Management device, communication control system, and communication control method

Abstract

To determine a communication path which satisfies a communication requirement in response to operation of an application.SOLUTION: The present invention relates to a management device for selecting a communication path which satisfies a communication requirement of an application. The management device comprises: an event detection unit for detecting an operation change of the application with a change of the communication requirement or an increase / decrease of the application as an event; application information managing the communication requirement for each operation of the application; communication path information managing a communication quality for each communication path; and a communication control method determination unit which refers to the application information and the communication path information, determines a communication control method satisfying the communication requirement of the application in which the event is detected, and notifies a communication control device of the communication control method.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a management device, a communication control system, and a communication control method in a multi-access network. [Background technology]

[0002] Recent advances in wireless communication systems have made it possible to provide high-quality wireless networks with high capacity and low latency. As a result, the use of wireless communication systems is being considered for applications that require high communication quality, such as remote medical services and remote robot control, which have been difficult to achieve until now. In addition, among the aforementioned applications, wireless communication systems are expected to be applied to mission-critical applications that require high reliability.

[0003] However, due to the nature of wireless communication, it is difficult to guarantee high reliability at all times. The strength of received radio waves fluctuates due to the reflection and attenuation of radio waves by the terrain and objects, and communication can become difficult depending on the state of the terminal.

[0004] As a conventional technique for solving such a problem, there is a technique for switching between a plurality of communication systems, such as a public mobile communication system, a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), and a wired LAN, depending on the communication environment and the application.For example, Patent Document 1 describes a wireless transmission device that includes a plurality of wireless modules that perform wireless transmission using mutually different methods, a switch unit that switches between the wireless modules to be operated, a content information notification unit that outputs information that identifies the content to be transmitted and information associated with the content to be transmitted, and an application recognition unit that determines the priority of each wireless module based on the information that identifies the content to be transmitted and the information associated with the content to be transmitted and outputs the determined priority to the switch unit, and the switch unit selects one of the wireless modules based on the priority. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2012-15725 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The technology described in Patent Document 1 allows multiple communication systems to be switched depending on the communication environment and the application content. On the other hand, when an application operates by switching between different communication requirements (throughput, delay, etc.), such as a video distribution service that allows users to select any resolution to watch, control according to changes in the application's operation is required. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately detect changes in the application's operation, and the technology described in Patent Document 1, which does not have the above mechanism, may not be able to satisfy the communication requirements when the application's operation changes.

[0007] The present invention aims to provide a communication control system and management device that determines a communication path that satisfies communication requirements in accordance with the operation of an application in a method of using multiple communication systems by adaptively switching communication paths depending on the communication environment, etc. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] A representative example of the invention disclosed in the present application is as follows: A management device for selecting a communication path that satisfies communication requirements of an application includes an event detection unit that detects an operation change of the application that accompanies a change in the communication requirements or an increase or decrease in the application as an event, application information that manages communication requirements for each operation of the application, communication path information that manages communication quality for each communication path, and a communication control method calculation unit that refers to the application information and the communication path information to determine a communication control method that satisfies the communication requirements of the application for which the event has been detected, and notifies the communication control device. The communication control method calculation unit determines a communication control method that satisfies the communication requirements of the application by using a single communication path to which communication control is not applied, or a communication path that uses any of route redundancy control for transmitting the same packet to multiple communication paths, carrier aggregation control for distributing and transmitting packets to multiple communication paths, error correction control for adjusting a packet coding rate, and continuous transmission control for duplicating and transmitting packets to a single communication path, or all communication paths that use a combination of route redundancy, carrier aggregation, error correction, and continuous transmission control. It is characterized by the above. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to select a communication path that satisfies communication requirements corresponding to an application operation in accordance with the application operation. Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an overall configuration of a communication control system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a management device according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 3] 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a communication control device according to a first embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a logical block diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of each device in the first embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a communication control process when an operation of an application is changed in the first embodiment. [Figure 6] 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a format of an application operation change notification according to the first embodiment. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a calculation procedure of a communication control method for performing communication control at minimum cost in the present embodiment. [Figure 8] 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a calculation procedure of a communication control method for implementing communication control in accordance with an optimization item in the present embodiment. [Figure 9A] 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a table managed in an application information database according to the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 9B] 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a table managed in an application information database according to the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 10] 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a table managed in an application information database in a case where an application transmits a plurality of different types of traffic in the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 11]11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table configuration managed in an application information database when communication control according to an optimization item is performed in the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 12] 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a table of a communication path database in the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 13] 11 is a diagram illustrating a communication quality calculation function for converting measured information into communication quality information in the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 14] 11 is a diagram illustrating communication quality information expressed in a functional format in the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 15] 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a communication path calculated by a communication control method calculation unit of the management device in the first embodiment. [Figure 16A] 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a communication control method determined by a communication control method calculation unit of the management device in the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 16B] 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a communication control method determined by a communication control method calculation unit of the management device in the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 17] 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen by a control information display unit in the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 18] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an input screen by an input unit in the first embodiment. [Figure 19] FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of each device in the second embodiment. [Figure 20] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a communication control process triggered by external information in the second embodiment. [Figure 21] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of an application operation change detection table used when detecting an operation change of an application from external information in the second embodiment. [Figure 22] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a processing procedure for communication control triggered by a change in a communication path in the third embodiment. [Figure 23] FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of a communication path change detection table 2301 used when detecting a communication path change in the third embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] The embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown below. These embodiments are merely illustrative, and the present invention can be implemented in various forms with various modifications and improvements based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art. In this specification and drawings, the same components are given the same reference numerals. Furthermore, when it is not necessary to separately explain the components, they are described without a subscript (e.g., communication control device 102), and when it is necessary to separately explain the components, they are described with a subscript (e.g., communication control device 102-A, communication control device 102-B).

[0012] <Example 1> FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of a communication control system according to this embodiment.

[0013] The communication control system includes a management device 101 that calculates a communication control method when a database for communication control is updated and when the operation of an application is changed, and a communication control device 102 that controls traffic transmitted from an application of a terminal 103 based on the settings calculated by the management device 101. The management device 101 and the communication control device 102 are connected via at least one of a communication path 104 and a network such as the Internet to enable the exchange of information such as the communication control method.

[0014] The communication control devices 102 are connected to each other via one or more communication paths 104. Communication requirements for various applications can be satisfied by implementing control such as selection of a communication path and route redundancy in which packets are duplicated and transmitted to multiple communication paths according to communication quality such as throughput and delay of the communication path 104. Either wired or wireless communication path 104 can be selected, and for example, Ethernet (registered trademark), LTE (registered trademark), WiFi (registered trademark), 5G, etc. can be configured as the communication path 104.

[0015] The terminal 103 is connected to the communication control device 102 via wire or wirelessly.

[0016] 1, for example, the communication control device 102-B may have multiple communication paths 104. The management device 101 and the communication control device 102 may be connected by a dedicated communication path. Multiple terminals 103 may be connected via a network switch or the like. Furthermore, the terminal 103 and the communication control device 102 may be realized by hardware having the same configuration, or the management device 101 and the communication control device 102 may be realized by hardware having the same configuration.

[0017] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the management device 101 in this embodiment.

[0018] The management device 101 in the embodiment is configured by a computer having a processor (CPU: Central Processing Unit) 201, a memory 202, an auxiliary storage device 204, and a communication interface 205. The management device 101 may also have an input interface 203 and an output interface 206.

[0019] The processor 201 is a calculation device that executes programs stored in the memory 202. The processor 201 executes various programs to realize various functions of the device. Note that some of the processes performed by the processor 201 by executing the programs may be executed by other calculation devices (for example, hardware such as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)).

[0020] The memory 202 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), which is a non-volatile storage element, and a RAM (Random Access Memory), which is a volatile storage element. The ROM stores immutable programs (e.g., BIOS: Basic Input Output System), etc. The RAM is a high-speed, volatile storage element such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), and temporarily stores programs executed by the processor 201 and data used when the programs are executed.

[0021] The auxiliary storage device 204 is, for example, a large-capacity non-volatile storage device such as a magnetic storage device (HDD: Hard Disk Drive) or a flash memory (SSD: Solid State Drive). The auxiliary storage device 204 also stores data used by the processor 201 when executing a program, and the program executed by the processor 201. That is, the program is read from the auxiliary storage device 204, loaded into the memory 202, and executed by the processor 201 to realize each function of the device.

[0022] The communication interface 205 is a network interface device that controls communication with other devices (e.g., the communication control device 102) in accordance with a predetermined protocol. A sensor 211 is connected to the communication interface 205. The sensor 211 detects at least one of a network state, a process state, and external information (e.g., time, position information, acceleration, brightness, sound, image, vibration, and angular velocity) that are events that cause an operation change of an application. The operation change of an application includes a change in the operation state of the application, an increase due to new execution of the application, and a decrease due to stopping of execution of the application. The sensor 211 may be connected to the input interface 203.

[0023] The input interface 203 is an interface to which input devices such as a keyboard 208 and a mouse 209 are connected and which receives input from the outside. The output interface 206 is an interface to which output devices such as a display device 210 and a printer (not shown) are connected and which outputs the results of program execution in a format that can be viewed by the user. Note that an input device (e.g., a sensor 211) and an output device connected to the management device 101 via a network may input and output data. In this case, the management device 101 may have a function of a web server, and the input device and the output device may access the management device 101 using a predetermined protocol (e.g., http).

[0024] The programs executed by the processor 201 are provided to the management device 101 via removable media (CD-ROM: Compact Disc-Read only memory, flash memory, etc.) or a network, and are stored in a non-volatile auxiliary storage device 204, which is a non-transitory storage medium. For this reason, it is preferable that the management device 101 has an interface for reading data from removable media.

[0025] The management device 101 is a computer system configured on a single physical computer, or on multiple logically or physically configured computers, and may operate on a virtual computer constructed on multiple physical computer resources.

[0026] Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of the communication control device 102 in this embodiment. The communication control device 102 in this embodiment is configured by a computer having a processor 201, a memory 202, an auxiliary storage device 204, and a communication interface 205. The functions of each unit are the same as those in Fig. 2, so detailed explanations will be omitted. Note that an input / output interface may be provided in addition to the configuration shown in Fig. 3.

[0027] FIG. 4 is a logical block diagram showing an example of the software configuration of each device in this embodiment.

[0028] The management device 101 has an event detection unit 401 that detects changes in the operation of an application, a communication control method calculation unit 402 that calculates a communication control method, a control status display unit 403 that displays the current communication control status to the user, an input unit 404 that inputs the contents of the DB, an application information database 405 that holds information about applications used to calculate the communication control method, and a communication path database 406 that similarly holds information about communication paths used to calculate the communication control method.

[0029] The communication control device 102 includes a communication path quality measurement unit 407 that periodically measures information related to the quality of the communication path, and a communication control unit 408 that performs communication control. The quality of the communication path is, for example, throughput, delay, packet loss rate, and the like.

[0030] The terminal 103 includes a control system cooperation unit 409 that notifies the management device 101 of a change in the operation of the application.

[0031] In this embodiment, the event detection unit 401 of the management device 101 detects an operation change of an application using an application operation change notification 601 (described later in FIG. 6) transmitted from the terminal 103, and requests the communication control method calculation unit 402 to calculate a communication control method. This enables communication control according to the operation of the application. The processing procedure of the communication control will be specifically described with reference to FIG. 5.

[0032] 5 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a communication control process when the operation of an application is changed in this embodiment. Specific steps will be described below.

[0033] Step S501: The terminal 103 detects a change in the operation of an application in the control system cooperation unit 409, App behavior change notification 601to the management device 101. The control system cooperation unit 409 detects an operation change of the application by monitoring the state of the process, input and output of the network interface used by the application, a notification from the application, and the like. FIG. 6 shows an example of a format of the application operation change notification 601. For example, when a vehicle control application running on the terminal 103 detects an abnormality such as an obstacle being found on the road surface by an on-board camera and the application transitions to an emergency state, the application operation change notification 601 illustrated in FIG. 6 is issued. The application operation change notification 601 must include at least an identifier (App ID) for identifying the application and the operation state of the application after the change. The application identifier, the application operation state, and the communication requirements of the application related to the application operation state are managed in the application information database 405. Details of the application information database 405 will be described later with reference to FIG. 9A.

[0034] Step S502: The management device 101 receives the application operation change notification 601 transmitted from the terminal 103 at the event detection unit 401. With reference to the application ID and the changed operation state of the application contained in the application operation change notification 601, the management device 101 updates an application operation state table 902 (described later in FIG. 9B) related to the current operation state of the application held by the application information database 405. Thereafter, the event detection unit 401 transmits a command to start calculation of a communication control method to the communication control method calculation unit 402.

[0035] Step S503: The management device 101 calculates the communication control method in the communication control method calculation unit 402. After that, the management device 101 notifies the calculated communication control method to the communication control device 102. Details of step S503 will be described later. Note that, although the communication control method is notified to the communication control device 102 on the transmitting side and the communication control device 102 on the receiving side in FIG. 5, the communication control method may be notified only to the communication control device 102 on the transmitting side.

[0036] Step S504: The communication control device 102 switches the communication control method based on the communication control method received from the management device 101. At this time, the communication control device 102 identifies the traffic transmitted by the application to be controlled by using information such as an IPv4 address and a port number included in the communication control method.

[0037] The above processing procedure detects changes in application operation and enables communication control according to the application operation. In this embodiment, communication control is performed after the application operation is changed, but in order to reduce the time during which there is a discrepancy between the application operation state and the communication requirements, the application operation may be changed after the communication control method is switched. In this case, after the communication control is performed, the communication control unit 408 of the communication control device 102 notifies the control system cooperation unit 409 of the terminal 103 of the switch in the communication control method, and the terminal 103 changes the application operation after receiving the notification. Switching steps may be added after step S504. In addition to the change in the operation of the applications, even when the number of applications is changed, for example, when a fail-safe application is separately started in an emergency, the control system cooperation unit 409 of the terminal 103 detects an increase or decrease in the number of applications using a means such as process name monitoring in step S501, and transmits a notice (application operation change notification 601) to each of the increased or decreased applications that the operation has been changed to a stopped state or the like, thereby enabling communication control.

[0038] The communication control method calculation procedure (step S503) determined by the communication control method calculation unit 402 of the management device 101 will now be described in detail.

[0039] First example: Example of communication control to minimize costs 7 is a flowchart showing an example of a calculation procedure of a communication control method for implementing communication control with minimum cost in this embodiment. The process contents of each step will be explained below.

[0040] Step S701: Based on the communication requirements of the applications and the communication quality information of the communication path, start calculating a communication control method for the traffic transmitted by all applications between the communication control devices 102. Note that the applications for which the communication control method is calculated may be some applications, such as applications for which an operation change has been notified and newly added applications, taking into consideration the calculation time and a situation in which high-priority applications cannot be accommodated.

[0041] Step S702: An application requirement table 901 of applications communicating between the communication control devices 102 to be calculated is obtained from the application information database 405. The application requirement table 901 includes information for identifying applications to be communication-controlled and grasping specific communication contents (application identifier, communication section, communication requirements, priority, etc.). Specific examples of the application requirement table will be described later with reference to Figs. 9A, 10, and 11.

[0042] Step S703: An application operation state table 902 (application identifier, application operation state) of the application communicating between the communication control devices 102 to be calculated is acquired from the application information database 405. Then, the acquired application operation state table 902 is referenced to grasp the current application operation state, and items that do not apply to the current application operation state are excluded from the items included in the application requirement table 901 acquired in step S702. A specific example of the application operation state table will be described later with reference to FIG. 9A.

[0043] Step S704: A communication path table 1201 of the communication paths between the communication control devices 102 to be calculated is obtained from the communication path database 406. The communication path table 1201 includes information on the identification of the communication path and the quality of the communication path (communication path identifier, communication quality, cost, etc.). A specific example of the communication path table 1201 will be described later with reference to FIG. 12.

[0044] Step S705: In order to perform communication control starting from the application with the highest priority, the priority item in the application requirement table 901 is referenced, and the application with the highest priority is obtained from among the applications for which the communication control method has not been determined. Note that since different applications have different priorities, a situation does not arise in which multiple applications are considered at the same time. Also, if the same application performs the same operation, the same priority may be set.

[0045] Step S706: Within the range of communication resources, a single unprocessed (uncontrolled) communication path is used, or a packet is sent to multiple communication paths for route redundancy, multiple communication paths are aggregated for use, or redundant information is added to the packet for use at the receiving end. Enables error correction The calculation is performed for communication paths that use FEC, which uses packet duplication within the same communication path, communication paths that use continuous transmission control, or all communication paths that use a combination of route redundancy, carrier aggregation, FEC, and continuous transmission control. The communication resources are the total available bandwidth (the maximum bandwidth allocated to the communication control device 102 minus the bandwidth already allocated to the application) of the communication paths that can be used in the target section. The available bandwidth is managed within the program of the communication control method calculation unit 402, and an initial value equal to the maximum bandwidth is obtained from the communication path database 406, and the value is updated thereafter each time the communication control method for each application is decided.

[0046] For example, consider a situation in which a maximum bandwidth of 50 Mbps is assigned from the communication control device 102-A to the communication control device 102-B, and a high-priority application A attempts to communicate at 30 Mbps and a low-priority application B attempts to communicate at 10 Mbps. When the communication control method for application A is determined, a communication path is calculated within the communication resources of 50 Mbps, which is equal to the maximum bandwidth. If an unprocessed single communication path is assigned to application A, the remaining communication resources are 20 Mbps (=50 Mbps-30 Mbps), and when the communication control method for application B is determined, a communication path is calculated within the range of the communication resources of 20 Mbps. When the communication control method is determined for all applications, the initial value of the available bandwidth is equal to the maximum bandwidth assigned to the communication control device 102, but when the communication control method is determined for some applications, the total value of the bandwidth assigned to the some applications may be set as the initial value of the available bandwidth. In this way, by determining the communication control method from the application with the high priority, when the communication requirements of the applications cannot be satisfied even if all communication resources are used, the application with the high priority is accommodated first, and the accommodation of the application with the low priority is stopped.

[0047] In addition, all communication paths calculated in step S706 are communication paths calculated for all combinations of the above-mentioned redundancy techniques that can be assumed within the scope of communication resources, including the minimum configuration of an unprocessed single communication path. For example, in the case of continuous transmission control, all patterns are calculated from a communication path with a continuous transmission count of 1 (continuous transmission control not applied) to a communication path with a continuous transmission count of N (N is the maximum value allowed within the scope of communication resources). Communication paths that use or combine route redundancy, carrier aggregation, FEC, and continuous transmission control are calculated based on the information in the communication path table acquired in step S704. Details of the calculation method will be described later with reference to FIG. 15.

[0048] Step S707: Among the communication paths calculated in step S706, whether or not there is a communication path that satisfies the communication requirements of the application (throughput, delay, packet loss rate, cost upper limit, etc.) is confirmed by communication quality information (maximum bandwidth, delay, packet loss rate, cost, etc.). This judgment is made by the magnitude of the numerical value of the corresponding item of the communication requirements of the application and the communication quality information (for example, it is judged to be satisfied when the delay of the communication path is smaller than the delay of the communication requirements of the application). If there is a communication path that satisfies the communication requirements of the application, the available bandwidth value of each communication path is updated and then the process proceeds to step S708, and if there is no communication path, the communication control is not performed and a message that the application is not accommodated is recorded and the process proceeds to step S709. Note that, in an application that communicates bidirectionally, it is necessary to satisfy the communication requirements of the application in both directions, and if even one of them is not satisfied, it is judged that there is no communication path that satisfies the communication requirements of the application. Also, if the communication requirements of the application are given as a character string (for example, high security), it is converted into a numerical value in a manner previously determined by the user and the magnitude is compared.

[0049] Step S708: Among the communication paths that satisfy the communication requirements of the application determined in step S707, a communication path with the smallest cost is selected. The cost is a disadvantage that occurs when selecting a communication path, and the value varies depending on the communication path and communication control method used. Examples of the cost include the bandwidth used, the monetary cost and power consumption of the user or system operator, and it is preferable to determine the cost from at least one of these. Specific examples of the cost will be described later with reference to FIG. 15. Step S708 The cost minimization in is one policy, and may be an item to be optimized as described later in FIG. 8, or another index may be used.

[0050] Step S709: It is determined whether the communication control method has been determined for all applications in the application requirement table 901 acquired in step S702. If there is an application for which the communication control method has not been determined, the process proceeds to step S705; if there is no application for which the communication control method has not been determined, the process proceeds to step S710.

[0051] Step S710: The communication control method determined in steps S702 to S709 is notified to the control status display unit 403 of the management device 101 and the communication control unit 408 of the communication control device 102. Upon receiving the notification, the control status display unit 403 presents the communication control method to the user, and the communication control device 102 refers to the communication control method and performs communication control. The management device 101 may use information from the communication path database 406 to select the most stable communication path and transmit the control command.

[0052] Step S711: Calculation of the communication control method for the traffic transmitted by the application between the communication control devices 102 is completed based on the communication requirements of the application and the communication quality information of the communication path.

[0053] Thus, in the first concrete example Communication Control Method In the decision step, the application is determined based on the communication requirements of the application and the communication quality information of the communication path. Communication Control Method When determining a communication path that satisfies the communication requirements of an application, in addition to a raw single communication path, it calculates communication paths that use technologies to improve the quality of the communication path, such as route redundancy, carrier aggregation, FEC, and continuous transmission control, or that are used in combination, and selects a communication path from these communication paths, including the case where a communication path with high communication quality is used. Communication Control Method In addition, by determining the communication path with consideration of the cost, it is possible to perform cost-effective communication control while satisfying the communication requirements of the application.

[0054] - Second example: Example of implementing communication control according to optimization items Fig. 8 is a flow chart showing an example of a calculation procedure of a communication control method for implementing communication control in accordance with optimization items in this embodiment. The processing of each step from step S701 to step S707 and step S709 to step S711 is the same as the procedure shown in Fig. 7, so a description thereof will be omitted. Below, the processing contents of each step that differ from the procedure shown in Fig. 7 will be described.

[0055] Step S801: From among the communication paths that satisfy the communication requirements of the application determined in step S707, a communication path that meets the optimization items specified by the user is selected. Examples of the optimization items include minimizing delay, minimizing packet loss rate, and maximizing throughput. The optimization items are set in advance in the application requirement table 901 of the application information database 405. Specific examples of the optimization items will be described later with reference to FIG. 11.

[0056] In this way, by determining the communication path while taking into consideration the optimization items set by the user in advance, communication control is possible even when cost efficiency is not maximized. This makes it possible to meet requests such as minimizing communication delays rather than costs, or maximizing bandwidth rather than costs.

[0057] 9A and 9B are diagrams illustrating examples of the configuration of a table managed in the application information database 405 in this embodiment. 9A and 9B illustrate both the direction from the communication control device 102-A to the communication control device 102-B and the reverse direction.

[0058] The application requirement table 901 shown in FIG. 9A includes an application identifier (App ID), an application operation identifier (operation type) for identifying communication requirements for each application operation, information for associating an application with a communication section (source device ID, destination device ID), information for identifying an application during communication control (source IPv4: port , destination IPv4: port ), communication requirements of the application (throughput, delay, packet loss rate, cost upper limit), and priority of the communication resource allocation order. Since the application requirement table 901 holds the communication requirements of the application corresponding to the operation of the application, Communication Control Method In addition, the following information is used to identify the application during communication control: IPv6 AddressAlternatively, unique information included in the payload of a packet transmitted by an application may be used. Items required by a user for a communication path, such as security, environmental load, and availability, may be added to the communication requirements of an application, and unnecessary items may be removed. Also, the application requirement table 901 may be divided into multiple parts, such as by communication direction or source / destination communication control device.

[0059] The application operation state table 902 shown in FIG. 9B includes information (operation state) that indicates the current application operation state corresponding to the application identifier (App ID) and the operation identifier of the application. By referring to the application operation state table 902, the current application operation state is grasped, and based on the current situation, Communication Control Method It should be noted that the application requirement table 901 and the application operation state table 902 may be integrated together, for example, by adding an item "current state" to the application requirement table 901.

[0060] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a table managed by the application information database 405 in the case where applications transmit a plurality of different types of traffic.

[0061] When an application transmits multiple types of traffic with different communication requirements, communication control is possible by adding an identifier (data type) indicating the traffic type to the application requirement table in order to identify the communication requirements for each traffic type, as shown in application requirement table 1001. During actual communication control, the communication control device 102 identifies the application and the data type of the traffic, for example, by including information corresponding to the data type in the payload of a packet. Note that by setting different priorities for each data type in the priority item, communication control can be performed in which control traffic with high importance is given priority over video traffic with low importance.

[0062] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a table configuration managed by the application information database 405 when communication control is performed according to an optimization item.

[0063] When following the optimization items shown in the flowchart of Fig. 8, communication control is possible according to the optimization items in application requirement table 1101. The optimization items include communication quality information (throughput, delay, cost, etc.) and information on the communication quality information to be maximized or minimized. If two or more optimization items are required, it is advisable to additionally manage the item to be optimized second.

[0064] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a table in the communication path database 406 in this embodiment.

[0065] The communication path table 1201 includes a communication path identifier (communication path ID), information for associating a communication path with a communication section (source device ID, destination device ID), and communication quality information for determining whether the communication path satisfies the communication requirements of the application (maximum bandwidth, delay, packet loss rate, power consumption, usage fee, cost). The communication quality information may be directly input by the user, or the management device 101 may collect and use information measured by the communication path quality measurement unit 407 of the communication control device 102, or the management device 101 may collect communication quality information from an external system or the like via a network. The measurement may be either direct measurement, which directly measures communication quality information by measuring delay using ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol), or indirect measurement, which collects a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measured by a wireless communication interface of the terminal 103 and estimates communication quality information by converting the collected SNR to a maximum bandwidth. When indirect measurement is used, at least one of the management device 101 and the communication control device 102 may be configured to use the communication quality information shown in FIG. 13. Communication channel quality calculation function It is advisable to convert the measured information into communication quality information when registering the information in the communication path database 406 or when calculating the communication control method. Communication channel quality calculation functionis just one example, and it is also possible to calculate the maximum bandwidth from the number of connected users of a wireless base station, to calculate the packet loss rate or the maximum bandwidth from the received radio wave strength, to calculate the delay from the date and time or location information, etc. Also, a different function may be used for each communication path.

[0066] The communication quality information is not limited to a constant, and may be in a functional format, such as a function that manages delay with a probability distribution function or a function that calculates cost from the number of transmitted bytes, as shown in the communication quality information (function format) in Fig. 14. Note that the communication quality information shown in Fig. 14 is an example, and may be a function that calculates cost from power consumption and the number of transmitted bytes.

[0067] Furthermore, the management device 101 may use information from the communication path database 406 to select the most stable communication path and collect communication quality information.

[0068] 15 is a diagram showing an example of communication paths calculated by the communication control method calculation unit 402 of the management device 101. The top three communication paths are unprocessed single communication paths, and the fourth and subsequent communication paths are communication paths calculated from the unprocessed single communication path using route redundancy, carrier aggregation, FEC or continuous transmission control, with the fourth being a communication path to which continuous transmission control (two consecutive packets, LTE is used), the fifth being FEC (coding rate 3 / 5, LTE is used), the sixth being carrier aggregation (LTE, 5G is used), and the seventh being route redundancy (LTE, 5G is used). The program of the communication control method calculation unit 402 calculates the following for the communication paths: Each communication control method The calculation method for the communication quality (maximum bandwidth, delay, packet loss rate, etc.) and the change in cost when the above is applied is managed, and this calculation method is used Communication Control Method The above-mentioned calculation method can be defined, for example, by a user inputting the calculation method to the communication control method calculation unit 402 via the input interface 203 of the management device 101 in advance, or by reading a file storing the calculation method. Note that the above-mentioned calculation method may be changed during operation of the communication control system.

[0069] A method of calculating each communication path from a single raw communication path in this embodiment will be described. Note that the values ​​of each communication quality information described below are based on the application before the application of communication control. For example, when applying continuous transmission control (two continuous transmissions) to a communication path with an original maximum bandwidth of 50 Mbps, the application before the application of communication control requires twice the bandwidth after the application of communication control, so the maximum bandwidth of the calculated communication path will be 25 Mbps, half that of the original communication path.

[0070] Application of continuous transmission control: This communication path uses only LTE as the communication path, and by duplicating packets and sending them twice in succession, it is possible to use a high-quality communication path with a low packet loss rate. The maximum bandwidth is half of the maximum bandwidth of LTE, because packets are duplicated and sent twice in succession. Regarding delay, since it is necessary to wait for the subsequent packet when a packet loss occurs, the average delay increases slightly, but it is considered to be negligible and is the same as the delay value of LTE. Regarding packet loss rate, it is considered that the probability of losing each packet is independent, and the value of the packet loss rate of LTE is the square of the number of continuous transmissions. Regarding cost, since the communication volume increases in proportion to the number of continuous transmissions due to continuous packet transmission in the pay-per-use usage fee (yen / MB), it is set to twice the cost of LTE.

[0071] FEC applied: This communication channel uses only LTE as the communication channel, and by processing the payload part of the packet and adding an error correction code, a high-quality communication channel with a low packet loss rate can be used. The maximum bandwidth is determined by considering that the available bandwidth decreases according to the amount of redundant information added, Maximum bandwidth The delay is multiplied by the coding rate. Although delay increases slightly due to the transmission of redundant information, it is considered to be negligible and is set to the same as the delay for LTE. The packet loss rate is set to 0.01 multiplied by the LTE packet loss rate, assuming that 1% of packets that are erroneous when using LTE cannot be corrected due to error correction coding. The cost is set to the inverse of the LTE cost, since the communication volume increases according to the coding rate in the pay-per-use fee (yen / MB).

[0072] Carrier aggregation applied: This communication channel uses both LTE and 5G as communication channels, and generates a high-quality communication channel with a large maximum bandwidth by using both channels. Since two communication channels are used simultaneously, the maximum bandwidth is the sum of the maximum bandwidth of LTE and the maximum bandwidth of 5G. The delay, packet loss rate, and cost are basically the average values ​​of the LTE values ​​and the 5G values, assuming that packets are sent alternately over the two routes. Note that any method can be used for distributing packets to each communication channel, such as prioritizing LTE or changing the distribution rate according to the proportion of the maximum bandwidth.

[0073] Route redundancy application: In this communication path, LTE and 5G are used together as communication paths, packets are duplicated and transmitted redundantly to each communication path, allowing the use of high-quality communication paths with low packet loss rates. As for the maximum bandwidth, the same packet is duplicated and transmitted to each communication path, so the same bandwidth is required for each communication path, and the communication path with the smallest maximum bandwidth becomes the bottleneck. Therefore, of the maximum bandwidth values ​​of LTE and 5G, the value of LTE, which has the smaller maximum bandwidth, is used. As for delay, when packet loss occurs in 5G, which has a smaller delay, the average delay increases slightly because LTE packets have to wait for them, but this is considered to be almost negligible, and the delay value is the same as that of 5G. As for the packet loss rate, the probability of losing each packet is considered to be independent, and the value of the packet loss rate of LTE is squared by the number of redundant paths. As for the cost, the total value of the LTE cost and the 5G cost is used because LTE and 5G communication paths are used simultaneously.

[0074] By combining the above-mentioned concepts, it is possible to create a higher quality communication path by combining two or more of route redundancy, carrier aggregation, FEC, and continuous transmission control.

[0075] The calculation method of the communication path calculation process (step S706) described above is an example, and can be freely set by the user since it varies depending on the characteristics of the communication path and the configuration of the network. When determining the communication control method for multiple applications, the maximum bandwidth of the calculated communication path list 1501 may be read as the available bandwidth.

[0076] 16A and 16B are diagrams illustrating an example of a communication control method determined by the communication control method calculation unit 402 of the management device 101 in this embodiment. The communication control method in this embodiment is determined so as to minimize the cost.

[0077] The communication control method 1601-A is a communication control method when the vehicle control App is in a normal operating state, and the communication control method 1601-B is a communication control method when the vehicle control App is in an emergency operating state. The information held by the communication control methods 1601-A and 1600-B does not change depending on the operating state of the application, and includes an application identifier (App ID), an application operation identifier (operating state), information on whether to perform communication control of the application (accommodation availability), information for associating the application with the communication section (source device ID, destination device ID), information for identifying the application during communication control (source IPv4: port, destination IPv4: port), whether or not each of route redundancy, carrier aggregation, FEC, and continuous transmission control is applied, and traffic allocation. The application identifier, application operation identifier, information for associating the application with the communication section, and information for identifying the application during communication control are the same as the information described in the application requirement table 901 of the application information database 405. The communication control device 102 assigns a source IPv4 address , source port, destination IPv4 address The system identifies traffic sent by applications that are subject to communication control by using information such as the destination port, etc. If the traffic is determined to be subject to communication control, communication control is implemented by referring to information on whether or not route redundancy, carrier aggregation, FEC, and continuous transmission control are applied, as well as traffic allocation information.

[0078] FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen by the control status display unit 403 in this embodiment.

[0079] The communication path status 1701 displays a part or all of the communication path information held in the communication path database 406. This allows the user to visually and quickly grasp the communication quality information of each communication path.

[0080] The communication control status 1702 displays a part or all of the communication control method 1601 calculated by the management device 101. This allows the user to quickly and visually grasp the communication control currently being implemented.

[0081] FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen by the input unit 404 in this embodiment.

[0082] The new communication path input section includes a communication path input form 1801 for inputting items for registering a new communication path in the communication path database 406, and a communication path DB registration button 1802 for registering the input contents in the communication path database 406. The contents of the communication path input form 1801 correspond to the contents of the communication path table 1201 in the communication path database 406. The new communication path input section allows new communication path information to be registered in the communication path database 406 quickly and in a manner that is easy for anyone to understand.

[0083] The new application input section includes an application information input form 1803 for inputting items for registering new application information in application information database 405, and an application information DB registration button 1804 for registering the input contents in application information database 405. The contents of application information input form 1803 correspond to the contents of application requirement table 901 in application information database 405. The new application input section allows new application information to be registered in application information database 405 quickly and in a manner that is easy for anyone to understand.

[0084] The new communication path input unit and the new application input unit can not only add new applications but also update information that has already been registered.

[0085] <Example 2> A second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, a case where communication control is performed in response to external information input will be described with reference to Fig. 19, Fig. 20, and Fig. 21. Note that various configurations and processes related to this embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, except for the software configuration in each device shown in Fig. 19, the communication control process when external information is input shown in Fig. 20, and the application operation change detection table shown in Fig. 21, and therefore descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0086] Fig. 19 is a block diagram showing an example of the software configuration of each device in this embodiment. In this embodiment, unlike the first embodiment shown in Fig. 4, the terminal 103 does not have the control system cooperation unit 409. This is the case, for example, when it is difficult to introduce software into the terminal 103 and the terminal 103 does not have the control system cooperation unit 409. In this case, in the first embodiment, the application operation change notification 601 transmitted from the control system cooperation unit 409 of the terminal 103 is used to detect the operation change of the application, so that communication control when the operation change of the application is made is difficult.

[0087] In order to solve this problem, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 19, the event detection unit 401 receives an input from the sensor 211. The operation of an application is often changed due to some external input such as a change in environment or location, a change in time, or a manual input. Therefore, the event detection unit 401 can realize communication control according to the operation change of the application by associating some condition set by the user, such as a sensor value (e.g., time, position information, acceleration, brightness, sound, image, vibration, angular velocity) acquired by the sensor 211 exceeding a threshold value, with the sensor value as an event of the operation change of the application. The condition for associating the external information with the operation change of the application may be managed in the application operation change detection table 2101 of the application information database 405. Details of the application operation change detection table 2101 will be described later with reference to FIG. 21. Note that the change in the operation of the application may be detected due to external information other than the sensor value acquired by the sensor 211 (e.g., Web text, manual text via a keyboard, notification from an external system, etc.). Furthermore, the external information may be collected passively or actively by the event detection unit 401 of the management device 101 from a remote sensor 211 via a communication network at a predetermined timing (for example, at regular intervals). Fig. 20 shows a specific communication control process procedure.

[0088] FIG. 20 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a communication control process triggered by external information in this embodiment.

[0089] Steps S502 to S504 are the same as the procedure shown in Fig. 5 and therefore will be omitted. Unlike the first embodiment in which communication control is implemented in response to an application operation change notification 601, communication control is implemented in response to a process (step S2001) in which the event detection unit 401 detects an application operation change based on an external information input. This makes it possible to control communication even in the case where the terminal 103 does not include the control system cooperation unit 409. The detection of an application operation change is implemented by referring to an application operation change detection table 2101 in the application information database 405. A specific procedure for detecting an application operation change will be described later with reference to Fig. 21.

[0090] FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of an application operation change detection table 2101 used when detecting an operation change of an application from external information in this embodiment. The application operation change detection table 2101 may be provided in the event detection unit 401. The application operation change detection table 2101 includes an application identifier (App ID), an operation state of the application before and after the operation change, an information source for identifying the external information, and a change detection condition for detecting an operation change of the application from the external information. First, the event detection unit 401 identifies an information source (such as a car-mounted camera) of the information input from the outside by using information such as a communication interface (e.g., IPv4 address, port number, serial port, device file) through which the external information is input. Then, the event detection unit 401 refers to the change detection condition related to the relevant information source and determines whether the operation of the application has changed. The process corresponding to the change detection condition may be defined by, for example, inputting the change detection condition to the event detection unit 401 in advance via the input interface 203 of the management device 101 by a user, reading a file storing the change detection condition, or the like. If the change detection condition is satisfied, the application operation is updated by referring to the App ID and the operation state item after the change (step S503).

[0091] 21 is an example, and the change detection condition can be any condition such as a sensor value exceeding a threshold value, an obstacle being detected by a camera, etc. If the operating state before the change is the same as the current operating state of the application, there is no need to change the communication control method, and therefore the processes from step S502 onwards need not be performed. Also, the change detection condition may be changed while the communication control system is operating.

[0092] <Example 3> A third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, a case where communication control is performed in response to a change in communication path will be described with reference to Fig. 22 and Fig. 23. Note that various configurations and processes related to this embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, except for the communication control process when the communication path changes as shown in Fig. 22 and the communication path change detection table as shown in Fig. 23, and therefore descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0093] In the first and second embodiments, communication control can be implemented when a change in the operation of an application is detected. Therefore, even if the operation of the application is not changed, if a change occurs in the communication path, such as a deterioration of the communication path, the communication control is not implemented and the communication requirements of the application are not satisfied in some cases.

[0094] In order to solve this problem, it is effective to extend the event detection unit 401 so that it can detect a change in the communication path. Specifically, the event detection unit 401 accesses the communication path database 406 at a predetermined timing (for example, periodically) and, upon detecting a change in the communication path, notifies the communication control method calculation unit 402 of the start of calculation of the communication control method. The determination of whether the communication path has changed may be made, for example, by a change in the value of the communication quality information, such as a change of a certain percentage or more from a value measured at the previous sampling timing. The conditions for determining the change in the communication path are managed in the communication path change detection table 2301 of the communication path database 406. The details of the communication path change detection table 2301 will be described later with reference to FIG. 23. Note that the trigger for detecting the change in the communication path is not limited to the above example, and the change in the communication path may be detected by a change in any index, such as deterioration of radio wave intensity. FIG. 22 shows a specific processing procedure of communication control.

[0095] FIG. 22 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a processing procedure for communication control triggered by a change in a communication path in this embodiment.

[0096] Steps S503 to S504 are omitted since they are the same as the procedure shown in Fig. 5. In step S2201, the event detection unit 401 refers to the communication path table 1201 and the communication path change detection table 2301 in the communication path database 406, executes a process of detecting a communication path change, and notifies the communication control method calculation unit 402 of the start of calculation of a communication control method when a communication path change is detected. This makes it possible to control communication even when the communication path has changed.

[0097] FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a communication path change detection table 2301 used when detecting a communication path change in this embodiment. The communication path change detection table 2301 is composed of a communication path ID for identifying a communication path, a reference indicator which is an item of the communication path table 1201 to be referred to when detecting a change, and a change detection condition which is a condition for detecting a communication path change based on the reference indicator. The event detection unit 401 acquires communication quality information from the communication path table 1201 based on the communication path ID and the item of the reference indicator, and can determine whether a communication path change has occurred by checking whether the acquired value satisfies the change detection condition. The process corresponding to the change detection condition is defined, for example, by a method in which the user inputs the change detection condition to the event detection unit 401 in advance via the input interface 203 of the management device 101, or by reading a file storing the change detection condition.

[0098] 23 is an example, and conditions for detecting changes may be set for any communication path. The change detection conditions may be any conditions, such as a delay value changing by 10% or more from the previous sample, or a machine learning algorithm that detects communication congestion based on a packet loss rate detecting a congestion state, etc. The change detection conditions may be changed while the communication control system is operating.

[0099] As described above, the management device 101 of an embodiment of the present invention includes an event detection unit 401 that detects changes in application operation or increases / decreases that accompany changes in communication requirements as events, an application information database 405 that manages the communication requirements for each application operation, a communication path database 406 that manages the communication quality for each communication path, and a communication control method calculation unit 402 that refers to the application information database 405 and the communication path database 406 to determine a communication control method that satisfies the communication requirements of the application for which an event has been detected, and notifies the communication control device 102.Therefore, depending on the application operation, a communication path that satisfies the communication requirements corresponding to that operation can be selected.

[0100] In addition, the communication control method calculation unit 402 determines a communication control method including route redundancy control for transmitting the same packet to multiple communication paths, carrier aggregation control for distributing packets and transmitting them to multiple communication paths, error correction control for adjusting the packet coding rate, and continuous transmission control for duplicating packets and transmitting them on a single communication path, so that a communication path that satisfies communication requirements can be accurately selected from a wide range of communication qualities.

[0101] In addition, the communication path database 406 manages the costs determined from at least one of the fees and power consumption associated with using the communication path, and the communication control method calculation unit 402 determines the communication control method that satisfies the communication requirements of the application and has the lowest cost, thereby providing an efficient communication path, such as one with low power consumption.

[0102] Furthermore, when the communication requirements of the applications cannot be satisfied even when all communication resources are used, the communication control method calculation unit 402 determines the communication control method from the application with the highest priority, so that the communication of the high priority application is accommodated in the communication path and the accommodation of the communication of the low priority application in the communication path can be stopped, and the application with high importance is preferentially accommodated in the communication path and the communication of the application with low importance is stopped.

[0103] Furthermore, the communication control device 102 updates the communication quality information managed in the communication path database 406 according to measurement information obtained by periodically measuring the communication quality of each communication path, so that the state of the communication path can be accurately grasped through periodic measurement.

[0104] In addition, since the input unit 404 is provided for inputting communication requirements of applications managed in the application information database 405 and communication quality and cost of communication paths managed in the communication path database 406, data in the databases can be easily updated.

[0105] Also, since the system is provided with a control status display unit 403 that outputs communication quality information managed in a communication path database 406 and the communication control method determined by the communication control method calculation unit 402, the operator can accurately grasp the status of the communication path.

[0106] Furthermore, since the event detection unit 401 detects an event based on an input from the sensor 211 or an external system, it is possible to quickly detect an event before the state of the communication path changes.

[0107] Furthermore, the event detection unit 401 detects, as an event, a change in communication quality information managed in the communication path database 406 that meets a predetermined condition, so that an appropriate communication path can be provided even when the communication path changes.

[0108] Furthermore, the communication control method calculation unit 402 determines a communication control method that satisfies the communication quality of the application for each data type, so that an appropriate communication path can be provided according to the operating state of the application.

[0109] In addition, the communication control method calculation unit 402 determines a communication control method that satisfies the communication requirements of the application so as to maximize or minimize the communication quality items that the user wishes to optimize, so that an appropriate communication path can be selected according to the operating state in accordance with indices other than cost, and an appropriate communication path can be selected when cost does not need to be taken into consideration.

[0110] Furthermore, since the communication path database 406 manages communication quality information in the form of a probability distribution function, it is possible to appropriately manage communication quality items that are difficult to manage as a single value, including ambiguity.

[0111] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes various modified examples and equivalent configurations within the spirit of the appended claims. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those including all of the configurations described. Furthermore, a part of the configuration of one embodiment may be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment. Furthermore, the configuration of another embodiment may be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, a part of the configuration of each embodiment may be added, deleted, or replaced with another configuration.

[0112] Furthermore, each of the aforementioned configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be realized in hardware, for example by designing some or all of them as an integrated circuit, or may be realized in software by a processor interpreting and executing a program that realizes each function.

[0113] Information such as programs, tables, and files that realize each function can be stored in a storage device such as a memory, a hard disk, or an SSD (Solid State Drive), or in a recording medium such as an IC card, an SD card, or a DVD.

[0114] In addition, the control lines and information lines shown are those considered necessary for the explanation, and do not necessarily show all the control lines and information lines necessary for implementation. In reality, it can be considered that almost all components are connected to each other. [Explanation of symbols]

[0115] 101... management device, 102... communication control device, 103... terminal, 211... sensor, 401... event detection unit, 402... communication control method calculation unit, 403... control status display unit, 404... input unit, 405... application information database, 406... communication path database, 407... communication path quality measurement unit, 408... communication control unit, 409... control system cooperation unit, 901... application requirement table, 902... application operation state table, 1201... communication path table, 1601... communication control method, 2101... application operation change detection table, 2301... communication path change detection table

Claims

1. A management device for selecting a communication path that satisfies a communication requirement of an application running on a terminal, an event detection unit that detects, as an event, a change in the operation of the application or an increase or decrease in the number of the applications that accompanies a change in communication requirements; Application information for managing communication requirements for each operation of the application; communication path information for managing communication quality for each communication path; a communication control method calculation unit that refers to the application information and the communication path information to determine a communication control method that satisfies a communication requirement of the application in which the event is detected, and notifies the communication control device; The communication control method calculation unit is a single communication path to which communication control is not applied, or A communication path that uses any of route redundancy control for transmitting the same packet to multiple communication paths, carrier aggregation control for distributing and transmitting packets to multiple communication paths, error correction control for adjusting the coding rate of packets, and continuous transmission control for duplicating and transmitting packets to a single communication path, or A management device characterized by determining a communication control method that satisfies the communication requirements of the application by using each of all communication paths that combine route redundancy, carrier aggregation, error correction, and continuous transmission control.

2. A management device as claimed in claim 1, The communication path information manages a cost determined from at least one of a fee and an amount of power consumption associated with the use of the communication path; The management device is characterized in that the communication control method calculation unit determines a communication control method that satisfies the communication requirements of the application and has the lowest cost.

3. A management device as claimed in claim 1, The application information manages information on the priority of the application, The communication control method calculation unit is a management device characterized in that when the communication requirements of the application cannot be satisfied even when all communication resources are used, the communication control method is determined from the application with the highest priority, thereby accommodating the communication of the application with the communication path and stopping the accommodation of the communication of the application with the low priority to the communication path.

4. A management device as claimed in claim 1, A management device, characterized in that the management device updates communication quality information managed by the communication path information in accordance with measurement information obtained by periodically measuring the communication quality of each communication path by the communication control device.

5. A management device as claimed in claim 1, A management device comprising an input unit for inputting communication requirements of an application managed by the application information, and communication quality and cost of a communication path managed by the communication path information.

6. A management device as claimed in claim 1, A management device comprising: a control status display unit that outputs information on communication quality managed by the communication path information and the communication control method determined by the communication control method calculation unit.

7. A management device as claimed in claim 1, The management device, wherein the event detection unit detects the event based on an input from a sensor or an external system.

8. The management device according to claim 4, The management device, wherein the event detection unit detects, as the event, a change in the communication quality information managed in the communication path information that conforms to a predetermined condition.

9. A management device as claimed in claim 1, The application information manages communication requirements that differ for each data type, The management device is characterized in that the communication control method calculation unit determines, for each of the data types, a communication control method that satisfies a communication quality of an application.

10. A management device as claimed in claim 1, The application information manages communication quality items that a user wishes to optimize, A management device characterized in that the communication control method calculation unit determines a communication control method that satisfies the communication requirements of the application so as to maximize or minimize the communication quality item that the user wishes to optimize.

11. A management device as claimed in claim 1, The management device manages the communication path information in the form of a probability distribution function.

12. A communication control system in which an application running on a terminal communicates, comprising: a communication control device that controls communication using one or more communication paths connected to the terminal; A management device is provided for selecting a communication path that satisfies a communication requirement of an application, The management device includes: an event detection unit that detects, as an event, a change in the operation of the application accompanied by a change in a communication requirement or an increase or decrease in the number of the applications; Application information for managing communication requirements for each operation of the application; communication path information for managing communication quality for each communication path; a communication control method calculation unit that refers to the application information and the communication path information to determine a communication control method that satisfies a communication requirement of the application in which the event is detected, and notifies the communication control device; The communication control method calculation unit is a single communication path to which communication control is not applied, or A communication path that uses any of route redundancy control for transmitting the same packet to multiple communication paths, carrier aggregation control for distributing and transmitting packets to multiple communication paths, error correction control for adjusting the coding rate of packets, and continuous transmission control for duplicating and transmitting packets to a single communication path, or Determine a communication control method that satisfies the communication requirements of the application by using each of all communication paths that combine route redundancy, carrier aggregation, error correction, and continuous transmission control; The communication control system is characterized in that the communication control device controls communication of the application in accordance with a communication control method notified by the management device.

13. A communication control method performed in a communication control system in which an application running on a terminal communicates, comprising: The communication control system includes a communication control device that controls communication using one or more communication paths connected to the terminal, and a management device that selects a communication path that satisfies a communication requirement of an application; the management device has application information for managing communication requirements for each operation of the application and communication path information for managing communication quality for each communication path; The communication control method includes: The management device detects, as an event, a change in the operation of the application or an increase or decrease in the number of the applications that accompanies a change in communication requirements; the management device refers to the application information and the communication path information to determine a communication control method that satisfies a communication requirement of the application in which the event is detected, and notifies the communication control device; The communication control device controls communication of the application according to a communication control method notified by the management device, The management device is a single communication path to which communication control is not applied, or A communication path that uses any of route redundancy control for transmitting the same packet to multiple communication paths, carrier aggregation control for distributing and transmitting packets to multiple communication paths, error correction control for adjusting the coding rate of packets, and continuous transmission control for duplicating and transmitting packets to a single communication path, or A communication control method characterized by determining a communication control method that satisfies the communication requirements of the application by using each of all communication paths that combine route redundancy, carrier aggregation, error correction, and continuous transmission control.

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