Base station, wireless communication system, and wireless communication method

Abstract

A wireless communication system according to the present disclosure comprises a base station, a relay station, and a terminal. The base station evaluates KPIs of wireless communication in each of a plurality of formable communication routes, creates and holds evaluation results as a table, and controls the communication routes according to the held table. The terminal determines the priorities of the KPIs according to the usage status, and transmits, to the base station, information relating to the determined priorities and information relating to the status of the terminal. The KPI evaluation result table is updated on the basis of the information relating to the status of the terminal and the information relating to the priorities of the KPIs, and the communication routes are controlled according to the updated table.

Description

Base Station, Wireless Communication System, and Wireless Communication Method

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

[0002] With the development of technology, in a wireless communication system, as a technology for selecting a communication path in a wireless communication system capable of forming various communication topologies, for example, Patent Document 1 describes a method for determining a route based on communication quality.

[0003] Japanese Patent No. 4965592

[0004] A wireless communication system is expected to accommodate various services and applications, but the required communication quality varies depending on the service and application. Also, the terminals using services and applications in the wireless communication system have diversified, and the processing capabilities differ for each terminal. And power saving of the entire wireless communication system is required. In order to achieve the required communication quality while suppressing the power consumption of the wireless communication system, it is necessary to appropriately select a communication path. In the prior art as described in Patent Document 1, the communication quality of each communication path, the power consumption of the entire system, and the processing capabilities of the terminals using services and applications cannot be fully considered, and it is difficult to achieve the required communication quality while suppressing the power consumption.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems. An object of the present invention is to achieve the required communication quality while suppressing the power consumption in a wireless communication system.

[0006] A base station according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a table creation and retention unit that evaluates the KPIs of wireless communication in each of a plurality of possible communication paths and creates and retains the evaluation results as a table, and a routing control unit that controls the communication paths. The table creation and retention unit receives information on the status of a terminal and information on the priority of the KPIs determined by the terminal according to its usage from a terminal, and updates the table based on the received information. The routing control unit controls the communication paths according to the table updated by the table creation and retention unit.

[0007] Furthermore, a wireless communication system according to one aspect of the present invention is a wireless communication system comprising a base station, a relay station, and a terminal. The base station evaluates the KPIs of wireless communication in each of the multiple possible communication paths, creates and stores the evaluation results as a table, and controls the communication paths according to the stored table. The terminal determines the priority of the KPIs according to the usage status and transmits the determined priority information and the status information of the terminal to the base station. The table is updated based on the status information and the priority information, and the communication paths are controlled according to the updated table.

[0008] Furthermore, a wireless communication method according to one aspect of the present invention is a wireless communication method for controlling a communication path in a wireless communication system consisting of a base station, a relay station, and a terminal. This wireless communication method is characterized by comprising the steps of: evaluating the KPIs of wireless communication in each of a plurality of possible communication paths and creating and storing the evaluation results as a table; determining the priority of the KPIs according to the usage status of the terminals; updating the table according to the status of the terminals and the priority of the KPIs; and controlling the communication path according to the updated table.

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to achieve the required communication quality while suppressing power consumption in wireless communication systems.

[0010] This is a block diagram showing the configuration of the wireless communication system according to Embodiment 1. This is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the wireless communication system according to Embodiment 1. This is a diagram showing an example of a table of KPI evaluation results in the wireless communication system according to Embodiment 1. This is a diagram showing an example of the operation of communication control in the wireless communication system according to Embodiment 1. This is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration that realizes each function of the wireless communication system according to Embodiment 1.

[0011] The embodiments will be described below with reference to the attached drawings. In this disclosure, redundant explanations will be simplified or omitted as appropriate. This disclosure is not limited to the following embodiments. This disclosure may include various modifications and combinations of the configurations disclosed in the following embodiments, without departing from the spirit thereof. In this disclosure, "base station" can be interchangeably read as "wireless base station," "NodeB," "eNodeB," "access point," "cell," "macrocell," "small cell," "femtocell," "picocell," etc.

[0012] Embodiment 1. Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a wireless communication system according to Embodiment 1. The wireless communication system according to this embodiment is a wireless communication system that accommodates multiple different services and applications. The wireless communication system according to this embodiment consists of a base station 10, a relay station 20, and a terminal 30. In Figure 1, one relay station 20 and one terminal 30 are shown for clarity of explanation, but the wireless communication system according to this disclosure may include multiple relay stations 20 and multiple terminals 30.

[0013] The base station 10 comprises a table creation and storage unit 11 and a routing control unit 12 as its main functional components. The table creation and storage unit 11 evaluates the KPIs of wireless communication in each of the multiple possible communication paths and creates and stores the evaluation results as a table. The routing control unit 12 controls the communication paths. In this disclosure, "KPIs" include at least communication quality and power consumption.

[0014] Furthermore, the base station 10 is equipped with a signal processing transceiver 13 as an interface for communication with the relay station 20 or terminal 30. The signal processing transceiver 13 performs wireless signal transmission and reception, as well as digital signal processing.

[0015] The relay station 20 includes a relay station information holding unit 21 as a main functional component. The relay station information holding unit 21 holds information on the status of the relay station 20. In this disclosure, "status" includes, for example, processing capacity, resources, and power consumption. Processing capacity means, for example, the ability to compensate for signals, such as RF imperfection compensation. Resources mean, for example, the CPU usage.

[0016] Furthermore, the relay station 20 is equipped with a signal processing transceiver 22 as an interface for communication with the base station 10 or terminal 30. The signal processing transceiver 13 performs wireless signal transmission and reception, as well as digital signal processing.

[0017] The information held by the relay station information holding unit 21 is transmitted to the base station 10 periodically by the signal processing transmission / reception unit 22. Alternatively, the information held by the relay station information holding unit 21 may be transmitted in response to a request from the base station 10. The base station 10 may also hold information on the status of the relay station 20 in advance. In this case, the wireless communication system does not need to have the functionality of the relay station information holding unit 21.

[0018] Terminal 30 includes a KPI priority determination unit 31 and a terminal information holding unit 32 as its main functional components. The KPI priority determination unit 31 determines the priority of each KPI according to the usage status of terminal 30. "Usage status" refers to, for example, the type of service or application being used.

[0019] The terminal information storage unit 32 stores information about the status of the terminal 30. The status of the terminal 30 includes, for example, location information, in addition to processing power, resources, and power consumption. The terminal 30 also includes a signal processing transceiver unit 33 as an interface for communication with the base station 10 or relay station 20. The signal processing transceiver unit 33 performs wireless signal transmission and reception, as well as digital signal processing. The priority information determined by the KPI priority determination unit 31 and the information held by the terminal information storage unit 32 are transmitted to the base station 10 by the signal processing transceiver unit 33.

[0020] Figure 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of a wireless communication system according to Embodiment 1. First, the base station 10 evaluates the KPIs for all possible communication paths that can be formed to the location where the terminal 30 is expected to be located, and creates a table of the evaluation results (step S11).

[0021] At step S11, terminal 30 is not actually being used, so its status is not considered. The process in step S11 is equivalent to a preliminary evaluation through simulation.

[0022] The evaluation of KPIs and the creation of evaluation result tables are carried out by considering, for example, the status of base stations 10 and relay stations 20, the propagation environment according to obstacles or fading conditions, the number of terminals 30 included in the wireless communication system, etc. The evaluation of KPIs and the creation of evaluation result tables by base station 10 are carried out by using, for example, an evaluation function that evaluates and quantifies the KPIs.

[0023] Figure 3 is a diagram showing an example of a KPI evaluation result table in a wireless communication system according to Embodiment 1. The example in Figure 3 shows an example of the KPI evaluation result in a specific communication path. As described above, "KPI" in this disclosure includes at least communication quality and power consumption. In the example shown in Figure 3, communication capacity and delay are also included. In the example shown in Figure 3, at step S11, communication quality is evaluated as 1 point, power consumption as 5 points, communication capacity as 3 points, and delay as 1 point, for a total of 10 points.

[0024] The relay station 20 transmits information about its status to the base station 10 (step S21). The terminal 30 determines the priority of each KPI according to its usage status (step S31). The terminal 30 transmits information about the determined priority of each KPI and the status of the terminal 30 to the base station 10.

[0025] The base station 10 updates the KPI evaluation result table to reflect the status information of terminal 30 received from terminal 30 (step S12). In the example in Figure 3, the communication quality is updated from 1 point to 3 points.

[0026] Furthermore, the base station 10 applies weighting to the evaluation results of each KPI, reflecting their priority, and updates the table of KPI evaluation results again (step S13). In the example in Figure 3, communication quality is updated to 15 points, power consumption to 15 points, communication capacity to 3 points, and delay to 0 points.

[0027] The base station 10 selects the communication path that yields the highest evaluation result after the update in step S13 and controls the system to perform communication on that communication path (step S14). Figure 4 shows an example of the operation of communication control in the wireless communication system according to Embodiment 1. In the example in Figure 4, there are communication paths with a final evaluation result of 11 points, 21 points, and 27 points. In this example, the communication path with 27 points is selected.

[0028] Terminal 30 sets a communication path and communicates based on instructions from base station 10 (step S33). Base station 10 may also reflect the evaluation results and selection results of each communication path in the control of the next communication path. At this time, for example, machine learning may be used to update the table of evaluation results for each communication path, thereby improving the accuracy of communication path control (step S15).

[0029] As described above, the process in step S11 corresponds to a preliminary evaluation by simulation. This preliminary evaluation by simulation may be further updated to take into account the results of actual measurements. For example, based on the multiple tables created in the process in step S11, the candidate communication paths may be narrowed down in order of the highest overall evaluation result. For example, it may be narrowed down to the top three candidates. Then, the KPIs for each of the narrowed-down communication paths may be measured. The tables may be updated based on these measurement results. By reflecting the measurement results, it becomes possible to select an appropriate communication path.

[0030] As described above, the wireless communication system according to this embodiment and the base station 10 constituting this wireless communication system can achieve the required communication quality while suppressing power consumption by considering the KPI for each communication path and the status of the terminal 30.

[0031] Each function of the wireless communication system according to the above-described embodiment may be implemented in part or in whole using hardware such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), PLD (Programmable Logic Device), or FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). Each function of the wireless communication system may also be implemented by a combination of dedicated hardware and software. Furthermore, each function of the wireless communication system may be configured in part or in whole as a program executed by a processor such as a CPU. This program may be recorded on a computer-readable storage medium.

[0032] For example, each function of a wireless communication system can be implemented using a computer and a program, and the program can be recorded on a storage medium or provided over a network.

[0033] Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration that realizes each function of the wireless communication system according to Embodiment 1. As shown in Figure 5, each function of the wireless communication system is realized by, for example, an input unit 100, an output unit 110, a communication unit 120, a CPU 130, a memory 140, and an HDD 150. The input unit 100, output unit 110, communication unit 120, CPU 130, memory 140, and HDD 150 are connected via a bus 160 and have the functionality of a computer. Furthermore, the computer composed of the input unit 100, output unit 110, communication unit 120, CPU 130, memory 140, and HDD 150 is capable of inputting and outputting data to and from a storage medium 170 that the computer can read.

[0034] The input unit 100 is, for example, a keyboard and mouse. The output unit 110 is, for example, a display device such as a display. The communication unit 120 is, for example, a wireless network interface.

[0035] The CPU 130 controls each component of the wireless communication system and performs predetermined processing. The memory 140 and HDD 150 function as storage units for storing various types of data.

[0036] The storage medium 170 stores programs that execute each function of the wireless communication system. Note that the architecture of the wireless communication system is not limited to the example shown in Figure 1.

[0037] Furthermore, the term "computer" as used herein includes hardware such as the operating system and peripheral devices. "Computer-readable storage medium" refers to portable media such as flexible disks, magneto-optical disks, ROMs, and CD-ROMs.

[0038] Furthermore, "computer-readable storage medium" may refer to a medium that dynamically holds a program for a short period of time, such as a communication line used when transmitting a program over a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. Alternatively, "computer-readable storage medium" may refer to a medium that holds a program for a certain period of time, such as volatile memory inside a server or client computer.

[0039] The base station, wireless communication system, and wireless communication method according to the present invention can be applied, for example, to a mobile base station that provides wireless communication.

[0040] 10 Base station 11 Table creation and storage unit 12 Routing control unit 13 Signal processing transmission / reception unit 20 Relay station 21 Relay station information storage unit 22 Signal processing transmission / reception unit 30 Terminal 31 KPI priority determination unit 32 Terminal information storage unit 33 Signal processing transmission / reception unit 100 Input unit 110 Output unit 120 Communication unit 130 CPU 140 Memory 150 HDD 160 Bus 170 Storage medium

Claims

1. A base station comprising: a table creation and retention unit that evaluates the KPIs of wireless communication in each of a plurality of possible communication paths and creates and retains the evaluation results as a table; and a routing control unit that controls the communication paths, wherein the table creation and retention unit receives information on the status of the terminal and information on the priority of the KPIs determined by the terminal according to its usage from the terminal, updates the table based on the received information, and the routing control unit controls the communication paths according to the table updated by the table creation and retention unit.

2. A wireless communication system comprising a base station, a relay station, and a terminal, wherein the base station evaluates the KPIs of wireless communication in each of a plurality of possible communication paths, creates and maintains the evaluation results as a table, and controls the communication path according to the table it maintains; the terminal determines the priority of the KPIs according to the usage status, transmits the determined priority information and the status information of the terminal to the base station; the table is updated based on the status information and the priority information, and the communication path is controlled according to the updated table.

3. A wireless communication method for controlling a communication path in a wireless communication system comprising a base station, a relay station, and a terminal, comprising: a step of evaluating the KPIs of wireless communication in each of a plurality of possible communication paths, and creating and storing the evaluation results as a table; a step of determining the priority of the KPIs according to the usage status of the terminal; a step of updating the table according to the status of the terminal and the priority of the KPIs; and a step of controlling the communication path according to the updated table.

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