WO2023079699A1

WO2023079699A1 - Communication device and communication system

Info

Publication number: WO2023079699A1
Application number: PCT/JP2021/040843
Authority: WO
Inventors: 忠人富川
Original assignee: 富士通株式会社
Priority date: 2021-11-05
Filing date: 2021-11-05
Publication date: 2023-05-11

Abstract

A communication device (100) includes a communication unit (110) that communicates with another communication device (200) and a processor (120) connected to the communication unit (110). The processor (120) performs a process of: communicating with the other communication device (200) to inquire about notification content for each type of failure that is notified by the other communication device (200) when the failure occurs; generating a conversion dictionary by associating the notification content for each type of failure with common information used to report the failure in a uniform manner; and when failure information for notifying the occurrence of a failure at the other communication device (200) is received by the communication unit (110), converting the failure information into the common information by referring to the conversion dictionary and reporting the common information obtained by the conversion to a monitoring device (20).

Description

Communication equipment and communication system

The present invention relates to communication devices and communication systems.

In recent years, with the development of IoT (Internet of Things) services, for example, communication systems have come to support services with diverse requirements. For this reason, in the communication standard of the 5th generation mobile communication (5G or NR (New Radio)), in addition to the standard technology of the 4th generation mobile communication (4G), further high data rate, large capacity, low Realization of delay is required.

　In communication systems such as 5G, various communication devices from different vendors are used, but recently, open interfaces common to these communication devices are being considered. Specifically, for example, an industry group called the O-RAN Alliance (Open Radio Access Network Alliance), which was established in 2018, is working to formulate an interoperable interface between communication devices of different vendors.

WO2020/044934 JP 2017-41664 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-107460

However, in a communication system in which, for example, a monitoring device monitors failures in communication devices, the notification from the communication device when a failure occurs differs from vendor to vendor, and there is a problem that it is difficult to grasp the details of the failure. . That is, when a communication system is composed of a plurality of communication devices manufactured by different vendors, when a fault occurs in each communication device, each vendor notifies the monitoring device of the fault occurrence using a method unique to each vendor. Therefore, it is difficult to identify the location and cause of failure based on the notification from the communication device of each vendor.

The disclosed technology has been made in view of this point, and aims to provide a communication device and a communication system that can identify failures quickly and efficiently.

In one aspect, a communication device disclosed in the present application includes a communication unit that communicates with another communication device, and a processor connected to the communication unit, the processor, when a failure occurs in the other communication device, inquiring of the other communication device about the notification contents for each type of failure to be notified, and generating a conversion dictionary by associating the notification contents for each failure type with common information used uniformly for reporting on the failure; When failure information notifying that a failure has occurred in another communication device is received by the communication unit, the conversion dictionary is referred to to convert the failure information into common information, and the converted common information is sent to the monitoring device. Execute the process to report to.

According to one aspect of the communication device and communication system disclosed by the present application, it is possible to quickly and efficiently identify failures.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a communication system. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a communication device according to one embodiment. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing a fault identification method according to one embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of the fault management function. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific example of the notification content request. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a specific example of the notification content response. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a specific example of a conversion dictionary. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of failure notification.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the communication device and communication system disclosed by the present application will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited by this embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a communication system according to one embodiment. This communication system has an O-CU (Open-Central Unit) 10, an O-DU (Open-Distributed Unit) 100, an O-RU (Open-Radio Unit) 200a, 200b, 200c, and a terminal device 30. A monitoring device 20 for monitoring the communication system is also connected to this communication system.

The O-CU 10 is a communication device that connects to the core network and performs baseband processing on data. The O-DU 100 is connected to the O-CU 10 . Although one O-DU 100 is connected to the O-CU 10 in FIG. 1, a plurality of O-DUs 100 may be connected to the O-CU 10. FIG.

The monitoring device 20 connects to the O-CU 10 and O-DU 100 and monitors the occurrence of failures in the communication system. That is, when a failure occurs in the O-CU 10, O-DU 100 and O-RUs 200a to 200c, for example, the monitoring device 20 outputs a warning to notify the operator of the communication system of the failure. The monitoring device 20 is notified by the O-DU 100 of failures occurring in the O-RUs 200a to 200c.

The O-DU 100 is a communication device that connects to the O-CU 10 and performs baseband processing on data. The O-CU 10 and O-DU 100 constitute the baseband processing section of the base station. A plurality of O-RUs 200a to 200c are connected to the O-DU 100. FIG. Then, when the O-DU 100 receives reports of failure occurrences from a plurality of O-RUs 200a to 200c, the reported failure information is converted into common information that is common regardless of the vendor of the O-RUs 200a to 200c. The monitoring device 20 is notified.

The O-

RUs

200a, 200b, and 200c are communication devices that connect to the O-DU 100 and perform wireless processing on data. The O-RUs 200a-200c constitute a radio processing unit of the base station. That is, the O-RUs 200a to 200c perform wireless communication with the terminal device 30 within the cell. The O-RUs 200a-200c are manufactured by different vendors, but connect to a common O-DU 100 and transmit and receive data to and from the O-DU 100. FIG. The O-RUs 200a to 200c notify the O-DU 100 of the content of the failure by a method according to the vendor of the own device when a failure occurs in the own device. In the following, when the O-RUs 200a to 200c are not particularly distinguished, they are collectively referred to as "O-RU 200".

The terminal device 30 performs wireless communication with the O-RUs 200a to 200c forming the cell in which the terminal device 30 is located.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of O-DU 100 and O-RU 200 according to one embodiment. In FIG. 2, only the configuration related to fault monitoring is illustrated, and illustration of other configurations is omitted.

The O-DU 100 shown in FIG. 2 has a communication interface unit (hereinafter abbreviated as "communication IF unit") 110, a processor 120, a memory 130 and an O1 interface unit (hereinafter abbreviated as "O1IF unit") 140.

The communication IF unit 110 is an interface that connects with the O-RU 200. The communication IF unit 110 transmits a notification content request for inquiring the notification content when a failure occurs to each of the O-RUs 200 of different vendors, and receives a notification content response corresponding to the notification content request. Communication IF section 110 also receives failure information that reports the details of the failure when a failure occurs in O-RU 200 .

The processor 120 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), and controls the entire O-DU 100. Specifically, the processor 120 has a fault control unit 121 , a conversion dictionary generation unit 122 and a fault information conversion unit 123 .

The failure control unit 121 executes control related to failure of the O-RU 200 connected to the O-DU 100. Specifically, failure control unit 121 generates a notification content request for inquiring about the notification content to be notified to O-DU 100 by O-RU 200 when a failure occurs, and causes communication IF unit 110 to transmit the notification content request to O-RU 200 . The failure control unit 121 sends a notification content request to all the O-RUs 200 connected to the O-DU 100 to inquire what kind of notification should be made when, for example, an interface error, an internal error, or an antenna error occurs in the O-RU 200. send to

Then, when a notification content response to the notification content request is received by the communication IF unit 110, the failure control unit 121 acquires this notification content response. That is, the failure control unit 121 acquires the notification contents for each O-RU 200 when a failure occurs, and outputs these notification contents to the conversion dictionary generation unit 122 . The content of notification for each O-RU 200 when a failure occurs includes, for example, a failure ID that identifies the type of failure and a context that indicates details of the failure. These failure IDs and contexts differ depending on the O-RU 200 vendor even if the failure type is the same.

The conversion dictionary generation unit 122 generates a conversion dictionary that indicates the correspondence relationship between the notification content for each O-RU 200 when a failure occurs and the notification content used for notification to the monitoring device 20 . That is, the conversion dictionary generation unit 122 generates a conversion dictionary by associating common information used for notification to the monitoring device 20 with fault information that differs for each vendor for each type of fault that occurs in the O-RU 200. . As described above, even if the type of failure is the same, the content of notification when a failure occurs differs depending on the O-RU 200 vendor. Correspond.

When failure information notifying the occurrence of a failure is received from the O-RU 200, the failure information conversion unit 123 refers to the conversion dictionary and converts the failure information into common information. That is, when communication IF unit 110 receives failure information of O-RU 200 for each vendor, failure information conversion unit 123 refers to the conversion dictionary and acquires common information corresponding to the failure information for each vendor. Then, the failure information conversion unit 123 causes the O1IF unit 140 to transmit the converted common information to the monitoring device 20 .

The memory 130 includes, for example, RAM (Random Access Memory) or ROM (Read Only Memory), and stores information used for processing by the processor 120 .

The O1IF unit 140 is an O1 interface for operation and maintenance of communication devices, and connects with the monitoring device 20 . The O1IF unit 140 transmits information regarding the failure of the O-RU 200 to the monitoring device 20 . That is, the O1IF unit 140 acquires common information including the content of the failure of the O-RU 200 from the failure information conversion unit 123 and transmits it to the monitoring device 20 .

The O-RU 200 shown in FIG. 2 has a communication IF section 210, a processor 220, a memory 230 and a wireless communication section 240.

The communication IF unit 210 is an interface that connects with the O-DU 100. Communication IF section 210 receives a notification content request from O-DU 100 and transmits a notification content response corresponding to the notification content request to O-DU 100 . Further, when a failure occurs in O-RU 200, communication IF unit 210 transmits failure information that reports details of the failure.

The processor 220 includes, for example, a CPU, FPGA, or DSP, and controls the O-RU 200 as a whole. Specifically, the processor 220 has a failure management unit 221 , a failure detection unit 222 and a failure information generation unit 223 .

The failure management unit 221 manages failures in the O-RU 200. Specifically, when communication IF section 210 receives a notification content request, fault management section 221 generates a notification content response including the notification content at the time of fault occurrence, and transmits the notification content response from communication IF section 210 to O-DU 100 . Let For example, when an interface error, an internal error, and an antenna error occur, the failure management unit 221 receives an inquiry about what kind of notification is to be made, and sends a notification content response including the notification content corresponding to these failures. - send to DU 100; The notification content response contains notification content that varies depending on the O-RU 200 vendor.

The failure detection unit 222 detects failures that occur in the O-RU 200. That is, the failure detection unit 222 detects, for example, an interface error that occurs in the communication IF unit 210, an internal error that occurs inside the O-RU 200, an antenna error that occurs in the wireless communication unit 240, and the like. Upon detecting the occurrence of a failure, the failure detection unit 222 notifies the failure information generation unit 223 to that effect.

The fault information generation unit 223 generates fault information including the content of the fault detected by the fault detection unit 222. Specifically, the fault information generation unit 223 generates fault information that notifies the details of the fault that has occurred, according to the notification details for each fault type managed by the fault management unit 221 . The failure information includes, for example, a failure ID that identifies the type of failure and a context that indicates details of the failure. Then, fault information generating section 223 causes communication IF section 210 to transmit the generated fault information to O-DU 100 .

The memory 230 includes, for example, RAM or ROM, and stores information used for processing by the processor 220.

The wireless communication unit 240 performs wireless processing on data, and performs wireless communication with the terminal device 30 in the cell formed by the O-RU 200. That is, the wireless communication unit 240 wirelessly transmits a signal to the terminal device 30 via the antenna, and wirelessly receives a signal from the terminal device 30 via the antenna.

Next, with reference to the sequence diagram shown in FIG. 3, a specific example will be given to explain the fault identification method in the communication system configured as described above. In the following, a fault identification method when the monitoring device 20 monitors the O-

RUs

200a and 200b of different vendors will be described.

The monitoring device 20 instructs the O-DU 100 of the failure type to be monitored, and also instructs the O-DU 100 of unified common information regarding each failure type (step S101). That is, for example, an interface error, an internal error, and an antenna error of the O-

RUs

200a and 200b are instructed to the O-DU 100 as types of failures to be monitored, and when these failures occur, the O-DU 100 instructs the monitoring device 20 The O-DU 100 is notified of common information that is uniformly used for reporting to.

Instructions from the monitoring device 20 to the O-DU 100 are executed via the O1 interface, for example, when the O-DU 100 is activated. In the O1 interface, for example, the fault management function shown in FIG. 4 is implemented. Can be directed.

The type of failure to be monitored and common information are received by the O1IF unit 140 of the O-DU 100, and a receipt confirmation response is sent to the monitoring device 20 (step S102). Then, the failure control unit 121 generates a notification content request for inquiring about the notification content for each failure type, and transmits the notification content request from the communication IF unit 110 to each of the O-

RUs

200a and 200b (step S103). Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, a notification content request 310 including a failure type 315 to be monitored is sent to the O-

RUs

200a and 200b. In the example shown in FIG. 5, as the failure type 315, the notification content request 310 includes an interface error "CPRI error", an internal error "RU internal error", and an antenna error "ANT error". is In other words, the notification content request 310 inquires of the O-

RUs

200a and 200b about the notification content when an interface error, internal error, or antenna error to be monitored occurs.

The notification content request is received by the communication IF unit 210 of each of the O-

RUs

200a and 200b, and the failure management unit 221 generates a notification content response corresponding to the notification content request. That is, a notification content response including the notification content to the O-DU 100 for each type of failure is generated. The content of notification to the O-DU 100 differs depending on the vendor of the O-

RUs

200a and 200b.

Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, the notification content response 320 generated by the O-RU 200a includes notification content 325 indicating a failure ID for each failure type. On the other hand, the notification content response 330 generated by the O-RU 200b includes notification content 335 indicating the failure ID for each failure type. When the

notification contents

325 and 335 are compared, even if the type of failure is the same, the failure ID notified to the O-DU 100 is different. That is, since the vendors of the O-

RUs

200a and 200b are different, even if the same failure occurs in these O-

RUs

200a and 200b, the contents of notification to the O-DU 100 are different.

It should be noted that the notification content response may include not only the failure ID for each failure type, but also other information. That is, for example, the notification content response may include a context indicating the content of the failure for each type of failure as the notification content. Also, the notification content response may include information indicating that the O-DU 100 will not be notified even if a failure occurs. That is, in the

notification contents

325 and 335 shown in FIG. 6, the failure ID is notified for all failure types, but no notification is given for any failure type even if a failure occurs. It may be shown that

A notification content response including notification content that differs depending on the vendor is transmitted from the communication IF section 210 of each of the O-

RUs

200a and 200b to the O-DU 100 (step S104). When the notification content response is received by the communication IF unit 110 of the O-DU 100, the conversion dictionary generation unit 122 generates a conversion dictionary indicating the correspondence between the notification content of each of the O-

RUs

200a and 200b and the common information ( step S105). Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, the common information about the type of failure to be monitored indicated by the monitoring device 20, and the notification content for each vendor included in the notification content response from the O-

RUs

200a and 200b. A conversion dictionary that associates is generated.

In the example shown in FIG. 7, for a failure whose common information is failure ID "1234" and context "CPRI err", the failure ID "1111" and context "ERROR" notified from the O-RU 200a of vendor A and the vendor The failure ID "9999" notified from the O-RU 200b of B and the context "CRUSH" are associated with each other. In addition, regarding a failure whose common information is failure ID "5678" and context "Interr", the failure ID "2222" and context "INTERNAL" notified from vendor A's O-RU 200a and vendor B's O-RU 200b The reported failure ID "aaaa" and the context "CRUSH" are associated with each other. Similarly, for a failure whose common information is failure ID "9abc" and context "Ant err", failure ID "3333" and context "ANTENNA" notified from O-RU 200a of vendor A and O-RU 200b of vendor B is associated with the failure ID "bbbb" and the context "CRUSH" notified from.

The conversion dictionary generated in this way is held by the O-DU 100 and transmitted to the monitoring device 20 (step S106). By transmitting the conversion dictionary to the monitoring device 20, the monitoring device 20 can grasp the content of the notification from the O-

RUs

200a and 200b to the O-DU 100 when a failure occurs. Also, the monitoring device 20 can ascertain whether or not there is an O-RU 200 that does not notify the O-DU 100 of anything even if a failure occurs.

The generation of the above conversion dictionary is executed, for example, when the O-DU 100 is activated or when a new O-RU 200 is connected to the O-DU 100. When the O-DU 100 and the O-

RUs

200a and 200b are in normal operation, the fault detectors 222 of the O-

RUs

200a and 200b monitor the occurrence of faults. Here, for example, it is assumed that a failure has occurred in the O-RU 200b (step S107).

When a failure occurs in the O-RU 200b, the failure detection unit 222 detects the failure, and the failure information generation unit 223 generates failure information. The failure information includes a failure ID that identifies a failure and a context that indicates details of the failure. The failure information includes notification contents for each vendor, and even if the same failure occurs, if the vendor of the O-RU 200 is different, the failure ID and context included in the failure information will be different.

The generated fault information is transmitted from the communication IF section 210 to the O-DU 100 (step S108). When the failure information is received by the communication IF unit 110 of the O-DU 100, the failure information conversion unit 123 refers to the conversion dictionary to convert the notification content included in the failure information into common information (step S109). . In other words, the content of notification for each vendor notified by the fault information from the O-RU 200b is converted into unified common information regardless of the vendor. Then, the common information converted from the failure information is transmitted from the O1IF unit 140 to the monitoring device 20 (step S110).

Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, when an internal error occurs in O-RU 200b, fault information specific to vendor B of O-RU 200b is sent from O-RU 200b to O-DU 100. This fault information includes the fault ID "aaaa" and the context "CRUSH" corresponding to the internal error. The O-DU 100 that receives the failure information refers to the conversion dictionary and converts the vendor-specific notification content into common information. Here, the fault information from O-RU 200b is converted into common information including fault ID "5678" and context "Inter err". The converted common information is then transmitted from the O-DU 100 to the monitoring device 20 .

When the common information is received by the monitoring device 20, a warning is output notifying information about the failure that has occurred in the O-RU 200b, and the operator of the communication system can grasp the failure that has occurred in the O-RU 200b. At this time, the monitoring device 20 is notified of the information about the failure in the O-RU 200b by common information regardless of the vendor of the O-RU 200b, so that the details of the failure can be clearly grasped. As a result, faults can be identified quickly and efficiently.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the O-DU generates a conversion dictionary that associates the contents of notification at the time of occurrence of a failure, which differ depending on the vendor of the O-RU, with common information that is common regardless of the vendor. . When the O-DU receives the fault information from the O-RU when a fault occurs, the O-DU refers to the conversion dictionary to convert the fault information into common information and reports the fault occurrence in the O-RU to the monitoring device. Therefore, it is possible to report a fault in the O-RU to the monitoring device using the unified common information regardless of the vendor of the O-RU, so that the content of the fault can be clearly grasped. As a result, faults can be identified quickly and efficiently.

In the above embodiment, the case where the O-DU 100 receives fault information from the O-RU 200, converts the fault information into common information, and reports it to the monitoring device 20 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. . For example, when the O-CU 10 receives fault information from the O-DU 100, converts the fault information into common information, and reports it to the monitoring device 20, or when the O-CU 10 receives the fault information from the O-RU 200 via the O-DU 100 is received, the failure information is converted into common information, and reported to the monitoring device 20, the same failure identification method as in the above embodiment can be applied.

110, 210 communication IF

unit

120, 220 processor 121 failure control unit 122 conversion dictionary generation unit 123 failure information conversion unit 130, 230 memory 140 O1IF unit 221 failure management unit 222 failure detection unit 223 failure information generation unit 240 wireless communication unit

Claims

a communication unit that communicates with another communication device;
a processor connected to the communication unit;
The processor
inquiring of the other communication device about notification contents for each type of failure to be notified by the other communication device when a failure occurs;
generating a conversion dictionary by associating the notification content for each type of failure with common information used uniformly for reporting about the failure;
when failure information notifying that a failure has occurred in the other communication device is received by the communication unit, referring to the conversion dictionary to convert the failure information into common information;
A communication device characterized by executing a process of reporting the converted common information to a monitoring device.
The inquiry process includes:
2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein an inquiry is made for notification contents for each type of failure to be monitored instructed by the monitoring device.
The process of generating
2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein a conversion dictionary is generated by associating the notification content for each failure type with the common information instructed by the monitoring device.
The process of generating
generating a conversion dictionary by associating the failure ID and context included in the notification content with the failure ID and context included in the common information, the failure ID identifying the failure and the context indicating the contents of the failure; The communication device according to claim 1, characterized by:
a communication unit that communicates with another communication device;
a processor connected to the communication unit;
The processor
In response to an inquiry from the other communication device, responding to the other communication device with notification content for each type of failure to be notified when a failure occurs,
When a failure occurs in the own device, generate failure information to notify that a failure has occurred,
A communication device, characterized by executing a process of transmitting the generated fault information from the communication unit to the other communication device.
A communication system having a first communication device and a second communication device,
The first communication device is
a first communication unit that communicates with the second communication device;
a first processor connected to the first communication unit;
The first processor
inquiring of the second communication device about notification contents for each type of failure to be notified by the second communication device when a failure occurs;
generating a conversion dictionary by associating the notification content for each type of failure with common information used uniformly for reporting about the failure;
when failure information notifying that a failure has occurred in the second communication device is received by the first communication unit, referring to the conversion dictionary to convert the failure information into common information;
Execute processing for reporting the converted common information to the monitoring device,
The second communication device is
a second communication unit that communicates with the first communication device;
a second processor connected to the second communication unit;
The second processor
Responding to an inquiry from the first communication device, to the first communication device, notification content for each type of failure to be notified when a failure occurs;
When a failure occurs in the own device, generate failure information to notify that a failure has occurred,
A communication system characterized by executing a process of transmitting the generated failure information from the second communication unit to the first communication device.