Evaluation device, evaluation system, and evaluation method
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-02-10
- Publication Date
- 2026-08-13
Smart Images
Figure JP2025004407_13082026_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
Evaluation device, evaluation system, and evaluation method
[0001] One aspect of the present disclosure relates to an evaluation device, an evaluation system, and an evaluation method.
[0002] A communications carrier that provides network services implements improvement measures to reduce the traffic volume in a network system. In order to effectively promote the improvement measures, it is necessary to evaluate the traffic volume before and after the implementation of the improvement measures. The network design device described in Patent Document 1 below calculates the current network cost (evaluation value) in order to perform network design across multiple layers.
[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-306281
[0004] Generally, a network system includes a plurality of network devices that are distributed, and the improvement measures are targeted at these plurality of network devices. Therefore, conventionally, it has been desired to appropriately evaluate the effects of improvement measures implemented for a plurality of network devices.
[0005] Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to appropriately evaluate the effects of improvement measures implemented for a plurality of network devices.
[0006] The evaluation device of this disclosure includes: an acquisition unit that acquires time-series communication volume data obtained by measuring the communication volume in a time series at each of a plurality of distributed network devices; an extraction unit that extracts from the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices, a first time-series communication data which is the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices to be evaluated, and a second time-series communication data which is the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices other than the plurality of network devices to be evaluated that are used for comparison; a generation unit that aggregates the first time-series communication data for each of the plurality of network devices to be evaluated to generate target time-series data, and aggregates the second time-series communication data for each of the plurality of network devices to be compared with weights to generate comparison time-series data; and a calculation unit that compares the temporal change in communication volume shown by the time-series communication volume data in the target time-series data with the temporal change in communication volume shown by the time-series communication volume data in the comparison time-series data to calculate and output a communication volume evaluation value.
[0007] Alternatively, the evaluation method of the present disclosure is an evaluation method performed by an evaluation device, comprising: an acquisition step of acquiring time-series communication volume data obtained by measuring the communication volume in a time series at each of a plurality of distributed network devices; an extraction step of extracting from the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices a first time-series communication data which is the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices to be evaluated, and a second time-series communication data which is the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices other than the plurality of network devices to be compared; a generation step of aggregating the first time-series communication data for each of the plurality of network devices to be evaluated to generate target time-series data, and aggregating the second time-series communication data for each of the plurality of network devices to be compared with weights to generate comparison time-series data; and a calculation step of comparing the temporal change in communication volume shown by the time-series communication volume data in the target time-series data with the temporal change in communication volume shown by the time-series communication volume data in the comparison time-series data to calculate and output a communication volume evaluation value.
[0008] Alternatively, the evaluation system of this disclosure comprises the evaluation device described above, a plurality of wireless base station devices, and a data storage device that acquires communication volume measured in time series from the plurality of wireless base station devices and stores time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of wireless base station devices.
[0009] According to one aspect of this disclosure, the effectiveness of improvement measures implemented for multiple network devices can be appropriately evaluated.
[0010] Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the evaluation system 1 of the present disclosure. Figure 2 is a conceptual diagram showing TAs and TA-LISTs assigned to a plurality of wireless base station devices 20. Figure 3 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of communication volume data stored in the communication data storage unit 102. Figure 4 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of second time-series communication data aggregated by the extraction unit 103. Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of first time-series communication data aggregated by the extraction unit 103. Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of data obtained by combining target time-series data and comparison time-series data acquired and generated by the composite comparison group generation unit 105. Figure 7 is a diagram showing an image output by the evaluation value calculation unit 108. Figure 8 is a flowchart showing the procedure of evaluation processing by the evaluation system 1 of Figure 1. Figure 9 is a flowchart showing the procedure of evaluation processing by the evaluation system 1 of Figure 1. Figure 10 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of an evaluation device 10 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0011] Embodiments of this disclosure will be described with reference to the attached drawings. Where possible, the same parts will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions will be omitted.
[0012] Figure 1 is a diagram showing the device configuration of the evaluation system according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, the evaluation system 1 includes a plurality of radio base station devices (network devices) 20 geographically distributed in a communication system such as a 4G (4th Generation) communication system or a 5G (5th Generation) communication system, a data collection device (data storage device) 30 that collects data from the plurality of radio base station devices 20 via the communication network, and an evaluation device 10 that processes the data received from the data collection device 30 via the communication network.
[0013] Each of the multiple wireless base station devices 20 is wirelessly connected to a terminal device (not shown) such as a smartphone of a user utilizing the communication system, and relays communication data transmitted and received between the communication system and the terminal device. Each of the multiple wireless base station devices 20 also has the function of wirelessly transmitting a paging signal to a terminal device located within the communication area. The paging signal is a signal used in the communication system to call a specific terminal device when communication data for that specific terminal device is generated, in order to determine the location area of that specific terminal device.
[0014] Figure 2 is a conceptual diagram showing TAs and TA-LISTs assigned to multiple radio base station devices 20. Here, a TA identified as "TA#1" is assigned to three geographically close radio base station devices 20, and a TA identified as "TA#2," adjacent to that TA, is assigned to two other geographically close radio base station devices 20. A TA-LIST identified as "TA-LIST#1" is set up as an area grouping these two TAs. In general, telecommunications carriers providing communication systems implement network improvement measures as needed to optimize and configure the assignment of TAs to multiple radio base station devices 20 within each TA-LIST in order to improve communication quality by reducing the number of paging signals.
[0015] Returning to Figure 1, the data acquisition device 30 collects time-series data on the amount of paging signals measured at each of the multiple wireless base station devices 20. The collected time-series data is stored along with the base station number that identifies the measuring wireless base station device 20 and the TA-LIST number that identifies the TA group (TA-LIST) to which the wireless base station device 20 belongs. The time-series data collected by the data acquisition device 30 is, for example, the number of paging signal transmissions (number of paging signals) measured for each time period.
[0016] The evaluation device 10 is composed of functional components including an acquisition unit 101, a communication data storage unit 102, an extraction unit (extraction unit, generation unit) 103, a preprocessing unit 104, a composite control group generation unit (generation unit) 105, an accuracy evaluation unit 106, a parameter adjustment unit 107, and an evaluation value calculation unit 108. The functions of each functional unit of the evaluation device 10 will be described in detail below.
[0017] The acquisition unit 101 acquires time-series communication volume data from the data collection device 30, which measures the communication volume of each of the distributed wireless base station devices 20 in a time-series manner, along with the base station number that identifies each wireless base station device 20 and the TA-LIST number that identifies the TA-LIST to which each wireless base station device 20 belongs. The acquisition unit 101 then stores the time-series communication volume data corresponding to the multiple wireless base station devices 20 in the communication data storage unit 102, associating it with the TA-LIST number and base station number. At this time, the acquisition unit 101 adds a flag to each piece of communication volume data that can determine whether or not it is communication volume data of a wireless base station device 20 belonging to a TA-LIST that is the target of the network improvement measures being evaluated, and stores it in the communication data storage unit 102.
[0018] Figure 3 shows an example of the data structure of communication volume data stored in the communication data storage unit 102. As shown in Figure 3, in one communication volume data stored in the communication data storage unit 102, the date "2023-01-01" and time "0:00" representing the time period in which the communication volume was measured, the number of paging signals "100" representing the communication volume measured during that time period, the target area determination flag "0" indicating whether or not it belongs to a TA-LIST that is subject to network improvement measures, the TA-LIST number "1", and the base station number "1" are associated with each other. The target area determination flag indicates that it is not subject to network improvement measures when it is "0", and is subject to network improvement measures when it is "1". The communication volume data stored in the communication data storage unit 102 includes time-series communication volume data collected from multiple wireless base station devices 20 belonging to the TA-LIST which is subject to network improvement measures, and time-series communication volume data collected from multiple wireless base station devices 20 belonging to the TA-LIST which is not subject to network improvement measures, as communication volume data for a continuous time period that spans the timing of the implementation of network line measures.
[0019] The extraction unit 103 extracts time-series communication volume data for each of the multiple wireless base station devices 20 belonging to the TA-LIST to be evaluated from among the multiple time-series communication volume data stored in the communication data storage unit 102 as first time-series communication data, and extracts time-series communication volume data for each of the multiple wireless base station devices 20 belonging to TA-LISTs other than the TA-LIST to be evaluated as second time-series communication data. Furthermore, the extraction unit 103 aggregates the first time-series communication data as data per TA-LIST, and aggregates the second time-series communication data as data per TA-LIST. Data aggregation is performed by averaging the number of paging signals for the same TA-LIST and the same time period among the multiple wireless base station devices 20.
[0020] Figure 4 shows an example of the data structure of the second time-series communication data aggregated by the extraction unit 103. As shown in Figure 4, from the time-series communication volume data corresponding to the multiple wireless base station devices 20 shown in Figure 3, the time-series communication volume data containing the target area flag "0" is extracted as the second time-series communication data and aggregated by TA-LIST unit and time zone unit. For example, in the communication volume data for one time zone included in the second time-series communication data, the target area determination flag "0", TA-LIST "1", date "2023-01-01", time zone "0:00", and paging signal count "200" are associated. The paging signal count "200" is the average value of the communication volume data measured in the same time zone at multiple wireless base station devices 20 belonging to TA-LIST "1".
[0021] Figure 5 shows an example of the data structure of the first time-series communication data extracted by the extraction unit 103. As shown in Figure 5, from among the time-series communication volume data corresponding to the multiple wireless base station devices 20 shown in Figure 3, the time-series communication volume data containing the target area flag "1" is extracted as the first time-series communication data and aggregated in TA-LIST units. For example, in the communication volume data for one time period included in the first time-series communication data, the target area determination flag "1", TA-LIST "0", date "2023-01-01", time period "0:00", and paging signal count "100" are associated. The paging signal count "100" is the average value of the communication volume data measured in the same time period at multiple wireless base station devices 20 belonging to TA-LIST "0".
[0022] The preprocessing unit 104 performs preprocessing on the multiple first time-series communication data and multiple second time-series communication data aggregated by the extraction unit 103. This preprocessing involves deleting communication volume data for specific time periods from the first and second time-series communication data. For example, the preprocessing unit 104 deletes communication volume data for time periods included in the night from the first and second time-series communication data. The preprocessing also includes a time-series shifting process to match the peak time periods of communication volume data in the second time-series communication data with those in the first time-series communication data, in order to improve the accuracy of fitting the control group to the intervention group, as described later. For example, the preprocessing unit 104 performs a process to shift the time periods of the second time-series communication data so that the multiple peak time periods indicated by the second time-series communication data, which includes the same TA-LIST, match the multiple peak time periods of the first time-series communication data.
[0023] The synthetic control group generation unit 105, accuracy evaluation unit 106, and parameter adjustment unit 107 included in the evaluation device 10 have the function of constructing a synthetic control group by weighting and combining the sequential data of multiple control groups under analysis using regression analysis, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of network improvement measures by applying the Synthetic Control Method (SCM). Next, the functions of these synthetic control group generation unit 105, accuracy evaluation unit 106, and parameter adjustment unit 107 will be described.
[0024] The composite control group generation unit 105 acquires first time-series communication data corresponding to the TA-LIST to be evaluated, which has been processed by the pre-processing unit 104, as target time-series data. This target time-series data corresponds to the series data of the intervention group in the composite control method. In addition, the composite control group generation unit 105 synthesizes multiple second time-series communication data corresponding to multiple TA-LISTs to be compared, which have been processed by the pre-processing unit 104, to generate comparison time-series data. This comparison time-series data corresponds to the series data of the composite control group in the composite control method. Specifically, the composite control group generation unit 105 first selects multiple second time-series communication data to form multiple control groups from among the multiple second time-series communication data corresponding to multiple TA-LISTs to be compared. Furthermore, the composite control group generation unit 105 narrows down the selected multiple second time-series communication data to communication volume data for a predetermined period spanning the implementation time of the network improvement measures. The composite comparison group generation unit 105 then generates comparison time series data by aggregating multiple second time series communication data, narrowed down to a predetermined period, by weighting and adding the number of paging signals using different weighting coefficients for each TA-LIST, which is the area to which the wireless base station device 20 belongs. For example, the number of paging signals Pc(tb) for each time period tb in the comparison time series data is calculated by adding the number of paging signals for the time period tb corresponding to the selected multiple TA-LISTi (where i is an integer between 1 and N-1) Y ｉ，ｔｂ , the weighting coefficient for each TA-LISTi w ｉ Therefore, the following equation (1) It is calculated by [this method].
[0025] Figure 6 shows an example of the data structure of data obtained by combining the target time series data acquired by the composite control group generation unit 105 and the generated comparison time series data. As shown in Figure 6, the target time series data and the comparison time series data include data on the number of paging signals, which indicates the amount of communication during the same time period on the same day. For example, the target time series data includes data on the number of paging signals of the intervention group, "100," as communication volume data for the time period indicated by the date "2023-01-01" and time period "0:00," while the comparison time series data includes data on the number of paging signals of the composite group, "200," as communication volume data for the same time period on the same day.
[0026] The accuracy evaluation unit 106 evaluates whether the traffic volume data prior to a specific time indicated by the comparison time series data generated by the composite control group generation unit 105 approximates the traffic volume data prior to that specific time indicated by the target time series data by calculating the fitting accuracy. For example, the accuracy evaluation unit 106 calculates the coefficient of determination and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the time series data prior to the implementation time of the network improvement measure (specific time) between the comparison time series data and the target time series data as accuracy evaluation values, and evaluates the fitting accuracy based on these accuracy evaluation values. Then, the accuracy evaluation unit 106 decides whether or not to repeat the generation of the comparison time series data according to the evaluation result based on these accuracy evaluation values. For example, if the coefficient of determination is 0.7 or higher and the MAPE is below a threshold (a threshold of 1% to 10%), the accuracy evaluation unit 106 decides to use the current comparison time series data for evaluation without repeating the generation of the comparison time series data. On the other hand, if the coefficient of determination is less than 0.7 and the MAPE exceeds a threshold (a threshold of 1% to 10%), the accuracy evaluation unit 106 decides to repeat the generation of comparison time series data. In this case, the accuracy evaluation unit 106 may evaluate the fitting accuracy using both the coefficient of determination and MAPE, or it may evaluate the fitting accuracy using only one of them.
[0027] The parameter adjustment unit 107 changes the conditions for generating the comparison time series data when the accuracy evaluation unit 106 decides to repeat the generation of comparison time series data. As one of the conditions to be changed, the parameter adjustment unit 107 changes the weighting coefficient w for each of the multiple TA-LISTs to be compared. ｉ The parameter adjustment unit 107 changes all or part of the values. This enables the determination of weights by linear regression. As another example of changing the conditions, the parameter adjustment unit 107 may also re-select multiple second time-series communication data (i.e., the TA-LIST to which the wireless base station equipment 20 to be compared belongs) that will serve as multiple control groups. As another example of changing the conditions, the parameter adjustment unit 107 may also change the predetermined period of the second time-series communication data that is the target of the generation of the comparison time-series data. After changing the conditions for generating the comparison time-series data, the parameter adjustment unit 107 instructs the composite control group generation unit 105 to repeat the generation of the comparison time-series data using the changed conditions.
[0028] The evaluation value calculation unit 108 calculates a communication volume evaluation value that evaluates the effectiveness of network improvement measures using the target time series data and the comparison time series data, provided that the accuracy evaluation unit 106 determines that the fitting accuracy is high and that the generation of comparison time series data does not need to be repeated. Specifically, the evaluation value calculation unit 108 calculates the communication volume evaluation value by comparing the temporal change in the number of paging signals in the time series of the target time series data with the temporal change in the number of paging signals in the time series of the comparison time series data. More specifically, the evaluation value calculation unit 108 can calculate the decrease in the number of paging signals in the target time series data for the time period after the implementation time of the network improvement measures, based on the number of paging signals in the comparison time series data for the time period after the implementation time of the network improvement measures, as the communication volume evaluation value. The evaluation value calculation unit 108 then outputs the calculated communication volume evaluation value. The output destination of the communication volume evaluation value may be an output device (not shown) such as a display attached to the evaluation device 10, or an external device connected to the evaluation device 10 via a network.
[0029] Figure 7 shows an image output by the evaluation value calculation unit 108. For example, the evaluation value calculation unit 108 generates a graph SC showing the time evolution of the second time-series communication data that is the target of generating the comparison time-series data. １ SC ２ And, a graph SC showing the time change of the comparative time series data. ３ And, graph SC showing the time change of the target time series data. ０ The system outputs the data as an image. At that time, the evaluation value calculation unit 108 outputs the communication volume evaluation value, which is the difference in the number of paging signals during the time period from the implementation time of the network improvement measures t=t1 onwards, in a way that is easily visible using arrows such as Diff on the image.
[0030] The procedure for evaluation processing by the evaluation system 1 will be explained with reference to Figures 8 and 9.
[0031] Referring to Figure 8, first, the evaluation device 10 collects and stores multiple time-series communication volume data related to multiple wireless base station devices 20 (step S1). Next, the evaluation device 10 extracts the stored time-series communication volume data in TA-LIST units and acquires it as the first time-series communication data for the TA-LIST unit to be evaluated and the second time-series communication data for the TA-LIST unit to be compared (step S2). Subsequently, the evaluation device 10 aggregates the first time-series communication data and the second time-series communication data in TA-LIST units (step S3).
[0032] Next, the evaluation device 10 removes communication volume data for a specific time period from the aggregated first time-series communication data and second time-series communication data (step S4). Furthermore, the peak time periods of the multiple second time-series communication data corresponding to the multiple TA-LISTs to be compared are shifted (adjusted) (step S5).
[0033] Subsequently, the evaluation device 10 selects multiple second time-series communication data sets from among the multiple second time-series communication data sets to form multiple control groups (step S6). Then, the evaluation device 10 aggregates the selected multiple second time-series communication data sets by weighting and adding the number of paging signals, thereby generating comparison time-series data (step S7).
[0034] Next, the evaluation device 10 calculates a communication volume evaluation value by comparing the target time series data with the comparison time series data (step S8). Finally, the evaluation device 10 outputs the comparison result (for example, an image including a graph) and the communication volume evaluation value (step S9).
[0035] Now, with reference to Figure 9, the processes of steps S6 and S7 described above will be explained in detail.
[0036] In the evaluation device 10, it is determined whether the TA-LIST to be evaluated corresponds to an area in the city center (step S21). If the result of the determination is that it corresponds to an area in the city center (step S21; YES), the evaluation device 10 selects multiple second time-series communication data corresponding to multiple TA-LISTs corresponding to the city center as a control group (step S22). On the other hand, if it does not correspond to an area in the city center (step S21; NO), the evaluation device 10 selects multiple second time-series communication data corresponding to multiple TA-LISTs corresponding to suburbs other than the city center as a control group (step S23).
[0037] Next, the evaluation device 10 weights and sums multiple second time-series communication data selected as a control group to generate comparison time-series data (step S24). Subsequently, the fitting accuracy between the generated comparison time-series data and the target time-series data for the time period prior to the implementation of the network improvement measures is evaluated (step S25). If the fitting accuracy is good as a result of the evaluation (step S26; YES), the process proceeds to step S8. On the other hand, if the fitting accuracy is not good (step S26: NO), the evaluation device 10 performs parameter changes or re-selects the second time-series communication data, and then the process returns to step S24.
[0038] Next, the operation and effect of the evaluation device 10 of the present disclosure will be described. According to the evaluation device 10 of the present disclosure, target time-series data in which the time-series traffic of each of the plurality of wireless base station devices 20 to be evaluated among the plurality of wireless base station devices 20 is aggregated, and the time-series traffic of each of the plurality of wireless base station devices 20 not to be evaluated among the plurality of wireless base station devices 20 is weighted and aggregated comparison time-series data is generated. Then, the temporal change in the traffic indicated by the target time-series data and the temporal change in the traffic indicated by the comparison time-series data are evaluated, and a traffic evaluation value is calculated and output. As a result, a value indicating the effect of improvement measures implemented for the plurality of wireless base station devices 20 can be obtained as a value obtained by evaluating the traffic change compared with the plurality of wireless base station devices 20 that are not the target of the improvement measures, and the effect of improvement measures for the plurality of wireless base station devices 20 distributed can be appropriately evaluated.
[0039] For example, the evaluation device 10 can accurately evaluate the effect of network improvement measures excluding the influence of natural increase in traffic. Further, according to the evaluation device 10, instead of comparing before and after the network improvement measures, it is possible to compare the changes between the intervention group and the synthetic group after the implementation of the network improvement measures, and obtain a measure evaluation that is easy to visually grasp. Further, according to the evaluation device 10, it is possible to obtain an evaluation result considering the influence of fluctuations between weekdays, fluctuations between late night and daytime, and fluctuations for each time zone in the time-series data.
[0040] Further, according to the evaluation device 10 of the present disclosure, according to the area (TA-LIST) to which the plurality of wireless base station devices 20 to be compared belong, the traffic in each of the plurality of wireless base station devices 20 to be compared can be weighted and reflected in the time-series traffic data in the comparison time-series data. As a result, the effect of improvement measures for the plurality of wireless base station devices 20 distributed in a plurality of areas can be more appropriately evaluated.
[0041] Further, according to the evaluation apparatus 10 of the present disclosure, comparison time-series data can be generated such that the temporal change in the traffic volume before a specific time approaches the target time-series data, and the effect of improvement measures for a plurality of radio base station apparatuses 20 distributed in a plurality of areas can be appropriately evaluated while excluding geographical influences.
[0042] Further, the evaluation apparatus 10 of the present disclosure can appropriately evaluate the effect of improvement measures for a plurality of radio base station apparatuses 20 with respect to the time when the improvement measures are implemented.
[0043] Further, the evaluation apparatus 10 of the present disclosure can regenerate comparison time-series data by reselecting a plurality of radio base station apparatuses 20 to be compared so that the temporal change in the traffic volume before a specific time approaches the target time-series data. As a result, the effect of improvement measures for a plurality of radio base station apparatuses 20 distributed in a plurality of areas can be appropriately evaluated while excluding geographical influences.
[0044] Further, the evaluation apparatus 10 of the present disclosure can efficiently generate comparison time-series data with less error from the target time-series data by excluding time zones with large fluctuations in traffic volume such as at night. As a result, an evaluation value representing the effect of improvement measures for a plurality of radio base station apparatuses 20 can be easily obtained.
[0045] Further, the evaluation apparatus 10 of the present disclosure can obtain an evaluation value representing the effect of improvement measures for a plurality of radio base station apparatuses 20 to which TA-LIST is assigned, as an evaluation value that captures the temporal change in the signal amount of the paging signal. As a result, an evaluation value representing the effect of improvement measures for a plurality of radio base station apparatuses 20 can be obtained.
[0046] The evaluation apparatus and evaluation system of the present disclosure have the following configuration.
[0047] [1] An evaluation device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires time-series communication volume data obtained by measuring the communication volume in time series at each of a plurality of distributed network devices; an extraction unit that extracts from the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices from the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices to be evaluated a first time-series communication data which is the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices to be evaluated and a second time-series communication data which is the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices other than the plurality of network devices to be evaluated that are used for comparison; a generation unit that aggregates the first time-series communication data for each of the plurality of network devices to be evaluated to generate target time-series data and aggregates the second time-series communication data for each of the plurality of network devices to be compared with weights to generate comparison time-series data; and a calculation unit that compares the temporal change in the communication volume shown by the time-series communication volume data in the target time-series data with the temporal change in the communication volume shown by the time-series communication volume data in the comparison time-series data to calculate and output a communication volume evaluation value.
[0048] [2] The evaluation apparatus according to [1] above, wherein the generation unit generates the comparison time series data by weighting the second time series communication data for each of the multiple network devices to be compared using different weighting coefficients for each area to which the multiple network devices belong.
[0049] [3] The evaluation apparatus according to [2] above, wherein the generation unit repeats the generation of the comparison time series data by changing the weighting coefficient so that the communication volume data prior to a specific time indicated by the comparison time series data approximates the communication volume data prior to a specific time indicated by the target time series data.
[0050] [4] The evaluation device according to any one of [1] to [3] above, wherein the calculation unit calculates the communication volume evaluation value by comparing the communication volume shown by the communication data after the specific time in the target time series data with the communication volume shown by the communication data after the specific time in the comparison time series data.
[0051] [5] The evaluation apparatus according to any one of [1] to [4] above, wherein if the extraction unit finds a large error between the communication volume data prior to a specific time shown in the comparison time series data and the communication volume data prior to the specific time shown in the target time series data, it selects a plurality of network devices to be compared from among the plurality of network devices and then extracts the second time series communication data again.
[0052] [6] The evaluation apparatus according to any one of [1] to [6] above, wherein the generation unit generates the target time series data and the comparison time series data from which the communication volume data for a specific time period has been deleted.
[0053] [7] The evaluation apparatus according to [2] or [3] above, wherein the network device is a wireless base station device, the communication amount is the signal amount of a paging signal, and the generation unit weights each tracking area to which the wireless base station device belongs using different weighting coefficients.
[0054] [8] An evaluation system comprising: the evaluation device described in [7] above; a plurality of the wireless base station devices; and a data storage device that acquires the communication volume measured in a time series from the plurality of wireless base station devices and stores the time series communication volume data for each of the plurality of wireless base station devices.
[0055] The block diagram used in the description of the above embodiment shows functional units. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of at least one of hardware and software. Furthermore, the method of realizing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized using one device that is physically or logically coupled, or it may be realized using two or more physically or logically separated devices that are directly or indirectly connected (for example, using wired or wireless connections). A functional block may be realized by combining the one or more devices with software.
[0056] Functions include, but are not limited to, judgment, decision, determination, calculation, calculation, processing, derivation, investigation, exploration, confirmation, reception, transmission, output, access, resolution, selection, selection, establishment, comparison, assumption, expectation, assumption, broadcasting, notifying, communicating, forwarding, configuring, reconfiguring, allocating (mapping), and assigning. For example, a functional block (configuration part) that enables transmission is called a transmitting unit or transmitter. In all cases, as mentioned above, the method of implementation is not particularly limited.
[0057] For example, the evaluation device 10 that constitutes the evaluation system 1 in one embodiment of the present disclosure may function as a computer that processes the control method of the present disclosure. Figure 10 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the evaluation device 10 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The evaluation device 10 described above may be physically configured as a computer device including a processor 1001, memory 1002, storage 1003, communication device 1004, input device 1005, output device 1006, bus 1007, etc. Note that the evaluation device 10 only needs to be configured as a computer device including at least one processor such as a CPU or GPU, it may be configured as a computer device including multiple processors, or it may be configured to include multiple computer devices. The data acquisition device 30 may also adopt a similar hardware configuration.
[0058] In the following explanation, the term "device" can be replaced with "circuit," "device," "unit," etc. The hardware configuration of the evaluation device 10 may include one or more of the devices shown in the figure, or it may be configured to omit some of the devices.
[0059] Each function in the evaluation device 10 is realized by loading predetermined software (programs) onto hardware such as the processor 1001 and memory 1002, which allows the processor 1001 to perform calculations, control communication by the communication device 1004, and control at least one of data reading and writing in the memory 1002 and storage 1003.
[0060] The processor 1001 controls the entire computer, for example, by running an operating system. The processor 1001 may be composed of a central processing unit (CPU) that includes interfaces with peripheral devices, control devices, arithmetic units, registers, etc. For example, the acquisition unit 101, communication data storage unit 102, extraction unit 103, preprocessing unit 104, composite comparison group generation unit 105, accuracy evaluation unit 106, parameter adjustment unit 107, and evaluation value calculation unit 108 described above may be implemented by the processor 1001.
[0061] Furthermore, the processor 1001 reads programs (program code), software modules, data, etc., from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the memory 1002 and executes various processes accordingly. The program used is one that causes the computer to execute at least a part of the operations described in the above embodiment. For example, the acquisition unit 101, extraction unit 103, preprocessing unit 104, composite control group generation unit 105, accuracy evaluation unit 106, parameter adjustment unit 107, and evaluation value calculation unit 108 may be stored in the memory 1002 and implemented by a control program that operates on the processor 1001, and other functional blocks may be implemented similarly. The above-described various processes have been explained as being executed by one processor 1001, but they may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. The program may also be transmitted from a network via a telecommunications line.
[0062] The memory 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium and may consist of at least one of the following: ROM (Read Only Memory), EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. The memory 1002 may also be called a register, cache, main memory, etc. The memory 1002 can store executable programs (program code), software modules, etc., for implementing a control method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0063] The storage 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium and may consist of at least one of the following: an optical disc such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (e.g., a compact disc, a digital multipurpose disc, a Blu-ray® disc), a smart card, flash memory (e.g., a card, a stick, a key drive), a floppy® disk, a magnetic strip, etc. The storage 1003 may also be called an auxiliary storage device. The above-mentioned storage medium may be, for example, a database, server, or other suitable medium including at least one of memory 1002 and storage 1003.
[0064] The communication device 1004 is hardware (transceiver / receiver device) for communicating between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also referred to as a network device, network controller, network card, communication module, etc. The communication device 1004 may be configured to include high-frequency switches, duplexers, filters, frequency synthesizers, etc., in order to implement at least one of frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD). For example, the acquisition unit 101 and evaluation value calculation unit 108 described above may be implemented by the communication device 1004.
[0065] The input device 1005 is an input device that accepts input from an external source (e.g., a keyboard, mouse, microphone, switch, button, sensor, etc.). The output device 1006 is an output device that outputs to an external source (e.g., a display, speaker, LED lamp, etc.). The input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may be configured as an integrated unit (e.g., a touch panel).
[0066] Furthermore, each device, such as the processor 1001 and the memory 1002, is connected by a bus 1007 for communicating information. The bus 1007 may be configured using a single bus, or different buses may be configured for each device.
[0067] Furthermore, the evaluation device 10 may be configured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a PLD (Programmable Logic Device), and an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), and some or all of each functional block may be realized by this hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these hardware components.
[0068] Information notification is not limited to the embodiments described herein and may be carried out by other means. For example, information notification may be carried out by physical layer signaling (e.g., DCI (Downlink Control Information), UCI (Uplink Control Information)), upper layer signaling (e.g., RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling, MAC (Medium Access Control) signaling, broadcast information (MIB (Master Information Block), SIB (System Information Block))), other signals, or combinations thereof. RRC signaling may also be called RRC messages, and may be, for example, RRC Connection Setup messages, RRC Connection Reconfiguration messages, etc.
[0069] The processing procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc., of each aspect / embodiment described in this disclosure may be reordered, provided they do not contradict each other. For example, the methods described in this disclosure present various step elements using exemplary order and are not limited to the specific order presented.
[0070] Input and output information may be stored in a specific location (e.g., memory) or managed using a management table. Input and output information may be overwritten, updated, or appended to. Output information may be deleted. Input information may be transmitted to other devices.
[0071] The determination may be made by a value represented by one bit (0 or 1), by a boolean value (true or false), or by a numerical comparison (for example, a comparison with a predetermined value).
[0072] Each aspect / embodiment described in this disclosure may be used individually, in combination, or switched between as needed during implementation. Furthermore, notification of specific information (e.g., notification that "X is") is not limited to explicit notification, but may also be implicit (e.g., by not providing such notification).
[0073] Although the present disclosure has been described in detail above, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The present disclosure can be implemented in modified and altered forms without departing from the intent and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the claims. Accordingly, the descriptions in the present disclosure are illustrative and not intended to be restrictive in any way.
[0074] Software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, execution threads, procedures, functions, and so on, whether they are called software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or by any other name.
[0075] Furthermore, software, instructions, information, etc., may be transmitted and received via a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using at least one of wired technologies (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, or digital subscriber line (DSL)) and wireless technologies (such as infrared or microwave), then at least one of these wired and wireless technologies is included in the definition of a transmission medium.
[0076] The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of the various different techniques. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.
[0077] In addition, terms used in this disclosure and terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meanings. For example, at least one of the channel and symbol may be a signal (signaling). Also, a signal may be a message. Furthermore, a component carrier (CC) may be called a carrier frequency, cell, frequency carrier, etc.
[0078] Furthermore, the information, parameters, etc., described in this disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, relative values from a given value, or other corresponding information. For example, wireless resources may be indicated by an index.
[0079] The names used for the parameters described above are not restrictive in any way. Furthermore, the formulas and other expressions using these parameters may differ from those expressly disclosed in this disclosure. Various channels (e.g., PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements can be identified by any suitable name, and therefore, the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are not restrictive in any way.
[0080] In this disclosure, terms such as "Mobile Station (MS)," "user terminal," "User Equipment (UE)," and "terminal" may be used interchangeably.
[0081] A mobile station may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other appropriate term.
[0082] As used in this disclosure, the terms “determining” and “determining” may encompass a wide variety of actions. “Determining” may include, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up, searching, or inquiring (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), or ascertaining. “Determining” may also include, for example, receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), inputting, outputting, or accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory). Furthermore, "judgment" and "decision" can include considering something as having been "judged" or "decided" after resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. In other words, "judgment" and "decision" can include considering something as having been "judged" or "decided" after some action. Also, "judgment (decision)" can be reinterpreted as "assuming," "expecting," or "considering."
[0083] The terms “connected,” “coupled,” or any variation thereof, mean any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and may include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are “connected” or “coupled” with each other. The coupling or connection between elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, “connection” may be reinterpreted as “access.” As used in this disclosure, two elements may be considered to be “connected” or “coupled” with each other using at least one of one or more wires, cables, and printed electrical connections, and, in some non-limiting and non-exclusive examples, electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency domain, microwave domain, and optical (both visible and invisible) domain.
[0084] In this disclosure, the phrase "based on" does not mean "based solely on" unless otherwise specified. In other words, the phrase "based on" means both "based solely on" and "based at least on."
[0085] Any reference to elements using designations such as “first,” “second,” etc., as used in this disclosure does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations may be used in this disclosure as a convenient way to distinguish between two or more elements. Accordingly, references to first and second elements do not imply that only two elements may be employed, or that the first element must precede the second element in any way.
[0086] Where the terms “include,” “including,” and their variations are used in this disclosure, these terms are intended to be inclusive, as is the term “comprising.” Furthermore, the term “or” as used in this disclosure is not intended to be exclusive OR.
[0087] In this disclosure, if articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, this disclosure may include the fact that the noun following these articles is plural.
[0088] In this disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." The term may also mean "A and B are each different from C." Terms such as "separate" and "combine" may be interpreted similarly to "different."
[0089] 1...Evaluation system, 10...Evaluation device, 20...Wireless base station device (network device), 30...Data acquisition device (data storage device), 101...Acquisition unit, 103...Extraction unit (extraction unit, generation unit), 105...Composite control group generation unit (generation unit).
Claims
1. An evaluation device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires time-series communication volume data obtained by measuring the communication volume in a time series at each of a plurality of distributed network devices; an extraction unit that extracts from the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices from the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices, a first time-series communication data which is the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices to be evaluated, and a second time-series communication data which is the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices other than the plurality of network devices to be evaluated that are used for comparison; a generation unit that aggregates the first time-series communication data for each of the plurality of network devices to be evaluated to generate target time-series data, and aggregates the second time-series communication data for each of the plurality of network devices to be compared with weights to generate comparison time-series data; and a calculation unit that compares the temporal change in the communication volume shown by the time-series communication volume data in the target time-series data with the temporal change in the communication volume shown by the time-series communication volume data in the comparison time-series data to calculate and output a communication volume evaluation value.
2. The evaluation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the generation unit generates the comparison time series data by weighting the second time series communication data for each of the plurality of network devices to be compared using different weighting coefficients for each area to which the plurality of network devices belong.
3. The evaluation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the generation unit repeats the generation of the comparison time series data by changing the weighting coefficient so that the communication volume data prior to a specific time indicated by the comparison time series data approximates the communication volume data prior to a specific time indicated by the target time series data.
4. The evaluation device according to claim 3, wherein the calculation unit calculates the communication volume evaluation value by comparing the communication volume shown in the communication data after the specific time in the target time series data with the communication volume shown in the comparison time series data after the specific time.
5. The evaluation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein if the extraction unit finds a large error between the communication volume data prior to a specific time indicated by the comparison time series data and the communication volume data prior to the specific time indicated by the target time series data, it selects a plurality of network devices to be compared from among the plurality of network devices and then extracts the second time series communication data again.
6. The evaluation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the generation unit generates the target time series data and the comparison time series data from which the communication volume data for a specific time period has been deleted.
7. The evaluation device according to claim 2, wherein the network device is a wireless base station device, the communication amount is the signal amount of a paging signal, and the generation unit weights each tracking area to which the wireless base station device belongs using different weighting coefficients.
8. An evaluation system comprising: an evaluation device according to claim 7; a plurality of the wireless base station devices; and a data storage device that acquires the communication volume measured in a time series from the plurality of wireless base station devices and stores the time series communication volume data for each of the plurality of wireless base station devices.
9. An evaluation method performed by an evaluation device, comprising: an acquisition step of acquiring time-series communication volume data obtained by measuring the communication volume in a time series at each of a plurality of distributed network devices; an extraction step of extracting from the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices, first time-series communication data which is the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices to be evaluated, and second time-series communication data which is the time-series communication volume data for each of the plurality of network devices other than the plurality of network devices to be compared; a generation step of aggregating the first time-series communication data for each of the plurality of network devices to be evaluated to generate target time-series data, and aggregating the second time-series communication data for each of the plurality of network devices to be compared with weights to generate comparison time-series data; and a calculation step of comparing the temporal change in the communication volume shown by the time-series communication volume data in the target time-series data with the temporal change in the communication volume shown by the time-series communication volume data in the comparison time-series data to calculate and output a communication volume evaluation value.