Information processing device, information processing method, and information processing program

Abstract

This device provides an information processing unit that removes non-existent candidate cells from the base station's neighbor list. [Solution] In a communication system, an information processing device that automatically updates the neighbor list of a local station includes: a first acquisition unit that acquires a neighbor list indicating candidate cells to which mobile terminals connected to cells formed by a base station that relays communication between mobile terminals can hand over; a second acquisition unit that acquires success rate information from cells indicating the success rate when a mobile terminal hands over to a candidate cell included in the neighbor list; an identification unit that identifies candidate cells for which the success rate of handover from a cell to a candidate cell is 0 for a predetermined period of time, based on the success rate information; and a deletion unit that deletes the candidate cells identified by the identification unit from the neighbor list.

Description

Technical Field

[0004] , , , , , , ,

[0001] This invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and an information processing program for updating a neighbor list of a base station.

Background Art

[0002] In a communication system using a mobile terminal such as a smartphone, the mobile terminal realizes seamless communication by performing communication while performing a handover to switch the connection destination base station as it moves. In Patent Document 1, in a communication system including a base station, a repeater that relays communication, and a wireless mobile terminal, when the repeater can move, a wireless mobile terminal under the repeater may not be able to hand over to another base station, or another wireless mobile terminal may not be able to hand over to the moving repeater. To solve this problem, when the base station establishes synchronization with a new repeater, it includes the information of the repeater in the neighbor list to be transmitted to the wireless mobile terminal that it has been holding itself. And when synchronization with a repeater that has been established so far cannot be established, a technique for deleting the information of the repeater for which synchronization cannot be established from the neighbor list that holds the information is disclosed.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Means for Solving the Problems

[0004] An information processing device according to one aspect of the present invention includes, for a base station that relays communication between terminals, a first acquisition unit that acquires a neighbor list indicating candidate cells to which terminals connected to a cell formed by the base station can hand over; a second acquisition unit that acquires success rate information from a cell indicating the success rate when a terminal hands over to a candidate cell included in the neighbor list; an identification unit that identifies candidate cells for which the success rate of handover from a cell to a candidate cell is 0 for a predetermined period of time, based on the success rate information; and a deletion unit that deletes the candidate cells identified by the identification unit from the neighbor list.

[0005] The above-described information processing device may further include a storage unit that stores information identifying the base station to be managed in association with information identifying the vendor that manufactured the base station, and the deletion unit may determine whether the candidate base station of the candidate cell identified by the identification unit is a candidate base station of a different vendor than the base station vendor, and delete the candidate cell from the neighbor list if it is a different vendor.

[0006] In the above-described information processing device, the first acquisition unit may further acquire an external cell list from the base station that shows a list of external cells that include candidate cells formed by candidate base stations forming candidate cells, and the deletion unit may delete an external cell from the external cell list if the external cell is not included in the base station's neighbor list.

[0007] In the above-described information processing device, at least one of the base station or candidate base station communicates with the terminal using the fourth-generation communication standard, the first acquisition unit acquires an X2 list, which is a list of candidate base stations, from the base station, and the deletion unit deletes the candidate base station from the X2 list if all the cells formed by the candidate base station are not included in the external cell list.

[0008] Furthermore, an information processing method according to one aspect of the present invention involves a computer performing the following steps: a first acquisition step of acquiring a neighbor list indicating candidate cells to which terminals connected to cells formed by a base station that relays communication between terminals can hand over; a second acquisition step of acquiring success rate information from cells indicating the success rate when a terminal hands over to a candidate cell included in the neighbor list; a identification step of identifying candidate cells whose handover success rate from a cell to a candidate cell is 0 for a predetermined period of time, based on the success rate information; and a deletion step of deleting the candidate cells identified in the identification step from the neighbor list.

[0009] Furthermore, an information processing program according to one aspect of the present invention enables a computer to implement: a first acquisition function that acquires a neighbor list indicating candidate cells to which terminals connected to cells formed by a base station that relays communication between terminals can hand over; a second acquisition function that acquires success rate information from cells indicating the success rate when a terminal hands over to a candidate cell included in the neighbor list; an identification function that identifies candidate cells whose handover success rate from cell to candidate cell is 0 for a predetermined period of time, based on the success rate information; and a deletion function that deletes the candidate cells identified by the identification function from the neighbor list.

[0010] Furthermore, an information processing device according to one aspect of the present invention includes: a first acquisition unit that acquires a neighbor list indicating candidate base stations to which terminals connected to a base station can hand over, for a base station that relays communication between terminals; a second acquisition unit that acquires success rate information from the base station indicating the success rate when a terminal hands over to a candidate base station that is managed by a different base station management method than the base station, among the candidate base stations included in the neighbor list; an identification unit that identifies candidate base stations for which the success rate of handover from the base station to a candidate base station is 0 for a predetermined period of time, based on the success rate information; and a deletion unit that deletes the candidate base stations identified by the identification unit from the neighbor list.

[0011] In the information processing device, the first base station management method for managing base stations may not remove candidate base stations from the base station's neighbor list, and the second base station management method for managing candidate base stations may not manage base stations at all. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0012] [Figure 1] This is a schematic diagram showing the overview of the communication system. [Figure 2] This is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information processing device. [Figure 3] This is a block diagram showing an example of a base station configuration. [Figure 4] This is a conceptual data diagram illustrating an example of a neighbor list. [Figure 5] This flowchart shows an example of the operation of an information processing device. [Figure 6] This is a flowchart illustrating an example of base station operation. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0013] The base station according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0014] <Overview> When a mobile terminal moves, the communication connection can be maintained by switching the base station to which the mobile terminal is communicating. This switching of the communication base station is generally called a handover. When a handover is performed, the base station instructs the connected mobile terminal to hand over to a base station located at the destination. Therefore, each base station maintains information about base stations in its vicinity that the mobile terminal may hand over to. This information is called the neighbor list. However, base stations may be upgraded in terms of communication method versions, the base station itself may be upgraded, new base stations may be installed, or base stations may be decommissioned, so it is preferable that the neighbor list of the base station be updated accordingly. If information about a decommissioned base station remains in the neighbor list, the base station may instruct the mobile terminal to hand over to that decommissioned base station. In that case, the mobile terminal will fail to hand over and will have to restart the process of registering its location, establishing a PDU (Packet Data Unit) session, etc., resulting in a temporary interruption of communication. Furthermore, when an old base station is removed and a new base station is installed due to equipment upgrades, the Physical Cell ID (PCI) of the old base station may be inherited as the PCI of the new base station. Even in such cases, the base station does not use the relationship established with the old base station, but rather establishes a new relationship with the new base station and adds it to the neighbor list. As a result, the neighbor list will contain both the relationship for the old base station and the relationship for the new base station, leading to the aforementioned problem. Some base stations have a function to update the neighbor list, but base stations from vendors that do not have such a function will still have the aforementioned problem. Therefore, the information processing device according to this embodiment automatically updates the neighbor list of the base station.

[0015] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the updating of the neighbor list at the base station 200 by the information processing device 100.

[0016] As shown in Figure 1, a base station 200 typically handles multiple communication cells and relays communications of mobile terminals 300 belonging to each communication cell. A base station 200 may also be responsible for only one communication cell. For each communication cell, the base station 200 maintains a neighbor list of communication cells of other base stations 200 that can be handed over. In other words, the base station 200's neighbor list is information that associates the ID of its own communication cell with the IDs of other base stations that can be handed over from that communication cell, and the IDs of those communication cells. Hereinafter, a base station 200 that a mobile terminal 300 can handed over to will be referred to as a candidate base station, and a communication cell that can be handed over will be referred to as a candidate cell. When a mobile terminal 300 handed over from a communication cell to a candidate cell, the information processing device 100 obtains information from the candidate base station to which the handover occurred, indicating whether the handover was successful. When a mobile terminal 300 performs a handover, the base station 200 transmits information to the information processing device 100 indicating which mobile terminal 300 is performing the handover from which communication cell to which candidate cell of which candidate base station. The candidate base station receiving the handover also transmits information to the information processing device 100 indicating which mobile terminal 300 performed the handover. As a result, the information processing device 100 can obtain information (hereinafter referred to as handover information) indicating which communication cell the mobile terminal 300 performed the handover from to which candidate cell (or whether the handover failed).

[0017] The information processing device 100 acquires multiple handover information, and if the success rate of the handover becomes 0 based on that handover information (i.e., all the handover information means that the handover has failed), it instructs the base station corresponding to the communication cell indicated by that handover information to delete the information of that communication cell and the communication cell to which the handover will be performed from the neighbor list. As a result, the base station 200 will not instruct the mobile terminal 300 to perform a handover to a communication cell that cannot be handed over, and will be able to maintain the communication connection of the mobile terminal 300 (maintain the provision of communication services). This will be described in detail below.

[0018] <Configuration> <Configuration of Information Processing Apparatus 100> FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the information processing apparatus 100. The information processing apparatus 100 acquires handover information from a communication cell of the base station 200 to a candidate cell of a candidate base station, and when the success rate of handover from a certain communication cell to another communication cell (candidate cell) is 0, it deletes the information of the communication cell with a handover success rate of 0 from the neighbor list of that base station 200. It is a computer system that instructs to do so. The information processing apparatus 100 may be realized by a PC, a server device, etc., but is not limited thereto. Also, the functions of the information processing apparatus 100 may be realized by parallel processing by a plurality of computers.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 2, the information processing apparatus 100 includes a communication unit 110, a control unit 130, and a storage unit 140. Also, the information processing apparatus 100 may include an input unit 120 and an output unit 150.

[0020] The communication unit 110 is a communication interface having a function of communicating with a device outside the information processing apparatus 100. The communication unit 110 has a function of communicating with the base station 200 as an external device. The communication unit 110 receives a signal from the base station 200 and transmits it to the control unit 130, or transmits a signal to the base station 200 according to an instruction from the control unit 130. As an example, the communication unit 110 receives handover information from the base station 200 and transmits it to the control unit 130. Also, as an example, according to an instruction from the control unit 130, the communication unit 110 transmits to the base station 200 information on the communication cell to be handed over and an instruction to delete the information of the communication cell from the neighbor list. The instruction includes information on the ID of the communication cell to be deleted from the neighbor list. Hereinafter, an instruction to delete the communication cell to be handed over is referred to as a deletion request.

[0021] The input unit 120 has a function of receiving an input from an operator or the like of the information processing apparatus 100 and transmitting the input content to the control unit 130. The input unit 120 may be realized by an input device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, etc., and may be realized by a microphone in the case of voice input. As an example, when the mobile terminal hands over from an operator who has obtained handover information, the input unit 120 may receive an input of information indicating from which communication cell to which communication cell the handover is instructed and whether the handover is successful, and transmit it to the control unit 130.

[0022] The control unit 130 is a processor having a function of controlling each part of the information processing apparatus 100. The control unit 130 may be realized by a single core or by a multi-core. The control unit 130 realizes the functions of the information processing apparatus 100 by executing various programs stored in the storage unit 140 and using various data.

[0023] As functions realized by the control unit 130, the control unit 130 includes a first acquisition unit 131, a second acquisition unit 132, a specification unit 133, and a deletion unit 134.

[0024] The first acquisition unit 131 acquires a neighbor list indicating candidate cells that are candidates for handover of the mobile terminal 300 connected to the communication cell formed by the base station 200, for the base station 200. The first acquisition unit 131 accesses the target base station 200 via the communication unit 110, for example, and acquires the neighbor list it holds. Note that the information processing apparatus 100 may store the neighbor list information held by each of all the base stations 200 in the storage unit 140, and in this case, it may acquire the neighbor list stored in the storage unit 140.

[0025] The second acquisition unit 132 acquires success rate information from the communication cells in the neighbor list acquired by the first acquisition unit 131, indicating the success rate when the mobile terminal 300 performs a handover to a candidate cell included in the neighbor list. The second acquisition unit 132 acquires handover information from each base station 200 when the mobile terminal 300 performs a handover, extracts handover information from the corresponding communication cell from the acquired handover information, and acquires success rate information based on the success or failure of that handover. The second acquisition unit 132 may acquire success rate information by dividing the number of successful handovers among the extracted handover information by the total number of extracted handover information. The second acquisition unit 132 acquires success rate information for a predetermined period retrospectively from the present time. The second acquisition unit 132 transmits the acquired success rate information to the identification unit 133.

[0026] The identification unit 133 identifies candidate cells whose handover success rate from a communication cell to a candidate cell is 0 for a predetermined period, based on the success rate information transmitted from the second acquisition unit 132. The identification unit 133 transmits the information of the identified candidate cells to the deletion unit 134. The predetermined period may be any period suitable for collecting information on the handover success rate, such as one day, two weeks, one month, or six months, but is not limited to these and may be any period.

[0027] The deletion unit 134 deletes the candidate cell information transmitted from the identification unit 133 from the neighbor list acquired by the first acquisition unit 131. More precisely, the deletion unit 134 transmits a deletion request via the communication unit 110 to the base station 200, from which the first acquisition unit 131 has acquired the neighbor list, instructing it to delete the candidate cell information transmitted from the identification unit 133 from the neighbor list. Upon receiving the deletion request, the base station 200 deletes the information of the specified candidate cell from the neighbor list.

[0028] The storage unit 140 has the function of storing various programs and data necessary for the operation of the information processing device 100. The storage unit 140 can be implemented using, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), flash memory, etc., but is not limited to these. The storage unit 140 may store various programs and data necessary to realize the functions that the information processing device 100 should perform. The storage unit 140 may store programs such as collecting handover information, identifying communication cells with a handover success rate of 0, and instructing the base station 200 to remove the information of the identified communication cells from the neighbor list. The storage unit 240 may also store the collected handover information, or information aggregated therefrom.

[0029] The output unit 150 has the function of outputting specified information according to instructions from the control unit 130. For example, the output unit 150 may output character information or image information, in which case the output unit 150 is realized by a monitor provided with or connected to the information processing device 100. Alternatively, for example, the output unit 150 may output audio information, in which case the output unit 150 is realized by a speaker provided with or connected to the information processing device.

[0030] The above is an example of the configuration of the information processing device 100.

[0031] <Configuration of base station 200> Figure 3 is a block diagram showing an example configuration of a base station 200. The base station 200 functions as a base station that relays communication between mobile terminals 300, and is a computer system that operates according to a predetermined program. The base station 200 may also construct a vRAN (virtual Radio Access Network) realized by a CPU and a GPU. In addition, in the base station 200, the following communication unit 110 may be a Radio Unit (RU) in 5G communication. Furthermore, the functions realized by the control unit 130 may be realized by a Distribution Unit (DU) or Central Unit (CU) in 5G communication, or they may be realized by an RU. In addition, the base station 200 may realize a Radio Access Network Intelligent Controller (RIC), or it may operate under the control of an RIC.

[0032] As shown in Figure 3, the base station 200 includes a communication unit 210, a control unit 230, and a storage unit 240. The base station 200 may also include an input unit 220 and an output unit 250.

[0033] The communication unit 210 is a communication interface that has the function of communicating with external devices of the base station 200. The communication unit 210 has the function of communicating with external devices such as the information processing device 100 and the mobile terminal 300. The communication unit 210 receives signals from the mobile terminal 300 and transmits them to the control unit 230, and transmits signals to the mobile terminal 300 according to instructions from the control unit 230. The communication unit 210 also receives signals from the information processing device 100 and transmits them to the control unit 230, and transmits signals to the information processing device 100 according to instructions from the control unit 230. As an example, when the mobile terminal 300 is about to hand over, the communication unit 210 notifies the base station 200 that the mobile terminal 300 is about to hand over. Furthermore, for example, if the communication unit 210 is notified by another base station 200 that the mobile terminal 300 is performing a handover, it transmits handover information to the information processing device 100 indicating whether or not the mobile terminal 300 has successfully performed the handover. Also, if the communication unit 210 receives a deletion request from the information processing device 100, it transmits the deletion request to the control unit 230.

[0034] The input unit 220 has the function of receiving input from the operator of the base station 200 and transmitting the content of that input to the control unit 230. The input unit 220 may be implemented by an input device such as a mouse, keyboard, or touch panel, and in the case of voice input, it may be implemented by a microphone. As an example, the input unit 220 may receive input of information on communication cells (candidate cells) to be deleted from the neighbor list and transmit it to the control unit 230.

[0035] The control unit 230 is a processor that has the function of controlling various parts of the base station 200. The control unit 230 may be implemented as a single-core or multi-core processor. The control unit 230 executes various programs stored in the memory unit 240 and utilizes various data to realize the functions of the base station 200.

[0036] The control unit 230 relays communication between mobile terminals 300, just like a normal base station 200.

[0037] The control unit 230 includes a setting unit 231 as a function that the control unit 230 is to implement.

[0038] When the setting unit 231 receives a deletion request from the information processing device 100 via the communication unit 210, it deletes the information of the specified candidate cell from the neighbor list 241 stored in the storage unit 240.

[0039] The storage unit 240 has the function of storing various programs and data necessary for the operation of the base station 200. The storage unit 240 can be implemented using, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), flash memory, etc., but is not limited to these. The storage unit 240 may store various programs and data necessary to realize the functions that the base station 200 should perform. The storage unit 240 may store programs that change the communication settings of communication cells according to instructions from the information processing device 100. The storage unit 240 may also store a neighbor list 241 containing information on candidate base stations that can be handed over from the base station 200 and candidate cells that are their communication cells.

[0040] The output unit 250 has the function of outputting specified information in accordance with instructions from the control unit 230. For example, the output unit 250 may output text information or image information, in which case the output unit 250 is implemented by a monitor provided at or connected to the base station 200. Alternatively, for example, the output unit 250 may output voice information, in which case the output unit 250 is implemented by a speaker provided at or connected to the base station 200.

[0041] The above is an example of the configuration of base station 200.

[0042] Since the mobile terminal 300 has the same configuration as a typical information processing device, such as a smartphone or tablet mobile terminal, a detailed explanation using a block diagram will be omitted.

[0043] <Data> Figure 4 is a conceptual data diagram showing an example of the configuration of the neighbor list 241 held by base station 200. As shown in Figure 4, the neighbor list is information that associates base station 200, i.e., its own communication cell ID 401, with the base station ID 402 of the other handover destination base station 200, i.e., the candidate base station, and its communication cell, i.e., the candidate cell ID 403 of the candidate cell.

[0044] In the example in Figure 4, communication cell ID 401 of base station 200 is registered as a candidate handover destination for communication cell "CE0001", candidate base station ID 402 is registered as a candidate cell ID 403 of base station "BS0020190", and candidate cell IDs "CE0011", "CE0012", and "CE0013".

[0045] As shown in Figure 4, the base station 200 maintains a neighbor list 241, which allows the base station 200 to instruct the mobile terminal 300 to hand over to a communication cell located in the direction the mobile terminal 300 is moving.

[0046] <Operation> Figure 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the information processing device 100.

[0047] The first acquisition unit 131 of the information processing device 100 accesses the base station 200 via the communication unit 110 and acquires the neighbor list 241 held by the base station 200 (step S501).

[0048] The second acquisition unit 132 acquires handover information from the neighbor list 241 acquired by the first acquisition unit 131, which is used to hand over from communication cell 401 to the corresponding candidate cell 403 of the candidate base station 402. Then, for each piece of acquired handover information, it acquires success rate information indicating the success rate of the handover from communication cell 401 to each candidate cell 403 (step S502). The second acquisition unit 132 transmits the acquired success rate information to the identification unit 133.

[0049] The identification unit 133 identifies candidate cells 403 with a 0% handover success rate for a predetermined period, looking back from the present, based on the success rate information for each combination of communication cell 401 and candidate cell 403 transmitted from the second acquisition unit 132 (step S503). The identification unit 133 transmits the information of the identified candidate cells 403 to the deletion unit 134.

[0050] When the deletion unit 134 receives information about a candidate cell 403 from the identification unit 133, it sends a deletion request via the communication unit 110 to the base station 200, which has acquired the neighbor list 241 via the transmitted first acquisition unit 131, instructing the base station to delete the transmitted candidate cell from the neighbor list 241 (step S504), and then terminates the process.

[0051] In step S503, if the identification unit 133 fails to identify a candidate cell 403, that is, if there are no candidate cells 403 with a 0% handover success rate, the information processing device 100 does not send a deletion request to the base station 200.

[0052] The information processing device 100 may perform the processing shown in Figure 5 for all base stations 200 belonging to the communication system, and may perform it periodically (for example, daily, weekly, monthly, etc., but not limited to these). Alternatively, when the device receives a report from a user of a mobile terminal 300 that communication is being interrupted, it may perform the processing for the base stations 200 in the area where the mobile terminal 300 was located.

[0053] Figure 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of base station 200.

[0054] The communication unit 210 of the base station 200 receives a deletion request transmitted from the information processing device 100 (step S601). The deletion request includes information about candidate cells included in the neighbor list 241. The communication unit 210 transmits the received deletion request to the control unit 230.

[0055] When the setting unit 231 of the control unit 230 receives a deletion request from the communication unit 210, it reads the neighbor list 241 from the storage unit 240. The setting unit 231 then deletes the information of the candidate cell indicated by the deletion request from the neighbor list 241 and overwrites it in the storage unit 240 (step S602), and terminates the process. At this time, the setting unit 231 may delete all candidate cells that are the same as the candidate cell specified by the deletion request and are included in the neighbor list 241, or, if the deletion request is a pair of candidate cell and communication cell information, it may delete the candidate cell 403 in the neighbor list 241 that corresponds to the communication cell 401 specified by the deletion request.

[0056] This enables the updating of the neighbor list 241 for base station 200. <Summary>

[0057] As described above, the information processing device 100 obtains the neighbor list of the base station 200 and obtains the success rate of the handover for each candidate cell registered in the neighbor list. If the success rate is 0 for a predetermined period, it is highly likely that the candidate cell does not exist, and the information processing device 100 can identify such a candidate cell by collecting handover information that shows the history of handovers from communication cells to candidate cells. The base station 200 can then remove the candidate cell from the neighbor list by receiving information from the information processing device 100 about the candidate cell whose handover success rate is 0 for the predetermined period. As a result, the base station 200 will no longer instruct the mobile terminal 300 to hand over to a candidate cell that does not exist, thereby reducing the possibility of interruptions in the communication service provided to the mobile terminal 300.

[0058] <Variation> It goes without saying that the information processing device 100 and base station 200 according to the above embodiment are not limited to the above embodiment and may be implemented by other methods. Various modifications will be described below.

[0059] (1) In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which the information processing device 100 deletes candidate cells that cannot be handed over from the neighbor list 241 for all base stations 200, but this is not limited to that. The information processing device 100 may be configured to delete candidate cells that cannot be handed over from the neighbor list 241 only for candidate cells of a specific base station 200. Here, the specific base station 200 may be a base station 200 created by a specific vendor. As mentioned above, some base stations 200 have a function to delete candidate cells that cannot be handed over in advance, and for such base stations, it is not necessary to perform the deletion process shown in the above embodiment, and the presence or absence of such a function may depend on the vendor.

[0060] Therefore, the information processing device 100 may store information in the storage unit 140 about vendors of base stations that do not support the deletion of candidate cells. The information processing device 100 may then instruct the base station 200 to delete the candidate cell from the neighbor list 241 only if the candidate base station corresponding to the identified candidate cell is a vendor that does not support the deletion of candidate cells, as stored in the storage unit 140. This reduces the processing load on the information processing device 100, as it only needs to send deletion requests to some of the base stations 200 instead of all of them.

[0061] Note that the statement here that a candidate cell deletion function is not available may mean that the system does not support the deletion of candidate cells from the neighbor list during a handover from one vendor's base station 200 to a different vendor's base station 200.

[0062] Typically, base station 200 is managed by a base station management system. Base stations from different vendors are generally managed by different base station management systems. This is because base stations and base station management systems are designed and built with the intention of providing each base station vendor with the optimal base station management system for managing their own base stations. Therefore, not having a candidate cell deletion function may mean that the handover source base station and the handover destination base station listed in the neighbor list are managed by different base station management systems, and the base station management system cannot delete the neighbor list (specifically, for example, if the system does not have administrative authority over the base station holding the neighbor list to be deleted, or if the base station holding the neighbor list to be deleted is not connected to the base station management system, etc., but not limited to these cases).

[0063] (2) In the above embodiment, the first acquisition unit 131 may further acquire an external cell list from the target base station 200 that shows a list of external cells including candidate cells formed by candidate base stations forming candidate cells, and the deletion unit 134 may send a deletion request to the base station 200 to delete from the external cell list if the neighbor list 241 of the base station 200 does not contain an external cell.

[0064] Specifically, in the above embodiment, the neighbor list 241 shown indicates the correspondence between the communication cells of the base station 200 and the candidate cells of the candidate base station. In addition to this neighbor list, the base station 200 may maintain an external cell list that holds various information about all communication cells managed by the base station 200. The information about communication cells includes information about nearby external cells. Now, suppose that, in response to the deletion request for a candidate cell shown in the above embodiment, all the information for a candidate cell of a certain candidate base station is deleted from the neighbor list 241. At this time, the control unit 230 of the base station 200 may delete the candidate cell of the candidate base station from the external cell list. This deletion may be instructed by the deletion unit 134 of the information processing device 100. This allows unnecessary information to be deleted from the external cell list, freeing up the storage area of ​​the base station 200 and preventing the mobile terminal 300 from handing over to a candidate cell where there is no data. The vendor function of base station 200 has the ability to create a neighbor list based on information registered in an external cell. However, if the external cell is retained, the deleted neighbor list will be recreated. In other words, by deleting unused neighbor lists from the external cell list, it is possible to prevent the recreation of unused neighbor lists.

[0065] Here, at least one of the base station or candidate base station may perform communication in accordance with the fourth-generation communication standard, the so-called 4G standard. In the 4G communication standard, base station 200 further maintains a neighbor list called the X2 list, which shows only the correspondence between base stations and candidate base stations. Base station 200 may delete the information of a candidate base station from the X2 list when all candidate cells for a given candidate base station have been deleted from the external cell list as a result of the deletion of a candidate cell from the external cell list. This deletion may be instructed by the deletion unit 134 of the information processing device 100. This allows unnecessary information to be deleted from the X2 list, freeing up the memory area of ​​base station 200 and preventing the mobile terminal 300 from handing over to a candidate base station where there is no such device.

[0066] (3) In the above modification (1), an example was described in which a candidate cell is deleted when the candidate base station is from a different vendor than the vendor that manufactured the base station 200. However, this may also be performed when the candidate base station employs a different base station management system, rather than being from a different vendor. The base station management system may refer to base station management software for managing base stations. Some base station management software can handle the deletion of candidate cells as described above, while others cannot. Therefore, as shown in the above modification (1), the information processing device 100 may store information in the storage unit 140 about base station management software that can handle the deletion of candidate cells and candidate base stations, and base station management software that cannot, and may only perform the deletion of candidate cells as shown in the above embodiment when the target base station does not handle the deletion of candidate cells and candidate base stations. This reduces the processing load on the information processing device 100, as it only needs to send deletion requests to some of the base stations 200 instead of all of them.

[0067] Furthermore, the base station management software may include differences due to version variations, and even with the same base station management software, there may be versions that support the candidate cell deletion function and versions that do not.

[0068] (4) In the above embodiment, the second acquisition unit 132 acquires success rate information for a predetermined period retrospectively from the present time, but this may be a predetermined period in the past rather than from the present time.

[0069] (5) In the above embodiment, the identification unit 133 identifies candidate cells whose handover success rate is 0 for a predetermined period of time. This may also mean identifying cells for which the handover information indicating a successful handover is 0.

[0070] (6) In the above embodiment, the information processing device 100 sends a deletion request to the base station 200 to delete the information of candidate cells that cannot be handed over from the base station 200's neighbor list 241, but this is not limited to this. The information processing device 100 may be configured to create an updated neighbor list from the neighbor list 241 obtained from the base station 200, delete the candidate cells that cannot be handed over, send the updated neighbor list to the base station 200, and the base station deletes the pre-update neighbor list currently in use and stores the received updated neighbor list.

[0071] (7) A program for the information processing device 100 of the present disclosure to remove candidate cells with a handover success rate of 0 from the neighbor list of the base station 200 may be provided stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The storage medium is a “tangible medium that is not transient” and capable of storing the program. The storage medium may include any suitable storage medium such as an HDD or SSD, or two or more suitable combinations thereof. The storage medium may be volatile, non-volatile, or a combination of volatile and non-volatile. However, the storage medium is not limited to these examples and may be any device or medium that is capable of storing the program.

[0072] The information processing device 100 can realize the functions of the multiple functional units shown in each embodiment by, for example, reading a program stored on a storage medium and executing the read program. Furthermore, the program may be provided to the information processing device 100 via any transmission medium (such as a communication network or broadcast waves). The information processing device 100 can realize the functions of the multiple functional units shown in each embodiment by, for example, executing a program downloaded via the Internet or the like. This program may be executed by the information processing device 100 or the like.

[0073] This program can be implemented using, but is not limited to, scripting languages ​​such as ActionScript and JavaScript®, object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Objective-C and Java®, and markup languages ​​such as HTML5.

[0074] At least a portion of the processing in the information processing device 100 may be implemented by cloud computing, which is comprised of one or more computers. Furthermore, each functional unit of the information processing device 100 may be implemented by one or more circuits that implement the functions shown in the above embodiment, or the functions of multiple functional units may be implemented by one circuit.

[0075] (8) The various methods and processes shown in the above embodiments and modifications may be combined as appropriate to achieve the objective of removing communication cells (candidate cells) that cannot be handed over between the information processing device 100 and the base station 200 from the neighbor list.

[0076] (9) According to each aspect of the present disclosure described above, by enabling uninterrupted communication in mobile terminal communications, it is possible to contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 9, "Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation." [Explanation of Symbols]

[0077] 100, 100a, 100b base station 110 Communications Department 120 Input section 130 Control Unit 131 First acquisition part 132 Second Acquisition Department 133 Specific part 134 Deleted section 140 Storage section 150 Output section 200, 200a, 200b base station 210 Communications Department 220 Input section 230 Control Unit 231 Settings Section 240 Storage section 241 Naverlist 250 Output section 300 mobile terminals

Claims

1. Regarding a base station that relays communication between terminals, a first acquisition unit acquires a neighbor list indicating candidate cells that terminals connected to a cell formed by the base station will hand over to, A second acquisition unit that acquires success rate information from the cell, indicating the success rate when the terminal performs a handover to the candidate cell included in the neighbor list. A selection unit identifies candidate cells for which the success rate of handover from the cell to the candidate cell is 0 for a predetermined period of time, based on the success rate information. A deletion unit removes the candidate cell identified by the identification unit from the neighbor list, An information processing device equipped with the following features.

2. The system further includes a memory unit that stores information identifying the base station under management and information identifying the vendor that manufactured the base station, in association with each other. The deletion unit determines whether the candidate base station of the candidate cell identified by the identification unit is a candidate base station of a different vendor than the base station's vendor, and if it is a different vendor, deletes the candidate cell from the neighbor list. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

3. The first acquisition unit further acquires an external cell list from the base station, which shows a list of external cells that include the candidate cell formed by the candidate base station forming the candidate cell. The deletion unit deletes the external cell from the external cell list if the external cell is not included in the base station's neighbor list. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

4. At least one of the aforementioned base station or candidate base station communicates with the terminal using the fourth-generation communication standard. The first acquisition unit acquires the X2 list, which is a list of candidate base stations, from the base station. The deletion unit deletes the candidate base station from the X2 list if all the cells formed by the candidate base station are not included in the external cell list. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3.

5. Computers Regarding a base station that relays communication between terminals, the first acquisition step is to obtain a neighbor list indicating candidate base stations that terminals connected to that base station can hand over to, and A second acquisition step of obtaining success rate information from the base station, which indicates the success rate when the terminal performs a handover to a candidate base station of a different vendor than the base station's vendor among the candidate base stations included in the neighbor list, A selection step of identifying a candidate base station for which the success rate of handover from the base station to the candidate base station is 0 for a predetermined period of time, based on the success rate information, A deletion step in which the candidate base station identified in the above-mentioned specific step is removed from the neighbor list, A setting step in which the neighbor list after deleting the candidate base station in the deletion step is set to the base station, An information processing method that performs the following.

6. On the computer, Regarding a base station that relays communication between terminals, the first acquisition function obtains a neighbor list indicating candidate base stations that terminals connected to that base station can hand over to, and A second acquisition function that acquires success rate information from the base station, indicating the success rate when the terminal performs a handover to a candidate base station from a vendor different from the base station's vendor among the candidate base stations included in the neighbor list, A selection function that identifies candidate base stations for which the success rate of handover from the base station to the candidate base station is 0 for a predetermined period of time, based on the success rate information, A deletion function that removes the candidate base station identified by the aforementioned specific function from the neighbor list, An information processing program that makes this possible.

7. Regarding a base station that relays communication between terminals, a first acquisition unit acquires a neighbor list indicating candidate base stations that terminals connected to the base station can hand over to, A second acquisition unit that acquires success rate information from the base station indicating the success rate when the terminal performs a handover to a candidate base station that is managed by a different base station management method than the base station, among the candidate base stations included in the neighbor list. A selection unit identifies candidate base stations for which the success rate of handover from the base station to the candidate base station is 0 for a predetermined period of time, based on the success rate information. A deletion unit removes the candidate base station identified by the identification unit from the neighbor list, An information processing device equipped with the following features.

8. The information processing device according to claim 7, wherein the first base station management method for managing the base station does not remove the candidate base station from the neighbor list of the base station, and the second base station management method for managing the candidate base station does not manage the base station.

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