state transition transfer flag 1043 Pause state transition transfer flag 105 Response flag 1050 Dormant state immediate response flag 1051 Communicable state immediate response flag 1052 Commutable state transition response flag 1053 Dormant state transition response flag 90 The information processing apparatus 901 CPU
902 ROM
903 RAM
904 Hard disk 905 Communication interface 906 Bus 907 Storage medium 908 Reader / writer 909 Input / output interface

Claims

As a wireless base station, a communication channel is secured between one or more wireless terminal devices, and when communicating with the wireless terminal device, an identifier for identifying the wireless terminal device and the wireless terminal device Terminal management means for associating and storing communication state information indicating a communication state relating to the communication channel of
In accordance with a message requesting the communication status information related to the wireless terminal device, the communication status information related to the wireless terminal device is extracted from the terminal management means, and the extracted communication status information is sent to the message transmission device that has transmitted the message. A response means to send;
A communication device comprising:
The response means instructs the message to transmit the communication state information when the communication state related to the wireless terminal device satisfies a predetermined condition, and the communication state related to the wireless terminal device When the predetermined condition is satisfied, the communication status information is transmitted to the message transmission device.
The communication apparatus according to claim 1.
The response means instructs the message to be transferred to the wireless terminal device when the communication state related to the wireless terminal device satisfies a predetermined condition, and the message relating to the wireless terminal device When the communication state satisfies the predetermined condition, the message is transferred to the wireless terminal device.
The communication device according to claim 1 or 2.
Message storage means for storing the message;
The response means instructs the transmission of the communication state information to the message transmission device or the transfer of the message to the wireless terminal device when the message transits to a state in which the communication state relating to the wireless terminal device is different. The message is stored in the message storage means.
The communication apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
When the terminal management means detects that the communication state of any of the wireless terminal devices has changed to a different state, the terminal management means indicates that the communication state has changed, together with the identifier for identifying the wireless terminal device, Input to the response means,
The response means refers to the message storage means in response to receiving from the terminal management means that the communication state related to any one of the wireless terminal devices has changed, and the message related to the wireless terminal device is the message If it is determined that it is stored in the storage means, based on the communication status related to the wireless terminal device and the instruction content in the message, the communication status information is transmitted to the message transmission device or the message is transmitted to the wireless communication device. Transfer to terminal device,
The communication apparatus according to claim 4.
A communication system comprising the communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the wireless terminal device, and the message transmission device.
A communication channel is secured between one or more wireless terminal devices as a wireless base station, and a communication state related to the communication channel with the wireless terminal device is set for a communication device communicating with the wireless terminal device. A message transmission device comprising message generation means for generating a message for requesting communication state information to be indicated.
The message generation means is information for instructing transmission of the communication state information when the communication state relating to the wireless terminal device satisfies a predetermined first condition, and a predetermined second condition Generating the message including information instructing the wireless terminal device to transfer the message;
The message transmission device according to claim 7.
Depending on the information processing device,
As a wireless base station, a communication channel is secured between one or more wireless terminal devices, and when communicating with the wireless terminal device, an identifier for identifying the wireless terminal device and the wireless terminal device The communication status information indicating the communication status related to the communication channel is associated and stored in the storage area,
In accordance with a message requesting the communication status information regarding the wireless terminal device, the communication status information regarding the wireless terminal device is extracted from the storage area, and the extracted communication status information is transmitted to the message transmission device that has transmitted the message. To
Communication method.
As a wireless base station, a communication channel is secured between one or more wireless terminal devices, and when communicating with the wireless terminal device, an identifier for identifying the wireless terminal device and the wireless terminal device Terminal management processing for associating and storing in a storage area communication state information indicating a communication state related to the communication channel of
In accordance with a message requesting the communication status information regarding the wireless terminal device, the communication status information regarding the wireless terminal device is extracted from the storage area, and the extracted communication status information is transmitted to the message transmission device that has transmitted the message. Response processing to
A computer-readable recording medium in which a communication program for causing a computer to execute is stored.