Communication stabilization device and communication stabilization method

Abstract

To provide highly reliable communication.SOLUTION: A communication stabilization device for stabilizing communication in a wireless communication system, includes: a base station; a terminal that wirelessly communicates with the base station; and a control device connected to the communication stabilization device and controlling communication of the base station. The communication stabilization device predicts a future communication situation of the wireless communication system from a past communication situation of the wireless communication system, and creates communication settings for maintaining the communication quality when it is determined that a predetermined communication quality cannot be maintained in the predicted future communication situation, and instructs the control device to change settings before the predicted communication quality deteriorates.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a communication stabilizing device. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, the field of wireless communications has seen a variety of developments against the backdrop of the practical application of a variety of wireless communication systems. Wireless communications are now being adopted not only in the traditional information and communications field, but also in manufacturing and social infrastructure. Conventionally widespread wireless LANs can be easily constructed as private networks, but their communications reliability was not high. On the other hand, public networks such as LTE and 5G communications are more reliable than wireless LANs, but because they are public communications, it is not possible to improve the reliability of communications for specific users. As a result, in environments with many users, wireless resources become insufficient, degrading communication quality and making it impossible to ensure communication reliability.

[0003] In response to this, the practical application of Private LTE and local 5G, which build private networks using wireless communication methods used in public networks, has made it possible to create private networks in which installers can independently manage the number of users and communication quality settings. This has led to a growing momentum for the use of wireless communication in areas such as manufacturing and infrastructure, where communication reliability has previously been an issue and wireless communication has not been possible.

[0004] In these wireless communication systems, a communication quality guarantee level is defined for each terminal or each communication session. For example, in a local 5G communication system, a communication setting called a network slice is assigned to each communication session, and the signal transmission path and wireless communication quality are determined by the network slice. One method for setting wireless quality in the wireless communication section from the terminal to the base station is to determine the proportion of available wireless resources. This allows network slices communicating with high priority to use more wireless resources, and even when multiple types of wireless communication are performed simultaneously, it is possible to improve the wireless communication quality of high-priority communications and provide stable communications.

[0005] Furthermore, the communication quality of a wireless communication system can usually be determined by actually communicating, and it is difficult to determine the communication quality before communication starts.

[0006] The following prior art exists as background art in this technical field: Patent Document 1 (International Publication No. 2014 / 6800) discloses a base station device that allocates resources for communication to terminal devices, characterized in that the base station device includes a congestion degree estimation unit that estimates a congestion degree in the base station device, and a resource control unit that controls the amount of resources allocated to the terminal devices based on the congestion degree estimated by the congestion degree estimation unit. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0007] [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. 2014 / 6800 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0008] The base station described in Patent Document 1 estimates the congestion status of the communication system from the status of data accumulated in the uplink buffer, and accordingly prioritizes base station connection (communication resource allocation from the base station) to terminals with higher priority, thereby reducing connection delays during congestion in the wireless system. This method minimizes the impact of communication failures that occur, but does not suppress the failures themselves. For this reason, it is difficult to apply this method to systems such as production system control, where even a slight communication failure can have a significant impact on the entire system. Furthermore, because it avoids failures by repeatedly responding to the current situation, it is impossible to solve the failures through fundamental measures, for example, when failures occur regularly due to process circumstances.

[0009] At work sites such as factories, wireless communication conditions can become uneven depending on the progress of work. To address this, it is necessary to allocate a large number of wireless resources to ensure that high-priority communications are reliable. However, if a large number of wireless resources are constantly reserved for such communications, even when no high-priority communications are occurring, fewer wireless resources will be available for other communications, causing communication disruptions.

[0010] For this reason, it would be ideal to constantly measure changes in communication conditions and optimize wireless settings in real time based on the measured communication conditions, but this would require an administrator to constantly monitor the communication conditions and apply settings according to the communication conditions, which increases operational costs.In addition, there is a time lag between measuring the communication conditions and changing the settings to match the communication conditions, so high reliability cannot be maintained during that time lag.

[0011] The present invention aims to provide highly reliable communication by estimating the future communication environment based on information indicating the communication status obtained from a control device of a wireless communication system, and changing the settings of the wireless communication system at an appropriate time based on the estimation results. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] A representative example of the invention disclosed in the present application is as follows: That is, a communication stabilizing device for stabilizing communication in a wireless communication system, the wireless communication system having a base station, a terminal that wirelessly communicates with the base station, and a control device connected to the communication stabilizing device and controlling communication of the base station, the communication stabilizing device predicting a future communication state of the wireless communication system from a past communication state of the wireless communication system, and when it is determined that a predetermined communication quality cannot be maintained in the predicted future communication state, creating a communication setting for maintaining the communication quality and performing a communication stabilization before the predicted communication quality deteriorates , applying the created communication settings to change the settings of the control device. It is characterized by: [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] According to one aspect of the present invention, high reliability can be maintained. Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates a communication system configuration according to a first embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the communication stabilizing device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 3] 1 is a flowchart of a process executed by a communication stabilizing device according to a first embodiment; [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart of a communication quality maintaining condition calculation according to the first embodiment; [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram of a communication flow when changing network settings according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart of a wireless resource allocation rate change process according to the first embodiment; [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of setting an allocation rate of wireless resources according to the first embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a communication quality management table according to the first embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a transmission time change sequence according to the second embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a transition of wireless resource usage in the second embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a terminal management table according to the second embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram of a communication flow when changing network settings according to the second embodiment. [Figure 13] 13 is a flowchart of a process for determining a communication quality maintaining condition according to the third embodiment; [Figure 14] 13 is a flowchart of a process for determining a communication quality maintaining condition according to the fourth embodiment; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] Example 1 FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0016] The communication system of this embodiment includes a plurality of terminals 1, a base station 2 that wirelessly communicates with the terminals 1, and a control device 3 that controls the base station 2. A communication stabilization device 4 that performs settings for stabilizing wireless communication based on information from the control device 3 is connected to the control device 3.

[0017] A signal transmitted from terminal 1 is transferred to control device 3 via base station 2, and then transferred to application server 6 via another wireless terminal or external network 5 depending on the destination of the signal. For example, control device 3 is an EPC (Evolved Packet Core) in a 4G communication system, or a 5G core in a 5G communication system. Furthermore, a signal transmitted from an external network to terminal 1 is first transmitted to control device 3, and then transmitted from control device 3 to terminal 1 via base station 2 to which terminal 1 is connected. A communication quality guarantee level is defined for each terminal 1 and each communication session. This level specifies the communication quality that the communication must satisfy, such as delay, error rate, and transmission speed. For example, the communication quality guarantee level is a network slice in a 5G communication system.

[0018] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the communication stabilizing device 4. As shown in FIG.

[0019] The communication stabilizing device 4 has a communication unit 41, a communication status database 42, a communication status estimation unit 43, a communication quality management table 44, a wireless resource calculation unit 45, and a communication setting creation unit 46. The communication unit 41 communicates with the control device 3 to receive information related to the communication status of the wireless network and exchanges setting change instructions. The communication status database 42 stores a terminal management table that records information about terminal 1, as well as information such as the communication status of terminal 1. The communication status estimation unit 43 estimates the future communication status of each terminal 1 based on past information. The communication quality management table 44 manages the compensation details and wireless resource status for each communication quality guarantee level of the wireless network. The wireless resource calculation unit 45 calculates the amount of wireless resources consumed by terminal 1. The communication setting creation unit 46 creates settings to achieve each communication quality guarantee level.

[0020] The communication stabilizing device 4 is composed of a computer having a processor, memory, auxiliary storage device, and communication interface. The processor is a computing device that executes programs stored in the memory. The processor executes various programs to realize the functions provided by the communication stabilizing device 4. Note that some of the processing performed by the processor when executing the programs may be executed by another computing device (e.g., hardware such as an ASIC or FPGA). The memory includes ROM, which is a non-volatile storage element, and RAM, which is a volatile storage element. ROM stores unchanging programs (e.g., BIOS). RAM is a high-speed, volatile storage element such as DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) that temporarily stores programs executed by the processor and data used during program execution. The auxiliary storage device is a large-capacity, non-volatile storage device such as a magnetic storage device that stores programs executed by the processor and data used during program execution. The communication interface is a network interface device that controls communication with other devices according to a predetermined protocol.

[0021] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the process executed by the communication stabilizing device 4.

[0022] The communication stabilizing device 4 repeatedly collects information about the communication status of the wireless network at a predetermined timing (for example, at a predetermined time interval) through the control device 3 (S01). The information about the communication status is information for determining the stability of wireless communication, such as the number of terminals 1 connected to each base station 2 and the communication volume of each terminal 1. This information about the communication status is acquired from an application implemented in the base station 2 or the terminal 1, and is recorded in the communication stabilizing device 4 together with time information, and is used for estimating the communication status of the wireless network in the future. For example, when estimating the communication status using a machine-learned estimation model, this information about the communication status becomes learning data.

[0023] Next, the communication stabilizing device 4 creates information on the transition of the communication status over the past period from the most recently received information and the information received in the past, and estimates the future communication status based on the created information (S02). For example, when estimating the communication status using a machine-learned estimation model, the estimation model is machine-learned based on the usage status of wireless resources and the time change in the amount of required resources, and the explanatory variable of the estimation model is the transition of the communication volume of each terminal 1 over the past period, and the objective variable is the transition of the communication volume of each terminal 1 in the future period (T2).

[0024] The observation period of the communication status used for estimation depends on the environment. For example, in an environment where one work process requires n hours and this work process is repeated, it is advisable to set the observation period T1 to n hours or more.

[0025] Next, the communication stabilizing device 4 calculates conditions for maintaining the required communication quality in the future based on the estimated future communication conditions (S03). For example, the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) can be calculated from the throughput, and the retransmission interval can be calculated from the delay. Details of the communication quality maintaining condition calculation (S03) will be described with reference to FIG. 4.

[0026] Next, the communication stabilizing device 4 compares the conditions for maintaining communication quality with the future communication environment estimation result, and determines whether the estimation result of the communication environment for the future period satisfies the conditions for maintaining communication quality (S04). For example, it may determine whether the quality level of all terminals 1 can be maintained according to a standard defined for each terminal 1, or it may determine whether the quality level of only a specific terminal 1 can be maintained. If the estimation result of the communication environment for the future period indicates that the communication quality can be maintained, the process returns to step S01 and repeats the process. On the other hand, if the estimation result of the communication environment for the future period indicates that the communication quality cannot be maintained, the communication stabilizing device 4 creates new wireless settings that can maintain communication quality based on the estimation result of the communication environment for the communication environment for the future period (S05).

[0027] Next, the communication stabilizing device 4 creates a schedule for applying the created wireless settings (S06). The timing for applying the settings is set to a timing that will have as little impact as possible on quality assurance at a low communication quality assurance level under those conditions, before wireless quality deteriorates due to future changes in communication conditions, and with priority given to not affecting quality assurance at a high communication quality assurance level.

[0028] The communication stabilizing device 4 notifies the control device 3 of the created setting contents and the timing for applying the settings (S07). The control device 3 changes the settings of the wireless system in accordance with the notification contents from the communication stabilizing device 4.

[0029] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the calculation of the communication quality maintaining conditions, showing the details of steps S02 to S04 in FIG.

[0030] For each terminal 1 registered in the wireless system, the communication stabilizing device 4 estimates whether the terminal 1 will communicate during that period (T2), the base station 2 to connect to for communication, the size of the data to be communicated, and the transmission / reception period (S11).

[0031] Based on the estimation result, the communication stabilizing device 4 calculates the amount of wireless resources used by each base station 2 (S12). The amount of wireless resources used is calculated from the amount of data transmitted and received by each terminal 1 and the wireless communication speed of that terminal 1.

[0032] Next, the communication stabilizing device 4 calculates the total amount of wireless resource usage for each communication quality guarantee level of the terminals 1 connected to each base station 2 (S13), and determines for each communication quality guarantee level whether the calculated total amount of wireless resource usage exceeds the allocated amount of wireless resources for each communication quality guarantee level (S14). If the total amount of wireless resource usage exceeds the allocated amount, it determines that communication quality cannot be maintained (S15), and allocates new wireless resources in steps S05 to S07. On the other hand, if the total amount of wireless resource usage does not exceed the allocated amount, it determines that communication quality can be maintained (S16).

[0033] FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram of a communication flow when changing network settings.

[0034] Each base station 2 transmits a communication status report (M01) including information about the communication status of the terminal 1 connected to that base station 2 to the control device 3 at a predetermined timing (for example, at a predetermined time interval).

[0035] The control device 3 transmits a communication environment report (M02) to the communication stabilizing device 4, which summarizes information such as the amount of communication and the communication speed of the terminal 1 from the received communication status report and the communication signal transmitted and received from the terminal 1 transferred via the control device 3. The control device 3 may send this communication environment report in response to a request from the communication stabilizing device 4.

[0036] The communication stabilizing device 4 estimates the communication status at each base station 2 using the received communication environment report (M03) and determines whether communication quality can be maintained. If it is determined that communication quality cannot be maintained (M03n), it creates settings that can maintain wireless quality and transmits a setting change instruction (M05) to the control device 3, including the created settings and information on the timing to reflect the settings.

[0037] Based on the received setting change instruction, the control device 3 sends a base station setting change instruction (M06) to change the setting of each base station 2 at an appropriate timing. At this time, the control device 3 may transmit the content of the setting change and the setting application timing to the base station 2, and the setting may be applied at the setting application timing received by the base station 2. Alternatively, the control device 3 may transmit the setting change instruction to the base station 2 at the setting application timing, and the base station 2 may apply the setting in accordance with the received setting change instruction.

[0038] An example of a change in the settings of a communication system will be described with reference to Fig. 6 to Fig. 8. In this embodiment, as an example of a change in the settings of a communication system, a procedure for changing the allocation rate of wireless resources allocated to each communication quality guarantee level in base station 2 will be described.

[0039] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a wireless resource allocation rate change process that is executed when the communication stabilizing device 4 determines that the communication conditions will change in the future and that the communication quality at the guaranteed communication quality level cannot be maintained when the communication volume increases.

[0040] First, in the wireless resource allocation rate change process, if there is a communication quality assurance level at which a wireless resource shortage is expected (S21), the communication stabilizing device 4 determines whether the priority of the communication quality assurance level n at which a wireless resource shortage is expected is the lowest level (S22). If the priority of the communication quality assurance level n is the lowest, it is not possible to allocate any more wireless resources to the communication quality assurance level n, so the process ends without changing the setting (S30).

[0041] If there is a communication quality assurance level with a lower priority than the target communication quality assurance level n, the surplus wireless resources at the communication quality assurance level n+1 with the lower priority are summed up to calculate the total amount of surplus wireless resources (S23). It is determined whether the calculated surplus wireless resources satisfy the required wireless resources (S24). If the calculated surplus wireless resources satisfy the required wireless resources, the surplus wireless resources are allocated to the communication quality assurance level n (S31), and the process ends (S30).

[0042] On the other hand, if there are no surplus radio resources or the total amount of surplus radio resources does not satisfy the required radio resources, the allocation amounts of other communication quality assurance levels are reduced and assigned to communication quality assurance level n. First, the communication quality assurance level with the lowest priority is set as the reduction target (S25), the allocation amount of the lowest communication quality assurance level is reduced and assigned to communication quality assurance level n (S26), and it is determined whether the radio resources required for communication quality assurance level n can be secured (S27). In steps S26 to S27, a minimum required radio resource allocation rate is set for each communication quality assurance level, and it is determined whether the required radio resources can be secured by reducing the allocation amount to the minimum allocation rate. If the required amount can be secured by reducing the allocation amount of the lowest communication quality assurance level, the secured radio resources are assigned to communication quality assurance level n (S32), and the process ends (S30).

[0043] On the other hand, if the required amount cannot be secured even after reducing the allocation amount of the lowest communication quality assurance level, it is determined whether a next-higher communication quality assurance level exists, depending on whether the next-higher communication quality assurance level is communication quality assurance level n (S28). If a next-higher communication quality assurance level exists, it is set as the next-higher communication quality assurance level to be reduced (S29), and the process returns to step S26, where the same process is performed on the next-higher communication quality assurance level.

[0044] If the additional allocation of wireless resources can be achieved by reducing the allocation amount to a level equal to or lower than the required communication quality guarantee level n, the change is recorded and the settings are changed according to the recorded change. If the required wireless resources cannot be secured by the above-mentioned process, the settings are changed to allocate the secured wireless resources, and the communication stabilizing device 4 issues a warning of a resource shortage.

[0045] In this way, after the surplus wireless resources of the lower quality communication quality assurance level are allocated to the higher quality communication quality assurance level, the wireless resources reduced at the lower quality communication quality assurance level are allocated to the higher quality communication quality assurance level, so that the communication quality of the higher quality communication quality assurance level can be ensured while minimizing the impact on the lower quality communication quality assurance level.

[0046] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of setting the allocation rate of wireless resources in a certain base station 2, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the communication quality management table 44 at this time.

[0047] Before the allocation rate change, the allocation rate of this base station 2 was set to 30% for the highest priority communication quality assurance level 1, 30% for the medium priority communication quality assurance level 2, and 40% for the lowest priority communication quality assurance level 3, as in setting 1.

[0048] As shown in Fig. 8, the communication quality management table 44 records the communication performance (e.g., required communication success rate) T1 guaranteed at each communication quality guarantee level, the wireless resource allocation rate T2, the surplus wireless resource rate T3, the wireless resource shortage amount T4 at a future time tm, and the minimum wireless resource allocation rate T5. Note that communication quality guarantee level 1 is the highest level with the highest priority, and communication quality guarantee level 3 is the lowest level with the lowest priority. The required communication success rate is the probability that communication can be completed within a predetermined time, and is expressed as a percentage. As shown in Fig. 4, the wireless resource shortage amount T4 can be calculated from the wireless resource amount estimated in step S12 of the communication quality maintenance condition calculation (Fig. 4). The minimum allocation rate T5 is the ratio of the minimum resource amount that can be allocated to each communication quality guarantee level, with the wireless resources available at the base station 2 set to 100.

[0049] The communication quality management table 44 may be updated constantly at a predetermined timing, or may be updated when a setting change is attempted.

[0050] In this example, it is predicted that at communication quality guarantee level 1, which has the highest priority, there will be a 10% shortage in the allocated amount of wireless resources at time tm in the future.

[0051] At this time, after confirming that there are no surplus radio resources for lower communication quality guarantee levels 2 or lower, it is determined whether it is possible to reduce the radio resources for communication quality guarantee level 3, which has the lowest priority. The current allocation rate for communication quality guarantee level 3 is 40%, but its minimum allocation rate is 10%, so the allocation for communication quality guarantee level 3 is reduced to 30%, and the resulting 10% is allocated to communication quality guarantee level 1. This allocation change satisfies the amount of radio resources required for communication quality guarantee level 1. As a result, the allocation amount is changed as shown in Setting 2 in Figure 7, and communication quality guarantee level 1 is able to secure the required amount of radio resources and provide the promised radio performance.

[0052] As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the settings of the base station 2 are changed based on the results of estimating future communication conditions, so that the timing of the setting change is synchronized with the change in communication conditions, and high reliability of communication can be ensured without increasing the burden on the administrator. Furthermore, the setting change control according to the first embodiment is effective in situations where terminal 1 has high communication priority and transfers large amounts of data (for example, image data) in communication.

[0053] <Example 2> As a second embodiment of the present invention, a method for stabilizing wireless communication by estimating a time period when the utilization rate of the wireless communication environment is low and setting the signal transmission time of terminal 1 to the estimated time period will be described. Here, in the operation sequence of communication stabilization device 4 in Fig. 3, in creating a setting capable of maintaining communication quality in the estimated environment (S05), a setting is created to change the signal transmission time of terminal 1 to a time when communication is not concentrated. Note that in the second embodiment, differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described, and the same configurations and processes as in the first embodiment will be assigned the same reference numerals and their description will be omitted.

[0054] In the second embodiment, in step S02 of Fig. 3, an estimation model is used to estimate whether terminal 1 is communicating. The estimation model in the second embodiment is machine-learned based on temporal changes in the communication status of terminal 1 (whether it is communicating or paused), and when a future time is input as an explanatory variable, the presence or absence of communication is output as a target variable.

[0055] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transmission time change sequence according to this embodiment.

[0056] First, the communication stabilizing device 4 estimates the transition of the wireless resource usage of the base station 2 and detects a time period in which a wireless resource shortage is predicted. The same method as in the first embodiment can be used to estimate the wireless resource usage. For example, a case where the transition of the wireless resource usage is assumed as shown in FIG. 10 will be described. If there is a period (from ta to tb in the figure) in which the estimated wireless resource usage rate exceeds the reference value S1 that guarantees the stability of wireless communication (S41), the device instructs the terminals 1 that are estimated to be communicating during this period and that are capable of changing their communication times to change their communication times. By specifying a time when communication is not required as the destination of the change, the overall wireless resource usage can be reduced. In the example shown in FIG. 10, the device determines the period from tc to td, in which the wireless resource usage falls below the reference value S2, as the communication time shift destination (S42). Next, the device selects the terminal 1 with the lowest priority and the lowest communication quality assurance level as a candidate for the terminal 1 to be changed (S43). The device management table of the selected terminal 1 is referenced, and the communication time of the terminal 1 whose communication time is capable of being changed is changed to the period from tc to td (S44).

[0057] 11 is a diagram showing an example of a terminal management table in this embodiment. The terminal management table constitutes part of the communication quality management table 44, and records the communication quality guarantee level T12 of each terminal and information T13 on whether the designated communication time can be changed.

[0058] The communication stabilizing device 4 determines whether the change in the transmission time to the terminal 1 will reduce the wireless resource usage rate for the period from ta to tb to below the reference value S1 and resolve the wireless resource shortage (S45). If the wireless resource usage rate does not fall below the reference value S1, the device changes the target to the terminal 1 with the next lowest communication quality guarantee level (S48), and the process returns to step S44 to repeat the process.

[0059] If the wireless resource utilization rate falls below the reference value S1 as a result of the above processing, the control device 3 is instructed to change the settings (S46), and the setting change is terminated (S49).

[0060] FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram of a communication flow when changing network settings in this embodiment.

[0061] Each base station 2 transmits a communication status report (M01) including information about the communication status of the terminal 1 connected to that base station 2 to the control device 3 at a predetermined timing (for example, at a predetermined time interval).

[0062] The control device 3 transmits a communication environment report (M02) to the communication stabilizing device 4, which summarizes information such as the amount of communication and the communication speed of the terminal 1 from the received communication status report and the communication signal transmitted and received from the terminal 1 transferred via the control device 3. The control device 3 may send this communication environment report in response to a request from the communication stabilizing device 4.

[0063] The communication stabilizing device 4 estimates the communication status at each base station 2 using the received communication environment report (M03) and determines whether communication quality can be maintained. If it is determined that communication quality cannot be maintained (M03n), it creates settings that can maintain wireless quality and transmits a setting change instruction (M05) to the control device 3, including the created settings and information on the timing to reflect the settings.

[0064] Based on the received setting change instruction, the control device 3 sends a base station setting change instruction (M06) to change the setting of each base station 2 at an appropriate timing.

[0065] The base station 2 transmits the received base station setting change instruction (M07) to the terminal 1 that has been instructed to change the transmission time.

[0066] As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, whether communication quality can be maintained is determined based on the number of terminals 1 communicating, and if communication quality cannot be maintained, the transmission timing of terminal 1 is changed. Therefore, when data is transmitted from a large number of terminals 1, the transmission timing of terminal 1 can be changed without prior adjustment.

[0067] Example 3 As a third embodiment of the present invention, a case will be described in which the total estimated communication volume of terminals 1 connected to a base station 2 is used as a criterion for determining whether a wireless network can maintain communication quality. In the third embodiment, differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described, and the same configurations and processes as those in the first embodiment will be assigned the same reference numerals, and their description will be omitted.

[0068] In the third embodiment, in step S02 of Fig. 3, an estimation model is used to estimate the total value of the communication volume of terminal 1. The estimation model of the third embodiment is machine-learned based on the time change of the total value of the communication volume of terminal 1, and when a future time is input as an explanatory variable, the communication volume is output as a target variable.

[0069] FIG. 13 is a flowchart of the process of determining the communication quality maintaining conditions in this embodiment.

[0070] For each terminal 1 registered in the wireless system, the communication stabilizing device 4 estimates whether the terminal 1 will communicate during that period (T2), the base station 2 to connect to for communication, the size of the data to be communicated, and the transmission / reception period (S51).

[0071] Based on the estimation result, the communication stabilizing device 4 calculates the amount of wireless resources used by each base station 2 (S52). The amount of wireless resources used is calculated from the amount of data transmitted and received by each terminal 1 and the wireless communication speed of that terminal 1.

[0072] Next, the communication stabilizing device 4 calculates the total amount of communication data of the terminals 1 connected to each base station 2 (S53), and determines whether the calculated total amount of communication data exceeds the allowable communication capacity defined by the network devices connected to the base station 2, the cable performance, the network configuration, etc. (S54). If the total amount of communication data exceeds the allowable communication capacity, it is determined that communication quality cannot be maintained (S55), and a new communication setting is changed. For example, the change in communication setting may be a change in the transmission time of the terminal 1, a change in the modulation method used by the terminal 1, or a change in the communication path. On the other hand, if the total amount of communication data does not exceed the allowable communication capacity, it is determined that communication quality can be maintained (S56).

[0073] As described above, according to the third embodiment of the present invention, it is determined whether communication quality can be maintained based on the total value of the communication volume of terminal 1, and if the communication quality cannot be maintained, the communication conditions are changed, such as by restricting the communication volume of terminal 1. Therefore, when the communication volume of base station 2 is large and close to the upper limit, it is possible to restrict the communication volume of terminal 1 without making any prior adjustments.

[0074] Example 4 As a fourth embodiment of the present invention, a case will be described in which the total number of terminals 1 connected to a base station 2 is used as a criterion for determining whether a wireless network can maintain communication quality. In the fourth embodiment, differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described, and the same configurations and processes as those in the first embodiment will be assigned the same reference numerals, and descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0075] In the fourth embodiment, in step S02 of Fig. 3, an estimation model is used to estimate the number of terminals 1 connected to the base station 2. The estimation model of the fourth embodiment is machine-learned based on the time change in the number of terminals 1 connected to the base station 2, and when a future time is input as an explanatory variable, the number of terminals 1 connected to the base station 2 is output as a target variable.

[0076] FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the process of determining the communication quality maintaining conditions in this embodiment.

[0077] For each terminal 1 registered in the wireless system, the communication stabilizing device 4 estimates whether the terminal 1 will communicate during that period, the base station 2 to which the terminal 1 will connect for communication, the size of the data to be communicated, and the transmission / reception period (S61).

[0078] The communication stabilizing device 4 calculates the number of terminals 1 connected to each base station 2 based on the estimation result (S62), and determines whether the calculated number of connected terminals exceeds the allowable number of connections defined by the processing capacity of each base station 2 (S63). If the number of connected terminals exceeds the allowable number of connections, it determines that communication quality cannot be maintained (S64), and changes to new communication settings. For example, the change in communication settings may involve changing the transmission time of terminal 1. On the other hand, if the number of connected terminals does not exceed the allowable number of connections, it determines that communication quality can be maintained (S65).

[0079] As described above, according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, whether communication quality can be maintained is determined based on the change over time in the number of terminals 1 connected to base station 2, and if communication quality cannot be maintained, communication conditions are changed, such as by changing the transmission timing of terminal 1. Therefore, when there are many terminals 1 connected to base station 2, many terminals 1 can communicate without having to adjust conditions such as transmission timing in advance.

[0080] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes various modifications and equivalent configurations within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to configurations including all of the described configurations. Furthermore, part of the configuration of one embodiment may be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment. Furthermore, the configuration of another embodiment may be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, part of the configuration of each embodiment may be added, deleted, or replaced with other configurations.

[0081] Furthermore, the aforementioned configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be realized in part or in whole in hardware, for example by designing them as integrated circuits, or may be realized in software by having a processor interpret and execute a program that realizes each function.

[0082] Information such as programs, tables, and files that realize each function can be stored in a storage device such as a memory, a hard disk, or an SSD (Solid State Drive), or in a recording medium such as an IC card, an SD card, or a DVD.

[0083] In addition, the control lines and information lines shown are those that are considered necessary for explanation, and do not necessarily represent all the control lines and information lines that are necessary for implementation. In reality, it can be assumed that almost all components are interconnected. [Explanation of symbols]

[0084] 1 device 2 base station 3. Control device 4 Communication stabilization device 5. Network 6 Application Server 41 Communications Department 42 Communication Status Database 43 Communication status estimation unit 44 Communication Quality Control Table 45 Radio resource calculation unit 46 Communication Settings Creation Department M01 Communication Status Report M02 Communication environment report M05 Setting change instruction M06 Base station setting change instruction M07 Terminal setting change instruction

Claims

1. A communication stabilizing device for stabilizing communication in a wireless communication system, comprising: the wireless communication system includes a base station, a terminal that wirelessly communicates with the base station, and a control device that is connected to the communication stabilizing device and controls communication of the base station; The communication stabilizing device includes: predicting a future communication status of the wireless communication system based on a past communication status of the wireless communication system; A communication stabilization device characterized by creating communication settings to maintain communication quality when it is determined that a specified communication quality cannot be maintained in the predicted future communication conditions, and applying the created communication settings to change the settings of the control device before the predicted communication quality deteriorates.

2. 2. The communication stabilizing device according to claim 1, Calculating a wireless resource utilization rate of the terminal in the result of predicting a future communication state; A communication stabilizing device that determines whether communication quality can be maintained based on the calculated wireless resource utilization rate.

3. 2. The communication stabilizing device according to claim 1, calculating a communication volume of the terminal in the predicted future communication situation; A communication stabilizing device that determines whether communication quality can be maintained based on the calculated total amount of communication traffic.

4. 2. The communication stabilizing device according to claim 1, estimating the number of the terminals connected to the base station in the predicted future communication situation; A communication stabilizing device that determines whether communication quality can be maintained based on the estimated number of terminals connected to the base station.

5. 5. A communication stabilizing device according to claim 1, determining a period of communication congestion in the predicted future communication situation; A communication stabilizing device characterized in that, during the determined period of congestion, the setting of the control device is changed so as to allocate radio resources that allow stable communication to terminals for which high communication quality should be guaranteed.

6. 5. A communication stabilizing device according to claim 1, determining a period of idle communication in the predicted future communication situation; A communication stabilizing device that changes settings of the control device so as to change the transmission time of the terminal during the determined vacant period.

7. A communication stabilization method executed by a communication stabilization device to stabilize communication in a wireless communication system, comprising: the wireless communication system includes a base station, a terminal that wirelessly communicates with the base station, and a control device that is connected to the communication stabilizing device and controls communication of the base station; The communication stabilization method includes: the communication stabilizing device predicts a future communication status of the wireless communication system based on a past communication status of the wireless communication system; A communication stabilization method characterized in that, when the communication stabilization device determines that a specified communication quality cannot be maintained in the predicted future communication conditions, it creates communication settings to maintain the communication quality, and applies the created communication settings to change the settings of the control device before the predicted communication quality deteriorates.

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