Wireless communication system and wireless communication method

Abstract

Provided is a wireless communication system comprising a plurality of wireless communication devices and a base station device, wherein: a notification wireless communication device, which is one of the plurality of wireless communication devices, or the base station device includes a communication unit that, when a condition for activating or terminating a coordinated operation function is met on the basis of determination information which determines the activation or termination of the coordinated operation function, provides notification of the activation or termination of the coordinated operation function to at least one wireless communication device other than the notification wireless communication device; and said at least one other wireless communication device includes an operation control unit that controls the start or termination of the coordinated operation function according to the notification transmitted from the notification wireless communication device or the base station device.　

Description

Wireless communication system and wireless communication method

[0001] The present invention relates to a wireless communication system and a wireless communication method.

[0002] In recent years, the use of millimeter waves has been widely studied to increase the speed and capacity of wireless communications. However, millimeter waves have a high degree of directivity and are subject to significant attenuation due to factors such as moisture in the atmosphere. Therefore, compared to lower frequency bands such as Sub-6 (less than 6 GHz), degradation in quality due to self-shielding by structures and human bodies, fading, or imperfect beam tracking caused by terminal rotation, etc., is a serious issue. To address this issue, terminal cooperation techniques have been proposed that improve millimeter wave communication stability by cooperative operation among multiple terminal groups (see, for example, Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2). Cooperation among terminal groups located in close proximity can ensure path diversity among multiple terminals, thereby improving millimeter wave stability.

[0003] H. Murata, “Terminal selection schemes in terminal-collaborated MIMO reception based on subband channel matrices,” IEEE communications letters, vol.26, no.1, Jan. 2022.K. Yamazaki, et.al., “Proposal for a user-centric RAN architecture towards beyond 5G,”in Proc. Of 2021 ITU Kaleidoscope: Connecting physical and virtual worlds, 2021.

[0004] The technologies described in Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2 relate to a technology for cooperative operation of multiple terminals at the antenna level. When cooperative operation is performed at the application layer among multiple terminals, it is undesirable to keep the multiple terminals that are the targets of cooperation always running, as this increases battery consumption. Therefore, it is desirable to start and stop the terminals in response to some kind of trigger. However, the prior art has not disclosed any means for realizing control over cooperative operation at the application layer. As a result, there has been a problem in that battery consumption cannot be reduced when cooperative operation is performed at the application layer among multiple terminals.

[0005] In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a technique that can reduce battery consumption when a plurality of terminals perform cooperative operations at the application layer.

[0006] One aspect of the present invention is a wireless communication system comprising a plurality of wireless communication devices and a base station device, wherein one of the plurality of wireless communication devices, a notification wireless communication device or the base station device, comprises a communication unit that notifies one or more other wireless communication devices other than the notification wireless communication device of the activation or termination of the cooperative operation function when a condition for activating or terminating the cooperative operation function is met based on judgment information for determining whether to activate or terminate the cooperative operation function, and the one or more other wireless communication devices comprise an operation control unit that controls the activation or termination of the cooperative operation function in response to the notification sent from the notification wireless communication device or the base station device.

[0007] One aspect of the present invention is a wireless communication method performed by a wireless communication system including a plurality of wireless communication devices and a base station device, in which a notification wireless communication device, which is one of the plurality of wireless communication devices, or the base station device, notifies one or more other wireless communication devices other than the notification wireless communication device of the activation or termination of the cooperative operation function when a condition for activating or terminating the cooperative operation function is met based on judgment information for determining whether to activate or terminate the cooperative operation function, and the one or more other wireless communication devices control the start or termination of the cooperative operation in accordance with the notification sent from the notification wireless communication device or the base station device.

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce battery consumption when a plurality of terminals perform cooperative operations at the application layer.

[0009] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a wireless communication system in a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a terminal device in the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing the processing flow of the wireless communication system in the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a base station device in a second embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a terminal device in the second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing the processing flow of the wireless communication system in the second embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a wireless communication system in a third embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a server in the third embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a terminal device in the third embodiment.

[0010] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (First Embodiment) Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a wireless communication system 100 in the first embodiment. The wireless communication system 100 includes a base station device 10 and a plurality of terminal devices 20. Note that the number of terminal devices 20 may be any number as long as it is plural. Fig. 1 shows an example in which the wireless communication system 100 includes three terminal devices 20.

[0011] The base station device 10 is a base station device in a RAN (Radio Access Network). The base station device 10 communicates with a plurality of terminal devices 20. For example, in response to connection requests transmitted from the plurality of terminal devices 20, the base station device 10 transmits a reference signal to the terminal device 20 that is the source of the connection request. The connection request is a signal for requesting connection with the base station device 10. The reference signal is, for example, a sounding signal.

[0012] Furthermore, the base station device 10 communicates within the RAN with a terminal device 20 (hereinafter referred to as a "transmitting terminal") that wishes to transmit desired data to the base station device 10 from among the multiple terminal devices 20, and a cooperative terminal. A cooperative terminal is a terminal device 20 that performs cooperative operation, and transmits to the base station device 10 some of the data that the transmitting terminal wishes to transmit (hereinafter referred to as "data to be transmitted"). Cooperative operation is an operation in which multiple nearby terminal devices 20 cooperate with each other to achieve highly reliable communication with the base station device 10. A cooperative terminal is selected from among the multiple terminal devices 20 that belong to the same group as the transmitting terminal.

[0013] The base station device 10 transmits a downlink signal directly or via one or more terminal devices 20 to the terminal device 20 that has made a reception request, among the multiple terminal devices 20 .

[0014] The terminal device 20 is a terminal that communicates in a frequency band of millimeter waves or higher. The terminal device 20 is a terminal that is powered by power supplied from a battery that the terminal device itself has. The terminal device 20 forms a group with one or more other terminal devices 20. The terminal devices 20 that belong to each group form wireless or wired PAN (Personal Area Network) links between the terminal devices 20 that belong to the same group, thereby forming a PAN network.

[0015] A PAN is a network made up of terminals located in close proximity, and is a network that uses less power than a RAN. Figure 1 shows an example in which there is one group G1 in a wireless communication system 100, and three terminal devices 20-1 to 20-3 exist in the group G1. Note that although Figure 1 shows one group, there may be multiple groups in the wireless communication system 100.

[0016] The terminal device 20 performs cooperative operation with other terminal devices 20. When performing cooperative operation, the terminal device 20 determines a cooperative terminal from among the terminal devices 20 belonging to the same group. A method for determining a cooperative terminal will be described later. The terminal device 20 is one aspect of a wireless communication device or a notification wireless communication device.

[0017] The terminal devices 20 in the present invention perform cooperative operation at the application layer. The cooperative operation at the application layer means that a plurality of terminal devices 20 cooperate to transmit data based on applications that require large-capacity communication, such as virtual reality (VR) and extended / cross reality (XR) (hereinafter referred to as "large-capacity applications"), to the base station device 10. In the following description, a terminal running a large-capacity application may also be referred to as a master terminal.

[0018] The master terminal determines whether to perform cooperative operation depending on whether a startup condition based on the startup of a large-capacity application is satisfied. The startup condition is a condition for performing cooperative operation. The startup condition may be, for example, a condition based on the required data rate of the large-capacity application, a condition based on the amount of data waiting to be transmitted by the large-capacity application, or a condition based on the reception power of the master terminal that is running the large-capacity application.

[0019] The master terminal determines to perform cooperative operation if the activation conditions are met. In this case, the master terminal determines cooperative terminals from among the terminal devices 20 belonging to the same group. Specifically, the master terminal first transmits a startup notification to all terminal devices 20 belonging to the same group to activate a cooperative app. A cooperative app is an application that includes a program for performing cooperative operation. All terminal devices 20 belonging to the same group to which the master terminal transmits a startup notification are candidate terminals for cooperative terminals. Thereafter, all terminal devices 20 (candidate terminals) that have received the startup notification activate the cooperative app and make a connection request to the base station device 10.

[0020] All terminal devices 20 (candidate terminals) that have received the startup notification measure their received power based on a reference signal transmitted from the base station device 10 in response to a connection request. All terminal devices 20 (candidate terminals) that have received the startup notification share information indicating the measured received power with the master terminal. As a method for sharing the information indicating the received power with the master terminal, for example, all terminal devices 20 (candidate terminals) that have received the startup notification may share the information indicating the received power directly with the master terminal through terminal-to-terminal communication (communication via a PAN), or may share the information with the master terminal via the base station device 10. When sharing with the master terminal via the base station device 10, all terminal devices 20 (candidate terminals) that have received the startup notification transmit information indicating the received power to the base station device 10. The base station device 10 transmits information indicating the obtained received power to the master terminal.

[0021] Furthermore, all terminal devices 20 (candidate terminals) that have received the startup notification may share their own location information with the master terminal. As a method for sharing location information with the master terminal, for example, all terminal devices 20 (candidate terminals) that have received the startup notification may share their location information directly with the master terminal through terminal-to-terminal communication (communication via PAN), or may share it with the master terminal via the base station device 10. When sharing with the master terminal via the base station device 10, all terminal devices 20 (candidate terminals) that have received the startup notification transmit their location information to the base station device 10. The base station device 10 transmits the obtained location information to the master terminal.

[0022] The master terminal receives information indicating received power or location information transmitted from all terminal devices 20 (candidate terminals) that have received the activation notification. The master terminal determines a cooperative terminal based on the received information indicating received power or location information. The master terminal then transmits a determination notification (e.g., an ON notification) to the determined cooperative terminal indicating that the terminal device will be used as a cooperative terminal. On the other hand, the master terminal transmits a determination notification (e.g., an OFF notification) to terminal devices 20 that have not been selected as cooperative terminals indicating that the terminal device will not be used as a cooperative terminal.

[0023] The terminal device 20 that has received the ON notification transmits the transmission data transmitted from the master terminal to the base station device 10. The terminal device 20 that has received the OFF notification terminates the cooperative application. In this way, in the present invention, a notification is sent to terminal devices 20 that are not used in cooperative operation to suppress power consumption. This makes it possible to suppress power consumption of terminal devices 20 that are not used in cooperative operation.

[0024] The master terminal determines whether to terminate the cooperative operation depending on whether a termination condition based on the termination of the large-capacity application is satisfied. The termination condition is a condition for terminating the cooperative operation. For example, the termination condition may be a condition indicating that the use of the large-capacity application has ended, a condition based on the required data rate of the large-capacity application, or a condition based on the amount of data waiting to be transmitted by the large-capacity application.

[0025] If the termination condition is met, the master terminal determines to terminate the cooperative operation. In this case, the master terminal transmits a stop notification to each cooperative terminal to stop the cooperative application. All cooperative terminals that receive the stop notification stop the activation of the cooperative application and terminate the cooperative operation. In this way, in the present invention, the terminal devices 20 performing the cooperative operation are notified of the termination of the cooperative operation. This makes it possible to reduce the power consumption of the terminal devices 20 performing the cooperative operation.

[0026] Next, the conditions for performing each of the above-mentioned processes will be explained. First, four conditions for starting the process will be explained.

[0027] (First Startup Condition) The first startup condition is a condition indicating that use of a large capacity application has started. When the master terminal detects the start of the large capacity application, it determines that the first startup condition is met. (Second Startup Condition) The second startup condition is a condition based on the required data rate of the large capacity application. The master terminal determines that the required data rate (d req ) and the master terminal obtains the required data rate (d req ) and threshold (d th ) and the required data rate (d req ) is the threshold (d th ) is greater than (d req >d th It is determined that the second activation condition is satisfied if the data rate required for the large-capacity application is equal to or greater than the data rate required for the large-capacity application. The required data rate for the large-capacity application may be determined based on past performance, a predicted value, or a specification value.

[0028] (Third Activation Condition) The third activation condition is a condition based on the amount of data waiting to be transmitted by a large-capacity application. The master terminal determines whether the amount of data waiting to be transmitted by a large-capacity application (b tx The master terminal obtains the amount of data waiting to be sent (b tx ) and threshold (b th ) and compare it with the amount of data waiting to be sent (b tx ) is the threshold (b th ) is greater than (b tx >b th ) it is determined that the third activation condition is satisfied.

[0029] (Fourth Activation Condition) The fourth activation condition is a condition based on the received power of the master terminal that is activating the large-capacity application. The master terminal measures the received power, compares it with a threshold, and determines that the fourth activation condition is met if the received power is below the threshold.

[0030] Next, four conditions for termination will be explained.

[0031] (First Termination Condition) The first termination condition is a condition indicating that use of a large capacity application has ended. When the master terminal detects that the large capacity application has ended, the master terminal determines that the first termination condition has been satisfied.

[0032] (Second Termination Condition) The second termination condition is a condition based on the required data rate of a large-capacity application. The master terminal determines the required data rate (d req ) and the master terminal obtains the required data rate (d req ) and threshold (d th ) and the required data rate (d req ) is the threshold (d th ) is smaller than (d req <d th ) the master terminal determines that the second termination condition is met. req ) for a certain period of time, and the required data rate (d req ) is the threshold (d th ) is smaller than (d req <d th It may be determined that the second termination condition is satisfied if the above-mentioned state continues. Note that the required data rate of a large-capacity application may be determined based on past performance, a predicted value, or a specification value.

[0033] (Third Termination Condition) The third termination condition is a condition based on the amount of data waiting to be transmitted by a large-capacity application. The master terminal determines whether the amount of data waiting to be transmitted by a large-capacity application (b tx The master terminal obtains the amount of data waiting to be sent (b tx ) and threshold (b th ) and compare it with the amount of data waiting to be sent (b tx ) is the threshold (b th ) is smaller than (b tx <b th ) the master terminal determines that the third termination condition is satisfied. tx ) for a certain period of time, and the amount of data waiting to be sent (b tx ) is the threshold (b th ) is smaller than (b tx <b thThe third termination condition may be determined to be satisfied if the above-mentioned state continues. (Fourth Termination Condition) The fourth termination condition is based on the received power of the master terminal running the large-capacity application. The master terminal measures the received power, compares it with a threshold, and determines that the fourth termination condition is satisfied if the received power exceeds the threshold and the above-mentioned state continues.

[0034] 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the terminal device 20 according to the first embodiment. The terminal device 20 includes a RAN communication unit 21, a PAN communication unit 22, a reception processing unit 23, a control unit 24, a group terminal information storage unit 25, and an application storage unit 26.

[0035] The RAN communication unit 21 is a wireless interface for the RAN. The RAN communication unit 21 communicates with the base station device 10. For example, the RAN communication unit 21 transmits a connection request to the base station device 10 and receives a reference signal transmitted from the base station device 10. Note that, as described above, when the base station device 10 shares information indicating received power or location information, the RAN communication unit 21 transmits, for example, information indicating received power or location information to the base station device 10 and receives information indicating received power or location information transmitted from the base station device 10.

[0036] The PAN communication unit 22 is a wireless interface for the PAN. The PAN communication unit 22 communicates with the terminal devices 20 in the group. The PAN communication unit 22 transmits, for example, information indicating reception power, location information, and start or stop notifications to the terminal devices 20 in the group. The PAN communication unit 22 also receives information (for example, information indicating reception power, location information, start or stop notifications) transmitted from other terminal devices 20.

[0037] The reception processing unit 23 performs reception signal processing on the signal received by the RAN communication unit 21 or the PAN communication unit 22, thereby demodulating the received signal.

[0038] The control unit 24 controls the entire terminal device 20. The control unit 24 is configured using one or more processors such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and one or more memories. The control unit 24 realizes the functions of an operation control unit 240, a radio state information acquisition unit 241, a terminal information acquisition unit 242, an application startup state acquisition unit 243, a transmission queue data amount acquisition unit 244, a terminal cooperation control unit 245, a cooperative terminal determination unit 246, and a communication control unit 247 by the one or more processors executing programs.

[0039] It should be noted that some of the terminal devices 20 may not have the function of the terminal cooperation control unit 245 because it is sufficient for some of the terminal devices 20 to have the function of controlling the activation and termination of the cooperative operation function.

[0040] The operation control unit 240 sets the operation mode of the own device. Specifically, the operation control unit 240 sets the operation mode of the own device to operate in either the master terminal mode or the cooperative operation mode. The master terminal mode is a mode for operating as a master terminal. The cooperative operation mode is a mode for performing cooperative operation with other terminal devices 20. For example, when the operation control unit 240 detects the launch of a large-capacity application, the operation control unit 240 sets the operation mode of the own device to the master terminal mode. For example, when the operation control unit 240 receives a launch notification, the operation control unit 240 sets the operation mode of the own device to the cooperative operation mode.

[0041] The radio state information acquisition unit 241 acquires radio state information based on an electrical signal obtained by radio communication with the base station device 10. The radio state information is information related to the quality of radio communication, such as a channel quality indicator (CQI), a signal to interference noise ratio (SINR), throughput, a communication success rate, received power, etc. The radio state information acquisition unit 241 acquires the radio state information using, for example, a reference signal (e.g., a sounding signal) transmitted from the base station device 10 in response to a connection request.

[0042] The terminal information acquisition unit 242 acquires terminal state information. The terminal state information is information relating to the state of the terminal device 20, such as location information, acceleration information, magnetic sensor information, or remaining battery capacity. The terminal information acquisition unit 242 acquires the location information, for example, using a global positioning system (GPS). Note that the terminal information acquisition unit 242 may acquire the location information by any method as long as it can acquire the location information of its own device.

[0043] When the own device operates in the master terminal mode, the cooperative terminal determination unit 246 determines a cooperative terminal from among the terminal devices 20 in the group. The cooperative terminal determination unit 246 may use the following two methods to determine a cooperative terminal.

[0044] (First method for determining cooperative terminals) The cooperative terminal determiner 246 requests all terminal devices 20 in the same group to share their location information. Based on the location information obtained from each terminal device 20, the cooperative terminal determiner 246 determines, as cooperative terminals, one or more terminal devices 20 whose distance from the master terminal is equal to or less than a threshold.

[0045] (Second method for determining cooperative terminals) The cooperative terminal determiner 246 transmits a reference signal to all terminal devices 20 in the same group. Each terminal device 20 that receives the reference signal measures its received power based on the reference signal. Based on the received power obtained from each terminal device 20, the cooperative terminal determiner 246 determines one or more terminal devices 20 whose received power is equal to or greater than a threshold as cooperative terminals.

[0046] The application startup status acquisition unit 243 determines whether a large capacity application is running. If a large capacity application is running, the application startup status acquisition unit 243 periodically acquires the required data rate of the large capacity application. The application startup status acquisition unit 243 outputs information indicating the acquired required data rate of the large capacity application to the terminal cooperation control unit 245.

[0047] The transmission queue data amount acquisition unit 244 periodically checks the amount of data waiting to be transmitted and acquires the amount of data of large-capacity applications that have not yet been transmitted from the data to be transmitted by the terminal device 20. The transmission queue data amount acquisition unit 244 outputs information indicating the acquired data amount of large-capacity applications to the terminal cooperation control unit 245.

[0048] The terminal cooperation control unit 245 controls the activation and termination of the cooperative operation function. When the terminal cooperation control unit 245 operates in the master terminal mode, the terminal cooperation control unit 245 determines whether the activation conditions are met based on the determination information. The determination information used to determine whether the activation conditions are met is any one of information output from the application activation status acquisition unit 243 indicating whether a large capacity application is activated, information indicating the required data rate of the large capacity application, information output from the transmission queue data amount acquisition unit 244 indicating the data amount of the large capacity application, or received power.

[0049] When the terminal cooperation control unit 245 operates in the master terminal mode, the terminal cooperation control unit 245 determines whether or not a termination condition is satisfied based on the determination information. The determination information used to determine whether or not the termination condition is satisfied is any one of information indicating the required data rate of the large-capacity application output from the application activation status acquisition unit 243, information indicating the data amount of the large-capacity application output from the transmission queue data amount acquisition unit 244, received power, or whether or not the large-capacity application is activated.

[0050] The communication control unit 247 controls communication between the RAN communication unit 21 and the PAN communication unit 22. For example, when the own device operates in the master terminal mode, the communication control unit 247 controls the PAN communication unit 22 to transmit a start notification, a stop notification, and a determination notification to the other terminal devices 20. For example, when the own device operates in the cooperative operation mode, the communication control unit 247 controls the PAN communication unit 22 to transmit information indicating location information and reception power to the master terminal.

[0051] The group terminal information storage unit 25 stores information indicating each terminal device 20 belonging to the same group, and information indicating the location information and reception power transmitted from each terminal device 20. The group terminal information storage unit 25 is configured using a storage device such as a magnetic storage device or a semiconductor storage device.

[0052] Various applications are stored in the application storage unit 26. The application storage unit 26 stores, for example, large-capacity applications, collaborative applications, etc. The application storage unit 26 is configured using a storage device such as a magnetic storage device or a semiconductor storage device.

[0053] 3 and 4 are sequence diagrams showing the flow of processing in the wireless communication system 100 in the first embodiment. In the explanation of FIGS. 3 and 4, three terminal devices 20 will be used as an example. In the explanation of FIGS. 3 and 4, the functional units of each terminal device 20 will be assigned subnumbers to distinguish them from one another. For example, the functional unit of terminal device 20-1 will be assigned the suffix "-1" in the explanation.

[0054] The application startup status acquisition unit 243-1 of the terminal device 20-1 detects the startup of a large-capacity application (step S101). Note that the terminal cooperation control unit 245-1 may determine that the first startup condition is satisfied at the time of detecting the start of the large-capacity application. In this case, the determination of whether the startup condition is satisfied in step S104 does not need to be made. The application startup status acquisition unit 243-1 notifies the operation control unit 240-1 that a large-capacity application has been launched. In response to the notification from the application startup status acquisition unit 243-1, the operation control unit 240-1 sets the operation mode of its own device to master terminal mode.

[0055] The RAN communication unit 21-1 of the terminal device 20-1 transmits a connection request to the base station device 10 in response to the launch of a large-capacity application (step S102). The base station device 10 receives the connection request transmitted from the terminal device 20-1. The base station device 10 transmits a reference signal to the terminal device 20-1 in response to the received connection request (step S103). The terminal device 20-1 receives the reference signal transmitted from the base station device 10. The reference signal is used, for example, to acquire radio state information. This establishes communication between the terminal device 20-1 and the base station device 10.

[0056] The application startup status acquisition unit 243-1 of the terminal device 20-1 acquires the required data rate of the large capacity application and outputs the acquired required data rate of the large capacity application to the terminal cooperative control unit 245-1. The transmission queue data amount acquisition unit 244-1 of the terminal device 20-1 acquires the data amount of the large capacity application and outputs the acquired data amount of the large capacity application to the terminal cooperative control unit 245-1. The terminal cooperative control unit 245-1 determines whether the startup condition is satisfied based on the information indicating the required data rate of the large capacity application output from the application startup status acquisition unit 243-1 and the information indicating the data amount of the large capacity application output from the transmission queue data amount acquisition unit 244-1 (step S104).

[0057] Specifically, the terminal cooperative control unit 245-1 determines whether the second activation condition is met based on information indicating the required data rate of the large-capacity application. The terminal cooperative control unit 245-1 determines whether the third activation condition is met based on information indicating the data volume of the large-capacity application. The terminal cooperative control unit 245-1 determines whether the fourth activation condition is met based on the received power of the terminal's own device. The terminal cooperative control unit 245-1 determines that the activation condition is met if any of the first activation condition, second activation condition, third activation condition, or fourth activation condition is met. On the other hand, the terminal cooperative control unit 245-1 determines that the activation condition is not met if all of the first activation condition, second activation condition, third activation condition, and fourth activation condition are not met.

[0058] Here, it is assumed that the activation conditions have been satisfied. Terminal cooperative control unit 245-1 notifies communication control unit 247-1 that the activation conditions have been satisfied. In response to the notification from terminal cooperative control unit 245-1, communication control unit 247-1 controls PAN communication unit 22-1 to transmit activation notifications to terminal device 20-2 and terminal device 20-3. PAN communication unit 22-1 transmits the activation notifications to terminal device 20-2 and terminal device 20-3 under the control of communication control unit 247-1 (step S105).

[0059] The PAN communication unit 22-2 of the terminal device 20-2 receives the startup notification transmitted from the terminal device 20-1, which is the master terminal. In response to receiving the startup notification, the operation control unit 240-2 of the terminal device 20-2 sets the operation mode of the terminal device 20-2 to the cooperative operation mode (step S106). The operation control unit 240-2 of the terminal device 20-2 starts the cooperative application. In response to the startup of the cooperative application, the communication control unit 247-2 of the terminal device 20-2 controls the RAN communication unit 21-2 to send a connection request to the base station device 10. The RAN communication unit 21-2 of the terminal device 20-2 sends the connection request to the base station device 10 under the control of the communication control unit 247-2 (step S107).

[0060] The PAN communication unit 22-3 of the terminal device 20-3 receives the startup notification transmitted from the terminal device 20-1, which is the master terminal. In response to receiving the startup notification, the operation control unit 240-3 of the terminal device 20-3 sets the operation mode of the terminal device 20-3 to the cooperative operation mode (step S108). The operation control unit 240-3 of the terminal device 20-3 starts the cooperative application. In response to the startup of the cooperative application, the communication control unit 247-3 of the terminal device 20-3 controls the RAN communication unit 21-3 to send a connection request to the base station device 10. The RAN communication unit 21-3 of the terminal device 20-3 sends the connection request to the base station device 10 under the control of the communication control unit 247-3 (step S109).

[0061] The base station device 10 receives connection requests transmitted from the terminal devices 20-2 and 20-3, respectively. The base station device 10 transmits reference signals to the terminal devices 20-2 and 20-3 in response to the received connection requests (steps S110 and S111).

[0062] The RAN communication unit 21-2 of the terminal device 20-2 receives the reference signal transmitted from the base station device 10. The radio state information acquisition unit 241-2 acquires the received power based on the received reference signal (step S112). The communication control unit 247-2 controls the PAN communication unit 22-2 to transmit information indicating the received power acquired by the radio state information acquisition unit 241-2 to the master terminal. The PAN communication unit 22-2 transmits the information indicating the received power to the master terminal in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 247-2 (step S113).

[0063] The RAN communication unit 21-3 of the terminal device 20-3 receives the reference signal transmitted from the base station device 10. The radio state information acquisition unit 241-3 acquires the received power based on the received reference signal (step S114). The communication control unit 247-3 controls the PAN communication unit 22-3 to transmit information indicating the received power acquired by the radio state information acquisition unit 241-3 to the master terminal. The PAN communication unit 22-3 transmits the information indicating the received power to the terminal device 20-1 (master terminal) under the control of the communication control unit 247-3 (step S115).

[0064] The PAN communication unit 22-1 of the terminal device 20-1 receives information indicating the received power transmitted from each of the terminal devices 20-2 and 20-3. The cooperative terminal determination unit 246-1 determines a cooperative terminal based on the information indicating the received power (step S116). Specifically, as described above, the cooperative terminal determination unit 246-1 determines one or more terminal devices 20 whose received power is equal to or greater than a threshold as cooperative terminals. Here, it is assumed that the only terminal device 20 whose received power is equal to or greater than the threshold is terminal device 20-2.

[0065] The cooperative terminal determiner 246-1 notifies the communication controller 247-1 that it has determined that the terminal device 20-2 is a cooperative terminal. In response to the notification from the cooperative terminal determiner 246-1, the communication controller 247-1 generates a determination notification addressed to each of the terminal devices 20-2 and 20-3. For example, the communication controller 247-1 generates a determination notification including an ON notification addressed to the terminal device 20-2, and generates a determination notification including an OFF notification addressed to the terminal device 20-3.

[0066] The communication control unit 247-1 controls the PAN communication unit 22-1 to transmit the determination notification generated by the communication control unit 247-1 to the terminal devices 20-2 and 20-3. The PAN communication unit 22-1 transmits the determination notification including the ON notification to the terminal device 20-2 in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 247-1 (step S117). Furthermore, the PAN communication unit 22-1 transmits the determination notification including the OFF notification to the terminal device 20-3 in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 247-1 (step S118).

[0067] The PAN communication unit 22-2 of the terminal device 20-2 receives the determination notification transmitted from the terminal device 20-1. The operation control unit 240-2 recognizes that its own device has been determined as a cooperative terminal in response to the ON notification contained in the received determination notification. In this case, the terminal device 20-2 continues the cooperative operation mode.

[0068] The PAN communication unit 22-3 of the terminal device 20-3 receives the decision notification transmitted from the terminal device 20-1. The operation control unit 240-3 ends the cooperative operation mode in response to the OFF notification included in the received decision notification (step S119). That is, the operation control unit 240-3 stops the cooperative application.

[0069] The communication control unit 247-1 of the terminal device 20-1 divides the transmission data (step S120). For example, the communication control unit 247-1 divides the transmission data according to the number of its own device and the number of cooperative terminals. Here, the data division ratio is set arbitrarily. The communication control unit 247-1 controls the PAN communication unit 22-1 to transmit the divided data to be transmitted by the cooperative terminal to the terminal device 20-2, which is also a cooperative terminal. The PAN communication unit 22-1 transmits the divided data to the terminal device 20-2, which is also a cooperative terminal, in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 247-1 (step S121).

[0070] The PAN communication unit 22-2 of the terminal device 20-2 receives the divided data transmitted from the terminal device 20-1. The operation control unit 240-2 controls the RAN communication unit 21-2 to transmit the received divided data to the base station device 10. The RAN communication unit 21-2 transmits the divided data to the base station device 10 in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 247-2 (step S122).

[0071] The operation control unit 240-1 of the terminal device 20-1 controls the RAN communication unit 21-1 to transmit the divided data to the base station device 10. The RAN communication unit 21-1 transmits the divided data to the base station device 10 in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 247-1 (step S123). This allows the base station device 10 to receive the divided data transmitted from the master terminal and each of the cooperative terminals.

[0072] The terminal cooperative control unit 245-1 of the terminal device 20-1 determines whether the termination condition is satisfied (step S124). For example, the terminal cooperative control unit 245-1 periodically acquires information indicating the required data rate of the large-capacity application output from the application startup status acquisition unit 243-1 and information indicating the data volume of the large-capacity application output from the transmission queue data volume acquisition unit 244-1. Then, the terminal cooperative control unit 245-1 determines whether the termination condition is satisfied based on the acquired information.

[0073] Here, it is assumed that the termination condition has been satisfied. The terminal cooperative control unit 245-1 notifies the communication control unit 247-1 that the termination condition has been satisfied. In response to the notification from the terminal cooperative control unit 245-1, the communication control unit 247-1 controls the PAN communication unit 22-1 to send a stop notification to the cooperative terminal, terminal device 20-2 (step S125).

[0074] The PAN communication unit 22-2 of the terminal device 20-2 receives the stop notification transmitted from the terminal device 20-1, which is the master terminal. In response to receiving the stop notification, the operation control unit 240-2 of the terminal device 20-2 ends the cooperative operation mode (step S126). That is, the operation control unit 240-2 stops the cooperative application. Furthermore, the operation control unit 240-1 of the terminal device 20-1 ends the master terminal mode (step S127). That is, the operation control unit 240-1 stops the cooperative application.

[0075] 3, the terminal devices 20-2 and 20-3 may acquire location information and transmit it to the terminal device 20-1 (master terminal). When the terminal device 20-1 acquires location information from the terminal devices 20-2 and 20-3, the terminal device 20-1 may determine cooperative terminals based on the location information.

[0076] According to the wireless communication system 100 configured as described above, the master terminal is provided with a PAN communication unit 22 that notifies other terminal devices 20 of the activation or termination of the collaborative operation function when the conditions for activation or termination of the collaborative operation function are met based on judgment information for determining whether to activate or terminate the collaborative operation function, and the other terminal devices 20 are provided with an operation control unit 240 that controls the start or termination of the collaborative operation function in response to the notification sent from the master terminal.

[0077] In this way, when the conditions for activating the collaborative operation function are met, the master terminal notifies the other terminal devices 20 to activate the collaborative operation function, and when the conditions for terminating the collaborative operation function are met, the master terminal notifies the other terminal devices 20 to terminate the collaborative operation function. This makes it possible to control the activation and termination of terminal collaborative operation. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to keep multiple terminals that are the target of collaboration active all the time. This makes it possible to reduce battery consumption when multiple terminals are performing collaborative operation at the application layer.

[0078] Second Embodiment In the first embodiment, a configuration was described in which the master terminal makes a determination based on each of the activation conditions and the termination conditions, and notifies the activation or termination of the terminal cooperative operation. In contrast, in the second embodiment, a configuration will be described in which a base station device makes a determination based on each of the activation conditions and the termination conditions, and notifies the activation or termination of the terminal cooperative operation.

[0079] The wireless communication system 100 according to the second embodiment includes a base station device 10a and a plurality of terminal devices 20a. Note that the number of terminal devices 20a may be any number as long as it is plural.

[0080] The base station device 10a performs the same processing as the base station device 10 in the first embodiment. Furthermore, the base station device 10a determines whether the activation conditions and the termination conditions are met based on information obtained from the master terminal. If the base station device 10a determines that the activation conditions are met, it transmits an activation notification to terminal devices 20a other than the master terminal that belong to the same group as the master terminal. All terminal devices 20a (candidate terminals) that receive the activation notification perform the same processing as in the first embodiment.

[0081] Furthermore, when the base station device 10a determines that the termination condition is satisfied, it transmits a stop notification to each terminal device 20a, including the master terminal. All terminal devices 20a that have received the stop notification perform the same processing as in the first embodiment.

[0082] The terminal device 20a performs the same processing as the terminal device 20 in the first embodiment, except that it does not make a determination based on the start condition and the end condition, and does not notify the start or end of the terminal collaborative operation.

[0083] 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a base station device 10a according to the second embodiment. The base station device 10a includes a communication unit 11 and a control unit 12.

[0084] The communication unit 11 is a wireless interface for the RAN. The communication unit 11 communicates with each terminal device 20a. For example, the communication unit 11 receives a connection request transmitted from each terminal device 20a and transmits a reference signal to each terminal device 20a. As described above, when the base station device 10a shares information indicating reception power or location information, the communication unit 11 receives, for example, information indicating reception power or location information from each terminal device 20a and transmits the information indicating reception power or location information to the master terminal. Furthermore, the communication unit 11 periodically receives information indicating a required data rate of a large-capacity application and information indicating the data volume of the large-capacity application, both transmitted from the master terminal.

[0085] The control unit 12 controls the entire base station device 10a. The control unit 12 is configured using one or more processors such as a CPU and one or more memories. The control unit 12 realizes the functions of an information acquisition unit 121, a terminal cooperation control unit 122, and a communication control unit 123 by the one or more processors executing programs.

[0086] The information acquisition unit 121 acquires various types of information, such as information indicating whether a large-capacity application is running, information indicating a required data rate of the large-capacity application, information indicating the data amount of the large-capacity application, and information indicating the reception power of the master terminal.

[0087] The terminal cooperative control unit 122 controls the activation and termination of the cooperative operation function. The terminal cooperative control unit 122 determines whether the activation condition is satisfied based on the information acquired by the information acquisition unit 121 indicating whether a large capacity application is activated, the information indicating the required data rate of the large capacity application, the information indicating the data volume of the large capacity application, or the received power.

[0088] The terminal cooperative control unit 122 determines whether the termination condition is met based on information indicating the required data rate of the large-capacity application acquired by the information acquisition unit 121, information indicating the data volume of the large-capacity application, received power, or whether the large-capacity application is running.

[0089] The communication control unit 123 controls the communication of the communication unit 11. For example, the communication control unit 123 controls the communication unit 11 to transmit a start notification and a stop notification to each terminal device 20a.

[0090] 6 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a terminal device 20a in the second embodiment. The terminal device 20a includes a RAN communication unit 21, a PAN communication unit 22, a reception processing unit 23, a control unit 24a, a group terminal information storage unit 25, and an application storage unit 26. The configuration of the terminal device 20a differs from that of the terminal device 20 in that the terminal device 20a includes a control unit 24a instead of the control unit 24. The other configuration of the terminal device 20a is the same as that of the terminal device 20. The following description will focus on the differences from the first embodiment.

[0091] The control unit 24a controls the entire terminal device 20a. The control unit 24a is configured using one or more processors such as a CPU and one or more memories. The one or more processors execute programs to realize the functions of an operation control unit 240, a radio state information acquisition unit 241, a terminal information acquisition unit 242, an application startup state acquisition unit 243, a transmission queue data amount acquisition unit 244, a cooperative terminal determination unit 246, and a communication control unit 247a.

[0092] The communication control unit 247a controls communication between the RAN communication unit 21 and the PAN communication unit 22. For example, when the communication control unit 247a operates in the master terminal mode, the communication control unit 247a controls the PAN communication unit 22 to transmit a start notification, a stop notification, and a determination notification to each terminal device 20a. For example, when the communication control unit 247a operates in the cooperative operation mode, the communication control unit 247a controls the PAN communication unit 22 to transmit information indicating location information and reception power to the master terminal.

[0093] Furthermore, for example, when the communication control unit 247a is operating in master terminal mode, the communication control unit 247a controls the RAN communication unit 21 to periodically transmit to the base station device 10a information indicating the required data rate of the large-capacity application output from the application startup status acquisition unit 243, information indicating the data volume of the large-capacity application output from the transmission waiting data volume acquisition unit 244, and information indicating the measured received power.

[0094] 7 and 8 are sequence diagrams showing the flow of processing in the wireless communication system 100 in the second embodiment. In the explanation of FIGS. 7 and 8, three terminal devices 20a will be used as an example. In the explanation of FIGS. 7 and 8, the functional units of each terminal device 20a will be assigned subnumbers to distinguish them from one another. For example, the functional unit of the terminal device 20a-1 will be assigned a "-1" in the explanation. In FIGS. 7 and 8, the same processes as those in FIGS. 3 and 4 will be assigned the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 3 and 4, and the explanation will be omitted.

[0095] After the processes from step S101 to step S103 are executed, the RAN communication unit 21-1 of the terminal device 20a-1 receives a reference signal transmitted from the base station device 10a. The radio state information acquisition unit 241-1 acquires received power based on the received reference signal (step S201). The communication control unit 247a-1 controls the RAN communication unit 21-1 to transmit determination information to the base station device 10a. Here, the determination information includes, for example, information indicating whether a large-capacity application is running, information indicating the required data rate of the large-capacity application, information indicating the received power of the terminal device 20a-1, or information indicating the data volume of the large-capacity application. The RAN communication unit 21-1 transmits the determination information to the base station device 10a under the control of the communication control unit 247a-1 (step S202).

[0096] The communication unit 11 of the base station device 10a receives the determination information transmitted from the terminal device 20a-1. The information acquisition unit 121 acquires the received determination information. The terminal cooperative control unit 122 determines whether the activation condition is satisfied based on the determination information acquired by the information acquisition unit 121 (step S203). Specifically, the terminal cooperative control unit 122 determines whether the second activation condition is satisfied based on information indicating the required data rate of the large-capacity application included in the determination information. The terminal cooperative control unit 122 determines whether the third activation condition is satisfied based on information indicating the data volume of the large-capacity application included in the determination information. The terminal cooperative control unit 122 determines whether the fourth activation condition is satisfied based on the received power of the terminal device 20a-1 included in the determination information. Note that the terminal cooperative control unit 122 may determine that the first activation condition is satisfied when the start of the large-capacity application is detected in the terminal device 20a-1.

[0097] The terminal cooperative control unit 122 determines that the activation conditions are met when any one of the first activation condition, the second activation condition, the third activation condition, or the fourth activation condition is met. On the other hand, the terminal cooperative control unit 122 determines that the activation conditions are not met when all of the first activation condition, the second activation condition, the third activation condition, and the fourth activation condition are not met. Here, it is assumed that the activation conditions are met.

[0098] The terminal cooperative control unit 122 notifies the communication control unit 123 that the activation condition has been satisfied. In response to the notification from the terminal cooperative control unit 122, the communication control unit 123 controls the communication unit 11 to transmit activation notifications to terminal device 20a-2 and terminal device 20a-3. The communication unit 11 transmits the activation notifications to terminal device 20a-2 and terminal device 20a-3 under the control of the communication control unit 123 (step S204).

[0099] The RAN communication unit 21-2 of the terminal device 20a-2 receives the startup notification transmitted from the base station device 10a. In response to receiving the startup notification, the operation control unit 240-2 of the terminal device 20a-2 sets the operation mode of the terminal device 20a-2 to cooperative operation mode (step S205). The operation control unit 240-2 of the terminal device 20a-2 launches the cooperative application. In response to the launch of the cooperative application, the communication control unit 247a-2 controls the RAN communication unit 21-2 to send a connection request to the base station device 10a. The RAN communication unit 21-2 of the terminal device 20a-2 transmits the connection request to the base station device 10a under the control of the communication control unit 247a-2 (step S206).

[0100] The RAN communication unit 21-3 of the terminal device 20a-3 receives the startup notification transmitted from the base station device 10a. In response to receiving the startup notification, the operation control unit 240-3 of the terminal device 20a-3 sets the operation mode of the terminal device 20a-3 to cooperative operation mode (step S207). The operation control unit 240-3 of the terminal device 20a-3 launches the cooperative application. In response to the launch of the cooperative application, the communication control unit 247a-3 controls the RAN communication unit 21-3 to send a connection request to the base station device 10a. The RAN communication unit 21-3 of the terminal device 20a-3 transmits the connection request to the base station device 10a under the control of the communication control unit 247a-3 (step S208). Thereafter, the processes from step S110 to step S123 are executed.

[0101] During the processing from step S110 to step S123, the terminal cooperative control unit 122 of the base station device 10a periodically acquires judgment information from the terminal device 20a-1, which is the master terminal. Therefore, each time the terminal cooperative control unit 122 acquires judgment information, it determines whether or not the termination condition is satisfied (step S209). Here, it is assumed that the termination condition is satisfied.

[0102] The terminal cooperative control unit 122 notifies the communication control unit 123 that the termination condition has been satisfied. In response to the notification from the terminal cooperative control unit 122, the communication control unit 123 controls the communication unit 11 to transmit a stop notification to the terminal devices 20a-1 and 20a-2. The communication unit 11 transmits the stop notification to the terminal devices 20a-1 and 20a-2 in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 123 (step S210).

[0103] The RAN communication unit 21-2 of the terminal device 20a-2 receives the stop notification transmitted from the base station device 10a. In response to receiving the stop notification, the operation control unit 240-2 of the terminal device 20a-2 ends the cooperative operation mode (step S211). That is, the operation control unit 240-2 stops the cooperative application.

[0104] The RAN communication unit 21-2 of the terminal device 20a-1 receives the stop notification transmitted from the base station device 10a. In response to receiving the stop notification, the operation control unit 240-1 of the terminal device 20a-1 ends the master terminal mode (step S211). That is, the operation control unit 240-1 stops the collaborative application.

[0105] According to the wireless communication system 100 of the second embodiment configured as described above, the base station device 10a includes a communication unit 11 that notifies other terminal devices 20a other than the master terminal of the activation or termination of the collaborative operation function when the conditions for activating or terminating the collaborative operation function are met based on judgment information for determining whether to activate or terminate the collaborative operation function, and the other terminal devices 20a include an operation control unit 240 that controls the start or termination of the collaborative operation function in response to the notification sent from the base station device 10a.

[0106] In this way, when the conditions for activating the collaboration function are met, the base station device 10a sends a notification to the other terminal devices 20a other than the master terminal to activate the collaboration function, and when the conditions for terminating the collaboration function are met, the base station device 10a sends a notification to the other terminal devices 20a other than the master terminal to terminate the collaboration function. This makes it possible to control the activation and termination of terminal collaboration. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to keep multiple terminals that are targets of collaboration active all the time. This makes it possible to reduce battery consumption when multiple terminals perform collaboration at the application layer.

[0107] In the first embodiment, the master terminal makes a determination based on the start condition and the end condition, and notifies the start or end of the terminal collaborative operation. In contrast, in the third embodiment, a server located on the same network as the terminal device makes a determination based on the start condition and the end condition, and notifies the start or end of the terminal collaborative operation.

[0108] Fig. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a wireless communication system 100b according to the third embodiment. The wireless communication system 100b includes a base station device 10, a plurality of terminal devices 20b, and a server 30. Note that the number of terminal devices 20b may be any number as long as there is more than one, and the number of servers 30 is not particularly limited. Fig. 9 shows an example in which the wireless communication system 100b includes three terminal devices 20b and one server 30.

[0109] The wireless communication system 100b has a different configuration from the wireless communication system 100 in that a server 30 is located on the same network as a plurality of terminal devices 20b. The following description will focus on the differences from the wireless communication system 100.

[0110] The terminal device 20b is a terminal that communicates in a frequency band of millimeter waves or higher. The terminal device 20b forms a group with one or more other terminal devices 20b and a server 30. The terminal devices 20b and the server 30 belonging to each group form a PAN network by forming a wireless or wired PAN link between the terminal devices 20b belonging to the same group or between the terminal device 20b and the server 30. FIG. 9 shows an example in which the wireless communication system 100b has one group G1, which includes three terminal devices 20b-1 to 20b-3 and one server 30. Note that while FIG. 9 shows one group, the wireless communication system 100b may have multiple groups. The terminal device 20b is one aspect of a notification wireless communication device.

[0111] The server 30 is a device located on the same network (PAN) as each terminal device 20b. The server 30 is a device that can receive power from an external source (AC power source). The server 30 is configured using an information processing device such as a personal computer. The server 30 is one aspect of a wireless communication device. The server 30 communicates between each terminal device 20b and the server 30.

[0112] The server 30 determines whether the activation conditions and the termination conditions are met based on the information obtained from the master terminal. If the server 30 determines that the activation conditions are met, it transmits an activation notification to the terminal devices 20b other than the master terminal that belong to the same group as the master terminal. All terminal devices 20b (candidate terminals) that receive the activation notification perform the same processing as in the first embodiment.

[0113] Furthermore, if the server 30 determines that the termination condition is satisfied, it transmits a stop notification to each of the terminal devices 20b, including the master terminal. All of the terminal devices 20b that have received the stop notification perform the same processing as in the first embodiment.

[0114] The terminal device 20b performs the same processing as the terminal device 20 in the first embodiment, except that it does not make a determination based on the start condition and the end condition, and does not notify the start or end of the terminal collaborative operation.

[0115] 10 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the server 30 according to the third embodiment. The server 30 includes a communication unit 31 and a control unit 32.

[0116] The communication unit 31 communicates between each terminal device 20b and the base station device 10. The communication unit 31 includes, for example, a RAN communication unit and a PAN communication unit. The RAN communication unit is a wireless interface for the RAN. The RAN communication unit communicates with the base station device 10. The PAN communication unit is a wireless interface for the PAN. The PAN communication unit communicates with terminal device 20b in the group. The communication unit 31 periodically receives information indicating the required data rate of a large-capacity application and information indicating the data volume of the large-capacity application, which are transmitted from the master terminal.

[0117] The control unit 32 controls the entire server 30. The control unit 32 is configured using one or more processors such as a CPU and one or more memories. The control unit 32 realizes the functions of an information acquisition unit 321, a terminal cooperation control unit 322, and a communication control unit 323 by the one or more processors executing programs.

[0118] The information acquisition unit 321 acquires various types of information, such as information indicating whether a large-capacity application is running, information indicating a required data rate of the large-capacity application, information indicating the data amount of the large-capacity application, and information indicating the reception power of the master terminal.

[0119] The terminal cooperative control unit 322 controls the activation and termination of the cooperative operation function. The terminal cooperative control unit 322 determines whether the activation condition is met based on whether a large capacity application is activated, information indicating the required data rate of the large capacity application, information indicating the data volume of the large capacity application, or received power, all of which are acquired by the information acquisition unit 321.

[0120] The terminal cooperative control unit 322 determines whether the termination condition is met based on information indicating the required data rate of the large-capacity application acquired by the information acquisition unit 321, information indicating the data volume of the large-capacity application, received power, or whether the large-capacity application is running.

[0121] The communication control unit 323 controls the communication of the communication unit 11. The communication control unit 323 controls, for example, the communication unit 31 to transmit a start notification and a stop notification to each terminal device 20b.

[0122] 12 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a terminal device 20b in the third embodiment. The terminal device 20b includes a RAN communication unit 21, a PAN communication unit 22, a reception processing unit 23, a control unit 24b, and a group terminal information storage unit 25. The configuration of the terminal device 20b differs from that of the terminal device 20 in that the terminal device 20b includes a control unit 24b instead of the control unit 24. The other configuration of the terminal device 20b is the same as that of the terminal device 20. The following description will focus on the differences from the first embodiment.

[0123] The control unit 24b controls the entire terminal device 20b. The control unit 24a is configured using one or more processors such as a CPU and one or more memories. The one or more processors execute programs to realize the functions of the operation control unit 240, the radio state information acquisition unit 241, the terminal information acquisition unit 242, the application startup state acquisition unit 243, the transmission queue data amount acquisition unit 244, the cooperative terminal determination unit 246, and the communication control unit 247b.

[0124] The communication control unit 247b controls communication between the RAN communication unit 21 and the PAN communication unit 22. For example, when the communication control unit 247b operates in the master terminal mode, the communication control unit 247b controls the PAN communication unit 22 to transmit a start notification, a stop notification, and a determination notification to each terminal device 20b. For example, when the communication control unit 247b operates in the cooperative operation mode, the communication control unit 247b controls the PAN communication unit 22 to transmit information indicating location information and reception power to the master terminal.

[0125] Furthermore, for example, when the device itself is operating in master terminal mode, the communication control unit 247b controls the RAN communication unit 21 to periodically transmit to the server 30 information indicating the required data rate of the large-capacity application output from the application startup status acquisition unit 243, information indicating the data volume of the large-capacity application output from the transmission waiting data volume acquisition unit 244, and information indicating the measured received power.

[0126] (Operation Example 1 in the Third Embodiment) Next, the processing flow of the wireless communication system 100a in the second embodiment will be described. In the description, the functional units of each terminal device 20b will be assigned sub-numbers to distinguish them from one another. For example, the functional unit of the terminal device 20b-1 will be assigned the suffix "-1" in the description.

[0127] The application startup status acquisition unit 243-1 of the terminal device 20b-1 detects the startup of a large-capacity application. The terminal cooperation control unit 245-1 may determine that the first startup condition is satisfied at the time when the start of the large-capacity application is detected. In this case, it is not necessary to determine whether the startup condition described below is satisfied. The application startup status acquisition unit 243-1 notifies the operation control unit 240-1 that the large-capacity application has been started. In response to the notification from the application startup status acquisition unit 243-1, the operation control unit 240-1 sets the operation mode of its own device to master terminal mode.

[0128] The RAN communication unit 21-1 of the terminal device 20b-1 transmits a connection request to the base station device 10 in response to the launch of a large-capacity application. The base station device 10 receives the connection request transmitted from the terminal device 20b-1. The base station device 10 transmits a reference signal to the terminal device 20b-1 in response to the received connection request. The terminal device 20b-1 receives the reference signal transmitted from the base station device 10. As a result, communication is established between the terminal device 20b-1 and the base station device 10.

[0129] The radio state information acquisition unit 241-1 acquires the received power based on the received reference signal. The communication control unit 247b-1 controls the RAN communication unit 21-1 to transmit determination information to the server 30. Here, the determination information includes, for example, information indicating whether a large-capacity application is running, information indicating the required data rate of the large-capacity application, information indicating the received power of the terminal device 20b-1, or information indicating the data amount of the large-capacity application. The RAN communication unit 21-1 transmits the determination information to the server 30 under the control of the communication control unit 247b-1.

[0130] The communication unit 31 of the server 30 receives the determination information transmitted from the terminal device 20b-1. The information acquisition unit 321 acquires the received determination information. The terminal cooperative control unit 322 determines whether or not the activation condition is satisfied based on the determination information acquired by the information acquisition unit 321. Specifically, the terminal cooperative control unit 322 determines whether or not the second activation condition is satisfied based on information indicating the required data rate of the large-capacity application included in the determination information. The terminal cooperative control unit 322 determines whether or not the third activation condition is satisfied based on information indicating the data volume of the large-capacity application included in the determination information. The terminal cooperative control unit 322 determines whether or not the fourth activation condition is satisfied based on the received power of the terminal device 20b-1 included in the determination information. Note that the terminal cooperative control unit 322 may determine that the first activation condition is satisfied when the start of the large-capacity application is detected in the terminal device 20b-1.

[0131] The terminal cooperative control unit 322 determines that the activation conditions are met when any one of the first activation condition, the second activation condition, the third activation condition, or the fourth activation condition is met. On the other hand, the terminal cooperative control unit 322 determines that the activation conditions are not met when all of the first activation condition, the second activation condition, the third activation condition, and the fourth activation condition are not met. Here, it is assumed that the activation conditions are met.

[0132] Terminal cooperative control unit 322 notifies communication control unit 323 that the activation conditions have been satisfied. In response to the notification from terminal cooperative control unit 322, communication control unit 323 controls communication unit 31 to transmit activation notifications to terminal device 20b-2 and terminal device 20b-3. Communication unit 31 transmits the activation notifications to terminal device 20b-2 and terminal device 20b-3 in accordance with the control of communication control unit 323.

[0133] The PAN communication unit 22-2 of the terminal device 20b-2 receives the startup notification transmitted from the server 30. In response to receiving the startup notification, the operation control unit 240-2 of the terminal device 20b-2 sets the operation mode of the terminal device 20b-2 to the cooperative operation mode. The operation control unit 240-2 of the terminal device 20b-2 launches the cooperative application. In response to the launch of the cooperative application, the communication control unit 247b-2 of the terminal device 20b-2 controls the RAN communication unit 21-2 to transmit a connection request to the base station device 10. The RAN communication unit 21-2 of the terminal device 20b-2 transmits the connection request to the base station device 10 under the control of the communication control unit 247b-2.

[0134] The PAN communication unit 22-3 of the terminal device 20b-3 receives the startup notification transmitted from the server 30. In response to receiving the startup notification, the operation control unit 240-3 of the terminal device 20b-3 sets the operation mode of the terminal device 20b-3 to the cooperative operation mode. The operation control unit 240-3 of the terminal device 20b-3 launches the cooperative application. In response to the launch of the cooperative application, the communication control unit 247b-3 of the terminal device 20b-3 controls the RAN communication unit 21-3 to transmit a connection request to the base station device 10. The RAN communication unit 21-3 of the terminal device 20b-3 transmits the connection request to the base station device 10 under the control of the communication control unit 247b-3.

[0135] The base station device 10 receives connection requests transmitted from the terminal devices 20b-2 and 20b-3, respectively. The base station device 10 transmits reference signals to the terminal devices 20b-2 and 20b-3 in response to the received connection requests.

[0136] The RAN communication unit 21-2 of the terminal device 20b-2 receives a reference signal transmitted from the base station device 10. The radio state information acquisition unit 241-2 acquires received power based on the received reference signal. The communication control unit 247b-2 controls the PAN communication unit 22-2 to transmit information indicating the received power acquired by the radio state information acquisition unit 241-2 to the master terminal. The PAN communication unit 22-2 transmits the information indicating the received power to the master terminal in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 247b-2.

[0137] The RAN communication unit 21-3 of the terminal device 20b-3 receives a reference signal transmitted from the base station device 10. The radio state information acquisition unit 241-3 acquires received power based on the received reference signal. The communication control unit 247b-3 controls the PAN communication unit 22-3 to transmit information indicating the received power acquired by the radio state information acquisition unit 241-3 to the master terminal. The PAN communication unit 22-3 transmits the information indicating the received power to the terminal device 20b-1 (master terminal) in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 247b-3.

[0138] The PAN communication unit 22-1 of the terminal device 20b-1 receives information indicating the received power transmitted from each of the terminal devices 20b-2 and 20b-3. The cooperative terminal determination unit 246-1 determines a cooperative terminal based on the information indicating the received power. Specifically, as described above, the cooperative terminal determination unit 246-1 determines one or more terminal devices 20b whose received power is equal to or greater than a threshold as cooperative terminals. Here, it is assumed that the only terminal device 20b whose received power is equal to or greater than the threshold is terminal device 20b-2.

[0139] The cooperative terminal determiner 246-1 notifies the communication controller 247b-1 that it has determined that the terminal device 20b-2 is a cooperative terminal. In response to the notification from the cooperative terminal determiner 246-1, the communication controller 247b-1 generates a determination notification addressed to each of the terminal devices 20b-2 and 20b-3. For example, the communication controller 247b-1 generates a determination notification including an ON notification addressed to the terminal device 20b-2, and generates a determination notification including an OFF notification addressed to the terminal device 20b-3.

[0140] The communication control unit 247b-1 controls the PAN communication unit 22-1 to transmit the determination notification generated by the communication control unit 247b-1 to the terminal devices 20b-2 and 20b-3. The PAN communication unit 22-1 transmits the determination notification including an ON notification to the terminal device 20b-2 in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 247b-1. Furthermore, the PAN communication unit 22-1 transmits the determination notification including an OFF notification to the terminal device 20b-3 in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 247b-1.

[0141] The PAN communication unit 22-2 of the terminal device 20b-2 receives the determination notification transmitted from the terminal device 20b-1. The operation control unit 240-2 recognizes that its own device has been determined as a cooperative terminal in response to the ON notification contained in the received determination notification. In this case, the terminal device 20b-2 continues the cooperative operation mode.

[0142] The PAN communication unit 22-3 of the terminal device 20b-3 receives the decision notification transmitted from the terminal device 20b-1. The operation control unit 240-3 ends the cooperative operation mode in response to the OFF notification included in the received decision notification. That is, the operation control unit 240-3 stops the cooperative application.

[0143] The communication control unit 247b-1 of the terminal device 20b-1 divides the transmission data. For example, the communication control unit 247b-1 divides the transmission data according to the number of its own device and the number of cooperative terminals. Here, the data division ratio is set arbitrarily. The communication control unit 247b-1 controls the PAN communication unit 22-1 to transmit the divided data to be transmitted by the cooperative terminal to the terminal device 20b-2, which is also a cooperative terminal. The PAN communication unit 22-1 transmits the divided data to the terminal device 20b-2, which is also a cooperative terminal, in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 247b-1.

[0144] The PAN communication unit 22-2 of the terminal device 20b-2 receives the divided data transmitted from the terminal device 20b-1. The operation control unit 240-2 controls the RAN communication unit 21-2 to transmit the received divided data to the base station device 10. The RAN communication unit 21-2 transmits the divided data to the base station device 10 in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 247b-2.

[0145] The operation control unit 240-1 of the terminal device 20b-1 controls the RAN communication unit 21-1 to transmit the divided data to the base station device 10. The RAN communication unit 21-1 transmits the divided data to the base station device 10 in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 247b-1. This allows the base station device 10 to receive the divided data transmitted from the master terminal and each of the cooperative terminals.

[0146] During the above-described processing, the terminal cooperative control unit 322 of the server 30 periodically acquires judgment information from the terminal device 20b-1, which is the master terminal. Therefore, each time the terminal cooperative control unit 322 acquires judgment information, it determines whether or not the termination condition is met. Here, it is assumed that the termination condition is met.

[0147] The terminal cooperative control unit 322 notifies the communication control unit 323 that the termination condition has been satisfied. In response to the notification from the terminal cooperative control unit 322, the communication control unit 323 controls the communication unit 31 to transmit a stop notification to the terminal devices 20b-1 and 20b-2. The communication unit 31 transmits the stop notification to the terminal devices 20b-1 and 20b-2 in accordance with the control of the communication control unit 323.

[0148] The RAN communication unit 21-2 of the terminal device 20b-2 receives the stop notification transmitted from the server 30. In response to receiving the stop notification, the operation control unit 240-2 of the terminal device 20b-2 ends the cooperative operation mode. That is, the operation control unit 240-2 stops the cooperative application.

[0149] The RAN communication unit 21-2 of the terminal device 20b-1 receives the stop notification transmitted from the server 30. In response to receiving the stop notification, the operation control unit 240-1 of the terminal device 20b-1 ends the master terminal mode. That is, the operation control unit 240-1 stops the collaborative application.

[0150] According to the wireless communication system 100b of the third embodiment configured as described above, the server 30 includes a communication unit 31 that notifies other terminal devices 20b other than the master terminal of the activation or termination of the collaborative operation function when the conditions for activation or termination of the collaborative operation function are met based on the judgment information for determining whether to activate or terminate the collaborative operation function, and the other terminal devices 20b include an operation control unit 240 that controls the start or termination of the collaborative operation function in response to the notification sent from the server 30.

[0151] In this way, when the conditions for activating the collaborative operation function are met, the server 30 sends a notification to the terminal devices 20b other than the master terminal to activate the collaborative operation function, and when the conditions for terminating the collaborative operation function are met, the server 30 sends a notification to the terminal devices 20b other than the master terminal to terminate the collaborative operation function. This makes it possible to control the activation and termination of terminal collaborative operation. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to keep multiple terminals that are the target of collaboration active all the time. This makes it possible to reduce battery consumption when multiple terminals are performing collaborative operation at the application layer.

[0152] (Variation of the Third Embodiment) In the configuration described above, the server 30 is located within the same network as each terminal device 20b. However, the server 30 does not have to be located within the same network as each terminal device 20b. For example, the server 30 may be configured to communicate with each terminal device 20b via the base station device 10. In this configuration, the server 30 transmits a notification of the start or end of terminal cooperative operation to each terminal device 20b via the base station device 10.

[0153] Each terminal device 20b transmits information indicating whether a large capacity application is running, information indicating the required data rate of the large capacity application, information indicating the data amount of the large capacity application, and information indicating the reception power of the master terminal to the server 30 via the base station device 10. The operation performed by the server 30 is the same as the operation described in the third embodiment, except that communication with each terminal device 20b is performed via the base station device 10.

[0154] The base station devices 10, 10a, terminal devices 20, 20a, 20b, and server 30 may be implemented by a computer. In this case, a program for implementing the functions may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program may be loaded into a computer system and executed. Note that the term "computer system" here includes hardware such as an operating system (OS) and peripheral devices. Furthermore, the term "computer-readable recording medium" refers to portable media such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a CD-ROM, and a storage device such as a hard disk built into a computer system.

[0155] Furthermore, the term "computer-readable recording medium" may include a medium that dynamically stores a program for a short period of time, such as a communication line when transmitting a program via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line, or a medium that stores a program for a certain period of time, such as a volatile memory within a computer system that serves as a server or client in such a case. The program may also be one that realizes part of the above-mentioned functions, or one that can realize the above-mentioned functions in combination with a program already stored in the computer system, or one that can be realized using a programmable logic device such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

[0156] Although an embodiment of the present invention has been described above in detail with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes designs within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

[0157] The present invention is applicable to wireless access networks.

[0158] DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10, 10a... Base station device, 20, 20a, 20b... Terminal device, 30... Server, 21... RAN communication unit, 22... PAN communication unit, 23... Reception processing unit, 24, 24a, 24b... Control unit, 25... Group terminal information storage unit, 26... Application storage unit, 100... Wireless communication system, 121, 321... Information acquisition unit, 122, 322... Terminal cooperative control unit, 123, 323... Communication control unit, 240... Operation control unit, 241... Wireless state information acquisition unit, 242... Terminal information acquisition unit, 243... Application startup status acquisition unit, 244... Transmission queue data amount acquisition unit, 245... Terminal cooperative control unit, 246... Cooperative terminal determination unit, 247, 247a, 247b... Communication control unit

Claims

1. A wireless communication system comprising a plurality of wireless communication devices and a base station device, wherein one of the plurality of wireless communication devices, that is, a notifying wireless communication device or the base station device, comprises a communication unit that notifies one or more other wireless communication devices other than the notifying wireless communication device of the activation or termination of the cooperative operation function when a condition for activating or terminating the cooperative operation function is met based on judgment information for determining whether to activate or terminate the cooperative operation function, and the one or more other wireless communication devices comprise an operation control unit that controls the activation or termination of the cooperative operation function in response to the notification sent from the notifying wireless communication device or the base station device.

2. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the notifying wireless communication device or the base station device further comprises an acquisition unit that acquires information about a large-capacity application, and the communication unit notifies the one or more other wireless communication devices of the activation or termination of the cooperative operation function when a condition for activating or terminating the cooperative operation function is met based on the information about the large-capacity application acquired by the acquisition unit.

3. The wireless communication system described in claim 2, wherein the acquisition unit acquires information indicating a required data rate of the large-capacity application as information regarding the large-capacity application, and the communication unit notifies the one or more other wireless communication devices of the activation or termination of the collaborative operation function when a condition for activating or terminating the collaborative operation function is met based on the information indicating the required data rate acquired by the acquisition unit.

4. The wireless communication system described in claim 2, wherein the acquisition unit acquires information indicating the amount of data waiting to be transmitted by the large-capacity application as information regarding the large-capacity application, and the communication unit notifies the one or more other wireless communication devices of the activation or termination of the collaborative operation function when a condition for starting or terminating the collaborative operation function is met based on the information indicating the amount of data waiting to be transmitted acquired by the acquisition unit.

5. The wireless communication system described in claim 2, wherein the acquisition unit acquires, as information about the large-capacity application, information indicating the reception power of the wireless communication device that is running the large-capacity application, and the communication unit notifies the one or more other wireless communication devices of the activation of the cooperative operation function when a condition for activating the cooperative operation function is met based on the information indicating the reception power of the wireless communication device acquired by the acquisition unit.

6. The wireless communication system described in claim 2, wherein the acquisition unit acquires information indicating whether the large-capacity application is running as information regarding the large-capacity application, and the communication unit notifies the one or more other wireless communication devices of the suspension of the cooperative operation when a condition for suspending cooperative operation is met based on the information indicating whether the large-capacity application is running acquired by the acquisition unit.

7. A wireless communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the notifying wireless communication device further comprises a cooperative terminal determination unit that, when a condition for activating the cooperative operation function is satisfied, determines one or more terminal devices from among the one or more other wireless communication devices to cooperatively transmit desired data to the base station device based on the distance between the notifying wireless communication device and the one or more other wireless communication devices or the received power of the one or more other wireless communication devices.

8. A wireless communication method performed by a wireless communication system comprising multiple wireless communication devices and a base station device, wherein a notifying wireless communication device, which is one of the multiple wireless communication devices, or the base station device, notifies one or more other wireless communication devices other than the notifying wireless communication device of the activation or termination of the cooperative operation function when the conditions for activating or terminating the cooperative operation function are met based on judgment information for determining whether to activate or terminate the cooperative operation function, and the one or more other wireless communication devices control the start or termination of cooperative operation in response to the notification sent from the notifying wireless communication device or the base station device.

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