Data communication system, carbon footprint calculation device, communication control method, and program

Abstract

To solve the problem in which users of data communication systems are not prompted to reduce an amount of carbon dioxide emissions.SOLUTION: A data communication system includes: a carbon footprint calculation device that calculates priority according to an amount of carbon dioxide emissions related to a service provided by a device; and a priority setting device that sets priority for data packets transmitted by the device to provide the service according to information representing the priority provided by the carbon footprint calculation device.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a data communication system, a carbon footprint calculation device , Tong a message control method , O and a program.

Background Art

[0002] Movements aiming for carbon neutrality to prevent global warming are becoming active in various countries around the world. Due to the recent progress of the information society, the carbon dioxide emissions caused by data communication systems including data centers have come to account for a non-negligible proportion of the global carbon dioxide emissions.

[0003] In currently widely used data communication systems, efforts have been made to reduce carbon dioxide emissions through energy saving of devices. However, the data itself handled by the data communication system is not linked to the carbon dioxide emissions generated during the process of its generation or depending on the purpose for which the data is used. Even if a large amount of carbon dioxide is emitted during the process of generating the data, there is no mechanism to indicate it in the data, and it is treated equally to data generated in a clean process with low carbon dioxide emissions.

[0004] In data communication systems using the Internet or the like, there is also a technology for performing QoS (Quality of Service) control as disclosed in Patent Document 1. On the other hand, for example, on a highway, a priority order is set such that a passenger car carrying a plurality of people is permitted to drive in a priority lane, and a passenger car with a small number of transported passengers per unit gasoline consumption of a single driver is not allowed to drive in the priority lane, and attempts have been made to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in traffic.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] However, in a data communication system, there is a problem that it does not encourage the user of the data communication system to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

[0007] The present disclosure has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides a data communication system, a carbon footprint calculation device, and a , Tong letter control method , O that can encourage the user of the data communication system to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and a program.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0008] The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-described problems. One aspect of the present disclosure is a carbon footprint calculation device that calculates a priority according to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions related to a service provided by a device connected to a data communication system, and a priority setting device that sets a priority for a packet of data transmitted by the device to provide the service according to the information representing the priority provided from the carbon footprint calculation device. A data communication system comprising:

[0009] Another aspect of the present disclosure is the above-described data communication system, wherein the priority setting device sets the priority in a region of User Priority within a VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) tag frame.

[0010] Another aspect of the present disclosure is the above-described data communication system, wherein the priority setting device sets the priority to the DSCP (Differentiated Services Code Point) in the TOS (Type of Service) field of an IP (Internet Protocol) packet.

[0011] In addition, another aspect of the present disclosure is the above-described data communication system, which includes a charging data amount calculation device that uses a value obtained by multiplying a coefficient corresponding to the priority set for the packet by the data amount as the data amount to be charged.

[0012] Another aspect of the present disclosure is a carbon footprint calculation device that calculates a priority corresponding to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions related to a service provided by a device connected to a data communication system, and provides information representing the priority to a priority setting device that sets the priority for packets of data transmitted by the device to provide the service.

[0013] Another aspect of the present disclosure is a priority setting device that acquires information representing a priority corresponding to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions related to a service provided by a device connected to a data communication system, and sets the priority represented by the information for packets of data transmitted by the device to provide the service.

[0014] Another aspect of the present disclosure is a charging data amount calculation device that uses a value obtained by multiplying a coefficient corresponding to the priority set for a packet of data transmitted by a device connected to a data communication system to provide a service by the data amount as the data amount to be charged, where the priority corresponds to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions related to the service.

[0015] Another aspect of the present disclosure is a communication control method including a step of calculating a priority corresponding to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions related to a service provided by a device connected to a data communication system, and a step of providing information representing the priority to a priority setting device that sets the priority for packets of data transmitted by the device to provide the service.

[0016] In addition, another aspect of the present disclosure is a communication control method including a step of obtaining information representing a priority according to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions related to a service provided by a device connected to a data communication system, and a step of setting the priority represented by the information in a packet of data transmitted by the device to provide the service.

[0017] In addition, another aspect of the present disclosure is a charging data amount calculation method in which a value obtained by multiplying a coefficient corresponding to a priority set in a packet of data transmitted by a device to provide a service, which is a priority according to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions related to the service provided by the device connected to the data communication system, by a data amount is used as a charging target data amount.

[0018] In addition, another aspect of the present disclosure is a program for causing a computer to function as the above-described carbon footprint calculation device, the above-described priority setting device, or the above-described charging data amount calculation device.

Advantages of the Invention

[0019] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to encourage the user of the data communication system to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0020]

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MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0021] <First Embodiment> Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings, the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the data communication system 100 according to the present embodiment. The data communication system 100 includes a carbon footprint calculation device 10, carbon footprint control servers (priority setting devices) 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d, servers 31, 35, data storages 32, 36, terminals 33, 34, switches 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, 40e, and a billing data volume calculation device 50.

[0022] The switches 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, 40e are switches and routers that constitute a network such as the Internet. The servers 31, 35 and the data storages 32, 36 provide services to the terminals 33, 34 and other servers. The terminals 33, 34 are terminals such as personal computers, tablet terminals, and smartphones used by users to utilize the services provided by the servers 31, 35, the data storages 32, 36 via the network. In this way, both the service providers who provide services using the data communication system 100 and the users who enjoy the services are users of the data communication system 100.

[0023] The carbon footprint calculation device 10 calculates the priority (carbon footprint information) according to the carbon dioxide emissions (carbon footprint) related to the services provided by each of the servers 31 and 35 and the data storages 32 and 36. The carbon footprint calculation device 10 provides the information representing the calculated priority to the carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d connected to each of the servers 31 and 35 and the data storages 32 and 36. Note that the carbon footprint calculation device 10 may transmit the information representing the calculated priority to the carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d via a network using the switches 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, and 40e, or may transmit it via another network. The carbon footprint calculation device 10 may write the information representing the calculated priority to a portable storage medium, and the carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d may read the information representing the priority from the portable storage medium. Further, the carbon footprint calculation device 10 calculates the priority so that the lower the carbon dioxide emissions, the higher the priority.

[0024] For example, when the data center where the data storage 32 is installed operates only on green power generated by renewable energy, the carbon footprint calculation device 10 calculates a high priority for the services provided by the data storage 32, such as access to the data storage 32, and provides the information representing the priority to the carbon footprint control server 20b connected to the data storage 32. Further, for example, when the server 35 operates on power generated by coal-fired power generation and the content of the service provided is related to the operation of a blast furnace steelworks without a carbon dioxide recovery device, the carbon footprint calculation device 10 calculates a low priority and provides the information representing the priority to the carbon footprint control server 20c connected to the server 35.

[0025] Each of the carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d sets the priority according to the information indicating the priority provided from the carbon footprint calculation device 10 to the packets of data transmitted by the network nodes (servers 31, 35, data storage 32, 36) to which they are respectively connected for providing services. The switches 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, and 40e refer to the priorities set for each packet by the carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d, prioritize, and transfer the packets. Also, the switches 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, and 40e may allocate a bandwidth corresponding to the priority to the data flow of the packet. For example, the data flow is identified by a combination of four values: the source IP address, the source port number, the destination IP address, and the destination port number.

[0026] As a result, the lower the carbon dioxide emission amount related to the service, the more prioritized and transferred it is. Therefore, the user can receive the data of the service with less carbon dioxide emission amount with less communication delay and enjoy more comfortable communication. On the contrary, the user is in an inconvenient state where it takes time to receive the data because the higher the carbon dioxide emission amount of the service data, the lower the priority. This serves as an incentive for the user to select a service with less carbon dioxide emission. Also, for service providers, etc., it serves as an incentive to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by using green power, installing carbon dioxide recovery devices, etc.

[0027] The billing data volume calculation device 50 controls the billing of the network connection service provided to users by Internet service providers, mobile carriers, etc. When accumulating the data volume subject to billing, for example, the billing data volume calculation device 50 uses, as the data volume subject to billing, a value obtained by multiplying the data volume by a coefficient corresponding to the priority set in the packet. Thereby, the data volume subject to billing can be made the data volume considering the carbon dioxide emission amount. At this time, the coefficient is set to be smaller as the priority is higher, that is, as the carbon dioxide emission amount is smaller. When no priority is set, it may be regarded as having the lowest priority.

[0028] For example, when there are 8 levels of priority from 0 to 7, let the coefficients for priorities 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 be C0, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 respectively (C0 > C1 > C2 > C3 > C4 > C5 > C6 > C7). When the communication volumes of data with priorities 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 are D0, D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7 bytes respectively, the data volume subject to billing is set to C0×D0 + C1×D1 + C2×D2 + C3×D3 + C4×D4 + C5×D5 + C6×D6 + C7×D7 bytes. This gives users an incentive to select services with less carbon dioxide emissions. Also, it gives service providers and others an incentive to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by using green power, installing carbon dioxide recovery devices, etc.

[0029] Also, switches 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, and 40e store information representing the ranking of the carbon dioxide emissions of each destination network or switch, and when transferring a packet, a destination with less carbon dioxide emissions may be selected. For example, switch 40c stores information representing the priority according to the carbon dioxide emissions of switches 40b and 40e. When server 35 transmits data to terminal 33, there are two routes from switch 40c to terminal 33: one via switch 40b and the other via switch 40e. If switch 40b operates on green power and switch 40e operates on coal-fired power, the stored priority of switch 40b is higher, so switch 40c preferentially selects switch 40b as the transfer destination.

[0030] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a method for setting priorities for packets in this embodiment. FIG. 2 shows an Ethernet (registered trademark) frame standardized by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.1Q. In the example of FIG. 2, the priority setting for a packet is performed by setting it in the VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) tag frame of the Ethernet frame. As shown in FIG. 2, the VLAN tag frame is a 4-byte area following the source MAC of the Ethernet frame. The priority (carbon footprint information) is set in the priority (User Priority) area that occupies the first 3 bits of the last 2 bytes of the VLAN tag frame. The values that can be set in the priority area are from 0 to 7, and the larger the value, the higher the priority. That is, the less the carbon dioxide emissions, the larger the value is set.

[0031] In the example of FIG. 2, the Ethernet frame has only one VLAN tag frame, but it may have a plurality of them, and one of the VLAN tag frames may be set. In that case, a specific value other than 0x8100, such as 0x9100, may be used for the first two bytes of the TPID (Tag Protocol ID) of the VLAN tag frame in which the priority according to the carbon dioxide emission amount is set. Thereby, each device can identify that the priority set for the VLAN tag frame with the specific TPID value corresponds to the carbon dioxide emission amount.

[0032] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another example of a method for setting the priority for a packet in the present embodiment. FIG. 3 shows the header of an IP (Internet Protocol) packet. In the example of FIG. 3, the setting of the priority (carbon footprint information) for the packet is performed by setting it in the first 6 bits of the DSCP (Differentiated Services Code Point) in the TOS (Type of Service) field of the IP packet header. The values that can be set in the DSCP range from 0 to 63, and the larger the value, the higher the priority. Therefore, the smaller the carbon dioxide emission amount, the larger the value is set. In this way, by using the DSCP, a finer-grained priority setting becomes possible compared to the case of using the VLAN tag.

[0033] FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operations of the carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d. Since the carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d perform similar operations, here, they will be described as the carbon footprint control server 20.

[0034] First, the carbon footprint control server 20 acquires, from the carbon footprint calculation device 10, a priority corresponding to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions related to the service corresponding to the carbon footprint control server 20 (step Sa1). The service corresponding to the carbon footprint control server 20 is, for example, a service provided by devices (servers 31, 35, data storages 32, 36) to which the carbon footprint control server 20 is connected.

[0035] Next, the carbon footprint control server 20 acquires packets of data of the service (step Sa2), and sets the priority acquired in step Sa1 in the packets (step Sa3). This setting may be set in the VLAN tag frame as shown in FIG. 2, or may be set in the DSCP of the IP packet as shown in FIG. 3. The carbon footprint control server 20 repeats steps Sa2 and Sa3 until the next priority acquisition.

[0036] FIG. 5 is a table showing an example of priority calculation by the carbon footprint calculation device 10. The table shown in FIG. 5 is a table showing the correspondence between the green power ratio, which is the ratio of green power in the power consumption of the data center, and the priority from 0 to 7. The carbon footprint calculation device 10 stores a table as shown in FIG. 5, and provides, for example, the priority associated with the green power ratio of the power operating the data center in which the data storage 32 is installed, to the carbon footprint control server 20b connected to the data storage 32.

[0037] FIG. 6 is a table showing another example of priority calculation by the carbon footprint calculation device 10. The table shown in FIG. 6 is a table showing the correspondence between the carbon dioxide emissions of operating facilities and the priorities from 0 to 7. The carbon footprint calculation device 10 stores a table as shown in FIG. 6, and for example, provides the priority associated with the carbon dioxide emissions of a steel mill (operating facility) in which the server 35 is involved in operation to the carbon footprint control server 20c connected to the server 35. The carbon dioxide emissions may be normalized, such as the ratio per production volume of the steel mill, per sales, or the emissions in a predetermined year. By normalizing in this way, the priority can be calculated more fairly.

[0038] FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the carbon footprint calculation device 10. Hereinafter, the case of providing the priority to the carbon footprint control server 20a will be described as an example, but the same applies to the cases of providing the priority to other carbon footprint control servers 20b, 20c, and 20d. The carbon footprint calculation device 10 acquires information representing the carbon dioxide emissions related to the service provided by the server 31 to which the carbon footprint control server 20a is connected (step Sb1). Next, the carbon footprint calculation device 10 calculates the priority corresponding to the acquired information representing the carbon dioxide emissions, for example, using the tables shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 (step Sb2). The table used at this time may be selected according to the information acquired in step Sb1. Next, the carbon footprint calculation device 10 provides the priority calculated in step Sb2 to the carbon footprint control server 20a (step Sb3).

[0039] Here, as information representing the carbon dioxide emissions related to the service, an example was described using the carbon dioxide emissions (green power ratio) of the base (data center) where the device providing the service is installed, which was described with reference to FIG. 5, and the carbon dioxide emissions of the facilities (steelworks) related to the operation of the service provided by the device, which was described with reference to FIG. 6. However, it is not limited to this. For example, the type and proportion of energy being used, the country where the data provided by the service is held, the impact on the environment of the business related to the service, the configuration of the supply chain of the business or product related to the service, the company or organization that transmits the data, and the company or organization that receives the data may be used as information representing the carbon dioxide emissions. Also, a table associating each of these with priorities may be used, or a table associating some combination of these with priorities may be used.

[0040] In addition, the carbon footprint calculation device 10 may use the information obtained by monitoring the operating status of the facilities related to the service (drive information of power semiconductors, rotation information of motors, drive information of inverters) as information representing the carbon dioxide emissions related to the service. Thereby, the priority corresponding to the carbon dioxide emissions can be calculated in real time, which can motivate the operator of the facilities to operate with less carbon dioxide emissions.

[0041] Further, the carbon footprint calculation device 10 may calculate a plurality of priorities from a plurality of pieces of information and use the average value, the maximum value, or the minimum value of the plurality of priorities. By using the maximum value, it is possible to prevent an advantage for a business operator who does not disclose inconvenient information. Also, by using the average value or the minimum value, the carbon dioxide emissions from various viewpoints can be evaluated.

[0042] In addition, in FIGS. 5 and 6, the priority corresponding to the carbon dioxide emission amount is set from 0 to 7. However, when setting the priority for DSCP, it may be other values such as from 0 to 63. Also, the priority corresponding to the carbon dioxide emission amount may be set in the IP precedence in the header of the IP packet, or in other areas. Further, it may be set in packets (frames) of other layers such as the application layer instead of Ethernet frames and IP packets.

[0043] FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the billing data amount calculation device 50. First, the billing data amount calculation device 50 detects the packets transmitted and received by the contract user (step Sc1). Next, the billing data amount calculation device 50 acquires a coefficient corresponding to the priority of the detected packet (step Sc2). Next, the billing data amount calculation device 50 multiplies the number of bytes of the packet by the acquired coefficient, and accumulates the multiplication result in the billing data amount (step Sc3).

[0044] Note that although the carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d are each connected to the server 31, the data storage 32, the server 35, and the data storage 36, they may be built into the server 31, the data storage 32, the server 35, and the data storage 36. Also, when one carbon footprint control server is connected to a plurality of devices or when it supports a plurality of services, etc., the carbon footprint calculation device 10 may provide a plurality of priorities. In that case, which service the data belongs to may be determined based on the source address or source port number of the packet, or information indicating which service the data belongs to may be notified together with the packet.

[0045] In addition, the carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d may reserve bandwidth corresponding to the carbon dioxide emissions related to the service for the data flow of the data transmitted to provide the service, using RSVP (Resource reSerVation Protocol) or the like. The value of the bandwidth corresponding to the carbon dioxide emissions may be determined in advance for each priority level, or the carbon footprint calculation device 10 may provide it to the carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d together with the priority level.

[0046] As a result, the smaller the carbon dioxide emissions related to the service, the larger the bandwidth of the data flow of the data can be made. Therefore, the user can receive data with less carbon dioxide emissions with less communication delay and enjoy more comfortable communication. Conversely, the user is in an inconvenient state where it takes time to receive data because the bandwidth is restricted for data with more carbon dioxide emissions. This serves as an incentive for the user to select a service with less carbon dioxide emissions. Also, for service providers and the like, it serves as an incentive to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by using green power, installing carbon dioxide recovery devices, and the like. Thus, it is possible to encourage the users of the data communication system 100 to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

[0047] <Second Embodiment> FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a data communication system 101 according to the second embodiment. Hereinafter, only the differences between the data communication system 101 in the present embodiment and the data communication system 100 in the first embodiment will be described. The data communication system 101 includes a carbon footprint calculation device 11 instead of the carbon footprint calculation device 10. Also, the data communication system 101 includes carbon footprint control servers 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d, and 21e instead of the carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d.

[0048] The carbon footprint calculation device 11 is the same as the carbon footprint calculation device 10. However, the carbon footprint calculation device 11 is different in that it provides the calculated priority together with data identification information that identifies which data the priority is for, to the carbon footprint control servers 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d, and 21e. The data identification information is, for example, any one of the source IP address, source port number, destination IP address, destination port number, or a combination of two or more of these. Information that identifies which data the priority is for may include other information, for example, information at the application layer, information that identifies for which service provision the data is used, and other information may also be included.

[0049] The carbon footprint control servers 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d, and 21e are the same as the carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d, and 20e. However, the carbon footprint control servers 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d, and 21e are each connected to the switches 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, and 40e, and are different in that they set the priority corresponding to the carbon dioxide emission amount for the packets transferred by the switch to which the own device is connected. When setting this priority, the priority corresponding to the data identification information is set for the packet that matches the data identification information provided from the carbon footprint calculation device 11.

[0050] As a result, also in this embodiment, the lower the amount of carbon dioxide emissions related to the data, the more preferentially it is transferred. Therefore, the user can receive data with less carbon dioxide emissions with less communication delay and enjoy more comfortable communication. Conversely, since the priority of data with more carbon dioxide emissions is lowered, the user is in an inconvenient state where it takes time to receive the data. This serves as an incentive for the user to select services with lower carbon dioxide emissions. Also, service providers are motivated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by using green power and installing carbon dioxide recovery devices. Thus, it is possible to encourage users of the data communication system 101 to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

[0051] Also, the first embodiment and the second embodiment may be combined. For example, the data communication system may include a device that also serves as the carbon footprint calculation device 10 and the carbon footprint calculation device 11. In that data communication system, the priority of packets of a certain service may be set by the carbon footprint control server 20a connected to the device that provides the service, and the priority of packets of another certain service may be set by the carbon footprint control server 21a connected to the switch 40a that transfers the packets.

[0052] Further, a program for realizing each function of the carbon footprint calculation device 10, carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d, switches 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, 40e, the billing data amount calculation device 50 in FIG. 1, the carbon footprint calculation device 11, carbon footprint control servers 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d, 21e, switches 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, 40e, and the billing data amount calculation device 50 in FIG. 9 may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on this recording medium may be read into the memory of a computer system and executed by a processor to realize the functions of each device. Here, the "computer system" includes at least a memory and a processor, and may include hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices.

[0053] Also, the "computer system" shall include a homepage providing environment (or display environment) if the WWW system is being used. Also, the "computer-readable recording medium" refers to portable media such as flexible disks, magneto-optical disks, ROMs, CD-ROMs, card memories, and storage devices such as hard disks and SSDs built into a computer system. Further, the "computer-readable recording medium" also includes things that hold a program dynamically for a short time, such as a communication line when transmitting a program via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line, and things that hold a program for a certain period of time, such as volatile memory inside a computer system that serves as a server or a client in that case. Also, the above program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above, and may also be for realizing the functions described above in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system.

[0054] In addition, the functions of the carbon footprint calculation device 10, the carbon footprint control servers 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d, the switches 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, 40e, the billing data volume calculation device 50 in FIG. 1 described above, the carbon footprint calculation device 11, the carbon footprint control servers 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d, 21e, the switches 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, 40e, and the billing data volume calculation device 50 in FIG. 9 may be individually implemented as chips, or may be partially or entirely integrated and implemented as chips. Also, the method of integrating into a circuit is not limited to LSI, and it may be realized by a dedicated circuit or a general-purpose processor. Either hybrid or monolithic may be used. Part of the functions may be realized by hardware and part by software.

[0055] As described above, each embodiment has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and design changes and the like within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention are also included.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0056] 10, 11... Carbon footprint calculation device 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d, 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d, 21e... Carbon footprint control server 31, 35... Server 32, 36... Data storage 33, 34... Terminal 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, 40e... Switch 50... Billing data volume calculation device 100, 101... Data communication system

Claims

1. A carbon footprint calculation device that calculates a priority such that the lower the carbon dioxide emissions related to the service provided by the device connected to the data communication system, the higher the priority, and A priority setting device that sets a priority for the packets of data transmitted by the device to provide the service according to the information representing the priority provided from the carbon footprint calculation device. A data communication system comprising the above.

2. The data communication system according to claim 1, wherein the priority setting device sets the priority in the area of the priority (User Priority) in the VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) tag frame.

3. The data communication system according to claim 1, wherein the priority setting device sets the priority in the DSCP (Differentiated Services Code Point) of the TOS (Type of Service) field of the IP (Internet Protocol) packet.

4. The data communication system according to claim 1, further comprising a charging data amount calculation device that uses, as the charging target data amount, a value obtained by multiplying a coefficient corresponding to the priority set in the packet by the data amount.

5. A carbon footprint calculation device that calculates a priority such that the lower the carbon dioxide emissions related to the service provided by the device connected to the data communication system, the higher the priority, and provides information representing the priority to a priority setting device that sets a priority for the packets of data transmitted by the device to provide the service.

6. A step of calculating a priority such that the lower the carbon dioxide emissions related to the service provided by the device connected to the data communication system, the higher the priority, and A step of providing information representing the priority to a priority setting device that sets a priority for the packets of data transmitted by the device to provide the service. A communication control method having the above steps.

7. A program for causing a computer to function as the carbon footprint calculation device according to claim 5.

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