COMMUNICATION CONTROL DEVICE, COMMUNICATION CONTROL METHOD, COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, AND PROGRAM

Abstract

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a communication control device, a communication control method, a communication system, and a program that do not require adding a function to facility equipment for allocation of communication resources according to the indoor physical location of a terminal.　This communication system includes location metadata sources (26, 27) in a given area 5 and a communication control device 35. The communication control device 35 includes a reception unit 31 that receives information on the location metadata sources (26, 27) from a communication terminal 10 in the given area 5, and a controller 30 that calculates the location of the communication terminal 10 in the given area 5 on the basis of the information on the location metadata sources (26, 27) and allocates communication resources according to the location of the communication terminal 10.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] TECHNICAL FIELD This disclosure relates to network resource allocation in communication systems. [Background technology]

[0002] In wireless LAN (Local Area Network) communications, when there are multiple access points with the same SSID (Service Set Identifier), each terminal 10 communicates with the access point 20 that has the strongest radio wave strength. For this reason, even if the distribution of terminals 10 is uneven as shown in FIG. 1, there is a problem in that it is difficult to optimize the allocation to the access points 20.

[0003] To address this issue, Non-Patent Document 1 describes a strategy management architecture for wireless resource optimization (WiSMA), in which a control node 30 calculates optimal values ​​for resource distribution, as shown in FIG. 2. Then, the control node 30 controls the access point 20 to which the terminal 10 connects, based on the calculation result. For example, the control node 30 issues a connection change instruction to a terminal 10 that needs to change the access point 20 to which it is connected. However, WiSMA only controls logical connection configurations based on MAC addresses. For this reason, there is an issue that it is difficult to control the connection destination for each small section of a room, for example.

[0004] To address this issue, Non-Patent Document 2 uses visible light from light sources 25 as a control plane as shown in Fig. 3, thereby enabling detailed control for each physical position in a room. As shown in Fig. 2, a control node 30 calculates an optimal value for resource distribution. In the case of this technology, the control node 30 controls the pattern and color of visible light for each light source 25. Specifically, information for guiding the terminal 10 to the access point 20 to which it should connect is included in the visible light. The terminal 10 connects to the destination access point 20 according to the received light pattern, color, etc. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0005] [Non-Patent Document 1] Tomoki Murakami, Toshiro Nakahira, Hirantha Abeysekera, Koichi Ishihara, Takafumi Hayashi and Hiroyuki Nakamura:WiSMA: strategic management architecture for wireless resource optimization, 2018 International Workshop on Smart Info-Media Systems in Asia (SISA 2018), Dec. 13-14, 2018. P. 307-312. [Non-Patent Document 2] Ryota Shiina, Tomohiro Taniguchi, Shinya Tamaki, Kazutaka Hara, Toshiro Nakahira, Tomonori Murakami, and Koji Tsuji: A Study on Optical Transmitting and Receiving Methods for Applying Optical Wireless to Wireless Control Planes, IEICE General Conference 2020 (B-8-15) Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, in order to realize the technology of Non-Patent Document 3, it is necessary to add a visible light modulation function to the light source and to add a visible light reception and demodulation function to the terminal. Thus, there is a problem that the pinpoint wireless resource allocation corresponding to the physical location of the terminal indoors requires adding functions to the facility equipment.

[0007] Therefore, in order to solve the above problem, the present invention aims to provide a communication control device, a communication control method, a communication system, and a program that do not require the addition of functions to facility equipment for allocating communication resources corresponding to the physical location of a terminal indoors. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to achieve the above object, a communication control device according to the present invention is configured to grasp the position of a communication terminal in a specific space from a location metadata source, and to perform communication control according to the position.

[0009] Specifically, the communication control device according to the present invention comprises: A receiving unit that receives information on a location metadata source from a communication terminal within a given area; a controller that calculates a location of the communication terminal within the arbitrary area based on information from the location metadata source, and allocates communication resources according to the location of the communication terminal; Equipped with.

[0010] Further, a communication control method according to the present invention includes: receiving location metadata source information from communication terminals within a given area; calculating a location of the communication terminal within the arbitrary area based on information of the location metadata source; and Allocating communication resources according to the location of the communication terminal. Do the following.

[0011] The present communication control device and communication control method estimate the position of a communication terminal from a location metadata source. The location metadata source can be obtained from an existing sensor or beacon device, or a GPS provided in the communication terminal. If the position of the communication terminal can be grasped, radio resource allocation (band allocation, beamforming, etc.) can be performed based on the distribution of the communication terminals. Therefore, the present invention can provide a communication control device and communication control method that does not require the addition of a function to facility equipment for allocating communication resources corresponding to the physical positions of terminals indoors.

[0012] The communication control device according to the present invention is characterized in that a low-layer communication protocol is used for communication of information from the location metadata source. By using the low-layer communication protocol, data from the location metadata source can be collected with low load and low latency. In other words, by collecting location information with low latency, the position of the communication terminal can be grasped in real time with high accuracy.

[0013] The receiving unit of the communication control device according to the present invention is characterized in that it receives the acceleration acquired by the communication terminal together with the location metadata source information. This makes it possible to improve the accuracy of position estimation of the communication terminal and predict the destination.

[0014] The communication system according to the present invention comprises the location metadata source within the arbitrary area and the communication control device.

[0015] The present invention also relates to a program for causing a computer to function as the communication control device. The data collection device of the present invention can also be realized by a computer and a program, and the program can be recorded on a recording medium or provided via a network.

[0016] The above-mentioned inventions can be combined as much as possible. Effect of the Invention

[0017] The present invention can provide a communication control device, a communication control method, a communication system, and a program that do not require the addition of functionality to facility equipment for allocating communication resources in accordance with the physical location of a terminal indoors. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a technique related to the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a technique related to the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a technique related to the present invention. [Figure 4]FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a communication system according to the present invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the communication system according to the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the communication system according to the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the communication system according to the present invention. [Figure 8] 1 is a diagram illustrating a communication control method according to the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a communication control device according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] The embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments described below are examples of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments. Note that components with the same reference numerals in this specification and drawings indicate the same components.

[0020] (Embodiment 1) 4 is a diagram illustrating a communication system according to the present embodiment. The communication system includes location metadata sources (26, 27) in a given area 5 and a communication control device 35. The communication control device 35 includes a receiver 31 that receives information from the location metadata sources (26, 27) from a communication terminal 10 in the given area 5, and a controller 30 that calculates the position of the communication terminal 10 in the given area 5 based on the information from the location metadata sources (26, 27) and allocates communication resources according to the position of the communication terminal 10.

[0021] In this communication system, it is assumed that the positions of the beacon devices 27, the sensors 26, and the wireless access points 20 installed in the arbitrary area 5 can be accurately grasped by collecting and analyzing the sensing information. The sensor 26 can detect position, acceleration, temperature, sound, human line of sight, images, wireless information, etc., and transmit the same to the communication control device 35 as sensing information including information for identifying itself (e.g., MAC address).

[0022] The communication control device 35 is Based on information obtained from the sensor 26, the beacon device 27, and the access point 20, the positional relationship of each within the arbitrary area 5 is grasped; To grasp the current position of the communication terminal 10 within the arbitrary area 5 based on acceleration and beacon information (unique numbers of the sensor 26 and the beacon device 27, signal strength, etc.) collected with low latency from the communication terminal 10 via a low-layer communication protocol; and Based on the relative positions of the sensor 26, the beacon device 27, and the access point 20, and information for identifying an individual communication terminal 10 (eg, MAC address), wired / wireless communication resources (bandwidth, wireless / optical beam, etc.) are assigned to the terminal.

[0023] The communication terminal 10 transmits the received information such as BLE beacons and sensors to the communication control device 35. In addition to the above, the communication terminal 10 may also transmit sensor information such as acceleration to the communication control device 35. Here, it is preferable that the transmission from the communication terminal 10 to the communication control device 35 is performed by low layer communication. Note that "low layer communication" and "low layer communication protocol" refer to protocols corresponding to the second and third layers of the OSI reference model.

[0024] The controller 30 compares the positional relationships between the access points 20, the sensors 26, and the beacons 27, and real-time position and acceleration information of the communication terminal 10, and estimates the physical position of the communication terminal 10. The controller 30 performs the following control over each wireless access point 20 under its control. (1) Fine-grained control of the access point 20 to which the communication terminal 10 should connect, according to the location (resolution determined by the number of sensors 26 and beacons 27, and the shape of the arbitrary area 5) (2) Optimal resource allocation by pinpointing the communication terminal 10 through beamforming (3) Resource allocation focused on communication of a specific communication terminal 10 during congestion

[0025] FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a communication control method performed by the present communication system. Receiving location metadata source information from a communication terminal 10 in a given area 5 (step S01); Calculating the location of the communication terminal 10 within the arbitrary area 5 based on information of the location metadata source (step S02); and Communication resources are allocated according to the location of the communication terminal 10 (step S03).

[0026] Here, the location metadata source may be something like a GPS or a BLE beacon, or may be a group of IoT sensors equipped with a mechanism for grasping location information. In other words, any means capable of identifying the location of the communication terminal 10 may be used.

[0027] First, the basic operation of this communication system will be described with reference to Fig. 5 and Fig. 7. The communication terminal 10 acquires information about its own location from a location metadata source (step S01). Here, the communication terminal 10 may also acquire location information of the location metadata source itself. Then, the communication terminal 10 transmits the information to the receiving unit 31 of the communication control device 35 (step S01a). Information for determining the locations of the communication terminal and the sensor group is transmitted to the communication control device 35 with low load and low delay using a low layer communication protocol. By collecting location information with low delay, the location can be determined in real time with high accuracy.

[0028] The information received by the receiving unit 31 is transferred to the data collection and analysis unit 30a. The data collection and analysis unit 30a collects and analyzes information from sensors and communication terminals, and calculates the position (e.g., three-dimensional coordinates) of the communication terminal 10 (step S02). The calculation result of the data collection and analysis unit 30a is transferred to the control unit 30b (step S02a).

[0029] The control unit 30b grasps the location of the communication terminal 10 and performs a communication resource allocation calculation (step S03). The control unit 30b notifies the wireless access point 20 of the calculated communication resource allocation as a control signal (step S04). The wireless access point 20 executes communication resource allocation according to the location of the communication terminal 10 in accordance with the control signal (step S05). The communication resource allocation may be, for example, a band allocation, beamforming in the case of wireless communication, or directing an optical axis in the case of visible light communication.

[0030] Next, the operation of this communication system when communication terminal 11 moves from arbitrary area 51 to arbitrary area 52 will be described with reference to Figures 6 and 7. In Figure 6, the dotted line indicates the communication path before communication terminal 11 moves, and the solid line indicates the communication path after communication terminal 11 moves.

[0031] The data collection and analysis unit 30a checks the received acceleration data of the communication terminal 11, and determines that the communication terminal has moved if the acceleration exceeds a predetermined threshold. Then, steps S01 to S02a are performed as described in Fig. 5 and Fig. 7. Note that the movement of the communication terminal 11 is not limited to a movement across different areas as in Fig. 6, but may be a movement within the same area.

[0032] The control unit 30b grasps the location of the communication terminal 10 and performs a communication resource allocation calculation (step S03). Here, the control unit 30b allocates communication resources in response to movement or location change of the communication terminal 10. In some cases, the allocation of communication resources may not change.

[0033] The control unit 30b notifies the wireless access point 20 of the calculated communication resource allocation as a control signal (step S04). The wireless access point 20 executes the allocation of communication resources according to the position of the communication terminal 10 in accordance with the control signal (step S05). That is, when the wireless access point 20 receives a control signal that changes the allocation of communication resources due to the movement or change in location of the communication terminal 10, it performs the band allocation, beamforming, and change of the optical axis accordingly. On the other hand, when the wireless access point 20 receives a control signal that does not change the allocation of communication resources due to the movement or change in location of the communication terminal 10, it does not perform the band allocation, beamforming, or change of the optical axis accordingly.

[0034] As described above, this communication system can perform highly accurate indoor location by utilizing sensing data collected with low latency, enabling advanced network control (such as pinpoint network resource allocation corresponding to physical location). As a result, this communication system can perform detailed network control (pinpoint beamforming, resource allocation, etc.) according to the location, density, direction of movement, speed of movement, etc. of people / terminals, based on real-time terminal location information collected with low load, without adding any physical additional functions (such as visible light communication) to the terminals.

[0035] (Embodiment 2) The controller 30 can also be realized by a computer and a program, and the program can be recorded on a recording medium or provided via a network. 9 shows a block diagram of a system 100. The system 100 includes a computer 105 connected to a network 135.

[0036] Network 135 is a data communications network. Network 135 may be a private or public network and may include any or all of the following: (a) a personal area network, e.g., covering a room; (b) a local area network, e.g., covering a building; (c) a campus area network, e.g., covering a campus; (d) a metropolitan area network, e.g., covering a city; (e) a wide area network, e.g., covering an area that crosses city, regional, or national boundaries; or (f) the Internet. Communications are conducted by electronic and optical signals over network 135.

[0037] Computer 105 includes a processor 110 and a memory 115 connected to processor 110. Although computer 105 is depicted herein as a stand-alone device, it is not limited to such, but rather may be connected to other devices not shown in a distributed processing system.

[0038] Processor 110 is an electronic device made up of logic circuits that responds to and executes instructions.

[0039] The memory 115 is a tangible computer-readable storage medium in which a computer program is encoded. In this regard, the memory 115 stores data and instructions, i.e., program code, that can be read and executed by the processor 110 to control the operation of the processor 110. The memory 115 can be implemented as a random access memory (RAM), a hard drive, a read-only memory (ROM), or a combination thereof. One component of the memory 115 is a program module 120.

[0040] The program modules 120 include instructions for controlling the processor 110 to perform the processes described herein. Although operations are described herein as being performed by the computer 105 or a method or process or sub-process thereof, those operations are actually performed by the processor 110.

[0041] The term "module" is used herein to refer to a functional operation that may be embodied either as a stand-alone component or as an integrated configuration of multiple subcomponents. Thus, program module 120 may be implemented as a single module or as multiple modules operating in coordination with one another. Furthermore, although program module 120 is described herein as being installed in memory 115 and thus implemented in software, it may be implemented in any of hardware (e.g., electronic circuitry), firmware, software, or a combination thereof.

[0042] Although the program module 120 is shown as already loaded into the memory 115, it may be configured to be located on the storage device 140 for later loading into the memory 115. The storage device 140 is a tangible computer-readable storage medium that stores the program module 120. Examples of the storage device 140 include compact disks, magnetic tapes, read-only memories, optical storage media, memory units consisting of a hard drive or multiple parallel hard drives, and Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drives. Alternatively, the storage device 140 may be a random access memory or other type of electronic storage device located in a remote storage system not shown and connected to the computer 105 via the network 135.

[0043] System 100 further includes data source 150A and data source 150B, collectively referred to herein as data sources 150, that are communicatively connected to network 135. In practice, data sources 150 may include any number of data sources, i.e., one or more data sources. Data sources 150 may include unstructured data and may include social media.

[0044] The system 100 further includes a user device 130 operated by the user 101 and connected to the computer 105 via a network 135. The user device 130 includes an input device, such as a keyboard or a voice recognition subsystem, to enable the user 101 to communicate information and command selections to the processor 110. The user device 130 further includes an output device, such as a display device or a printer or a voice synthesizer. A cursor control, such as a mouse, trackball, or touch-sensitive screen, enables the user 101 to manipulate a cursor on a display device to communicate further information and command selections to the processor 110.

[0045] The processor 110 outputs the results 122 of the execution of the program modules 120 to a user device 130. Alternatively, the processor 110 can provide the output to a storage device 125, such as a database or memory, or via a network 135 to a remote device, not shown.

[0046] 8 may be the program module 120. The system 100 may operate as the controller 30.

[0047] The term "comprising" or "comprising" is to be interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features, integers, steps or components, but not excluding the presence of one or more other features, integers, steps or components or groups thereof. The terms "a" and "an" are indefinite articles and therefore do not exclude embodiments having a plurality thereof.

[0048] (Other embodiments) In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. In short, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the components can be modified and embodied without departing from the spirit of the present invention at the implementation stage.

[0049] In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining the multiple components disclosed in the above embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiments. Furthermore, components across different embodiments may be appropriately combined. [Explanation of symbols]

[0050] 5: Any area 10: Communication terminal 20: Access point 25: Light source 26: Sensor 27: Beacon device 30: Controller 30a: Data collection and analysis department 30b: Control section 31: Receiving unit 35: Communication control device 100: System 101:User 105: Computer 110: Processor 115: Memory 120: Program module 122:Result 125: Storage device 130: User device 135: Network 140: Storage device 150: Data source

Claims

1. A receiving unit that receives information of a location metadata source directly from a communication terminal within a given area; a controller that calculates a position of the communication terminal within the arbitrary area based on information from the location metadata source, and allocates communication resources according to a distribution of the communication terminals present within the arbitrary area; A communication control device comprising:

2. 2. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein a low-layer communication protocol is utilized for communication of the information of the location metadata source.

3. The communication control device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the receiving unit receives the acceleration acquired by the communication terminal together with the information on the location metadata source.

4. A communication control method performed by a communication control device having a receiving unit and a controller, receiving, by the receiving unit, information of a location metadata source directly from a communication terminal within a given area; and The controller, calculating a location of the communication terminal within the arbitrary area based on information of the location metadata source; and Allocating communication resources according to a distribution of the communication terminals present within the arbitrary area. A communication control method for performing the above.

5. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein a low-layer communication protocol is utilized for communication of information on the location metadata source.

6. The communication control method according to claim 4 or 5, further comprising receiving, together with the location metadata source information, an acceleration acquired by the communication terminal.

7. a source of location metadata within the arbitrary area; A communication control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, A communication system comprising:

8. A program for causing a computer to function as the communication control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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