JP4943072B2 - Wireless communication method, wireless communication system, mobile station apparatus, and base station apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for selecting a base station apparatus connected to a mobile station apparatus.

In the current mobile communication technology, a mobile station apparatus establishes a session with a base station apparatus and can receive various communication services such as VoIP (Voice over IP), web browsing, and e-mail. Conventionally, if a mobile station apparatus can establish a session with a base station apparatus that is close in distance, the mobile station apparatus maintains a session with the base station apparatus. Patent Document 1 describes a technique for easily establishing a session between a mobile station apparatus and a base station apparatus.
JP 2000-253097 A

  However, even if the session with the base station apparatus is successfully established, there is a problem when trying to start a communication service in which QoS (Quality of Service) is set, for example, a voice communication service based on VoIP. . That is, when a session with the base station apparatus is established, a protocol that does not specify QoS such as ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) is used, and whether or not the QoS specified for the communication service requested by the mobile station apparatus can be used. Was not determined at session establishment. Therefore, only when the mobile station apparatus actually accesses the base station apparatus with the protocol designated by QoS, it may be found that there is no free communication resource reserved in the base station apparatus for the designated QoS. . In this case, the communication service requested by the mobile station device is not started until communication resources are available.

  As described above, in the conventional technique, the mobile station apparatus may connect to a base station apparatus that has no available communication resources for performing a communication service in which QoS is specified, and a desired communication service is not started immediately. That happened.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and its object is to allow a mobile station apparatus to connect to an appropriate base station apparatus so that a communication service in which QoS is specified can be quickly started. The present invention provides a wireless communication system, a control method for a wireless communication system, a mobile station apparatus, and a base station apparatus.

  In order to solve the above problems, a wireless communication method according to the present invention is a wireless communication between a mobile station apparatus and a plurality of base station apparatuses that perform communication by allocating communication resources according to the service quality specified by the mobile station apparatus. A communication method, in which each of the plurality of base station devices notifies the mobile station device of resource availability information indicating availability of communication resources secured for each service quality, and the mobile station device A selection step of selecting a base station device having a vacant communication resource for a desired service quality based on the resource vacancy information of each base station device notified by the notification step; and the mobile station device, A connection requesting step for requesting a connection to the base station apparatus selected in the selecting step.

  A radio communication system according to the present invention is a radio communication system including a mobile station apparatus and a plurality of base station apparatuses that perform communication by allocating communication resources in accordance with service quality specified by the mobile station apparatus. Each of the plurality of base station devices includes notification means for notifying the mobile station device of resource availability information indicating availability of communication resources secured for each service quality, and the mobile station device includes the notification means Selection means for selecting a base station apparatus having available communication resources secured for a desired service quality based on the resource availability information of each base station apparatus broadcasted by the base station apparatus, and the base station apparatus selected by the selection means Connection requesting means for requesting connection to the network.

  Further, the mobile station apparatus according to the present invention acquires resource availability information indicating the availability of communication resources secured for each service quality, which is notified by each of a plurality of base station apparatuses, and the acquisition means Based on the acquired resource availability information of each base station apparatus, a selection means for selecting a base station apparatus that has a free communication resource secured for a desired service quality, and a base station apparatus selected by the selection means Connection request means for requesting connection.

  The base station apparatus according to the present invention is a base station apparatus that performs communication by allocating a communication band in accordance with the service quality specified by the mobile station apparatus, and indicates a free state of communication resources secured for each service quality. The information processing apparatus includes notification means for informing the mobile station apparatus of the resource availability information shown.

  In the present invention, communication resources are secured for each quality of service (QoS) in a plurality of base station apparatuses. Then, the mobile station device is informed of the communication resource availability information of each base station device. The mobile station apparatus selects a base station apparatus having a vacant communication resource secured for a desired service quality, based on the notified communication resource vacancy information. Then, the mobile station device requests connection to the selected base station device.

  According to the present invention, a mobile station apparatus can connect to an appropriate base station apparatus so that a communication service in which QoS is specified is started immediately.

  Further, in one aspect of the present invention, the mobile station apparatus establishes a connection with the base station apparatus that has requested connection in the connection request step, and specifies the desired service quality for the base station apparatus Further comprising requesting communication resource allocation. As a result, a connection with the selected base station apparatus can be established, and a communication service in which a desired QoS is designated can be quickly started.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  First, the outline of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 shows a radio communication system including a mobile station apparatus and a base station apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile station devices 10a, 10b, and 10c communicate by connecting to the base station device 100A, and the mobile station device 10d communicates by connecting to the base station device 100B. The mobile station device 10n is a mobile station device that is going to connect to the base station device 100 and start communication. In the present embodiment, description will be made centering on processing when the mobile station device 10n selects the base station device 100 to be connected. In addition, when generalizing and indicating the base station apparatus 100A and the base station apparatus 100B, they are described as the base station apparatus 100. The same applies to the mobile station apparatus.

  Each mobile station device 10 except the mobile station device 10n has established an IP (Internet Protocol) connection with the connected base station device 100. Then, the network 50 such as the Internet is accessed via the base station apparatus 100 to perform VoIP communication.

  For communication that requires real-time performance, such as VoIP, QoS is set in order to guarantee the quality of communication. QoS is set so as to guarantee a rate necessary for communication, an allowable bit error rate, a delay time, and the like.

  QoS is set for each type of communication service such as VoIP, video streaming, music streaming, web browsing, and the like. Further, QoS may be specified more finely for each communication quality required for each communication service. In the present embodiment, two QoSs can be specified for VoIP, and each QoS is represented as QoS: α and QoS: β.

  Each base station apparatus 100 secures necessary communication resources for each QoS in order to guarantee provision of each QoS. Specifically, in the base station apparatus 100, a limit is set on the number of mobile station apparatuses that are allowed to communicate simultaneously for each QoS. In this way, as a communication resource for each QoS, a communication band is ensured so that a communication rate guaranteed for the QoS is satisfied for each mobile station apparatus communicating using the same QoS.

  In this embodiment, each base station apparatus 100 can simultaneously communicate with up to two mobile stations for each of QoS: α and QoS: β communication resources, and secures communication resources for that amount.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the mobile station apparatuses 10a and 10b are connected to the base station apparatus 100A and perform QoS: α VoIP communication. Further, the mobile station apparatus 10c is connected to the base station apparatus 100A and performs QoS: β VoIP communication. Then, the mobile station apparatus 10d is connected to the base station apparatus 100B and performs QoS: α VoIP communication.

  FIG. 2 shows a communication resource allocation state of each base station apparatus 100 under the above communication environment.

  In the base station apparatus 100A, communication resources for QoS: α are reserved for two mobile stations, but communication resources are already allocated to two mobile station apparatuses 10a and 10b. As a result, the base station apparatus 100A is in a state where there is no free space for QoS: α. Further, the communication resources of QoS: β are reserved for two mobile stations, but are still allocated only to the mobile station device 10c, so there is a free space of one mobile station for QoS: β. It has become.

  In the base station apparatus 100B, since the communication resource of QoS: α is assigned only to the mobile station apparatus 10d, there is room for one mobile station with respect to QoS: α. Also, with respect to QoS: β, since no mobile station device 10 has yet been assigned communication resources, there is a free space for two mobile stations.

  When the mobile station device 10n tries to start QoS: α VoIP communication, if the mobile station device 10n is connected to the base station device 100A, either the mobile station device 10a or the mobile station device 10b does not release communication resources. As long as the VoIP communication cannot be started. On the other hand, when the mobile station device 10n is connected to the base station device 100B, the base station device 100B has a free QoS: α communication resource, so VoIP communication is started immediately.

  In the present invention, resource availability information indicating availability of communication resources for each QoS of each base station device 100 is notified to the mobile station device 10n. Details of the resource availability information will be described later. Then, the mobile station device 10n connects to the base station device 100 that has a free communication resource reserved for QoS specified for VoIP communication based on the notified resource availability information of each base station device 100. The desired communication is started immediately.

  In order to realize the processing described above, an example of the configuration of the mobile station apparatus 10 and the base station apparatus 100 according to the present invention will be described below.

  In FIG. 3, the block diagram of the mobile station apparatus 10 and the base station apparatus 100 is shown. As shown in FIG. 3, the mobile station apparatus 10 includes a processor 12, a memory 14, a wireless communication unit 16, and an antenna 18 as a configuration. The base station apparatus 100 includes a processor 102, a memory 104, a wireless communication unit 106, and an antenna 108 as a configuration. Details of processing performed by the hardware included in each device will be described below with reference to the sequence diagram shown in FIG. FIG. 4 shows a processing sequence with the mobile station device 10n and the base station devices 100A and 100B regarding processing when the mobile station device 10n starts VoIP communication.

[Notification of communication resource availability]
The mobile station device 10n is notified of resource availability information indicating the availability of communication resources of the base station devices 100A and 100B (S101). The resource availability information may be periodically notified from each base station apparatus 100.

  Here, regarding resource availability information, FIG. 5 shows an example of information broadcast as resource availability information. As shown in FIG. 5, the resource availability information is configured as a table in which “allocation limit number”, “connection number”, and “remaining allocation number” are associated for each QoS. The “allocation limit number” is the maximum number of mobile stations allowed to communicate simultaneously with the QoS, and the “number of connections” is the number of mobile stations currently communicating with the QoS. The “number of allocations” is the number of remaining mobile stations that are allowed to communicate with the QoS. Note that FIG. 5A shows resource availability information of base station apparatus 100A, and FIG. 5B shows resource availability information of base station apparatus 100B. In the figure, QoS with a “remaining allocation number” of 0 indicates a state where there is no available communication resource.

  The resource availability information is stored in the memory 104 of each base station apparatus 100, and the contents are updated by the processor 102 when a communication resource is newly assigned or when the communication resource is released. The resource availability information stored in the memory 104 is periodically read by the processor 102 and transmitted via the antenna 108 by the wireless communication unit 106 using the control channel.

  Then, the transmitted resource availability information is received by the wireless communication unit 16 via the antenna 18 of the mobile station apparatus 10. The received resource availability information of each base station apparatus 100 is stored in the memory 14 in association with each base station apparatus by the processor 12. The resource availability information stored in the memory 14 is sequentially updated with the latest information received.

[Selection of base station equipment]
Then, in the mobile station device 10n, a process of selecting the base station device 100 to be connected for VoIP communication is performed (S102). The selection process of the base station apparatus 100 is performed based on the resource availability information broadcast from each base station apparatus 100.

  In the mobile station device 10n, the processor 12 reads resource availability information of each base station device 100 stored in the memory 14. Then, with respect to the read resource availability information, the QoS (QoS: α) designated by the VoIP to be started by the mobile station device 10n is used as a search key, and the QoS “remaining allocation number” is not 0. Search for. Then, the searched base station apparatus 100 is selected as the connection destination base station apparatus 100.

  For example, when the resource availability information of each base station apparatus 100 stored in the memory is the information shown in FIG. 5, the base station apparatus 100B whose “remaining allocation number” is not 0 is selected for QoS: α. .

  In the selection of the base station apparatus 100, when a plurality of base station apparatuses 100 having free communication resources reserved for QoS of communication that the mobile station apparatus 10 is to start are searched for, for example, the following priority is given: It is good also as connecting to base station apparatus 100 in order. For example, the mobile station device 10 may be preferentially connected from the base station device with which the location registration is performed, or may be preferentially connected from the place where the reception strength of the signal from the base station device 100 is strong. Alternatively, the resource availability information may be preferentially connected from the place where the “remaining allocation number” is large.

Establish connection
Then, the mobile station device 10n requests connection establishment to the base station device 100B selected in S102 (S103). The connection establishment request is made by a protocol such as ICMP that does not specify QoS.

  In the present embodiment, a signal requesting connection establishment is transmitted from the mobile station device 10n to the base station device 100B selected in S102. When the transmitted connection establishment request signal is normally received by the base station device 100B, a response signal to the request signal is transmitted to the mobile station device 10n (S104). In this way, the connection between the mobile station device 10n and the base station device 100B is established.

[Start of VoIP communication]
When the connection is established between the mobile station device 10n and the base station device 100B, the mobile station device 10n requests the start of VoIP communication in which QoS: α is designated (S105). For VoIP communication, a transmission protocol called RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) for streaming reproduction of audio and video is used. QoS is specified in the IP header of the RTP packet.

  The base station device 100B acquires QoS specified in VoIP communication data (RTP packet) transmitted by the mobile station device 10n. Then, the resource availability information stored in the memory 104 is referred to, and it is confirmed whether there is an available communication resource reserved for the acquired QoS. When it is confirmed that there is a free communication resource, the communication resource is allocated to the requesting mobile station device 10n (S106). Then, in the base station apparatus 100B, the processor 102 updates the values of “number of connections” and “number of remaining allocations” of the resource availability information for the allocated QoS.

  Then, the base station device 100B transmits a response signal to the VoIP communication start request to the mobile station device 10n (S107). Thereafter, when it is confirmed that the VoIP data transmission / reception is performed without being disconnected for a certain period of time between the mobile station device 10n and the base station device 100B, a VoIP communication service is started for the user. (S108).

  According to the radio communication system according to the embodiment of the present invention described above, the mobile station apparatus can be connected to an appropriate base station apparatus so that the communication service in which QoS is specified is started immediately.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to said embodiment.

  For example, in the above embodiment, when the VoIP communication is not normally started with the base station apparatus connected to the mobile station apparatus, a function of reselecting the base station apparatus may be further provided. Below, an example of the reselection process of a base station apparatus is shown.

  For the VoIP communication requested to start by the mobile station apparatus, if the QoS specified for the VoIP communication is not available, the base station apparatus notifies the mobile station apparatus of the disconnection of the VoIP communication. To. Upon receiving this disconnection notification, the mobile station apparatus retries a request for starting VoIP communication. And it is good also as receiving a disconnection notification also about a retry, and when the frequency | count of receiving the disconnection notification exceeds a fixed frequency, a mobile station apparatus may re-select the base station apparatus of a connection destination.

  In the above embodiment, the base station apparatus having a free QoS: α communication resource is selected and connected. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a range of QoS allowed by the mobile station apparatus is determined. It is also possible to select and connect a base station apparatus that has available communication resources within the QoS range.

It is a figure which shows the communication system containing the mobile station apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and a base station apparatus. It is a figure which shows the allocation condition of the communication resource of a base station apparatus. It is a block diagram of a mobile station apparatus and a base station apparatus. It is a sequence diagram of the process regarding a connection establishment with a mobile station apparatus and a base station apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the information alert | reported as resource free information.

Explanation of symbols

  10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 10n Mobile station device, 12 processor, 14 memory, 16 wireless communication unit, 18 antenna, 50 network, 100A, 100B base station device, 102 processor, 104 memory, 106 wireless communication unit, 108 antenna .

Claims (4)

A wireless communication method by a mobile station device and a plurality of base station devices that communicate by allocating communication resources according to the service quality specified by the mobile station device,
Each of the plurality of base station devices is a notification step of notifying the mobile station device of resource availability information indicating availability of communication resources secured for each service quality;
A selection step in which the mobile station apparatus selects a base station apparatus having a vacant communication resource secured for a desired service quality based on the resource vacancy information of each base station apparatus informed by the informing step;
The mobile station apparatus includes a connection request step for requesting connection to the base station apparatus selected by the selection step,
A wireless communication method. The wireless communication method according to claim 1,
The mobile station apparatus establishes a connection with the base station apparatus that has requested connection in the connection request step, and requests the base station apparatus to allocate communication resources for communication designating the desired quality of service. Further including
A wireless communication method. A wireless communication system comprising a mobile station device and a plurality of base station devices that communicate by allocating communication resources according to the service quality specified by the mobile station device,
Each of the plurality of base station apparatuses is
Including notifying means for notifying the mobile station apparatus of resource availability information indicating the availability of communication resources secured for each service quality,
The mobile station device
Selection means for selecting a base station apparatus having available communication resources secured for a desired service quality based on the resource availability information of each base station apparatus notified by the notification means;
Connection request means for requesting connection to the base station apparatus selected by the selection means,
A wireless communication system. An acquisition means for acquiring resource availability information indicating the availability of communication resources secured for each service quality, each of which is notified by a plurality of base station devices;
Selection means for selecting a base station apparatus having available communication resources secured for a desired service quality based on the resource availability information of each base station apparatus acquired by the acquisition means;
Connection request means for requesting connection to the base station apparatus selected by the selection means,
A mobile station apparatus.

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