Communication system

Abstract

Provided is a communication system in which a processing load is not concentrated in one wireless base station. This communication system comprises: a plurality of wireless base stations that communicate with terminals; a plurality of processors; and a software processing unit that receives, from one of the plurality of wireless base stations, a processing request pertaining to communication from a terminal with which the wireless base station is communicating and uses software to execute processing pertaining to the processing request. The software processing unit comprises a dispatcher whereby processing is assigned to a handler for executing processing associated with a processing request in accordance with the content of the processing request, a handler generation unit for executing processing pertaining to a processing request and generating a handler for each processing request, and a scheduler for assigning a handler to any of the plurality of processors. The software processing unit causes the processor to which a handler has been assigned to process the handler and thereby executes the processing pertaining to a processing request.

Description

Communication system

[0007]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a communication system.

[0002] Conventionally, in a radio access network, load distribution of terminal processing requests is performed to suppress deterioration in the quality of communication services. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique capable of timely adjusting a traffic distribution ratio based on ATSSS rules such as load balancing by RAN measurement and priority-based by RAN measurement in a radio access network of 3GPP (registered trademark) and non-3GPP access networks.

[0003] Japanese Patent Translation Publication No. 2023-531355

[0004] A communication system according to one aspect includes a plurality of radio base stations that communicate with terminals, a plurality of processors, and a software processing unit that receives a processing request related to communication from a terminal with which the radio base station communicates from any of the plurality of radio base stations and executes processing related to the processing request by software. The software processing unit includes a dispatcher that assigns a handler that executes processing related to the processing request according to the content of the processing request, a handler generation unit that executes processing related to the processing request and generates a handler for each processing request, and a scheduler that assigns the handler to any of the plurality of processors. The software processing unit executes processing related to the processing request by causing the processor to which the handler is assigned to process the handler.

[0005] In the above communication system, the radio base station may be a radio base station related to 5G communication, and the software processing unit may execute processing related to the processing request without using a dedicated circuit for processing the processing request.

[0006] In the above communication system, the handler may include a DU handler that executes processing related to communication that requires relatively high real-time performance and a CU handler that executes processing that does not require relatively high real-time performance.

[0007] The above communication system includes a prediction unit that predicts the processing load related to processing requests,

[0008] The handler generation unit may duplicate handlers in advance if the prediction unit predicts an increase in processing load.

[0009] In the above communication system, the handler generation unit may reduce the number of handlers to be duplicated when the prediction unit predicts that the processing load will decrease.

[0010] This is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a communication network. This is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information processing device. This is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of an information processing device, specifically an example of processing when a communication request is received. This is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of an information processing device, specifically an example of load balancing processing. This is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of an information processing device, specifically an example of processing when the handler's processing speed becomes constant. This is a system diagram showing the configuration of an existing communication network.

[0011] A communication system according to one embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0012] <Problem> Conventionally, in fifth-generation communication, each radio base station (RU: Radio Unit) performs communication processing for the radio terminals connected to it. Therefore, the more radio terminals connected to the radio base station there are, the greater the processing load on that radio base station.

[0013] However, depending on the location of the wireless base station, there will naturally be differences in the amount of foot traffic, which will result in an uneven distribution of the number of wireless terminals connected to a single base station. Consequently, wireless base stations with a relatively large number of connected wireless terminals will experience a heavy processing load, raising concerns about a decline in the quality of communication services provided to those terminals. On the other hand, wireless base stations with a relatively small number of connected wireless terminals will experience a lighter processing load, but will not be able to fully utilize their capabilities.

[0014] Therefore, the communication system according to this embodiment was developed in view of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a communication system that distributes the processing load of a group of wireless base stations and provides a uniform quality of communication services to wireless terminals.

[0015] A concrete example of a conventional communication system configuration will be explained using Figure 6. Figure 6 is a system diagram showing an example of a communication system configuration related to the fifth-generation communication standard (5G).

[0016] As shown in Figure 6, the communication system includes RU (Radio Unit) 502 (502a-502c) that communicate directly with the wireless terminals 501 (501a-501f) held and used by the user, a DU (Distributed Unit) 503 connected to RU 502, and a CU (Centralized Unit) 504 connected to DU 503. In the example shown in Figure 6, wireless terminals 501a and 501b are connected to RU 502a, wireless terminal 501c is connected to RU 502b, and wireless terminals 501d-501f are connected to RU 502c. Furthermore, RU 502a and RU 502b are connected to DU 503a, and RU 502c is connected to DU 503b. Finally, DU 503a and 503b are connected to CU 504. CU504 is connected to a mobile core for connecting the wireless terminal 501 to the internet.

[0017] RU502 directly communicates with the wireless terminal 501, that is, it performs radio wave communication. DU503 modulates, demodulates, and controls MAC layer communication for the signals transmitted and received by RU502. CU504 controls the connected DU503 and the RU502 connected to it, connects to the mobile core, encrypts packets, and manages wireless resources with the wireless terminal 501. As equipment, a wireless base station consists of slave stations equipped with RU502 and master stations equipped with CU504. DU503 may be installed in either the slave station or the master station. These wireless base stations only process wireless terminals connected to themselves. Although slave and master stations are installed considering the number of users in each region, their numbers are fluid, and it cannot be denied that connections may be concentrated in certain areas. In such cases, the increased number of connected user terminals increases the processing load on the wireless base station, which may cause communication delays and potentially degrade the quality of communication services provided to user terminals.

[0018] Therefore, in the communication system 1 according to this embodiment, the functions of DU503 and CU504 are implemented in software, and each function is executed by a general-purpose processor to realize those functions. While DU503 and CU504 are basically implemented by dedicated circuits, the aforementioned problems are resolved by implementing them in software and cloud-based.

[0019] <Overview> Figure 1 is a system diagram showing an example configuration of the communication system 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system 1 includes a plurality of RUs 502, a cloud wireless base station to which the RUs 502 are connected, and a plurality of processors 160. The communication system 1 is a system that communicates with wireless terminals in accordance with the fifth generation communication standard. The wireless terminal may be a so-called smartphone, but it may also be a tablet terminal or the like.

[0020] As shown in Figure 1, in the communication system 1, each wireless terminal 501 connects to a nearby RU 502 and performs wireless communication, and this remains unchanged.

[0021] On the other hand, RU 502 transmits the processing request received from the wireless terminal 501 to the dispatcher 132 of the cloud wireless base station. The processing request may be any processing that an existing DU or CU should handle. Therefore, the content of the processing request can be diverse and may include connection processing to RU 502, handover processing to another RU 502, sending and receiving email processing, and web data transfer processing in web browsing.

[0022] RU502 transmits a processing request to the cloud radio base station each time it receives a processing request from the wireless terminal 501 that is communicating with it.

[0023] Each time the dispatcher 132 receives a processing request from any of the RUs 502, it assigns it to the DU handler 133a based on the content of the processing request. The dispatcher 132 also assigns the processing to be performed as needed to the CU handler 133b based on the results of the processing by the DU handler 133a. In other words, a DU handler for executing the processing request is generated for each processing request, and depending on the results of the processing by the DU handler 133a, a CU handler 133b is also generated. Depending on the results of the processing by the DU handler 133a, a CU handler 133b may not be generated. RU_DB 141 is a database that holds information indicating the status of all RUs 502 present on the communication system 1. Each handler is generated based on the status information of the RU 502 that sent the processing request, as held in RU_DB 141. A DU handler may be any processing of the DU in the 5G communication standard, and is not limited to, but includes various low-layer protocol processing such as modulation, demodulation, encoding, and decoding in the physical layer, scheduling and resource management in the MAC layer, and data partitioning and reconstruction in the RLC layer. A CU handler generated by the processing results of the DU may be any processing of the CU in the 5G communication standard, and is not limited to, but includes various processing such as PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) processing, RRC (Radio Resource Control) signal processing, handover processing, QoS (Quality of Service) management, error processing, and load balancing.

[0024] The CU handler 133b is generated as needed as a result of the processing of the DU handler 133a. The DU handler 133a is a handler that performs communication processing that requires real-time processing, while the CU handler 133b is a handler that performs processing that does not require real-time processing. A handler is a unit of program code that performs the processing content requested by a processing request.

[0025] Each time a DU handler 133a or CU handler 133b is generated, the scheduler 134 selects and assigns a processor from among the multiple processors 160 to execute the handler. When a processor 160 is assigned a handler, it executes the handler and returns the execution result to the cloud radio base station. This enables the realization of base station functionality connected to a RU compliant with the fifth-generation communication standard using general-purpose processors, without dedicated circuits like those for conventional DUs and CUs. This smooths the processing load and prevents the processing load on any single radio base station from increasing and the quality of communication services from degrading, as has happened in the past.

[0026] With this configuration, the communication system 1 can process virtually all of the wireless terminals 501's requests collectively, and by assigning each processing request individually to a processor 160 located somewhere in the cloud, the processing load across the entire communication system 1 can be distributed. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the concentration of users in a particular area, which would lead to a decrease in the communication quality of the wireless terminals 501 of users in that location.

[0027] <Configuration> Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an example configuration of an information processing device 100 included in the communication system 1. The information processing device 100 shown in Figure 2 is a computer system that realizes the cloud wireless base station shown in Figure 1. The information processing device 100 is a computer system provided on the communication system 1 and configured to communicate with at least each RU 502 and a plurality of processors 160, and is a device that realizes the dispatcher 132, DU handler 133a, CU handler 133b, and scheduler 134 in Figure 1. The information processing device 100 is a device on the communication system 1, that is, on the cloud, and may be realized by a plurality of computers.

[0028] As shown in Figure 2, the information processing device 100 includes a communication unit 110, a control unit 130, and a storage unit 140. The information processing device 100 may also include an input unit 120 and an output unit 150.

[0029] The communication unit 110 is a communication interface that has the function of communicating with external devices of the information processing device 100. The communication unit 110 communicates with each RU 502 and multiple processors 160 as external devices. The communication unit 110 receives processing requests from each wireless terminal 501 from the RU 502 and transmits them to the control unit 130. The processing requests received by the communication unit 110 include the identification information of the RU 502 that sent the processing request, the identification information of the wireless terminal 501 that sent the processing request, and information about the content of the processing. It also transmits handlers to the multiple processors 160 according to instructions from the control unit 130.

[0030] The input unit 120 has the function of receiving input from an operator of the information processing device 100. The input unit 120 may be implemented as a touch panel, keyboard, mouse, etc., but is not limited to these.

[0031] The control unit 130 is a processor that executes various programs stored in the memory unit 140 and uses the data to realize the functions that the information processing device 100 should perform. Specifically, the control unit 130 assigns the processing request from the wireless terminal 501 to the processor 160, receives the result and passes it to the wireless terminal 501, or transmits it to the RU 502 which is connected to apply it to communication with the wireless terminal 501.

[0032] The control unit 130 may also include a software processing unit 131 as one of its functions.

[0033] The software processing unit 131 is a functional unit that processes processing requests using software, and includes a dispatcher 132, a handler generation unit 133, and a scheduler 134.

[0034] The dispatcher 132 assigns a handler (DU handler 133a) to each received processing request according to its processing content. That is, it instructs the handler generation unit 133 to generate a DU handler for each processing request. Furthermore, if it is necessary to assign a CU handler as a result of the processing of the DU handler, the dispatcher 132 instructs the handler generation unit 133 to generate a CU handler. A handler is a processing unit that processes the processing content of each processing request.

[0035] The handler generation unit 133 generates DU handlers to execute the processing requested by the processing request, in accordance with instructions from the dispatcher 132. That is, the number of handlers may be at least the number of processing requests that are not currently being processed. The handler generation unit 133 also generates CU handlers in accordance with instructions from the dispatcher 132. Based on information indicating the processing content included in the processing request, the handler generation unit 133 reads the handlers to execute the processing content from the storage unit 140 and generates them as processes (handlers) to be executed. The handler generation unit 133 generates a DU handler 133a according to the content of the processing request, and generates a CU handler 133b based on the processing result of the DU handler 133a. The processing content of the DU handler 133a changes according to the content of the processing request. Similarly, the processing content of the CU handler 133b also changes according to the processing result of the DU handler 133a.

[0036] The scheduler 134 assigns each handler generated by the handler generation unit 133 to one of the multiple processors 160. Whenever a new handler is generated, the scheduler 134 may, for example, assign the handler to the processor with the fewest assigned handlers. Alternatively, when a new handler is generated, the scheduler 134 may, for example, assign the handler to the processor with the lowest processing load.

[0037] The control unit 130 receives the processing result from the processor to which the scheduler 134 has assigned a handler, and reflects it in communication with the wireless terminal 501 that sent the processing request corresponding to the handler. At this time, if the received processing result is the result of processing by the DU handler, the control unit 130 passes the processing result to the dispatcher 132 and causes a CU handler to be generated as necessary. The control unit 130 deletes the handler after processing is complete and frees up the work area of ​​the processor to which the handler was assigned.

[0038] The prediction unit 135 predicts future processing. The prediction unit 135 may predict the processing content and number of future processing requests.

[0039] The prediction unit 135 may, for example, statistically predict the number of processing requests in each time period in the past and the breakdown of their processing content. The statistical prediction may be based on the frequency and content of processing requests on the same day of the week in the past, or on the frequency and content of processing requests on the same month in the past, or on the frequency and content of processing requests on the same season in the past. Alternatively, the statistical prediction may be based on whether the day is a weekday or a holiday.

[0040] Furthermore, the prediction unit 135 may perform predictions using a pre-trained model that has learned the correspondence between calendar information (dates and event information, if any, on those dates) and processing requests. The pre-trained model may be a model that has learned dates as explanatory variables and processing requests as the target variable. The prediction unit 135 may also predict the content and number of processing requests by inputting the dates on which it wants to predict incoming processing requests into the pre-trained model.

[0041] The prediction unit 135 may make predictions at predetermined intervals (for example, every hour, but is not limited to this interval; it may also be in 30-minute or 2-hour increments), or it may make predictions by dividing the time into units such as commuting hours, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and night. When using a pre-trained model, if training is performed during these time periods, that is, if time information is used in addition to the date as an explanatory variable, predictions can be made for each time period.

[0042] The control unit 130 may perform processing to distribute the processing load according to the prediction results made by the prediction unit 135. Processing to distribute the processing load may involve duplicating and preparing handlers in advance. Duplicating and preparing handlers may involve assigning the prepared handler to the processing request when a corresponding processing request arrives, and then assigning that handler to the processor 160 via the scheduler 134. By duplicating and preparing handlers in advance, when a corresponding processing request arrives, the information contained in the processing request can be reflected in the handler and immediately assigned to the processor. Compared to the case where handlers are not prepared in advance, this speeds up processing in the information processing device 100 and reduces the number of processing steps, thus reducing the processing load on the information processing device 100. The functions of the dispatcher, scheduler, and prediction unit may be implemented by a RIC (RAN Intelligent controller).

[0043] Furthermore, the control unit 130 may relatively reduce the number of handlers to be duplicated if the prediction result made by the prediction unit 135 indicates that the frequency of processing requests will be below a predetermined level (i.e., the predicted number of processing requests per unit time will be below a predetermined threshold).

[0044] The storage unit 140 is a storage medium having a function of storing various programs and various data for realizing the functions to be performed by the information processing apparatus 100. The storage unit 140 may store a program that receives a processing request from the RU502, generates a handler corresponding to the processing request, allocates the generated handler to any one of the plurality of processors 160, obtains the result thereof, and describes processing for reflecting the result in communication with the wireless terminal 501 corresponding to the processing request. Reflecting the result in communication with the wireless terminal 501 corresponding to the processing request may mean reflecting it in the wireless communication settings between the RU502 connected to the wireless terminal 501, or may mean transmitting predetermined data to the wireless terminal 501, or may mean transmitting the data specified by the wireless terminal 501 to a specified predetermined transmission destination. Further, the storage unit 140 may store the processing content of the processing request and a program (handler) for realizing the processing content in association with each other. Further, the storage unit 140 may store an RU_DB 141 indicating information indicating the state of each RU502. The storage unit 140 may be realized by a cloud storage accessible by the information processing apparatus 100.

[0045] The output unit 150 has a function of outputting information according to an instruction from the control unit 130. As an example, the output unit 150 may be realized by a monitor, a speaker, or the like. The output unit 150 displays an image or characters on the monitor according to an instruction from the control unit 130. Further, the output unit 150 outputs sound from the speaker according to an instruction from the control unit 130.

[0046] The above is a configuration example of the information processing apparatus 100.

[0047] <Operation> Hereinafter, the operation of the cloud radio base station (information processing apparatus 100) in the communication system 1 will be described.

[0048] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of processing a processing request in the communication system 1. The processing shown in FIG. 3 is processing when a processing request is received from a certain wireless terminal 501, and this processing is executed every time a processing request is received from the wireless terminal 501.

[0049] As shown in Figure 3, the information processing device 100 receives a processing request from the wireless terminal 501 via the RU 502 (step S301). The communication unit 110 transmits the received processing request to the control unit 130.

[0050] The dispatcher 132 of the control unit 130 transmits the processing request to the handler generation unit 133. The handler generation unit 133 identifies and generates a DU handler corresponding to the processing request and transmits it to the scheduler 134 (step S302).

[0051] When the scheduler 134 receives a DU handler, it selects a processor to assign the DU handler to from among the multiple processors 160 according to predetermined criteria. The scheduler 134 then sends the DU handler to the selected processor 160 via the communication unit 110 and has it execute (step S303). As a result, the information processing device 100, acting as a cloud wireless base station, can distribute and process the processing requests of each wireless terminal among the multiple processors 160. The processor assigned the DU handler executes the DU handler and returns the execution result to the information processing device 100.

[0052] The information processing device 100 receives the execution result from the processor 160 (step S304). The information processing device 100 releases the processor 160 that executed the DU handler (step S305). The dispatcher 132 of the control unit 130 instructs the handler generation unit 133 to generate a CU handler based on the processing result of the DU handler. The handler generation unit 133 generates a CU handler and transmits it to the scheduler 134 (step S306). The scheduler 134 selects a processor to which the CU handler will be assigned from among the multiple processors 160 according to predetermined criteria and transmits the CU handler (step S307). The information processing device 100 receives the processing result of the CU handler from the processor 160 (step S308) and releases the processor 160 that executed the CU handler (step S309).

[0053] Then, the information processing device 100 transmits the received execution result to the RU 502 that made the processing request, and the RU 502 reflects this in the communication with the corresponding wireless terminal 501 (step S310), and terminates the processing.

[0054] As a result, the information processing device 100 can implement the functions of a wireless base station (gNB) through software, preventing the processing load from concentrating on a single wireless base station and enabling the processing load to be averaged across the entire communication system.

[0055] Figure 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of load balancing processing in communication system 1.

[0056] As shown in Figure 4, the prediction unit 135 of the information processing device 100 receives input information about the date and time for which it will predict the load (step S401). It is also possible to receive only the date information. Basically, the prediction unit 135 may be configured to predict the load for the day at the set start time of the day.

[0057] The prediction unit 135 predicts the processing load at the time of receipt based on past communication history, i.e., the frequency of processing requests and the processing content of those processing requests (step S402). The processing load may be the number and content of processing requests that may occur.

[0058] If the prediction unit 135 predicts that the processing load will increase relatively (for example, the number of processing requests will exceed a predetermined threshold) (YES in step S403), the handler generation unit 133 of the control unit 130 will pre-generate handlers that are likely to occur. That is, it will increase the number of copies of handlers that do not contain information related to the state of the RU to more than the number normally prepared (step S404), and then terminate the process.

[0059] On the other hand, if the prediction unit 135 predicts that the processing load will not increase (NO in step S403), the handler generation unit 133 reduces the number of handler copies prepared to less than the usual number (step S405) and terminates the process.

[0060] Furthermore, the number of handlers to be duplicated may be set to correspond to the number of processing requests that may occur for each predicted processing type. The number of handlers to be duplicated may be the same as the predicted number of processing requests for that processing type, but it does not have to be the same number. The ratio of the number of duplicated handlers generated for each processing type may be the same as the ratio of processing types in the predicted number of processing requests, or a number greater than or less than the predicted number may be set. By generating and preparing handlers in advance, when a processing request actually arrives, the information of the RU that sent the processing request can be read from RU_DB141 and applied, and then immediately allocated to the processor 160, thereby improving the processing speed and efficiency of processing requests.

[0061] Figure 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of operation in the information processing device 100 when the processing request delay becomes constant. When a huge number of processing requests arrive in the information processing device 100, processing delays may occur that exceed the processing capacity of the cloud wireless base station. This processing delay can occur in two ways: either the delay becomes constant as a result of the number of processing requests from wireless terminals 501 reaching the maximum capacity that the cloud wireless base station can handle, or the delay becomes constant as the number of processing requests from users decreases, creating processing capacity for the handler. The process shown in Figure 5 is the operation in which the information processing device 100 determines which of the former and latter is the case and processes the handler appropriately.

[0062] As shown in Figure 5, the control unit 130 monitors the processing delay of processing requests and determines whether the processing delay is constant (step S501). Monitoring the processing delay may, for example, involve counting the number of processing requests that have not been processed within a unit of time relative to the number of processing requests per unit of time, but is not limited to this.

[0063] If the processing delay is not constant (NO in step S501), the system waits.

[0064] If the processing delay is constant (YES in step S501), the handler generation unit 133 reduces the number of handlers to be duplicated (step S502). By reducing the number of handlers, the processing trend can be identified.

[0065] In response to the reduction in the number of handlers, the control unit 130 determines whether the processing time of the handlers has increased (step S503). If the processing time of the handlers does not increase (NO in step S503), there is leeway in processing the processing request, so in such cases, the handler generation unit 133 reduces the number of handlers (step S502) to further reduce the processing load.

[0066] If the processing time of the handlers increases in proportion to the reduction in the number of handlers (YES in step S503), it means that the processing of processing requests cannot keep up, so the number of handlers is increased (step S504), and the process returns to step S501.

[0067] The above is an example of the operation of the information processing device 100 (cloud wireless base station). <Summary>

[0068] According to the cloud wireless base station (information processing device 100) of this embodiment, the functions of a conventional wireless base station (gNB) are software-based, and each process (handler) is assigned to multiple processors for execution. This prevents an increase in the processing load on a wireless base station and the resulting deterioration of communication service quality caused by a large number of wireless terminals connecting to a single wireless base station. Furthermore, according to the cloud wireless base station (information processing device 100) of this embodiment, wireless communication functions can be realized using a general-purpose information processing device without the need to prepare a dedicated circuit for the wireless base station, making the construction of the communication system 1 easier than if a dedicated circuit were prepared. <Supplement>

[0069] The configuration of the cloud wireless base station (information processing device 100) according to the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown above. Various modifications will be described below.

[0070] (1) In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which each handler is executed by the processor 160, but the information processing device 100 that assigns the handlers may itself be one of the processors that executes the handlers. Also, some of the multiple processors 160 may be processors provided in the wireless base station.

[0071] (2) In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which each handler is executed by one of the multiple processors 160, but of course, this may also be done by allocating a portion of the processing capacity of a single processor. That is, multiple handlers may be executed by a single processor, and in that case, when the scheduler 134 assigns multiple handlers to a single processor, it may set the percentage of processing capacity to be allocated to each handler and the priority of the handlers before assigning them.

[0072] (3) In the above embodiment, a plurality of information processing devices 100 may be provided on the communication system 1, in which case different information processing devices 100 may be connected to different RU 502. In this case, the plurality of information processing devices 100 may share a plurality of processors 160, or may be connected to a plurality of different processors 160, or may share a portion of them. When a plurality of processors 160 are shared by a plurality of information processing devices 100, each information processing device 100 may share information indicating the assignment status of handlers to the plurality of processors 160, and may be configured to select a processor 160 with a relatively low processing load based on this information and assign a handler to it.

[0073] (4) In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which one information processing device 100 functions as a dispatcher, a handler generation unit, and a scheduler. However, these functions do not have to be realized by a single information processing device. Information processing devices that realize these functions may exist on the cloud and be configured to perform distributed processing so that the same processing as shown in the above embodiment can be realized (in other words, realized as a cloud service).

[0074] (5) In the above embodiment, the dispatcher 132 may be divided into a dispatcher for DU handlers and a dispatcher for CU handlers that are generated as needed based on the processing results of the DU handlers. The former may be called the eCPRI (Evolved Common Public Radio Interface) dispatcher and the latter the midhall dispatcher. The handler generation unit may also be divided into a DU handler generation unit for generating DU handlers and a CU handler generation unit for generating CU handlers. In this case, the eCPRI dispatcher instructs the DU handler generation unit to generate DU handlers based on processing requests, and the midhall dispatcher receives the processing results of the DU handlers from the processor 160 and instructs the CU handler generation unit to generate CU handlers according to those processing results.

[0075] (6) In the above embodiment, an example was described in which the information processing device 100 is equipped with a prediction unit 135 and performs load prediction. However, load prediction may be performed by an external device different from the information processing device 100. The information processing device 100 may receive load prediction information predicted by the external device and perform handler generation / increase / decrease processing based on the load prediction predicted by the external device.

[0076] (7) The program for the information processing device 100 of the present disclosure to process processing requests from the RU may be provided stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The storage medium is a “non-temporary tangible medium” capable of storing the program. The storage medium may include any suitable storage medium such as an HDD or SSD, or two or more suitable combinations thereof. The storage medium may be volatile, non-volatile, or a combination of volatile and non-volatile. However, the storage medium is not limited to these examples and may be any device or medium capable of storing the program.

[0077] The information processing device 100 can realize the functions of the multiple functional units shown in each embodiment by, for example, reading a program stored on a storage medium and executing the read program. Furthermore, the program may be provided to the information processing device 100 via any transmission medium (such as a communication network or broadcast waves). The information processing device 100 can realize the functions of the multiple functional units shown in each embodiment by, for example, executing a program downloaded via the Internet or the like. This program may be executed by the information processing device 100 or the like.

[0078] The program can be implemented using, but is not limited to, scripting languages ​​such as ActionScript and JavaScript®, object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Objective-C and Java®, and markup languages ​​such as HTML5 and Python®.

[0079] At least a portion of the processing in the information processing device 100 may be implemented by cloud computing, which is comprised of one or more computers. Furthermore, each functional unit of the information processing device 100 may be implemented by one or more circuits that implement the functions shown in the above embodiment, or the functions of multiple functional units may be implemented by one circuit.

[0080] (8) The various methods and processes shown in the above embodiments and modifications may be combined as appropriate to achieve the objective of processing processing requests from RUs in a way that distributes the processing load by the cloud wireless base station (information processing device 100).

[0081] (9) According to each aspect of the present disclosure described above, by distributing the processing load through software-based processing of base station functions, it becomes possible to provide a highly versatile communication system, thereby contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 9, "Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation."

[0082] 1 Communication System 100 Information Processing Device 110 Communication Unit 120 Input Unit 130 Control Unit 131 Software Processing Unit 132 Dispatcher 133 Handler Generation Unit 133a DU Handler 133b CU Handler 134 Scheduler 135 Prediction Unit 141 RU_DB 160 Processor 170 Mobile Core 501, 501a-501f Wireless Terminal 502, 502a-502c RU 503, 503a-503b DU 504 CU

Claims

1. A communication system comprising: a plurality of wireless base stations that communicate with a terminal; a plurality of processors; a software processing unit that receives a processing request related to communication from a terminal that communicates with the wireless base station from any of the plurality of wireless base stations and executes the processing related to the processing request by software, wherein the software processing unit comprises: a dispatcher that assigns the processing related to the processing request to a handler that executes the processing related to the processing request according to the content of the processing request; a handler generation unit that executes the processing related to the processing request and generates a handler for each processing request; and a scheduler that assigns the handler to any of the plurality of processors, wherein the software processing unit executes the processing related to the processing request by having the processor to which the handler is assigned process the handler.

2. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless base station is a wireless base station related to fifth-generation communication, and the software processing unit performs the processing related to the processing request without using a dedicated circuit for processing the processing request.

3. The communication system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the handler includes a DU handler that performs processing related to communication that requires relatively real-time performance, and a CU handler that performs processing that does not require relatively real-time performance.

4. The communication system according to claim 3, comprising a prediction unit that predicts the processing load related to a processing request, wherein the handler generation unit duplicates the handler in advance when the prediction unit predicts that the processing load will increase.

5. The communication system according to claim 4, characterized in that the handler generation unit reduces the number of handlers to be duplicated when the prediction unit predicts that the processing load will decrease.

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