Wireless communication system, base station device, and communication quality presentation method

Abstract

This wireless communication system for connection control using a blockchain comprises a base station device and a terminal device for making a contract for connection to the base station device. The base station device: extracts, from a distributed management ledger, information relating to transition of a contract base station device for the terminal device; calculates, on the basis of the information, a prediction value regarding communication quality providable to the terminal device; and presents the prediction value to the terminal device.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a wireless communication system using a blockchain. [Background technology]

[0002] BACKGROUND ART A wireless communication system is known that performs distributed processing of connection control between a base station apparatus BS and a terminal apparatus UE using a blockchain (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1).

[0003] In a wireless communication system using blockchain, when a terminal device UE enters into a contract for communication with a base station device BS, it is expected that the base station device BS will present the terminal device UE with the communication quality that it can provide. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0004] [Non-Patent Document 1] X. Ling, et al., "Blockchain Radio Access Network (B-RAN): Towards Decentralized Secure Radio Access Paradigm," IEEE ACCESS, Vol. 7, pp. 9714-9723, Jan. 2019 [Non-patent document 2] https: / / www.docomo.ne.jp / binary / pdf / corporate / technology / rd / technical_journal / bn / vol28_3 / vol28_3_011jp.pdf Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Even within the coverage area of ​​a single base station apparatus BS, communication quality varies depending on the location within the coverage area (environment, such as the number of obstacles). Furthermore, communication quality varies depending on the moving speed of a terminal apparatus UE moving within the coverage area. In general, the communication quality of a terminal apparatus UE moving at high speed is lower than the communication quality of a terminal apparatus UE moving at low speed.

[0006] However, in conventional wireless communication systems using blockchain, it was not possible to present a terminal device UE that is newly signing up with a communication quality that is suitable for the environment, speed, and other conditions of the terminal device UE.

[0007] Therefore, in the conventional technology, there is a possibility that the base station apparatus BS cannot provide the communication quality agreed upon with the terminal apparatus UE at the time of contract in actual communication. Also, there is a time lag due to contract authentication between the time of agreement on connection conditions and the time of contract establishment, so there is a possibility that the base station apparatus BS cannot provide the communication quality agreed upon with the terminal apparatus UE at the time of contract in actual communication.

[0008] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and aims to provide a technology that enables a base station device to predict and present to a newly contracted terminal device the communication quality appropriate to the circumstances of the terminal device in a wireless communication system using blockchain. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] According to the disclosed technology, there is provided a wireless communication system that performs connection control using a blockchain, a base station device and a terminal device that makes a contract to connect to the base station device; The base station device extracts information about the transition of the contracted base station device of the terminal device from the distributed management ledger, calculates a predicted value of communication quality that can be provided to the terminal device based on the information, and presents the predicted value to the terminal device. a wireless communication system, The base station device acquires, from the distributed management ledger, a list of a plurality of base station devices with which the terminal device has previously made contracts, and calculates the predicted value based on actual values ​​of communication quality at the base station device of other terminal devices having the same list as the list. A wireless communication system is provided. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the disclosed technology, in a wireless communication system using blockchain, a technology is provided that enables a base station device to predict and present to a newly contracted terminal device the communication quality appropriate to the status of the terminal device. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an overview of processing in a wireless communication system using a blockchain. [Figure 2] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of a wireless communication system 100. FIG. [Figure 3] A diagram showing a blockchain network BN. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an overview of a first embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a base station device BS. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a terminal device UE. [Figure 7] 3 is a flowchart according to the first embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation in the first embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation in the first embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an overview of a first embodiment. [Figure 11] 10 is a flowchart according to a second embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the operation in the second embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the operation in the second embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of the apparatus. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention (the present embodiment) will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment described below is merely an example, and the embodiment to which the present invention is applied is not limited to the following embodiment.

[0013] (About a wireless communication system using blockchain) Since this embodiment is based on a wireless communication system using a blockchain, we will first explain the basic processing content of the wireless communication system using a blockchain. This wireless communication system is a system that can connect a terminal device UE to a base station device BS without centralized management by performing connection processing in a distributed manner using blockchain technology when connecting a base station device BS and a terminal device UE.

[0014] 1 is a diagram for explaining an overview of processing in a wireless communication system using a blockchain. In the wireless communication system, in connection processing in which a terminal device UE connects to a base station device BS, transaction data 2 is created between the base station device BS and the terminal device UE (S1).

[0015] For example, the terminal device UE receives the connection conditions transmitted by the base station device BS and checks the communication quality and connection cost of the wireless communication network provided by the radio base station 10. Meanwhile, the base station device BS checks whether the terminal device UE has sufficient payment ability, etc. Furthermore, when an agreement on the connection conditions is reached between the base station device BS and the terminal device UE, the base station device BS records the details of the agreement in the transaction data 2.

[0016] The communication quality of the wireless communication network provided by the base station apparatus BS includes, for example, throughput or total data volume. The terminal apparatus UE may agree to the connection conditions when the communication quality provided by the base station apparatus BS satisfies all of the communication qualities required by the terminal apparatus UE. Alternatively, the terminal apparatus UE may agree to the connection conditions when the communication quality provided by the base station apparatus BS satisfies part of the communication qualities required by the terminal apparatus UE.

[0017] The base station device BS distributes the transaction data TX created in the connection process to the nodes participating in the blockchain network BN (S2). The blockchain network BN includes multiple nodes that record the transaction data TX in blocks and share a blockchain (distributed ledger) that records multiple blocks in chronological order. These multiple nodes include multiple base station devices BS that constitute a wireless communication system. Note that the multiple nodes may also include nodes other than the base station device BS (computers, terminal devices, etc.).

[0018] When the blockchain network BN is notified of the transaction data TX, some nodes (for example, the base station device 10x) participating in the blockchain network BN generate a block BL together with other transaction data (S3). After generating the block BL, the blockchain network BN adds the generated block BL to the blockchain BC owned by each node included in the blockchain network BN (S4).

[0019] The blockchain BC of each node reserves the added block BL, and after a predetermined number of blocks (verification blocks) are further added to the blockchain BL, the contract is concluded by accepting the reserved block (S5). After the contract is concluded, the base station device BS starts communication with the terminal device UE (S6).

[0020] By the above process, the wireless communication system can perform connection processing between the base station apparatus BS and the terminal apparatus UE by distributed control, without relying on a control station or the like that centrally controls the wireless communication system.

[0021] (System Configuration) Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration of a wireless communication system 100 according to this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 2, the wireless communication system 100 includes a plurality of base station devices BS that form different cells. Each base station device BS is capable of communicating with a terminal device UE located within its cell.

[0022] Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 3, for example, multiple base station devices BS also function as nodes participating in a blockchain network BN, and multiple base station devices BS share the same blockchain. Here, the blockchain network BN is a P2P (Peer-to-Peer) network (distributed network) in which each node can send and receive data with other nodes on an equal footing without going through a server or the like. A blockchain is an example of a distributed ledger in which multiple nodes participating in a P2P network record transactions between two parties in a verifiable and permanent manner.

[0023] The blockchain network BN may include nodes other than the base station device BS (for example, other computers, terminal devices, etc.). The base station device BS may not hold the blockchain, but may request nodes participating in the blockchain network BN to acquire and record ledger information.

[0024] Each base station device BS manages connections with terminal devices UE using a blockchain. For example, each base station device BS records and manages contract information such as the transaction data TX described in FIG. 1 in a blockchain shared by multiple base station devices BS. This allows the base station device BS to refer to the blockchain to obtain information about other base station devices BS (for example, the connection costs of other base station devices 110, or the number of terminal devices 120 connected to other base station devices 110, etc.).

[0025] (About the assignment) As described above, in the wireless communication system according to the present embodiment, it is assumed that the base station apparatus BS presents the available communication quality to the terminal apparatus UE when the terminal apparatus UE makes a communication contract. Under this assumption, there are the following problems 1 and 2.

[0026] Assignment 1: Even within the coverage area of ​​a single base station apparatus BS, the propagation environment and communication quality vary depending on the location within the area. Therefore, the base station apparatus BS may not be able to present an appropriate available communication quality to a newly contracted terminal apparatus UE.

[0027] Assignment 2: Even in the coverage area of ​​a single base station apparatus BS, if the moving speed (moving speed) of the terminal apparatus UE increases, fading and Doppler shift during communication may increase, causing signal waveform distortion and possibly degrading communication quality. In other words, communication quality changes depending on the moving speed of the terminal apparatus UE. Therefore, the base station apparatus BS may not be able to present an appropriate available communication quality to a terminal apparatus UE that is newly subscribing.

[0028] The following describes a first embodiment corresponding to a technique for solving problem 1 and a second embodiment corresponding to a technique for solving problem 2. The first and second embodiments can also be implemented in combination.

[0029] [First embodiment] First, the first embodiment will be described.

[0030] (Processing Overview) An outline of the process for solving the above-mentioned problem 1 in the wireless communication system according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0031] As described above, even within the coverage area of ​​a single base station device BS, the amount of obstacles such as buildings and trees varies depending on the area (location) within the area, resulting in different propagation environments and different communication quality.

[0032] 4 shows a case where the terminal device UE moves through an area with few obstacles and high communication quality (FIG. 4(a)), and a case where the terminal device UE moves through an area with many obstacles and low communication quality (FIG. 4(b)). Base station devices BS1 to BS3 exist in the area (a), and base station devices BS11 to BS13 exist in the area (b). Here, it is assumed that a new contract is made between base station device BS100 and the terminal device UE.

[0033] The base station device BS100 extracts the most recent BS flow of the terminal device UE that will newly subscribe from its own distributed management ledger. The BS flow is a list including the order of base station devices BS with which the terminal device UE has subscribed in the past. In the example of FIG. 4, as shown by "A", in case (a), BS1 -> BS2 -> BS3 is extracted as the BS flow, and in case (b), BS11 -> BS12 -> BS13 is extracted as the BS flow. The BS flow is an example of information regarding the transition of the subscribed base station device of the terminal device UE that will newly subscribe.

[0034] If the controlling base station device BS100 does not hold a blockchain ledger, it may make an inquiry to neighboring blockchain nodes and use the information obtained as feedback information.

[0035] Next, the base station device BS 100 extracts the past communication quality performance values ​​for other terminal devices UE of the same BS flow as the BS flow of the terminal device UE to be newly subscribed from the communication log etc. held by the base station device BS 100. As shown in "B", in the case of (a) in Fig. 4, high communication quality is obtained as the past communication quality for other terminal devices UE, and in the case of (b) in Fig. 4, low communication quality is obtained as the past communication quality for other terminal devices UE.

[0036] The length of the BS flow for the determination can be, for example, a predetermined length. Also, even if there is a difference between the BS flow of a newly contracted terminal device UE and the BS flow of another terminal device UE, it may be determined that they have the "same BS flow." For example, if X% or more of the BS flows passing through N BSs are the same, it may be determined that they have the "same BS flow." X is a predetermined threshold value.

[0037] The base station apparatus BS100 then uses the average value of the actual values ​​extracted from the communication log or the like as a predicted value of the communication quality that can be provided to the terminal apparatus UE that will newly sign up for a contract.

[0038] As described above, by calculating the BS flow of the terminal device UE to be newly contracted, it is possible to estimate the area in which the communication device UE is located at the time of communication. As a result, by using the actual value of communication quality provided in the area in the past, it is possible to present a value that takes into account fluctuations in communication quality to the terminal device UE to be newly contracted.

[0039] (Device configuration example) 5 shows an example of the configuration of a base station device BS. The base station device BS has, for example, a computer configuration, and the computer executes a predetermined program to realize a wireless communication unit 110, a transmission unit 120, a management unit 130, a quality prediction unit 140, a conversion unit 150, a storage unit 160, and a wired communication unit 170. Note that at least a portion of the above functional configurations may be realized by hardware. Furthermore, the management unit 130 and the quality prediction unit 140 may be collectively referred to as a "quality prediction unit."

[0040] The wireless communication unit 110 forms a cell capable of wireless communication with the base station apparatus BS, and executes wireless communication processing for wireless communication with the terminal apparatus UE connected to the base station apparatus BS.

[0041] The transmitter 120 executes a transmission process of transmitting connection conditions for connecting to the base station device BS to the terminal device UE located in the cell of the base station device BS. The connection conditions include, for example, information such as the communication quality to be provided and the connection cost (connection fee) for connecting to the base station device BS. Note that in this embodiment, particular attention is paid to the communication quality as the connection condition.

[0042] The management unit 130 executes a management process for managing, using a blockchain shared by a plurality of base station devices BS, information on terminal devices UE that connect to the base station device BS based on the connection conditions transmitted by the transmission unit 120. For example, the management unit 130 executes the series of processes described in S1 to S6 of Fig. 1 with the terminal device UE that requests connection to the base station device BS, thereby recording connection information with the terminal device UE in a distributed management ledger 162 (which may also be called a blockchain) shared with other base station devices BS.

[0043] Furthermore, the management unit 130 performs various processes for managing the blockchain as a node of the blockchain shared by multiple base station devices BS. By performing similar processes in the other base station devices BS, information on terminal devices UE connected to each base station device BS in the wireless communication system 100 is recorded in the distributed management ledger 162. Therefore, the base station device BS can obtain information on terminal devices UE connected to other base station devices BS by referring to the distributed management ledger 162.

[0044] The operation of the quality predicting unit 140 will be described later. The changing unit 150 executes a change process for changing the connection conditions of the base station apparatus BS (its own station) based on information of terminal apparatus UE connected to other base station apparatuses BS.

[0045] The transmitting unit 120, the managing unit 130, the quality predicting unit 140, the changing unit 150, etc. are included in a communication control unit 180 that controls wireless communication by the wireless communication unit 110, for example.

[0046] The storage unit 160 performs a storage process to store various data, information, programs, etc., including log information 161 and a distributed management ledger 162, in a storage device or the like provided in the radio base station BS. The log information 161 includes an actual value of communication quality with each UE at the base station device BS (local station), communication parameters of each UE, etc. The log information 161 may also additionally include an actual value of communication quality with each UE at other base station devices BS, communication parameters of each UE, etc.

[0047] The wired communication unit 170 connects the base station device BS to, for example, a wired communication network, and performs communication related to the blockchain network BN as shown in FIG.

[0048] (Functional configuration of terminal device UE) 6 is a diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of the terminal device UE according to this embodiment. The terminal device UE has, for example, a computer configuration, and the computer executes a predetermined program to realize a wireless communication unit 210, a receiving unit 230, a connection control unit 240, a storage unit 250, etc. Note that at least a part of the above functional configurations may be realized by hardware.

[0049] The wireless communication unit 210 connects to the base station device BS via wireless communication and executes wireless communication processing for transmitting and receiving data. The receiving unit 230 executes reception processing for receiving connection conditions transmitted by the base station device BS using the wireless communication unit 210.

[0050] The connection control unit 240 executes a connection process for connecting to the base station device BS. For example, in the connection process described in step S1 of Fig. 1, the connection control unit 240 transmits a connection request to the base station device BS and makes an agreement on the wireless communication service to be provided.

[0051] The receiving unit 220, the connection control unit 240, and the like are included in a communication control unit 260 that controls wireless communication by the wireless communication unit 210, for example.

[0052] The storage unit 250 performs a storage process of storing various data, information, programs, etc. required for wireless communication in a storage device or the like included in the terminal device UE, for example.

[0053] (Processing flow) Next, with reference to the flowchart in Fig. 7, a process performed by the base station apparatus BS having the configuration in Fig. 5 until the start of communication with a newly contracted terminal apparatus UE will be described. The newly contracted terminal apparatus UE will be referred to as a "newly contracted UE" or a "new UE." Here, it is assumed that the base station apparatus BS has already received a connection request including the ID of the newly contracted UE from the newly contracted UE.

[0054] In S101, the management unit 130 uses the ID of the new contract UE to acquire the BS flow of the new contract UE from the distributed management ledger 162. A specific example is shown in Fig. 8. As shown in Fig. 8, the distributed management ledger 162 contains transactions (history information) including information such as which BS the UE has connected to, and the management unit 130 can acquire the BS flow of the UE by searching the distributed management ledger 162 using the ID of the new contract UE.

[0055] In S102, the management unit 130 extracts from the distributed management ledger 162 the IDs of other UEs that have the same BS flow as the new UE.

[0056] In S103, the management unit 130 extracts the performance value of the communication quality for the ID of the other UE from the log of the base station device BS (own station) (for example, log information 161). The extracted performance value is passed to the quality prediction unit 140.

[0057] In S104, the quality prediction unit 140 predicts the value of the communication quality of the newly contracted UE from the extracted actual value of the communication quality. For example, the quality prediction unit 140 sets the average value of the actual values ​​of the communication quality at the base station device BS (home station) for multiple other UEs in the same BS flow as the new UE as the predicted value of the communication quality that can be provided to the new UE. Alternatively, the quality prediction unit 140 sets the average value of the actual values ​​of the communication quality at multiple times for one other UE in the same BS flow as the new UE as the predicted value of the communication quality of the new UE.

[0058] The method for calculating the predicted value is not limited to the above method, and the predicted value may be calculated by any method.

[0059] Thereafter, the transmitting unit 120 presents to the new contract UE the communication quality value predicted by the quality predicting unit 140. If the base station device BS and the new contract UE agree on the communication quality value presented to the new contract UE in S105, the base station device BS starts communication according to the agreement in S106, and the communication according to the agreement is completed in S107.

[0060] A specific example of the processes in S102 to S104 above will be described with reference to Fig. 9. In the example of Fig. 9, UE105, UE192, ..., UEXX are extracted as other UEs with the same BS flow as the BS flow of the new contract UE.

[0061] The management unit 130 (or the quality prediction unit 140) extracts actual values ​​(e.g., received power, throughput) of communication quality with the base station device BS (own BS) from the log information 161, and the quality prediction unit 140 predicts the communication quality value that can be provided to the new contract UE using these actual values.

[0062] As described above, instead of obtaining the performance value from the log information 161 using the UE ID extracted from the BS flow, the management unit 130 may extract a plurality of BS flows in advance and store the performance value corresponding to the UE ID of each of the plurality of BS flows in the storage unit 160. This makes it possible to obtain the performance value and calculate the predicted value by matching the BS flow without searching the distributed management ledger 162.

[0063] Furthermore, while FIG. 9 shows received power and throughput as actual values, the actual log information 162 also includes many other values ​​during communication time.

[0064] Furthermore, the management unit 130 may acquire the actual value of the communication quality of other UEs with the same BS flow as the new contract UE, as well as communication parameters of the other UEs, such as the "number of MIMOs, number of antennas, bandwidth," and the number of UEs that the own BS ​​can accommodate when the other UE is communicating with the own BS ​​(degree of congestion), and the quality prediction unit 140 may estimate the communication quality that can be provided to the new contract UE based on at least one of the "number of MIMOs, number of antennas, bandwidth, number of UEs that can accommodate when communicating (degree of congestion)" in addition to the actual value of the communication quality.

[0065] The number of MIMOs may be referred to as the number of layers, the number of MIMO layers, etc. Furthermore, information such as the "number of MIMOs, the number of antennas, the bandwidth, the number of UEs accommodated during communication (degree of congestion)" may be acquired from the distributed management ledger 162 or from the log information 161. For example, if the number of UE antennas is included in the conditions at the time of contract, it is expected that the number of UE antennas will be included in the distributed management ledger 162.

[0066] For example, when the number of antennas (an example of a communication parameter) of another UE that has the same BS flow as the BS flow of the new contract UE is twice the number of antennas of the new contract UE, the quality prediction unit 140 estimates that the new contract UE can be provided with half the communication quality (e.g., half the throughput) of the other UE.

[0067] (Summary of the first embodiment) As described above, in the first embodiment, even within the coverage area of ​​a single base station device BS, communication quality may vary depending on the location within the area. Therefore, by extracting UEs with the same BS flow as the new contract UE, it is possible to predict communication quality that varies depending on the location.

[0068] In addition, when predicting communication quality, the BS flow of the new contract UE is extracted from the distributed management ledger, and the communication quality that can be provided to the new contract UE is predicted in advance based on the actual communication quality values ​​of other UE that have connected to the base station device BS in the past using the same BS flow.

[0069] [Second embodiment] Next, a second embodiment will be described.

[0070] (Processing Overview) An outline of the process for solving the above-mentioned problem 2 in the wireless communication system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0071] As described above, even in the coverage area of ​​a single base station apparatus BS, the communication quality that the base station apparatus BS can provide to the terminal apparatus UE changes depending on the moving speed of the terminal apparatus UE.

[0072] FIG. 10 shows a case where the terminal device UE moves at a low speed (FIG. 10(a)) and a case where the terminal device UE moves at a high speed (FIG. 10(b)). In both cases (a) and (b), base station devices BS1 to BS3 exist. Here, it is assumed that the terminal device UE makes a new contract with base station device BS100 after passing through the areas of base station devices BS1 to BS3.

[0073] In case (a), the terminal device UE contracts with BS1, BS2, and BS3 at long time intervals when passing through the areas of BS1, BS2, and BS3. In case (b), the terminal device UE contracts with BS1, BS2, and BS3 at short time intervals when passing through the areas of BS1, BS2, and BS3.

[0074] For example, as shown in "A," the base station apparatus BS100 extracts the contract time interval of the terminal apparatus UE to be newly contracted from its own distributed management ledger. The contract time interval is an example of information related to the transition of the contracted base station apparatus of the terminal apparatus UE to be newly contracted.

[0075] If the controlling base station device BS100 does not hold a blockchain ledger, it may make an inquiry to neighboring blockchain nodes and use the information obtained as feedback information.

[0076] Next, the base station apparatus BS100 extracts past performance values ​​of communication quality for other terminal apparatuses UE at contract time intervals close to the contract time interval of the terminal apparatus UE to be newly contracted from communication logs etc. held by the base station apparatus BS100. As shown in "B", in the case of (a) of Fig. 10, high communication quality is obtained as the past communication quality for other terminal apparatuses UE.

[0077] The base station apparatus BS100 then uses the average value of the actual values ​​extracted from the communication log or the like as a predicted value of the communication quality that can be provided to the terminal apparatus UE that will newly sign up for a contract.

[0078] As described above, by using the actual value of the communication quality of the own station for other UEs having contract time intervals close to the contract time interval of the communication device UE to be newly contracted, it is possible to present the communication quality to the terminal device UE to be newly contracted, taking into account the effects of fading, Doppler shift, etc. during communication.

[0079] The device configuration in the second embodiment is the same as the device configuration in the first embodiment, with the base station device BS having the configuration shown in FIG. 5 and the terminal device UE having the configuration shown in FIG.

[0080] (Processing flow) Next, with reference to the flowchart in Fig. 11, a process performed by the base station apparatus BS having the configuration in Fig. 5 until a newly contracted terminal apparatus UE starts communication will be described. The newly contracted terminal apparatus UE will be referred to as a "newly contracted UE" or a "new UE." Here, it is assumed that the base station apparatus BS has already received a connection request including the ID of the newly contracted UE from the newly contracted UE.

[0081] In S201, the management unit 130 uses the ID of the newly contracted UE to obtain the contracted time interval of the newly contracted UE from the distributed management ledger 162. A specific example is shown in Fig. 12. As shown in Fig. 12, the distributed management ledger 162 contains transactions (history information) that record information such as which BS the UE has connected to, along with a timestamp, and the management unit 130 can obtain the contracted time interval of the UE by searching the distributed management ledger 162 using the ID of the newly contracted UE and obtaining the corresponding timestamp. In the example of Fig. 12, the contracted time interval is 10 minutes.

[0082] In S202, the management unit 130 extracts the IDs of other UEs having contracted time intervals close to the contracted time interval of the new UE from the distributed management ledger 162. "Close" means, for example, that the absolute value of the difference between the contracted time interval of the new UE and the contracted time interval of the other UE is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.

[0083] In S203, the management unit 130 extracts an actual value of communication quality in the base station device BS (own station) for the ID of the other UE from a log of the base station device BS (own station) (e.g., log information 161). The extracted actual value is passed to the quality prediction unit 140.

[0084] In S204, the quality prediction unit 140 predicts the value of the communication quality of the newly contracted UE from the extracted actual value of the communication quality. For example, the quality prediction unit 140 sets the average value of the actual values ​​of the communication quality at the base station device BS (home station) for multiple other UEs with contract time intervals close to that of the new UE as the predicted value of the communication quality that can be provided to the new UE. Alternatively, the quality prediction unit 140 sets the average value of the actual values ​​of the communication quality at multiple times for one other UE with a contract time interval close to that of the new UE as the predicted value of the communication quality of the new UE.

[0085] The method for calculating the predicted value is not limited to the above method, and the predicted value may be calculated by any method.

[0086] Thereafter, the transmitting unit 120 presents to the new contract UE the communication quality value predicted by the quality predicting unit 140. If the base station device BS and the new contract UE agree on the communication quality value presented to the new contract UE in S205, the base station device BS starts communication according to the agreement in S206, and completes the communication according to the agreement in S207.

[0087] A specific example of the processes in S202 to S204 above will be described with reference to Fig. 13. In the example of Fig. 13, UE105, UE192, ..., UEXX are extracted as other UEs with contract time intervals close to the contract time interval of the new contracted UE.

[0088] The management unit 130 extracts actual values ​​(e.g., received power, throughput) of communication quality with the base station device BS (own BS) from the log information 161, and the quality prediction unit 140 predicts the communication quality value that can be provided to the new contract UE using these actual values.

[0089] As described above, instead of obtaining the actual value from the log information 161 using the UE ID extracted based on the contract time interval, the management unit 130 may extract a plurality of contract time intervals in advance and store the actual value corresponding to the UE ID for each of the plurality of contract time intervals in the storage unit 160. This makes it possible to obtain the actual value and calculate the predicted value by matching the contract time interval without searching the distributed management ledger 162.

[0090] Furthermore, while FIG. 13 shows received power and throughput as actual values, the actual log information 162 also includes many other values ​​during communication time.

[0091] Furthermore, the management unit 130 may acquire communication parameters such as the "number of MIMOs, number of antennas, bandwidth" of the other UE, as well as the number of UEs (degree of congestion) that can be accommodated by the own BS ​​when the other UE communicates with the own BS, in addition to the actual value of the communication quality of the other UE at contract time intervals close to the contract time interval of the new contract UE, and the quality prediction unit 140 may estimate the communication quality that can be provided to the new contract UE based on at least one of the "number of MIMOs, number of antennas, bandwidth, number of UEs (degree of congestion) that can be accommodated when the other UE communicates with the own BS" in addition to the actual value of the communication quality.

[0092] The number of MIMOs may be referred to as the number of layers, the number of MIMO layers, etc. Information such as the number of MIMOs, the number of antennas, the bandwidth, the number of UEs accommodated during communication (degree of congestion), etc. may be acquired from the distributed management ledger 162 or from the log information 161. For example, if the number of UE antennas is included in the conditions at the time of contract, it is expected that the number of UE antennas will be included in the distributed management ledger 162.

[0093] For example, when the number of antennas of another UE with a contract time interval close to the contract time interval of the new contract UE is twice the number of antennas of the new contract UE, the quality prediction unit 140 estimates that the new contract UE can be provided with communication quality that is half that of the other UE (e.g., half the throughput).

[0094] (Summary of the second embodiment) As described above, in the second embodiment, even within the coverage area of ​​a single base station device BS, communication quality may vary depending on the movement speed of the terminal device UE. Therefore, by extracting UEs with contract time intervals close to the contract time interval of the newly contracted UE, it is possible to predict communication quality that varies depending on the movement speed.

[0095] In addition, when predicting communication quality, the contract time interval of the new contract UE is extracted from the distributed management ledger, and the communication quality that can be provided to the new contract UE is predicted in advance based on the actual communication quality values ​​of other UE that connected to the base station device BS at a contract time interval close to the past.

[0096] In both the first and second embodiments, the communication quality that can be provided to the terminal apparatus UE may be predicted based on information relating to both the current location and the moving speed of the terminal apparatus UE.

[0097] (Example of hardware configuration) Any of the devices (base station device BS, terminal device UE) described in the first and second embodiments can be realized by, for example, causing a computer to execute a program. This computer may be a physical computer or a virtual machine on a cloud.

[0098] That is, the device can be realized by executing a program corresponding to the processing performed by the device using hardware resources such as a CPU and memory built into a computer. The program can be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium (such as a portable memory) and stored or distributed. The program can also be provided via a network such as the Internet or email.

[0099] Fig. 14 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the computer. The computer in Fig. 14 includes a drive device 1000, an auxiliary storage device 1002, a memory device 1003, a CPU 1004, an interface device 1005, a display device 1006, an input device 1007, an output device 1008, and the like, all of which are interconnected by a bus BS. The computer may further include a GPU.

[0100] A program for realizing processing on the computer is provided by a recording medium 1001 such as a CD-ROM or a memory card. When the recording medium 1001 storing the program is set in the drive device 1000, the program is installed from the recording medium 1001 to the auxiliary storage device 1002 via the drive device 1000. However, the program does not necessarily have to be installed from the recording medium 1001, but may be downloaded from another computer via a network. The auxiliary storage device 1002 stores the installed program as well as necessary files, data, etc.

[0101] When an instruction to start a program is received, the memory device 1003 reads out and stores the program from the auxiliary storage device 1002. The CPU 1004 realizes the functions related to the device in accordance with the program stored in the memory device 1003. The interface device 1005 is a functional unit for communication. The display device 1006 displays a GUI (Graphical User Interface) or the like according to the program. The input device 1007 is composed of a keyboard, mouse, buttons, a touch panel, or the like, and is used to input various operation instructions. The output device 1008 outputs the results of calculations. Note that any one, any two or all of the display device 1006, input device 1007, and output device 1008 may be omitted.

[0102] (Effects of the embodiment) As described above, the technology described in this embodiment enables a base station apparatus BS to predict and present a communication quality suitable for a newly contracted terminal apparatus UE in a wireless communication system using a blockchain. Also, it is possible to present a communication quality value to the terminal apparatus UE taking into account fluctuations in communication quality.

[0103] The following additional notes are provided regarding the above-described embodiments.

[0104] <Additional Notes> (Additional note 1) A wireless communication system that performs connection control using a blockchain, a base station device and a terminal device that makes a contract to connect to the base station device; The base station device extracts information about the transition of the contracted base station device of the terminal device from the distributed management ledger, calculates a predicted value of communication quality that can be provided to the terminal device based on the information, and presents the predicted value to the terminal device. Wireless communication system. (Additional note 2) The base station device acquires, from the distributed management ledger, a list of a plurality of base station devices with which the terminal device has previously made contracts, and calculates the predicted value based on actual values ​​of communication quality at the base station device of other terminal devices having the same list as the list. Item 1. A wireless communication system according to claim 1. (Additional note 3) The base station device acquires the contracted time interval of the terminal device from the distributed management ledger, and calculates the predicted value based on actual values ​​of communication quality at the base station device of other terminal devices having contracted time intervals close to the contracted time interval. Item 1. A wireless communication system according to claim 1. (Additional note 4) The base station device calculates the predicted value using the actual value of the communication quality and communication parameters of the terminal device and the other terminal device. 4. The wireless communication system according to claim 2 or 3. (Additional note 5) A base station device in a wireless communication system that performs connection control using a blockchain, a quality prediction unit that extracts, from the distributed management ledger, information regarding the transition of a contracted base station device for a terminal device that has a contract for connecting to the base station device, and calculates a predicted value of communication quality that can be provided to the terminal device based on the information; a transmitting unit that presents the predicted value to the terminal device; A base station device comprising: (Additional note 6) A communication quality presentation method executed in a wireless communication system that performs connection control using a blockchain, the wireless communication system includes a base station device and a terminal device that makes a contract to connect to the base station device; The base station device extracts information about the transition of the contracted base station device of the terminal device from the distributed management ledger, calculates a predicted value of communication quality that can be provided to the terminal device based on the information, and presents the predicted value to the terminal device. Communication quality presentation method.

[0105] Although the present embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to such a specific embodiment, and various modifications and changes are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0106] BS base station equipment UE terminal equipment 100 Wireless Communication System 110 Radio Communication Department 120 Transmitter 130 Management Department 140 Quality Prediction Department 150 Conversion Unit 160 Storage section 170 Wired Communications Department 210 Radio Communication Department 230 Receiving unit 240 Connection control section 250 Storage section 1000 Drive Device 1001 Recording media 1002 Auxiliary storage device 1003 Memory device 1004 CPU 1005 Interface device 1006 Display device 1007 Input Device 1008 Output Device

Claims

1. A wireless communication system that performs connection control using a blockchain, a base station device and a terminal device that makes a contract to connect to the base station device; a wireless communication system in which the base station device extracts information regarding transition of a contracted base station device of the terminal device from a distributed management ledger, calculates a predicted value of communication quality that can be provided to the terminal device based on the information, and presents the predicted value to the terminal device, The base station device acquires, from the distributed management ledger, a list of a plurality of base station devices with which the terminal device has previously made contracts, and calculates the predicted value based on actual values ​​of communication quality at the base station device of other terminal devices having the same list as the list. Wireless communication system.

2. A wireless communication system that performs connection control using a blockchain, a base station device and a terminal device that makes a contract to connect to the base station device; a wireless communication system in which the base station device extracts information regarding transition of a contracted base station device of the terminal device from a distributed management ledger, calculates a predicted value of communication quality that can be provided to the terminal device based on the information, and presents the predicted value to the terminal device, The base station device acquires the contracted time interval of the terminal device from the distributed management ledger, and calculates the predicted value based on actual values ​​of communication quality at the base station device of other terminal devices having contracted time intervals close to the contracted time interval. Wireless communication system.

3. The base station device calculates the predicted value using the actual value of the communication quality and communication parameters of the terminal device and the other terminal device.

3. The wireless communication system according to claim 1 or 2.

4. A base station device in a wireless communication system that performs connection control using a blockchain, a quality prediction unit that extracts, from the distributed management ledger, information regarding the transition of a contracted base station device for a terminal device that has a contract for connecting to the base station device, and calculates a predicted value of communication quality that can be provided to the terminal device based on the information; a transmitter that presents the predicted value to the terminal device; The quality prediction unit obtains, from the distributed management ledger, a list of a plurality of base station devices with which the terminal device has previously made a contract, and calculates the predicted value based on actual values ​​of communication quality at the base station devices of other terminal devices having the same list as the list. Base station equipment.

5. A base station device in a wireless communication system that performs connection control using a blockchain, a quality prediction unit that extracts, from the distributed management ledger, information regarding the transition of a contracted base station device for a terminal device that has a contract for connecting to the base station device, and calculates a predicted value of communication quality that can be provided to the terminal device based on the information; a transmitter that presents the predicted value to the terminal device; The quality prediction unit acquires the contracted time interval of the terminal device from the distributed management ledger, and calculates the predicted value based on actual values ​​of communication quality at the base station device of other terminal devices having contracted time intervals close to the contracted time interval. Base station equipment.

6. A communication quality presentation method executed in a wireless communication system that performs connection control using a blockchain, the wireless communication system includes a base station device and a terminal device that makes a contract to connect to the base station device; a communication quality presentation method in which the base station device extracts information regarding transition of a contracted base station device of the terminal device from a distributed management ledger, calculates a predicted value of communication quality that can be provided to the terminal device based on the information, and presents the predicted value to the terminal device, The base station device acquires, from the distributed management ledger, a list of a plurality of base station devices with which the terminal device has previously made contracts, and calculates the predicted value based on actual values ​​of communication quality at the base station device of other terminal devices having the same list as the list. Communication quality presentation method.

7. A communication quality presentation method executed in a wireless communication system that performs connection control using a blockchain, the wireless communication system includes a base station device and a terminal device that makes a contract to connect to the base station device; a communication quality presentation method in which the base station device extracts information regarding transition of a contracted base station device of the terminal device from a distributed management ledger, calculates a predicted value of communication quality that can be provided to the terminal device based on the information, and presents the predicted value to the terminal device, The base station device acquires the contracted time interval of the terminal device from the distributed management ledger, and calculates the predicted value based on actual values ​​of communication quality at the base station device of other terminal devices having contracted time intervals close to the contracted time interval. Communication quality presentation method.

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